Tonight I have another Big Ten Network broadcast calling the Indiana women’s basketball matchup against Illinois.
Another game and another opportunity for me to do what I love. I strive to make each broadcast better than the last and giving the viewer the best possible production.
This experience is invaluable.
Here are a few things I am focused to improve upon this year.
- Sending it to commercial– for this, an announcer has to be quick and smart on their feet. Big time productions will often send the show into commercial with a big replay. While I don’t have the luxury, I need to close with more informative and less repetitive information. A common out would be, “Indiana leads Illinois 52-45, we’ll be back after this.” As the game progresses, sometimes I draw a blank and other times I try to mix it up. With radio the is always the same because it’s a cue for the engineer to send it to break such as, “This is Indiana University basketball from Learfield Sports.” This isn’t an easy task but I’ll get better with more experience.
- Big play calls– the best highlights are instantaneous forcing the announcer to react. Gus Johnson is known for his big calls that really give the audience a feel for what happened. He is a little different than most announcers because he reacts purely on emotion like, “haha, uh ahhhhh!, ohhh!!!!, wow!!!” While I don’t want to go this far, I want to improve my calls of big shots, dunks, steals…etc.
- Feeding the analyst– in television, the play-by-play guy (myself) should talk about 40% of the time, and the color analyst 60%. As a good PBP broadcaster, it’s important to feed the analyst, asking questions the fans at home may be thinking and what stands out in the ball game. My partners haven’t been consistently the same people which makes this more challenging. As a duo, we need to learn each others tendency’s and how we both prefer to handle situations. But one thing is for certain: use the analyst, ask him or her questions, helping the fluidity of the broadcast and making it sound conversational.
- Let it breath– sometimes I (along with other announcers) talk a bit too much thinking I need to always be talking and guiding the viewer. That however is more for radio. A quality broadcaster has a great feel for when to say something and when to sit back and let the viewer soak it in. I have gotten better at this but it’s important that I remember this isn’t radio…fans at home can see what’s going on.
The broadcast tonight at Assembly Hall (in Bloomington) will stream online at BigTenNetwork.com and be shown on the network Friday at 10 am.