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Cornhusker Sports Broadcasts Are Wireless for Shure
11/28/2012
NILES, ILL. – Having been involved in University of Nebraska sports
broadcasts since 1974, Mike Elliott has seen the ongoing growth of technology
first hand. As director of Broadcast Operations for the Husker IMG Sports
Network in Lincoln, Elliott, picture right, oversees a radio team dedicated to bringing
Nebraska sports action – especially football games – to fans throughout the
region and around the world.
“One of the biggest changes in broadcasting over the past 20 years has been the
widespread use of wireless, which is something that we have very much embraced,”
he said. “We’ve gone from having just one RF mic on the sideline to our whole
crew being wireless, both for microphones and our IFB system. As our needs have
expanded, the one thing that has remained constant is that all of those systems
are made by Shure.”
Nebraska football is practically a religion, leading the Husker IMG team to
produce the longest game day sports coverage in the nation. “We’re literally on
the air for 12 and a half hours on football Saturdays,” Elliott said, “We
typically use 10 microphone channels, which are Shure UHF-R. Most are bodypacks
feeding headsets, except the sideline reporters, who use handhelds with SM58
capsules. In addition, everyone monitors on PSM 900 in-ear systems. That
requires five more channels, one for each mix of feeds that the announcers and
crew use.”
While most productions use intercom systems for interruptible foldback communications,
the Husker broadcast team opted for the full-range fidelity of Shure’s PSM 900
in-ear monitor system, with five channels offering different feeds required by
the various announcer and crew functions. “We use traditional full-muff sports
headsets, with the mic output feeding the UR1 bodypack,” Elliott said. “The PSM
900 bodypack receiver then feeds the headphones, tuned to whatever IFB feed
that announcer or crew member needs. Its primary purpose is crew
communications, though the broadcast feed is also part of the mix, especially
for the announcers.”
This set-up enables talk among the crew to flow freely, including critical game
information that Elliott relays to the game announcers. “For instance, my own
main producer channel is a mix of crew chatter, the game feed, and everything
else,” he said. “But the play-by-play announcer and analyst don’t need all
that, so all they hear is themselves, the crowd sounds, and the ref’s mic,
interspersed with quick little production comments or cues from me, like
calling for legal ID, making sure they see penalty flags and substitutions,
that sort of thing.”
To do that while maintaining contact with the rest of the crew, Elliott uses
the PSM 900’s patent-pending CueMode feature, which enables the user to store
up to 20 active channels for quick recall. Elliott uses the PSM 900’s infrared
linking to set names of the live channels for easy reference. “CueMode is very
useful, and not just for me,” he said. “For instance, our sideline reporter
uses one channel when he’s on the field, then switches to another when he walks
into the locker room to do interviews, since that requires a separate feed to
get a good signal in there. CueMode makes it easy for him to find the right
feed.”
Another PSM 900 feature that Elliott finds useful is MixMode, which lets the
user blend two independent signals as desired, using the pan pot on the P9R
bodypack receiver. “Basically, it lets you treat your stereo signal as two
separate mono channels,” he said. “We use it for the parabolic field mic
operator on the sideline. He needs to hear what he’s picking up, so he gets
that signal soloed along with the crew chatter, then uses MixMode to blend them
as needed.” Using MixMode, announcers can adjust the headphone balance between
their own voice and other production elements.
A big part of Elliott’s responsibilities revolve around frequency coordination.
“Between the TV broadcaster, opponents radio broadcasts, referee mics, plus 80
channels for the coaches’ headset systems, there’s typically well over 100
active channels at a game. At the Rose Bowl, the total was about 250,” he said.
“With our Shure systems, we’ve never had a problem finding enough clear
channels for our needs.”
In addition to its flagship coverage of University of Nebraska football, the
Husker IMG Sports Network relies on Shure wireless for its broadcasts of men’s
and women’s basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball, all while producing
a three-hour sports talk show that airs five nights a week year-round. To
handle the inevitable conflicts when various events overlap, the network
operates its own uplink, with three satellite channels to handle distribution.
Live Internet streaming provides even more global reach in real time.
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