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So....

S

spindoctor1

So, a local station does a play-by-play of high school football and some jackass coach (visiting team) is dropping
F-bombs in the background because home team is squashing them. Go to commercial.
During commercial, play-by-play guy (of home team) asks repeatedly that jackass coach please stop with the
profanity. Jackass coach ignores and continues to drop f-bombs. Go to commercial again. Play-by-play guy can't
get guy to stop AND can't go anywhere else to broadcast. Repeated apologies to audience. Try to come back and
jackass coach is still diaherria the mouth. More apologies.
Manager makes call to A.D. of visiting school next day with acknowledgment of wrong doing by visiting jackass coach.
A.D. apologies and asks for written complaint. Manager sends to A.D. and Principal (to cover bases).
Now no contact from school.
How would you handle this situation?
 
Oh please tell me you recorded some of this golden audio.

spindoctor1 said:
So, a local station does a play-by-play of high school football and some jackass coach (visiting team) is dropping
F-bombs in the background because home team is squashing them. Go to commercial.
During commercial, play-by-play guy (of home team) asks repeatedly that jackass coach please stop with the
profanity. Jackass coach ignores and continues to drop f-bombs. Go to commercial again. Play-by-play guy can't
get guy to stop AND can't go anywhere else to broadcast. Repeated apologies to audience. Try to come back and
jackass coach is still diaherria the mouth. More apologies.
Manager makes call to A.D. of visiting school next day with acknowledgment of wrong doing by visiting jackass coach.
A.D. apologies and asks for written complaint. Manager sends to A.D. and Principal (to cover bases).
Now no contact from school.
How would you handle this situation?
Click to expand...
 
Some, but not all.
I was running 3 seperate games and had limited multi-tasking abilities.
BTW, I was told by another radio guy from this idiot's home town that
it was MY fault he was "cussin". This moron is a visitor and it's MY fault.
How in the world do some people get in radio and keep a job?
The stream was max'd out that night from Alumni listening across the
country. So PPPPPPPPPPPPPLLENTY heard. I have NEVER needed a delay
for football games in all the 23 years I have done this, but it looks like
it's time for one with banjo players like this guy.
 
Coaches cuss.

You just let it pass and remember the next time this team plays to put the crowd mike elsewhere.

I've seen Tyler Palko and Vinny Pazienza both use strong profanities in post-game/fight interviews.

It happens. You move on, the athlete/coach apologizes and he doesn't, and you forget the matter.
 
Spindoctor1 i sent u a pvt message.

Holla

spindoctor1 said:
Some, but not all.
I was running 3 seperate games and had limited multi-tasking abilities.
BTW, I was told by another radio guy from this idiot's home town that
it was MY fault he was "cussin". This moron is a visitor and it's MY fault.
How in the world do some people get in radio and keep a job?
The stream was max'd out that night from Alumni listening across the
country. So PPPPPPPPPPPPPLLENTY heard. I have NEVER needed a delay
for football games in all the 23 years I have done this, but it looks like
it's time for one with banjo players like this guy.
Click to expand...
 
All someone needs to do now is file a complaint with the FCC.....and the poor station is the one that gets hammered with a fine [or fines...I think the FCC would consider each "F"-bomb as a seperate violation]. I would have terminated that particular football game broadcast and apologized to the listeners and explain why it could not be continued. If they had to return money to advertisers, so be it, I would then go after the school with the potty mouth coach for any money lost. I would then inform the hosting school that they would not have any more games broadcast unless a secure area was provided away from foul mouth spectators and coaches and I would inform the school with the potty mouth coach that they would NEVER have a game they were involved in broadcast over the stations airwaves.....no matter how much money they could make! I've been involved on both the radio and coach/spectator side and have actually have had to have police advise spectators/coaches to knock it off or they would be arrested for disorderly conduct or, at the least, escorted off the premises....regardless if they were coaching a game or not.
 
If sending the letter does no good.....take the audio you have and send it to some church, newspapers, tv stations and politicians in the coaches town. Something like this happened in Abingdon about a year ago I think. It appeared some of the parents really didn't appreciate thier kids being subjected to a profanity laced tirad. Go figure. Coach there lost his gig.

