The new Sportsnet Radio FAN 590 studio - Broadcast Dialogue

The new
Sportsnet
Radio FAN
590 studio
Bob McCown
With sports in general becoming a hot commodity, it’s not surprising
to see the blending of brands at Rogers’ The FAN 590 Toronto
and TV specialty channel Rogers Sportsnet and, similarly, with
Bell Media-owned CHUM-AM (TSN RADIO 1050) Toronto with TSN.
A specially-built Sportsnet Radio FAN 590 studio at Rogers Radio in downtown
Toronto points to the integration of radio and television into one operation.
Sportsnet Radio FAN 590 Program Director Don Kollins says the
joining of forces with Rogers Sportsnet tells listeners and viewers that the
two are on the same page and moving together. Before this coupling, he
said, there was a wall between radio and TV that had to come down. It was
essential, he said, to bring Sportsnet into the FAN brand.
“Even though we had Bob McCown’s Prime Time Sports on TV into a
small portion of Sportsnet Ontario . . . we wanted him on TV more. We also
wanted people to see McCown being from Sportsnet and not just Sportsnet
Radio FAN 590. So what was better than building him a brand new palatial
studio with the best equipment in the world—HD cameras—and doing a
radio show”
The show has dedicated TV people behind it thus visuals with more
camera angles that create more excitement, more colour.
Kirk Nesbitt, the Vice-President of Corporate and Radio Engineering at
Rogers Media, says the new studio “… was a great collaboration between
Sony BRC 700
HD camera
McCown shown
through the
control room
window
BROADCAST DIALOGUE—The Voice of Broadcasting in Canada • September 1, 2011 10

Frank Bruno’s television engineering team and our radio engineering team to integrate
all the requirements into one control room. That lead to having a larger
control room than you might otherwise need for a radio talk show because there
are now four people in the control room; the audio operator who is basically
mixing the talk show, the show producer who is call-screening and priming the
talent as what to do next, the operator who is managing the Sportsnet board,
driving those robotic cameras, and an assistant show producer.
“It’s unique in that the radio show can operate from there independently as a
radio talk show or we can include the video operator and simulcast on Sportsnet.
Equally, if The FAN was doing something else, Sportsnet could use that room to
produce a show that was television only. So, it’s very cool in that respect and it
required a lot of collaboration between radio and television to ensure that the
show producer had access to Sportsnet video and vice versa.”
The architectural lead on the project, Frank Di Roma of Ware Malcomb in
Toronto, said that of three possible locations within the Rogers building for the
new studio the final selection was within an under-utilized lounge area that had
plenty of light. The space provided a view through the studio windows, behind
the on-air talent, of the interaction in the lounge.
“It was a way to incorporate the studio into a space that already had character
to it,” said Di Roma. “The studio space actually interacts with that lounge.”
Rogers Media VP Television Engineering Frank Bruno says HD was a prime
factor. “That was one of the main things because they (Sportsnet Radio FAN
590) had an existing facility that was built a few years back that was standard
definition. So the idea behind it was to go HD but also to incorporate a few
more production elements in it as well. That studio is now fully integrated into
the Sportsnet broadcast facility whereas before it was kind of like a standalone
island. It also has a production switcher that can do a lot more studio productiontype
things in it. It has a Quantel playback port to it so it has the ability to access
video content available to Sportsnet and production facilities. At the same time,
it’s a full working radio environment. We built it with two things in mind: It can
either be a full TV studio or it can be a fully independent radio studio and/or
serve both functions.”
Bruno said the primary challenge for the installation was building it in a hallway/lounge.
Engineers had to gut a hallway and turn it into a remarkable radio
space with decent sound quality for radio production. “And so, the challenge
was structurally modifying a typical office building and also doing it within a
three-month timeline.”
From a radio perspective, the amount of glass in the room makes it tough.
Bruno said a lot of acoustical treatment was necessary so as to make it sound as
good as a single function radio studio when they do use it as such.
Equipment, fully integrated into both the Sportsnet and Sportsnet Radio FAN
590 production facilities, includes a Ross Production switcher, Quantel playout
ports, Sony BRC 700 HD cameras, a Wheatstone digital audio console and a Chyron
LEX 3 , which includes LyricPRO8.
The cameras are automated, with full pan and tilt zoom, controlled by the
control room operator.
While TV gets its cues from the radio side, Bruno says “some people call it
radio on television but I think it’s going to morph, sometime down the line, into
more of a TV show supporting radio.”
Don Kollins
Kirk Nesbitt
Frank Bruno
BROADCAST DIALOGUE—The Voice of Broadcasting in Canada • September 1, 2011 11

