Коламбус Блю Жакетс болон бусад клубийн шийдвэр нь спортын радио нэвтрүүлгийн хувь заяа болон ажлын байранд ноцтой сорилт авчирч байгааг туршлагатай нэвтрүүлэгчид анхаарууллаа.
Коламбус Блю Жакетс баг олон жил радио тайлбарлагчаар ажилласан Боб Макэллиготттой хамтран ажиллахаа болиж, энэ улирлаас эхлэн телевизийн шууд дамжуулалтаа радиогоор давхар цацахаар болсон нь радио салбарын ирээдүйн талаарх болгоомжлолыг улам нэмэгдүүллээ. Энэхүү өөрчлөлтөөр тус клуб нь Баффало Сэйбрз, Каролина Харрикейнз, Даллас Старз, Сент-Луис Блюз багуудын араас телевизийн шууд дамжуулалтыг радиогоор давхар цацаж буй таivé дахь клуб болж байна. Бизнесийн зардлыг хэмнэх болон бүтээгдэхүүнийг сайжруулах зорилготой гэж удирдлагууд тайлбарлаж байгаа хэдий ч энэ нь радиогоор тусгайлан тоглолт тайлбарладаг мэргэжилтнүүдийг олноор нь ажилгүй болгох эрсдэлтэйг нэвтрүүлэгчид шүүмжилж байна.
Зарим багууд энэ шийдвэрийг санхүүгийн хэмнэлтээс илүүтэйгээр үйл ажиллагааг сайжруулах амлалт гэж үзэж байгаа ч радиогийн уламжлалт сонсогчид болон туршлагатай тайлбарлагчид телевиз, радио хоёр огт өөр медиа хэрэгсэл болохыг онцолж байна. Телевизийн тайлбарлагч нь үзэгчдэд юу харж байгааг нь нөхөж тайлбарладаг бол радиогийн тайлбарлагч нь үзэгчдийн нүд, чих хоёр нь болж тоглолтын үйл явдлыг илүү тодорхой дүрслэн хүргэх үүрэгтэй байдаг. Лос-Анжелес Кингз багийн алдартай тайлбарлагч асан Ник Никсон болон хүндэт нэвтрүүлэгч Марти Бреннамэн нар клубийн энэ чиг хандлага цаашид спортын бусад багуудад ч мөн тархаж, радиогийн бие даасан байдал устах аюултай байгааг анхааруулжээ.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
When the Columbus Blue Jackets parted ways with longtime radio play-by-play voice Bob McElligott last week, the phone calls and text messages started coming fast and furious.
Former players and coaches, the ones McElligott worked with directly through his 25-plus years in broadcasting in the NHL and in the minor leagues, made their feelings known. Most of them were outraged and angered by the club’s decision. But the messages that really hit home came from people McElligott has never met, mostly on social media and comment sections, but also in public.
“People like to say that radio is dying, or it’s going away,” McElligott told The Athletic. “But tell that to the people I’ve heard from over the last week or so since I was let go.
“I heard from so many people who said, ‘I listened to you while I drove my kid back and forth from hockey practice.’ Or, ‘I had you on all the time while I was working second or third shift at the plant.’ It was people who love the Blue Jackets, but can’t always watch the games on TV.”
The Blue Jackets tucked the news of McElligott’s departure into a larger announcement that they will begin simulcasting their TV broadcast on the radio this season, “allowing fans to experience the same live-game coverage” on radio as TV.
Despite the positive spin of the press release, it’s another blow to a radio industry that, like other long-held media avenues, has taken its share of hits in recent years. And those in the business worry the Blue Jackets’ decision may give other organizations the justification to make the same move.
The Blue Jackets are the fifth NHL club — joining the Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues — to simulcast their TV broadcasts over radio. For the past several seasons, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ radio crew has called road games from a studio in Toronto.
Will more NHL teams de-emphasize radio-specific broadcasts in the years to come?
“I am concerned,” said Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman, who spent 46 years behind the microphone with the Cincinnati Reds but also did extensive TV work and called Atlantic Coast Conference basketball games. “Teams are looking for any way they can find now to save money, and if they can eliminate an entire broadcasting crew and go with one, that’s the way it’s going to be. The result is a bunch of people losing their jobs, which really bothers me.
“I’ve had people say to me, ‘Well, it’s not a trend yet.’ And I say, ‘It’s coming.’ Teams are going to decide which of their broadcast teams are most successful and they’re going to go with one and eliminate the other.”
That’s not necessarily how teams see it. Last year, the Blues made the surprising decision to part ways with longtime TV voice John Kelly and move to a simulcast, and while business CEO Chris Zimmerman said finances did play a part in the decision, he also said money was not the only factor.
