With a deluge of varying platforms through which sports fans engage with content surrounding their favorite players, teams and leagues, there is a tacit competition to accrue the largest aggregate sum of attention span. Several recent studies have corroborated that humans have an average attention span shorter than that of a goldfish, and digital platforms render it more facile to rapidly disseminate and interact with content that fits this paradigm. The sheer amount of content sources and engagement therein is part of the reason why Hanna Yates and the Carolina Hurricanes broadcast team frequently meet to come up with ways to keep shoulder programming surrounding live game telecasts informative and entertaining.
The Hurricanes are widely regarded as a legitimate contender to win the Stanley Cup championship, situated near the top of the National Hockey League standings and featuring a flurry of young, dynamic players. Yet the team also has its share of veterans providing significant contributions such as Dmitry Orlov, who inked a two-year contract with the team this past offseason. Ahead of the NHL trading deadline, the Hurricanes acquired center Evgeny Kuznetsov, Orlov’s former teammate in Washington, D.C. with whom he shares a close friendship.
Yates and her colleagues decided to display the teammates’ personalities and rapport after a recent Hurricanes game, deviating from the usual presentation strategy. Rather than interviewing one player, they paired Orlov and Kuznetsov together for a joint conversation that conveyed the intangible affinity and chemistry that translates onto the ice. The end result garnered positive feedback from fans and several views on various digital media outlets.
“I felt it was super effective and really just humanized who these people are and showcased a really fun side of them that you might not be able to see otherwise,” Yates said, “and we were able to use our postgame show to our advantage in that way.”
Yates has worked on Bally Sports South broadcasts of Hurricanes hockey since the start of last season, serving as both a host and reporter. The multifaceted role keeps her busy throughout the 82-game NHL regular season, which is ultimately a marathon to reach the playoffs and capture the elusive Stanley Cup. Over the last year-and-a-half, she has stepped outside of her comfort zone and feels fulfilled with her overall progress and growth in the role.
“That’s what’s so unique about this position that I have with the Hurricanes is that I get to do both, and that’s what I enjoy so much,” Yates said. “I love hosting and I love reporting, and so being able to do both of those things, it just requires different skillsets or different experiences, and so I felt like they felt based on that experience that it would just be a good fit, and it’s ended up working out great.”
Ahead of a typical home gameday, Yates attends morning skate and takes notes on line adjustments and potential narratives, observations off which she bases part of her questioning upon speaking with personnel in the locker room. After the session concludes, she interviews head coach Rod Brind’Amour in the press conference room to glean his perspective before the matchup. Early in the afternoon, the Bally Sports South team has its in-game call where they review elements of the broadcast before arriving at PNC Arena. Following a brief rehearsal, Yates hosts the Hurricanes Live pregame show with a studio analyst – usually former Hurricanes forward Shane Willis – and previews the action prior to puck drop.
“I kind of look at the strengths for each person and try to just highlight those to set them up to the best of my ability, but a lot of that just comes with getting to know that person and developing a solid relationship both personally and professionally,” Yates elucidated. “I feel like I have that with all of our co-hosts now to where we’re all friends and family, and you kind of learn the sense of humor with each person and you’re able to play off of that and just be yourself.”
Once the game begins, Yates supplements the commentary of play-by-play announcer Mike Maniscalco and color commentator Tripp Tracy through her reporting hits and interviews during intermission. Since Yates did not play professional hockey, she tries to extrapolate different insights and esoterica from players and coaches to augment the depth of coverage.
Conversely, there are moments when her reporting centers on storytelling, perhaps amplifying a triumph over adversity or new wrinkles in the game. Nonetheless, she is invariably yearning to contribute to the narrative without interfering with the frenetic pace at which hockey is played.
“I really just try to highlight the storylines,” Yates said. “I will look at, ‘Hey, this player has a really unique story outside of hockey or that has contributed to his success with hockey or highlighting friendships within the game or different aspects that makes this team, this player [and/or] this game so special,’ and so for me, those just come with conversation; of repetition; of building those relationships and establishing those to where you can kind of get those storylines.”
While Yates is fully immersed with the Hurricanes at this point, she grew up around the St. Louis Blues with a passion for sports and played soccer competitively. Although she briefly wanted to practice law, she realized through a class in high school that combining sports and storytelling encapsulated a desired career path.
As a student matriculating at the University of Missouri-Columbia, she became involved with KOMU-TV 8, the university-owned local NBC affiliate, and started by covering both news and high school football games in her junior year. Additionally, Yates produced and anchored sports coverage while also contributing to the outlet’s website and finding her voice. The role encompassed a variety of different niches of media, allowing her to develop versatility and flourish across several platforms.
When she graduated though, Yates was having trouble finding a fit at local television stations and determining her next step. Despite the hardship in advancing her career, she remained optimistic that things would eventually work out. Moreover, Yates refused to conform to a certain standard or alter her approach, deciding to demonstrate loyalty towards being genuine and not deceiving the viewing audience.
“When I go back to those days of just learning that I had to take it [with] a day-by-day process,” Yates said, “and instead of just having assumptions and thinking that it was going to be this perfect path [in] the way that I had drawn out in my head, that’s just not how this industry works.”
Through networking she had executed while in college, Yates learned that a Mizzou graduate was hiring in St. Louis, Mo. who had interest in adding Yates to 590 The Fan as an on-air talent. Working in sports radio is something she had never even considered, and there was a sense of hesitancy on her end to inquire about the role. Upon learning that there was a digital component, Yates acquiesced and was subsequently hired by the station. The opportunity ended up representing a “dream scenario” where she was able to move back home and work in a multifarious job.
“Having that radio experience where it’s just a conversation – you’re conversing with people and talking about opinions and debating and talking about different viewpoints on things – and then from a digital aspect, it was really just transitioning that conversation to having a camera right in front of your face and it was the same thing,” Yates said. “And so for me now, it’s basically all of those components combined, and so it was the perfect experience to get to where I’m at right now.”
Yates was a co-host on the afternoon drive program, The Hard Line, which included former NFL wide receiver T.J. Moe and former NHL forward Cam Janssen. A programming alteration created The Cam Janssen Show on which Yates remained a co-host and further cemented a strong, entertaining sound in the marketplace. The St. Louis Blues organization enjoyed parts of the show and ended up adding Yates as an in-arena host during intermissions where she would work with an analyst or team alumnus to synthesize the action.
“It was just kind of similar to what I do now intermission-wise with Bally, and so I felt like it was [beneficial] in that way of just having that conversation on camera,” Yates said. “And had I not done radio to really be comfortable in that format, then it wouldn’t have led to that opportunity, and so it was just kind of one door opening after the other just based on my start.”
Frank Cusumano was also hosting a sports talk program at 590 The Fan while working as the sports director at KSDK-TV in St. Louis, and he ultimately asked Yates if she would be interested in auditioning to become an on-air talent at the station. She ended up landing the job and worked as an anchor and reporter for the NBC-affiliate station, gaining further opportunities in storytelling by covering sports for a news outlet.
“[It] gave me a really great experience of learning how to tell those stories and working alongside people who had been in the business for a long time of, ‘Hey, here’s a really great way to tell this story and lay this out,’ and I got a ton of repetition and being able to do so,” Yates said. “And then as well, I would go to Blues games and Cardinals games and speak with the manager or speak with the coach or speak with the players in being able to kind of get my feet wet with reporting at that level as well.”
The blend of radio hosting and television reporting made Yates an ideal fit to join Bally Sports South and contribute to its Carolina Hurricanes coverage. Being able to follow the team over the last two seasons coincided with a move across the country to the Raleigh-Durham media market, something she had never considered beforehand. As part of the Hurricanes beat of reporters and commentators over the regular season, she strives to avoid becoming fatigued and retains acuity.
