AI, or artificial intelligence, has already become a ‘thing’ in media. It’s been a topic with people wondering what the future holds and whether or not it will take away jobs. Which of course means someday we might see a headline like, “iHeartMedia Lays Off 200 Robots,” if it doesn’t work. Don’t think it can’t happen.
Again, when I’ve heard most people bring up the topic, the concern is usually about people who have jobs who could get replaced. And I get it. I’m pro-job.
With that said, if someone can figure out how to enhance my sports viewing with artificial intelligence, I’m all for it.
I used to think play-by-play announcers and color analysts didn’t matter that much. I thought they were somewhat interchangeable. But then something interesting happened. We started losing some of those voices. Some retired and some are no longer with us.
I started thinking about this topic as I’m forced to deal with the reality that Verne Lundquist is working his final Masters. Golf seems like the absolute perfect place to test out some new AI. Don’t let someone else ever call the 16th hole at Augusta, let ‘Uncle Verne’ live there forever through artificial intelligence.
Think about this for a second. It’s Thanksgiving and you are over at the in-law’s house next November. You plop down to watch the Cowboys and Giants and BOOM! Summerall and Madden are calling the game through AI.
Give me Sunday Night Baseball with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. Heck, I love Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on Monday Night Football. But imagine for a moment if ESPN 2 has the ManningCast while ESPN News has…Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith! Or what if the next big fight in boxing (is there a next big fight in boxing?), had Cosell on the call. Heck, with AI we can mix people. Can someone get me Cossel, Jim Lampley and Burt Sugar together calling a fight?
I’m smiling just thinking about how cool it could be. I mean we have some networks showing games being played by cartoon characters. Certainly, we can take the recordings of broadcasters and create a way for them to still be heard calling games, right?
Just think if you could watch college football on Saturdays and choose Keith Jackson and Bob Griese or Dan Fouts as your broadcast crew? ‘Whoa, Nellie!’ indeed.
I’m from St. Louis and I would give anything to flip on the radio and hear Jack Buck and Mike Shannon, in their prime, calling Cardinals games or the late, great, Dan Kelly calling hockey. Speaking of Buck, how about listening to a Monday Night Football game on radio and having the option on one channel to listen to Kevin Harlan and Kurt Warner and then on another channel you can hear Jack Buck and Hank Stram?
Heck, I’d watch a Cubs game if you told me the voices I was going to hear would be Harry Caray and Steve Stone. It would take me back to my childhood, when I would come home from school after finally getting cable television and sitting on the floor watching Cubs games in the afternoon.
I can think of a bunch of others. Dick Enberg, Billy Packer and Al McGuire calling college basketball (Dick Enberg calling just about anything works for me). Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek doing a baseball game. Brent Musburger calling big football games.
What if forever we could hear NBC’s “Roundball Rock” theme song (cap tip to John Tesh) and a modern NBA game is being called by the voices of Marv Albert, Steve ‘Snapper’ Jones and Mike Fratello or Bob Costas is throwing it over to Ahmad Rashad for a sideline report?
If you asked me to watch bowling these days, I would laugh in your face. If you asked me to watch bowling and said, ‘by the way, the announcing will be done through AI, and it will be Chris Schenkel and Nelson Burton Jr. on the call,’ well that’s a different story.
Kind of cool to think about. Alternate broadcasts are becoming hip these days and we are now even seeing local broadcasts do it.
Would I be excited if we can figure out through artificial intelligence how to continue to hear some of these historic voices? As Verne Lundquist once famously said, “Yes sir!”
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The Best Thing I Heard This Week
Yep, I said what I said a few weeks ago. Charles Barkley is not very good on the NCAA Tournament coverage (I didn’t say he was ‘turrible,’ just that he’s not very good). He is, however, great on the NBA and quite possibly the best sports radio guest in the country.
He proved it again this week on The Dan Patrick Show. He talked about how the NBA is just a 3-point shooting contest, a little bit about Zach Edey and DJ Burns Jr., watching women’s college basketball and the term “sports experts.”
He had a few classic lines including, “As much as I am a gambling degenerate, I have actually never bet on a woman’s sport.” He called people who act like they know every sport when they talk on TV, “idiots and fools,” and he also said this about that word experts:
“There is no such thing, it’s just somebody’s opinion. I hate when they say, ‘ he’s an expert’ and I say, ‘no he’s not he’s just some fool giving his opinion.’”
You can watch the full interview by clicking here.
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In Case You Missed It
I brought back the Seller to Seller feature this week on BSM and had a great chat with Beasley Media Group Boston Director of Sales Brian Schneekloth. I really enjoy talking to other sales-minded folks and learning about their best practices. Brian gave some great advice about how they have been handling recruitment in Boston that if you’re not doing already, you may want to think about.
I point this out mainly to ask those managers who might be reading to feel free to forward me a name if you have an outstanding sports seller who we should profile. I will talk to sellers and managers and am looking for people who are really doing unique things to find new business or getting super creative to get and keep clients. Email me at davegreene34@gmail.com if you have any suggestions.
You can read the piece with Brian by clicking here.
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
