E
Eagle1
Guest
I don't usually agree with much Matt writes, but I think this is pretty good.
Racing One
Matt McLaughlin
Glancing at my handy desktop calendar I see that your network is taking over coverage of NASCAR racing starting this weekend. And not a second too soon I may add. I've had this coming Sunday circled in red during the entire Bataan Death March of broadcasting that has been the FOX portion of the season. Somehow this year your loyal opposition decided actual automobile racing was only ancillary to the three hour Darrell Waltrip Comedy Show featuring his sidekicks Jeff the Clown, Chris the Clueless, Larry the Farmer Kid, and DW's halfwit brother Mikey. Let's just say a lot of fans, particularly old time fans, are eager for a change.
Last year I think an unbiased critic would say that NBC coverage of NASCAR edged out FOX's broadcasts, though I can't say your stuff was perfect. And there's some potential issues I see developing this season I'd like to warn you to steer clear of because I am after all your Internet Pal and little league colleague. Here's some suggestion I'd offer.
Look at the Chapter, Not the Book- I hate to resort to tortured analogies, but if I didn't my typical column would be like three sentences long. Take a well-crafted book like Lake Wobegon by Garrison Keillor. It is a collection of short stories about a small town. One chapter's plot line does not lead to the next. It's only upon reflection at the end of the book all the interweaving threads of the story, which paint a vivid picture of the town, are revealed.
What does that have to do with race broadcasting? Since you've taken on the task of NASCAR broadcasting you've beat this "Chase for the Championship" angle to death. Rather than treat each race as a unique and noteworthy sporting event unto itself, you portray each race as a piece to the larger puzzle that makes up a championship. Where's the incentive to watch that race then? It's such a small portion of the whole. Why not wait until the final race and tune in to see who wins the championship? Last year you tried to interject contrived excitement into the "Chase for the Championship" even though it was pretty much a done deal Matt Kenseth was going to be champion when the ball was handed off to you. You twisted truth and reality to try wring some drama out of a rout and in doing so you violated the number one rule of NASCAR broadcasting, never underestimate the intelligence of your audience.
But, you might point out as if I'm some dimwitted kid who fell off the turnip truck yesterday, this year those last ten races are very different. Yeah, I got the memo about Sergeant France's 10 Race Magical Mystery Tour. But I've got some news for you, and you'll soon find out it's true, a vast majority of fans overwhelmingly and passionately don't like this C4C nonsense. And rightly or wrongly they blame NBC for its creation, a sop to your corporate brass to sharpen their rating's lance as they do battle with the mighty NFL. Playing this angle too heavily is only going to breed resentment and contempt, which don't necessarily make for good ratings. Treat each race as "Must See TV" in and of itself, and come Homestead extend the pre-race and post-race coverage and try to pull together all the plot threads to form the fabric of a season.
On a related thread the eight most stupid words in race broadcasting are "If the race were to end right now……." It ain't going to. If it did fans would be outraged and they'd throw stuff on the track. If the race were to end right now we could all grab the remote and go watch Cops reruns on FX. There may be some justification for showing what the points would look like late in the race, but after 12 laps at New Hampshire with two front runners having qualified poorly who are still working their way up through the dead wood of the sport? I think not. Repeat after me, "Every single Sunday is special, every single Sunday is unique….!"
The Separation of Church and State- I am not one of those crazy eyed zealots who feels NBC should broadcast each race commercial free as a public service to race fans. I realize ya'll gotta pay the bills. That's fine. But realize the ad department is the state and you are the church. During commercial breaks the state rules. During the race broadcast the church must not be guided by the state. You are after all media members, broadcasters, not entertainers or corporate whores. It's a good thing too. A lot of you aren't all that entertaining but that's fine. The race will provide the entertainment. You will enhance that entertainment with unbiased and insightful commentary on the action we are seeing and the plot lines that are developing.
