Webcasts get a ton of grief, and I’m not sure that it’s all deserved. During Day Two of the Billabong Pipe Masters, I got a behind-the-scenes tour of the webcast that brings real-time audio and visual coverage of the Greatest Show on Earth to a global audience. I had the opportunity to witness all of the proverbial balls in the air as they were hurtling through the confined space of two unimaginably cramped trailers parked behind Vans’ North Shore houses.
Chris Steblay, Uncle Toads Media Group‘s Senior Producer, explained to me that what’s happening behind the scenes isn’t a webcast. “‘Webcast’ sounds so small. It’s not a webcast. It’s an international, global broadcast. We’re live in HD in Brazil, in Australia, in the United States. You could go across the street, walk in this house right here and it’s on the house, live on HD television.”
The process of making sure each and every facet of a webcast is on point is much more involved than most people realize. There are miles of cabling, hours of programming and working with clients who, often times, have a different vision than the initial plan. “It’s a bit of give and take dealing with clients. That’s one thing about next year that’ll change is that there won’t be control from the brands where, here, we’re working with Vans, Billabong, Von Zipper, Vitamin Water and GoPro and other sub-sponsors. The whole idea is take it out of their hands and we can do whatever we want.”
Then come the detracting commenters. Chris says his team looks at the comments on the side of the webcast. “We pay attention to that. If there’s a mistake, we take it all very seriously. We’re really judgmental on ourselves and we know what we think is good and what other people like.” Unfortunately, when your production has such a wide international reach and is being broadcast from a singular place, it’s not an easy feat for it to all go off without a hitch. Regarding the gross negativity the comments section sees, Chris laments, “Unfortunately, it’s love it or hate it, and all you hear is the hate it part.” For slip-ups and miscues, there are solutions set in place and he’s been around long enough to know how to run an effective show. “One kink can make the whole chain crumble, but we have fail-safes and methods to our madness. This is my eighth Triple Crown. I used to dig cables, be a cameraman and be in the field and I’ve pretty much worked every single position. You have to have that knowledge of how it all works.”
Unfortunately, even with knowledgeable and experienced people like Chris at the helm of international surfing broadcasts, the sport hasn’t progressed to becoming a fixture on TV screens instead of computer screens worldwide. The ZoSea/ASP media deal has had a bunch of money pumped into it, but there isn’t a TV deal. He compares: “They’re still not going live for TV. They’re doing the same thing that we’ve been doing, but they just did a bigger press release. It’s not because they couldn’t do it. It’s ten hours of programming a day. It’s almost impossible.”
When competition resumes, not only will a Pipe Master and ASP World Champion be crowned, but the UTMG crew will continue to toil tirelessly to bring the world a top notch broadcast.
Be sure to tune in (here) to the webcast.
