From the Braintrust: Things I Think I know – Broadcasters and Announcers Need to do their Job

~ From the Braintrust ~

The Braintrust returns for the 2024-25 high school sports season, with a potpourri of thoughts on sports …

Things I Think I Know

• Now that high school sports are back to streaming and radio by multiple media outlets, here is hoping broadcasters pay attention to some simple tenets of broadcasting:
  • DO YOUR PREP WORK! Simple as learn how to pronounce EVERY SINGLE NAME. Not that hard to do….
  • Give the score REGULARLY, at least every 5 minutes
• Give back to the game you loved as an athlete or as  a coach: Sign up to be an official and show you care about the future of the game
• This NIL nonsense is just making the bigger schools bigger. Paired with the transfer portal, the movement of college athletes has made the commitment to a program a rarity
• Seems strange that before the digital age, most coaches would eagerly submit their game reports and stats to newspapers and radio stations. Now, it is becoming more common for the submission of stats to media using digital means(emails and texts) to not get sent in. Puzzling…
• Ever notice far too many public address announcers(and even some streaming folks!) think they are auditioning for the big leagues by being true homers(only emphasizing the home team!) Totally uncalled for, and starkly against standards set by certifying groups such as the National Public Address Announcers Association.
  • Solutions?
    • just broadcast or announce. No need to blatantly favorite the team you are ‘for’
    • pronounce names right
    • don’t use high-pitch voices, screaming. Hard to understand. Just keep it simple

That’s it for now. Have an idea for a Braintrust column? send an email to [email protected]

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