AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh Takes Viewers Behind the Plate With Miked-Up Pirates Catcher for Spring Training Jacob Stallings wore a mic/IFB for in-game interview while catching By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 - 1:46 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Whether it's in the dugout, on the field, or even via Facetime, MLB broadcasters are giving viewers more access than ever this Spring Training, using in-game interviews. AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh is going all out, miking more than a half dozen Pittsburgh Pirates players throughout March and even deploying a microphone and IFB on catcher Jacob Stallings behind the plate.
Well this was awesome!@ATTSportsNetPIT mic d up Stallings during today s game. pic.twitter.com/3I2uhdVvom
Pirates (@Pirates) March 8, 2021
The catcher is the quarterback out there, says Doug Johnson, VP/executive producer, AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh. To hear him calling the game and to get his insight on why he's doing different things to not only work the batters but control the runners was incredible. Working with our producers Adam Elmore and Jason Steele, we have always been fascinated with the idea of putting a mic on a catcher as he calls the game, to get that insight into what he's thinking and what he goes through in the course of an inning.
Spring Training: Breeding Ground for Production Innovation AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh worked with the Pirates for several months in planning out its Spring Training coverage, and, given its success talking to players during Spring Training games in recent years, the RSN decided to expand in-game miking. Pittsburgh Pirates President Travis Williams and Senior VP, Communications and Broadcasting, Brian Warecki were on board with extending the use of microphones to different positions on the field.
We could listen to @FlavaFraz21 mic'd up all day. pic.twitter.com/YUuHjFTdAA
Pirates (@Pirates) March 12, 2021
The Pirates have an up-and-coming roster, notes Johnson. Talking to these players in the game is an amazing way not only to get insight into playing baseball at a high level but also to get to know their personalities. The Pirates have been great to work with, and they see the value in taking fans inside the game like this.
The plan is for the RSN to deploy an in-game microphone and IFB on different players six or seven times this spring.
Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings converses with AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh announcers Greg Brown and John Wehner while catching the game.
The player-mic system features a Quantum5X QT-5100-PlayerMic-525-M3 wireless mic transmitter (along with a Q5X handheld remote and charger for the transmitter), a Countryman EMW-QT-5100-1P lavaliere mic, and two Shure UA870A-WB UHF active directional antennas. The IFB comprises Lectrosonics T1-22 UHF wireless IFB transmitter and R1A-22 UHF wireless IFB receiver.
Spring Training is the absolute perfect time to experiment like this, says Johnson. The outcome of the game has less meaning, and, for the established veterans, it's just about getting ready for the season. Players who know they are going to make the club are much looser in spring, and that affords us opportunities to try different things.
All Access Behind the Plate: How Stallings Was Miked Up According to Johnson, Pirates Director, Baseball Communications, Jim Trdinich has been crucial to the success of miking players: because of COVID-19 protocols, he is the only member of the staff with access to the players.
AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh miked Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings for an in-game interview during Spring Training.
Jimmy T approached Stallings about wearing the mic during the game. He explained how long AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh had been looking to interview him and which announcers he would be interacting with, and the catcher was open to the idea. The morning of the game, the production team sanitized the equipment and gave Trdinich a tutorial on how to turn it on and attach it to the player. He showed the equipment to Stallings to give him an idea of the size and weight of the pieces, to explain the wiring-up process, and where and when they would meet to put it on him during the game.
Afterwards, Trdinich returned the equipment, which was sanitized again and given to him prior to the game. The production team was in communication with Trdinich through the Unity Intercom setup on a cellphone so the front bench knew when the player was wired up.
Joey Cora s home run call is great pic.twitter.com/sbXqtQiace
Pirates (@Pirates) March 14, 2021
When it comes to access, says Johnson, I would say 90% of it comes down to trust: players trusting that you won't impact their performance and that you would never do anything to burn them. As a team partner, we take that very seriously. Once a player does something like this for us, you can see them get comfortable with it, and they realize it's not that big a deal, which leads to future success when asking for access.
Initially, Stallings wasn't comfortable with the idea of wearing the mic and IFB while batting, but, after he was wired and on the air and his spot in the line-up almost came up in the bottom of the second inning, he decided he was comfortable with keeping it on but taking the earpiece out while at the plate. However, with the catcher set to lead off in the third, Trdinich helped him get the mic off as soon as he got back to the dugout so as not to affect his at-bat.
The RSN started the interview in the bottom of the inning so that announcers Greg Brown and John Wehner could talk to Stallings while he was in the dugout, allowing a normal conversation about his off-season before he went out to catch. Then, the announcers interviewed him while he was catching.
You could tell at first he was trying to keep his voice down so
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...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh Takes Viewers Behind the Plate With Miked-Up Pirates Catcher for Spring Training Jacob Stallings wore a mic/IFB for in-game interview while catching By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
