Behind the scenes of Liverpool comeback from sportscasters perspective
It’s probably up there with the Miracle on Ice, the 2004 ALCS or maybe even Tiger Woods most recent Masters triumph. Comeback stories are the…
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The Art (and strategy) of perfecting the soccer goal call
GGOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!! Honestly when you think of ‘soccer’ and ‘goal call’, chances are you immediately go to the prolonged scream that you hear from Mexican, South…
Joe Buck speaks on silence, homerism and peeing
Joe Buck might be the most polarizing character in American sports broadcasting. Everyone in the industry has some sort of opinion on him and fans…
How to Improve Your Skillset During Quarantine
Quarantine. Social Distancing. Coronavirus. COVID-19. That’s all that’s flooding our feeds, our inboxes, and unfortunately our lives. There’s no doubt how big of an impact…
How often should you say the time and score?
When everything else is equal…when voice and vocabulary and veracity are all comparable, the ability to seamlessly work in the time and score of a…
Handling breaking news on the air
On Saturday October 27th, 2012, I was broadcasting a game between my team and a divisional rival on the road. The game itself wasn’t overly…
Nicknames and First Names; How to Use Them
Dale Carnegie once wrote, “A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” As sportscasters, we say names more than anything else throughout…
Broadcasting different sports: what can you learn?
It’s common wisdom for athletes to cross-train. Seldom to the world’s best focus strictly on one sport, twelve months a year…they branch out, they try…
The challenge of getting ‘in the zone’ on air
Get in the zone. It’s great advice for new sportscasters. Players know it, they know when they’re in the zone. For sportscasters, our location of…
Questions to ask a coach in a post-game show
In November 2016, Sportscaster Life wrote about questions to ask a coach before a game. It’s consistently one of the most searched for and asked…
Scripting: When It’s Okay To Read Prepared Text
We work in a business which relies on our skills to swifly describe what we see to those who aren’t in attendence, so it might…
Stay in the Moment: Not Getting Ahead of Your Call
In the past decade or so, the idea of instant replay and this notion of constantly checking and double checking plays has had a negative…
What’s the worst sportscasting booth setup you’ve had?
If you follow Sportscaster Life on Twitter, you may have noticed on Friday afternoon we sent out a tweet for followers to offer up topics…
Be Ready for Anything when you’re on air
Sports is something where anything can happen, and as sports broadcasters, we have to be ready for anything that might occur before, during or after…
Preparing for a major broadcast
A few weeks ago, the eyes of the state of Indiana were on New Palestine High School. Charlie Spegal, the Dragons’ senior running back, entered the…
Three words you should stop using on air
Do you ever find yourself going back over audio or video and finding words you hate, words you should stop using? The average sports broadcast…
Self-Critiques and How To Do it Right
Like any good broadcaster, I self-critique. Simply put, it’s a vital part of doing this job to the best of our abilities. How else can…
Communicating With Your Color Analyst
A little while ago, Alex talked about the differences between broadcasting a game solo versus having a go with a partner. Sometimes, the most difficult…
Producer and Play-by-play: When you’re on your own
“… with 12:25 left in the second period, the Fuel lead Kalamazoo 2-1. You’re listening to Indy Fuel hockey.” For years, the outcue is a signal…
My Pocket Notebook Makes Me a Better Sportscaster
Anyone who’s known me long enough knows that since high school, some 13 years ago, I’ve always had a small notebook tucked in my back…
Positivity in Play-by-Play
I grew up a fan of the Chicago Cubs and Buffalo Sabres, so it goes without saying that my childhood sports fandom was full of…
How eSports broadcasting is changing the game
Ten, or even five years ago, the notion of giving eSports the same attention and coverage as traditional sports would have been absurd. Who wants…
Broadcast backups for when things go wrong
The single most important thing a broadcaster can do is prepare. You’ll see it all the time in spotting charts and research on teams and…
Talking with Coaches After Tough Incident
One of the most challenging aspects of sportscasting has to be dealing with coaches. If there is a bigger ‘chalk and cheese’ in sports media,…
Diary of a Sportscaster: The Last Seven Days
Regular readers on Sportscaster Life may have noticed a bit of a lull through the latter stages of January and into the start of February.…
The Best Shortcut to Finding A+ Demo Reel Material
Building a demo reel can be an extremely tedious task. You not only need to follow a lot of the rules associated with producing a…
Calling Games Solo vs With Colour Analyst
