Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey as they continue with what looks to be a long recovery. We have been working with several news agencies to help bring live hurricane coverage to the country to keep people informed and aware before, during and after the storms.
A special thank you to all those who have helped in our efforts. Much of our team in Florida is still without power, but we were fortunate not to sustain any major damage or injury. Our Orlando office is slowly coming back online, and next week our guys will be digging back into the many rebuilds, repairs, and deployments that happen in Florida.
Everybody is still playing football, even in Florida.
Justin Roszak will be on hand for the CBS SEC Game of the Week down in the Swamp, where the Gators host the Tennessee Volunteers. Justin and his family just got power restored to their home on Thursday night and he was finally able to get some laundry done before he hit the road the very next morning. This is just one example of the sacrifices our guys in the field make to get the job done for our customers and for football fans nationwide.
New Florida resident Kenny Holley is also working in challenging conditions. He was in Tampa Friday night, providing a multi-path at-home transmission via fiber for ESPN’s broadcast of the South Florida game. From there he heads up to Washington, D.C., for another at-home handoff to fiber for the WNBA playoffs.
Rick Ball finds himself in Lincoln, Nebraska where he will be providing 4K/UHD transmission services for Fox’s broadcast of Northern Illinois vs. the Huskers on DirecTV’s 4K channel. Right next to him John May will be in the CK48 with a backup HD transmission path for Fox.
Mike Howley is at Ohio State University for Fox this weekend, covering Army’s visit to the Horseshoe. From there, that truck heads up to Cleveland for a week of golf at Canterbury Golf Club.
Mike Sheehan is in Berkeley, where the Cal Bears host the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday night.
Wes Hill is down the coast at the LA Coliseum providing transmission services for Fox’s broadcast of the big Texas vs. USC game.
Dave Buckman’s in Morgantown, West Virginia, where the Mountaineers host the Delaware State Hornets.
Dave Mitchell’s got high school football in the Pittsburgh suburbs on Friday night for the big inter-city rivalry of Gateway vs. Armstrong in Monroeville.
Dennis Smith is closer to home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, for Edinboro College’s visit to the Golden Rams of West Chester University.
Last, but not least, they’re playing college football in Canada! Seattle-based engineer is crossing into Vancouver, British Columbia, to uplink the homecoming game for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. The Saskatchewan Huskies don’t know what they’re in for!
Another event we are proud to be a part of this week is Farm Aid 2017, live from Key Bank Pavilion in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania on Saturday night. Steve Hagerty and K18 will be on-hand for this all-day festival that brings together music, food and activities that put people in touch with where food is grown.
The festival even includes its own HOMEGROWN concessions, food and supplies that are local and organically grown. The lineup includes Farm Aid board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Mathews, who help organize the annual event, as well as Sheryl Crow, The Avett Brothers, Margo Price, Blackberry Smoke and many others. Tickets have been sold out since they went on sale but you can download the Farm Aid App and view the concerts there.
Another interesting event we covered this week was the Cassini probe’s last moments as it sent its final pictures back to Earth before crashing into Saturn. Wes Hill was at Caltech to bring down these striking images from space.
And yes, we’ve still got all the golf on our schedule.
Dave Brin had to navigate around some fires in Oregon to get our C21 truck to Boise, Idaho at the Hillcrest Country Club for the Albertson’s Open through Sunday. From there he heads home to Sacramento, where the truck will be in place for Pebble Beach next week.
Kevin Spangler is up in Lake Forest, Illinois with C43 to the Conway Farms Country Club for the BMW Championship Event through Sunday as well. Next, Kevin will head to Atlanta for the Payne Stewart Award that is given out by the PGA every year to a player whose “values align with the character, charity and sportsmanship” of the ceremony’s namesake. This year’s recipient, Stewart Cink, will be presented his award at the ceremony in Atlanta on September 19.
Stay tuned for next week when we bring you the Tour Championship from East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta and the President’s Cup from Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City.
Jim Flowers, Mike Lemieux, and project manager Keith Valeri are in Pittsburgh this weekend for UFC Fight Night live from the PPG Paints Arena (formerly Consol Energy Center). This is another great opportunity for our guys in the field to have a look at the PSSI International Teleport, and for our new-to-PSSI teleport employees to see how we manage a big event in the field! We are continuing to make improvements to our teleport that will make our monitoring and distribution capabilities second to none in the industry.
Our C27 NASCAR truck is already at Chicagoland Speedway to bring you this weekend’s race with Andy Kehn and Kyle Meyer in the drivers’ seats. Next week we head to Loudon, New Hampshire for more NASCAR action.
WWE is out West this week, and the CK30 mobile teleport is paying visits to our Las Vegas and Los Angeles offices for some quick maintenance while we have the chance. The Monday night WWE Raw show is in San Jose and their Tuesday WWE SMACK DOWN show is live from Oracle Arena in Oakland with our trusty WWE all-stars Zane Michaels and Terry Glover at their usual stations. From there the guys head down to Los Angeles for the No Mercy pay-per-view at the Staples Center.
Also in Las Vegas this week, we are bringing you a week’s worth of boxing action that culminates in the HBO pay-per-view broadcast of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in the boxing ring at T-Mobile Arena, Saturday night. Our C14, CK30, Frontline, K19, K34 and Wolfcoach trucks are on-site with engineering staff including Paul Blomstrom, Joe Cox, Mark Huss, Ray Loyko, Matt Huennekens, Nathan Holsey and John Bright. We’re bringing you all the associated media events, ESPN’s First Take, the Weigh-In and, of course, the MAIN EVENT! Project managers Jason Land, David Gallardo and Michael Hollander are working side-by-side with event EIC Tracy Michaels to ensure the fight gets from the T-Mobile Arena to viewers around the world.
And it’s Emmys weekend in Los Angeles. Michael Hollander hustles back from Las Vegas to join engineers Brian Blomstrom and Chris Hovden and project managers Logan Schinto and Tommy Lopez at the Microsoft Theater for the 69th Annual Emmy Awards, live on CBS and on networks around the world.
And, that’s a wrap for us this week!