Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

SVG Sit-Down: 7 Point Audio President Jeff Ball on the Evolving Role of the Sports DJ

23/01/2023

SVG Sit-Down: 7 Point Audio President Jeff Ball on the Evolving Role of the Sports DJ Dating back to the venue organist, the DJ is at the intersection of sports and entertainment By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Monday, January 23, 2023 - 1:54 pm

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

The sports DJ is the audible - and loudly so - but mostly invisible cheerleader, the ultimate partisan but supposedly there for team fan and foe alike. The role has a history: it grew out of the venerable and still very viable venue organist, wielder of the Mighty Wurlitzers in stadiums and arenas for the past 80-plus years, since the first one was installed in Wrigley Field in 1941.

The sports DJ came along in the 1970s and '80s, an outgrowth of disco (which was not always welcome in ballparks) but also reflective of the growing presence and influence of Black athletes and culture in major-league sports. They have become a fixture at most sports venues, striving to fill the bowl with stings and chants while keeping the music as far as possible from broadcast's crowd microphones, lest it precipitate a copyright infringement.

Just weeks before perhaps the ultimate intersection of entertainment and sports, the Super Bowl Halftime Show, SVG sat down with Jeff Ball, president, 7 Point Audio, a developer of digital tools for the sports DJ, to discuss what that role has become and where it's headed.

7 Point Audio's Jeff Ball: We're going to continue to see that position evolve. It's not going to be just audio.

DJs in sports have more of a history than many might realize.

In the early days, they'd have folding tables with color-coded cassettes [of] recorded sounds and effects for use during the game. As the moment came up, they'd reach for the right-color cassette for the sound it needed, like a broken-glass sound for a foul ball coming down. Then they would rewind it real quick and eject it, put it back on the desk, and watch for the next sound moment. The reaction time they needed for that, using cassettes, is mind-boggling. But that's how it developed: watching the game and creating interaction with it for the fans.

Is the role of the sports DJ to be a cheerleader?

I see the role of DJ as being to use music to create that emotional and visceral response that we have to music, to get us further engaged. If we see that our team is doing well, we typically want to cheer, but that's multiplied when we put music and sound to it. When we give the game a soundtrack, that gets more people engaged, more people out of [their] seats. And the more the fans are engaged, the more the players react to that energy on the field.

Are DJs and live music beginning to share this space more?

I think I'd have to agree with that. DJs have been around for many years, but they sit in the booth, out of sight of the spectators. What we have seen in the last 10 years is more teams putting more DJs into a place where they can be seen, so that the DJs themselves become the live music. They become interactive, because now not only do fans hear the music but they see the DJ creating it. They see the DJ dancing and vibing with that music that they're generating. And the fans react to that.

DJ EJ, aka Erik Jorgenson, is the team DJ for the Dallas Cowboys.

Also, there are often multiple DJs: one to focus on music like a traditional DJ and one to work and follow the game and maybe do more things like mash-ups to follow the action on the field.

Are some DJ positions becoming more identified with specific teams?

Yes, including my business partner, Erik Jorgenson, aka DJ EJ, who is the team DJ for the Dallas Cowboys. We're also seeing pregame DJs out in the plaza, trying to get people pumped and engaged before they even get inside. You're going from one DJ's sound to another. Another DJ position is the walk-up music DJ for baseball. That's now happening throughout baseball, even in Little League.

Another one that's becoming more popular is a DJ in hockey, who plays a unique piece of music when goals are scored. That's a challenging one because hockey is a lot faster than any other sport. In some cases, some NHL teams, including the Washington Capitals, are pairing the DJ with a spotter, to confirm the goal and who made it, to get a quicker reaction time.

What does the future hold for the sports DJ?

We're going to continue to see that position evolve. We want to see more of what we can do and what tools we can provide to allow them to be creative. It's not going to be just audio; we're developing tools to tie into the [venue] DMX lighting and video infrastructure. That will give them some control over those [production] elements.

We're planning on integrating Ross [Video's] RossTalk protocol [which allows control of the switcher from an external device]. That will have implications for baseball, which tends to do fireworks shows after the game using DMX, too. There's a lot more to the DJ than just music when it comes to sports.
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/01/23/svg-sit-down-7-point-audio-pres...
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 ...

