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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
10/06/2026
DAZN-owned digital-media company launches three fan-first series leaning into cr...
10/06/2026
Clear-Com has announced the appointment of Jason Dino as Southwest Regional Sales Manager USA, covering Southern California and the Southwest region. Dino joins...
10/06/2026
An 11% decrease in number of global broadcast deals reflects the organization...
10/06/2026
The Women Without Boundaries Awards recognize women whose work is advancing the future of media, broadcast, AV, workplace technology, digital experience, and re...
10/06/2026
Today is match day minus two for FIFA and HBS. On Thursday, there will be two ma...
10/06/2026
SES is supporting broadcast distribution of the world's biggest football tou...
10/06/2026
NDI has announced that BirdDog has become the first hardware manufacturer to achieve full NDI 6.3 compatibility across its complete lineup of cameras, encoders,...
10/06/2026
Vince Caputo and Scott Carter, winners of the 2026 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Post Produced Audio have been announced as presenters for the 2026 SVG Advanced A...
10/06/2026
FOX One today unveiled a slate of new product features and enhancements designed to elevate the viewing experience for fans on the official streaming platform o...
10/06/2026
Primary production partners Dome Productions and Raycom Sports once again played...
10/06/2026
The Women in Sports Filmmaking Experienceship is an immersive professional devel...
10/06/2026
The league has expanded its HSAN architecture for the NBA Finals to manage more ...
10/06/2026
The inaugural MoonPay X Games League (XGL) Winter Draft will take place Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at Cosm Los Angeles from 7-9 p.m. PT. The event will strea...
10/06/2026
The University of Oklahoma (OU) Athletics Department and Learfield have announce...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has released TR-06-4 Part 8, a new specification for RIST Satellite-Hybrid: Out-of-Band Method. The specification creates a mecha...
10/06/2026
Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, supporting live medical proc...
10/06/2026
A still from The Doom Generation by Gregg Araki (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
By Lucy Spicer
Have you checked out our Sundance Film Festival 101 list yet...
10/06/2026
Get Hands-On with Interfaces & Mic Preamp Brands
If youre after a new interface or preamp, then GearExpo UK is the place to be! Well have a whole host of au...
10/06/2026
November 13-14 2026, The Midway, San Francisco
Following their recent rebranding, MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo) have officially announced thei...
10/06/2026
Debut instrument free for limited time
deFORM is the debut release from newly founded developer ebbandflow, and it's being offered as a free download fo...
10/06/2026
Alone Australia Season 4: Meet the Cast
10 June, 2026
Media releases
WATCH THE TRAILER
Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipa...
10/06/2026
DEADLY THEN, DEADLY NOW, DEADLY ALWAYS: SBS & NITV IGNITE NAIDOC WEEK 2026 WITH ...
10/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF advance laser-based drone defense with THORIS LCS Rohde & Schwarz is showcasing THORIS at ILA 2026: A sovereign, end to end counter...
10/06/2026
MAHLE and Rohde & Schwarz develop application for sensor testing of modern drive...
10/06/2026
Production and Development Funding supports the creation of compelling, commercially viable, artistic and culturally relevant South African screen content. Deve...
10/06/2026
Media buyers and sellers can now compare YouTube reach from computer, mobile, an...
10/06/2026
Accedo, Humans not Robots, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have announced the launch of Ecoflow X. Formerly an IBC Accelerator project, ...
10/06/2026
Frequency, the engine powering the world's leading streaming television channels, today announced that James Smith has joined the company as General Manager...
10/06/2026
At the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Lisbon, Riedel Communications provided the communications infrastructure for live medical procedures s...
10/06/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media, and entertainment managed services, today announced the launch of its Content Exchange platform powered by Or...
10/06/2026
Klvr will showcase how venues, integrators and production teams are rethinking disposable battery usage at InfoComm 2026 (Las Vegas, June 17-19, booth #N6311). ...
10/06/2026
The Video Services Forum (VSF) has further enhanced the Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol by incorporating a new feature, RIST Satellite-Hyb...
10/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/06/2026
10 Jun 2026
VEON's Banglalink Brings Every World Cup 2026 Match to Football...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
How to watch every ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 match live on Sky Sports
Where is the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 availabl...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
P RLA brings first-ever Beautifully Clean Oral Care'...
10/06/2026
Wednesday 10 June 2026
Sky reveals pulse-pounding first teaser trailer for upco...
10/06/2026
Wuppertal June 10, 2026
Riedel Artist at the Heart of the 14th World Live Neurovascular ConferenceAt the 14th World Live Neurovascular Conference (WLNC) in Li...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Showcases New Mobile Experience, Collections and Games Vision in APAC
Product
10 June 2026
GlobalSouth KoreaJapan
Link copied to c...
10/06/2026
Back to All News
Ready to Join? The Netflix Fan Club Arrives at Cannes Lions
Business
10 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Download all assets
N...
10/06/2026
Chemists snap together complex 3D molecules from highly reactive radicals-without losing their shape Scripps Research team develops stereoretentive radical-radi...
09/06/2026
Kiswe announces an expanded long-term partnership with ONE Championship (ONE), t...
09/06/2026
SiriusXM will broadcast FOX Sports' English-language commentary for all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches from June 11 through July 19, available to subscribe...
09/06/2026
EVS has announced it is changing its corporate name from EVS Broadcast Equipment to EVS, reflecting the company's expanded portfolio beyond broadcast equipm...
09/06/2026
Fox Corporation and the NFL have announced a multi-year agreement to bring NFL c...
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 
