History
Over five decades of pioneering outdoor and sports television.
JM Associates was built in Little Rock, Arkansas on a simple idea: take a television camera to places it had never been, and show audiences a sport the way the people living it actually experienced it. From that idea grew a production company that has shaped the look and feel of outdoor and sports broadcasting for more than 50 years — and helped turn fishing from a backyard pastime into prime-time television.
JM Associates produced the first-ever live television broadcast of a Bassmaster tournament, putting competitive fishing on the air in real time for the first time in history.
What seems routine today — following anglers cast-by-cast, cutting between boats on the water, building drama around a tournament leaderboard — had never been attempted live before JM put it on the air. That broadcast became the template for modern fishing coverage, and the production techniques developed for it are still recognizable in outdoor programming today.
Jerry McKinnis & the Birth of Outdoor TV
JM Associates carries the initials of Jerry McKinnis, one of the most influential figures in the history of outdoor television. Long before "outdoor programming" was its own television category, McKinnis was on the water with a camera crew, hosting and producing The Fishin' Hole — a show that introduced generations of viewers to bass fishing and proved that fishing could carry a television audience.
It was McKinnis who brought the idea of having Saturday and Sunday blocks of outdoor programming to ESPN. He along with legendary sports producer Bill Fitts created what would become ESPN Outdoors. McKinnis Executive Produced many shows for EO like The Spanish Fly, The FLW Tour, The Redfish Cup, ESPN's Great Outdoor Games, The Madfin Shark Series along with many others.
McKinnis went on to co-own the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society's televised tournament coverage and played a central role in growing the Bassmaster brand into the cornerstone of competitive fishing television. His belief that outdoor sports deserved the same broadcast quality, storytelling, and production values as any major league sport became the founding philosophy of JM Associates — and it still guides every production the company takes on today.
Why It Matters
Before Jerry McKinnis, fishing on television meant a host narrating over edited footage. After him, it meant live leaderboards, on-the-water cameras, and tournament-style drama — the format every modern fishing broadcast still follows.
Key Partnerships
Over five decades, JM Associates has built long-running relationships with some of the biggest names in sports and outdoor media — bringing broadcast-quality production to events and programs across the country.
B.A.S.S. & the Bassmaster Tournament Trail
From that first live broadcast forward, JM has remained closely tied to Bassmaster, producing tournament coverage that turned weigh-ins, leaderboards, and on-the-water competition into appointment viewing for millions of anglers.
STIHL Timbersports Series
JM Associates has produced the STIHL Timbersports Series since inception. For 50+ years JM has brought the speed, precision, and athleticism of Timbersports competition to television with the same live-event production approach used in all Major Sports Programming.
FOX Sports
JM Associates has produced content for FOX Sports, bringing outdoor sports competitions to a national audience with the same high-quality production standards applied to all major sports programming.
Mark Zona
JM Associates has collaborated with Mark Zona, bringing his expertise in outdoor sports and hunting to high-quality broadcast productions that reach audiences nationwide.
ESPN & ESPN Outdoors
As ESPN built out its outdoor sports programming, JM Associates was there to produce it — bringing fishing, hunting, and other outdoor competitions to a national cable audience with the same polish as ESPN's mainstream sports coverage.
Alongside these flagship partnerships, JM has worked with networks, tournament organizations, and outdoor brands across the country — lending our studio, fiber connectivity, and remote production truck to broadcasts that needed a crew who could show up, set up, and go live without missing a beat.