Social Distancing, you’re familiar with the phrase by now I’m sure. It’s a necessary evil in the fight against the spread of the Coronavirus. The term means keeping 6 feet of distance between you and another person and it means gatherings of folks are kept very small.
Okay, so what’s that got to do with sports or the media? It’s got a lot to do with both. Have you noticed news anchors on your local TV news sitting at opposite ends of the desk or in different rooms all together? You’ve probably heard your local radio host say he/she is doing the show from home. It’s becoming more and more normal as stations are limiting the amount of people in their buildings to only those deemed “essential personnel”.
My station, WGN in Chicago, is working with a streamlined staff in house. I had to go in last weekend to do a shift and it was like a ghost town. Thankfully there was plenty of Lysol, hand wipes, disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer available.
To add to the craziness, there’s no sports to really speak of.
Our sister television station, WGN-TV is also spacing out it’s working crew on the nightly newscasts. The weatherman is across the hall from the main studio in the “Weather Center” and the anchors are sitting far enough apart it’s difficult to show them both on camera together. One news anchor is actually sitting in the sports chair on the set. That means the sports anchors have been asked to do their reports from a remote location, their homes.
Knowing a lot of the people on the air in Chicago, it has been kind of interesting to see the location they choose. Usually a spot in the house with some memorabilia or a nice bookshelf filled with sports publications. There is a curiosity by viewers to see where your favorite sports anchors live and what their houses look like.
One such anchor is Jarrett Payton who handles the 4pm sports on WGN-TV and is a co-host of a nightly report on the station called ‘GN Sports which airs at 10:30pm. Except that show has preempted by coronavirus coverage for an indefinite period. I caught up with Payton via email this week (social distancing!!) to get his thoughts on a couple of things during this strange time in the world.
First, I wanted to find out the challenges he’s facing, having to do a live sportscast from his basement rather than from the studio. Plus, the fact that he has two young children which provides some extra difficulties.
“The tough part is my wife and I are E-learning with our kids, so trying to do my work and helping them with theirs is whole different ballgame,” he told me. “The show must go on and delivering for the great people of Chicago is something that is very close to my heart.”
I would have imagined from the beginning that the other difficulty would be zero face to face contact with the sports producers in planning out the show. Also, at home there’s no teleprompter, so when JP is on air, it’s ad lib time. It’s also just such a different environment.
“Being at home doing my newscasts has been different but in some ways it feels like I’m out in the field doing a live shot really,” he says. “Technology makes it almost seamless to do what I normally do in the studio, in the comfort of my own home.”
He told me that email and cellphone calls replace the actual contact in the sports office. The fact that he’s done so many sportscasts and live shots make things a little easier to deal with under these circumstances.
Then comes the question of content with zero live sporting events taking place. How surreal is that experience?
“Since I’ve been in the business, I’ve always had the understanding that sports never stops and news never stops. When you’re dedicated to your craft, you also understand there’s no days off in this line of work. So now, to have everything in the sporting world on pause, is very surreal,” Jarrett admitted. “This whole situation has really put life in perspective for me. You take for granted sometimes how lucky we are to live the lives we do and all of the great things that come with it like sports.”
Payton also mentioned to me that these days have tested the creativity of everyone involved in putting a sportscast together. I completely understand that. In fact, on one of my own casts last weekend, I celebrated the 2-year anniversary of Loyola Chicago’s Sweet 16 win over Nevada. I found some audio and made that a “kicker” story.
The natural question to ask anyone involved in the sports media these days is what are you doing to pass the time? There is more downtime than usual now.
“Being at home means a lot of family time,” Jarrett responds. “This whole situation is bringing us closer as a family. Things happen for a reason and for us it’s giving us more time with each other which we normally don’t have. Being dad is always first for me.”
The work from home mentality has become the way of life in the coronavirus pandemic. It isn’t clear exactly if these changes are being widely accepted by audiences or not. To me, it shouldn’t make a difference what location your sports anchor is delivering the report from. It’s still the news you want and need, it’s just not coming from a familiar location to viewers and listeners.
I applaud these stations around the country, both radio and television that are focusing on the important things in this time. Providing informative and accurate news on the pandemic and keeping their employees healthy.
Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at Andy@Andy-Masur.com.
