A KC Masterpiece.....

As Murph indicated, there is a lot of construction happening around the TV trucks here at Kaufman Stadium. So, to add some more visuals to it, here is what it looks like outside our front door here!

A Royal Reconstruction

Well, we just arrived in Kansas City, home of Kauffman Stadium, one of the finest facilities in major league baseball. The view from the truck look just like it does any other day, but when you look out the doors, you can't help but notice what's going on outside. The construction vehicles, the fenced off areas and workers all mean one thing: reconstruction.

When you're watching the game tonight on television, everything will pretty much look like normal; the waterfalls, the green grass and those unmistakable royal blue Kansas City uniforms. The only thing which may seem a little different is the monstrous scoreboard they now have in center field. This is the first step completed in the rebuilding process.

What you will not see on TV is the work being done underneath the stadium in the concourse. Everything will be modernized, and the walkways will go underneath the entire stadium and connect (even under the waterfalls). Then in the offseason the rest of project will be completed.

When all is said and done in time for opening day 2009, Kauffman Stadium should back to normal and back among the premier ballparks in the American League.

"Remote" TV Production.....

There is a reason the term "remote" is used in television production from a given site...and we experienced some of that on Friday night. While working with our new encoder for HD and our transmission partner, we experienced the dreaded "technical difficulties" for our baseball telecast. There are always going to be some bumps in the road, you just dont want them to turn into potholes.

It becomes a very large technical question, when all you really want to know is what the heck happened? You dont want to hear that the framitz and the localizer were not connected...you just want to know why the game was not there. There are a lot of issues in wrestling with this world of HD broadcasting, but I though it would give me the chance to show you some of the cabling that occurs at our venue.

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I wish I had the cable concession for the amount of cable that we use for a telecast. And the amazing part is, when the truck pulls in, there is nothing there....when it leaves, it is all stored on board the mobile unit. Anyone that puts out a few cables for anything, even exterior Christmas lights, knows that the cables can be intertwined or plugged in the wrong place or even missing.

Welcome to the world of the crew and the engineering staff that arranges and plugs in these cables on the truck's arrival - only to store them all on its departure. It truly is a studio on wheels that can be assembled, used, and stored in one 10 hour day. That's where the professionals come in - and from coast to coast, truck to truck, we have them.

So the next time you are watching a game, think of all the cable, the time it took to set it, and the people who were involved in the preparation.....then sit back, grab your favorite beverage and, tapping the remote as needed, fire up the ball game - it will be there! Go Tribe!

In The OC....

And a quick note finishing our West Coast swing...We moved on down the road to Orange County and visited the home of the Los Angeles Angels. You cant miss the big 'A' if you are touring down the freeway here. So here is a quick view of our compound and truck located outside the ballpark. We are out in left field just beyond the bullpens. For this series, we were working with our friends from Cross Creek and their high definition truck. In all these remote facilities, you will find an audio area, general production are, replay area, and video control.

Here is a view into the main control room - and the location of the truck outside the stadium. We are usually parked next to the home team's broadcaster whomever that may be. In this case the games were being broadcast on Fox Sports Net in the greater Los Angeles area.

And a view into the replay area..... Mike and his gang working on elements to be aired during the game as well as setting up replay assignments.

The long underground hallway eventually leads to elevators to the press room......

And video control......

The engineers you will see along the way here are extremely competent and always helpful. Their work is never done on a broadcast day but here Brent and Kurt our engineers for the day, enjoy a quieter moment.


A shot of the switcher here where all the sources are selected that appear on the screen....

And a view into the booth area.....



Wouldn't it be nice to have all these monitors

in your living room? I know - there are already

too many choices!

Next road trip - Minnesota and Kansas City....
more coming from the MetroDome and

Kaufman Stadium.....

A Day By The Bay....Part Deux

Before we head off on the continuation of our trip
around San Francisco, I would be remiss if I did not mention my gracious hosts - Jean Tuckerman and Alan Ernat. They have both lived in this neck of the woods for many years - and know many of the great places to visit and eat in and around the city. So not only do I have the opportunity to see the sights, but I can also visit with friends in person. If you cannot be home, it certainly seems to be a small part of it when you can share the day with people that you know!

