Well, here is the answer. It's always nice to turn on the radio and hear the big game, whether your listening to volleyball, football, hockey, or basketball, all ingredients are the same. Here is what it takes:
-2 People, one at the game, and one at the radio station to operate the controls.
-Equipment to include a remote phone unit, a headset, an extra microphone, and a recording device for interviews, and a phone line (or cell phone with the proper equipment.)
-And, absolutely impossible to do without - SPONSORS
So, you turn the radio on and the pre-game show is just about to start. Perfect timing. The announcer has been at the gym for 60-90 minutes already. When arriving at the gym, it's time to find the booth and get the equipment set up and make sure everything is in perfect working order. This includes a test call to the station. So, once the equipment is all set up and tested and the phone line works (I'll explain why that step is so critical later), it's time to venture out and find the coaches for the interviews. We'll find the coach, and spend up to 20 minutes talking about the team, the game, starting 5 players, and anything else the comes up. Two coaches, and back to the booth, generally half an hour is now gone. Just like the book keepers at the scorers table, we fill out the stat sheet. Yes, we keep all of our own statistics while the game is going on. As pre-game time airs, it's time to reconnect with the station and get ready to go. The operator at the station will get the controls set to get the phone line on the air, and get the commercials set to play, and get the internet feed ready to go so people all over the country (or world) can listen, and so we have a copy of the game recorded back at the station. So, the Game Opening starts, and it's off for a fun night of sports! It's all that simple, anybody wanna try it? Didn't think I'd get too many takers.
So, why is it so critical to test the phone line. We get to James Valley to start the 281 Girls tournament. Simple, we've done it many many times before, just plug the stuff in, and dial the station and away we go. Well, I get the phone call at 3:10 to get the cell phone unit and get it out to the tournament because the phone system had been changed and the lines didn't work. We got on the air in time for tip-off using a special cell phone unit, and Matt did the games while I scrambled to help troubleshoot and get a phone line working. You see, any phone line won't do the trick for us. All this change to digital phone systems is not good for us, we can't use digital lines because there are small amounts of voltage on them, and that has the potential to wreck phone equipment (just trust me on that one). So, not everything goes off without problems, but only best can overcome these obstacles.
Tonight, not too bad, if you didn't get it, I've already heard about people enjoying the comments of playing pick your Kleinsasser or choose your Schouten. Fun games I play while doing the games. Should be a fun Thursday evening when i get back behind the mic again....
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