11 April, 2011
On Monday, April 4, high school students across Boston assembled as part of the 100+ member team working behind the scenes at the 115th Boston Marathon. WBZ-TV is the exclusive local broadcast partner of the Boston Marathon, providing the only start-to-finish coverage of the race.
WBZ news anchor and marathoner Lisa Hughes welcomed the students to WBZ. “We can't do this without you and we thank you for joining our team,” she added. Backing up Hughes, WBZ sports reporter Steve Burton also thanked the group adding, "You are our eyes and ears on race day. We depend on your reports.”
Former Boston Marathon race director and Hopkinton resident Tim Kilduff and Newton resident Fred Treseler, running industry specialist and head coach of the Emerging Elites program, founded the Race Spotwatch and Spotters’ Network team.
Kilduff and Treseler created the program twenty-six years ago in an effort to elevate live coverage by recruiting and training a team of "spotters" who are assigned at each mile along the Boston Marathon course. Spotters are responsible for tracking the progress of runners and relaying accurate and timely information back to the studio. “This critical information,” according to Treseler, “provides WBZ-TV with the opportunity to elevate the television viewer’s experience, bringing them inside the race.”
During the interactive training session, Kilduff, Treseler, Hughes and Burton shared with the students the experience and challenges of a live broadcast during a fast-paced, exciting sports event and the importance of the spotters’ roles on race day. Burton emphasized the trust that he as a reporter and Hughes as an anchor place in the spotters’ timely information communicated during the race.
Additionally, students were instructed and tested on a variety of elements that are critical to the live broadcast, including effective communication, vocabulary, athlete identification, building the field and mile splits. Burton and Hughes both reinforced the importance of sharing not just the facts, but editorial comment as well.
This year, over 100 spotters will take their race day positions along the course that stretches from Hopkinton to Boston, including Mackenzie Britt, Keaton Britt, Marquis Lockett, Brett Roskey and Kevin Windheuser, all representing Hopkinton High School. The remaining spotters represent over 20 high schools and colleges from 29 different towns and 6 counties.
