How Could I Forget My First NHL Experience?

On March 10th I covered the Capitals vs. Penguins hockey game. It was a lot more crowded than Wizards games. The first way I noticed this is by the lack of parking. Normally I don't have trouble finding parking during basketball games but I had such a hard time trying to find parking for the Caps game. When I made it through the press check-in I went upstairs to the top of the Verizon Center. This is where reporters sit for hockey games compared to the almost court-side seats we enjoy during Wizards games.

I really didn't get to watch much of the hockey game at all! I was keeping John updated on the scores of away games like the Wizards and other NHL games. During both intermissions, I went down to the main concourse level to interview fans in a man-on-the-street style. Since this was Evgeny Kuznetsov's first game with the Caps my focus was to get a variety of people to express their feelings towards his arrival and his performance so far. I was happy to get at least eight clips of usable audio for the feature department of WTOP to put in their community piece.

After the game John sent me to collect audio from players and the coach's post game conference by myself. He was anchoring all sports casts for WTOP from the Verizon Center so he couldn't leave the dial in device set up in the pressbox. It allows him to call into the station and broadcast his updates live on the air every :15 and :45 of the hour. After a certain time of the night sports is increased to the :30 of every hour as well. This was my first time ever being at a hockey game, let alone covering one professionally. I was unfamiliar with the routine of the media and where exactly to go- John gave me general instructions but nothing specific. I asked staff for directions to the locker room and followed other reporters around the locker room. I assumed whoever the huge group of media swarmed around to get audio would be the important players to record.

After that, I went to the coaches press conference and sat really close to record his comments through the mic and recorder I had. When I went back to the pressbox with John, I began to edit the audio. This was one of my first times editing game audio and trying to locate interviews on the jumbled memory card he supplied me with inside the recorder. Turns out the coach's audio was unusable because there was too much static. From that night I learned to never use WAV format for audio like I was taught in one of my classes but to use MP3 format. I also learned to use the media box in the back of the press conference room to record audio straight from the microphone the coach talks into, and how to push my way to the front of players to get clear audio. I learned this is a very fast paced business. My editing skills are now so much faster since becoming familiar with what to look for in audio and what to cut out. I was informed that the designated length for radio clips is between 10 to 12 seconds and to send clips to the reporters when I am finished with each one individually, not to wait until I am done editing the entire person's audio.

It really made me a better editor and gave me an improved ear for picking out sound bites.

5/7/2014

Yesterday I helped with the Nationals day game. It was originally supposed to start at 1:05 in the afternoon but with a rain delay, first pitch was at 2:45 pm. It felt like I was at the field all day long- the game took forever. Afterwards, I want downstairs to record the manager's post-game conference and then I rushed over to the locker room to get audio from the players.
I learned I need to be pushy to get good clear audio and get the mic close to the players. It was also really cool when I was the only one to ask Doug Fisher if I could get a few words from him. I was nervous and slightly stumbled over some of my questions but I felt so accomplished afterwards that I could go up and ask him on my own and come up with some questions about his return to pitching after being placed on the DL. It all went so smoothly which is what I was very happy about- and no other news source thought to get audio from him. It was a very excited personal experience.
When that was finished, I edited the audio back in the press box and sent it to the sports reporter there from WTOP. He seemed very surprised with my quick work and getting so many clips edited and sent over to him.
Even though it started kind of rough, it turned out to be a good day.

5/5/14

On Monday, May 5th, I came into the station and edited a lot of post game audio. This included clips from four Wizards players and the coach after their game one victory in the second round against the Indiana Pacers. Then I waited during the rain delay for the Nationals game to continue. I didn't get out of the studio until 2 o'clock in the morning. This internship has definitely adjusted me to the late hours that come with sports reporting.
 Once the Nationals game began again, the sports reporter and I were talking about local sports and the outcome of the Wizards game. He gave me a brief explanation of his script writing process and advice from his experiences in the broadcast radio world. This included small station employment verse network radio.