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> "DollarBill" <nospambillg…@nospamearthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:j76dnX4nN_FERx7fRVn-1w@adelphia.com…
>> "Crusader" <cr…@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> news:3ea1frF20hmkU1@individual.net…

>> <big snip>

>> While I have never been involved in a worldwide television broadcast with
>> god knows how many cameras (sorry Marty!) and pit road reporters and
>> directors talking to me in the intercom while I’m trying to talk on tv, I
>> have been an on-air host for a small, live radio show with several people
>> telling me what to do all at one time.  It gets VERY busy real fast.  Yes
>> there are things
>> they could do better.  But you really should witness a broadcast from the
>> truck.  I think you would be surpised at how fast things happen and how
>> many
>> people are talking at once!

>> Are there things that they miss?  Absolutely.  Doing a live on-air
>> program is difficult.  It’s tough to be watching the event and thinking
>> of interesting aspects to comment on while also focusing on the
>> programmatic details of the broadcast too.  All the while, a director or
>> producer is talking to you on the intercom giving you directions.  Then
>> suddenly the director changes his mind or something happens in the race
>> that requires you to change plans NOW.

>> I remember listening to the network intercom frequency during a race at
>> Homestead.  It was during a commercial break and the director (or
>> somebody) was giving instructions to the pit reporters "Okay, we’re going
>> to go 20, 18, 24, 36, 8…., the sequence is Marty, Tom, Bob, Jim,
>> everybody has their assignments…we’re live in 30 seconds."  So each pit
>> road reporter has their assignment and must come up with what…20
>> seconds of soundbite for each of their cars.  Let’s say they come back
>> from break and the booth throws it to Marty.  He does his bit on the 20
>> and when he’s talking, the director is saying in his ear WHILE HE’S LIVE
>> ON-AIR "okay go to Tom".  He’s got to wrap up and throw it to Tom and
>> away we go.  It’s pretty dang cool and lots of work that happens fast.
>> It’s no wonder journalists are the first ones to find the open bar
>> hospitality suite after the race!!  Dang I miss broadcasting!!

> I agree that it would be above ME to do something like that. But then
> again, I didn’t go into that field for a career. I think the feeling is,
> if you have made it to that level, you should be better than the rest.
> What is harder to do? Live broadcasting for Nascar and keeping up with all
> the camera switches and host "tosses", or keeping track of a whole book
> that you are writing, or keeping track of a 200,00 line computer program
> you are writing, or… well you get my point… Each of us can do things
> that the others wouldn’t be able to do, but only because that’s the field
> we chose as a career.

Agreed.

> Besides… I STILL think the reason the broadcast seemed "off" was that it
> was Mother’s Day weekend and a lot of the regular crew had taken
> vacations. Don’t know this for a fact… but I remember thinking it at the
> time.

And this is an important point.  Chemistry is VERY important.  Knowing what
your co-host is going to do/say or how your director likes to sequence the
program and picking up on various cues from partners, producers, directors,
etc. is precious.  I did a show with a good friend and we were always pretty
much on.  It was an hour-long program and it seemed like we were signing off
soon after signing on.  I have done other programs when it seemed like an
hour was forever and a day.
—
Gotta Go…FAST!
Bill

news:3ekl0bF3mb2sU1@individual.net…

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> "Michael McGaha" <mich…@ronindev.com> wrote in message
> news:fhTge.1217$aM4.921@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com…
>> "DollarBill" <nospambillg…@nospamearthlink.net> wrote in message
>> news:j76dnX4nN_FERx7fRVn-1w@adelphia.com…
>> > "Crusader" <cr…@comcast.net> wrote in message
>> > news:3ea1frF20hmkU1@individual.net…
>> > <big snip>

>> > While I have never been involved in a worldwide television broadcast
>> > with
>> > god knows how many cameras (sorry Marty!) and pit road reporters and
>> > directors talking to me in the intercom while I’m trying to talk on tv,
>> > I
>> > have been an on-air host for a small, live radio show with several
>> > people
>> > telling me what to do all at one time.  It gets VERY busy real fast.
>> > Yes
>> > there are things
>> > they could do better.  But you really should witness a broadcast from
>> > the truck.
>> > I think you would be surpised at how fast things happen and how many
>> > people are talking at once!

