Sportsnet and the Toronto Blue Jays surprised many people earlier this year when they announced their decision to play the 2021 Major League Baseball season without a dedicated radio team, instead simulcasting their TV broadcast.
In their attempts to explain the simulcast, they’ve highlighted how much of a challenge the task actually is. Bearing the brunt of that task is veteran play-by-play voice Dan Shulman. Despite his exceptional abilities and resume as a broadcaster, serving two audiences simultaneously is a different venture.
Speaking with Sean Fitz-Gerald of The Athletic, Shulman noted the differences between baseball on radio and television are significant, citing two areas specifically.
“One is, on radio, obviously you’re providing a lot more information more often — the score, the count, the inning, the baserunners, the outs. You need that when you’re listening on radio. On television, what we call the ‘bug’ — the scoreboard at the bottom — does that work for you. So you don’t really need to do it much at all,” Shulman told Fitz-Gerald.
“The second one is the whole “painting the picture” aspect of radio,” Shulman continued while stating he had not yet called a game that serves both platforms at the time of the interview. “So what I can say now is, I’m going to try to find the best balance I can to please both audiences. It can’t be entirely a TV call, and it can’t be entirely a radio call. It’s got to be a mix, and I want the radio listeners to know that I am going to try to keep them involved more by giving them the information they need more often than I normally would.”
Last month, Fitz-Gerald spoke to Sportsnet VP Rob Corte, who also noted Shulman’s need to find balance while speaking to different audiences at the same time. Corte declined to look beyond this season in terms of potentially returning to separate broadcasts to better service the radio and TV audiences individually. All parties are willing to acknowledge the difference in calling a game on radio and TV, but there’s still a wait-and-see approach as to how it will come together.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
