Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Picking the Music: The A1 Gets To Play DJ

04/12/2024

Picking the Music: The A1 Gets To Play DJ Sports broadcasts give lead mixers leeway to express their inner A&R By Dan Daley, Audio Editor

Wednesday, December 4, 2024 - 7:00 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

Sugar Magnolia by the Grateful Dead is an oft-heard choice as the ballgame slides from the end of an inning or a quarter to commercial break. An upbeat track that suggests more joy to come, it's also a regular pick by an A1 corps with a particular affinity for jam bands like the Dead and Phish. That track and dozens of others are on pre-approved lists managed by the broadcasters' music and clearance departments, who ready music dedicated to an upcoming broadcast, an effort intended to keep any uncleared music played in the venues off the air to avoid infringements. Often, the specific songs are chosen by A1s, some of whom came to broadcast after careers in music production or performing.

Jam Banders Although A1s know how to mix a song in the studio, they have been feeling out how music works for sports shows.

I've been playing jam bands since, like, 1991, says A1 Joe Carpenter, who mixes FOX Sports' MLB broadcasts. I've been playing the Grateful Dead and Phish for the past four or five years.

Sugar Magnolia is a favorite of many self-described Dead-Head A1s.

He notes that the genre's typical extended instrumental passages in songs is easier for announcers to talk over but acknowledges feeling a push for more-contemporary music in recent years. He adds that he has plenty of options in broadcaster-cleared choices, pulled from Sigma Broadcast's Spot On software, which offers the option for a sanitized version that won't incur additional use payments at re-air.

It's very situational, Carpenter explains. You want something that works situationally with the music and the title and what's happening on the screen - like sometimes a slo-mo replay - as we roll out to commercial.

Music choices that A1s make constitute a series of running observational puns, such as when A1 Florian Brown cues up the Rolling Stones' (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction after a penalty call during an NHL game.

The production and the music departments pick artists and music profiles for each league and show, he explains. From that bag, the A1 usually tries to match a song to a particular situation. The process for choosing and clearing music takes months and involves lots of [legal layers]. But sometimes people just pay the fine if it re-airs later. It can get expensive.

Carpenter concurs, acknowledging that, when mixing a game, the A1 can serve as program director, DJ, and paralegal. Until about 2005 or so, I would just free-wheel it and play whatever I wanted off my laptop. My producers all trusted me, and I would play whatever I wanted.

Broadcaster Music Teams Monitor Legal Issues Then came the Arcade Fire incident. The Canadian band's No Cars Go track aired in a post-halftime montage during FOX Sports' coverage of Super Bowl XLII in 2008 without, the band alleged, its permission. That spurred increased control over the process.

Now the music department is really, really [careful] about music and getting rights cleared, understandably so, says Carpenter, once a regular in the tapers section of the audience at Grateful Dead shows, where recording the shows was permitted and even encouraged by the band.

He works with FOX Sports colleagues, including FOX Sports Senior VP, Production and Talent Development, Jacob Ullman and Producer Jake Jolivette, both of whom are described by Billboard as fellow FOX Sports Deadheads who work on the broadcaster's MLB productions. FOX Sports VP, Music, Nicole de la Torriente-Nelson leads negotiations with publishers and labels, and Associate Director Yvonne Wagoner prepares approved playlists for broadcast teams. ESPN Music Operations Supervisor Joanne Strange leads the group responsible for all the music on that broadcaster's NFL and college-football shows.

Still Keeping It Loose It's not quite 1970s, West Texas, late-night DJs pulling deep cuts from a crate of cool LPs. Nonetheless, A1s continue to have considerable latitude on music choices within a game, although the assortments are narrower and more intensely pre-cleared by broadcaster music supervisors. Playlists are also sometimes limited by sport and genre.

Generally speaking, explains Dan Buddha Bernstein, senior A1, NHL and NFL, ESPN, we'll have a pool of theme and highlight cuts that are good for a particular sport, to use freely throughout the events, and a few commercial cuts' [for going into breaks] that [the broadcaster has] arranged to use for a certain length of time. Some sports, like the NFL on ESPN, tend to have a number of commercial cuts available throughout the season; other sports may be more [restricted] in terms of spending on music. [But] within that framework, the choice of what to play at any given time during the broadcast is usually mine.

It's not just personal taste but also keeping an ear tuned to what the audience has been listening to ahead of the show, seeking continuity. Says Bernstein, I'll try to use theme music to establish what show people have tuned into early on in a broadcast and a few more times over the course of the show to maintain that connection. The rest of the time, I'll try to play music that matches the energy of the situation.

