The Daily Catches Up With FSN's Roy Hamilton

FSN VP/Production & Coordinating Producer Roy Hamilton

Q: GREG ODEN and MIKE CONLEY, the Nos. 1 and 4 picks in the NBA draft last month, are believed to be the first high school and college teammates selected among the top ten since ‘79, when David Greenwood and you were taken Nos. 2 and 10, respectively. Who wins that two-on-two game?

Hamilton: I think we do. We’re old-timers, we have to win.

Q: Apologies for bringing this up, but you were cut by three NBA teams, one of which, the Pistons, was coached at the time by DICK VITALE. Is it true you were cut by Dick Vitale? Has he really ever met a player he didn’t like?

Hamilton: Dick Vitale didn’t cut me. He was released after 12 games of the season. He only coached 12 games. So he got cut first!

Q: Many former college and pro basketball players move on to coaching or broadcasting. Why did you choose to go into behind-the-camera work?

Hamilton: My first on-air experience was that I did UCLA basketball locally here in L.A. I had replaced BILL WALTON, who was at Stanford getting his law degree. It was interesting while I was doing the game, listening to the director in the truck. So I thought, with my experience of the game, being able to learn the technical aspect and the business and being able to tell the story, as a producer I can really enhance a broadcast. I became very intrigued with the behind-the-scenes aspect of a broadcast and I had an opportunity to start with CBS Sports on the production side.  It became a very, very wise choice for me, because I love being creative and being able to contribute, and because of the vision I do have of how the game is played and knowing the athletes and the momentum of the game and the situations, and knowing that it’s entertainment and that people need to be entertained, it really became a win-win for me.

Q: So you never occasionally have second thoughts where your competitive spirit takes over and you think, “I’d like to be coaching and back in the competition?”

Hamilton: No. I love the competition but the competition for me is in the truck and being able to watch the regional producers here at FSN produce their games in competition to other entities from the TNTs and ESPNs. That’s where my competitive nature becomes involved.

Hamilton Would Like To See More Blacks Move Over To Production Side Of TV

Q: How would you describe the opportunities today for African Americans on the production side of TV, or in sports media in general, compared to when you began your career in the early ‘80s?

Hamilton: In the early part of the business when I started, there weren’t very many African Americans on the production side. It’s making a little improvement. I’d like to see it get better and see more opportunities given to African Americans. It’s a very, very tough business itself, it’s a small business, it’s almost like playing in professional sports. There are a few jobs and a few opportunities at certain places. I think a lot of African Americans have a tendency of being on-air and they get tremendous opportunities from being star athletes. That’s the first direction that some do go. But I would love to see some move on the production side because there are a lot of creative individuals out there and it’d be great to see more of them in those positions. One of the positions that I’d like to see more of is upper management, in senior positions. I’m seeing glimpses of it working to a certain degree, then suddenly sometimes you see the progress hasn’t been made as much as sometimes you’d like for it to be.

Q: How do changes in broadcast technology continue to impact your work?

Hamilton: The strong demand for HD broadcasts is the big appetite for everyone. HD has been a tremendous visual for fans. Sometimes it’s hard not to watch a game in HD because it’s such a beautiful picture. So that’s the biggest demand for us, getting as many events as possible produced in HD capacity. Everyone has that same challenge, all the networks. It’s a growing business and I think there’s a tremendous future in it. One of the new innovative things that’s going to come across at some point is 3-D. The NBA experimented with that at the All-Star Game. It was incredible. That could be the next wave of the future.

Q: Do viewers want more information or a clean, clutter-free broadcast?

Hamilton: I think we’re in the stage where text-messaging, blogs, e-mails, as much as you can give the viewer within taste, that’s the key. How it’s presented on-air is very, very critical. Sometimes you can clutter the screen with too much information and just the way it’s designed doesn’t look very appealing. But people really love information, reading facts. Sometimes people may not have the audio turned up, but they know if they look at the game they can see where it’s going, they can see the trends that are happening in the game. I don’t think there’s a need for less, I think it’s just a matter of presenting it the right way, and if it’s tasteful, I think it works.

Q: Who would you say have been your top mentors and role models during your career?

Hamilton: [Fox Sports President] ED GOREN and [Fox Sports TV Group Chair & CEO] DAVID HILL. I’ve known Ed a good portion of my life on the production side. The first person who really gave me the appetite for the sports business was Bryant Gumbel. He covered my signing to UCLA. I was very close with Bryant and had the opportunity to intern with him when he was at NBC in Los Angeles. So he was a role model for me in terms of igniting my career and my direction and vision of being in the sports television business. But Ed Goren and David Hill have been very instrumental to me in my career and very helpful and supportive. And the people I work with here – [Fox National Cable Sports Networks President] BOB THOMPSON, [Fox Sports Regional Networks President] RANDY FREER and [FSN Senior VP/Production] DOUG SELLARS – have been very supportive.

Q: Wraparound question from ESPN Senior VP & GM of Digital Media JOHN KOSNER: What technical innovation in sports media coverage do you most value?

Hamilton: The EVS machine (which allows producers to package replays and add production elements while simultaneously recording the game on a different channel) that is used on a lot of our broadcasts is one tool that’s really ignited the business itself, and it’s made a lot of producers’ and production people’s jobs a little easier in the truck to manage. This equipment can record different channels of a broadcast. It really makes your broadcast go very smoothly in terms of the visuals that you can give to a viewer in terms of actually replaying packages, replaying different graphics, being able to enhance your broadcast.  It allows producers to package replays and add production elements while simultaneously recording the game on a different channel.

Q: Your wraparound question:

Hamilton: Will KOBE BRYANT be in a Lakers uniform next season?

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