by Amaury Pi Gonzalez
photo credit google abc wide world of sports screen shot
Do you remember: “Spanning the Globe to bring you the constant variety of sports,the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” -ABC Sports(1978) The “Spanning the Globe” part is now more a distant memory in the High-Tech 2000’s for announcers. Why should anybody have to “Span the Globe”when you have it in the palm of your hands on a 3 inch screen.
There was a time when radio stations and/or television stations would travel their announcers, directors, producers-engineers. to the actual locations where a specific sporting event was taking place, i.e. the World Series. That is happening less and less these days. Many broadcasting outlets chose to do the games from a specific location(studio)in front of a television-monitor, therefore the only thing the company will have to pay for is the talent and technical fee to their staffs, saving the traveling,transportation,hotels,per-diem and other expenses. A few years ago at the Oakland Coliseum, a well known television sports-journalist, with a small camera and a laptop in the press box. He told me he is producing, filming and hosting a report. Year’s ago that was at least a job for three different people.
To be fair, newspapers(a dying breed today)have used even stricter measures to save revenue, and today only the large daily publications sent their writers to the actual cities where the events are happening. Many newspapers just pick up the stories via AP(Associated Press)which they subscribe to, when in the past they would send -at least-one sportswriter to cover the event. When newspapers were thriving, some sent a beat writer and a columnist. Today that is a “luxury”reserved to The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and maybe a couple of more that still are at least breaking even if not losing money. Making money in print media today is like going fishing for Salmon in the Sahara Desert.
The NHL season got under way just a couple of weeks ago, and one of the richest teams in the league, the Toronto Maple Leafs, do not travel their announcers. For awhile now the postseason and World Series of baseball, Spanish broadcasts, have not traveled. They would call the games from a studio, in Miami in front of a television monitor and send the feed all over the US and Latin America. When you see the banner on the screen,in the first inning of each World Series game,on FOX that reads: Spanish Broadcast Available/SAP; the announcers are in Los Angeles while that game you are watching is in Kansas City or New York.There are more teams now that broadcast in Spanish that do not travel their announcers anymore for many road games. I have heard all kinds of “reasons”, like: “well Wrigley Field is very small, they told us there is no room for us to do the games there, so we rather re-created the game from our studios”. No kidding. In all fairness, sometimes that is true, especially these days when you have coverage from reporters from all over the world and in different languages. The other side of that argument is that technology is such today, that you do not need four trunks of equipment to do a broadcast, like in years past.
The 2002 World Series between the Angels and Giants, while at Anaheim, I broadcast from a booth separated by a curtain and four different radio outfits who were doing the games
The more and more this is done, the more and more outfits are doing such “productions”, always with one thing in mind, -and one only: to save money. Anybody that has been in this business would tell you: so, what else is new? In sports, the legitimacy of an event is enhanced when that event is covered on the premises where it is happening, not 2,500 miles away inside an air conditioned/or heated(depending the season)studio. While I have done away games in baseball from a broadcast booth and from a television in front of me, I have not worked postseason/World Series games that way.
As a matter of fact the last two times the New York Mets were in a World Series prior to this year, I was part of their history. In 1986 for the old CBS Radio Network they sent me to New York and to Boston, it was a great series, and the last time the Mets won it. In 2000, I was at the last “Subway Series”in New York, the Mets against the Yankees, won by the Yankees, that time for LBC(Latino Broadcasting Company).
We in this business, should not be ungrateful of what we have today, as it may be, because not far away there will be a day where robots will broadcasts games, when there will not be a need for umpires, referees, review guys and official scores would be out of those jobs. In most baseball parks today, there are 45,000 fans, they are all filming the games with their electronic gadgets. I remember a time when I was covering a game, as a reporter, not doing the live play by play,and I had to sign a disclaimer which said It was prohibited for me to film the event or send live radio reports during the game.
A few years ago at Opening Night of a baseball season at Oakland, I met a very enterprising young lady that was assigned as our producer on the radio broadcast. She told me and my broadcast partner she went to school at Villanova, where she got a degree in Social Media. This was the first time I ever heard there were degrees in Social Media. But this is it. When was the last time you wrote a business letter? Did you ever get a text and not a telephone call from your son, or daughter? There is a new car already that drives by itself, you just sit and watch the road. There is an “old”car that parks itself, try that in California Street going up the hill in San Francisco, and see how you like it. Less and less people talk to themselves anymore, when was the last time a tourist asked you: “can you take a picture of me and my wife here?” No need for that, you can now take a selfie. How many people say they want their privacy, then they go on FACEBOOK and tell you: “this is me and my new girlfriend, we are here at the Shreveport, Louisiana, airport taking a flight to New York”.
I hope you like this article, which today and according to the Oxford Dictionary is one of the new words in the English language; it is “awesomesauce”, which means something good or excellent.
See you later dude, I have to Span the Globe.
That’s Amaury’s 2016 MLB All-Star notes: The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame will participate in the festivities and will exhibit at the 87th Major League Baseball All Star Weekend at Petco Park, San Diego, July 10-12, 2016. The HHBM HOF was established in June 1999,in the City of San Francisco, California. Founded by our President Mr. Tito Avila Jr. We have exhibited in over 15 different Major League cities and ballparks. We are in search of our first permanent location (aprox 2500 sq.feet). To get in touch with us, see below.
The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Hall of Fame is committed to preserving the history and profound influence that Hispanic players have had on “America’s Favorite Past Time”
(Attached above, a sample of what our exhibit will look like at the 87th All Star Game in San Diego, California in 2016)
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