For Alan May, working on the Capitals’ broadcasts is a true labor of love. He enjoys serving as the lead analyst on “Capitals Central” and “Capitals Postgame Live” on Comcast SportsNet.
May moves seamlessly between his studio duties to interact with the game broadcast crew. He works on set in the CSN studios in Bethesda with co-host Al Koken, and from time to time with Russ Thaler. I spoke to May just before he was headed to the set:
May on how he prepares for a broadcast » I get to the studio at around 2 p.m. and Al [Koken], Russ [Thaler] and the producers meet to talk about what we will be looking at that night. So let’s say I want to do a segment on Alex Semin and how when he scores the Caps are 12-0 this season. We talk about players we want to focus on during the game. We are constantly adding items to the pregame show until we get on the set.
May on how he watches the game » I watch the game in a conference room on a 50-inch flat screen with Al, Russ and our production team. As a former player and coach, I watch for trends and key points of the game. During the game, things get very interesting because I am really animated and I like to yell at the screen and sometimes curse at the TV just like fans. Some of our staff wanted to put a camera in the room, but fortunately Al Koken talked them out of it. It would be entertaining, but they definitely would have to use the bleep button. We really watch the game and make plenty of notes and the producers and editors get to work so that we can really break the game down. Then we really work hard and put the elements together for a great postgame show.
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
