Ben MacMurchy’s Post

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Proprietor/Producer at bm audioworks

As the public address announcer and online scorekeeper for Renfrew's two junior hockey teams, I work in a wheelchair-accessible, glassed-in area known as the "bubble", above the north end of the ice in the myFM Centre's Deslaurier Arena. The regular "press box", aka the Peter Clark Gondola, is not wheelchair-accessible, plus there's really only enough room for the broadcast commentators, the DJ, and maybe one or two others. In previous seasons, I worked from a table in the open, at the south end of the stands, with both of my laptops running on batteries, and my hands getting very cold sometimes. While it's unfortunate that the full-time wheelchair user who often watched games from here has passed on, the bubble is a more comfortable spot, plus I have plug-in power up here, and each team's GM will usually join me for the duration of each game. A bonus is that I don't have spectators in the way or distracting me; some of the scratched and/or injured players for the home teams may join me in here, if they're not subbing for my wife on DJ duty, but they're usually well-behaved. The laptop on the left of this photo is for web browsing and for my scripts; I have a general game script, and a separate Google Doc for sponsor mentions, and I try to keep my use of paper to a minimum. The laptop on the right runs the HockeyTech LeagueStat system, which I use for generating a live gamesheet, i.e. keeping time, logging goals and penalties as they happen, and adding other pertinent information - all of this info appears on the Central Canada Hockey League (Junior A) and Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League (Junior B) websites. I use a wireless mic for PA duty, and the two-way radio at the bottom-right is used to communicate with ice-level personnel; the timekeeper or his assistant will call up goal and penalty info as soon as the referees bring it to them. Win or lose, it's fun volunteering for the local junior hockey teams, as well as billeting a player.

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