Program Productions Pushes Forward With A1 Training Crewing company says looming personnel shortage is critical' By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
How to train a cohort as disparate as broadcast A1s has been a dilemma for decades. Academic programs like those at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Tempe, AZ, and Full Sail University in Orlando have taken a traditional in-place approach, which is a proven way to inculcate students with the basics of the job.
However, minting a new A1 who can meet the specific and rigorous requirements of a major sports network and perform flawlessly under the extreme pressure of, for instance, a Sunday NFL A game or World Cup match, is akin more to training an airline pilot than to producing an audio engineer. Reflecting that, numerous training initiatives have fallen short of their own goals.
Trying to train A1s is like herding cats, laughs one current A1, who prefers to remain anonymous, underscoring the intrinsically peripatetic nature of the vocation.
Been Here Before Training initiatives developed organically from within the broadcast industry itself have been tried before, with mostly dismal results. An effort by several networks to collaborate on such a program several years ago was a failure, says one of its leaders, Tom Sahara, former VP, operations and technology, Turner Sports. He attributes that mainly to a broadcast business in the throes of media consolidation, strategic turmoil that masked this critical tactical need.
Then the COVID pandemic struck, which pushed many A1s to advance their retirement due to restrictions and unpleasant work environments, he adds. The shortage went from bad to worse.
The industry has lost an estimated 30% of its technical workers to pandemic-related retirements and career changes, according to one crewing agency. The looming shortage of A1s for the broadcast-sports industry is approaching a critical inflection point. Now the industry is trying an organic approach once more.
Specialized and Localized In the 2010 action flick RED, retired CIA agent Bruce Willis reassembled his old team for a nearly impossible mission, one that only their expert training would allow them to survive. That's kind of what Program Productions Inc. is trying to do for A1 training. The event-labor-management firm based in the Chicago area, which boasts a portfolio that includes major broadcast and regional sports networks, is currently restarting an initiative it began before the pandemic. It pairs aspiring A1s with veteran broadcast-sports audio mixers, using actual remote trucks and broadcast venues as the real-world environments in which to coach acolytes not only in the technical nuts and bolts of the position but also in its etiquette and prepare them for the unique, sometimes extreme pressures of the job.
Specialized and localized is how Kelly Hammonds, manager, strategic partnership and crew development, PPI, who oversees development of that program, explains its operational model. She says the process includes identifying and connecting trainees and trainers, such as now-retired Turner Sports A1 Jim Budka in north Florida, in home markets where one-on-one collaboration can take place. The program also works with PPI's RSN partners, which are contributing to the costs of the training, helping obtain training sites and facilities, and assisting with earlier call times to allow training time before shows. The training is free to the trainees.
That ad hoc approach will be the case in the newly restarted program's early stages, says Hammonds. Also working on the program's development are PPI SVP, Operations, Jess Kowatch; SVP, Strategy and Development, Amy Scheller; and Manager, Field Operations, and staff A1 Dave Brickson, who is also one of the lead trainers.
PPI's Jess Kowatch notes that the company is looking to expand partnerships to academic institutions.
My job at the moment is to wrangle the logistics and to start the communications flow, Hammonds says. It may have to remain somewhat ad hoc in nature because of how people in this industry [sector] have to move around so often. But there's enthusiasm for it, and we see it reaching a more organized point, at which time we can present it to the major networks.
The Process Brickson's training approach suggests that intuition borne of experience helps evaluate potential candidates. Part of my vetting process is, do they have the personality to handle this environment? he says. You can tell in the first five minutes of chatting if they can do it.
He has discovered that a certain background also provides clues to outcomes and affinity for this unique position.
I have found that the best TV mixers usually come into TV with a music background, he explains. They have experienced the lead audio chair with live productions and have dealt with production teams and musicians. Music mixers come into TV with knowledge of various audio consoles and a deep understanding of balances and processing that translates into the TV world. Audio techs from the corporate world have seen those pressures, also.
The training process is based largely on one-on-one pairing - shadowing, he dubs it - a trainee with an experienced A1 in situ, usually in a production truck used by one of the program's partnering RSNs, on an actual live sports broadcast.
Onsite training will start with me in the [truck audio compartment] with them during show, he explains. I will start with them getting levels and balances together. Once I see they have the concept of show flow and can get in and out of breaks clean and play music and track EVS at the same time, I will leave the room and let them go at it. It's hard for someone to concentrate when I'm
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...
Program Productions Pushes Forward With A1 Training Crewing company says looming personnel shortage is critical' By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