Just sit back and savor your sweet revenge. If it still bothers you that bad.
 
Just sayin' if it bothers the good doctor so bad, send the tape and really stir the cess pool. Screw the swine over.

I could care less about someone in the background dropping and f bomb.

I drop them all the time. Especially in public. And many times within 500 feet of a school or church.

****.............see......I'm no g.d. prude ;D
 
Well whether your a prude or not, the FCC frowns upon terrestrial radio saying the F-word, or the SH-word still for that matter. Maybe that kind of language is expected at a major NFL or even College games, I wouldn't think it's to cool at a local area HS game where little brothers & sisters are also in the stands. Not to mention if your a small town radio station, that can cripple you! Definately need to find a place all your own to broadcast for future games, if there will be anymore broadcasted. Keep us posted on how it turns out.
 
Just a question on how this happened.

I don't know where this incident happened, but unless the broadcast team was in pretty close proximity, the microphone was super-sensitive OR you had the gain jacked up relatively high (or all of the above), I don't know how it could be that audible. I mean, how obvious was it? Was it there just to the point of being audible or was it pretty loud. If the team was using a crowd mic, seems like you could just turn it off. Or if they were in a press box, most have windows that can closed.

I guess the reason I am asking is because I have run ballgames on radio (yes, the dreaded B word. Board-Operator) for close to 20 years now (17 total) and I have never had this happen in all the football, basketball or baseball games I have produced (sounds better than board-opped :-X).

But my understanding of the rules surrounding something like this is that the FCC will not fine the station if the alleged profanity was broadcast outside the control of the station personnel (broadcasting live at a remote or other event like a sportscast and the profanity is uttered by a person in the crowd). And given the fact that the station representative made a concerted effort to stop the person or persons using the obscene language, I would think, show that the licensee made a good faith attempt to stop it.

This would really be a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of situation to be in. By that, I mean some people would be angry if you signed off before the game was over (look in Wikipedia or Google "Heidi Game" for a better explanation of angry viewers/listeners of a stopped before conclusion sports event) and some "Holy Rollers" would be mad that their station let a bunch of F-bombs get on the airwaves. I would probably ride it out and see what happens.
If the FCC did fine you, I'd try to launch a PR campaign to get public opinion in your favour.

But that's just me. I could be wrong.
 
Prude or not, I personally am not fond of the fact that the "F" word ended up on my station, more than once. With the event in question, a "spotter" coach was placed beside our broadcast team in the press box. Even if we wouldn't be subject to an FCC fine since it was due to circumstances beyond our control, I still do not want that sort of language going over the air on my stations. That doesn't make me a prude...that makes me a responsible broadcaster. Even if our play-by-play team wasn't sitting three feet away, I'm not sure a high school coach needs to be using this sort of language, but that isn't particularly any of my business.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with saying the "F" word. Spindoctor will be the first to tell you I happen to say it myself. However, it is not appropriate to use it in this context, particularly when you've been told already that your foul language is going over the air.
 
The problem with putting a delay system on some sporting events is the possibility that it may throw off the broadcast crew at gamesite when hearing the station in mixminus in their cans. If you put the event in delay, the broadcast crew may hear themselves in the mixminus several seconds after the fact.
 
Guys- even in the pros there is always the chance a fan will use profane language when cheering and it will come through the broadcast.

Close ups often show coaches or players dropping profanities.

You've all seen it and heard it.

Only difference there is when it's discussed on a message board, the fans joke about it.

Here, we are so prudish we call the coach a jackass.

Wait- isn't that a mild profanity? Isn't "HOLY COW" blasphamy?

And wouldn't every individual who has ever coached a sport be a jackass under these restricitions?

It is part of sports. If you don't like that fact, broker, you can certainly take the games off the air, but it's likely you'll only be hurting your audience and your revenue streams.

And you'll be branded as the person more concerned about the one 83-year-old woman who was listening in not for the game- but for mistakes so she can call you up and criticize you on something to make her feel superior.

