Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame 2022: Darrell Wenhardt, Genius of Workflows

Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame 2022: Darrell Wenhardt, Genius of Workflows By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Wednesday, October 19, 2022 - 7:00 am

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Leading up to the 2022 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame ceremony on Dec. 13 at the New York Hilton, SVG is profiling the nine inductees in this year's class. For more information, CLICK HERE.

What do the NFL Network, the MLB Network, KABC Los Angeles, and WMAQ Chicago, and the PGA TOUR's new production facility (set to open in 2025) have in common? 2022 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductee Darrell Wenhardt. Currently principal consultant at CBT West, he has played a major role in bringing together countless opinions and created the workspaces and workflows that have been crucial to the sports-broadcast industry for nearly five decades.

Over the years, he has worked with hundreds of types of organizations, and figuring out what an organization aims to create means countless meetings with countless departments to make sure that the workflows will meet not only the need but the work environment.

What I like is being able to start with a clean slate with a client and dig into what they are trying to produce, he says of his professional philosophy. It's probably overused, but it's still about storytelling and being able to meet expectations within a client's budget constraints. We need to understand exactly what their production requirements are before we even begin to apply technology to it.

Wenhardt notes that the work environment ties into workflow, which is very important because the workflow comes in many forms and factors. The client's culture, he adds, also has to be reflected in any design or workflow considerations.

It starts with a good physical workflow within the control rooms, edit rooms, or other facilities, he explains. Then, it's the design of that space and working with the client to understand what each operator's needs are in fulfilling the obligations of their job. Only then can you start to match technology. It's a multi-stage process.

Though focusing plenty of energy and expertise on the technical infrastructure over the years, Wenhardt has also done work supporting architectural design and how a building, or a vehicle, is laid out. The final piece of the puzzle is seeing how the production team and everyone else operates in a new environment.

Ninety-plus percent of the time, it all works great, he says, but usually about 10% will have issues. What is great about that is, I get to hang around and make sure it all works.

When it works, the new facility can also help reshape the culture. Wenhardt cites his work on the NFL Network's facility in Culver City, CA, in 2003.

We worked with [Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer] Geoff Mason through the whole process, he explains. What was unique - and a key factor - was that NFL Network CEO Steve Bornstein and Geoff brought NFL Network host Rich Eisen in early. He became a critical player in bringing the right energy to the set and did it in a way that gave the network a unique voice. It was one of those cool times when we got the talent involved.

The result was a facility that laid a cultural foundation for the new NFL Network facility.

In the new studios at the NFL Network, he adds, there's a legacy aspect from the 2003 development because a brand-new culture was born. We started from scratch so that was very fulfilling.

A few years later, Wenhardt helped MLB Network launch in a brand-new facility. It began with an NAB meeting where Hall of Famer Ken Aagaard and I met with MLB Enterprises President/CEO Tim Brosnan in 2007. Brosnan asked, Do you think we can build a network for baseball?' Less than two years later, we were on the air with MLB Network.

We had to make the culture up, learn what they wanted to produce, and go through that whole process of programming a 24-hour baseball network, he continues. Did they just want to throw games on the air, or did they want to produce a lot of shoulder programming?

Wenhardt says working with a client often involves some tough decisions on what stays and what goes in terms of production needs and, in turn, technical needs. He says, regardless of who the client is, there are always budget constraints.

When they tell us our budget is nuts,' I ask a simple question: what part of the programming that you've outlined do you want to put on-air and what part do you not want to do? he says. I use that question all the time to quickly frame the budget concerns.

Both the NFL Network and MLB Network projects offered an opportunity to develop new technology to provide fans with direct access to teams and players.

For the NFL, Wenhardt and his team developed what was branded as TeamCam, placing 32 mini production kits at all NFL training facilities and giving the network the ability to go live to each team with two-way video and audio.

For MLB, Ballpark Cam was developed, placing two robotically controlled HD cameras and stereo microphones in each of the 30 MLB ballparks. Cameras, interview mics, and IFB were all remotely controlled from the network's studios in Secaucus, NJ.

MLB Network and the development team won a Gold Edison Award for the innovation and technology development that went into Ballpark Cam. Says Wenhardt, I also need to thank Hall of Famer Joe Cohen, [then-president, The Switch], for providing us with digital links from each ballpark to the network and all within a 10-month window.

Tony Petitti, former president/CEO, MLB Network, says Wenhardt played a huge role in the launch of MLB Network.

His innovation and implementation of the Ballpark Cam system was truly a game-changer for MLB Network, he says. The system connected us to every team and allowed us to sho

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2022/10/19/sports-broadcasting-hall-of-fam...
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