Speaker 1: Last episode, we covered some of the unique challenges facing
Speaker 1: college football broadcasters amid the global pandemic.
Speaker 2: But football is a different animal altogether. There's so many
Speaker 2: moving parts, so many things to see, and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden it was, oh, okay, this will be challenging.
Speaker 1: This is today we unpack a little more.
Speaker 2: You have to almost go and thinking, okay, there's certain things.
Speaker 2: If I miss it's going to happen, and I can't
Speaker 2: beat myself up over it.
Speaker 1: How did announcers learn from the experience and how will
Speaker 1: broadcasting change, if at all, in the future from the
Speaker 1: solid verbal This is a special production, So.
Speaker 3: Now what.
Speaker 4: Welcome back.
Speaker 1: I'm Ty hilden Brandt, joined as always by Dan Rubinstein.
Speaker 1: In part one, we talked a little bit with a
Speaker 1: Niche Schrof from ESPN about what it was like to
Speaker 1: broadcast games remotely in the time of COVID. In Part two,
Speaker 1: we're going to continue talking about that, including what broadcasters
Speaker 1: learned not just about the sport, but what they learned
Speaker 1: about the process and what they learned about themselves. We
Speaker 1: wanted to talk a little bit more about this remote
Speaker 1: studio aspect. What's it like to be in a remote studio.
Speaker 1: You've got every camera feed on Earth coming to the
Speaker 1: desk in front of you. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: you're trying to match the energy of the moment. You're
Speaker 1: trying to build a rapport with somebody, hopefully who is
Speaker 1: as your co hosts on the other side of the room.
Speaker 1: How does that go down?
Speaker 2: We were in the same room, socially distant. He was
Speaker 2: on one end, I was on the other. If somebody
Speaker 2: else came into the room, we were masked up. We
Speaker 2: were pretty much masked up at all times except when
Speaker 2: we were on the air. But that really helped where
Speaker 2: you can just kind of sometimes just look at him
Speaker 2: and okay, you take this one, or Hey, I got
Speaker 2: something I want to add here, and the nonverbal cues
Speaker 2: which happens all the time during a broadcast, that allowed
Speaker 2: us to kind of create some synergy and rhythm and chemistry.
Speaker 1: You had the best question though, how do you keep
Speaker 1: it serious?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: How do you keep it serious knowing that you're calling
Speaker 1: a game that you are not physically at the only
Speaker 1: reason that you've got any connection to it is because
Speaker 1: of sophisticated means. So we asked him, like, was it
Speaker 1: hard to keep serious?
Speaker 2: You almost had to guard against it being too loose. Hey,
Speaker 2: you're still doing this on ESPN. Let's remember that in
Speaker 2: the beginning they didn't have the capacity to do on cameras.
Speaker 3: So we would sometimes tape.
Speaker 2: Our on camera in the studio before the game, thirty
Speaker 2: minutes before, and then you'd change, and you know, I'm
Speaker 2: dressed in a and a hat and a hoodie and jeans,
Speaker 2: and you know, Logan Bill's in there with his PBR
Speaker 2: shirt and shorts, you know, with his feet up on
Speaker 2: the table sipping his like, you know, gas station thirty
Speaker 2: two ounce soft drink before the game.
Speaker 1: And what he said is that towards the end, or
Speaker 1: at least on some other occasions, he would just opt
Speaker 1: not to change into the hat in the hoodie.
Speaker 2: There were times where I would not change and just keep,
Speaker 2: you know, my shirt and tie on, just because it
Speaker 2: gives you, at least mentally, this false sense of formality.
Speaker 1: What do you think you would do in that sitting, Dan,
Speaker 1: I would probably split the difference. I would love to
Speaker 1: sell the fact that I'm not at the game, but
Speaker 1: I understand what he's saying in terms of like feel
Speaker 1: the part, act the part, and so that involves you know,
Speaker 1: a shirt and tie and everything like that. Maybe I'd
Speaker 1: wear a button down shirt a collared ship, but I'd
Speaker 1: wear it open with a T shirt under it or
Speaker 1: something like that, so I'd have both elements to the
Speaker 1: fact that I'm not at the stadium. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, i did iron a shirt and try to
Speaker 1: look somewhat presentable. But this is true of a lot
Speaker 1: of people who worked from who work from offices usually,
Speaker 1: I mean, why would you wear pants if you're just
Speaker 1: on a zoom call that sees like your ribs up right?
