French Camp native Jason Crowder is in his first season as play-by-play voice of the Mississippi State University women’s basketball team on the Bulldog Sports Network.

A graduate of French Camp Academy and MSU, Crowder is the sports programming director at WFCA-FM, a 100,000-watt station on the campus of French Camp Academy in Choctaw County.

Crowder also is the play-by-play voice of East Mississippi Community College football and French Camp Academy football, as well as host of the Friday Night High School Football Scoreboard Show for WFCA.

Crowder received a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from MSU.

What has it been like to be voice of the Lady Bulldogs?

It is a dream come true. To be able to be in this business and then to be able to do play-by-play for your alma mater, the school you grew up rooting for, it is an honor, and I have truly been blessed by God.

It is an experience I am still getting used to. It is has been a lot of fun. I am looking forward to finishing out the season, hopefully on a high note.

How much time to do you spend on game prep? And how do you do it?

I get a scouting report from the coaches. I look over that and try to get to know the team we are playing. In basketball, you have a short turnaround. You don’t get a chance to watch other teams much when you travel, so it is more about studying notes and reading up on the stats and roster.

Until you get into a game, you don’t feel comfortable. The first couple of minutes can trip you up, no matter how much you prepare. The main thing is learning the players. I like to write out key statistics, so I have them for quick reference.

The other thing I learned is you have to have a lot of things in your head. If a certain player shoots a 3-pointer, you need to know immediately what that means. I like to script a lot of stuff before a broadcast, but the more you script, the more likely something is going to be changed on you.

When did you first realize you wanted to go into broadcasting?

When I realized I wasn’t going to be an athlete. Actually, I am kidding. When I was somewhere around 10, I felt like I wanted to go into television, doing news or weather. It was broad for me. When I started doing radio, I fell in love with it. However, I really didn’t start following sports until I was in junior high.

A lot of people start going to games when they are 4 or 5. That was not the case for me. However, I took a liking to it right away. Sports became a passion, an obsession. Then I decided I wanted to go into sports broadcasting. When you are a kid, you have dreams. You don’t realize that odds are not with you to carry out those dreams. However, God has blessed me beyond belief. Some people will ask ‘When are you going on to something big?’ To me, this is big.

Why is radio your main interest?

I always joke with people I have a face made for radio and I don’t look good enough to be on TV. The only TV experience I have was when I was a broadcast student here at State. Radio was more easily available to me. WFCA is where I got my start. It is connected to French Camp Academy, the Christian school home I graduated from. Everything fell into place.

I have been in radio since 1997. It has always come easier for me, since I had more experience in the field. The opportunity to start (and still work) at WFCA has been a life-changing experience.

Can you share with us a brief version of the French Camp Academy story and the role it plays in the community?

French Camp Academy, the town of French Camp, and WFCA are a special place. Unique is another word I would use to describe it. The Christian faith is alive and well there. Everyone is kind to one another. They do things to benefit the community. Another word is hospitality. The folks are very hospitable.

If you come to French Camp Academy or WFCA, you will leave there saying that it is a unique place and it is like no other place I have ever been. It does not mean we are better than other places. It just means we are different. There is something unique about it. I invite everybody to come out to French Camp. There is a lot of history there. It is a great place.

The influence on the community is that positive Christian influence and mental attitude. There are somewhere around 300 students, including 200 or so dorm students. Morgan Freeman’s granddaughter went to school there. Tyra Banks’ niece went there. Oprah Winfrey has stayed there when she comes back to Kosciusko because it is a quiet, secluded place.

It is a boarding school, along with a community school. It is private in that there is a fee to attend school there. However, French Camp competes in the Mississippi High School Activities Association against other public schools. The community is welcome to go there.

EMCC won a national championship in football this season. Is it safe to say your association with them as a play-by-play broadcaster has been a lot of fun, especially this season?

The people at EMCC are first class. (Media Relations director) David Rosinski, (athletic director) Mickey Stokes, (president) Dr. (Rick) Young, and (football coach) Buddy Stephens are all friends of mine. I wouldn’t take the experience I have had working with them for any other. I dreamed I would love a position like this at Mississippi State. I never would have dreamed I would love a position like this at EMCC so much. But I really do. I am a huge fan.

Being their broadcaster for football has been an amazing experience. To be able to be a part of a national championship team was an incredible experience. The thing with EMCC is everybody there is family. Everyone works well with one another. Everyone works on the same page for promotion. Between basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball, all of their athletic programs are on the up and up. The academics are strong, too. This is a great time to be a part of the EMCC family.

How do you and your staff go about putting together the Friday Night High School Football Scoreboard Show?

(The idea to do the show) came about when a guy in the community came up to me at a high school football game and said, ‘We need a scoreboard show on.’ I was doing some stuff with Eupora High School. We would run some scores after the game. But this guy suggested we do a full-blown scoreboard show.

Our goal was to look around at some of the scores from the area and it has really grown from there. It has turned into a big seller for the radio station. It has been a popular program. We feel truly blessed to have that as part of WFCA’s sports programming. We take a look around the state. We have interviews with spot reporters and coaches. It seems to have a good flow and people really like it.

I don’t want to say WFCA started a scoreboard show craze, but when we started, there was a (Mississippi Network) scoreboard show and that was about it. Now there are a lot of local shows, which is great for the state.

It is great for these areas. I think a lot of people flip through the channels and are not locked into me for an hour-and-a-half. Some are, like my mom. I think this has been good to help promote high school football in the state. There are a lot of good local shows out there.

With your increased broadcasting load, are you watching other broadcasters and taking notes about things you like or don’t like?

I am still a rookie at play-by-play. This was my third year of doing football, and first doing basketball. EMCC gave me the opportunity to start and get into a flow. Entering this season, I had only called two basketball games and that was filling in for Bart Gregory. It is a God thing that I got through those two games because I had no clue. Doing a broadcast at (University of) Tennessee, I simply prayed to get through it.

I did not know how Bart prepared. I did not know how to do starting lineups. This is still very much a learning experience. I do take notes about other broadcasters. I love to talk to other announcers and get their feedback about the best things to do. I plan to do more of that this summer when they have time for me and I have time for them.

Hopefully, next year, if given the opportunity to continue, I will be even better. Everyone one in this business wants to have a Jack Cristil-type career. Few are really blessed to have that opportunity. The key is making the most out of your opportunity.

Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.