>> > Are there things that they miss?  Absolutely.  Doing a live on-air
>> > program
>> > is difficult.  It’s tough to be watching the event and thinking of
>> > interesting aspects to comment on while also focusing on the
>> > programmatic
>> > details of the broadcast too.  All the while, a director or producer is
>> > talking to you on the intercom giving you directions.  Then suddenly
>> > the
>> > director changes his mind or something happens in the race that
>> > requires
>> > you to change plans NOW.

>> > I remember listening to the network intercom frequency during a race at
>> > Homestead.  It was during a commercial break and the director (or
>> > somebody) was giving instructions to the pit reporters "Okay, we’re
>> > going
>> > to go 20, 18, 24, 36, 8…., the sequence is Marty, Tom, Bob, Jim,
>> > everybody has their assignments…we’re live in 30 seconds."  So each
>> > pit
>> > road reporter has their assignment and must come up with what…20
>> > seconds
>> > of soundbite for each of their cars.  Let’s say they come back from
>> > break
>> > and the booth throws it to Marty.  He does his bit on the 20 and when
>> > he’s
>> > talking, the director is saying in his ear WHILE HE’S LIVE ON-AIR "okay
>> > go
>> > to Tom".  He’s got to wrap up and throw it to Tom and away we go.  It’s
>> > pretty dang cool and lots of work that happens fast.  It’s no wonder
>> > journalists are the first ones to find the open bar hospitality suite
>> > after the race!!  Dang I miss broadcasting!!

>> I agree that it would be above ME to do something like that. But then
>> again,
>> I didn’t go into that field for a career. I think the feeling is, if you
>> have made it to that level, you should be better than the rest. What is
>> harder to do? Live broadcasting for Nascar and keeping up with all the
>> camera switches and host "tosses", or keeping track of a whole book that
>> you
>> are writing, or keeping track of a 200,00 line computer program you are
>> writing, or… well you get my point… Each of us can do things that the
>> others wouldn’t be able to do, but only because that’s the field we chose
>> as
>> a career.

>> Besides… I STILL think the reason the broadcast seemed "off" was that
>> it
>> was Mother’s Day weekend and a lot of the regular crew had taken
>> vacations.
>> Don’t know this for a fact… but I remember thinking it at the time.

>> Michael

> $Bill, Michael, and anyone else reading:
> The 1st thing I would do as Boss Producer / Director is eliminate half of
> the cameras.
> Why? So i wouldn’t have TOO many choices in what to show to the fans.
> It appears to me that the current Boss who chooses shots, capitulates to
> ‘I can’t go wrong if I show the Leader / Top3′

It does seem at times that there is that endless search for the epicurean
shot angle.  As a viewer, it gets annoying because the process digresses to
something akin to the old Dockers commercials with the shaky camera and
unframed shots.

> Sorry, i can’t go into all the details, but know without a shadow of doubt
> that if Mike Joy called me, i would go to the production trailer
> in a heart beat, not as an experiment, but as a much-needed improvement
> of race coverage that FOX & NBC just refuse to provide.
> CRU-That’s a wrap.

Now that’s throwin’ some game done bro.  As my Latin amigos here in SoFla
say, those are some cajones.  I hope Mike Joy takes you up on the offer.

