Hardee, Suggs still broadcast football games after 40 years

Loris Broadcasting Radio Sports (LBI) was live from Green Sea Floyds Luther Enzor Field recently.  The pre-game show begins at 6:30 p.m. followed by the 7:30 p.m. kickoff.  LBI Radio owners Glenn Hardee and Mike Suggs provided a play-by-play account of the game, players and action as it takes place. 

Both Hardee and Suggs graduated from Loris High School in 1981. After graduation Hardee began working at WLSC Radio in Loris working with Suggs.  Hardee graduated from Coastal Carolina University in 1985 majoring in business administration, with an emphasis in finance. Suggs graduated from USC Coastal Carolina in 1985 and studied law at USC School of Law and graduated in 1992.

Hardee and Suggs began broadcasting the Loris High School football games in the fall of 1986.  He said, “It was the first time I had been on the air in the press box presenting a play-by-play account of a Lions game.”  This is seasonal work, though they work together to build the business throughout the year.

Hardee has been intrigued in broadcasting and music.  He said, “Mike and I have been friends for over 50 years, from the first day of the first grade”. He continued, “In high school I would hang out at the radio station with Mike as music has always been a passion of mine.”  He said it felt like a good fit to transition into broadcasting in which Suggs was instrumental in making the LBI Radio broadcasting possible. In 1979 at the age of 16 Suggs was working at WLSC Radio and just recently celebrated his 40th year in broadcasting.

During a broadcast Hardee said he is aware that he is from the south and makes an effort to avoid the accent.  He said with a laugh, “I try not to say ain’t too much.”  During the broadcast he is aware of the players of each team by using the rosters. Both Suggs and Hardee use binoculars to assist with viewing what player has the ball; it isn’t always easy when the player with the ball is under a pile of players from the opposing team; they wait until they clear off to see the jersey number coming out from under the pile.

Hardee stated that they have discussed using Facebook Live to broadcast the games and did go live a few times.  He said, “It went well and people liked it, however, we would need a person dedicated to focusing on the video;” he continued, “meaning we would have to hire another team member, which we may do at one point.”

Both Hardee and Suggs enjoy broadcasting from the beginning to the end.  What people hear on Friday nights is just a small part of what it takes as preparation begins as early as May for the upcoming season.  Before the games begin in August they are contacting sponsors and securing advertisers then write and record the commercial copies.  They provide the paperwork for the South Carolina High School League, where they contact each high school for clearance to broadcast the game. The principals from both schools must approve the broadcast before air date.  LHS has always approved the broadcasts; however, in past years other high schools have rejected the request to broadcast the game.  Hardee said, “The issue of the school’s decision not to broadcast is that the fans will not attend the game and they lose ticket sales.” 

Suggs handles the technical aspects by securing phone lines to transmit the signal to the station when they travel outside of Loris.  Each week they spend 15-20 hours preparing for a broadcast which includes creating the commercials, when the commercials run and how many times during the game a sponsor’s commercial is repeated.  Hardee said they include ‘preps” which is gathering as much information as possible on both teams, records, stats, player bios and information about the coaches.  He said, “We pride ourselves on the information that we put out during the broadcast, we gather as much information as we can leading up to Friday night.”  . 

When pre-season practices and the season begins the coaches are in their zone. Hardee said, “I don’t like to bother Coach Snyder because I know he is preparing for practice or a game.”  He stated that Snyder was always available and accommodating to meet with both he and Suggs for an interview for the broadcast each week and extends his gratitude to him for giving his time for the half-time show.

This season the Lions lost 17 players to the June 2019 graduation class.  It takes time to build a team back for a winning season.  However, during the summer months the team utilized the weight room and other preparations before the official practice began.  Hardee and Suggs spend time each week watching the Lions practice; afterwards they mingle with the players and give the player interviews they run during the broadcasts.    Each week they select the dirtiest player and provide them with a plaque sponsored by Caines Dry Cleaning Service.  They also choose the best player of the game and give a plaque to each one with their name, date of the game and the opponent which they present to the players at the Winter Athletic Banquet.

“When I am ready to go on the air to give a play-by-play of the game I get pumped up;” says Hardee, “of course being a big sports fan to begin with, especially football, the game itself pumps me up.” 

His favorite college teams are the Clemson Tigers and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.  He has reasons for rooting for each team. He said, “I like them both.  It will remain a secret who I pull for when they play each other.”  Suggs is a die-hard Gamecock fan.

“I do not see us stopping or retiring from broadcasting any time soon, we love it so much,” says Hardee, “every season Mike and I kind of look at the season that just ended and ask what can we do different, what can we do better or any new ideas we can bring to the broadcast.”   They also explore the possibility of acquiring new equipment to make the listening experience better for the fans.  He said, “Loris Broadcasting Incorporated is an independent company of the radio station, it has nothing to do with Banana Jack or WLSC, we simply buy time from him, we actually pay him to air the broadcast.”  He says much of the technical end is through the studio equipment.  Hardee said, “We certainly want to thank Jack Murphy for the way he has accommodated us all the years that we’ve broadcasted.”  He also wants to extend his gratitude to the coaching staff for making themselves accessible to he and Suggs during the season and to Principal Crumley for agreeing to allow them to come in and broadcast the games.  He said, “Mostly we want to thank the fans for tuning in and listening to the game every Friday night.” 

Listen to Hardee and Suggs each week and thank J.T. the Stat Machine who provides the game night statistics and The Maestro Zac who is the engineer at the station making sure everything runs smoothly during the broadcast.

To listen to the games, both away and at home, the dial-in phone line is 641-793-3888. Audio is now available to the Lions fans that are unable to attend the game.  Other options for listening to the Lions games would be to download the Google Play Store App Tune-In, listen streaming live from Tigerradio.com on a smart phone or computer or on the radio am dial 1240. 

Hardee said the best way to watch the game is come to the stadium and cheer on the Lions from the stands.