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Lancelot Whittaker and Hubert Lawrence, the Caribbean Media Corporation’s (CMC) two live commentators for the track and field segment of the Beijing Olympics, deserve special commendation!
While major media houses such as NBC, BBC and Canada’s CBC all provided their live broadcasts from within the Bird’s Nest stadium, our CMC guys made their live broadcasts from a trailer outside the stadium!! So, while live commentators like NBC’s Tom Hammond and Ato Boldon, CBC’s Scott Russell and the BBC’s Michael Johnson all made their comments from state-of-the-art centers overlooking the track, our Caribbean guys had to depend on their small monitor and the video feed they received!
Listening to Hubert and Lance’s excellent commentary, one would never know the simple facilities from which they provided their live broadcast.
By the way, the blocking of NBC in Jamaica wasn’t a smart move, and I’m surprised nobody mentioned this before now. Regardless of the faults we find with NBC, in terms of quality of images (latest digital technology), comprehensiveness (NBC had 80 video cameras in Beijing), and commentary (Tom Hammond, Ato Boldon and Lewis Johnson brought a high level of excitement to their commentaries), this station (NBC) was, in my opinion, very good. Of course, this is not to lessen the value of CBC in any way, as CBC, without question, was very sensitive to Jamaicans, as can be seen from the numerous mini-documentaries these Canadians provided on Jamaican athletes, and the accurate comments they made.
My favourite CBC quote was when Scott Russell stated that, as of now, he would be changing his diet and eating nothing but Jamaican patties (LOL).
While major media houses such as NBC, BBC and Canada’s CBC all provided their live broadcasts from within the Bird’s Nest stadium, our CMC guys made their live broadcasts from a trailer outside the stadium!! So, while live commentators like NBC’s Tom Hammond and Ato Boldon, CBC’s Scott Russell and the BBC’s Michael Johnson all made their comments from state-of-the-art centers overlooking the track, our Caribbean guys had to depend on their small monitor and the video feed they received!
Listening to Hubert and Lance’s excellent commentary, one would never know the simple facilities from which they provided their live broadcast.
By the way, the blocking of NBC in Jamaica wasn’t a smart move, and I’m surprised nobody mentioned this before now. Regardless of the faults we find with NBC, in terms of quality of images (latest digital technology), comprehensiveness (NBC had 80 video cameras in Beijing), and commentary (Tom Hammond, Ato Boldon and Lewis Johnson brought a high level of excitement to their commentaries), this station (NBC) was, in my opinion, very good. Of course, this is not to lessen the value of CBC in any way, as CBC, without question, was very sensitive to Jamaicans, as can be seen from the numerous mini-documentaries these Canadians provided on Jamaican athletes, and the accurate comments they made.
My favourite CBC quote was when Scott Russell stated that, as of now, he would be changing his diet and eating nothing but Jamaican patties (LOL).
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