–
Gotta Go…FAST!
Bill

news:fhTge.1217$aM4.921@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com…

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> "DollarBill" <nospambillg…@nospamearthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:j76dnX4nN_FERx7fRVn-1w@adelphia.com…
> > "Crusader" <cr…@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > news:3ea1frF20hmkU1@individual.net…
> > <big snip>

> > While I have never been involved in a worldwide television broadcast with
> > god knows how many cameras (sorry Marty!) and pit road reporters and
> > directors talking to me in the intercom while I’m trying to talk on tv, I
> > have been an on-air host for a small, live radio show with several people
> > telling me what to do all at one time.  It gets VERY busy real fast.  Yes
> > there are things
> > they could do better.  But you really should witness a broadcast from the truck.
> > I think you would be surpised at how fast things happen and how many
> > people are talking at once!

> > Are there things that they miss?  Absolutely.  Doing a live on-air program
> > is difficult.  It’s tough to be watching the event and thinking of
> > interesting aspects to comment on while also focusing on the programmatic
> > details of the broadcast too.  All the while, a director or producer is
> > talking to you on the intercom giving you directions.  Then suddenly the
> > director changes his mind or something happens in the race that requires
> > you to change plans NOW.

> > I remember listening to the network intercom frequency during a race at
> > Homestead.  It was during a commercial break and the director (or
> > somebody) was giving instructions to the pit reporters "Okay, we’re going
> > to go 20, 18, 24, 36, 8…., the sequence is Marty, Tom, Bob, Jim,
> > everybody has their assignments…we’re live in 30 seconds."  So each pit
> > road reporter has their assignment and must come up with what…20 seconds
> > of soundbite for each of their cars.  Let’s say they come back from break
> > and the booth throws it to Marty.  He does his bit on the 20 and when he’s
> > talking, the director is saying in his ear WHILE HE’S LIVE ON-AIR "okay go
> > to Tom".  He’s got to wrap up and throw it to Tom and away we go.  It’s
> > pretty dang cool and lots of work that happens fast.  It’s no wonder
> > journalists are the first ones to find the open bar hospitality suite
> > after the race!!  Dang I miss broadcasting!!

> I agree that it would be above ME to do something like that. But then again,
> I didn’t go into that field for a career. I think the feeling is, if you
> have made it to that level, you should be better than the rest. What is
> harder to do? Live broadcasting for Nascar and keeping up with all the
> camera switches and host "tosses", or keeping track of a whole book that you
> are writing, or keeping track of a 200,00 line computer program you are
> writing, or… well you get my point… Each of us can do things that the
> others wouldn’t be able to do, but only because that’s the field we chose as
> a career.

> Besides… I STILL think the reason the broadcast seemed "off" was that it
> was Mother’s Day weekend and a lot of the regular crew had taken vacations.
> Don’t know this for a fact… but I remember thinking it at the time.

> Michael

$Bill, Michael, and anyone else reading:
The 1st thing I would do as Boss Producer / Director is eliminate half of the cameras.
Why? So i wouldn’t have TOO many choices in what to show to the fans.
It appears to me that the current Boss who chooses shots, capitulates to
‘I can’t go wrong if I show the Leader / Top3′

Sorry, i can’t go into all the details, but know without a shadow of doubt
that if Mike Joy called me, i would go to the production trailer
in a heart beat, not as an experiment, but as a much-needed improvement
of race coverage that FOX & NBC just refuse to provide.
CRU-That’s a wrap.

<nospambillg…@nospamearthlink.net> wrote:
>> No doubt about it–you’re right that a LOT of stuff is going on
>> in the background and in the ear of the talent.
>Your use of the word "talent" to refer to on-air folk indicates to me you
>may have some experience in the industry.

Nope.  I tend to pick up jargon, that’s all.  It may be part of
having the Curse of the Grammar Gene.  :o(

>We always laughed about the
>contract term "talent fee".  For reasons I won’t get into here.

I love it when members of the group moderate themselves.  ;o)

                                        Marty

news:j76dnX4nN_FERx7fRVn-1w@adelphia.com…

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> "Crusader" <cr…@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:3ea1frF20hmkU1@individual.net…

> <big snip>

> While I have never been involved in a worldwide television broadcast with
> god knows how many cameras (sorry Marty!) and pit road reporters and
> directors talking to me in the intercom while I’m trying to talk on tv, I
> have been an on-air host for a small, live radio show with several people
> telling me what to do all at one time.  It gets VERY busy real fast.  Yes
> there are things
> they could do better.  But you really should witness a broadcast from the
> truck.  I think you would be surpised at how fast things happen and how
> many
> people are talking at once!