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...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 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...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

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

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

09/04/2026

ENCO to Showcase New aiTrack Capabilities at 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

LTN Unveils Network Enhancements in Advance of C-Band Changes

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

FOR-A Buys Tamura Corp. Information Equipment Business

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

Imagine Showcases Expanded Multiviewer Portfolio at 2026...

Purpose Built Monitoring From Live Production to Master Control to OTT, Across On Prem and Cloud Environments At the 2026 NAB Show (April 19-22, Las Vegas Con...

09/04/2026

Harmonic Extends Hybrid Streaming Leadership with AI and...

Purpose Built Monitoring From Live Production to Master Control to OTT, Across On Prem and Cloud Environments At the 2026 NAB Show (April 19-22, Las Vegas Con...

09/04/2026

LTN unveils network enhancements as broadcaster satellite...

New advances meet surge in demand for broadcast-grade IP migration as C-band spectrum auctions approach LTN announces major enhancements to its purpose-built g...

09/04/2026

Hitomi Broadcast Expands Sales Team with Nicola Milburn

Hitomi Broadcast has expanded its sales team with the addition of Nicola Milburn as Technical Sales Manager. In this role, Nicola will work with customers and p...

09/04/2026

Layercake and Ceeblue Announce Strategic Integration to D...

Revolutionary combined solution brings sub-second latency, resilient delivery, and workflow orchestration to global broadcasters and digital platforms Layercak...

09/04/2026

BIA Increases 2026 Local Ad Forecast to $184.5 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

Yospace surpasses 10 billion ads stitched in a single mon...

Yospace exceeded 10 billion dynamically stitched ads in a single month, reaching 11.6 billion as ad-supported streaming surged. Driven by a packed global sports...

09/04/2026

Bitmovin Expands Live Encoding and Observability Solution...

Bitmovin has expanded its Live Encoding and Observability solutions to provide true end to end, real time insights across live streaming workflows, from encodin...

09/04/2026

Leyra Powers the Launch of Icelandic Broadcaster RUVs Str...

Leyra has announced the launch of Icelandic public broadcaster R V's streaming service on Samsung and LG Smart TVs. R V is the first public broadcaster to d...

09/04/2026

3Play Media Launches AI Dubbing Solution for YouTube Crea...

3Play Media, a global leader in video accessibility and localization, today announced an AI Dubbing solution purpose-built for YouTube creators. The company, wh...

09/04/2026

Big Blue Marble Recognized as AWS Managed Services Provid...

Big Blue Marble, a provider of broadcast-grade, cloud-native video solutions, has been recognized as an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Managed Services Provider (MSP...

09/04/2026

PDC Cleeng and Urban Zoo partner to launch new global str...

The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) has officially launched its revamped global streaming service, PDC TV, in collaboration with Cleeng and sports technolo...

09/04/2026

Cleeng launches industry first cross-platform AI agents t...

Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) pioneer, today announced a raft of new AI agents for its AI Assistant to accelerate decision-making and autom...

09/04/2026

Hearst Taps Merzigo to Expand Presence on YouTube, Facebook

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

Fox Jumps Into Prediction Markets with Kalshi Integration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

NAB Show: Kokusai Denki To Feature New, Affordable 4K Broadcast Camera

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

Corus Taps Appear for IP-First Operations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Insights: Big Blue Marble

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

FCC Extends Audible Crawl Rule Waiver for 18 Months

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/04/2026

Pliant Technologies Showcases Expanded Accessories at NAB...

New Charging, Connectivity, and Mounting Solutions Now Available LAS VEGAS, APRIL 8, 2026 Pliant Technologies will highlight a range of new accessories at th...

09/04/2026

Media Links Brings Ultra Resilient IP Transport Proven at...

As live production continues its shift to IP, the challenge is no longer adoption it's reliability. At NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2033), Media Links will demon...

09/04/2026

QuickLink Launches StudioPro Town Hall at 2026 NAB Show

QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, launches its new AI-powered add-on for its StudioPro p...

