After a week of bad press and questions about a weird lack of commitment to their parent company’s major league baseball team, Sportsnet announced some actual good news on the Blue Jays broadcast front on Friday morning.
Sportsnet's decision seems like a rather obvious one. Unlike other teams, the Blue Jays' broadcast team will be in a studio, in a different country, calling the game off a live video feed. It makes little or no sense to have two broadcast teams sitting in different studios of the building calling the same game off the identical video feed. Particularly redundant is the radio team. Despite all the people on the internet who claim to listen to the game on the radio, the overwhelming majority of people listen to the TV feed, and Shulman and Martinez are an excellent pbp/colour pair. Radio has become almost entirely an 'in-car' medium, and in 2021 there's not going to be a lot of in-car radio listening. It makes no sense at all to have two broadcast teams calling the game in studio from the same video feed in the first place, let alone in 2021.
They did it that way last year, and yes, it absolutely makes sense. The games are being called for different mediums, so require different ways of being broadcast. Thank you for reading though, Mr. Natale.
I would generally defer to someone who knows about broadcasting for a determination of what's needed. Perhaps if Drew and Kaitlyn can get Dan Shulman on their podcast, they can ask him about that.
I worked at a TV network for like six years and have covered the industry for 15, Joe. Not that such experience is at all needed to understand the difference between a radio call and a TV call and how they serve their audiences differently.
This is just fucking preposterous in every goddamn way. Stick an ex player in there with Wagner, , who is terrific might I add, let them learn the craft and get the hell out of the way.
If the state of Florida and city of Dunedin didn't think there was a public benefit to their coffers, they wouldn't put up the money. It's sure not going come from the puny Blue Jays crowd in Dunedin. Anyone who has been to Spring Training knows that Canadians aren't there. Blue Jays are the weak sisters every year in attendance. But sure, blame Rogers.
This is really disheartening. Wilner and Ben were a very high quality radio broadcast and I had already been slowly bringing myself around to the idea of Ben flying solo on the radio.
I have faith in Shulman making it a decent experience but lord help us when the radio feed is just Buck and Pat. I'd ask if "ballpark audio" is still an option on MLBTV but with the blackouts that's moot anyway.
What a terrible decision on the radio broadcast. Astonishing penny pinching at a time interest in the team should be increasing.
Have to wonder what Dan Shulman makes of this, no one is more aware than him of the difference between the two audiences and that this will short change one or both of them
Didn't they do this back in the early-ish days of the Raptors, too? I seem to recall, prior to Smith and Jones, the Raps radio broadcasts were simulcast with the TV. I'm sure I'd be driving home and I'd hear Swirsky and Armstrong on my radio. Anyone else remember this, or am I just on the pot?
Sportsnet's decision seems like a rather obvious one. Unlike other teams, the Blue Jays' broadcast team will be in a studio, in a different country, calling the game off a live video feed. It makes little or no sense to have two broadcast teams sitting in different studios of the building calling the same game off the identical video feed. Particularly redundant is the radio team. Despite all the people on the internet who claim to listen to the game on the radio, the overwhelming majority of people listen to the TV feed, and Shulman and Martinez are an excellent pbp/colour pair. Radio has become almost entirely an 'in-car' medium, and in 2021 there's not going to be a lot of in-car radio listening. It makes no sense at all to have two broadcast teams calling the game in studio from the same video feed in the first place, let alone in 2021.
They did it that way last year, and yes, it absolutely makes sense. The games are being called for different mediums, so require different ways of being broadcast. Thank you for reading though, Mr. Natale.
I would generally defer to someone who knows about broadcasting for a determination of what's needed. Perhaps if Drew and Kaitlyn can get Dan Shulman on their podcast, they can ask him about that.
I worked at a TV network for like six years and have covered the industry for 15, Joe. Not that such experience is at all needed to understand the difference between a radio call and a TV call and how they serve their audiences differently.
This is just fucking preposterous in every goddamn way. Stick an ex player in there with Wagner, , who is terrific might I add, let them learn the craft and get the hell out of the way.
Thanks for sharing! Just enough time to cancel my MLB Audio subscription before it auto-renews on March 1st.
Maybe Rogers needs to beg the state of Florida and the city of Dunedin for cash to broadcast over the radio
If the state of Florida and city of Dunedin didn't think there was a public benefit to their coffers, they wouldn't put up the money. It's sure not going come from the puny Blue Jays crowd in Dunedin. Anyone who has been to Spring Training knows that Canadians aren't there. Blue Jays are the weak sisters every year in attendance. But sure, blame Rogers.
Yes, we all know that governments always spend their money well and never waste it in giveaways to the already wealthy.
Rogers really is terrible.
No actually. They're not.
This is really disheartening. Wilner and Ben were a very high quality radio broadcast and I had already been slowly bringing myself around to the idea of Ben flying solo on the radio.
I have faith in Shulman making it a decent experience but lord help us when the radio feed is just Buck and Pat. I'd ask if "ballpark audio" is still an option on MLBTV but with the blackouts that's moot anyway.
Same.
What a terrible decision on the radio broadcast. Astonishing penny pinching at a time interest in the team should be increasing.
Have to wonder what Dan Shulman makes of this, no one is more aware than him of the difference between the two audiences and that this will short change one or both of them
Yep. Sadly, I'd guess it ends up that they do the TV broadcast as normal and pretend radio isn't there.
Didn't they do this back in the early-ish days of the Raptors, too? I seem to recall, prior to Smith and Jones, the Raps radio broadcasts were simulcast with the TV. I'm sure I'd be driving home and I'd hear Swirsky and Armstrong on my radio. Anyone else remember this, or am I just on the pot?
This rings a bell for me too, but I would have to look it up!
I looked it up. It wasn't Jack, but from 01-04 the Raps simulcasted with Swirsky and Rautins.