Sportscasts

Best Practice :: Fundamental

Focus on local teams almost exclusively. Story selection and length become the most important decisions you will make in a shrinking time-allotment environment. A check of several large- and medium-sized markets indicates that 3:15 is the average length of a nightly 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. sportscast.

Develop a personal style. Within the editorial framework of your station's news philosophy, you must make choices that differentiate you from the next person. Study your competition internally and externally. Where is your competition strongest and where is the most room for improvement? Be smart and develop a strategy for how you will position yourself in the market.

Make a list of adjectives that you would want people to use when describing you, then produce a show that develops those responses. The more closely you develop ideas that match your personality, the greater your chance for success. Sooner or later, the real you will emerge anyway. Awareness of your strengths and weaknesses is essential in developing a personal style.

Make your sportscast move graphically. Yet another demand cable news and sportscasts place on your show is that of a more contemporary graphic look. Within the stylistic design established by your creative services department, the sportscast must move visually.

Animating OTS graphics, animated team opens and 'interstitials' are a must. Banners, story titling, a second, lower-third bar for facts and background are all tools that pack more punch in your three-minute sportscast.

Use music under highlights with crowd noise and use sound effects as transitions, all to support your content choices and to bring more energy to the bottom of the show.

Sportcasts: