ANGC Exterminates the Bugs

[Greg_B]

I don’t know if this is new this year but I’m pretty sure I remember seeing TV network ghost bugs in the corner of the screen in past years of watching The Masters. This year up here in Canada I can watch on any of 3 different channels: CBS, CTV AND TSN. All of them usually have their own logos ghosted in a corner, and with the Canadian networks you ended up with two, theirs plus the CBS eye. But this year the screen is refreshingly clear of any of them, the way it used to be. That must be an ANGC decree. Thank you, Fred Ridley & co.!

[OBbogey5]

The screen is very uncluttered here in the states. Just the leaders on the bottom right, and a quick pop up of hole and yardage in top right. Makes me think Augusta told CBS to auditorially tell the viewers about the shot the player is about to hit, and skip the dumb talk. 

[Hawkeye77]

11 hours ago, OBbogey5 said:

The screen is very uncluttered here in the states. Just the leaders on the bottom right, and a quick pop up of hole and yardage in top right. Makes me think Augusta told CBS to auditorially tell the viewers about the shot the player is about to hit, and skip the dumb talk. 

LOL, that's the guys in the truck!

 

On the special yesterday Verne was talking about how brilliant it was when Tiger putted out on 18 that Nantz and Faldo just let it play out - at the same time they kept cut to the truck and the producer is sternly telling them over and over to not say anything, lol.  

 

Back in the day the CBS boss in the truck was adamant that guys not talk over shots being hit - always well produced at The Masters.

[Greg_B]

What I found remarkable when I noticed this is how ANGC has the power to tell all of these networks to banish the unnecessary screen clutter. All networks seem to have this reflexive desire to ensure the viewer knows which one they are watching. And I suppose from their point of view I can sort of understand it. The same as how prior to 9/11 we never had the constant crawls cluttering up the bottom of the screen on a great many channels, which was deemed necessary then due to the gravity of that event. Unfortunately as the crisis then lessened, the crawls became a fixture even though they were no longer necessary. There is a balance that has to be struck between nothing and too much which is often missed.

 

If you watch an old NFL broadcast on YT it is incredible to realize that even something as basic as a score/down & distance/clock bug is a fairly recent development and certainly an improvement, but some other broadcasts go too far with excess clutter on the screen. Removing the network logo clutter and just keeping the small top 5 scores in a semi-shadowed box in the corner of the screen is a decent compromise and a positive development, so thanks to ANGC for that.

[OBbogey5]

1 hour ago, Hawkeye77 said:

LOL, that's the guys in the truck!

 

On the special yesterday Verne was talking about how brilliant it was when Tiger putted out on 18 that Nantz and Faldo just let it play out - at the same time they kept cut to the truck and the producer is sternly telling them over and over to not say anything, lol.  

 

Back in the day the CBS boss in the truck was adamant that guys not talk over shots being hit - always well produced at The Masters.

Then why doesn’t the truck tell them to not talk when the leaders are teeing off on 18 of the final round at the PGA Championship 2022? Same announcers, same producer. Why not there, but at Augusta?

[st1800e]

And we don’t have to listen to the fake swing noise.  Often out of sync.  

[OBbogey5]

2 hours ago, Greg_B said:

What I found remarkable when I noticed this is how ANGC has the power to tell all of these networks to banish the unnecessary screen clutter. All networks seem to have this reflexive desire to ensure the viewer knows which one they are watching. And I suppose from their point of view I can sort of understand it. The same as how prior to 9/11 we never had the constant crawls cluttering up the bottom of the screen on a great many channels, which was deemed necessary then due to the gravity of that event. Unfortunately as the crisis then lessened, the crawls became a fixture even though they were no longer necessary. There is a balance that has to be struck between nothing and too much which is often missed.

 

If you watch an old NFL broadcast on YT it is incredible to realize that even something as basic as a score/down & distance/clock bug is a fairly recent development and certainly an improvement, but some other broadcasts go too far with excess clutter on the screen. Removing the network logo clutter and just keeping the small top 5 scores in a semi-shadowed box in the corner of the screen is a decent compromise and a positive development, so thanks to ANGC for that.

Your first point: Globalization. Read this scroll, care about it, and accept that what happens around the world is or will be your responsibility, so we’re going to use your money to go make it right, at the rupture of domestic tranquility. (Sorry, no political talk. But its debatability is about as necessary as expecting a retort from stating, “Augusta is green”.)
 