So after a quick lunch, we headed south to the San Carlos airport and the Hiller Aviation Museum. It is located south of San Francisco International and if you enjoy aviation, you can certainly get lost in here for a few hours.

Here are some of the exhibits displayed in their expansive hanger. The planes themselves ranged from early flight models to present day flight covering quite the range in the smaller aircraft category - right down to a mini-stealth fighter!

We were ready for a great meal at the end of the day, so we headed to Sam's Chowder House located in Half Moon Bay over on the coast. It is set right on the water with a great view of the ocean. And if you are interested in fish food of any kind, you wont be disappointed. It proved to be a great finish to our day.

It was then up to me to fly us back to the city as the daylight was beginning to fade. I stepped into the cockpit and began my pre-flight orientation and advised my friends to buckle up for safety on the ride home......

All right, so I am not really flying...as you can see my plane is pretty well grounded... Maybe next time I can head off into the wild blue yonder....

A Day By The Bay.....

We are certainly very busy during the regular season preparing telecasts and traveling from city to city. There are times though when the schedule precludes us from televising the game - more often than not it is an exclusive agreement with a network carrier. So when that happens, we have the opportunity to explore the city we are in a little more extensively than seeing the hotel and the ball park.

Coupled with that may be the occasion to visit with friends or relatives in the surrounding area and have a chance for some sightseeing.

While we were in Oakland, staying in San Francisco, I was able to both visit with friends and tour some of the city thanks to them - and we had a great day for it! It was sunny and a little cool, but the weather could not have been better for a day trip in the area.

It started off with a short drive to the Golden Gate Park area. Our first stop was to be the Legion of Honor Museum, which is a part of the San Francisco museum consortium. We were there to visit the Annie Liebovitz exhibit of some her photographs which were from 1990 - 2005.

The museum itself is a beautiful structure, and when entering, you cannot help but encounter the artistic piece from Dale Chihuly. It was a very different and quite interesting piece. You should check his website to see some of the amazing pieces he has created.

If you are a fan of photography and capturing the moment, Ms. Liebovitz's are incredible. She seems to capture the best in lighting, facial expression, and wardrobe on her subjects with just the one perfect frame. It was quite the exhibit and offered a wide assortment of personal and professional photographs.

I was feeling the mood of the morning and preparing
to enter the museum when this lighting scheme seemed
to intrigue me. The shadows of the columns seemed to
perfectly lined up and created an interesting pattern
on the wall. Got me to thinking of a one man, one
photo show... I will have to find the world's smallest
photographic museum. I will let you know how that
works out!

After the tour, we took a trip deeper into the Golden Gate Park. Just like the Emerald Necklace in the Cleveland area, there are many paths and flower beds nestled amongst the trees. And as spring approaches, much of the foliage has come into bloom. You can see here, we have moved into a beautiful array of tulips.

That was just the start of the day! So much so, I am going to have to break this into another section! Stay tuned for Part II!

On The Road Again........

We hit the ground running in Oakland this year for our first set of games on the road for 2008. Over the years, I have tried to explain to friends and family just what happens when we take to the road and produce shows from various cities. For example, the question will come up as to how we travel our entire crew from city to city - and the answer is, we do not! But we do travel a 5 person core crew that covers the major positions on the show. Not to be too technical, but the members include the Technical Director (Dan Larsen), EVS operator (Mike Symonds), Duet graphics operator (Mike Pocta), Pitch Tracker (Kevin Tennant) and ENG shooter (Robert Bennie). These gentleman play a very large role in not only the technical side of the business, but in the producing part of the show.

So that leaves us to hire the camera operators in the stadium with their video shader, the audio portion of the show, score bug operator, and the extra replay operators that we require as well to be hired in each city. Also, in the booth with Matt and Rick is a stage manager who helps with the management of all the commercial and promotional content. In a nutshell at least, that is the basic setup for our shows. There is a large pool of free lance television production folks who supply the industry with manpower to create these shows. And as we move along, we employ these individuals on our shows as needed - and they usually are the best of the best.

As I have traveled over the years, I have had the distinct pleasure of working with many very talented men and women in the production field in these various major league cities that we have been from coast to coast. So as we move about the country, I will be taking some pictures of various people and facilities and letting you in on the behind the scenes story. And last but certainly not least, you will also see some of the very talented people that I am very proud of in the Cleveland area who make up our local crew and help televise the games from Progressive Park. Some of them have been a part of our hard working staff for some time and it is great to have them on board.

