Get on "The Bus." That's the message for Iowa State fans with today's official announcement that play-by-play coverage of Cyclone football and men's basketball will be moving to Des Moines music station KDRB, 100.3 FM, a.k.a. "The Bus." After several years on KXNO-AM ("The Scooter?"), it's a welcome and overdue upgrade. And it gives us reason to look at the past, as well as the future, of ISU sports broadcasting.

There was a time where central Iowa's radio airwaves were littered with Cyclone broadcasts of every game. Before exclusive networks were the rule, any station that wanted to do games could and many of them created their own mini networks in the state. You had Pete Taylor doing games on KRNT, Frank Snyder on WOI and Warren Swain on KMA, to name the most prominent. And yes, even Jim Zabel called Iowa State (and Drake) basketball games on WHO in addition to his gig as voice of the Hawkeyes.

Of course, Taylor emerged as the preeminent play-by-play announcer for Iowa State games and will always be the greatest sports broadcaster the state has ever known. His untimely death in 2003 cut short a career that exceeded all others in every area except longevity. There have been other good ones, but none as great as Pete. Through multiple partners like Dan Grimm, Mike Schwartz, Eric Heft and others, Taylor was so good that he is revered and beloved and universally adored even though the losses he called far outnumbered the wins. THAT is a great play-by-play man.

While the expansion of television coverage has minimized the importance of radio play-by-play, it's still a major component in any school's communications and exposure strategy. Gone are the days where your radio play-by-play voice painted the only pictures available for almost every game. TV cameras on the sidelines were a rare sight and even when ABC anointed the Cyclones for a coveted television appearance, we STILL listened to Pete because it just wasn't an Iowa State game without him. Even so, there's still something about a radio call that can never be duplicated by television and for that reason, there will always be a place for radio play-by-play.

Of course, the term "radio" is applying to a lot more things these days. If you listen to a game via internet streaming, are you listening to the radio? If you pull in the audio bouncing off a Sirius satellite, are you listening to the radio? If you download a podcast, is that listening to the radio? The delivery technology is always changing and that's been true since the days of the NBC Blue and Red Networks through the rich sounds of FM elevator music to the virtually flawless digital audio of today's iPod age. A smaller percentage of fans are listening to games on traditional radio than ever before, but it's still the universal means by which a fan in Iowa can enjoy a Cyclone game no matter what he (or she) is doing that day or night.

You can't watch TV and drive; at least you shouldn't. You can't surf the internet and drive; at least you shouldn't. You can't tuck a TV or computer inside your suit coat and listen to a game via earplug at your dopey relative's wedding on a football Saturday. But in each case, radio is there. But for what it offers in dependability, portability and simplicity, the truth about traditional radio play-by-play is that it's more the past than it is the future. So while Iowa State and radio monolith Clear Channel stand to generate a lot of revenue from radio coverage in the coming years, ISU must continue to aggressively develop its new media delivery strategy as well.

If I live in Newton or Knoxville or New Providence, I can get on The Bus this fall. But what if I live in Northridge or (the other) Knoxville or New Brunswick? Using the internet and satellite to deliver game coverage around the country and around the world has been a shortcoming for Iowa State in recent years and it must catch up. These media ARE the future. ISU's partnership with Yahoo! has been marred by terribly inconsistent and unreliable delivery to the point that even a modest $4.95 a month charge was too expensive for people who never knew how much of a game they could hear, if any. Now that Clear Channel has delved into streaming its audio on-line, perhaps it takes hold of and cleans up the Cyclones' internet product as well.

And as computers become the combination television/radio/newspaper/magazine that is inevitable and wireless internet becomes as commonplace as Trev Alberts saying something stupid, there's no reason for Iowa State to not have every game televised. That is, producing its own TV coverage on the internet. Where the Big 12 TV package falls down, which is everywhere, ISU needs to pick itself up and make televised games readily available to every fan that wants to pay for it, not only nationwide but worldwide. Clear Channel doesn't own the internet – not yet anyway – but if it's a true partner with Iowa State it must work with the university and the athletic department to develop this revenue and exposure stream ahead of the curve and not behind it.

One thing that hasn't changed is this: advertising revenue drives the bus. Not only on "The Bus," but on any and every commercial radio station in existence. So while Iowa State wants and needs to expand its radio network to cover every square inch of Iowa and as much of neighboring states as possible, too, it can't do it alone. Clear Channel has to build and develop a network of affiliates that will really work to make their coverage successful from a financial standpoint, and not just go out trolling for easy money. And ISU supporters that own and manage businesses need to be willing to make that donation – which is what it is – to get games on the air where they live. The radio industry is a lot of things but more than anything else, it's the dance between stingy business owners and clueless sales people. Getting those two groups to consummate enough deals around Iowa's town squares is the ultimate challenge for Iowa State, Clear Channel and the Cyclone Radio Network.

But you've got to like the chances with the people involved. Jamie Pollard from ISU, Clear Channel's Joel McCrea and Learfield's Cyclone Sports Properties team, another element to the mix altogether. How do all these people and entities fit together to make money for the Iowa State athletic department? Heck if I know, but they're the right people with a great blend of passionate Cyclones and savvy communications professionals. Yes the times have changed and, by golly, it looks like Iowa State might be keeping up with them.