Bid, buy and support Big Blue!

That’s the message the Clinton County High School Basketball Booster Club hopes the community remembers come Friday night when the long-running annual Booster Club / WANY Radio Auction is set for yet another edition.

The annual fundraiser for C.C.H.S. varsity basketball is set to fill the airwaves of local radio station WANY this Friday night, February 16.

As has long been the case with the auction, the event will be headquartered from the Clinton County High School cafeteria, getting underway at 5:00 p.m. and continuing until all of the items have been sold.

For most years in the program’s history, it has continued to the station’s scheduled time to “sign-off” at 10:00 p.m.

The program has traditionally been held as the “buffer” event between the end of regular season basketball games and the start of the 16th District Tournament, the opening of post-season play for Clinton County’s varsity basketball teams.

The 2017-18 regular season play is scheduled to close this Thursday night, when the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs play host to 4th Region opponent Barren County.

Then next week, action moves into the 16th Distict tournament, which will be hosted this year by Clinton County and is slated to be played Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

For the past few weeks, Booster Club members, made up mostly of parents and guardians of Lady Bulldog and Bulldog basketball players, have been soliciting local individuals, professionals and business owners, for donations of services and merchandise that will be featured during the radio auction segments.

The auction will once again find long-time co-hosts Al Gibson and Jack Flowers playing the part of on-the-air hosts as they describe to listeners the products being sold during each of the program’s segments.

Most items will be featured in segments that are approximately three minutes long, with bids being allowed from both audience members who are listening to the program over the WANY airwaves, as well as from those who are actually attending the auction “live” from the high school cafeteria site.

Listeners to the program can tune into the WANY frequency of 100.9 FM, and subscribers to the Mediacom cable television service in Clinton County can also tune to Channel 16, the local access channel, where WANY’s programming is simulcast.

Listeners who find an interest in one or more of the items being sold in each segment, can place bids by calling (606) 387-5569.

The auction utilizes the “roll-over” system at the high school, which allows the use of only one phone number now, with calls automatically being routed to the next available phone worker.

Gibson explained that in order to be fair to those who were bidding from their homes and listening to the program via the radio, the final 30 seconds of each segment allows bids to be taken over the phones only.

“The antics that sometimes go on among those gathered in the cafeteria can be very entertaining as well,” Gibson said, noting that challenges among bidders can also often drive the price of an item up even beyond its market value.

He also noted that with the advent of the cellular telephone, even those attending the auction inside the cafeteria are now able to get in on the bidding proccess during those final 30 seconds, which can make the process even more fun and entertaining for everyone as well.

Gibson, who has been at the microphone on auction night since the very first edition, says that the process has been refined over the years, and the format on auction night will basically remain the same.

Gibson’s on-air partner, Jackie Flowers, joined the program several years ago after the late Sid Scott stepped down from his work as co-host of the radio auction.

Scott and Gibson came up with the idea for the fundraising event during the initial years after the formation of the Basketball Booster Club back in the early 1980s.

Scott, who for many decades was the “Voice of the Bulldogs” and broadcast game action for WANY, passed away in 2015 after a brief illness.

The first few auctions were based out of “Studio A” at the WANY location, with just a few people on hand and the bulk of the bidding coming from bids being placed through telephone calls.

As the program’s popularity grew, along with the number of people wanting to be on-site during the auction, the headquarters was moved to the high school cafeteria, which allowed more room for particiapnts and workers, as well as more room to display the items that would be featured for sale.

In addition to Gibson’s and Flowers’ work that night as on-the-air hosts, the cafeteria will be filled with other people helping with the other duties associated with the program, including merchandise organizers, bid description board workers, and final bid tally keepers.

The basic premise of the auction is unchanged from years past, with a group of three or more items or services being described over the air and listed on a large bulletin board at the cafeteria for segments that usually last for just three minutes.

Bidders calling in over the phone or in person can continue to raise the bids on items until the segment ends, winning bidders are announced and the process starts all over again with a completely new lineup of items.

From time to time, items that have significant value, are deemed to be “big-ticket” items and will be isolated to run for multiple segment lengths.

Those “big ticket” items canrange from handmade items to houseboat or pontoon boat rentals or basketball related items such as tickets to college games or even basketballs that have been autographed by the varsity squads and more.

The array of items that will be featured for the bulk of the program will be smaller items that will be as varied and interesting as it has ever been, normally ranging from clothing to health and personal services to furniture and tools.

Food items are always a big favorite with the bidders, especially when the homemade pies, cakes and cookies come across the board.

The radio auction is designed as a way to raise funds to help with expenses associated with the varsity basketball program in Clinton County.

The premise behind the Booster Club and the fundraising events is to give the small high school program a boost in providing materials and opportunities to its student-athletes that might not otherwise be possible on an often strained athletic budget.

While larger schools in larger communities and cities are often able to go the extra mile, smaller programs like the one here often work on shoestring budgets and additional fundraising efforts such as the ones planned for this weekend are just one attempt at reaching for some status of financial equality with the larger programs.

The items that are auctioned off during the program Friday night have been donated to the effort by local business owners, professionals and individuals who always step forward with fantastic offerings that make the effort a tremendous success each and every year.

Items that will be sold Friday night can be picked up during or after the auction at the C.C.H.S. cafeteria that night for awhile following the end of the program, and an additional pick-up day will also be announced throughout the program for those who can’t make it out Friday night.

While most of the items being sold will actually be on hand for pick-up by the winning bidders, other items and services that have been sold will involve gift certificates that can be taken to the vendor.

Bidders using the telephone will be asked to state a bid amount as well as the caller’s name.

If a caller is out-bid by another caller or in-house bidder during a particular segment, then placing a new bid is as simple as making another phone call and placing a new bid on the item.

When bidding has ended on a group of featured items, new items are then presented and described, and the process starts over again.

Gibson also remarked that the true spirit of our community always is a positive aspect when events of this nature are held, especially when it comes to benefiting the local youth population.

“The bottom line is, and the ultimate goal will be to, once again, do the most we can do to help our youth – the varsity basketball players who are wearing the blue and white uniforrms and are representing our home county,” Gibson said. “Bid, buy and support the Big Blue.”