09/04/2026

The Hive Group Releases White Paper on the FCC Upper C-Ba...

The Hive Group has published a new white paper, No Safe Harbor: Why the FCC's Upper C-Band Auction Demands Early Action from Broadcasters ahead of NAB Sho...

09/04/2026

Saranyu Technologies Renews VisualOn Optimizer VoD Subscr...

Saranyu Technologies today announced the renewal of its Optimizer VoD subscription with VisualOn. The announcement coincides with NAB Show 2026, taking place Ap...

09/04/2026

Brian Fenton Joins RT Sunday Game GAA Panel for 2026 Championship

RT Sport has announced Brian Fenton will join its Sunday Game GAA punditry panel for the 2026 Championship, featuring across video, audio, online including the...

09/04/2026

Time for some fresh air: Tracks & Trails is back

Doireann N Ghlac in returns as presenter, with the first episode airing this Friday at 8.30pm on RT One and RT Player The beloved walking series Tracks & T...

09/04/2026

Strength and Destiny Collide: Samson: A Tyndalston Story' Arrives in the Cloud

A timeless story of grit, faith and rebellion takes center stage as Samson: A Ty...

09/04/2026

April 08, 2026

New technique for synthesizing branched molecules could accelerate the development of future medicines Scripps Research chemists solve a longstanding problem in...

08/04/2026

SVG College Sports Media Awards 2026: Entry Deadline is Monday, April 13

The deadline to enter the 18th Annual SVG College Sports Media Awards in association with NACDA is rapidly approaching! Submit your entries to this year's c...

08/04/2026

SVG Campus Shot Callers: Trever Sheets, Senior Director, ACC Network, Virginia Tech

The Pittsburgh product helps lead more than 100 annual ESPN broadcasts as part o...

08/04/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Harmonic's Jean Macher on Turning Live Sports Content Into a Smarter Monetization Engine

Dynamic ad insertion, AI-based technologies, programmatic advertising are some o...

08/04/2026

Announcing the 2026 Fellows for the Sundance Institute Cultural Impact Residency on Sundance Collab

Seven Fellows Selected for Second Year of Residency in Honor of Social Justice L...

08/04/2026

From Tokyo to the World: Watch Bad Bunny's Billions Club Live Concert on Spotify

On March 7, Bad Bunny made history with his first-ever performance in Asia, taki...

08/04/2026

De Tokio para el mundo: Mira el concierto Billions Club Live de Bad Bunny en Spotify

El 7 de marzo, Bad Bunny hizo historia con su primera presentaci n en Asia, subi...

08/04/2026

Tube Lab from Fuse Audio Labs

New channel strip plug-in revealed The latest plug-in to be added to the Fuse Audio Labs line-up emulates a selection of vintage hardware units, combining c...

08/04/2026

Blue Cat Audio release Axiom 2.3

Guitar & bass multi-effects software overhauled Blue Cat Audio's flagship guitar and bass multi-effects software has recently received a significant upd...

08/04/2026

Merging Technologies launch Pyramix 16

PanNoir mixer integration, Dolby Atmos Renderer & more Merging Technologies have just launched Pyramix 16, the latest major update to their renowned DAW sof...

08/04/2026

Updating QUARTZ Router Module Firmware Over-The-Air

Applicable Products Part number Description QUARTZ-22-LTE (EU) Dual Port Dual SIM LTE Router (EU) QUARTZ-COMPACT-11-LTE (EU) Single Port Compact LTE ...

08/04/2026

YEP September 2025 Newsletter (2)

The September 19, 2025 YEP Newsletter highlights a group visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, where participants explored exhibits showcasing the art...

08/04/2026

Proven On Orbit: L3Harris Congratulates Missile Defense Agency for Receiving Top Defense Honor for HBTSS

The L3Harris HBTSS satellite is proven on orbit, successfully demonstrating trac...

08/04/2026

From Earth to Mars: Resilient Communications Powering the Space Economy

Image Credit: NASA. Artist rendering of a space communications satellite in orbit, representative of the resilient, multiband infrastructure supporting mission ...