99.9 The Fan’s Adam Gold (left) & Joe Ovies (right) interview former Duke Blue Devils’ standout Nolan Smith.
Capitol Broadcasting gave the Final Four and the NCAA Championship a full court press as the Duke Blue Devils brought home the national title to the Triangle.
The Championship game on Monday, April 6, 2015, drew 36.2/54, the highest rated NCAA final game on WRAL since 2005 when UNC-Illinois achieved a 41.0/53. The Duke-Wisconsin game delivered a +15% higher rating than Duke’s last championship game in 2010. In fact, the game drew the most TV viewers in 18 years for CBS overall.
CBC Sports Radio on the Sidelines
99.9 The Fan talkers Adam Gold and Joe Ovies covered both the Final Four and Championship games live and in person for Triangle listeners, as well as providing exclusive content for WRALSportsFan.com.
The duo hosted shows from Radio Row On Friday, Saturday and Monday where they talked with the likes of basketball greats Kenny Smith and Bill Walton. Ovies and Gold covered both games and wrote columns for WRALsportsfan.com and reported on the atmosphere of Indianapolis, “a great city for the Final Four.”
“What a great night for Duke basketball!” said Gold of the final game. “It was another amazing comeback for a team that was maybe too young to realize the magnitude of everything they were trying to accomplish. But, this is what they did all year. They defied odds and achieved goals. It was amazing to be on hand for it in Indianapolis, where Duke has now won 3 of their 5 titles.”
Ovies also had a great time covering the games.
“We’ve covered 6 Final Fours for The Fan, including Duke’s 2010 NCAA Championship in Indianapolis,” said Ovies. “It’s taken us to cities like New Orleans, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas. Indy simply has the better atmosphere for the event. Much like North Carolina, Indiana really cares about basketball and they enjoy putting on the event. The city is very walkable, with Lucas Oil Stadium about a mile walk from downtown. It’s got great restaurants, like the famous St. Elmo Steakhouse, and plenty of bars to keep up with all the fans that come into town for the games. If the NCAA ever wanted to find a permanent home for the Final Four, I don’t think anyone would complain if it ended up being Indianapolis.”
WRAL-TV’s Tony Gupton (clockwise from back left), Jamie Munden, Jeff Gravley, Mandy Mitchell, Ed Wilson & Renee Chou signal the Big 5, for both Duke Mike Krzyzewski’s fifth national title and WRAL-TV 5.
Covering the Big Win on TV
WRAL-TV also sent a team to Indianapolis. Live reports on all newscasts, including half-hour specials featuring the Duke men’s run for the title before both the Final Four and Championship games, were broadcast from Lucas Oil Stadium back home.
WRAL-TV Chief News Photographer Ed Wilson took the drive from Raleigh to Indy for the big event.
“I have covered a lot huge stories at WRAL, but this was the most exciting,” he said. “The atmosphere was electric from start to finish. The buzz in the air had feeling that something big was about to happened and boy did it. I fortunate to witness and be part of the Blue Devils championship and working with the group in TV didn’t hurt either.”
Find photos from the game, the celebrations back in Durham, and much more on WRALSportsFan.com.
Thanks to 99.9 The Fan’s Joe Ovies for these capcom photos (and to WRAL-TV for the photo in front of Lucas Oil Stadium.)
99.9 The Fan’s Adam Gold (left) & Joe Ovies (right) interview former Blue Devil Bobby Hurley.
99.9 The Fan’s Adam Gold (left) & Joe Ovies (right) interview former Duke Blue Devils’ standout Nolan Smith.
99.9 The Fan’s Joe Ovies (left) & Adam Gold (right) with Rupert from ‘Survivor’.
99.9 The Fan’s Joe Ovies (l to r), Adam Gold and Shannon Penn in front of St. Elmo in Indianapollis.
99.9 The Fan’s Joe Ovies snapped this pic of Quinn Cook with the trophy after the NCAA Championship game.
WRAL-TV’s Tony Gupton (clockwise from back left), Jamie Munden, Jeff Gravley, Mandy Mitchell, Ed Wilson & Renee Chou signal the Big 5, for both Duke Mike Krzyzewski’s fifth national title and WRAL-TV 5.