“There’s a lot of sacrifices that you have to make from a social level [at] some points just to make sure that you’re prepared and ready to go through the grind of a season just the way that the players and coaching staff would,” Yates explained. “You’re all on the same schedule together traveling and doing different things in that way, and so for me it’s just making sure that I’m mentally and physically kind of on point and ready to go the best that I can.”
Yates will be making another move once the Hurricanes season either concludes or continues past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Bally Sports South announced that she will be among the reporters covering the Atlanta Braves for the regional sports network this season, marking her first opportunity to regularly work on MLB broadcasts.
Yates is part of a rotation of reporters that will contribute to coverage during the year, which also includes Wiley Ballard and Ashley ShahAhmadi. Beginning in mid-May, she will be live from Truist Park to cover the team throughout the regular season as they work towards earning a National League East division title. Yates is entering the role with no expectations aside from performing her role to the best of her ability and enjoying the journey.
“The expectation is to win the World Series, and they have the full capability of doing so, and so for me being able to come into this unique situation and be around some of the best talent in the game is just really special,” Yates said. “There’s so many storylines that I can look at from last season to build off of heading into this season and new storylines that will take place throughout the year.”
The Braves broadcast team has introduced several new voices over the last two seasons, including play-by-play announcer Brandon Gaudin and analyst C.J. Nitkowski. Bally Sports South also presented two alumni broadcasts where former Braves stars John Smoltz, Jeff Francoeur, Chipper Jones and Tom Glavine occupied the booth to bring fans division rivalry games. Yates recently traveled to North Port, Fla. to attend spring training and had a chance to meet her new colleagues.
“They’re so intelligent and so kind and so personable,” Yates said. “It’s like every factor that you would want in a broadcast team combined, and everyone brings something unique to the table from what I’ve seen, and everyone gets along and is so kind and helpful to one another, so I think it’s going to be fantastic team coverage.”
From the start of spring training, Yates has ensured she does not miss a single game and either watches the television presentation or listens to the radio broadcast to learn more about the team. Regardless of the consumption method, she takes notes and reviews statistics and storylines from last season, all of which is meant to build her knowledge base and ensure she is up to speed by the time she makes her broadcast debut. Yates considers her ability of being over-prepared to be an inherent strength, and she intends to continue as such even after Opening Day.
“I’ll obviously watch every single game leading up to when I am there, and I will have conversations with all of the broadcast team of, ‘Hey, what are storylines that are going on behind the scenes that you’re seeing just to make sure that I’m in the loop?,’” Yates said. “Even though I won’t be in Atlanta physically until mid-May, I definitely want to be a part of everything in circulation to make sure that I am ready to go and feel confident that I will be when I get there.”
As a member of the television broadcast teams for the Hurricanes and Braves, Yates is in a unique position to be covering two perennial contenders over the last several years. The Hurricanes and Braves are among the favorites to win their respective league championships, a unique pairing that Yates affirms makes her job easier. There is plenty of interest and intrigue during the year with stars such as Seth Jarvis, Ronald Acuña Jr., Sebastian Aho and Spencer Strider spanning the two locales.
“For me, I just step into the situation and make sure that I’m highlighting all of those storylines and making sure that I’m doing my due diligence of really showing how special these teams are and finding the best way to showcase that,” Yates said, “whether it be through what makes them so successful or highlighting certain players who are really thriving for each of those organizations.”
Akin to how Yates never envisioned herself working in sports radio, she tries not to excogitate an obstinate future outlook with no room for fluctuation. From the beginning, she has never had an answer to the standard interview query of where she sees herself in five years, and remains dedicated to discerning how she can add to the broadcast experience and position her colleagues for success. There is no specific sport she aims to cover down the road, instead living in the moment by anticipating the next gameday with an indefatigable equanimity to shine the spotlight on various elements both within and surrounding the competition.
“I never want to be part of the storyline, [and] I never want to be part of the game. I just want to do my job to highlight the game – to highlight the players and people that I’m working with…. If people are feeling emotion and they really enjoyed a telecast because of the stories or the reports that we’re able to share, then I feel like I [did] my job.”