Speaker 1: Why would you make that extra effort? And I know
Speaker 1: a lot of people who generally are used to working
Speaker 1: from home tell you get up, take a shower, work out,
Speaker 1: put on like non sweatpant clothes, because there is that
Speaker 1: element to taking your day and taking your job seriously,
Speaker 1: even if you are sitting in a room in your
Speaker 1: house or a room in a studio where there's nobody else,
Speaker 1: that there is that like look the part, dress the part,
Speaker 1: feel the part. So I think I would wear I
Speaker 1: would I would look like I was going to somebody
Speaker 1: I was trying to impress their house. I wouldn't dress
Speaker 1: like a corporate style look but I would a carefully
Speaker 1: selected wardrobe of Dan's not a total slob. That'd be
Speaker 1: what I'd go for. What about you, I've worn a
Speaker 1: collared shirt fewer than ten times in the last year.
Speaker 4: I may wear one later today because there are people
Speaker 4: coming over, like it's the first time I've had a
Speaker 4: group of friends over that are at least going to
Speaker 4: partially spend some time indoors in a long time, So
Speaker 4: I might wear some sort of festive collared shirt.
Speaker 1: I have not worn a collared shirt in forever, and
Speaker 1: I have tried that tactic of getting a little bit
Speaker 1: more dressed up if it's a more serious occasion.
Speaker 4: Like a niche, though you let your hair go I
Speaker 4: did let my hair go do people and a niche
Speaker 4: was on air? And I'm sure this came up with
Speaker 4: producers and stuff like what exactly are you doing a
Speaker 4: niche with that hair? As he was letting his hair
Speaker 4: go out? Did your co workers say anything to you
Speaker 4: about the ever expanding koif a top quoth atop your hair.
Speaker 1: Only when it got two out of control, but generally no. Generally,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of folks were in a similar position.
Speaker 4: What did people on the other end of your zoom
Speaker 4: calls look like well, I mean.
Speaker 1: We're not talking four K cameras here, We're talking to
Speaker 1: understand whatever the onboards are.
Speaker 4: Were there like meatball palm stains or were people presenting
Speaker 4: themselves you know these generals and CIA directors. Yeah, everybody
Speaker 4: is keeping it very professional. Okay, that has never changed,
Speaker 4: but definitely the attire has gone in a different direction than.
Speaker 1: Like business casual. Let's say, it's just very casual now
Speaker 1: in a way that it never was before.
Speaker 4: I think the broadcasters will be excited to once again
Speaker 4: that weren't able to to get back to a stadium
Speaker 4: and to wear suits or to wear whatever they normally
Speaker 4: wear in that business setting. I kind of miss it,
Speaker 4: and I haven't worked from an office in quite some time,
Speaker 4: but there is that element I liked of dressing up
Speaker 4: for whatever you're actually supposed.
Speaker 3: To be doing.
Speaker 4: I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 1: So we asked a niche, based on his experiences in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, are we going to carry some stuff with
Speaker 1: us through to twenty twenty one? Did we learn from
Speaker 1: what that broadcasting process was like? Where are things headed here?
Speaker 3: What the new normal looks like?
Speaker 2: I think it will have some of the elements of
Speaker 2: what we saw last year, because the reality is some
Speaker 2: of that stuff did work, some of.
Speaker 1: It worked right, some of it worked, some of it worked.
Speaker 1: They're going to get better at doing remote broadcasts. I
Speaker 1: think we know that for sure. They're probably also going
Speaker 1: to get better at that information relay process. Right, You've
Speaker 1: got so many different people who are working on a
Speaker 1: broadcast at any one time. Getting information to the broadcasters
Speaker 1: in a timely fashion. I have to believe has always
Speaker 1: been a challenge just to make sure that the most
Speaker 1: up to date information is at their fingertips asap. I
Speaker 1: gotta belie through the process here, they've gotten much much
Speaker 1: better at doing that.