That could be a lyrical connection: for instance, playing Hold the Line by Toto after a big defensive stand in a Monday Night Football game. Sometimes it's instrumental music to provide a smooth musical bed under announcers' patter, such as an instrumental version of Joker and the Thief by Wolfmother, which he recently dropped during a series of goal replays in an NHL broadcast. In all case
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2024/12/04/picking-the-music-the-a1-gets-t...
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 ...

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 ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

13/03/2026

GFiber and Stonepeak's Astound Broadband to Merge

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

13/03/2026

Harmonic Redefines the Economics of Video Playout with Ne...

Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced Spectrum X Plus, the newest generation of its Spectrum X media server, offering double the channel density of previous ...

13/03/2026

Historic Ewing Covenant Church Revitalizes Worship Experi...

When Ewing Covenant Church made the decision to return to its original, historic building, affectionately called 1867 Sanctuary for weekly worship, the congre...

13/03/2026

Marshall Electronics Launches CV574 WP its First 4K All I...

Marshall Electronics introduces its first all-IP 4K POV camera, the CV574-WP, at NAB 2026 (Booth C8339). The CV574-WP supports NDI |HX, providing ultra-efficien...

13/03/2026

Net Insight launches Nimbra 520 - Predictable Live Media...

At NAB Show 2026, Net Insight introduces Nimbra 520, a high-density media processing node designed to simplify live contribution and distribution across both ma...

13/03/2026

Abandon Editorial Signs With Michal Dimitri for West Coast Representation

Abandon Editorial Signs With Micha l Dimitri for West Coast Representation Brie Clayton March 12, 2026 0 Comments Abandon Editorial is excited to part...

13/03/2026

Documentary The Bulldogs Shot and Edited with Blackmagic Design

Documentary The Bulldogs Shot and Edited with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton March 12, 2026 0 Comments Editorial tools helped shape film in real time,...

13/03/2026

AE Captions as Fast as CapCut - No Plugins

AE Captions as Fast as CapCut - No Plugins Graham Quince March 12, 2026 0 Comments Stop wasting hours clicking through nested compositions and manuall...

13/03/2026

New Music USA and Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Announce 2026 Next Jazz Legacy Cohort

New Music USA and Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Announce 2026 Nex...

12/03/2026

Milano Cortina 2026: Yospace helps ad-funded rights-holders claim advertising gold

Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 11th March, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dyna...

12/03/2026

Utah Scientific Expands Technology Partner Program With Integrations From Audinate, Bitfocus, and Skaarhoj

Utah Scientific Expands Technology Partner Program With Integrations From Audina...

12/03/2026

Techex Hires Matt McKee as Senior Director, Sales, Americas

Techex, a global expert in live video solutions over IP and cloud, announces the appointment of Matt McKee as Senior Director, Sales, Americas, further strength...

12/03/2026

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America Welcomes Mondae Hott as Regional Sales Manager, Northeast

KOKUSAI DENKI Electric America has appointed Mondae Hott as Regional Sales Manag...

12/03/2026

Interra Systems Focuses on Streaming-First QC, Monitoring, and Responsible AI Workflows at 2026 NAB Show

At the 2026 NAB Show, Interra Systems will showcase its latest advancements in a...

12/03/2026

15th National Games of China Features Expansive Unified Broadcast Network

The 15th National Games of China concluded after a two-week celebration of athletic excellence and regional collaboration. Held from Nov. 9-21 across Guangdong,...

12/03/2026

SVG in Indy: Butler University Students Get Live-Sports Experience via On-Campus Studio, Production Truck

Live-production academic program Butler Sports Live produced a total of 40 fall-...

12/03/2026

Lawo Delivers Fully IPBased Video Infrastructure for University of Nebraska's HuskerVision

The University of Nebraska's HuskerVision has completed the second phase of ...

12/03/2026

University of Illinois Upgrades Game-Day Production with New Hybrid IP Control Room

Grass Valley and integration partner Tab M Solutions have completed Phase 1 of a...

12/03/2026

CBS Sports Turns to University of Cincinnati's Control Room and Staff for Two Big 12 Men's Basketball Broadcasts

The broadcaster expands its campus-production model as the university handles tw...

12/03/2026

Disney+ to Stream Men's and Women's NCAA March Madness Across Europe, South Africa

Disney has announced the addition of March Madness - the NCAA Division I Men...

12/03/2026

Apple TV Further Integrating iPhones into Friday Night Baseball' Camera Lineup This Season

Apple TV's Friday Night Baseball MLB doubleheader series returns for its f...

12/03/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Jack Rinaldi, University of Notre Dame

The senior from New Jersey is making his mark in South Bend, both on the mic and behind it...