Here is a look at the truck as it was parked in Oakland. Usually we are well outside the ballpark and enter through tunnels or other underground entrances.

This is the front monitor wall - there are just a few monitors to keep track of all the sources available to us from the field, replay room, and the graphics.

A view from the back bench by graphics......




In the audio room of the production truck....











And in the replay area - playbacks a-plenty covering all the bases!

And replay central - where it all begins!







On your right, the video shading area, where the cameras are color corrected and balanced for daylight or night games.

So there it is - just one quick look at what happens in the field....We only pass through Oakland once this year, so it is a quick trip in, a quick hello to our friends in the Bay area and off we go again!

Opening Day Reprise....

Before the fun of opening day slides away from us, I was hoping to show some of the pics from the folks behind the scenes who made the WKYC-TV pre-game show come to life. It takes a small army behind the scenes to coordinate all the audio and video which is sent back through the station to make the show come alive. Thanks to the camera of Mac Mahaffey, I have some of those pictures for you here.


As you can see, everyone has fun on this day - whether you are producing the show or appearing on camera - the ballpark is the place to be. This is the one day of the year when having the radio or TV on in the office is allowed. And why not? It is always a great day for the city - when everyone comes together as Tribe fans. For a moment, you can forget the work-a-day world and the toughest decision becomes whether to add onions to that hot dog or not...










Jim Donovan offers some commentary before the game, only to step in later as the play-by-play voice on the WKYC games.....






.... as Joe Brown works the 3rd base line......

This show would be an hour and a half long - covering many stories and one of the biggest - the weather for the day! Betsy was all smiles
when the first pitch was thrown and there was
no precipitation - rain or snow!















And the list of reporters and photographers and engineers and control room folk is just too numerous to mention. The product spoke for itself - as an opening day extravaganza should - with a little history, a large dose of pageantry, and some outstanding baseball stories.






















So thanks again to Mac for the pics, and to all at the station in getting the season started.... and incidentally, if you are interested in opening days from previous seasons, check out some of the fun stats, players, and events of years gone by. Hang in there - we have a long season ahead - Go Tribe!

Opening day to remember

Wow, what an opener for the Tribe in 2008. We had lots of offense, clutch pitching, controversial calls and a great ending. It was not just an opener for the Indians, it was an opener for me as well as the producer. Sitting in the truck for the first time in the regular season was both special and a tad bit overwhelming. Let me try and take you inside the truck the best I can.

Everyone gets a little caught up in the moment a little bit. While the fans are going crazy in the stands and you at home are getting pumped up watching an Indians rally, the crew in the truck remains very calm. We have to. When Casey Blake hit that huge double in the 8th inning, we were remained right in the moment so we could bring all the reaction and replays of the game-winning hit. When Franklin Gutierrez was sliding across home plate safely, barely avoiding A.J. Pierzynski's tag, the guys in the tape room already had five replays cued up and ready to go. As soon as Gutierrez reached the dugout for high-fives, we were ready to show you as many looks of the play as possible. We have cameras all over the stadium, so we had every angle covered. I hope we provided great looks of that play for you to see at home. Making the decision as to which angles to show isn't hard because you can't go wrong, but it isn't making sure which are the best replays to show. Try to picture this....

You're sitting in front of 12 small 15-inch monitors. Half of them are live action, half of them are replays cued up. The go-ahead runs just scored and the blood is pumping pretty good. To the left of those 12 monitors are 10 other 20-inch televisions showing what all of our cameras are shooting live. That's when you have to sift through all that and choose the correct replays you want to show, and you have to do it in less than 10 seconds. It's a whole lot of fun, but it's also a whole lot of concentration. Hopefully we made the right decisions in that situation.

What a fun opening day, and if you were out in downtown Cleveland after the game, you know what a special day it was. The city was hopping, hopes are high, and this could be one of the best seasons in Indians history. Remember this game and every game the rest of the way. You never know when you're going to see something special. And definitely enjoy it. I know I will, and hopefully we can do a great job bringing you as close to the action as possible.