Speaker 4: And I mean, think about it. What streamers are able
Speaker 4: to do a huge emerging content force.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: They're able to broadcast playing video games or doing whatever
Speaker 4: via Twitch, via YouTube, discord, whatever. They're able to figure
Speaker 4: out lighting and camera angles and getting information on the
Speaker 4: screen in live time. And now with the weight and
Speaker 4: the resources of major broadcast networks, I think we're going
Speaker 4: to find ways again. I don't think big games are
Speaker 4: going to be called by like Joe Buck and Chris
Speaker 4: Fowler from their closets or from their basements or whatever.
Speaker 4: But in terms of smaller matchups, in terms of conference
Speaker 4: networks that are tasked with broadcasting Olympic sports or every
Speaker 4: basketball game or every baseball game, I think we're going
Speaker 4: to see and it's not good for the broadcaster, the
Speaker 4: broadcaster him or herself, but it is good for the
Speaker 4: ability to to get a high quality broadcast up quickly
Speaker 4: for fans. Maybe if you're watching a cross country meet,
Speaker 4: a big twelve cross country meat that you normally wouldn't
Speaker 4: be able to watch normally, it was just like, well,
Speaker 4: here are a couple of cameras at different parts of
Speaker 4: the course. All of a sudden, we're coming up with
Speaker 4: new and interesting ways to broadcast something that wouldn't necessarily
Speaker 4: have that high quality element. Suddenly we're able to do
Speaker 4: something that feels super professional for pretty cheap. That's that's
Speaker 4: where I think maybe the big winners are going to
Speaker 4: be maybe that lower end broadcast.
Speaker 1: We asked a niche what would he do personally to
Speaker 1: try and learn from the experience to get better In
Speaker 1: the heat of the moment moving forward down to twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: One, pretty much every week Sunday I would just spend
Speaker 2: watching probably not the whole game, but bits and pieces
Speaker 2: of it. Okay, was that something I could have done better?
Speaker 2: Or was that something where I was constrained because of
Speaker 2: the format. And you kind of make notes and you
Speaker 2: sort of take that back to your boss, is hey,
Speaker 2: this is what I found. And again they were so
Speaker 2: good in working with us and taking that feedback and saying, Okay,
Speaker 2: we'll try to make this a better system.
Speaker 1: This is not really something you and I have to
Speaker 1: do much of in the podcast setting. No, we certainly
Speaker 1: do not go back and listen to that extent trying
Speaker 1: to constantly get better at.
Speaker 4: Wrong adjective, tie, damn it.
Speaker 1: At do an hour show. But you can imagine what
Speaker 1: that pressure must feel like to know that you're on ESPN,
Speaker 1: you're calling a big game, the setting is not what
Speaker 1: it's usually going to be, and here you are kind
Speaker 1: of on an island trying to figure this thing out
Speaker 1: on the fly.
Speaker 4: It's wild that they, I mean, they have to. They
Speaker 4: have to know that it's going to sound different and
Speaker 4: it's going to sound weird as it relates to what
Speaker 4: they normally sound like. I agree, I do think.
Speaker 2: I got better. I do think I acquired new skills.
Speaker 2: You're learning how to adapt in this environment. And one
Speaker 2: of the biggest things is we can complain all we want.
Speaker 3: Hey, we're not there. We're not there. We're not there.
Speaker 2: At some point you just have to accept, Okay, this
Speaker 2: is the new normal, or at least the normal for now.
Speaker 2: Let's make the best of it. What can we do.
Speaker 2: And we had a really good producer and Paul Irvin
Speaker 2: who was big on not letting us not being there.
Speaker 3: Let's not use that as an excuse.
Speaker 2: We're still going to try to put the best quality
Speaker 2: of football on TV and put the best production on TV.
Speaker 2: And yet not having four am wake up calls. That
Speaker 2: makes your life easier. You get done with the game
Speaker 2: at three point thirty and you're home for dinner and
Speaker 2: you know you can watch the primetime game from the
Speaker 2: comfort of your couch.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's great.
Speaker 1: It wasn't all bad. It wasn't all bad. I think
Speaker 1: a Niche's takeaway was that it was challenging. I don't
Speaker 1: sense much eagerness to go out there and do more
Speaker 1: of this unless it's required. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: definitely got better at working within the constraints of the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty season. In the COVID protocols, and in the
Speaker 1: end was happy, happy with the job that he did,
Speaker 1: happy with jobs certainly that the production crews did, came
Speaker 1: away feeling okay about it all.
