More Than Just a Play-By-Play - A Sports Broadcasting Inside Look
Sports broadcasting. Those words tend to bring up a vision of the play-by-play announcers who spend their time describing the events that take place during a sporting event as they happen. Those announcers manage to pull up interesting facts about the players, even as they hit a home run or kick a field goal. However, there’s a lot more to sports broadcasting than just play-by-play announcing. People who work in the field have a number of other tasks to do as well, as the attendees one of Dean College’s pre-college summer programs in sports broadcasting can attest.
Interested in sports broadcasting but wondering what all it entails? Let’s take an inside look into this fascinating career!
Asking the Right Questions
Not only do sports broadcasters handle play-by-play events, but many do double duty and interview the players as well. Whether they are on the field during halftime talking to the quarterback or spending time in the dugout after the game, they need to be able to formulate and articulate questions that the players can answer in order to find out what the watchful audience wants to know. This isn’t the time to go blank and stare at the camera or microphone, feeling put on the spot, as these professionals need to know how to come up with those questions and ask them on the spot.
Providing Game Highlights on Camera
Another important part of sports broadcasting, putting together game highlights, requires a lot more than just talking into a microphone or camera. These highlight reels are often played during news broadcasts, so the broadcaster needs to go through the many hours of footage in order to cut and paste together the best moments. Although most of the footage is digital these days, leaving little actual film to cut and paste, it’s still important to know how to put together one of these reels, so they can present it to the rest of the station and the viewers.
Joining a News Broadcast
Major television channels (and even some smaller ones) have nightly news broadcasts that often involve some sports reels. Their sports broadcaster will discuss local games played by colleges, semi-professional teams, or even major professional teams, and go over some of the highlights. Knowing how to do this and present it clearly on camera – live and in person – is a skill that students will practice at the Dean College pre-college summer program in sports broadcasting.
Memorizing and Understanding Facts and Terminology
In addition to being able to ask questions, put together a highlight reel, and speak confidently during a live news broadcast, people in the sports broadcasting field need to understand all of the terminology that the sports entail. If they can’t tell a halfback from a wide receiver, then they won’t be able to do their jobs correctly. And, while there are sometimes people feeding them the facts and figures during a live play-by-play, some professionals know a lot about the sport and can already list these things off the top of their heads for their audiences.
So, as you can see, a career in sports broadcasting is more than simple play-by-play announcing. You’ve got to have personality, wit, sports knowledge, and be the whole package!
Ready to get a jump start on your sports broadcasting career? Contact us today to request more information about our pre-college summer program.