Sunday, July 15, 2001
Sports on TV-Radio
The perils of broadcasting live
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON — Jon Lawhead has nothing against the Reds. But when someone told him the Reds tied the Indians in the ninth inning, Lawhead wasn't happy.
“I was on the 14th hole,” Lawhead said. “I said, "Oh, great.' ”
Lawhead, Channel 19's general manager, was on the 14th hole of the Fifth Third/Fox 19 Celebrity Classic, which his station was supposed to begin broadcasting at 4:30 p.m.
That's about the time the Reds tied the game, which ended up going 13 innings. The Reds won 6-5 — but not until until 5:58. Channel 19 went to golf three minutes later.
That severely cut into the 90-minute time frame 19 set aside for the tournament.
Lawhead's playing partner was county star Glen Campbell. They were supposed to be one of the groups finishing for TV. But they putted out on 17 just as the Reds entered the 13th.
“We thought about pre-empting baseball,” Lawhead said. “But when we saw the schedule, and it was Indians-Reds, we knew we had to carry it.”
Channel 19 didn't have a lot of room to play. The tourney was set up so the top groups would be hitting the 18th hole from 6 to 6:30.
“It's just a shame,” Lawhead said. “But the broadcast is such a big part of it.”
Channel 19 will carry the Classic from 4 to 6:30 p.m. today. There's no chance of it getting bumped by baseball.
HUGE UNDERTAKING: Local stations just do not televise local golf tournaments.
“The only other one I know of is one I do in Richmond (Va.),” said Ken Fouts, who directed the Classic.
Why don't they?
“It's just a huge, daunting thing,” said David Ashbrock, producer of Saturday's and today's broadcasts. “For local television, it's a very, very big thing to take on.”
Added Fouts: “It's a very expensive thing to do. Channel 19 spends a lot of money doing this.”
Channel 19 doesn't cover every hole — only Nos. 14 through 18. But it still takes 50 people to do that. WXIX used 10 cameras in 14 different locations, moving cameras as players finished holes.
A talent tower at No. 18 had to be erected, as well as four camera towers. Host Cris Collinsworth, 19's Dan Hoard and local pro Larry Drehs called the action from the tower.
Greg Hoard, Andy Treinen, Dan Carroll and Pat Barry worked as course reporters.
The station used two trucks — one to produce the broadcast and another to do the scoring and graphics. The graphics were up to network standard.
Ashbrock produces University of Cincinnati basketball and football broadcasts.
“Anytime you do something over and over again, you get good at it,” Ashbrock said. “I've done hundreds of basketball games, and this is my second golf tournament.”
The biggest thing to overcome is all the acreage you have to cover.
“It's so spread out,” Ashbrock said. “We're running cable all over the place.”
Still, Ashbrock got great feedback from last year's broadcast.
“We exceeded everyone's expectations,” Ashbrock said. “Everyone from Cris on down left the course as high as a kite afterward last year.”
That's not surprising. Ashbrock is an excellent producer. Fouts, who is semi-retired, has done golf for NBC. Hoard's an excellent play-by-play guy, and Collinsworth is one of Fox's top talent.
Ashbrock hired a team of local freelancers to supplement 19's staff to shoot the tournament.
“We've got a great sports crew,” Fouts said. “They shoot a lot of Reds and Bengals. If you're a good sports shooter, it's pretty easy to adapt to golf. I'll tell them a few things, and they're OK.”
Last year's Sunday broadcast won the time slot.
Covering a celebrity tournament is different than covering just any golf tournament. Hoard was brushing up on Jimmy Kimmel's background on The Man Show Web site in preparation, as well as golf resumes of the local players.
Another challenge was the fact that most of the golfers on the course aren't well known. WXIX tried to overcome this by taking a Polaroid of each player when he checked in.
“We have a pro tournament, an amateur tournament and a celebrity event,” Ashbrock said. “That makes it more challenging. We have, like, 12 priorities.”
IN STEREO: Fox Sports Net's Reds broadcasts are now in stereo. FSN made the switch with Friday night's broadcast. Give FSN credit — the network keeps advancing as far as technology.
SAY WHAT? During the Home Run Derby on ESPN, Chris Berman actually said this: “Jason Giambi's performance here bodes well for Oakland in the second half.”
How? He was hot in batting practice, so the A's are going to better? Berman was shameless in hyping a very boring contest.
E-mail jfay@enquirer.com.
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The perils of broadcasting live
