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Would have been better to simply say that adding teeth to the rear sprocket can add more snap at the cost of more shifting. Nit picky but just seemed awkward. Certainly on average Ricky has improved a ton.
This is sports broadcasting 101.
The Shop
Yes they have "The Voice" in their ear and that voice is the Show Producer who's sitting in the truck. They are 'in the ear' of the talent to inform them of what's coming up, relevant 'new' information, and generally making sure they are good. The Producer has a copy of the Run of Show (broadcast bible) 1" from their nose and is tracking that intently and keeping talent abreast of what's happening show wise (not on the track). Producer is handling some other items, but talent wise that's the gist of it.
Some examples would be:
- Teeing up throws. "Okay Ralph, we have Will ready with the Colt Nichols interview". Ralph then 'tosses' it over to Will.
- Counting down coming back from break "Okay we're back in :30" "Back in :15" "Back in 5, 4, 3, 2..."
- Informing of upcoming features "We have Kawi Science of SX up next. Tee it up in 10"
- Stuff like that.
The talent have a 'talk back' button and when they want to talk to the truck, they hit the 'talk back button' and their mics cut from live feed over to the truck audio channel. Again the Producer normally monitors this exclusively. Stage Manager would also be on this channel.
Talent also have the Run of Show on their desk, but it's more of a reference for them once the show starts. Normally once the show starts honestly the Run of Show goes a little out the window. It's a live event, things happen. So the Producer in the truck is furiously scribbling in the margins as the RoS changes and keeping talent updated.
Good Producers know when to talk to Talent. As you could imagine it's hard to have someone (producer) talking in your ear while also talking (to the audience) and carrying a conversation with your host partner (Ricky and Ralph). When a Producer talks too much.... the talent can snap and basically be like 'STFU'. Great talent handle this really well.
Remember the Show Producer is juggling all of the broadcast talent. Ralph, Ricky, Will, and Daniel. When Ralph and Ricky are 'on' then they (Producer) having a side conversation with Will/Daniel getting them queued up.
The Show Director normally doesn't talk to the talent unless needed. Talent can request to talk to Director during the show (like during a break) to convey some pertinent information and the Producer would tee that up in the truck. "Yeah one sec Ricky and I'll get Johnny Director on the line" "Hey Ricky, Johnny Director here, what's up"
Director is normally focused on calling the camera cuts and on-screen graphics. "Okay let's go to 2 (camera 2). Back to 1. Now overhead."
If all of this sounds chaotic and sort of stressful... it is. Being 'in the truck' during the show is INTENSE. My role on broadcasts (on-site) was always talent management. So I would be 'on the floor' and only pop into the truck to convey things to the Producer or Director in person... and I would always tip-toe in and tip-toe out...
Hope that helped! There is a massive crew behind the scenes and it all routes through the truck, with the show director as god of all. Cameramen. Audio techs. Tech. Cabling. Wardrobe. HMU. Talent. Graphics. Editors. ENG team. etc etc. It really is impressive.
FWIW I've worked directly with sports broadcast talent you see on ESPN, BBC, British Superbike, global level futbol (soccer), A-level esports, etc.
I have to give Ricky credit, he's worked hard to get better, and while some weeks are better than others, his trajectory is upward. Well, Practice/Qually was horrific yesterday - not sure what the hell was going on with him.
What I struggle with understanding is...why is he not better when he’s been doing this for so long? Then again....if I practiced soccer every day for the rest of my life, I’m sure I wouldn’t improve....that’s how bad i am with my feet. Maybe we all have things we are really bad at...regardless how much we practice? Don’t confuse this with stuff we are bad at cause we choose not to practice or improve (due to constraints such as time, priorities, laziness). That list for me is endless...
Agree with pretty much everyone...Ricky has definitely upped his game this year.
As far as the comms goes, you have 3 scenarios, you have on circuit commentary, where the race has a proper crowd watching the action, but they cant see all of the action, or where the race has a smaller crowd, with a huge entry , where you give a play by play for those that can hear but cant see.. and finally TV .
You cant expect a play by play commentary that is being done for TV to tell you what is going on, because its on TV … you are watching the same thing they are , they aren't going to describe something in detail that you just watched happen yourself are they ..
