Tough call: How radio sports commentators adapted in a pandemic

Radio is often referred to as theatre of the mind. But the Covid pandemic took that to a whole new level, especially where sports broadcasting was concerned.

Travel bans and Covid restrictions left commentators around the world ‘calling off the monitor.’ Media organisations went to extraordinary logistical lengths to provide listeners and viewers with the same level of coverage they’ve come to expect.

But it did demonstrate what modern technology combined with bit of human creativity can do.

The challenges Triple M Footy and Cricket commentators faced seemed surreal, but SCA’s Head of Sports Content Ewan Giles tells Radio Today they took it all in their stride:

“Looking back at it, the area in which I thought we would struggle the most – getting the games to air in a remote environment – actually ended up being the easier part. The ‘uncontrollables’ were the hard part. Not knowing when the games would be played, not knowing how many games the season would have, not knowing how you deal with all the contractual issues with talent and the AFL, not having any genuine GFK data to measure performance (and the list goes on!)”

Giles says once they got into the routine of calling matches remotely, he was impressed with the quality of what they were able to produce:

“There was a lot of ‘forced’ innovation from a technical standpoint that occurred during 2020. Having audio sources sent from a venue and syncing (some, but not all) to the vision delay, repurposing broadcast kits to provide extra ambience from venues with no crowds, EQ-ing the umpire microphones differently to create more depth (given the crowd restrictions) were all innovations that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred without Covid. We are extremely lucky to be resourced with some of the best technical minds in the business!”

But is there a discernible difference for the listener when it comes to on-site commentary versus remote?

“From an AFL and cricket standpoint, there is absolutely no substitute for being on-site to call a match,” says Giles. “The playing field for the ‘oval’ sports is too large for television to truly convey what is going on out there. Whilst we have done studio calls for AFL during the season, it has more often than not been out of necessity rather than choice.”

While commentary away from the action certainly makes it harder to ‘paint the picture,’ broadcasters across all sports were able to adapt:

In 2021, BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller delivered his commentary on the Australian Tennis Open not from Melbourne, but from BBC Sport HQ in Salford, England.

As Melbourne sweltered through summer, Fuller was in the midst of winter, with snow falling right outside his window.

He posted a tongue-in-cheek photo of this winter wonderland on social media with the caption: “A brief snow flurry accompanied me on my short walk into work for the first day of the Australian Open. I’m sure the Yarra River is out there somewhere.”

With cricket commentators spread all over the UK, the enormous amount of work that went into getting the BBC’s Test match special on air for the Sri Lanka series prompted a tweet from producer Adam Mountford about how team work brings out the best in live radio.

And Giles can attest, sharing an interesting story about Triple M’s coverage of the last two Test matches of the 2021-22 Australian summer.

“Due to Covid catching up with a few of our commentators in and around the MCG test, we had commentators for the SCG test based in 7 different locations across Australia. All commentators heard the same audio and got a latency-free stream of the vision through a Zoom call.”

“For the final test in Hobart, we lent some equipment to Fox Sports so we could both use Mark Howard in the usual fashion – despite the fact he was commentating from his study in Barwon Heads! We must also thank NEP for their assistance throughout the summer of cricket (or is that Covid?) We utilised their facilities when we had commentators with combined Seven/Triple M commitments.”

Giles says when broadcasting sport, the crowd provides the backing track whilst the commentators provide the vocals.

“Being at the ground means we have full autonomy over the backing track (controlling the mix to suit our needs) rather than ‘getting what we get’ from a world feed.”

And he says they’ll be staying right in the thick of the action.

“We are on-site for all AFL/NRL finals, along with our full summer of Triple M Cricket.”