Tech Focus: Training, Part 1 - The Search Continues for Solutions to the Dearth of Next-Gen Broadcast-Audio Techs Educating prospects on the industry, standardizing job needs are part of wide-ranging approach By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, March 6, 2024 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The aging-out of the current cohort of A1s remains a core - if not existential - crisis for the broadcast-sports industry. Although AI and other automation solutions may eventually help offset the natural attrition shrinking the ranks of mixers, the cultural immediacy and financial criticality of live sports television argues for keeping human hands on the console faders. The question remains, however: where will they come from?
Two years ago, though expanding training, crew provider Program Productions Inc. (PPI) noted a 30% decrease in its post-pandemic workforce. More recently, it has seen about the same reduction year over year in crew travel.
PPI's Kelly Hammonds: We have some clients who are willing to take a chance on someone who is less experienced. They understand it's going to mean more work for them that day.
That trend could indicate that more crewmembers are available locally, reducing the need for travel, according to Kelly Hammonds, manager, strategic partnerships and crew development, PPI. Whether it's due to additional training, to additional people learning about the industry and pursuing it, or to people who are that next generation now coming out of the schools, it's hard to tell for sure, but 30% is a pretty significant number. She adds, however, that it could also reflect an increase in the use of REMI workflows in recent years.
One-on-One Training PPI is continuing the one-on-one training model it established several years ago: local prospects are paired with traveling senior A1s, usually for games broadcast on regional sports networks, with the training free to the trainees. However, the RSN landscape has seen considerable turmoil in the past year, with much of the disruption stemming from the bankruptcy filing by Diamond Sports, the Sinclair Broadcast Group subsidiary that operates several RSNs under the rubric of Bally Sports.
PPI Manager, Field Operations, Dave Brickson, himself a veteran A1 and a lead trainer, believes that RSNs are critical to the development of the next generation of sports-audio mixers. You have to start at the small shows, at the RSN level. There is no direct path from school to a national A1 seat; there's years and years of development to get to that point. RSNs are where, I think, you're still going to see them come from.
Hammonds has lately seen more broadcaster willingness to give those on the entry-level rungs of the broadcast-audio ladder a chance to step up and mix a game.
We have some clients who are willing to take a chance on someone who is less experienced, she says. They understand it's going to mean more work for them that day: giving tighter cues, spending more time during preproduction rehearsing elements. But we have producers and directors who are willing to do that. Those opportunities are the ones where we see the less experienced A1s getting a chance at seat time and [practice].
Both Hammonds and Brickson see media-arts schools as a starting point for some prospective sports-audio technicians, although the depth and intensity that broadcast gets at the academic level varies widely from school to school. Some schools, such as CRAS in the Phoenix area, have their own remote units and can do actual broadcasts from campus, whereas others simply include broadcast basics as part of their broader curriculum, which is usually focused on music production.
I learned signal path at school, notes Brickson, himself a graduate of Full Sail University in Florida. The rest comes from going out and doing it and being there, any way you can.
Connecting With Students Broadcasters and production companies that need the next generation of audio personnel and the institutions that want to train them agree on the need to fill the pipeline. The problem is how to connect them. Colleges and universities that offer a focus on media arts and crafts have tried to raise broadcast's profile with students, but sitting in the rear compartment of a remote truck can be a tough sell to twentysomethings with sights set on careers in music production. Some broadcasters and organizations have tried limited propositions, such as apprenticeships, although the efforts have been chronically underfunded and often hyperlocal.
One problem is that there's no common vocabulary between the networks and the schools at this point, says Chris Fichera, VP, Group One Ltd., U.S. distributor of broadcast-audio brands Calrec and SSL. They're not hiring the graduates of the broadcast-audio programs because they're not sure of their qualifications, so they continue to rely on a dwindling pool of existing A1s. That's not sustainable.
Industry vet Tom Sahara aims to standardize job nomenclatures and quantify prospective hires' knowledge and experience.
Tom Sahara, former VP, operations and technology, Turner Sports (now TNT Sports), is targeting that issue, working toward creation of a taxonomy to bridge the gap between broadcaster expectations and what a new generation of media-tech graduates can offer. Via a series of seasonal seminars, he has been offering students at Full Sail University a picture of the broadcast-technology landscape and the occupational opportunities it presents, with an emphasis on audio.
When students seeking a job in the industry are asked about their experience, they can say they've worked various jobs in school, he explains, noting in particular WWE's NXT series, which is produced at Full Sail's production facility largely by students. But
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
13/05/2026
New Adobe Premiere Color Grading Mode Accelerated on NVIDIA GPUs
Joel Pennington May 13, 2026
0 Comments
New NVIDIA RTX-accelerated features streamlin...
13/05/2026
Grass Valley announced that dB Broadcast has delivered new IP-based outside broadcast (OB) trucks for Cloudbass, featuring Grass Valley LDX 100 Series cameras a...
13/05/2026
Ikegami will exhibit the latest additions to its wide range of broadcast production cameras, control units, viewfinders and monitors on stand 5D3-1 at Broadcast...
13/05/2026
FISE, working with the founding members of the XR Sports Alliance (XRSA), Accedo, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and HBS, have collaborated to develop an immersive...
13/05/2026
Canon Unveils New EOS R6 V Full-Frame EOS Camera and RF20-50mm F4 L IS USM PZ Bu...
13/05/2026
Boston Conservatory at Berklee Honors Beth Morrison and Moses Pendleton at Comme...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/05/2026
Creative software developer Foundry today announced the latest developments on Nuke Stage. A purpose-built application for end-to-end virtual production and in-...
13/05/2026
A definitive portrait of one of Ireland's most influential musicians
New TV documentary airs Monday 18 May on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
Watch the...
13/05/2026
Agentic AI is changing the way users get work done. Following the success of OpenClaw, the community is embracing new open source agentic frameworks. The latest...
13/05/2026
Reinforcement-learning agents - AI systems that learn by trial and error - can c...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
Tech Focus: Training, Part 1 - The Search Continues for Solutions to the Dearth of Next-Gen Broadcast-Audio Techs Educating prospects on the industry, standardizing job needs are part of wide-ranging approach By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