You'll be relating to that woman over the audience at large who just tuned the coach out.

[EDIT]

This is a non-issue. Nobody would even have known about it or cared if the board op had just let it go.


[EDIT-inflammatory]
 
YEKIMI said:
Another thing......any reason why this game wasn't on a few seconds delay so you could bleep out the curse words?
Click to expand...

You don't delay high school/college games of any kind if all possible. I've even been to many of high school basketball and football games where a handful of old farts and parents were listening to the play-by-play on walkmans in the stands, just like at Neyland. I know it's a different league, but could you imagine all people at Neyland who would p'd off if WIVK delayed their play-by-play/color of UT football?

**(One exception for college/NFL only -- if you have more than one frequency in the market carrying the game, then run one real-time and run one with a few seconds delay so people at home can turn off the volume from the cable TV and listen to the network play by play. It happens here in Knoxville - WIVK 107.7 real-time, AM 990 with a three or four second delay)

With proper control of crowd noise, logistics, and set up, you should be able prevent some low-self-esteemed high school coach's profanity.
 
[EDIT]This is a non-issue. Nobody would even have known about it or cared if the board op had just let it go.

So glad to know you the guy who owns that station so well. You seem to know so much about our audience why don't you tell me how to sell it and run it [EDIT]

If this were a non-issue, sir[EDIT] it would NOT have been posted. The phones went crazy that night with listeners well into their late 30's who have REAL jobs (that ADVERTISE on the station) who were irate.[EDIT]

Now I am not sure what planet you currently program, but you do not have a clue as to what it takes to run a radio station large or small. If you did you would have thought about your reply BEFORE the post.

For those of you who are currently on this world, thank you for the input. Pratte4Life, please, I beg you to reply with something that mirrors logic next time. And just for the record, the FCC DOES frown on "errant expletives" even if at a sporting event. Not sure if you actually did any research, but I did.
Fines are still applicable if the commssion chooses.


[EDIT-inflammatory]
 
I didn't read the remarks in Pratte4Life's post before they were edited out, but I can get the drift of what they were

I didn't say we were removing football games from the air, nor did I imply that. I simply said we wouldn't be airing games that involved this specific school, which is NOT one of our home schools. It'll be an issue once more this year, which happened to be tonight, too soon to make arrangements for this specific coach to not be present in the pressbox where we broadcast. We aren't talking about incidental fan noise. We are talking about a coach who, despite being asked more than once, continued to scream the "F" word three feet from our broadcast team.

I'm glad, Pratte4life, that you seem to know more about my audience and local community than I do. We had a whole lot of calls from listeners and advertisers that night, and plenty of advertisers/listeners called to give their opinion during our morning show almost every day of the following week. Not a single one said we were overreacting or being prude. Frankly, I don't really care what YOU think. I answer to my listeners, advertisers and the FCC, not to you.

You know, some of the replies in this post are indicative of the reason I do not visit or post on this site nearly as often as I used to. For all the great conversations that go on here, there are some people who just make it all not worth dealing with. There are entirely too many armchair-quarterbacks here, who have no real experience in broadcasting, and yet still think they know the business better than those of us who work in it every day.
 
I must admit, I really have not seen the famous radio info "inflamatory" red edits on the ole east tn board in a while. I'm a little upset by the choice of red. It affects my self esteem. They should make it a neutral color. And stop keeping score at these high school games........every ones a winner!!!!

Seriously, nothing prudish about a station owner concerned about his or her liscense. I've been on the carpet many times over "comments" I felt were milk toast that caught the ire of my bosses (whose most important jobs are holding onto the liscense). Hindsight is 20/20......but if the team in the booth could have gotten the dudes name, they could have apologized to the audience like: "coach joe smoe from nowhereville can't seem to contain his disdain for our team, so we apologize on his behalf." That probably would have shut him up.

Gotta remember, this is the post Janet Jackson witch hunt age. If anything happens in an broadcast medium....terrestrial radio feels the heat....owners are still as paranoid about profanity and community standards just like they were in the days after boobygate. More so than employees (myself included) that don't hold the paperwork.
 
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