Today’s interviewee is Greg Talbott, the sports director of WSAV-TV in Savannah. Talbott will be doing the play-by-play for the Ware County-Benedictine game Friday night in Waycross. Talbott also provides play-by-play for WSAV’s telecasts of Georgia Southern athletics.
Greg Talbott, WSAV-TV sports director
1. What is exciting to you about the Ware-Benedictine game, and how big of a game is that for your coverage area? “We’re thrilled to put BC at Ware on our airwaves because it’s got pretty much everything you want in a great high school football game: a pair of undefeated teams both ranked top five in the state, incredibly passionate fan bases, a historic venue in Waycross and a pair of major college prospects at quarterback. I talked to both coaches yesterday, and both think it’s got the potential to be a shootout because the offenses are so potent.”
2. What impresses you about each team? "Coach Jason Strickland and Ware rebuilt their whole offense around junior QB Thomas Castellanos, and they’ve looked elite because of it. They’ve beaten three consecutive ranked opponents, and Castellanos has already thrown for 1,000 yards, run for over 500 and scored 17 touchdowns. He’s been offered by Georgia Tech, Kansas, Coastal Carolina and Akron, but I’ve been told any team in the country would offer him as a running back or athlete if he wasn’t committed to playing quarterback. If he continues on his record-setting path, even more QB offers will roll in. Teams like Florida State, Duke and Louisville are showing him love on social media.
“BC is led by a highly recruited quarterback of their own, Holden Geriner. He’s been offered by Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Tennessee, West Virginia, Florida State and more. His favorite target, Trent Broadnax, committed to Duke before the season started and also had Power 5 offers to Virginia, Colorado, Wake Forest and more.” [The color commentator for the game, Calvin Wilson, has coached Castellanos and Geriner on offseason 7-on-7 teams.]
3. Your job allows you to do a variety of fun things, from anchoring, to broadcasting various sports, etc. What do you like about broadcasting a high school football game? “I’ve been lucky enough to cover everything from PGA Tour events to SEC championship games at WSAV, but doing the play-by-play for our weekly high school football games is my favorite part of the job. Georgia communities have so much passion that it’s easy to get emotionally on board with these kids and their journeys. It also helps that our WSAV telecasts, although Savannah is media market 90, are truly major market quality. We’ve got six, seven cameras on the field every Friday, an NBC-based graphics package and a fully stocked crew of station employees who produce the heck out of the show. When Thomas Castellanos scores his first TD of the game, we’ll throw to a great looking close-up replay in the end zone, followed by a slick-looking graphic of the colleges that have offered him scholarships. To have had a hand in the improved quality of our telecasts since I arrived is what I’m proudest of in my nearly five years here.”
4. So much has gone to live streaming. Why are not more local TV stations doing high school telecasts live? “I wish every TV market in the country had a station committed to televising games at a high level, but the truth is it’s expensive, time-consuming and difficult to get off the ground. We’ve got a production crew of about 15 people who are basically all full-time employees at WSAV who flip from marketing mode or floor-crew mode to football mode once a week. It’s not an easy endeavor, but it’s the most emotionally worthwhile thing we do.”
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