Setup, Day Two


Tour of Houston; the "set" at Radio Row is nearly completed

I wake up to the local TV news. It's fascinating to watch the local news focus on the Superbowl for the sixth time, and it's the same cliché, regardless of location. Every station has at least one reporter at the NFL Media Center, even though nothing newsworthy ever goes on there. It's just big-name celebrities hanging out, so it's a chance for the local news to get a big-name celebrity on their air.

Some stations are doing full-blown broadcasts from there. KHOU-TV has a set at the NFL Experience , an NFL-sponsored entertainment center for football fans. They've lead every newscast with Superbowl-related stories, even though there's nothing going on. Meanwhile, kids are tossing footballs in the background, and adults are gazing at the local TV celebrities behind the security ropes. Then, in a moment bordering on the surreal, they go into hard-news...fires, robberies, car chases...all while kids are still throwing footballs in the background, and adults are still gawking at their local newscasters.

If that wasn't bad enough, they went into an in-depth piece about the recent Enron update (a big deal here, because Enron has big ties to Houston). The female reporter interviewed an economics professor in a three-piece suit. She was sitting on a a goofy-looking love seat, while the professor uncomfortably sitting on the ottoman. Although her questions were stupid, the tone of the discussion was supposed to be serious. Yet, you can hear kids screaming in the background, and a boy in the distance was staring into the camera, with the yardlines of a football field behind him. Truly surreal television...

Jen and I started the day heading outside of downtown Houston. We wanted to find the route to the media parking lot at Reliant Field for "Media Day," the day when media can interview the players of the opposing teams, right on field itself. Sporting News Radio does live broadcasts right on the 50-yard line (the only radio broadcasting live from the event), so a lot of prep work goes into this. So we just wanted to make sure we knew how to get there on Tuesday, because we'll be heading out there at 6:30 am, and we can't afford to get lost, losing precious time getting setup for our 9:00 am broadcast.

(We truly assume nothing when doing the Superbowl. You can't assume you have a place from which to broadcasting. You can't assume you can park your vehicles, or even drive to the broadcast locations. You can't assume you have the proper credentials to get into the venues from where you're doing your show. You can't assume you have power, or phone lines with which to do the broadcast, or chairs, or tables. You can't assume anything. So, Jen prepares at least six months before the actual game to begin securing these necessities, knowing full well that even the best preparation can be totally useless by the time you get to this point.)

We then head towards western Houston to shop for supplies. Clearly, Uptown Houston (which is really west of downtown Houston) is where all the development is going on...not downtown Houston. There's new construction everywhere, from condos to stores to highways. The Galleria rivals the best malls in the Chicagoland suburbs, with three or four times the square milage. I can't help but think that Houston suffers the same problem that American cities do...residents are fleeing the downtown area in favor of the outskirts. This theory is proven true later today.

We head back to the convention center to setup the "set" at "Radio Row." Radio Row is the area from where all the radio stations do their broadcasts. I'm guessing that there are about 100 radio stations from around the country doing radio shows, and the vast majority are formatted for sports-talk radio. Nearly all these stations use the provided folding table decorated in vinyl white cloths and bunting. So, no station is able to visually distinguish itself from anyone else...except for Sporting News Radio.

However, Sporting News Radio has "set"...a backdrop with the SNR logo, enormous pictures, and information about the show host and the network. They also have a special table, chairs, stands, and other furniture with the SNR logo on it. The "set" serves a couple of purposes: (1) to remind the guests what station (or network) they're at; and (2) to show radio stations that we mean business. Even though it's radio, the visual element simply sticks out in this sea of whitewashed tables and chairs.

Jen and I setup the actual set last night, so now we have to hook up all the audio and computer equipment. Jen admittedly isn't so good with the technical stuff, so she leaves it to me to setup. My goal is to set it all up so that someone else with less technical experience can run the equipment while I walk away from the set; make it as robust as possible with minimal possibility of failure; and to make the audio quality we're sending back to Chicago as pristine as possible. There the main program audio back-and-forth between Chicago and Houston; backup audio to pre-feed interviews; producer communications; plus computer stuff so the staff can get on the 'net, and print out stories. A lot of plugging things in, testing, and troubleshooting.

Meanwhile, Jen and I are making new friends, or renewing friendships with people we've met at previous Superbowls...people like team officials, NFL officials, security guards, and people from other stations. We've gotten to know some of the people well enough so that they accommodate our special needs for telecommunications, security, guest-booking, etc. While other stations suffer trying to get on-the-air because their phone lines don't work, we have security guards escorting our guests to our set, pushing producers from other stations out of the way. These relationships have made our lives so much easier...

We took our lunch break sometime around 4:00 pm, and headed into the nearby mall. The difference between this downtown mall and the Galleria was striking. In this mall, over half the stores were closed, and very few people were in the mall. For the second time on this trip, while walking around Houston, a tourist asked me where they could get some food, because he/she couldn't find an open restaurant...this time, at 4:00 in the afternoon! The cashier at the Radio Shack said the slow pace was due to the "revitalization" of downtown Houston. But Jen and I see no evidence of this, other than the cable cars that apparently go around the city. So again, the city fails to live up to our expectations.

After lunch, we head back to finish the "set," and leave for McDonalds sometime around 9:00 pm. We head to the only McDonalds we know is open near downtown Houston...about 15 blocks away. You'd think the City of Houston would compel businesses to open near the official NFL/media hotels in downtown Houston. But Jen and I are quickly learning that Houston is much like Atlanta (2000) or Tampa (2001)...two other Superbowl cities we've been to. Unlike San Diego (2003) or New Orleans (2002), Houston is simply not prepared for a major event like the Superbowl. Maybe that's why they haven't hosted one in 30 years.

Off to bed to preparing for another day of prep-work and planning...

Posted: Sat - January 24, 2004 at 12:36 AM      

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