At times, being on the road can be rather stressful for a sportscaster. Whether it’s a new venue that you’ve never been to before or maybe it’s somewhere you’ve been hundreds of times but the Wi-Fi is always on the fritz or the vantage point is awful. In times like these, it’s nice to have a helpful sportscast host to ease your pain. So when you’re the home team and another sportscaster is traveling with the team, follow these tips to be a helpful sportscast host. Not only is it good manners, but it just might help them have a better call and it’s a simple way to show mutual respect to your sportscasting brethren.
Be Ready Before the Bus
When the bus rolls in, make sure everything is prepared for your guest. If you have a hard-line ethernet cable or an ISDN line in your booth, is it operational and available for easy plug-and-play action? If you’re running off of Wi-Fi is the password written down and ready to go? You can also make things a bit easier by having lineups, rosters, or game timing sheets available if you have them.
Keep Back-Ups on Hand
Does your home arena or field have a specific broadcasting setup that requires some adapters or unconventional connections? Relay this information to the visiting broadcaster a few days before the game, and be ready if the scenario arises that he/she doesn’t have or doesn’t bring certain pieces of gear. I’m not saying you have to hold their hand, but it is your location after all that is a bit different than others, so it’s up to you to help out in certain cases.
It’s the Little Things
Waters, pre-game meal, some duck tape. Those little things can really make a sportscaster feel at home. So if you have the accessibility to certain items, extend the option to your colleague. If you’re thinking about it for yourself, why not just get one more?
Sports broadcasting has changed a lot over the years, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. The fact remains that as long as there are traveling broadcasters, we’ll need some help from the home team. So when you’re at home, help out the visitors when you can and be a good colleague.
