Behind the Scenes with Disc Golf Network at 2023 PDGA Pro Worlds
Get an inside look at the production behind Disc Golf Network's coverage of the 2023 PDGA Pro Worlds. Meet Tom Rap, Media Operations Director and film live Disc Golf, who shares his expertise on bringing high-energy broadcasts to challenging outdoor locations. Tom discusses how his team overcomes technical obstacles, such as signal strength and connectivity issues, to deliver seamless broadcasts in some of the most remote areas for disc golf events. He also touches on the pre-production process, camera operations, and drone flying techniques used to capture stunning footage from the courses. With a background in live sports, Tom brings valuable perspective to his work with Disc Golf Network, ensuring that every event is broadcasted like an NFL or NBA game. From assessing locations to managing teams, Tom shares insights into the day-to-day challenges and triumphs of bringing disc golf's biggest events to life.
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all right I don't know I'll start that over my name is Tom rap I am a media operations supervisor for this phone number my title is uh media operations manager my fancy title is Media operations director film live disc golf I work on pre-production um I fly the Drone manage our team of camera Ops live view and Camera uh testing I have a background in live sports before I joined disc golf um so I have a little bit of perspective on it but it takes to put on like an NFL show an NBA show yep all right hands in like we do every day the Big Challenge we face is that we're constantly moving throughout the giant you know area some of the best courses are in the middle of nowhere with no sell signal the fact that we are able to even get it there is is pretty amazing we have two extra Wi-Fi bucks inside of the backpack unit which already has eight SIM cards so we're running 10 SIM cards to make sure that we can go live that's been our goal everywhere we go we just show up assess where we are and we make a broadcast Monday is driving from one event to the next event and then Tuesday is uh pre-production day you know we work non-stop we have to go from from place to place each week we don't really stay in one place longer than six days well it was called time yesterday six seven yeah and then oh yeah call time yesterday was seven a.m and we left at 8 30 p.m we showed up this morning at 6 30. we showed up this morning at 6 30 we'll probably leave 7 30 tonight 36 hours a weekend usually yeah it's definitely uh big drive it's intense but I'll be going around the crew and hitting everyone with us to make sure they're feeling loose I'm not trying to make it sound like we're doing this like impossible task every week I mean some weekends is easier than others some weekends it's harder than others yeah I mean we love what we do that's the only reason we're out here you know I bought a I bought a van this off season and I'm doing you know kind of tour life similar to players now we're...
