Exclusive My Blazer Broadcasting Visit

We are blessed to have the privilege of enjoying a top notch broadcast for every Blazer game, and to satisfy my curiosity about the inner workings thereof, I was blessed with the opportunity to see where it all happens. Enter John Lukrofka, Blazer video technician extraordinaire, longtime Blazers forum contributor, and general decent human being—despite what his online persona might have you believe.

My inside look began with a trip down to the court pregame, where John gave me a brief introduction to a couple of the cameraman who provide the content for the broadcast. While there, we also happened to chat with a certain Blazers captain, who was a tad nonplussed about the lack of basketball being shown on the jumbotron. No problem, one well-placed call, and John had it handled. Blazer Broadcasting to the rescue.

Sufficiently impressed with the access and pull exhibited by my host, we made our way back out of the arena and down to the loading dock, where I am given my first glimpse of the fabled broadcast truck. Really a giant trailer with a full-length slide-out, the economy of space is quite impressive. Toward the back of the trailer, is the engineering area, with a wall full of wires reminiscent of an old telephone switchboard. I'm told that nothing comes out of this trailer without passing through these engineers first. The other half of the back section of the housed one man manning what appeared to be upwards of 20 different video feeds. I didn't ask (my failing), but I assume this is who ensures all the cameras are focused where they should be.

In the center of the truck is where John and three other technicians monitor the 14 or so different video feeds that are used for all the replays and highlight packages we enjoy but never fully appreciate. The mechanisms involved is categorizing, compiling, and storing the thousands of video clips generated in every game is truly impressive. In the next space over, I meet Chuck and see the gargantuan sound board that manages all the myriad microphones involved in the broadcast process. Then, we move to the front of the trailer, to the nerve center of the broadcast. Screens stretch across the (I'd estimate) 14 foot width of the trailer, giving the producer, broadcast director, and technical director the ability to see every camera angle available to them.

As we prepare for pregame, I settle into a seat in the video replay area, with John on one side of me, and "Barrett" manning the “Super-Mo” on my right. Any time we get a high-resolution, super slow-motion replay, that's where it comes from. The brief tutorial John gives on the system for identifying, and organizing all the clips generated throughout each game is enough to make my head spin, but I smile and nod and pretend I understand everything. But I catch enough to comprehend why he and his team are there at noon or 1pm every gameday. The hours of work put in just to prepare the highlight packages used in pregame and during the various in-game analysis segments is unquestionably more than I would have expected. I'm given a headset where I can hear the conversation many of the members of the broadcast crew.

When the game begins, the atmosphere in the truck changes massively. The conversation flows non-stop, with people talking over each other constantly. It's incredibly difficult to follow—at least for a layman like me; it's clear that this is SOP for this crew, so I do my best to soak it in. It is fascinating to watch John at work, capturing and labeling every significant play for potential future reference, all the while following the flow of the game to ensure that none are missed. When there's a short break in the action, the voices in my ear somehow quickly identify which of the many available camera angles will offer the best replay, and then quickly set it up for public consumption. Until you see the mechanism in action, you can't properly appreciate what goes into making that content available for the viewing audience at a moment's notice. It's truly amazing to behold.

While commercial breaks should be an opportunity for the technicians to catch up, it's also when instant highlight packages are created. Those montages of three consecutive Lillard buckets from a couple different angles? The communication and coordination necessary to put those together at a moment's notice is no small feat. Watching everything that goes into the replay tech's job, it doesn't take long for me to understand exactly why John says he often doesn't know the score throughout the majority of the game. His attention is on the individual plays, and the connections that can drawn between them. He can tell you who's playing well; he can tell you which players/team he's captured more clips for; anything more than that is asking too much.

For the second quarter, John has me move to the front of the trailer to watch how the boss—the inimitable Jeff Curtin—puts everything together. An entirely different experience, but certainly no less fascinating. Two large screens in the middle of the display area show the view currently being displayed to the home audience, and the view set up for the next camera angle switch. Curtin gives continuous instructions, naming which camera angle he might want to switch to, calling for replays whenever needed, lining up graphics and other in-game features, and doing it all without a moment's hesitation. From this vantage point, I get a feeling of someone not just organizing camera angles, but coordinating the telling of the story of the game, and taking great pride in the product being put out.

Halftime provides a short respite for the crew, but after not too long I settle back in my seat next to John for the second half. Having now experienced an entire half of basketball on the headset, I am somehow now able to follow the cacophony of voices a bit more clearly. I begin to recognize what almost appears to be a bit of a competitive spirit between the members of replay team. Which of them will have a decent angle available for a particular replay that is requested? Who will have it ready first, and whose clip will Jeff choose to go with. There is no value in a great clip if the technician who clips it won't speak up and make its presence known; no place for shrinking violets on this team. I also get the feeling that as much as the producer has to manage the content, he also has to manage the egos of his team, making sure to take replays from everyone in order to keep the entire crew satisfied.

If Curtin's role sounds similar to that of Terry Stotts', there's good reason for that. The parallels between the Blazer team we know and love and the crew that brings them into our homes are numerous. The chemistry and camaraderie on the team is unmistakable, and it's clear that that is key to the performance of this group. However, that's not to say that they aren't all exceptional individual talents as well; several members of the team are in high demand in multiple other sports outside of Blazer Broadcasting. But while everyone has their individual responsibilities, the team functions as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. And when one member of the team goes down or is unavailable (as was actually the case the evening of my visit), others will shift over or step up to fill the gap.

Ever since my first Franz Bread basketball card back when I was 8 years old, I have been enthralled with the Portland Trail Blazers. Watching the early '90s teams with Drexler and Porter; the turn of the millennium squads with Sabas and Sheed; the seemingly can't-miss core of Roy, Aldridge, and Oden; and the current incarnation led by the dynamic duo of Dame and CJ; I never really stopped to appreciate the behind-the-scenes complexity necessary to make the outstanding on-court product available to those outside the arena. Thanks to my field trip to the broadcast trailer, I can safely say I take it for granted no more.

 

Nice write up!

 

Damn that was a good read. Imagery galore. Thank you.

 

I only took a few pics. My favorite was the one of me. When I was out on the court pregame, the "super-mo" camera captured me chatting with Kevin Calabro (I think it was when I was convincing him to take a doughnut hole), and then when we got into the trailer, there I was on the monitor. I kind of HAD to snap a picture of that...

 

Thanks for going and bringing back a behind the scenes look for us. Great writeup. Felt like I was there just reading it. Keep up the good work @HCP props to you and your fellows on the broadcasting team.