If you refer to the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Monte Carlo you can not in the next breath refer to Matt Kenseth in the #17 car. Even if Bud bought ad minutes from the state and DeWalt did not. Pick one way or the other. Leave you hands undefiled by the ad boys dirt. If a driver does something dumb, like Tony Stewart did at Sonoma (and elsewhere) don't sugarcoat it because Home Depot bought a big block of ad minutes. The damage is done. The viewers at home (whose intelligence you respect, right?) have already seen the dastardly deed and want the 411 on what the consequences will be. You needn't stir up artificial controversy. The sport by nature will stir up controversy enough. You just need to cover the stories objectively and let the chips fall where they may. That's what the media does, right? ABC didn't shy away from the Enron scandal just because the network's pension fund was heavily invested in the company, did they?
You're A Watchdog, Not a Lap Dog- When NASCAR calls NBC its "broadcast partner" you should scowl and wag a meaty corporate finger in their face to let them know you are not complicit in their decision making policies. If they mess up, and their corporate shoes are in tatters from self inflicted gunshot wounds this season, you're going to call it like it is. Even if Mike or Brian drift by from the booth next door to offer their take on a controversial call, listen politely then ask the tough questions. Where exactly did this "one second" penalty for "unnecessary roughness" come from and where is it spelled out in the rulebook? Underline it for me please. Why was this driver penalized for this, while another driver did the same and received no sanction. Keep the SOBs honest. You are the fans' broadcast partner, the folks with access to ask the questions we want answered, not a corporate clown in NASCAR's Ten Ring circus.
Check Your Egos the Door- You are not the show. You are at the track to report on the show. The drivers are the stars. Deal with it. Accept it. Embrace it. Leave the comedy routines to professionals. Leave the music videos to MTV. Both music videos and comedy are easy to do badly, but hard to do well. If we wanted to watch music videos we'd be watching MTV. If we wanted comedy we'd be watching the Comedy Channel. Broadcast the race. We'll watch it. We promise. And for goodness sakes, dump Metallica would you. Talk about last week's newspaper….
Cut Down on the High Zoot Graphics- High tech graphics serve two purposes. The first is to allow computer geeks to occasionally come to a race where they can pretend to be a cousin of Earnhardt to try to get a little action or at least a few beers to make up for the way they were ostracized in high school. The second is to distract viewers attention from the racing action they want to see. We don't need it. We don't want it. Stop force-feeding us.
This might seem like picking nits, but please move the running order scroll back down to the bottom of the screen where God and ESPN intended it to be. Why am I making such a big deal out of such a minor issue? In a brief period of time where I worked on the side with a friend installing car and home audio components I learned a valuable lesson. Never put a speaker anyplace that is above the intended listeners' ears. Why? Hearing noise or seeing motion above your eyes and ears triggers a warning response in some primal lobe of the brain. Something bigger and louder than me is approaching quickly! I am in danger! Pulses race. Teeth grit. Muscles tighten to prepare for action or flight. Move the motion back below eye level and the same primal lobe might say "Aw, look it's a cute little puppy coming to play. Relax, all is well."
To the Last Drop- Never leave the race track with the story untold. It happens more often than you think. FOX showed Tony Stewart spinning out Brian Vickers but there was no comment on it other than the obvious, Vickers had spun. FOX left the air without a hint to viewers a confrontation was brewing in the garage area that would dominate the headlines for the rest of the week. Similarly the FX crew broke off Daytona Busch coverage without a hint Jason leffler was being demoted from second to thirteenth and with no debate as to where that "one second" rule came from. So how are you supposed to know if there's a story worth covering after the race? You do call them "pit reporters" not "pit reciters" right? Have em do their job and get us the low down on what's going on.
There's 43 Drivers Out There, Not 33- I think the biggest fear fans have concerning your broadcast efforts this season is what happens after Richmond. Don't focus solely on the ten drivers who made the Dog and Pony Decathlon. There are fans of other drivers who want to see how their boy is faring too. Don't show us the frantic action in the garage area as the crew tries to repair the points leader's car which was damaged in a first lap wreck. OK, that's a legit story, but tape it and show it later, not while two drivers not in the chase are battling tooth and nail for the lead, swapping some sheetmetal and smoking their tires.
