If you were watching the Connecticut Sun and Phoenix Mercury on CBS Sports Network Tuesday night, you probably had to mute the broadcast to enjoy the game.
Apologies to Cindy Brunson and Scott Williams who called the game. Because this was no fault of their own. But, during the broadcast, an unwelcome voice in the background was impossible to ignore. It sounded like a producer or director was attempting to communicate off-mic, but kept inadvertently bleeding into the broadcast. At one point, someone even acknowledged receiving an alert about the hot mic error.
Yes, everyone can hear your director bleed into the program. pic.twitter.com/qbDDblYo5N
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 19, 2023
“Hey Bill, are you hearing our director bleed into your guys’ program?” A voice could be heard asking in the above clip. “We have someone here locally who called in and said they’re hearing Jason, one of our other directors – No?”
Who answered no? The answer was yes! Yes, everyone could hear Jason or whichever director it was bleeding into the CBS Sports Network broadcast.
This isn’t anything personal against Jason, but the unwelcome voice was incredibly irritating and lasted way too long. I’m not sure where the local alert came from. The game did air on NBC Sports Boston as well, but after skimming through the first quarter, I did not hear any producers being mixed into the broadcast there.
When the audience heard someone ask the question, “Are you hearing our director?” they probably got their hopes up that the issue was about to be rectified. Instead, someone said ‘no,’ and the problem persisted through the end of the first quarter, where you could hear the director talk about a coaching interview and give their five-second countdown into the commercial break.
Thankfully, however, the technical issue was finally resolved and the background voices on the CBS Sports Network broadcast were gone at the start of the second quarter.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com