MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SEMINAR SERIES, THE: SECOND ANNUAL RADIO FESTIVAL: TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME: BASEBALL ON THE RADIO {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in this series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio. Held in New York, this seminar, part of the Second Annual Radio Festival, is moderated by the Museum's radio department manager Ken Mueller and examines the sport of baseball on radio.
The seminar begins with a highlight tape of some classic radio calls by legendary announcers such as Red Barber, Mel Allen, and Russ Hodges, and some memorable calls from the panelists. The panelists include: the Boston Red Sox play-by-play announcer, Joe Castiglione; the New York Mets voice, Gary Cohen; the Philadelphia Phillies fixture, Harry Kalas; Curt Smith, the author of "Voices of the Game"; the voice of the New York Yankees, John Sterling; and the Hall of Fame announcer, Bob Wolff. The panelists discuss the following topics, among others: why baseball is considered a true radio sport; what sort of adjustments have to be made going from radio to television broadcasting; the differences between covering a good team and a bad team; their methods for keeping a game interesting throughout the nine innings; what legendary announcers they molded themselves after; and the tremendous amount of statistics and resources they have available during a game. The panel then fields questions from the seminar audience, which lead to comments on the following topics, among others: how often they listen to one another; how they rate other announcers who are obvious fans of their teams; whether there's a different mind-set needed when transferring from radio work to hosting a baseball talk show; what sort of advice they would give to aspiring broadcasters; how they prepare for rain delays, which can sometimes last three hours; whether any of them had experience in re-creating games on radio for time zones that didn't pick-up live broadcasts; how they keep their vocabulary and verbal skills sharp; what the producer's role is during a broadcast; how they developed their distinctive styles; whether the crowd noise plays a role in their broadcast; what can be done to save baseball from another labor strike and on-going battles between players and owners; and how they handle the personal relationships that come about with players and managers. The seminar closes with each panelist sharing his greatest moment in baseball play-by-play broadcasting.
Details
- NETWORK: Paley
- DATE: November 4, 1996 Monday 6:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:28:58
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:46134
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: Baseball; Sports
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ken Mueller … Moderator
- Joe Castiglione … Panelist
- Gary Cohen … Panelist
- Harry Kalas … Panelist
- Curt Smith … Panelist
- John Sterling … Panelist
- Bob Wolff … Panelist
- Mel Allen
- Red Barber
- Russ Hodges