Vantage points are everything for play-by-play broadcasters.
As the voice of the Okotoks Oilers for 10 seasons, Gino De Paoli”™s seen first-hand the evolution of the game-night experience from a problematic sightline in the corner to a centre-ice, front-row seat to the state-of the-art jumbotron.
“As a broadcaster for the Oilers it”™s come a very long way from broadcasting in the corner, which I still to this day don”™t know how it happened. That is a broadcasting nightmare,” De Paoli said. “I finally told Brad Robson we need to be in the middle and he got me there and I took that as a win. We still didn”™t have much going on, we had that shootout thing, but there wasn”™t much fan interaction and I think that had to catch on.
“The sport of hockey, or any sport in general, has to address everybody. Let”™s be real, the attention of most doesn”™t last for two-and-a half hours. You”™ve got to keep them engaged somehow. You”™ve got to give them something to look at.”
The jumbotron was there for two seasons and wasn”™t able to be properly used, De Paoli said.