Students with an interest in nonrevenue sports have a new resource available to them this year thanks to Benjamin Denton and John Hinton, both second-years studying communication. PackIsLife is their live talk show on WKNC, a sports-driven program with a focus on nonrevenue sports.

“It’s kind of like what WKNC does with their music,” Denton said. “They don’t play artists that get played on other stations; they give people that alternative. No one else talks about [nonrevenue sports].”

PackIsLife airs every Wednesday at 5 p.m. and still gives attention to the revenue sports that have national coverage like football and basketball, but the nonrevenue sports get priority in this program.

“We also have content for people who do want to talk about national news,” Hinton said. “[Our show] is basically just so that student-athletes in nonrevenue sports are not minimized.”

Hinton and Denton said that many of the nonrevenue sports have been highly successful, but that many students may not realize this because of the higher priority typically given to revenue sports like football and basketball.

“Women’s soccer is 2-0 right now,” Denton said. “And not many people know that the men’s swim team finished fourth in the nation last year. We have an elite swimming program and nobody really knows. That’s what we want to do; make sure people know.”

A large part of PackIsLife is getting the information about these nonrevenue programs out to the public, especially the student body. The hosts say that their time slot on WKNC helps in terms of viewership.

“We picked five o’clock because we wanted to catch those people coming home from work,” Denton said. “It was important to us to get that window where people are getting in their cars and want to see what’s going on in sports this week at NC State.”

Hinton participated in track and field and swimming in high school, and Denton said the underdog aspect of such sports intrigues him. For instance, track meets may not generate as much public interest while football has rooted itself in American culture. Especially in the South, tailgating and viewing parties are common throughout the football season.

“Part of being a fandom of any sport is the social aspect of it,” Denton said. “Like, ‘why would I be super passionate about this sport if no one else is going to be super passionate with me?’ It’s just built into the culture.”

Both hosts hope the show will be an informational resource. Students might not be into nonrevenue sports because the information is not readily available to them, but they might be more encouraged to try these programs out if it is.

“We’re going to be talking about games coming up throughout the week,” Hinton said. “We’re going to be encouraging students and non-students to go to these events, and we’re going to start with our nonrevenues every time.”

They plan to structure the show similar to Mike and Mike, a talk show on ESPN hosted by Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic. One host talks about the past week’s events and outlines events in the upcoming week while the other commentates. However, Hinton and Denton want the show to be more laid-back.

“We’re not trying to be big, professional talking heads who know everything about sports,” Hinton said. “I’m not just spraying my personal opinions all over the radio. We’re students, and if people tune in, they would get perspectives from other students.”

Their main goal is to provide students with a resource that will last long beyond Denton and Hinton’s academic career at NC State. They want the program to be accessible and long-lasting as a result.

“If ten years from now, I can tune in and hear PackIsLife, that would be just amazing for me,” Denton said. “Our names rhyme because we’re Hinton and Denton. But we didn’t do that because we wanted PackIsLife.”

Because they are both studying communication, they see this talk show as a valuable experience that will help them pursue their professional goals within media. Their goals include increasing their weekly audience and eventually gaining more voices.

“We’re going to try to get student-athletes on the show to talk about their experiences,” Hinton said. “If someone [in a nonrevenue sport] wants to get their name out there, we’d love for them to contact us.”

Anyone who is interested in learning more about PackIsLife can tune into WKNC at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays or contact them through their Twitter handle @PackislifeNCSU.