SUPER SUNDAY MEANS SUPER WEEK AT KSAZ

“It’s a good time to be Fox10 Phoenix,” says KSAZ Creative Services Director Jim Girodo. Clearly the man has a gift for understatement.

Let’s review. The Fox O&O is not only broadcasting Super Bowl XLII, but the game will be played in its own backyard, which just happens to be the birthplace of the America’s newest singing sensation who was discovered (I’m not making this up) by KSAZ and (I’m almost through) she’ll be singing the national anthem.

So how will the station take advantage of this embarrassment of promotional riches? Every way it can.

“All week long our morning team and our primetime evening newscasts will originate from the University of Phoenix Stadium. We’ll also broadcast live from the NFL Experience,” says Girodo. referring to the league’s traveling multimedia theme park that is setting up shop in Glendale, Ariz.

In person, the Experience sets you back $17.50 for adults or $12.50 for kids 12 and under, for everything from player autograph sessions and live chats with the coaches to instructional clinics for aspiring athletes or cheerleaders. In other words, it’s a treasure trove of feature stories for Fox10 News. Plus, gate proceeds benefit the NFL’s designated Arizona charity, the Youth Education Town.

“And even when we’re not on the air,” says Girodo, “we’ve tried to add a real broadcast experience to the NFL Experience. We’re inviting viewers and tourists to visit the Fox10 Experience. Every visitor can sit behind our anchor desk and become a Fox10 sportscaster for at least 30 seconds.”

All visitors get a free souvenir of their video adventure. “We post those videos on our Web site so people can download their performance and save it on their home computers,” Girodo says.

In fact the MyFoxPhoenix.com home page already invites viewers to Be an Honorary Sportscaster, and provides an easy downloading tutorial—just one of dozens of the features gathered together on one webpage that the station calls its Super Bowl Buffet. (The station also serves up a year-round Weather Buffet.)

This Super Bowl cornucopia is designed to appeal equally Fox10 viewers and first-time Arizona tourists. “It’s a concerted effort to help people learn about the Super Bowl and Phoenix when they come here. It’s an aggregate of all the information you need from the teams that are playing to renting cars or booking a hotel room.”

In fact the station expects at least half the visitors to the Fox10 Experience will come from out-of-town. But this Super Sunday marks an amazing homecoming for one very special Glendale, Arizona native: Jordin Sparks, the winner of last year’s American Idol competition. Which is also on Fox—and that’s not even the best part.

“We discovered Jordin Sparks in our Arizona Idol auditions at a local mall,” Girodo says. “We sent her to Seattle for one of the official auditions for Randy, Simon and Paula. And she made it to the show and then she won! She’s singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl which is right in Glendale which is her home town. So we’re doing a lot of stuff with Jordin.”

Like the man said, “It’s a good time to be Fox 10.”

But conspicuously absent from Fox10’s on air and broadband coverage are obvious ties to local sponsors—no doubt because of the virtual barbed-wire fence that the NFL erects around the Super Bowl event, name and trademark. No matter.

“I know our sales department is maximizing advertising as much as they possibly can,” Girodo says. “I guarantee our sales guys are selling all the Super Bowl time in every way they can.”

Predictably, it’s the sales crew that gets to go to the game itself, as they squire the station’s top clients. But don’t feel bad for Jim or his promo team.

“No, we don’t get to go to the game,” he says philosophically, but our staff is involved with all kinds of great parties. There’s the Gridiron Greats who are coming to town. And Paris Hilton is hosting a party in Scottsdale. Naturally we’re going to partake in those things.”

As for Jim himself? “I’m a big football fan so personally I’m looking forward to the NFL Experience. That’ll be a lot of fun. And we’ve never done anything like the Fox10 Experience before. We’re going to have a good time with that.”

And who knows? They just might discover the Jordin Sparks of sportscasting in the bargain.

Market Share by Arthur Greenwald showcases successful local marketing, promotion and sales efforts every Monday in TVNEWSDAY.COM. Come on! Be your own cheerleader! Tell us about your winning efforts by writing to Arthur at greenwald@tvnewsday.com.