The first rule I was taught in journalism was to know your audience. It makes a big difference in what you write. I have no clue who my audience is for this random blog of mine, but I do know my audience for our internet broadcasts. It's the friends and family of the players and coaches.
I know this for two reasons:
1, It's common sense.
2. I get emails from them and the proud mothers are eager to introduce themselves to me when they come to a game.
It's all very flattering, and the compliments are always good for the ego. Of course, I'm talking about their sons, so of course they're happy with me. Still, it's a little weird when a pitcher comes into a game, and I know the grandparents are listening intently to every word.
The radio audience is wide and vast. The only information they know about the players is what I tell them, so I feel like my job is just as much to inform them about who these players are, as it is to describe the game. I probably get a lot of accidental listeners on the radio because their car radio was left on AM 970 from an A's game, or one of our talk shows, and they listen a little. I'm trying to keep those listeners. I'm sure there's a few season ticket holders, especially the host families, who listen to every inning.
But the internet audience already knows everything about the players because they are related to them. Still not sure how that should change my approach to calling a game, or whether I should even be thinking about all this.
It's not the first time I've been accused of thinking too much. I should probably follow the legendary advice of Crash Davis from the movie, "Bull Durham," which was ... "Don't think. It can only hurt the team."
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