Watching the old sports on YouTube is a pastime of mine. You’re right, even in basketball in the 80s.. no score, no time! I’d remember watching that live back then and it wasn’t really a problem. I was actually watching and not distracted with doing other things.. like working on a laptop, or GolfWRX posting on my iPhone. Back then, I had to wonder what the score was only a few times a game, which forced me to listen closely because Chick Hearn or Dave Stockton would say it after the next basketball by either team or after a scoring draught of a minute or so. I kept score mentally.
 

Now, sports broadcasting has taken on the assumption that it’s competing with other activities that the viewer is engaged in. They do it every single sport, and the more production money the more they can add. They’re negotiating from a position of weakness because they acquiesced to our indifference that they have something to watch worth doing attention undivided.
 

So kind of getting back to my point earlier, why not at The Masters? It’s the biggest event in Golf. So the cash is there for the truck to go wild. I believe it’s because of ANGC. 
 

We wouldn’t happen to be saying the same thing about the truck telling Nantz to simmer down..? The truck is telling him that because ANGC has instructed CBS to do it right, not like that trash they pull at all the other tournaments. We do agree on that?

 

I have evidence! (aside from the ultimate ultimate ultimate POWER PLAY from ANGC when they straight Qin Dynasty style BANISHED Gary—WOW!) If you are viewing action on the Masters 2024 app, you can chose “natural sound”…. to shut up Knost. ANGC knows.. We want them to shut up and unclutter our screens. We went the best effort from all parties when we watch The Masters. We demand it of the course, we demand it of the players. And if CBS doesn’t screw it up, we will watch. And the money flows. 
 

Watching live right now on Paramount Plus, that option is… nowhere to be found. So it’s Tiger+Colt, or mute. Where’s my middle finger so I can air finger cross out the “+” in Paramount’s silly high school gradebook labeling icon, and give it a big fat “—“

Edited April 14 by OBbogey5
Sorry, I needed to draw @Hawkeye77 into my diatribe

[Hawkeye77]

8 hours ago, OBbogey5 said:

Then why doesn’t the truck tell them to not talk when the leaders are teeing off on 18 of the final round at the PGA Championship 2022? Same announcers, same producer. Why not there, but at Augusta?

I doubt he remembers, lol. 

[OBbogey5]

2 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

I doubt he remembers, lol. 

It’s obvious that all these people on mic are super in check because this is The Masters. And we like it. I don’t don’t know why CBS doesn’t go that route instead of the other direction completely. 

[jonsnow]

On 4/14/2024 at 10:52 AM, OBbogey5 said:

Then why doesn’t the truck tell them to not talk when the leaders are teeing off on 18 of the final round at the PGA Championship 2022? Same announcers, same producer. Why not there, but at Augusta?

Because Frank Chirkinian is not there any more. As Verne Lundquist said, the Ayatollah was the most profane human being he ever knew...but the man was a genius when it came to televising a golf tournament.

[miami1023]

The golfer's journal augusta podcast series did a great job detailing the early years of production and the level of detail Cliff Roberts demanded from CBS. It gives good insight into how it became the best produced sporting event there is.

[jonsnow]

I have heard stories that Chirkinian was involved at least as an investor with French Market Grille West, a second location for a popular Augusta restaurant, French Market Grille, which is an Augusta institution. They opened the second location in 1997 as Augusta's population shifted west into neighboring Columbia County. 

Edited April 16 by jonsnow

[twidener]

Augusta National keeps CBS and ESPN on one year only contracts that have to be renewed each year. This is how they have the power to broadcast the tournament the way they want it shown. That's why some of the on-air announcers have disappeared through the years. Along with the spectators being referred to as patrons. In the older broadcast back in the 70's the announcers would sometimes call them a crowd or the galleries. Then it changed to patrons. The one year contracts is also how Augusta National controls the limited amount of commercials. It has changed some over the years. Cadillac was the only sponsor for years and then it was Travelers. I remember watching the Masters on Saturdays and Sundays and the broadcast started at the 10th or 11th hole. Only the back nine was shown on TV. And only players in the lead or near the lead were shown. For years viewers never knew what the front nine looked like.

