This is being put together on Saturday January 17, 2009 and I wanted to follow up with my last entry with a little more of the about the people you will be seeing on NWA programming, especially the broadcast side. I’ll start inside the booth or folks you will probably never see on television.
 NWA Wrestling Showcase is directed by Greg (or G.B.) Young. I have worked side by side with Greg since 1997 and he is an awesome person who understands the fundamentals of television and where television technology is going. Greg is no stranger to wrestling television. When I launched World Legion Wrestling in Missouri, Greg was by my side (although I was calling the cameras then) in the production truck acting as an assistant director, tech and troubleshooter. We both learned a lot from Gordon Solie and Harley Race. Back then, TV was much more expensive to produce and I needed people like Greg who we’re efficient and were dedicated to the success of the taping. Since then, we have produced hundreds of hours of television together in and outside of pro wrestling. Now, don’t think his job is done once the cameras are off and the people have gone home…OH NO…he has another responsibility as the man who carries the footage to its final form and ready for transmission to your homes. Most of the logos, graphic elements, original music and tons more are created by Greg.
Jeremy Schott started with me at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Los Angeles Dojo about 5 years ago as my intern. He was in his final year at Chapman University and came my way totally by luck. Today, Schott is in charge of our broadcast efforts. He has traveled the world helping the NWA “Reclaim the Glory” through his images. I have learned so much about modern television techniques from him and he has the best attitude ever! No problem too big seems to be his motto and even in the most heated situations he delivers and accepts tasks with a smile. I wish that I had 1000 Jeremy Schott’s! If you’ve ever gone to an NWA event over the last three years, I’m sure that you have seen Jeremy or yelled at him to get out of your view. On the road he’s usually our ringside camera operator.
Another behind the scenes guy is Andy Schmitz, he’s our Talent Relations person and he has a hell of a job. Now, Andy is not new to wrestling at all. He started in the Midwest with the likes of Adam Pearce and the Milwaukee crew. Anyhow, Andy is the guy who deals with most of the talent issues; from pay to accommodations to divas (no not those Divas) Andy is our man who coordinates the whole show from the talent end of things. He really is working day and night and it’s all done from Las Vegas and to top that all off, he’s also our ring announcer!
Now for some that are on camera:
 Many call me the “Voice of the NWA,” but to me that title should really belong to Todd Keneley. Todd has really come into his own as an announcer having been the lead at Ultimate Pro Wrestling (where we met) for many years, calling many of Samoa Joe’s or John Cena’s early matches. Later, I hired Todd to work along side CM Punk at the short lived NJPW-USA TV venture that lead he and I to work as a team on the first sets of NWA Wrestling Showcase on MAV-TV and the first Orleans Arena special from Las Vegas. Todd has also seen his time in MMA too, where he is a staff announcer for Showtime and smaller MMA events. If any of you watched Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity wrestling program on CMT, you would have heard Todd calling those matches too.
New to the team is Jeff Resnick. He’s a New York native and was originally brought in to be my back up as an interviewer and update desk anchor, but he quickly showed Big Vision folk that he could hold his own in the announce booth and now he’s going to sit along side Todd on the “Showcase” program. I think this duo will do a bang up job as the months go by and we are all use to working with one another.
So I hope you enjoyed this glimpse in to the inner workings of the broadcast. I’m sure in time we will revisit this subject again.
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 1 of 2 |