12/03/2026

Ross Video's Kevin Dresser on Powering Graphics for Major Sporting Events Throughout a Busy February

After a relatively quiet January, the month of February was jammed packed with l...

12/03/2026

X Games Launches New Era With First League Draft at Cosm L.A.

Long-time production partner Echo Entertainment is producing the broadcast, while Cosm played a vital role in the collaboration...

12/03/2026

Film Festival Watch: 24 Sundance Institute-Supported Films to Catch at the SXSW Film Festival

By Jessica Herndon We love kicking off each year by introducing the world to po...

12/03/2026

Didn't Die Brings Improv to the Zombie Apocalypse

Samrat Chakrabarti, George Basil, Kiran Deol, Katie McCuen and Vishal Vijayakumar attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Didn't Die at the Lib...

12/03/2026

Mon Laferte Leads All-Women Spotify Session as EQUAL Celebrations Kick Off in Latin America

In Latin America, women are shaping music and defining its future. To kick off t...

12/03/2026

Mon Laferte lidera la edicin EQUAL de Spotify Sessions, mientras comienzan las celebraciones de EQUAL en Latinoamrica

En Am rica Latina, las mujeres est n moldeando la m sica y definiendo su futuro....

12/03/2026

As Spotify Turns 20, the Most Global and Diverse Music Industry in History Has Taken Shape

Let's turn back the clock 20 years: The music landscape was a world away fro...

12/03/2026

Bad Bunny Brings the Sounds of Puerto Rico to Tokyo for Spotify's Billions Club Live

Bad Bunny is no stranger to Spotify's Billions Club. In fact, he has a whopp...

12/03/2026

At the London Book Fair, Spotify Shares Our Vision for the Future of Reading

Spotify was at the London Book Fair this week, joining conversations across the publishing industry about how people can make reading part of their daily lives....

12/03/2026

Ohlhorst Digital & Tokyo Dawn Labs launch Ancora

Mastering tool improves mono compatibility Tokyo Dawn Labs' Ohlhorst Digital range is a series of mastering-focused plug-ins developed by Jan Ohlhorst, ...

12/03/2026

Lewitt partner with Elgato

Wave FX processor integrated into four products Lewitt have teamed up with Elgato to create a new processor for the company's Wave Next product range, i...

12/03/2026

Mix Notes iOS App by David Thomas

Free tool for annotating audio files Mix Notes is a new, free iOS App that provides users with a simple way to annotate their audio files. It's been cre...

12/03/2026

Duck 2 from Devious Machines

Side-chain ducking tool gets an upgrade Devious Machines' popular side-chaining and envelope-shaping tool has just been kitted out with an improved enve...

12/03/2026

MPG Awards 2026: Shortlist announced

Ceremony to take place on 16 April 2026 The MPG (Music Producers Guild) have revealed the full shortlist for this year's MPG Awards, which will be takin...

12/03/2026

Overloud introduce Gem Comp160

Emulates three classic dbx 160 variants The latest arrival to Overloud's Gem Series plug-in range faithfully recreates not one, but three versions of th...

12/03/2026

Grainferno from Baby Audio

New granular soft synth announced Said to be their most advanced software synthesizer to date, Baby Audio's latest release has been built on a new granu...

12/03/2026

Bitwig Studio 6 launches

Latest version now live! Edit 11 March 2026 - Bitwig Studio 6 is now live, and available for all to download! The latest version of Bitwig's DAW softwa...

12/03/2026

Stereo Miking: The Sound On Sound Guide

Latest free eBook now available! Designed for recording engineers, audio-technology students and technically minded musicians, our latest free eBook deliver...

12/03/2026

AFL and NITV partner to launch new First Nations led program Inside the Huddle'

AFL and NITV partner to launch new First Nations led program Inside the Huddle&...

12/03/2026

Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity expands SITLine network encryptor portfolio - more bandwidth, higher port density, future-proof architecture

Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity expands SITLine network encryptor portfolio - more...

12/03/2026

Rohde & Schwarz to showcase future-proof EMC testing solutions at EMV 2026

Rohde & Schwarz to showcase future-proof EMC testing solutions at EMV 2026 Rohde & Schwarz will participate in EMV 2026, Europe's premier trade fair and c...

12/03/2026

19TH ANNUAL SOUTH AFRICAN FILM AND TELEVISION AWARDS (SAFTAs19) ANNOUNCES THE HOSTS FOR CRAFT AND MAIN SHOW

Johannesburg, 11 March 2026 - The 19th Annual South African Film and Television ...

12/03/2026

L3Harris and Shield AI Achieve Breakthrough in Autonomous Electronic Warfare

MELBOURNE, Fla., March 11, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) and Shield AI have successfully demonstrated a first-of-its-kind integration combining L3Har...