> Are there things that they miss?  Absolutely.  Doing a live on-air program
> is difficult.  It’s tough to be watching the event and thinking of
> interesting aspects to comment on while also focusing on the programmatic
> details of the broadcast too.  All the while, a director or producer is
> talking to you on the intercom giving you directions.  Then suddenly the
> director changes his mind or something happens in the race that requires
> you to change plans NOW.

> I remember listening to the network intercom frequency during a race at
> Homestead.  It was during a commercial break and the director (or
> somebody) was giving instructions to the pit reporters "Okay, we’re going
> to go 20, 18, 24, 36, 8…., the sequence is Marty, Tom, Bob, Jim,
> everybody has their assignments…we’re live in 30 seconds."  So each pit
> road reporter has their assignment and must come up with what…20 seconds
> of soundbite for each of their cars.  Let’s say they come back from break
> and the booth throws it to Marty.  He does his bit on the 20 and when he’s
> talking, the director is saying in his ear WHILE HE’S LIVE ON-AIR "okay go
> to Tom".  He’s got to wrap up and throw it to Tom and away we go.  It’s
> pretty dang cool and lots of work that happens fast.  It’s no wonder
> journalists are the first ones to find the open bar hospitality suite
> after the race!!  Dang I miss broadcasting!!

I agree that it would be above ME to do something like that. But then again,
I didn’t go into that field for a career. I think the feeling is, if you
have made it to that level, you should be better than the rest. What is
harder to do? Live broadcasting for Nascar and keeping up with all the
camera switches and host "tosses", or keeping track of a whole book that you
are writing, or keeping track of a 200,00 line computer program you are
writing, or… well you get my point… Each of us can do things that the
others wouldn’t be able to do, but only because that’s the field we chose as
a career.

Besides… I STILL think the reason the broadcast seemed "off" was that it
was Mother’s Day weekend and a lot of the regular crew had taken vacations.
Don’t know this for a fact… but I remember thinking it at the time.

Michael

<nospambillg…@nospamearthlink.net> wrote:
>While I have never been involved in a worldwide television broadcast with
>[Heaven] knows how many cameras (sorry Marty!) …

It’s OK, Bill.  [Heaven] may have other ideas, of course.  ;o)

> … you really should witness a broadcast from the
>truck.  I think you would be surpised at how fast things happen and how many
>people are talking at once!

ESPN did a hilarious set of shows called "This is Sports Center."  On
one channel, Sports Center was being broadcast live; on the other
channel, they were doing a live play-by-play of what goes on behind
the scenes.  I think the show ran for about a week.  It was probably
to celebrate some kind of anniversary (25 years?).

No doubt about it–you’re right that a LOT of stuff is going on
in the background and in the ear of the talent.

                                        Marty

<snip>

> No doubt about it–you’re right that a LOT of stuff is going on
> in the background and in the ear of the talent.

Your use of the word "talent" to refer to on-air folk indicates to me you
may have some experience in the industry.  We always laughed about the
contract term "talent fee".  For reasons I won’t get into here.

And I’m sure heaven has other plans.  GB.

–
Gotta Go…FAST!
Bill

news:3ea1frF20hmkU1@individual.net…

<big snip>

While I have never been involved in a worldwide television broadcast with
god knows how many cameras (sorry Marty!) and pit road reporters and
directors talking to me in the intercom while I’m trying to talk on tv, I
have been an on-air host for a small, live radio show with several people
telling me what to do all at one time.  It gets VERY busy real fast.  Yes
there are things
they could do better.  But you really should witness a broadcast from the
truck.  I think you would be surpised at how fast things happen and how many
people are talking at once!

