While the Olympics is the quintessential global story, it remains very much a local one for the station reporters situated in Sochi. The NBC-owned stations, backed by Comcast, sent a whopping crew of 25 there-and the reporters are looking around every corner for hometown angles. Bruce Beck, WNBC New York sports director who is working his sixth Games, mentions the Liberian sprinter, and flag bearer, in London's Summer Games who had attended St. John's University.
You're always looking for some thread, he says.
The NBC stations crew ranges from serious Olympics veterans, such as Beck, to first-timers such as Janelle Wang (pictured left), KNTV San Francisco-San Jose anchor. Covering northern California's 20 Team USA members, she's finding muscles, and energy sources, she didn't know she had; Wang did eight live shots Feb. 6, she said, along with batches of teases and look-lives. I've never worked so hard in my life, says Wang. I'm exhausted and excited at the same time.
Valari Staab, president of NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, said the group will provide a localized perspective on a global event, personalizing the Games in a meaningful way for our viewers at home.
Other groups, such as Hearst TV and Gannett, have crews in Sochi too.
The reporters are navigating a tricky nine hour time difference from the eastern U.S. Vai Sikahema, WCAU Philadelphia anchor, is on at 8 a.m. Sochi time, appearing in the 11 p.m. news back in Philadelphia. He later does half-hourly hits in the 3:30-7 a.m. show before winding down his day. The days are long, Sikahema says, but it sure is fun.
Philadelphia does not have nearly as many Team USA members as northern California or New York, so the WCAU crew gets creative when finding local angles, such as profiling a man from the Philly market who worked on Team USA's bobsled design.
Much has been made of Russia not being quite ready to reveal itself to the world as the Games kick off Feb. 7, but the local TV vets say a little wet paint is par for the course-Sikahema mentions men painting the stadium as media entered Olympic Stadium in Athens for the opening ceremonies in 2004. I think the world will see Sochi ready, says Sikahema, who is covering his eighth Olympics.
NBC employees may be particularly well treated as part of the Games' partner network, but the reporters on site say accommodations-another question mark stemming from Sochi-have been perfectly adequate. Wang mentions the unique feeling of being the first to occupy her hotel room. And while her shower initially offered no cold water, a worker fixed it almost immediately after being notified.
All this talk about no running water and the hotels are an abomination-it's not true, says Beck. Sochi is not St. Kitt's, but it's clean, we have space, we have hot water.
Efficient shuttle transportation, he adds, frees up more time to work on stories.
The reporters also cite minimal concerns about security, crediting NBC for a comprehensive plan. If we're vigilant and smart and stay within the confines we're told to, I think we're fine, Beck says.
Another popular Sochi-isn't-ready story-the supposedly wild dogs that, if reports are to be believed, traipse the Sochi landscape in hungry packs-may also be overblown. Wang says some casual reporting reveals that local people simply let their dogs roam more than Westerners might. They're very friendly, she says. They look like people's pets.
Even with adequate accommodations, the media types are in for a brutal few weeks-running on adrenaline, and not a lot of sleep. Beck mentions wrapping up the Super Bowl and all of its ancillary madness in his home market, then heading to Russia a half day later. It's a challenge physically, mentally, spiritually,' he says. You have to pour yourself into it. You have to love the stories and love the people.
Sikahema, a former NFL player, has covered Super Bowls and World Series, NBA Championships and Stanley Cups. He says nothing compares to seeing so many nations united in sport, and the feeling of watching the national squads enter the stadium behind their flag.
There's nothing like the Olympics, he says.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
17/07/2025
Early Thursday morning, the U.S. Senate voted to cut federal funding for PBS and NPR in a bill that also included cuts for foreign aid. In a 51-48 vote, the act...
17/07/2025
GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland Pavilions across IBC2025 (12 15 September, RAI Amsterdam) feature a remarkable 34 companies, each providing unique, innovativ...
17/07/2025
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers today introduced its Content Provenance and Authenticity (CPA) in Media Study Group (S...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Despite widespread concerns about a soft advertising market, NBCUniversal said it closed its 2025-26 upfront negotiation cycle with a record ad sales v...
17/07/2025
NEW YORK Television advertising remains an effective means to market and influence younger baby boomer and Generation X consumers approaching retirement age, ac...
17/07/2025
ALLENTOWN, Pa. & JERSEY CITY, N.J. Service Electric Cable TV and OpenVault have announced that the operator is deploying the OpenVault Proactive Network Manage...
17/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following up on his first major policy speech just two ago, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is promising to buck the usual summ...
17/07/2025
Luxembourg, 14 July 2025 - SES received the final regulatory approvals for the SES-Intelsat transaction, including the US Federal Communications Commission.
O...
17/07/2025
Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2025 Emmy Awards Twenty-three Berklee alumni received nominations across categories in sound mixing, sound editing, and compositi...
16/07/2025
It's Emmy nominations day, and Sundance Institute storytellers are basking i...
16/07/2025
Spotify's podcast editorial team is always on the hunt for shows and episodes that spark conversation, push boundaries, and keep us coming back for more. As...