There is a huge difference between calling games on your own and having a colour analyst in the booth with you. Chances are throughout a…
Dealing with Bad Injuries On Air
In the light of Gordon Hayward’s ankle injury on national television to essentially open the NBA season, the topic of injuries is front and centre in…
Call Any Game, Anywhere With Spalk
The following article is sponsored by Spalk – Crowd Sourced Sports Commentary. To learn more, you can visit http://www.spalk.co. Imagine broadcasting any event, anywhere in…
Tips for ‘Op-ing’ Your Own Radio Broadcasts
If you’re lucky enough to have regular radio broadcasts, then you are well versed in the advantages and disadvantages of having a board op back…
When Sportscasting is More Than Just Calling Games
Not too long ago, Sportscaster Life contributor Ryan Lepper talked about his time in Junior A hockey and how he balanced wearing various hats. He…
Handling Training Camp as a Sportscaster
Late August and early September mean many hockey, football and basketball teams are holding their annual training camp. It’s an opportunity to shift back into…
Superstitions in the Broadcast Booth
In sportscasting, there are two main questions that broadcasters will debate on until the end of time. First, is Joe Buck a good sportscaster? And…
How to Handle Championship Celebrations
Players play for a championship. To win that last game of the season, to raise a trophy above their head and to raise a banner…
Broadcasting Games off a Monitor
A couple of weeks ago I had a unique opportunity. From my home office in Powell River, British Columbia, Canada…in my pyjamas…I broadcast group stage…
Staying “On” During the Off-Season
If you’re a fall/winter sportscaster like me, you may be smack in the middle of a much-deserved off-season. If you’re a spring and summer sportscaster…
Importance of a Summer Break for Sportscasters
Summer. It’s that time of year that makes me both happy and sad as a sports broadcaster. It’s sad because high school sports is finished…
Know Your Role and Shut Your Mouth
Former WWE superstar and current Hollywood box office draw Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson famously said “know your role and SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” during his wrestling…
Sportscasting vs Being a Homer
Being a homer is one of my sportscasting pet peeves. Sportscasters are story tellers first and foremost, so I always wonder how homer sportscasters can…
Thank You Coach (A Sportscasters Guide to Coaches)
Growing up we all played for at least one good coach. Good coaches not only helped us with our skills on the field or court…
Having a Catch Phrase vs Quality Broadcasting
Working in radio full time is a dream come true for me and I am incredibly blessed. Over the years I have had the privilege…
Misunderstanding Sportscasters on Air
The average words per minute that humans talk at is somewhere between 145 and 160 words per minute. For sportscasters on air, it’s likely a…
Three Ways to Get Started in Sportscasting
You love watching sports. You love to talk. And a career where you get paid to go both of those things seems like it’s too…
How to Call a Pro Wrestling Broadcast
I love pro-wrestling. It’s a guilty pleasure that I truly enjoy for a multitude of reasons. First it’s entertaining. The production value, the presentation and…
What It’s REALLY Like to be a Sportscaster
People who want to be a sportscaster as a profession know how tough it is. On the surface, a career as a sportscaster is awesome. You…
The Future of Sportscasting and Play-by-Play
The future of sportscasting. It’s an interesting thought. In the last 50 years we’ve seen such amazing advances in media and the coverage of sports…particularly…
The Hardest Name I’ve Ever Had to Pronounce
We all have them. Those names on the roster sheet that just fill you with dread every time you see them. You know one of…
Broadcasting Hockey in Non-Traditional Markets
When you think hockey, chances are the NHL comes to mind. The world’s best players plying their trade, having grown up on a healthy dose…
Five Tips to Becoming a Play-by-Play Announcer
It’s the number one, most asked, most requested question that comes with the most complicated, most non-descript, most sought after answer…….”how do I become a…
Trials and Tribulations of Broadcasting a Football Game
It’s not easy being a sportscaster. The long hours, the travel, the prep…but boy is it fun. It’s a topic we’ve covered many times before…
The Star of the Broadcast is Always the Game
It was October of 1993. I was barely a month into my WHL broadcast career as the Voice of the Prince Albert Raiders and at…
Dealing with a Difficult Coach
So I want to tell a story. This happened to me a few years back where I ran into a coach who didn’t see eye…
My Big Break: Five Reasons Why You Didn’t Get It Yet
When will I get my big break? Sportscasting is a cut throat business. There are thousands of people interested and toiling away at the high…
How Does One Become a Sportscaster?
