Originally Published: May 8, 2018
TSN 1040 bills itself as the “Home of Whitecaps FC”, and the radio station has been covering Whitecaps games in one form or another since 2001.
But in 2017 it stopped sending its broadcast team on the road to cover the ‘Caps, except for matches against big Cascadia rivals Seattle and Portland, both of which are conveniently—and less expensively—just a few hours’ drive down the I-5.
That’s because they never seem to actually tell listeners that they are not in the broadcast booth in the away stadiums. Instead—at least in several archived broadcasts sampled by the Georgia Straight—Basso and Dolan repeatedly refer to themselves as being “here” when referencing the home team’s pitch.
Not once were either of the hosts heard to say that they were watching the game in their home city on a big-screen monitor with piped-in sound.
Fans can go to TSN 1040’s audio-archive page to listen to away broadcasts, complete with post-match shows. In the April 7 Whitecaps road game against Western Conference rivals Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, the broadcast opened with sounds of the crowd, stadium announcements, cheers, and chants.
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The real question: does anyone actually listen to Whitecaps games on the radio?
Agree with 14…
Also, with Gray’s answers, it shows why most PD’S are regarded in the same light as politicians, used car salesmen, lawyers and certain Presidents…
Back in the late 1950’s and 60’s when Jim Robson and I were reconstructing baseball games from teletyped reports in the CKWX studios we would never directly say anything like “here” to mislead our listeners … but the whole intent of the broadcast was to sound like we were “there.” We used recorded crowd sounds, live PA announcements, crack of the bat, organ interludes, etc. But for some ethical reason we felt actually SAYING we were “here” at the distant ball park was a step over the line.
My first exposure to baseball reconstructions was as a kid in the 1940’s listening to Seattle’s Leo Lassen broadcast an away game in Oakland. He used absolutely no sound effects, but the play by play was still extraordinarily authentic. I wondered for days why they had no crowd mic, when of course where Leo was (a Seattle radio studio) there was no crowd. Lol!
Yes, I remember the reconstructed baseball games that Ron Robinson is writing about. I have read about them in books about the history of broadcasting and I do recall listening to Vancouver Mounties broadcasts on CKWX with Jim Robson while growing up. Thanks for bringing back memories, Ron!
While I am uncomfortable with deliberately fudging the truth…
Is this really news? Come on.
Music stations voice track all the time. Remotes are often canned. So are newscasts. And the list goes on. What’s the big deal.
I too remember the “reconstructed games” of the Mounties back in the 60’s. That takes me back. Regarding the Whitecaps, I find TSN 1040 coverage of the Whitecaps a complete joke. One hour pre game show, barely and hour post game then it’s off to “ESPN radio” from the states. All TSN radio talks about all day long is CANUCKS. you’d think they were the voice of hockey. Even Sportsnet 650 talks more soccer during the day than TSN. Shame on you TSN!!! By the way, I can’t tolerate Corrie Basso. Far too hyper, SLOW DOWN!! !