[Titleist99]

45 minutes ago, twidener said:

Augusta National keeps CBS and ESPN on one year only contracts that have to be renewed each year. This is how they have the power to broadcast the tournament the way they want it shown. That's why some of the on-air announcers have disappeared through the years. Along with the spectators being referred to as patrons. In the older broadcast back in the 70's the announcers would sometimes call them a crowd or the galleries. Then it changed to patrons. The one year contracts is also how Augusta National controls the limited amount of commercials. It has changed some over the years. Cadillac was the only sponsor for years and then it was Travelers. I remember watching the Masters on Saturdays and Sundays and the broadcast started at the 10th or 11th hole. Only the back nine was shown on TV. And only players in the lead or near the lead were shown. For years viewers never knew what the front nine looked like.

Now, viewers have so many options that they complain about all sorts of nonsense.

 

Some even complain that there's too much televised golf. If there is such a thing.🤣

[OBbogey5]

12 hours ago, jonsnow said:

Because Frank Chirkinian is not there any more. As Verne Lundquist said, the Ayatollah was the most profane human being he ever knew...but the man was a genius when it came to televising a golf tournament.

But he’s been dead for decades. 

 

11 hours ago, twidener said:

Augusta National keeps CBS and ESPN on one year only contracts that have to be renewed each year. This is how they have the power to broadcast the tournament the way they want it shown. That's why some of the on-air announcers have disappeared through the years. Along with the spectators being referred to as patrons. In the older broadcast back in the 70's the announcers would sometimes call them a crowd or the galleries. Then it changed to patrons. The one year contracts is also how Augusta National controls the limited amount of commercials. It has changed some over the years. Cadillac was the only sponsor for years and then it was Travelers. I remember watching the Masters on Saturdays and Sundays and the broadcast started at the 10th or 11th hole. Only the back nine was shown on TV. And only players in the lead or near the lead were shown. For years viewers never knew what the front nine looked like.

Augusta’s fee for the television rights: $0.0

[Greg_B]

I appreciate a lot of the things they make CBS do. But the “patrons” silliness needs to go. I get that they don’t want the attendees called a “mob” like Jack Whitaker let slip out one year and which infamously got him dropped from the coverage for several years. But in the older CBS broadcasts they used “galleries” and “spectators” and the world didn’t spin off its axis. They can even ban them from using “crowd” if they want. But stop the forced “patrons”, please. 

[twidener]

Yes, the networks, CBS and ESPN, pay nothing to Augusta National, but they do agree to Augusta National's rules. Patrons, second cut, no mention of prize money, only 4 minutes of commercials per hour, etc. CBS has had the contract since 1956. It's not a written contract, it's always been a "handshake" deal. Augusta makes a profit from concessions and selling merchandise. Concession sales alone are estimated around $8 million and merchandise sales is quite a bit more than that figure. The profit is used to for a lot of the course improvements and to purchase more land, if they need it.

[jonsnow]

11 hours ago, Greg_B said:

I appreciate a lot of the things they make CBS do. But the “patrons” silliness needs to go. I get that they don’t want the attendees called a “mob” like Jack Whitaker let slip out one year and which infamously got him dropped from the coverage for several years. But in the older CBS broadcasts they used “galleries” and “spectators” and the world didn’t spin off its axis. They can even ban them from using “crowd” if they want. But stop the forced “patrons”, please. 

https://www.amazon.com/Making-Masters-SpEd-Prestigious-Tournament/dp/0684867214

 

In the early years of Augusta National, it was far from clear whether the club would survive or not. It opened in 1932 at possibly the worst possible point in time it could have in the midst of the Great Depression. For the first few years the club could not give away memberships even at $60 per year. Clifford Roberts felt the success of the tournament was essential to the survival of the club. The relationship between the club and city of Augusta has always been a symbiotic one but it was decidedly one-sided early on. The city supported the club & tournament through the difficult times & the appreciation the club had for that support is reflected by calling attendees "patrons" rather than fans; it may seem silly today, but the patrons were primarily local & seldom came from farther away than Atlanta. It wasn't until after WW II ended along with the Great Depression that the club & The Masters began to become what we know today.

 

The book I linked to above is very enlightening for anybody who is a fan of The Masters. David Owen is one of my favorite golf writers & he was given unprecedented access to Augusta National records & archives in writing it. It's not all positive but does clear up a lot of misconceptions about Augusta National & The Masters in general & Clifford Roberts in particular. Well worth a read.