In a special edition to our normal two Game – “Game of the Week” schedule, VSN has added a third game that will be broadcast LIVE from Southwest High School on Saturday September 11th 2021 as the Kofa Kings (0-1) take on the Southwest Eagles (1-2). Along with this additional game, we are proud to announce that calling this game will be familiar TV personalities Scott Gross (Sports Director – CBS 13) and Cole Johnson (Friday Night Lights Producer – KYMA 11). “Both Scott and Cole have extensive broadcast history in Play Calling and will be a great addition for our viewers at home to enjoy as we are always exploring our options to improve our production value for the valley markets”, said Eric Swain (Creative Director for VSN).
Scott Gross
Courtesy KYMA.comScott Gross joins the KYMA team as the CBS 13 sports director and weather forecaster. Scott comes to the Desert Southwest all the way from Alaska where he covered the military and education beats for KTVA-TV & KTUU-TV. Scott spent over three years in Alaska and forged a strong relationship with community. Scott was awarded a 2018 Goldie Award for his breaking news coverage as a reporter and also the 2019 NEA Alaska Silver Bell award for his coverage of education across the state of Alaska. One of Scott’s best memories of Alaska was traveling with the military and covering the 2019 Iditarod dog sled race. Prior to working in Alaska, Scott worked in South Dakota as an anchor/reporter/producer with Mount Rushmore as a fixture in his backyard.
Before getting into television, Scott worked in radio for over a decade as a sports director calling high school and college sporting events, Scott won numerous AP awards for his sports play by play and coverage. Scott graduated from Brown Institute in Mendota Heights, Minnesota in 1998 with a AA in radio and television broadcasting and also earned his play by play certificate. Scott returned to college in 2012 by enrolling at St. Cloud State University where he majored in Mass Communications. While at SCSU, Scott worked with the sports teams and was the college radio station’s sports director and play by play voice and traveled with the Men’s hockey team to their first and only frozen four appearance in Pittsburg, PA. Scott has many years on play by play experience which includes work at the college DI, II and junior college levels.
Cole Johnson
courtesy KYMA.comI started out broadcasting in undergraduate at Medaille College (Buffalo, NY) – co-hosting a radio show “Beyond the Box Score” covering all of our athletic teams and subsequently calling Play-by-Play for all of our sports for every home game, as well. I ended up getting the opportunity to call over 200 games over three years, so that was great!
Following that, I went to S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University for a Broadcast & Digital Journalism Master’s degree. There, I covered the Syracuse football and Men’s and Women’s basketball teams. I also took on Play-by-Play duties at LeMoyne College (a DII school nearby) for several sports.
Then, I got the job as Anchor/Producer at KYMA-TV in Yuma, AZ this winter. Upon the start of the fall season, I joined the Friday Night Lights crew and now anchor alongside Rob Fram on Friday nights.