“I definitely wouldn’t characterize it as a cost-cutting move,” Zimmerman said last year. “… Are there some costs saved by not having two separate productions? Sure. But when you look at the scope of our business, what we’re investing in, how we’re investing, it’s just not the driver … This move wouldn’t be happening unless it was part of a commitment to believe that we can be better.”
Regardless, for fans of a certain age, the slow decline — demise? — of radio is hard to imagine, much like a world with fewer newspapers. But there’s really no aspect of the media landscape that hasn’t been dramatically altered in recent years.
Case in point: the crumbling of regional sports networks such as FanDuel Sports Network, which had broadcasted Blue Jackets game on TV before it filed for bankruptcy after last season.
Now, the Blue Jackets and three other NHL clubs have announced plans, in conjunction with the NHL, to produce their own games for local TV this coming season. So, not only do they lose the rights fees — Marc Gregory, the Blue Jackets’ vice president of broadcasting and business intelligence, would not disclose the specific amount — from the RSNs, they’ve taken on the cost of putting together the broadcasts themselves.
As part of that change, longtime Blue Jackets rinkside reporter Dave Maetzold and pre- and post-game host Brian Giesenschlag are in limbo, though Gregory said the Blue Jackets “intend” on making them part of the new broadcasting venture.
“The broadcast landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and while that has created new ways for teams to connect with fans, it’s also presented significant challenges from a business perspective,” Gregory said. “The end to our partnership with FanDuel is obviously a big part of that.”
Nick Nickson, the Hall-of-Fame voice of the Los Angeles Kings before his retirement two seasons ago, doesn’t doubt that clubs see the opportunity to simulcast the TV broadcast over radio as a way to cut costs.
But it’s the justification of that cost-cutting he takes issue with, and not just because it cheapens the radio broadcast. Last week, shortly after the news of McElligott’s departure was made public, Nickson was sent a link to the story by one of his former producers with the Kings.
“When I read that, I went back and looked at the salary cap, how it’s grown through the years,” Nickson said. “Now, the (collective bargaining agreement) is a 50-50 cut (between owners and players), right? So the club’s revenues are going up, too, not just the salary cap.
“There’s only so many members of the ice crew you can hire to clean the ice. There’s only so many marketers you can hire to sell tickets. Why do you need to cut back in an area (radio broadcasts) that, I think, still has value?”
McElligott grew up in Somerset, Pa., listening to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Pirates and Steelers games on radio, in a time when not every game was available on TV. When listening to McElligott’s radio call, Blue Jackets fans could hear an unspoken homage to Penguins legendary broadcaster Mike Lange, whose gravelly goal calls and distinct, quirky catchphrases thrilled listeners.
Now they’ll hear TV play-by-play voice Steve Mears and analyst Jody Shelley coming through televisions and radios. Both are seasoned, respected broadcasters, but this new dual broadcasts will present challenges.
Nickson and Brennaman both said it’s a bigger adjustment than most realize, and that the two mediums — often lumped together — are quite different.
On TV, the broadcaster serves the ears of the listeners. They’re tasked with enhancing what the viewer can see. On radio, the broadcaster is both the ears and the eyes. They have to illustrate the action with far more specificity and description. Imagine the goal reviews, when a TV viewer is privy to the actual replay and the broadcasters are tasked with merely adding to the visuals. Imagine the big moments when broadcasters are wise to step away from the mic and let powerful visuals do the talking.
Nickson knows this all too well. Twice during his time with the Kings, the club simulcasted TV broadcasts over the radio, most recently during the first half of the 2023-24 season.
“I went to the producers and asked them, ‘How do you want me to do this?’” Nickson said. “I cut it back a little bit (for TV), but I was always aware that there was an audience listening but not watching. I tried to cover both of my bases, and I did that because working in radio for so many years, I didn’t want to just discard that as an afterthought. There are so many people who are going to say, ‘Well, it’s TV. Radio is going to get what it gets.’ But for a radio purist like me, that’s not what I want to hear.”
Why did the Kings stop simulcasting midway through the 2023-24 season?
“Management on both sides — that’s the Kings and ESPN (radio) — felt that they could do better,” Nickson said. “That they should do better.”
The Kings, incidentally, hired Kelly as their TV voice after the Blues cut him loose (and after Nickson’s retirement). This summer, the Blue Jackets made the switch to a simulcast. Which team is next? Undoubtedly there will be others, Brennaman predicts, not just in the NHL but across the pro sports landscape.
“If you’re a hockey fan, you’re going to be pissed off,” Brennaman said. “But, at the same time, you have to ask yourself … ‘Am I going to stop listening or watching?’ I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
