Group Critiques

Group Critique 36: January 2020

The audio program features football, basketball and sports talk. The video includes basketball play-by-play and TV reporting.

Among the nuggets . . .

  • A common word you should exclude from your play-by-play vocabulary
  • A powerful technique for giving time and score
  • How planning sports talk is like planning vacation
  • Two words to never say consecutively when calling basketball
  • How to make your listener care about your broadcast
  • Suggestions for using b-roll in a package
  • A play-by-play technique that is great late in games, but not early-on
  • How to use energy and inflection to supercharge your words

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Posted on in Audio, Videos

Group Critique 35: December 2019

The last Group Critique of 2019 is here! The audio features football, basketball and baseball play-by-play. The video segment includes baseball and basketball.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • When it’s acceptable to give the score deficit instead of the numeric score.
  • Advice for doing live reads.
  • When statistics enhance, not hurt, your broadcast.
  • A suggestion for working a clever line into a broadcast.
  • Suggestions for keeping tabs on base-runners.
  • How talking less heightens drama.
  • How to use words to compliment the time and score graphic.

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Posted on in Audio, Videos
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Group Critique 34: November 2019

The video features two football tracks and the audio features football, basketball and an interview.

Among the things you’ll learn:

  • TV:
  • The key time to NOT be talking on each play.
  • The difference between play-by-play on radio and TV boiled down to two simple sentences.
  • Who is right when you disagree with the on-screen graphic about how many yards are needed for a first down.
  • Radio:
  • How to punch up key plays.
  • A common mistake among basketball broadcasters regarding last names.
  • How to reset an interview and why it’s important.

And much more!

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Posted on in Audio, Videos
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Group Critique 33: October 2019

This month’s critique session features 10 clips, ranging from football and baseball play-by-play to sports talk show hosting. Love the volume and variety this month!

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • The information that should booked every play in football.
  • A key for being sure you leave your analyst sufficient time to comment.
  • Why it’s important to describe foul balls as accurately as balls put into play, and some good examples of it.
  • The play-by-play voice’s role as a sales person for the broadcast’s advertisers and a strong example of it.
  • Two words a sports talk host should never say.
  • An easy way to find your “best voice.
  • The proper tense for play-by-play broadcasts.
  • How to turn your play-by-play narrative into a story that will keep listeners engaged.
  • How to prevent your favorite words and phrases going from cool to cliche.

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Posted on in Audio
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Group Critique 32: September 2019

The audio critique features football, basketball and baseball, while the one video we review this month is soccer.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • What you must do before breaks to avoid sounding hurried after them.
  • What must be included before and after each football play.
  • Why it’s important to vary your energy level.
  • Two pieces of info that should almost always be given together.
  • When to incorporate edginess into your broadcast.
  • A fundamental that is mandatory in TV play-by-play.
  • The times of your telecast when you MUST watch the monitor.

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Posted on in Audio, Videos
Topic: ,,,,

Group Critique 31: August 2019

This month’s group critique session reviews six clips, including baseball, basketball and an interview.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • An important consideration when choosing the start of a demo segment.
  • An especially effective way to phrase an interview question.
  • The thing that must not be ignored when a runner is on base.
  • A two-word phrase that does not belong in your play-by-play.
  • The critical thing you must do on every basketball change of possession.

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Posted on in Audio
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Group Critique 30: July 2019

We have audio and video this month. The audio features basketball, baseball and softball. The video includes football and, for the first time ever, auto racing!

Among the things you’ll learn . . .

  • When it’s okay to use players’ first and last names in basketball . . . and when it should be avoided.
  • The piece of information that is even more important to give consistently than time and score.
  • A quick and easy way to immediately elevate the energy in your broadcasts.
  • How to make listeners who don’t care about either team still care about your broadcast.
  • The definition of a great home run call.
  • When to share stories during your baseball broadcasts.
  • When to leave the previous play and turn your attention to the next one.
  • The recurring instance in a football broadcast when you should say nothing.
  • How to borrow from other sportscasters without being obvious.

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Posted on in Audio, Videos
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Group Critique 29: June 2019

This month we critique football, basketball and for the first time ever, wrestling!

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • The No. 1 way that insufficient preparation shows up in a broadcast.
  • Why it is important to get into commercial breaks quickly.
  • The point in a possession at which a basketball shot clock becomes relevant.
  • What it means to stay in the moment in a TV broadcast.
  • When to avoid sharing biographical and and historical information.

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Posted on in Audio, Videos
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Group Critique 28: May 2019

This month we are featuring radio critiques of basketball, baseball and an interview. The TV critique features basketball play-by-play.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • A simple exercise to help you immediately find your big play voice
  • What it means for a play-by-play voice to get out of the library and onto the roller coaster
  • Two words to eliminate from your play-by-play vocabulary
  • An example of a strong interview question technique
  • Something you can get away with radio but not on TV
  • Good example of word economy in TV Play-by-Play

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Posted on in Audio, Videos
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Group Critique 27: April 2019

Your April group critique includes an interview, plus play-by-play critiques of football and basketball.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • A helpful technique for asking good questions.
  • The interview equivalent of time and score.
  • Why it’s important to ask open-ended questions.
  • Right and wrong ways to give the score.
  • Various ways to convey energy and drama.
  • What basketball voices should be doing instead of narrating every pass.
  • Terrific examples of plots, subplots and character development.

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Posted on in Audio
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