Get to Know Your Customers- While it was small potatoes compared to what ya'll do there was a time in my life I managed a tire and mechanical repair store. My paycheck depended on month to month growth in sales. That's what put bread on my table, beer in the fridge and paid the rent, not to mention allowing me to indulge in chrome bits for the Hog or billet bits for my hot rod. So the other manager and I adopted a policy when we could of trying to walk each customer to their car after their service was complete to ask if they were satisfied with the experience. A lot of them were surprised we asked. Often they had good things to say like they'd gotten a good price, the salesperson they dealt with was very polite and their service was completed more quickly than they had anticipated. Well, great, tell a friend, would you? Other times those casual interviews revealed shortcomings. I can't believe I waited two and a half hours for an alignment and the price I paid for my tires was much higher than I was quoted on the phone! Well let's see what we can do. Would a twenty dollar refund make up for your wasted time? Let me see what I can do with that price. Don't leave mad. We want your business.
Well obviously you can't drive around knocking on folks front doors after a race to see how you did. But you can install some sort of website survey where the end user, the viewer can vote on how you did. They'll point out the stuff they liked. Do more of that. They'll make some caustic comments about stuff that they didn't like. Work on that. Don't take the criticism personally but take it to heart. Perhaps address the failures during the next broadcast or explain why something had to be done as it was. In the end I think you're customers will appreciate the fact you care enough to listen, even if only in a weekly question and answer column written by the producer. If you don't care what the fans think, you might as well be broadcasting Badminton for the Blind.
Well that gives you something to consider heading into this weekend. I'm sure I'll have more ideas to offer soon based on what I see because I have idea like Adolph Coors has 12 ounce silver aluminum cans. Submitted with the utmost respect,
Matt McLaughlin
Your Internet Pal
Racing One
Matt McLaughlin
Glancing at my handy desktop calendar I see that your network is taking over coverage of NASCAR racing starting this weekend. And not a second too soon I may add. I've had this coming Sunday circled in red during the entire Bataan Death March of broadcasting that has been the FOX portion of the season. Somehow this year your loyal opposition decided actual automobile racing was only ancillary to the three hour Darrell Waltrip Comedy Show featuring his sidekicks Jeff the Clown, Chris the Clueless, Larry the Farmer Kid, and DW's halfwit brother Mikey. Let's just say a lot of fans, particularly old time fans, are eager for a change.
Last year I think an unbiased critic would say that NBC coverage of NASCAR edged out FOX's broadcasts, though I can't say your stuff was perfect. And there's some potential issues I see developing this season I'd like to warn you to steer clear of because I am after all your Internet Pal and little league colleague. Here's some suggestion I'd offer.
Look at the Chapter, Not the Book- I hate to resort to tortured analogies, but if I didn't my typical column would be like three sentences long. Take a well-crafted book like Lake Wobegon by Garrison Keillor. It is a collection of short stories about a small town. One chapter's plot line does not lead to the next. It's only upon reflection at the end of the book all the interweaving threads of the story, which paint a vivid picture of the town, are revealed.
What does that have to do with race broadcasting? Since you've taken on the task of NASCAR broadcasting you've beat this "Chase for the Championship" angle to death. Rather than treat each race as a unique and noteworthy sporting event unto itself, you portray each race as a piece to the larger puzzle that makes up a championship. Where's the incentive to watch that race then? It's such a small portion of the whole. Why not wait until the final race and tune in to see who wins the championship? Last year you tried to interject contrived excitement into the "Chase for the Championship" even though it was pretty much a done deal Matt Kenseth was going to be champion when the ball was handed off to you. You twisted truth and reality to try wring some drama out of a rout and in doing so you violated the number one rule of NASCAR broadcasting, never underestimate the intelligence of your audience.