Speaker 4: I'm sure happy that he has a job. At the
Speaker 4: same time too, that there was a season, because who
Speaker 4: knows what could have happened in terms of the networks,
Speaker 4: which we were already having to cut back. Who knows
Speaker 4: what happened if there's no season, if there's a severely
Speaker 4: limited season. We saw what happened with the PAC twelve
Speaker 4: and how the PAC twelve network was just completely gutted
Speaker 4: knowing that they weren't going to be broadcasting games, knowing
Speaker 4: that the type of revenue was not going to be
Speaker 4: coming in. So yeah, you know, outside of like the
Speaker 4: biggest of the big names, and anishe is a big name,
Speaker 4: he's been there for a while, but like, what does
Speaker 4: it look like if you have a bunch of broadcasters
Speaker 4: and no games.
Speaker 3: Week to week?
Speaker 2: They came back to us and said, how can we
Speaker 2: make this better? What can we do? And by the
Speaker 2: end of the year, I'm not going to say it
Speaker 2: felt seamless, but you felt comfortable.
Speaker 1: Felt comfortable by the end of the year. They continually
Speaker 1: improved on the process, and like I said at the top,
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like by the end the product
Speaker 1: was almost indistinguishable. Yeah, almost indistinguishable. They got really really
Speaker 1: good at doing these remote broadcasts.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: So as we move forward into twenty twenty one, we
Speaker 1: asked them, is it gonna be back to normal?
Speaker 3: I'm in wait and see mode. I really don't know.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows. The hope is that we can get back
Speaker 1: to some sense of normalcy in time for the fall.
Speaker 1: That the product we see this coming fall is going
Speaker 1: to be a lot closer to what we've seen in
Speaker 1: every other college football season on record. You got fans
Speaker 1: in the stands, maybe something of a reduced crowd, but
Speaker 1: definitely better than what we had last year. Announcers hopefully
Speaker 1: back in the booths commentating on these games, real crowd noise,
Speaker 1: cheering on home teams, and an experience at least for
Speaker 1: the home viewer as well as those fans who are
Speaker 1: in the stands. I know a niche hopes for this
Speaker 1: as well, because the one experience he had last year
Speaker 1: where he went to a football game.
Speaker 2: Once we went to Clemson for a game, and man,
Speaker 2: when I tell you that was I think October. That
Speaker 2: was mana for the soul, just to be out and
Speaker 2: about at a stadium. They had people there socially distanced.
Speaker 2: It was different. We're six feet apart, we had masks on.
Speaker 2: You can really interact with people like you normally do.
Speaker 2: But I got to tell you, it was like the
Speaker 2: oasis in a desert. Oh my god, we're back at
Speaker 2: a stadium and it felt good. But then we were
Speaker 2: back in the studio after that.
Speaker 1: In the end, I come back to what I said
Speaker 1: at the very beginning. I am amazed at the job
Speaker 1: that these guys did. I am amazed at the job
Speaker 1: that they did. I am surprised there weren't more grew ups.
Speaker 1: Surely there were technical hiccups here and there. Pretty sure
Speaker 1: we all saw a couple of them. But the fact
Speaker 1: that they were able to pull this thing off without
Speaker 1: any camera catastrophes or broadcasting mishaps bloopers that we've talked
Speaker 1: about for six straight months. I think this was a
Speaker 1: really great accomplishment for a lot of the networks involved
Speaker 1: with broadcasting college football, just that they were able to
Speaker 1: get this thing off the ground.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Oh absolutely, it is. Yeah, one hundred percent
Speaker 4: that yes, we I mean they had some lead up
Speaker 4: time with a couple of other different sports. We had
Speaker 4: early golf, we had Korean baseball, you know, with it
Speaker 4: was a bog shambi doing remote Korean baseball. So there
Speaker 4: were those elements of getting reps, getting practiced before the
Speaker 4: football season about how it's all going to go. But yeah,
Speaker 4: that everything happened with minimal broadcast snaffos was a big win.
Speaker 4: Thanks again for listening. Don't forget.
Speaker 1: You can catch our full interview with a niche out
Speaker 1: on our Patreon at verballers dot Stop back next week
Speaker 1: for our final installment, where we ask the same basic question,
Speaker 1: so
Speaker 3: Now what