Reading Royals

Background

The Reading Royals are a professional hockey team competing in the ECHL, where live broadcasting plays an essential role in connecting with fans and supporting the business side of the organisation.

Erik Jesberger serves as Communications Director and play-by-play broadcaster, managing everything from live commentary and marketing to community relations and player appearances. In his role, success means more than calling the game - it also means helping drive ticket and merchandise sales, promoting upcoming fixtures, and building strong connections with fans.

For Jesberger, broadcasting is an extension of the fan experience, helping bring supporters closer to the team wherever they are.

The Challenge

Before adopting Mixlr, the Royals distributed their play-by-play coverage through traditional, local outlets, including BCTV and local radio. While effective for fans in the area, these channels limited their ability to reach audiences outside the region.

As the team evolved its digital strategy - particularly after pandemic-era disruptions - they wanted to expand access and make broadcasts available on demand, from anywhere.

At the same time, the Royals weren’t just thinking about game commentary. They were also producing a bi-weekly radio show featuring player stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, and off-ice content that helped fans connect with the team on a deeper level.

They needed a solution that could support both use cases; Live game commentary and Regular behind-the-scenes radio programming.

And it needed to be:

• Reliable and easy to run alongside existing broadcasts
• Free and accessible for fans
• Flexible enough to support both live and on-demand listening
• High quality for replay and highlight content

The Solution

Mixlr gave the Royals a simple, dependable platform for sharing live and on-demand audio - whether broadcasting a game or producing behind-the-scenes radio content.

Today, their distribution strategy includes:

• Mixlr for live and on-demand audio
• FloSports for video broadcasts
• 99.3 FM for in-arena audio coverage

This setup allows fans to choose how they engage - watching, listening live, or catching up later.

Beyond game nights, Mixlr also powers the team’s bi-weekly radio show, streamed from a local restaurant. With a compact, portable setup, Jesberger can broadcast from the rink, a restaurant, or wherever the team happens to be. The show blends hockey analysis with player stories and personality-driven conversations, helping fans feel more connected to the people behind the jerseys.

Seamless Implementation & Key Features

Implementation was straightforward and integrated easily into the Royals’ existing setup.

Jesberger runs a professional-quality setup using a Comrex board connected via XLR directly to a MacBook Pro, feeding Mixlr alongside his remote commentary tools. Despite the professional output, the setup itself is simple and reliable - producing crisp audio that often becomes the preferred source for highlights and post-game content.

Key features supporting their workflow

• 🎙 Reliable live streaming using existing equipment
• 🌍 Global access for fans anywhere
• 🔁 On-demand playback for both games and radio shows
• 💬 Live chat for fan interaction, trivia, and giveaways
• 🎧 Professional audio quality suitable for repurposing content

Adoption was smooth because Mixlr simply fit into their normal broadcast process - no major changes required.

Game-Changing Impact

Since adopting Mixlr, the Royals have strengthened both their reach and their fan engagement.

Listenership grows alongside team performance, with steady regular-season audiences and major spikes during playoff runs and key game moments. Typical broadcasts maintain consistent concurrent listeners, with numbers climbing significantly during overtime and postseason games. Beyond metrics, the impact includes:

• 📈 Expanded reach beyond local broadcast markets
• 🎧 A reliable audio-only option for fans on the go
• 🎙️ A second content channel through the behind-the-scenes radio show
• 💬 Stronger fan interaction through live chat and real-time engagement

The mix of live commentary and personality-driven radio content helps keep fans connected throughout the season - not just on game nights.

Conclusion: Why Mixlr?

For the Reading Royals, Mixlr has become a core part of how they communicate with fans.

It supports both sides of their audio strategy - delivering professional live game commentary while also giving space for deeper storytelling through radio shows and on-demand content.

By combining reliability, ease of use, and free accessibility for fans, Mixlr helps the Royals stay connected to their audience wherever they are - before, during, and beyond the game.