Circuit stuff for the big crowd is great , because you can talk about anything you can see, not just what is on the screen, and if you have a screen as well that's even better .. good fun when there is 2 of you on each half of the track .
And as for the smaller stuff, I enjoyed doing that as well, its a different style where the crowd is basically most of the people that are in the race's crew plus a small crowd, so you go into detail a bit more, so those guys in the pits get to follow the day as well, without having to actually be on the fence.
The NBC production is sketchy at best , but there are a lot of outside influences that make it more difficult, I can tell you that sitting, in a booth with a director in your ear , having to hit your marks irrespective of what is going on , isn't easy , but for the love of god, stop showing replays from last week's races over the live action on screen... that is just piss poor IMO.
I think Weigandt would be a better fit as well. but here we are
So why do we get 30-90sec diatribes on 'rider X went to the movies last week'? The race is only 21 min long. Why waste ANY of this time with nonsense trivia and many many times seen replays? Ralph counting points 2 laps into a race is another pet peeve.
Weather it be the trucks fault or the 'talent', the broadcast leaves much to be desired.
To answer your question: It sounds like you're saying Ralph and Ricky are given everything they need to do an excellent job...perhaps with the exception of what comes on the screen (i.e. following the leaders, replays, stats, trackside interviews). The policy on that kind of stuff is decided by people higher up and long before the broadcast? Or do Ralph and Ricky have a say?
The talent (Ralph, Ricky, Will, Daniel) have 'zero' real time say over what you are seeing on your home TV screen. Following the leaders, replays, stats, etc. That's all dictated by the Show Director in the truck. Ralph and Ricky specifically are reacting to what you and I see on our screens. Now that said... they could have additional screens in front of them for ancillary information (like a live timing screen) but they are going to be focused the majority of the time on the 'program monitor'. Meaning the screen showing the 'live program' which is what you and I see. That's because they again need to commentate, react, and speak to what we are all seeing.
Will and Daniel have a bit more leeway in real time. Normally for a 'sideline interview' (Will) you know you are going to talk to "XYZ Podium Guy" but if something is developing in real time, she can 'talk back' to the truck and let the Producer know she's got "Roczen's Mechanic here" (to talk about uh... maybe that flat tire) and then the Producer tells the Director and then the Director would say "Okay let's get it over to Will in the next :30". At that point the Producer tells Will "Okay we'll be coming to you in the next :30 so be ready" and then will tell Ralph & Ricky "Ralph toss it over to Will in the next :30, she's with Roczen's Mechanic". At which point you and I hear Ralph say "Well we've got Will standing by with Roczen's mechanic (Will can hear this and knows 'ok he's coming to me now' and she'll give a point or something to the mechanic to let him know it's go time) let's send it over to her and see what's going on with Ken"
Make sense? Same with Daniel. They go into the show with some set ideas (they do a pre-show talent/producer/director meeting I'd guess) like if a track has a huge whoop section... it will be determined ahead of time "Let's do a Trackside Feature with Daniel and talk about the whoops". Again though... if something develops in real time, and it would be relevant to the racing and interesting to the fans (perhaps the way a section is breaking down).. that could be changed 'in real time'.
Set in-broadcast features are all pre-determined. You know you have sponsors and obligations that have to be met. Make-up to Mud, Science of Supercross, etc are all pre-taped and MUST be shown in the broadcast to meet sponsor deliverables. Where (ie: when) those take place tends to have a little wiggle room. Ideally you stick 100% to the Run of Show but again, it's a live event so something may happen which might cause the Make-up to Mud feature to be bumped a couple minutes.
Same with shots, replays, etc. You ever hear talent say something like "Man I'd really like to see that crash again"... That is a HUGE hint to the truck to fucking get a replay of that up! That's rare, and not really something you want your talent to be saying... Talent relies on the truck to handle the cameras (following action, showing interesting stuff) and getting replays up. Same with things like the points standings. A good truck team will know the 'right amount of time' to leave a graphic up on-screen so the viewers, and talent, can read it, speak to it, and digest it before switching away.
All that said: Talent has a lot of autonomy to say what they want on air. Ask the interview questions they choose. Talk about whatever weird stories they want, etc. Talent (that I've worked with) spend lots of time scribbling notes, questions, stats, and info on 3x5 note cards before and during the show. Basically doing their homework. Which is why you see them walking around the pits pre-show with a notebook... they are looking for those stories and little tidbits to throw out during the broadcast.
