Less than two years ago, three men with several decades of combined television production experience started over.

“We had no clients. No money. We started with nothing more than an idea,” John Sprugel said. “We had several local investors that believed in our dream and pitched in to make this happen.”

Today, a calendar on the wall of Niles Media Group’s office off Liberty Drive shows how far the three men — Sprugel, John Dennison and Neil Harwell — have come. Through the group’s remote sports television production business, they’re working up to eight basketball games a week this time of year. Niles produces high school and college games for KCMO-TV, Fox College Sports, CBS College Sports and others.

The work doesn’t end there. Niles assists Liberty Public Schools students in producing content for KLPS-TV Channel 18. Other content production ranges from shooting and editing football highlights for the NFL Network in the fall to producing the Miss Kansas Pageant for Kansas 22.

“No event is too large or too small for us,” Dennison said.

In addition, Niles has a platform agnostic media business with focus on content, sales, and distribution.

Dennison and Harwell founded Metro Sports, the Kansas City area’s first 24-hour local sports channel, and Sprugel joined them three years later. Harwell went on to serve as vice president of business development for the Kansas City Royals, where he was also vice president and general manager of the Royals Sports Television Network.

In 2010, Time Warner, which runs Metro Sports, dropped the over-the-road production side of its business — the work Dennison and Sprugel had been leading. So Dennison and Sprugel, both Liberty High School graduates, teamed up with Harwell to start a media content business in their hometown.

“We are about adding value back into the community where we live,” Harwell said. “And what we do is fun. If you’re not having fun doing this job, something is wrong.”

Last year, the Liberty school district began contracting with Niles for technical support for KLPS Channel 18.

Ann Bertoldie, Liberty’s broadcast teacher and general manager of the TV station, said Niles staff goes above and beyond its contractual duties. They help with editing, software, programming and content support; hold workshops on play-by-play announcing and color announcing; take student interns; hire Liberty graduates and more. Late last year, the student-run station received the coveted Pacemaker Award.

“Niles Media Group has taken what we have had and raised it to the next level,” Bertoldie said.

Niles has plans to continue the growth.

“Our goal is to have our own, original programming,” Dennison said. “Stay tuned.”

Staff writer Nancy Hull Rigdon can be reached at 389-6628 or nancyrigdon@npgco.com.