Role of Radio
“In the big scheme of things, I do believe [that] radio is going to be the entity
that pushes you to someplace else to get more of something,” said Don Kollins.
He foresees radio in five years as having evolved further into multimedia.
For instance, he points to an announcer saying something on-air and then
following it up with a comment such as, “If you want to hear the whole interview,
go to fan590.com. If you want to hear more of what I said to this person,
you want to respond to this person, go to my blog, go to my twitter, go to my
website, go to my social media…” and so on.
“The dynamic is going to change dramatically in the next little while after
we actually figure it all out,” he said.
On the sales end of things, Kollins says a radio advertiser has to back up that
effort with what’s on the Internet, giving sponsorship of the Blue Jays as an
example. “We have a daily chat that is on during the game which is bringing in
700-800 people. These are dedicated eyeballs on an Internet screen as the game
is going on, either on the radio or on TV. It’s an added revenue source. Radio has
just 11-12 minutes an hour of marketing time. That’s it. The web is unlimited. It
reinvents itself every minute on what we can do . . . I think it’s a sign of exciting
things to come. I’m a big believer in the Internet and the social media aspect.
“We are streamed on the web. We stream everything. It’s also on Sirius 157,
the five o’clock (ET) hour only.”
Click the button
for more information.
Some people wonder why Sportsnet FAN 590 exposes McCown on satellite
radio. Kollins’ replies: “If I could expose somebody and get more listeners or
ears to a talent, why would I not Remember the thinking years back when
they said we’re not going to put the football game on TV because then nobody
will come to the stadium It’s the same mentality, but that’s crazy. You don’t
think like that. You expose it so people go “that’s exciting, I want to be part of
that. I want more of that. Where can I get more of that” So we have a great
relationship with Sirius XM and we give them a little bit of material. It’s fun.
It’s a nice relationship.”
Kollins revealed that the station’s morning show will also be on television
in the Fall; a two-hour show he says will be the first radio sports morning show
to be on TV. It will join McCown’s show as well as Sportsnet FAN 590’s Hockey
Central program at the Noon hour (once the season begins). “What we are
BROADCAST DIALOGUE—The Voice of Broadcasting in Canada • September 1, 2011 13

“
If you neglect
any kind of
social media,
figuring that
your station
doesn’t need
Facebook,
twitter, blogs,
you are
absolutely
dead in the
water.
looking for is a minimum of six hours a day on TV . . . the Sportsnet commitment is
there.”
Broadcast Dialogue: How do you work revenue sharing
Kollins: “Well, it’s not without its challenges but we are just getting into that
right now. You will have the opportunity for a client who is interested in radio or TV
and we can expand on that and say, alright, what if we presented three different dynamics
to you You’re asking for TV, we can present radio and digital, too” . . . “Take
Tim Hortons for example. Tim Hortons could sponsor a one-hour portion of McCown’s
show. When a listener hears ‘This portion of Bob McCown Primetime Sports is brought
to you by Tim Hortons”, a splitter on TV has viewers seeing three screens behind
McCown that will all show the Tim Hortons logo. Also, what is the product placement
There is McCown drinking out of a Tim Hortons cup. That’s where the revenue takes
on a whole new role.”
If the advertiser wants just one medium, that works, too. TV spots and radio spots
can be, and are, different. “The clocks are working well,” said Kollins. “With both
our TV and radio teams in the same studio, they know that the switch for TV is right
there.”
When radio first came to TV, people said, “who is going to watch a radio show on
TV” But, as Kollins explained, for many radio is something they’re not really supposed
to see, and that makes it all the more intriguing. For example, the Howard
Stern show or MSNBC; “radio shows on TV. Not that exciting but people love to watch
them.”
In McCown’s case, he’s always wearing sunglasses and has some great facial expressions.
Kollins describes his face as “magic”.
“So few people can pull it off. It’s a different world. A year ago I didn’t expect to
be sitting and talking about TV stations let alone a TV show. We had our silo and it
was radio. Now it’s as if this silo has come crumbling down and here we are with radio
and TV and Internet all landing in our lap and let’s go. It’s about content.”
How did the radio and TV people react when they were suddenly working together
Was there any resistance
“I think the best thing to have in this is a leader like (Rogers Media President) Scott
Moore who came in and said these silos are coming down. He showed us the light
pretty quick” . . . “There are always a few who are skeptical; ‘those damn TV guys’
or ‘those damn radio guys’ but that’s the world of working together and you know
we come from two different sides of the track and you find common ground, which
is content, and you keep moving
forward.”
On the matter of social
media, Kollins is emphatic: “If
you neglect social media, you
aren’t getting to any party. If you
neglect any kind of social media,
figuring that your station doesn’t
need Facebook, twitter, blogs,
you are absolutely dead in the
water. This is a world where we
have to think differently.”
—Howard Christensen
BROADCAST DIALOGUE—The Voice of Broadcasting in Canada • September 1, 2011 14

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