After a glittering career ended at the conclusion of the MLB regular season, Dick Enberg can rest knowing that he leaves sports broadcasting as one…
What Questions should you ask a Coach before a game?
The pre-game interview. It can be a fantastic addition to a pre-game show or like trying to extract your own wisdom teeth with a pair…
Thank You Family: How to Handle an Invested Audience
Not many people (if anyone) are tuning in to my broadcasts because they’re a big fan of just the team. My demographic is going to…
How I Got My Start in Broadcasting
As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m a fan of Logan Anderson’s blog, Say the Damn Score. It’s a good look at his view on sportscasting…
Get the Most from your Pre and Post-Game Shows
Every broadcast should start with one, and every broadcast should end with one. It’s not a whistle, or a buzzer or a gun….it’s a ‘show’,…
How Aspiring Sportscasters Can Build A Demo Reel
It’s perhaps the single most important piece of any job application…the demo reel. While it’s not the only important piece, I’d argue that you could…
Sportscasting Advice from Basketball Broadcaster
I stumbled upon the blog of college basketball announcer Adam Young recently. In search for information on spotting boards, I found a series of posts…
Can A Broadcaster Be A Sore Loser?
My favourite podcast right now is Sean Aronson’s The Voice Behind the Voice. It’s pretty much a series of broadcaster biographies in audio form, but…
How to Prep for Games When Info is Unavailable?
This post stems from a conversation I had with fellow hockey broadcaster Jonathan Kliment. Kliment reached out to Sportscaster Life to discuss prep techniques, namely…
450+ Football & Basketball Describers
Logan Anderson’s blog “Say the Damn Score” has been on fire lately. His last two posts in particular are something to take note of for…
What is “Game Day” Like for a Sportscaster?
There was an interesting question on a popular Facebook group for Sportscasters the other day…what does your day of prep look like? There were other…
Guest Post: My First Hockey Experience
Hi, I’m Logan Anderson, I’m a sportscaster from South Dakota. Alex has invited me to write about the challenges of doing play-by-play for an unfamiliar…
Trying to Broadcast a New Sport
In the summer of 2011, I had a great opportunity to try something new. Prince George, BC (where I was living at the time) was…
The Anatomy of a Goal Call
Not long ago, I got an email from a colleague in the BCHL asking about my goal calls. He was looking for ways to change…
Getting your reps in: Practice Without Games
The more years I’ve called games, the more I’ve come to believe that play-by-play broadcasting is like riding a bike. Once you learn it, get…
Interviews and Approaching Players
I was reading through the STAA forums recently when I came across a thread looking for help on how to approach players for interviews. Interviews are…
Improving Your Presentation Skills
Great presentation skills are a powerful asset for a salesperson. Lousy presentation skills are a serious liability. Even if you have the best product, service,…
Jack Edwards Call of Bruins OT Series Winner
Not much to say about this video, that isn’t in the video itself. Here is Boston Bruins network announcer Jack Edwards, with his call of…
Editorial: Handling Bad Officiating
It’s happened to all of us. You’re calling a game, everything is going well, and then the referee/umpire becomes memorable for all the wrong reasons.…
The Power of Social Media
The following article is from Sports Networker and focuses on the increasingly huge role social media is playing in the sporting world. The world is…
“Talk About” Your Interview
Scott Feschuk with Sportsnet Magazine featured a great article about reporters getting lazy with their questions: We’re big believers that your best columnists have to…
Protecting Your Pipes
It’s no secret that your voice is one of, if not your biggest asset. Tools to a tradesman are like a voice for a broadcaster,…