But, you might point out as if I'm some dimwitted kid who fell off the turnip truck yesterday, this year those last ten races are very different. Yeah, I got the memo about Sergeant France's 10 Race Magical Mystery Tour. But I've got some news for you, and you'll soon find out it's true, a vast majority of fans overwhelmingly and passionately don't like this C4C nonsense. And rightly or wrongly they blame NBC for its creation, a sop to your corporate brass to sharpen their rating's lance as they do battle with the mighty NFL. Playing this angle too heavily is only going to breed resentment and contempt, which don't necessarily make for good ratings. Treat each race as "Must See TV" in and of itself, and come Homestead extend the pre-race and post-race coverage and try to pull together all the plot threads to form the fabric of a season.
On a related thread the eight most stupid words in race broadcasting are "If the race were to end right now……." It ain't going to. If it did fans would be outraged and they'd throw stuff on the track. If the race were to end right now we could all grab the remote and go watch Cops reruns on FX. There may be some justification for showing what the points would look like late in the race, but after 12 laps at New Hampshire with two front runners having qualified poorly who are still working their way up through the dead wood of the sport? I think not. Repeat after me, "Every single Sunday is special, every single Sunday is unique….!"
The Separation of Church and State- I am not one of those crazy eyed zealots who feels NBC should broadcast each race commercial free as a public service to race fans. I realize ya'll gotta pay the bills. That's fine. But realize the ad department is the state and you are the church. During commercial breaks the state rules. During the race broadcast the church must not be guided by the state. You are after all media members, broadcasters, not entertainers or corporate whores. It's a good thing too. A lot of you aren't all that entertaining but that's fine. The race will provide the entertainment. You will enhance that entertainment with unbiased and insightful commentary on the action we are seeing and the plot lines that are developing.
If you refer to the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Monte Carlo you can not in the next breath refer to Matt Kenseth in the #17 car. Even if Bud bought ad minutes from the state and DeWalt did not. Pick one way or the other. Leave you hands undefiled by the ad boys dirt. If a driver does something dumb, like Tony Stewart did at Sonoma (and elsewhere) don't sugarcoat it because Home Depot bought a big block of ad minutes. The damage is done. The viewers at home (whose intelligence you respect, right?) have already seen the dastardly deed and want the 411 on what the consequences will be. You needn't stir up artificial controversy. The sport by nature will stir up controversy enough. You just need to cover the stories objectively and let the chips fall where they may. That's what the media does, right? ABC didn't shy away from the Enron scandal just because the network's pension fund was heavily invested in the company, did they?
You're A Watchdog, Not a Lap Dog- When NASCAR calls NBC its "broadcast partner" you should scowl and wag a meaty corporate finger in their face to let them know you are not complicit in their decision making policies. If they mess up, and their corporate shoes are in tatters from self inflicted gunshot wounds this season, you're going to call it like it is. Even if Mike or Brian drift by from the booth next door to offer their take on a controversial call, listen politely then ask the tough questions. Where exactly did this "one second" penalty for "unnecessary roughness" come from and where is it spelled out in the rulebook? Underline it for me please. Why was this driver penalized for this, while another driver did the same and received no sanction. Keep the SOBs honest. You are the fans' broadcast partner, the folks with access to ask the questions we want answered, not a corporate clown in NASCAR's Ten Ring circus.
Check Your Egos the Door- You are not the show. You are at the track to report on the show. The drivers are the stars. Deal with it. Accept it. Embrace it. Leave the comedy routines to professionals. Leave the music videos to MTV. Both music videos and comedy are easy to do badly, but hard to do well. If we wanted to watch music videos we'd be watching MTV. If we wanted comedy we'd be watching the Comedy Channel. Broadcast the race. We'll watch it. We promise. And for goodness sakes, dump Metallica would you. Talk about last week's newspaper….