However, if talent asks stupid questions repeatably, or does weird shit, the Producer *should* sit them down and have a conversation... coach them up a bit... let them know what's working and what isn't... etc. I'd normally be pretty proactive in that also (as a on-site Talent manager) but mainly that'd be coming from the show producer and maybe director.
So.. in closing. It's a big team effort. The behind-the-scenes team is trying to provide talent with everything they need to bring a show to life to the viewers... but, ultimately, once it starts rolling the talent can make or break a show. At that point the behind-the-scenes team needs to *fix the problems*. Which is why even though Ralph does a number of things that irk me, ultimately the production team is much to blame as they seem unwilling to make changes/fix the problem/work on solutions.
Disclaimer: I don't work nor have I worked on SX broadcasts. My comments are based on my experience with live-event broadcasts and most of the same rules / strategies / practices apply across the board. As such they *should* apply to the SX show without too much deviation.
To answer your question: You obviously have real insight to how things work. In your opinion, what needs tweaked for improvement to the SX broadcast?
HA! How much time do you have? Slide me a few beers and let's go! Honestly as much as I want to type up my thoughts on how to fix... that's the kind of thing you pay someone for...
A few quick items I'd throw out:
- Supercross as a television program has some MAJOR issues with it's format and use of time. Major issues. There are huge sections of downtime (boring) which causes the broadcast to drag on.. and on. Most of this is attributed to the archaic race format system (Heats, LCQs, Mains). You've seen some attempts at tweaking this with the loss of Semis and the introduction of the Triple Crown format.... and I could expound upon this in depth, with reasoning as to why their is resistance to change, and what could be done to fix.. but I'll leave you with that
- Subject Matter Expert in the truck. PLEASE! Maybe there is one in there but if that's the case then the relationship between the SME and Director is awful, or they just aren't very good. What does a SME do? They are someone who's ::drum roll: an expert on the subject. So someone who knows supercross inside and out. They sit in the truck and can see EVERY camera in the stadium. They can see the live timing. They (in theory) would help the director focus in on the best action at the right times. How often do we see the camera following a rider in 9th, riding all alone, while we *know* a battle for 3rd, or 5th, or something relevant is happening, or developing elsewhere? ALL THE TIME. This is where the SME would assist.. they would know that us fans should see THIS over THAT and let the Director know....
In addition the SME normally tracks interesting things that might be happening and the talent haven't noticed yet. Like if Malcolm Stewart set the fastest lap, or Plessinger is tracking his best career 450 finish. Super nerdy shit a SME would know and the average fan wouldn't.
Story time: I was working a program where we had a SME that we'd used for 2-3 years. Great guy.. super nice, everyone liked him, former pro player, etc. However... he lost his passport in the wash (no joke) one show and couldn't make our event. As such we were forced to bring in a new SME... and that was stressful.. oh no what do we do! Well we found a current pro player who wasn't playing in this tournament (and therefore had nothing to do) so we invited him into the truck to fill the SME role... holy shit! The guy was AWESOME. He was a huge stats nerd and just on top of his game. Great notes, great info he'd pass along to the talent, great insights into what match/action we should be focused on. Just amazing. Elevated the broadcast and everyone was stoked. So goes to show the impact each role has on the overall show.
- Throw the whole truck team out and start over. Actually throw the whole production team (talent, truck, everything) out and start fresh. Rehire the good folks... but overall a blank piece of paper is needed as it feels very 'safe' and 'this is the way we do it'.
If you are curious as to what I think is some of the best live event racing production in the world... MotoGP. Their graphics, cameras, technology, talent team, etc is AMAZING. Makes SX look like a high school AV club.
Pit Row
Wednesdays coverage was short on “ HITTING HIS MARKS “ but way too heavy on “ IMPROVING HIS RACECRAFT “ guess that’s Rickys new go to phrase.
IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE! I'm literally embarrassed to watch the program in front of professional media people. It's soo cheesy and devalues the riders.
Find me something worse with similar production value and I'll eat my words...
I'm sorry but its true.
Cameron Steele on the other hand was more like Ralph with spikey hair. He said a lot of things that didn't matter.
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