Florida Atlantic radio broadcaster Ken LaVicka went viral over the weekend after it was revealed he lost his internet connection during the final minute of the Owls victory over Kansas State to send them to the Final Four. 670 The Score host Laurence Holmes said the situation is one every radio host hopes they never encounter.
“That’s every broadcaster’s nightmare. Every single broadcaster’s nightmare,” Holmes said during his House of L podcast Sunday.
He added that he has used a Comrex unit from home several different times, both during the COVID-19 pandemic and while hosting his weekend program for CBS Sports Radio, so he didn’t have to go into the studio at 4:00 AM. However, he mentioned that there were difficulties in utilizing the setup.
Holmes then turned his attention to the situation that LaVicka was in, being virtually by himself as the broadcast experienced technical difficulties. He said the situation was really amplified by hosts being forced to learn their equipment during the pandemic, which in turn gave station management the confidence to send talent to remote broadcasts by themselves.
“Everyone is still kind of working off of the model, doing things remotely and to try to do them as inexpensively as possible,” Holmes continued. “So if you’re Florida Atlantic University, you’re sending your play-by-play guy there. He’s probably alone. Even maybe even send the color guy I don’t know if they did but you got him credentials.
“The broadcast entity gets him credentialed and you say ‘Hey, man, thank you Comrex, we’re not gonna take him in’. You’re not gonna pay an engineer, not just pay an engineer. I don’t think the company actually minds paying an engineer. It’s that you’re going to pay for the travel of another person and their meals. It’s a cost-cutting thing.”
Holmes concluded the discussion by applauding LaVicka for his ability to get the broadcast back on the air. He also joked about a statement from college basketball reporter Andy Katz that the internet for the Final Four in Houston will be better. Holmes pointed out that the arena where LaVicka lost the internet was Madison Square Garden, joking that if you can lose the internet there, it could go out anywhere.
