Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Legends Behind the Lens: Tom Shelburne

03/07/2020

Legends Behind the Lens: Tom Shelburne The father of remote television production founded the live production vehicle By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital

Thursday, July 2, 2020 - 12:00 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

The story of American sports television is engrained in the history of this nation, rising on the achievements of countless incredible men and women who never once appeared on our screens. During this pause in live sports, SVG is proud to present a celebration of this great industry. Legends Behind the Lens is a look at how we got here seen through the people who willed it to be. Each weekday, we will share with you the story of a person whose impact on the sports-television industry is indelible.

Legends Behind the Lens is presented in association with the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the SVG Sports Broadcasting Fund. In these trying times - with so many video-production professionals out of work - we hope that you will consider (if you are able) donating to the Sports Broadcasting Fund. Do so by visiting sportsbroadcastfund.org.

___________________________

Because of Tom Shelburne, live on location is not a special event but an industry standard. The father of remote television production, he has spent decades capturing and telling stories from even the most secluded events, making the mobile production trucks he helped create an integral piece of the broadcasting puzzle.

Shelburne founded NEP Supershooters, the world's leading mobile broadcast production company. For decades, NEP has led the charge in designing, building, and maintaining dozens of mobile production trucks dispatched across the globe to make events come to life. It was Shelburne's vision of what a truck could be and do that launched the remote production industry so essential to sports broadcasting.

He created an industry where one didn't exist, explains Dan Wilhelm, former Executive Vice President of NEP Broadcasting. Shelburne grew up in television. His family founded Scranton, PA-based WNEP, which soon became the highest-rated ABC affiliate. In 1986, the New York Times Co. purchased WNEP, but Shelburne, who had always been fascinated with mobile production, kept the company's mobile assets, including NEP Communications. At the time, NEP owned just three mobile units.

In 1987, Shelburne s mobile division of WNEP formed a joint venture with Pittsburgh-based TCS to broadcast the Pan American Games for CBS Television. With the production a success, Shelburne spearheaded a merger between the two entities, and NEP was born, capitalizing on the strengths of its parts: TCS was the management center, while WNEP provided the technical brawn.

Tom was one of the early pioneers in really being able to move the mobile-unit industry to the levels that we're at now, says CBS Sports SVP of operations and production services, Ken Aagaard. Shelburne tossed anything conventional to the side.

NEP Supershooters Co-Founder Debbie Honkus explains, Tom never followed the rules. When an audio board didn't fit, he'd cut it in half. When a producer wanted more TV monitors, he'd cut a hole in the side of the truck to fit them in. He'd do whatever it takes.

In 1994, NBC offered NEP Supershooters, by then a standalone business, an exclusive contract to provide mobile units for all NBC Sports events, marking the first time a major network had outsourced all of its remote production. Within five years, all the major networks were outsourcing, and Shelburne started it all.

This industry wouldn't be where it is today unless you had somebody who made sure that we were able to produce television of the highest quality from remote spots around the world, Wilhelm says. Tom was the one that was able to make it happen.

From The America's Cup and the Olympics to NASCAR and the launch of the Golf Channel, Shelburne's vision and passion allowed NEP to set the standard for making television happen.

He pushes us to be knowledgeable about every piece of equipment, every part of the truck, how it works, how it all comes together, Wilhelm says.

Tom has a real passion for making the equipment and the team come together, says Jeff Joslin, former Vice President and Chief Engineer for NEP Supershooters. He has a gut feel for what it takes to get it done, puts it on the back of a napkin, and then makes it come to life on the road. He still comes in and helps design, build, and work on the trucks.

The video in this profile was originally produced in 2007. For more on the life and career of this industry legend, visit their profile at the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2020/07/02/legends-behind-the-lens-tom-she...
See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

30/06/2026

Supreme Court Gives Trump Tight Control over Independent Regulators

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium in $8 Billion Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Kyocera AVX Releases New Web-Based Antenna Integration Tool

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

YouTube Shorts Get a Makeover

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Rise Announces 2026 Worldwide Mentoring Cohorts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Other World Computing Launches New Atlas Core Line with 256GB CFExpress 4.0 Type B Memory Card

Other World Computing Launches New Atlas Core Line with 256GB CFExpress 4.0 Type...

30/06/2026

DaVinci Resolve Studio Used for Taketoshi Sado's Perfume Cold Sleep -25 years Document-

DaVinci Resolve Studio Used for Taketoshi Sado's Perfume Cold Sleep -25 year...

30/06/2026

June 29, 2026

Scripps Research scientists demonstrate a faster, cheaper route to making critical drugs using common table sugar New method illustrates how to build a tough ch...

29/06/2026

Op-Ed: Why the 2026 World Cup Is Redefining the Economics of Live Sports Production

By Andy Rayner, CTO, Appear The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the largest football tou...

29/06/2026

Study: Esports Plays Major Role in Gen Z Media Habits, Purchasing Behavior

A new multi-country study from ESL FACEIT Group, Hero Esports, and Niko Partners estimates that 400 million Gen Z consumers regularly engage with esports, under...

29/06/2026

ESPN Sets Multiplatform Plans for America 250 Celebration

ESPN will mark America's 250th anniversary with a series of content initiatives across its linear, digital, and streaming platforms, including a special edi...

29/06/2026

OBSBOT Named Official Camera and Webcam Partner of Esports World Cup 2026

The Esports Foundation has named OBSBOT the Official Camera and Webcam Partner for the Esports World Cup 2026, bringing the company's AI-powered imaging tec...

29/06/2026

Insight Productions Launches Insight Storm, 53-Foot Esports Broadcast Truck

Insight Productions has launched Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit designed specifically for esports production, live entertainment, and digital-fi...

