NNPS-TV's popular, long-running monthly sports interview show has been broadcast for 28 years, mostly with the same production team of Greg Bicouvaris, a Newport News native who is the show's host/producer, and Ray Price, Instructional Supervisor for the NNPS Telecommunications program, who is the show's director/editor and executive producer.
The very first episode of "Sports Highlights" aired in February of 1992. It featured Menchville High School Tennis Coach Marvin Hedgepeth and the late Jackie Diggs, teacher and principal, as the first guests. Hedgepeth, along with Paul Cummings, who created the show, were guests for the 200th episode, which aired in February of 2011. Cummings was the first supervisor of the Telecom program and the first executive producer of the show. He oversaw "Sports Highlights" from 1992 until his retirement at the end of 2004.
Price has been part of the show's production team since 1993, and succeeded Cummings as the executive producer and director. Several NNPS-TV staff members, including current Telecom Instructor Carl Daniels, Jr., and many Telecom students, have assisted with the production of the show over the years.
On NNPS-TV:
Saturdays and Sundays at 9 a.m., plus Mondays at 7 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m.
Cox Channel 47, Verizon Fios Channel 17, and live streams on Roku or Apple TV and at nnpstv.com/webstream.
See the 300th show on demand:
The show is produced 11 times a year, every month except July.
The show started out in a radio studio with just the two-man team of Cummings and Bicouvaris, but it expanded into a larger television studio the next year.
"Sports Highlights" has had over 760 guests on the show, including such notable athletes and coaches as: Mike London, Jerry Stackhouse, Terry Holland, Bobby Wilder, Frank Beamer, Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker, and D.J. Dozier.
The show has won two Communicator Awards.
Oftentimes, the show features local sports clubs, allowing audiences exposure to lesser-known sports and nearby activities they can participate in, like thru-hiking, underwater hockey, and kickball.
The TV team does many of its interviews in their studio at NNPS-TV, but just as many are done court-side, pool-side, or on the sidelines of the field, where they find sports figures in their typical environment.
The 300th episode is a compilation of some of the most outstanding sports figures who appeared as guests on past shows, including Tyrod Taylor, Aaron Brooks, Bruce Smith, Charles "Lefty" Driesell, Allen Iverson, Serena Williams, Mike Tomlin, Ronald Curry, and Mike Smith.
The "Sports Highlights" team was acknowledged with a proclamation from the Newport News City Council in 2016, in appreciation of 25 years of producing quality programming for the citizens of Newport News. Mayor McKinley Price presented the resolution to Greg Bicouvaris, Ray Price, and Paul Cummings.
The show airs on Cox Cable Channel 47 in Newport News, Verizon Fios Channel 17 in all of Hampton Roads, and via live stream on Roku or Apple TV, or on the web at nnpstv.com/webstream. Showtimes are Saturdays and Sundays at 9 a.m., plus Mondays at 7 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m.
The shows are also available on demand on Roku, Apple TV, and on the NNPS-TV Video Site and YouTube.
'Sports Highlights' receives proclamation from City Council