The Red Hawk Sports Network (RHSN) keeps on leveling up.
For the second straight year, RHSN held a live show during the homecoming football game at Sprague Field, and this year the team made it even better.
This time around the team partnered with Broadcast Media Operations (BMO) and by doing so, it gave RHSN more confidence and all of the help they needed. Junior RHSN intern and co-host of the live show Matt Bruchez thought BMO helped make things more comfortable for them.
“Pairing up with BMO pretty much knocked out any possible scenario where we felt like there was going to be a problem,” Bruchez said. “Having so much manpower and having access to that control room, made us all feel really comfortable with the way things were going to go.”
For the live production, plenty of new equipment was used, like game monitors and a cough button added to the booth, wireless cameras used for sideline reports and action right on the field, a jib used for more creative shots and the use of the control room to live switch shots and play pre-recorded packages.
Wireless cameras were used for the first time to follow sideline reporters and their stories.
Photo courtesy of Wyatt Lardieri
Being able to host a show has been something that Bruchez has wanted to do for as long as he can remember and he’ll never forget his first chance.
“It felt so surreal,” Bruchez said. “We’ve had live broadcasts but, since that was the first live on-camera show, the adrenaline and rush that you get on live television is one like no other. Last year I was able to do sideline reporting live and so that was a little taste of it because it was a lot shorter than, obviously, this show was so I really enjoyed it and it was one that I’ll never forget.”
Matt Bruchez and Gianna Daginis hosted the live production and it was the first time they have done anything like this.
Photo courtesy of Stefania Bastinck
Also making her live show hosting debut was sophomore RHSN intern Gianna Daginis. The duo was responsible for the pre-game show, which started an hour before kickoff, halftime and post-game.
The idea of hosting such a massive show scared Daginis at first but the preparation is what helped get her through it.
“It was very scary at first,” Daginis said. “The idea of hosting scared me a lot because I knew how big of a deal this show was and I thought ‘What am I doing here?’ But, working so closely with [Bruchez] to write our script and the three of us, Jason [Naccarella], [Bruchez] and I sitting at the table writing, the rehearsals that we did. We were nailing the time stamps almost exactly when [Bruchez] and I were doing a run through like two days before, the day before. And then being on that stage, it wasn’t scary anymore.”
The show also included two sideline reporters, junior broadcast intern Brandon Marrazzo and senior broadcast intern Cathryn Pace. They were responsible for finding stories on the fly along with conducting live on-camera interviews with whoever they could.
Sideline reporter Cathryn Pace got the chance to ask president Jonathan Koppell a few questions about the day.
Photo courtesy of Thomas Gaffney
RHSN aims to make their environment just like a professional setting and senior production intern and producer of Inside the Nest Nacarella believes it gave them real experience.
“It was produced and set up so professionally,” Naccarella said. “It gave all of us such a great look at what the professional environment of something of this caliber is really like. And I was just so grateful to have the experience.”
Jason Naccarella ran the show in the control room alongside help from Professors Vernard Gantt and Stuart MacLelland.
Photo courtesy of Thomas Gaffney
Naccarella was the main director for the live show and he was responsible for overlooking everything that was going on along with making sure everyone was doing their job efficiently.
Communication among everybody and every group involved was the key according to professor Stacy Gitlin.
“The great thing about what we did was that everybody was talking to each other,” Gitlin said. “Everybody was working together towards the same goal and everybody understood that we were all in it together. And that is overall, the best thing about it.”
Commentators Campbell Donovan (close left), Anthony Cafone (middle) and Charlie Baduini (right) prepare for the football game.
Photo courtesy of Wyatt Lardieri