29/06/2026

Gravity Media Delivers Global Distribution, Streaming Services for World Economic Forum in Dalian

Gravity Media once again provided broadcast, streaming, and content-distribution...

29/06/2026

Wimbledon Introduces AI-Powered Fan Features, Modernized Digital Platforms for 2026 Championships

The All England Lawn Tennis Club and IBM have introduced new and enhanced digita...

29/06/2026

Evolve Dark Matter from Excite Audio

Four-layer instrument aimed at dark electronic music Excite Audio's latest software instrument has been designed with dark drum and bass, atmospheric te...

29/06/2026

Tracktion unleashes Waveform 14 DAW

New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...

29/06/2026

Focusrite publish 2026 Sustainability Report

Details environmental policies & results The Focusrite Group have just announced that following a long audit process, they have published their 2026 sustain...

29/06/2026

Comcast to Spin Off NBCUniversal, Sky

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/06/2026

Supreme Court Rules Trump Can Fire FTC Commissioner Without Cause

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/06/2026

CVP Launches Warranty plus to Protect Professional Equipm...

CVP, one of Europes leading suppliers of professional video and broadcast solutions, has announced the launch of CVP Warranty , a new extended warranty programm...

29/06/2026

TitanTV Hires Mark Hadley as Technology Specialist

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/06/2026

Fox Sports Delivers Another FIFA Mens World Cup Audience Record

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/06/2026

Claude Meets Blackwell Ultra: Anthropic's Models Now Run on NVIDIA GB300 in Azure

Anthropic's Claude models in Microsoft Foundry - hosted on Microsoft Azure a...

29/06/2026

Arvato Systems Achieves AWS Cloud Operations Competency

Arvato Systems Achieves AWS Cloud Operations Competency The team behind the AWS Cloud Operations Competency (from left to right: Philipp Hellmich, Johanna Bod...

29/06/2026

Ger Gilroy to join RT to present a Daily Sports Podcast

RT today announced that Ger Gilroy will join the RT Podcasts team to present a daily sports podcast. Launching later this year, the new show will set the spor...

29/06/2026

OUTsurance announced as sponsors of Oliver Callan on RT Radio 1

RT Commercial announced OUTsurance as sponsor of the Oliver Callan show on RT Radio 1 from Wednesday 1 July. Oliver Callan doubles the fun, delivering two ...

29/06/2026

Open Models, Closed Environments: Palantir Brings Secure AI to US Agencies With NVIDIA Nemotron

Showcasing the importance of open source innovation in American AI, Palantir'...

28/06/2026

Softube unveil lower cost Console 1 Compact

Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...

28/06/2026

EVE Audio introduce EVE Origin

New EXO Series DSP control software announced EVE Audio's EXO Series monitor range has just gained a new software element that provides remote access to...

28/06/2026

Freedman Labs Releases PrepMyMedia and ViewMyAttic for Post Production Professionals - 50% off for COWs!

Freedman Labs Releases PrepMyMedia and ViewMyAttic for Post Production Professio...

27/06/2026

Through Their Lens: What Cinematographer Amy Vincent Saw at the 2026 Directors Lab

There's no doubt that you've seen the world through Amy Vincent's ey...

27/06/2026

UJAM release Retrocraft

Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...

27/06/2026

A record 4.84 million Australians choose SBS as the Socceroos advance at FIFA World Cup 2026

A record 4.84 million Australians choose SBS as the Socceroos advance at FIFA Wo...

27/06/2026

Apogee CRAS Symphony Mkii Education Feature Blog

Why CRAS Upgraded to Symphony I/O MK II When an audio school runs studios all day, every day, gear doesn't just need to sound good , it needs to survive rea...

27/06/2026

MultiDyne Acquires the Assets of MRMC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/06/2026

Spectrum Intelligence Ventures Launches Latis

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/06/2026

Krotos Video to Sound Plugin Now Available for Adobe Premiere Pro

Krotos Video to Sound Plugin Now Available for Adobe Premiere Pro Brie Clayton June 26, 2026 0 Comments Editors can analyze footage, generate synchron...

27/06/2026

Mirai Media Elevates Digital and Broadcast Productions with Blackmagic Design

Mirai Media Elevates Digital and Broadcast Productions with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 26, 2026 0 Comments Studio uses Ultimatte 12 HD and Po...

27/06/2026

Lutra Cafe & Bakery Opens At American Tobacco Campus

DURHAM, N.C. - JUNE 26, 2026 - Lutra Cafe & Bakery has opened its first brick-and-mortar location at American Tobacco Campus after owner Chris McLaurin operated...

26/06/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 21: Minnesota Vikings Allan Wertheimer - Large-Scale Shows in Minny

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

26/06/2026

Strike Fighter League Announces Second Online Tournament, Set for July 25 in Las Vegas

Strike Fighter League (SFL), a professional air combat digital sport combining f...

26/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Wisycom Announces MPR60 Firmware Update, MATF Antenna Matrix, and PFL RFoF Box

Wisycom has announced three new additions to its professional wireless ecosystem...

26/06/2026

Eurovision Services Inaugurates Expanded Master Control Room in Madrid

Eurovision Services inaugurated an expanded Master Control Room (MCR) in Madrid on June 1, 2026, building on a broadcast hub the company has operated in the cit...

26/06/2026

Midco Sports and University of North Dakota Renew Broadcast and Sponsorship Partnership

Midco Sports and the University of North Dakota (UND) have announced a two-year ...

26/06/2026

G&D and VuWall Appoint Vutec as Exclusive South Africa Distributor

Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall, both part of the Panoptec Technologies Group, have appointed Vutec (Pty) Ltd as exclusive distributor for their KVM and ...