Sports Announcing

When considering the opportunities in sports broadcasting, it is encouraging to realize that the growth of cable broadcasting has resulted in much wider coverage of sporting events. Because of ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) and other cable channels, many additional events are now covered that wouldn’t have been in the past. Further, digital television has enabled some of the program originators like ESPN to operate more than one channel. As competition between broadcasters and cablecasters grows, cable’s drive to make virtually any game available to a pay-per-view audience means that coverage and opportunities should grow in the future. When we think of sports broadcasting, we may fi rst think of the national telecasts of major sports events where the broadcasters themselves have become famous, but as with other jobs in broadcasting, the bulk of the career opportunities is likely to be at the lower levels. Many colleges do radio and television broadcasts of their sports events, and some high schools do, too, particularly the private schools that use sports success as a recruiting tool. Some public television stations have a continuing policy of covering high school sports that are ignored by other stations. While these are often broadcast on a delayed basis, additional opportunities for experience and exposure are there for the sports broadcast performer. Many schools have taken to presenting their less signifi cant sports on streaming video or audio presentations.