New SiriusXM station 80, Rural Radio, launched July 15 featuring radio’s first western sports show, which is broadcast from the Dan Rather Communication Building at Sam Houston State University.

The new station, devoted to showcasing the rural lifestyle, will feature a daily hour long program “Western Sports Roundup” hosted by Huntsville native Clint Adkins and SHSU sophomore mass communication major Alexis Bloomer.
The show will enter new territory as the first on the airwaves to cover sports like bull riding, team roping, and barrel racing. Western Sports Roundup (WSR) will provide real-time scores and standings, conduct interviews and broadcast from live events.

WSR will broadcast weekdays at 5 p.m. and aims to bring attention to these sports for a wider audience.

Bloomer said the show would cover a human side of the athletes that isn’t obvious from statistics alone.

“A lot of these people have things about them no one knows,” Bloomer said.

Aside from being on the show, she also is a member of the National Broadcasting Society and has written for Rodeo News Magazine and reported live at the American Country Awards in Las Vegas.

The show, she said, is one more step in her career.

“By the end of this show I’d like to get rodeo in the ESPYS (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award),” Bloomer said.

Adkins is a well-known Professional Bullriders announcer that has worked during the BFTS events in the Live Event Center.

“It’s the same kind of audience,” Adkins said to PBR.com, “and a lot of the same challenges will transcend between the two.”

WSR will cover professional bull riding and Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association events as well as amateur news, high school and college events, and junior high competitions.

The show runs Monday through Friday from 5 to 6 p.m.