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WBGT-TV "Sports" rant

N

NewsSleuth

Has anyone gotten the opportunity to check out the "local sports" on WBGT-TV Channel 18? Instead of airing games live they show them a day later. If you're a sports fan, you know that it's useless to watch games after they've been played and the hooopla has died down.

Aside from airing the games when no one cares about them, the production values are really really bad as well. Their cameras, which seem to have low-end digital quality, are far away from the action making for awkward shots. The graphics are out-of-date and look worse than anything aired on public access. Also the sound, which is usually ONLY the WYSL radio broadcast is atrocious. To make matters worse, they don't mix in the natural audio from the game, and it just sounds amateur.

If you go to the website it looks like there is a full schedule of high school/college games lined up for the rest of the year. Somehow they got that sapp Joe Neri to sponsor them...I wonder if he's actually seen the show???

The moral of this story is....if you can't do high sports RIGHT, then don't do em at all!
 
> Has anyone gotten the opportunity to check out the "local
> sports" on WBGT-TV Channel 18? Instead of airing games live
> they show them a day later. If you're a sports fan, you
> know that it's useless to watch games after they've been
> played and the hooopla has died down.
>
> Aside from airing the games when no one cares about them,
> the production values are really really bad as well. Their
> cameras, which seem to have low-end digital quality, are far
> away from the action making for awkward shots. The graphics
> are out-of-date and look worse than anything aired on public
> access. Also the sound, which is usually ONLY the WYSL
> radio broadcast is atrocious. To make matters worse, they
> don't mix in the natural audio from the game, and it just
> sounds amateur.
>
> If you go to the website it looks like there is a full
> schedule of high school/college games lined up for the rest
> of the year. Somehow they got that sapp Joe Neri to sponsor
> them...I wonder if he's actually seen the show???
>
> The moral of this story is....if you can't do high sports
> RIGHT, then don't do em at all!

It's better than nothing. At least someone here is making an attempt.
>
 
> > Has anyone gotten the opportunity to check out the "local
> > sports" on WBGT-TV Channel 18?
Somehow they got that sapp Joe Neri to
> sponsor
> > them...I wonder if he's actually seen the show???
> >
Sorry to sound like a suit, which I am certainly not, but the point is they are sponsered. It doesn't matter what it looks like. It's probably the station's BIG money maker and that is all that matters no matter how bad it looks.
 
> > > Has anyone gotten the opportunity to check out the
> "local
> > > sports" on WBGT-TV Channel 18?
> Somehow they got that sapp Joe Neri to
> > sponsor
> > > them...I wonder if he's actually seen the show???
> > >
> Sorry to sound like a suit, which I am certainly not, but
> the point is they are sponsered. It doesn't matter what it
> looks like. It's probably the station's BIG money maker and
> that is all that matters no matter how bad it looks.
>


I guess so...but imagine how much more money could be made if they put a little bit of money into the production. Then they wouldn't have to chase down "urban" stores for the $100 worth of advertising time that they purchased.

When 10 used to broadcast Eddie Meath games from Fauver, they didn't look like public access.
 
WBGT-18 is also broadcasting ten games of the RIT men's hockey team (playing in their first season in the NCAA Division 1 ranks), but those games (nine home, plus one away game at Cornell, one of the nation's traditional college hockey powerhouses) are also on a tape-delayed basis.

If WBGT can't bump UPN prime-time programming, the least they could do is air the high-school games the same night they're played.

Saturday games of RIT hockey should air live.

Even many local cable-access channels around the country that are covering high-school sports are doing games live, or barring the capability of showing games live, broadcasting them the same day/night they are played.
 
I agree Joseph. But the reason games are shown a day late on "tape delay" is because I don't think that WBGT has the capable technology or manpower to broadcast live. Once again, a very sad fact considering that public access stations in Penfield and Webster do so regularly and do it pretty well.
 
OK lets drop LOCAL sports and the community service they provide by airing them and air INFOMERCIALS! How does that sound?

At least they are doing something to actually serve the public, which stations in much larger markets feel to push off to 4am on Sunday for an hour only.
 
More people probably watch infomercials...My point is that their local sports broadcasts are very lame. One of my nephews was on the "Game of the Week" for Edison Tech, and I just was not impressed with their broadcast.
 
> One of my
> nephews was on the "Game of the Week" for Edison Tech, and I
> just was not impressed with their broadcast.
>

And now we get to the rub of the matter...
 
> > One of my
> > nephews was on the "Game of the Week" for Edison Tech, and
> I
> > just was not impressed with their broadcast.
> >
>
> And now we get to the rub of the matter...
>

It is what it is. It's not network television. It's a low power station that happens to be on cable, and with meager resources, it's not bad.
 
Yeah I guess so. I just think of the possibilities if they improved the aesthetic. The saddest thing about their broadcast is that the "Player of the Game" receives a "prize" of a $25.00 savings bond!!!
 
News Slueth wrote:

> But the reason games are shown a day late
> on "tape delay" is because I don't think that WBGT has the
> capable technology or manpower to broadcast live.

If that's the case, there's something they can do to at least show the games on a same-day/night basis.

Let's take an RIT men's hockey home game that faces off at 7:05 P.M. on a Saturday night. WBGT can probably hire someone with a car (for a few bucks plus giving them a full tank of gas) who can go between the studio and the rink as a courier.

The courier would arrive at the rink around 7:45 and meet the TV crew. Once the first period and the first intermission are concluded, the tape is removed and given to the courier. He/she would then take it back to the studio, where it is rewound and put on the air.

The courier would return to the rink in time for the end of the second intermission (about 8:45) and receive a second tape containing the second period and the second intermission. That tape is then taken back to the station, rewound, and put on the air.

The courier would then return to the rink, await the end of the game, then come back with the tape of the rest of the game.

The first tape should arrive at the station and be rewound in-time for a tape-delayed broadcast to begin at 8:30 P.M.

For weeknight high-school games, and assuming that UPN programming isn't bumped for the game, a courier probably would only have to make one trip: I suspect nighttime football, basketball, and hockey games begin around 7 P.M., and end around 8:30 (basketball), 9 (hockey), or 9:30 (football). If the gamesite is very close to the station, it may be possible, especially with basketball or hockey, to get the tape back to the studio in-time for a 10 P.M. broadcast. Otherwise, the playback of the tape would probably begin at 10:30.
 
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