Are there things that they miss?  Absolutely.  Doing a live on-air program
is difficult.  It’s tough to be watching the event and thinking of
interesting aspects to comment on while also focusing on the programmatic
details of the broadcast too.  All the while, a director or producer is
talking to you on the intercom giving you directions.  Then suddenly the
director changes his mind or something happens in the race that requires you
to change plans NOW.

I remember listening to the network intercom frequency during a race at
Homestead.  It was during a commercial break and the director (or somebody)
was giving instructions to the pit reporters "Okay, we’re going to go 20,
18, 24, 36, 8…., the sequence is Marty, Tom, Bob, Jim, everybody has their
assignments…we’re live in 30 seconds."  So each pit road reporter has
their assignment and must come up with what…20 seconds of soundbite for
each of their cars.  Let’s say they come back from break and the booth
throws it to Marty.  He does his bit on the 20 and when he’s talking, the
director is saying in his ear WHILE HE’S LIVE ON-AIR "okay go to Tom".  He’s
got to wrap up and throw it to Tom and away we go.  It’s pretty dang cool
and lots of work that happens fast.  It’s no wonder journalists are the
first ones to find the open bar hospitality suite after the race!!  Dang I
miss broadcasting!!

Cru…There are lots of people who say they could do it better.  I’m sure
you have some great ideas.  But making them happen is another story.  Maybe
Mike Joy will let you guest direct sometime!!  Or at the very least, sit in
the truck for a little while during a race.  Now that’s the kind of thing I
would like to see.  Who cares about being a pit crew member, I want to see
the nuts and bolts of the race broadcast.

So I’ll say it again, when is Fox going to do a feature on the track safety
workers?  To Mike Joy, I’ll be your technical consultant.  That’s an open
offer.  And I have broadcast experience.

–
Gotta Go…FAST!
Bill

news:3ea1frF20hmkU1@individual.net…

> What Did We Learn
> Biffle took 4 tires not 2 tires as The FOX Talking Heads misstated.
> Many Internet sites couldn’t agree on if it was 2 or 4 tires.
> JG pitted on Lap 155, Biffle pitted on Lap 156 and regained the lead
> shortly thereafter, despite The FOX Talking Heads criticizing Bif for
> staying out too long on old tires. Back from commercial finds Bif
> somehow continuing to lead the race – no correction by The Booth.

Yeah I remember wondering about that myself. Also when they talked about
Mark Martin "must have taken 2 tires" because he had such a "good stop" when
the pit times showed he had an average time… neither red nor green on
their little gain/loose graphic. Seems like they were a bit more disoriented
this weekend… do you think a lot of the regulars behind the scenes took
vacations?

> The FOX Talking Heads never informed it’s TV audience that there
> was a ‘situation’ with Kurt Busch and NA$CAR around Lap 316.
> Seems to me that they would have shown KB’s in-car cam
> hitting a N$ Official with a water bottle, like they ‘almost’ showed
> KB getting punched by Jimmie Spencer.

I’d like to see someone punch KB. wouldn’t really care to see him throw
something (temper OR bottle). But, yeah, they should have said something…
I kept trying to figure out how he had gotten involved with the
Waltrip/Green stuff because that’s the way they kept wording it

> The A.P. NA$CAR ‘expert’ writer stated RN brought the field slowly
> to the GWC restart & hit his brakes! Am i the only one who saw
> Schrader spin his rear tires to cause the bunching-up accordion
> effect that caused 4 fresh tire JG to punt 2 fresh tire Carl?

Nope. i saw that too.

Michael

> Very interesting about the postponing of informing the viewers about
> the Red Flag at Dega.

Did you see the CEO of FOX network, quoted on Jayski today?  Speaking
of the red flag thing "It was a stupid thing to do," Hill said. "I’ve
never heard anything so ridiculous."

I suspect a large basket of clue may have been handed down to the
production crew.

John