16/07/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
16/07/2025
Join us at IBC this September and take control of your content. Discover how we're bringing a new level of purpose and precision to the application of AI in...
16/07/2025
Warsaw - Poland, June 24, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, has released its latest May All Screens Video Landscape...
16/07/2025
Bluey Tops Nielsen's Overall Streaming List with More Than 25 Billion Minutes Streamed from January through June 2025
Big June Vaults Squid Game into Top O...
16/07/2025
TV SIM, the SBT affiliate serving Esp rito Santo state in Brazil, has launched a transmitter upgrade initiative with the installation of a Rohde & Schwarz R&S T...
16/07/2025
Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, is turning its vision to the future of automation with its demonstrations ...
16/07/2025
Ikegami announces a new addition to its UNICAM-XE product range with the introduction of the UHK-X700RF wireless portable camera: The new version has the same f...
16/07/2025
Today, Amazon Web Services added TwelveLabs as a new model provider to Amazon Bedrock, delivering what could be the most significant breakthrough in enterprise ...
16/07/2025
NEW YORK Streaming platforms continued to dominate TV viewing patterns in June, with data from Nielsen's 50th monthly report of The Gauge showing that strea...
16/07/2025
MAHWAH, NJ Ikegami has introduced the the UHK-X700RF wireless portable camera, a new addition to its UNICAM-XE product range with the same feature set, operatio...
16/07/2025
LONDON IBC2025 organizers said global attendees will have access to a new feature that will integrate Amsterdam's GVB public transport pass into the officia...
16/07/2025
July 16th, 2025
Tribeca Films to Release the Acclaimed LARPing Doc WE CAN BE HEROES by Carina Mia Wong and Alex Simmons, Alongside a Slate of Festival-Favori...
16/07/2025
Deltatre Acquires Endeavor Streaming in Major Streaming Industry Move The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 By Brandon Costa, Direc...
16/07/2025
SVG Regional Sports Production Summit 2025: All Sessions Now Available to Watch ...
16/07/2025
Wednesday 16 July 2025
Sky and ITV today announced an extension of their long-standing partnership, which will see ITV's content and services remain seamle...
16/07/2025
Sky Sports lifts the lid on Lions life with hilarious behind-the-scenes mockumentaryWednesday 16 July 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cooki...
16/07/2025
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA Apple TV+ today earned a record-breaking 81 Emmy Award nominations across 14 hit Apple Original titles for this year's 77th Emmy Awa...
15/07/2025
Independent media outlets in Brazil and Colombia are invited to apply for a new programme aimed at strengthening the long-term resilience of journalism in the f...
15/07/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
15/07/2025
Spotify une fuerzas con DiDi, la app l der en servicios de movilidad, delivery y...
15/07/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
15/07/2025
L3Harris put its CORVUS-RAVEN counter-small UAS capability into the hands of soldiers at VANAHEIM, showcasing its ability to provide passive signal detect, enha...
15/07/2025
Netflix Viewing Up 13.5% vs. May, Represents 42% of Monthly Gain for Streaming
...
15/07/2025
SAN FRANCISCO and BENGALARU, India Sangeeta Chakraborty has been named chief revenue officer at Amagi, a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology pro...
15/07/2025
As part of its mandate, the Advanced Television Systems Committee the U.S. organization tasked with developing advanced broadcast TV standards promotes ATSC 3.0...
15/07/2025
QuickLink, the leading global provider of multi-camera video productions and remote contributions, announces the launch of two innovative control panels Studi...
15/07/2025
Chris Kontopanos has joined leading high-quality microphone solutions manufacturer, DPA Microphones, as the company's new Regional Sales Manager for the Mid...
15/07/2025
Magnifi by VideoVerse, a global leader in AI-powered video automation, has launched a major platform upgrade built to simplify live and archival video editing f...
15/07/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will preview its latest innovations at IBC2025, Stand 7.B21. This year's showcase highlights how...
15/07/2025
IBC2025 is set to transform the onsite experience for its global attendees with the launch of a pioneering new feature: full integration of Amsterdam's GVB ...
15/07/2025
Music, sport and technology collided in spectacular fashion as ASB GlassFloor powered the debut of Beats N Buckets, Germany's first Basketball meets Hip-Ho...
15/07/2025
The Collectv, the Emmy award-winning broadcast solutions and workflows consultancy - and winner of Broadcast Tech's Team of the Year is delighted to announc...
15/07/2025
SipRadius, the expert in secure, low latency media transport, will showcase how broadcasters and media companies can take control of fragmented IP workflows at ...
15/07/2025
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, today announced its strategic partnership with beIN ASIA PACIFIC, a leading multi-platform sports media...
15/07/2025
Company marks 15 years of innovation at the show
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and monetization at scale, will return to IBC (Hall 1, Stand F83. RAI, Amster...
While the Olympics is the quintessential global story, it remains very much a local one for the station reporters situated in Sochi. The NBC-owned stations, backed by Comcast, sent a whopping crew of 25 there-and the reporters are looking around every corner for hometown angles. Bruce Beck, WNBC New York sports director who is working his sixth Games, mentions the Liberian sprinter, and flag bearer, in London's Summer Games who had attended St. John's University.