Cut Down on the High Zoot Graphics- High tech graphics serve two purposes. The first is to allow computer geeks to occasionally come to a race where they can pretend to be a cousin of Earnhardt to try to get a little action or at least a few beers to make up for the way they were ostracized in high school. The second is to distract viewers attention from the racing action they want to see. We don't need it. We don't want it. Stop force-feeding us.
This might seem like picking nits, but please move the running order scroll back down to the bottom of the screen where God and ESPN intended it to be. Why am I making such a big deal out of such a minor issue? In a brief period of time where I worked on the side with a friend installing car and home audio components I learned a valuable lesson. Never put a speaker anyplace that is above the intended listeners' ears. Why? Hearing noise or seeing motion above your eyes and ears triggers a warning response in some primal lobe of the brain. Something bigger and louder than me is approaching quickly! I am in danger! Pulses race. Teeth grit. Muscles tighten to prepare for action or flight. Move the motion back below eye level and the same primal lobe might say "Aw, look it's a cute little puppy coming to play. Relax, all is well."
To the Last Drop- Never leave the race track with the story untold. It happens more often than you think. FOX showed Tony Stewart spinning out Brian Vickers but there was no comment on it other than the obvious, Vickers had spun. FOX left the air without a hint to viewers a confrontation was brewing in the garage area that would dominate the headlines for the rest of the week. Similarly the FX crew broke off Daytona Busch coverage without a hint Jason leffler was being demoted from second to thirteenth and with no debate as to where that "one second" rule came from. So how are you supposed to know if there's a story worth covering after the race? You do call them "pit reporters" not "pit reciters" right? Have em do their job and get us the low down on what's going on.
There's 43 Drivers Out There, Not 33- I think the biggest fear fans have concerning your broadcast efforts this season is what happens after Richmond. Don't focus solely on the ten drivers who made the Dog and Pony Decathlon. There are fans of other drivers who want to see how their boy is faring too. Don't show us the frantic action in the garage area as the crew tries to repair the points leader's car which was damaged in a first lap wreck. OK, that's a legit story, but tape it and show it later, not while two drivers not in the chase are battling tooth and nail for the lead, swapping some sheetmetal and smoking their tires.
Get to Know Your Customers- While it was small potatoes compared to what ya'll do there was a time in my life I managed a tire and mechanical repair store. My paycheck depended on month to month growth in sales. That's what put bread on my table, beer in the fridge and paid the rent, not to mention allowing me to indulge in chrome bits for the Hog or billet bits for my hot rod. So the other manager and I adopted a policy when we could of trying to walk each customer to their car after their service was complete to ask if they were satisfied with the experience. A lot of them were surprised we asked. Often they had good things to say like they'd gotten a good price, the salesperson they dealt with was very polite and their service was completed more quickly than they had anticipated. Well, great, tell a friend, would you? Other times those casual interviews revealed shortcomings. I can't believe I waited two and a half hours for an alignment and the price I paid for my tires was much higher than I was quoted on the phone! Well let's see what we can do. Would a twenty dollar refund make up for your wasted time? Let me see what I can do with that price. Don't leave mad. We want your business.
Well obviously you can't drive around knocking on folks front doors after a race to see how you did. But you can install some sort of website survey where the end user, the viewer can vote on how you did. They'll point out the stuff they liked. Do more of that. They'll make some caustic comments about stuff that they didn't like. Work on that. Don't take the criticism personally but take it to heart. Perhaps address the failures during the next broadcast or explain why something had to be done as it was. In the end I think you're customers will appreciate the fact you care enough to listen, even if only in a weekly question and answer column written by the producer. If you don't care what the fans think, you might as well be broadcasting Badminton for the Blind.
Well that gives you something to consider heading into this weekend. I'm sure I'll have more ideas to offer soon based on what I see because I have idea like Adolph Coors has 12 ounce silver aluminum cans. Submitted with the utmost respect,
Matt McLaughlin
Your Internet Pal
. The Fox production team is better (I like the music videos). Matt, if you don't like the announcers, turn down the sound on your TV and listen to the radio crew. 