Oh, there'll be a few interviewers on hand. But there will be no play-by-play announcer, no analyst, nobody in the tower over at the 17th hole, no on-course reporters trailing groups and calling the action.
The network is calling it "announcer lite." Jerry Foltz will introduce the broadcast, then he and Curt Byrum will focus on tweeting and emailing with viewers. Kay Cockerill, Stephanie Sparks and Phil Parkin will conduct interviews with players.
But nobody will be calling the action. Instead, what viewers will predominantly hear are the sounds of the game: Player-caddie chatter, the whoosh and thwack of clubs, crowd reactions. The network's graphics department will get a serious workout helping explain what's happening through onscreen info.
It's an interesting experiment. And as a one-time thing, it will almost certainly boost ratings as golfers tune in to see what an announcerless golf broadcast sounds like.
This has been done before in other sports. I recall an NFL game from the early 1980s. Dolphins ... on NBC, I think. I remember it being quite boring.
Sports viewers love to hate the announcers. Even more, we love to think we could do a better job. But the Golf Channel's Saturday experiment is likely to make most viewers, I'm guessing, appreciate the broadcasters who actually explain what's happening, and who fill all the time when nothing is happening.
The Nationwide Tour Albertsons Boise Open - sans announcers - airs Saturday on the Golf Channel from 4:30-7 p.m. Eastern time.
No comments:
Post a Comment