A friend in need, Is a friend indeed
- Corbin Waugh
- Mar 26, 2023
- 2 min read
I am not allowed to use personal images, as the University of Tennessee owns it.
At my current internship,
I have learned that being prepared for any situation really makes your day a little easier. I was carrying a camera at the Tennessee vs Alabama game in the fall of 2022. It was an event that captured the attention of the entire college football world and truly pole-vaulted Tennessee to the forefront of the NCAA Rankings. I was carrying a wireless Sony PXW and I was shooting my normal shot, trying to get some action shot that I could use for slow-mo videos. I was wearing a headset in-order to speak with other cameramen and the ESPN truck. I heard news that makes any cameraman's heart sink. I heard they lost my signal and another cameras signal. A quick diagnosis and I realized that although our normal set-up worked every other weekend this weekend was a little different. 101,915 fans inside the stadium, that also means that there was at least 101,915 signals that can interfere with the wireless cams. I thought back to my training and remembered a little side conversation I had with an engineer and something dinged in my head. I knew what to do. I hurried over to the wireless receiver and noticed that the receiver antenna had been broken off*.
This was due to a rain protector being placed over the receiver wrong. I called it over the radio and waited for a response, I was met with a answer, "We don't have an extra see what you can do." I was up a creek without a paddle, I thought that my day was over before it had started. I went under the stadium to the control room and discussed with the engineer about potential fixes. As we decided there was nothing we could do the door opened and an ESPN engineer handed us a replacement antenna. He said he had found the antenna in his travel bag and he had used them at his last job. I could not be more thankful to this man but it also taught me a valuable lesson. You must be prepared for every situation. You cannot prepare enough, and every plan should have a failsafe. After the antenna was replaced we had a smooth game and I am forever in debt to a man, who I don't even know his name.
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