Well, we’re heading into October with a whole lot of football to keep us busy. Let’s get to it!
Dave Buckman kicked off the weekend on Thursday at Biemesderfer Stadium in Millersville, Pennsylvania, when the East Stroudsburg Warriors took on the Millersville Marauders in some Division II action.
On the West Coast, David Meyer was at Bothell High School outside Seattle when the Cougars held on to beat the Skyline Spartans.
Friday night lights: Colorado resident Mike Sheehan and C43 will be at Folsom Field at University of Colorado in Boulder when the UCLA Bruins take on the Colorado Buffaloes, live on FS1.
We’ve got big time high school football on Friday night, as well. Dave Mitchell and the Arizona truck will be in Pittsburgh on Friday when Central Catholic plays Pine-Richland.
Saturday’s a big day for us, as you might expect:
Rick Ball has one of our smaller C-band trucks parked in the tight TV compound outside Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia in Athens for the SEC on CBS game of the week. It’s always a big deal when the Tennessee Volunteers come to town, but with the Bulldogs currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, this will surely be a heckuva game.
Justin Roszak and C42 will be at UB Stadium in Amherst, New York, when the Army Black Knights take on the Buffalo Bulls. Justin’s doing yet another 14-channel multiplexed transmission for our friends at CBS Sports Network. PSSI International Teleport (PIT) ingests his signal and then delivers it to CBS headquarters in NYC via the AT&T Global Video network.
And there’s still more at-home transmissions on our schedule this weekend. Friday night Todd Harvey’s on C49 in the Big Easy where the Tulane Green Wave will host the Memphis Tigers. Mr. Harvey is transmitting 10 multiplexed video channels over satellite to our friends at ESPN in Connecticut.
Also for ESPN, Chris Golden will be at Spectrum Stadium in Orlando, Florida, when the Pittsburgh Panthers take it on the road to face the UCF Knights. Chris is encoding seven channels of video for fiber delivery back to ESPN headquarters, where the broadcast will be produced. Doesn’t matter if it’s satellite, fiber or IP — PSSI Global Services does transmission better than anyone else in the industry.
Fox’s 4K game of the week is on the West Coast, as the Oregon Ducks are in Berkeley to face the Cal Bears late Saturday night. 4K guru Rick Varney is there, as usual, and this week Long Beach’s own Wes Hill joins him on the CK35 mobile teleport. Both guys will be transmitting a multiplexed 4K/HD feed for the game on FS1.
North Carolina resident Craig Henry’s back in Michigan for more Big Ten football. This weekend it’s Michigan State hosting the Central Michigan Chippewas on Saturday. Craig’s back at Spartan Stadium again next week when Northwestern comes to town.
Speaking of Northwestern, Steve Toth is there at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. The Michigan Wolverines are in town, and Steve’s there for Fox’s broadcast. Steve then heads to Columbus for the Ohio State game next weekend.
John May continues his tour of the Midwest in the CK48 mobile teleport. He’s at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas, where the Kansas State Wildcats take on the Texas Longhorns.
Back to Seattle — Steve Chaisson’s on C47 at Husky Stadium on Saturday when the BYU Cougars are in town to face the Huskies at home.
Dave Brin’s at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California, on Saturday when the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors make the long trip to face the San Jose State Spartans.
Ray Loyko and DC9 will be at Bobcat Stadium at Montana State University when the Eastern Washington Eagles face the Montana State Bobcats. Another game under our belts in this great stretch of Big Sky Conference college football.
Back east, Dave Buckman rounds out the weekend at Farrell Stadium in West Chester, Pennsylvania, when the Shippensburg Raiders face the West Chester Golden Rams.
In between games, Dave’s knocking out a live shot for our friends at CNN. It’s an interview with Delaware representative Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Busy weekend for Mr. Buckman!
Plenty of other non-football action on our plates, as well.
Let’s start with soccer on Saturday. Dennis Smith and NT21 will be at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., when the Montreal Impact take on D.C. United. Meanwhile, Dave Mitchell’s at Edinboro University’s Sox Harrison Stadium for women’s college soccer on SPORTSfever Television Network, as the West Chester University Golden Rams take on Edinboro University’s Fighting Scots.
Meanwhile, Rick Kolinek’s heading to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday for some horse racing. Rick’s providing the originating uplink for equestrian fans in the Middle East.
There’s a whole lotta other racing this weekend, as well!
Kyle Meyer and Jonathan Ayala are in the C27 mobile teleport at Charlotte Motor Speedway for NASCAR this week. They’ll be there for plenty of practice runs and other events at the track before Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400. Here’s hoping the weather holds for our guys and all the racing fans out there!
Ron “Roadrunner” Ford is heading down to Austin, Texas, on Sunday for a WRX rally at the Circuit of the Americas track.
And Kevin Spangler and C12 are trying something new at South Georgia Motorsport Park this weekend. Kevin’s truck, in concert with our team at PIT, will be providing dedicated internet bandwidth via satellite for the production crew at the track. This dedicated bandwidth is key to the production’s streaming service of the No Mercy 9 event (which you can watch online), especially as the race fans start pouring in and using up all the available public cell service. Our friends at SpeedVideo are putting on a great weekend of drag racing, and we’re happy to be a part of it!
On the left coast, Mike Lemieux, Chris Hovden and Mark Huss join project manager Eric Hall in the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale, California, for the first live episode of HBO’s newest show: “Pod Save America.” This is the first of a series of live shows for which we will be providing total transmission services across the country. Very excited to be involved!
It’s busy out west. Larry Sheets is at the helm of C15 in what is, unusually, the only golf tournament of the week. He’s at the Pebble Beach golf club for the PURE Insurance Championship through Sunday.
In Vegas we have another concert for our friends at Freedom Broadcasting. John Bright’s back at the helm of the K34 production/uplink truck as we provide a multi-camera production of the Fall Out Boy concert at the MGM Grand. Hope John brought his earplugs!
Joe Cox is in Southern California for back-to-back boxing events. Tonight in Temecula he’s transmitting Showtime’s ShoBox: The New Generation. It’s Devin Haney versus Juan Carlos Burgos in the main event.
On Saturday night, Joe heads up the road to Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, where he’s providing the origination uplink for multiple international clients. PIT will be turning the signal to Latin America, and Mark Huss will be ringside with Turner Argentina’s Juan Larena, who will be calling the fight for boxing fans in his home country using our custom ringside audio equipment.
Following the HBO show on Saturday night, Chris Hovden’s up early at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator in downtown LA. Alex Mestizo joins him in our generator van as we provide transmission services for a press conference featuring a Spanish government official.
Finally, it wouldn’t be October without some MLB playoffs. We’re eagerly watching the last few games in the National League regular season this weekend to see if we’re going to be at Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field, or, hopefully, both stadiums for the division series that kicks off next week. Our friends at Fox are waiting, as well, and we’re all looking forward to a long and successful playoff stretch, all the way to the World Series!
As we welcome the start of the fall season and close the curtain on what was certainly an exciting, productive summer, it’s safe to say we’ve got plenty more to look forward to in the coming months.