It was so inspiring on Monday, to read that veteran broadcaster Vin Scully, will be returning to the broadcast booth in 2011. Now 82 years of age, Scully is one of the very few play by play voices that fans will go out of their way to listen to, even if they are not fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team whose games he has been calling since 1950, going back to when the team played in Brooklyn, New York.
There are some broadcast outlets,where the trend has become one of going with much less experienced journalists, regardless of the fact that in some cases, they have nowhere near the knowledge and perspective, of the more mature broadcasters. This does not occur everywhere in the industry, but it does happen in some places.
There is no “young” person anywhere, that could now or ever replace Vin Scully, but somewhere, there might be some poorly researched executive, who might be inclined to try and replace a legend like him. Their misguided and sure to fail rationale, would be that they are going after the younger demographic in the audience. These are the type of decision makers, who fail to understand that the sports fan wants information, and want to feel that during the course of the broadcast, they learned something they may not have known previously. The reason why I go out of my way to tune in Vin Scully, is because I know that I will always be hearing one or more stories that I had never heard before, from any source, either in the electronic or print media. This shows how far off the mark the strategy is, for those media outlets that think the that the sports fan really cares about the looks of the sportscasters. Sports fans never have, and they never will care about completely insignificant nonsense of this kind. They do care about knowledge and accurate information,as well as an ability to provide perspective, which the mature broadcaster can provide,like a Vin Scully. Don’t think that I’m against up and coming broadcast journalists getting an opportunity. The talented and hard working young professionals, should get their break, like everybody else in the industry did, at some point in time. I had to wait until age 37, in 1992 at the Fan 590 in Toronto, to get my first on air opportunity, which is certainly pretty late in life, compared to most in the business. What I am against, is any kind of trend to move out older and experienced broadcasters, who still are effective in this field. It denies the audience, the very thing that they are tuning in for, which is insight,experience, and perspective. The scores and statistics they can get anywhere. With several of the major television news services, the anchors are all journalists who have been out in the field as correspondents, in many parts of the world, on different stories, before they get the opportunity to host a major news program. This gives them the credibility to deliver an intelligent and informed opinion, on the major stories of the day. I believe that this is the standard that should be maintained in TV news.
Broadcasting legends like Chris Berman of ESPN, or the late Foster Hewitt, Bill Hewitt, or Danny Gallivan, did not become or remain household names and icons in sports broadcasting, because they resembled some Hollywood hunk. Nobody really cared what they looked like, or how old they were. In fact, their age and experience made them even more compelling to watch and listen to. It was all about their knowledge of the game, and their ability to tell a story through play by play, and conversation. The viewer or listener could really care less if the on air host is tall, short, hairy, bald, skinny, or overweight. It is a non-issue for the vast majority of the audience, just like the thousands who tune in to watch and listen to Vin Scully call a Dodgers game.