14—Collegian Magazine Saturday, Nov. 2, 1985
Televising a game not as easy as ABC
By MATT HERB
and MARK BRENNAN
Collegian Sports Writers
Amid miles of cable, dozens of video cameras and
several million dollars worth of other assorted
electronic gadgetry, they do their work.
There are about 80 of them all together, plugging things
in, turning knobs, throwing switches, creating in the end,
a web of wires and lenses throughout Beaver Stadium.
They do their work quickly. Technicians dash in and out,
preparing every detail and double checking to make sure
everything is done fast and done right.
That was the scene when ABC rolled into Happy Valley,
three weeks ago along with the Crimson Tide. Alabama
left with a dissapointing loss under their belts, but the
network was considerably more successful.
As a result of their work, millions watched Penn State
nip Alabama 19-17 with Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles
bringing it to the eyes and ears of a grateful nation.
But football fans weren't the only ones thankful for
ABC's coverage. Penn State athletics picked up $280,000
for allowing the network carry the Alabama game, and
another $260,000 when West Virginia came to town,
Assistant Athletic Director Fran Fisher said. A former
announcer for the Penn State Football Radio Network,
Fisher added that since the University's athletic teams
are self-supporting, the money is an important source of
revenue.
For nearly twenty years, the NCAA and ABC have
enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship. One of the
reasons for the network's success in broadcasting college
football has been the experienced ' hand of Donn
Bernstein, ABC's director of college athletics.
There probably aren't many ABC higher-ups who
perform their jobs with the same flair as Bernstein. While
many of his colleagues spend their days wearing three
piece suits, working 9-to-5 desk jobs in the network's
Manhattan offices, Bernstein roams the nation in a purple
ABC Sports baseball jacket, corduroy pants, and worn
docksiders. But despite his casual appearance, he is one
of the network's most knowledgable people when it comes
to putting together a college football broadcast.
"What seems to be monumental to an outsider is
relatively routine to our crew," Bernstein said. "To
anybody outside you see eight zillion miles of cable and
three trailers and all that stuff, but it's really quite
routine."
But on the Friday before the game, it seems anything
but the orderly, well oiled machine that Bernstein de
scibed. Technicians scramble in and out of the three
cramped trailer trucks parked along the outer rim of the
west side stands. Telephones ring off their hooks, dozens
of video screens display everything from panoramic shots
of the stadium's interior, to All My Children to MTV.
Inside the tape truck an entire tractor trailer devoted
Before, during and after the game, the control room in the ABC truck is never dull. With 34 television monitors at his
disppsal, producer Chuck. Howard has plenty of shots to choose from before we see his selections on television.
ABC seems to have a camera everywhere when covering a game, but in reality the camera shown here, mounted on a truck,
is responsible for most of the coverage shown on television.
to video replays one of the crew speaks frantically into
a phone in a language vaugely resembling Spanish. To
whom, or Tor what purpose is unknown, and Bernstein
passes by him with a baffled - grin on his face.
No matter. Bernstein seems to thrive on the chaos all
around him. He fires jokes at anybody within earshot
("they call me Jaws because I talk a lot"), stopping only
occasionally to take a quick phone call.
"We have to get it passed out that we are people,"
Bernstein said. "We're more than a building. We like to
have a little fun and not take life so seriously."
"We're often perceived that way, but we are quite
human." One quick look into the main control trailer
reveals just how human the ABC crew is. On the far wall
of .the cramped control booth is pinned a snapshot of
Jackson, America's best known college football an
nouncer, with Hollywood's favorite horror movie hostess,
Elvira. Glued to the same wall are a few bumper stickers
boasting the network's initials followed by the legend
unprintable in a family newspaper.
An adjacent wall, though, with its banks of TV screens
and computerized rows of colored lights, is a reminder of
the real purpose of their presence outside the stadium.
Stepping from the wide open spaces of the hills and
valleys surrounding the east end of campus into the
control trailer, is to experience instant culture shock. The
interior of the control booth resembles nothing so much as
the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.
"It's a zoo," Bernstein said. "You see $5 million worth
of equipment, all of the wires and all of that kind of stuff."
The man who understands the inner workings of all that
electronic spaghetti is producer Chuck Howard. Having
worked on ABC's coverage of the Indy 500, the Kentucky
Derby, the World Series, and the Olympic Games, as well
as college football, Howard brings nearly 20 years of
experience into the control room. He uses every bit of it to
scan several of the 34 screens used to decide which of
seven possible camera shots home veiwers will see.
In addition, Howard is in contact with the announcers,
cueing them for commercials, descibing upcoming in
stant replays, and provides general information during
the course of the game.
Below the TV screens sits the control board, about a
three foot by five foot slab of laminated hardwood,
covered with rows of flashing buttons, levers, knobs and
monitors. The board is mostly the domain of director
Andy Sidaris, who carries out the producer's-instructions.
From the control board, the buttons that cue shots,
instant replays, and commercials are pushed. It is also
where special effects are inserted into the broadcast.
To demonstrate the special effects, Sidaris pulls back a
lever, and a shot of the field on the screen above splits into
two views of opposite ends of the stands. He pulls another
lever and a pair of jagged edges slide from either side of
the screen, converging in the middle as they engulf the
shot of Beaver Stadium.
Whatever happens on the field, ABC is ready to bring it
to millions of viewers with reverse angle replays, 15 color
graphics and more special effects than George Lucas
would know what to do with. Even a self described "old,
old broadcaster" like Fisher, appreciates the job ABC has
been doing on their coverage of Penn State football.
"I don't think you get to be where those people get to be
without having done a pretty exceptional job somewhere
down along the line," Fisher said. "Keith Jackson and
Frank Broyles are doing a different game every week and
it's a different university under a different environment,
and talking to different people, and I think they do an
exceptional job."
Howard, Broyles and Jackson study films, read scout
ing reports and familiarize themselves with numbers and
statistics in preparation for each game. One gets the
impression that virtually nothing could happen during the
broadcast that the crew wouldn't be ready for.
"We're covered for everything short of the world
caving in," Bernstein said. "We have contingencies on
top of contingencies on top of contingencies. We have
stand-by shows for the stand-by shows."
"What about a nuclear war," a wondering technician
asks.
Bernstein laughs. Somewhere deep in the ABC produc
tion manual there probably is a contingency plan for
nuclear war. And whatever it is, it will no doubt include
reverse angle replays and 15 color graphics. .. ..
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Collegian Magazine Saturday, Nov. 2, 1985-1