Sports In The Making
Brian Nupnau - Engineering Manager, Game Creek Video
Episode Summary
Brian Nupnau has worked on the biggest sporting events in the world during his extensive career, working on broadcast television trucks that cost millions of dollars and handling network sports productions that continually get more complex every year. Some of the events he's worked on include the Super Bowl, the College Football National Championship MegaCast on ESPN and the Masters. Brian shares stories from behind-the-scenes in the tv-truck world that includes some fires to go along with it.
Episode Notes
- 3:26 - What Brian does as Manager of Engineers at Game Creek Video.
- 4:20 - What a television truck is made up of.
- 5:33 - How much mobile television trucks cost.
- 6:32 - How trucks are custom built for sports networks.
- 8:08 - How the trucks are planned for which event and how they are integrated. together.
- 10:43 - Planning ESPN’s MegaCast College Football National Championship.
- 12:29 - How much dedication an tv truck engineer puts into a production.
- 13:38 - How working in mobile television is like a brotherhood.
- 14:47 - How much influence with the networks when putting on a major sporting event.
- 16:55 - What a truck engineer’s responsibility entails.
- 18:17 - How they maintain the tv truck when a piece of equipment breaks.
- 19:56 - How he’s able to manage demanding producers and directors.
- 20:38 - How Brian started in the tv business when he was 8 years old.
- 22:15 - How he worked with news networks all over the world as a teenager.
- 23:08 - How Brian started working on major events.
- 24:44 - Brian was hired the same day of an event when another engineer had quit.
- 25:44 - Most challenging event Brian has ever been a part of.
- 29:55 - How engineers can save the show with technical problems.
- 30:32 - How he’s had to literally put out fires on a tv production.
- 32:46 - How Game Creek plans for productions that are not near a big city.
- 34:16 - What events Brian has worked in his career.
- 35:29 - What the differences between sports, political and entertainment events are.
- 36:55 - How many trucks are in Game Creek’s fleet.
- 37:25 - How Game Creek tv trucks are named.
- 38:48 - How each tv truck has a “personality” and how Brian adjusts to it.
- 39:39 - When a “Gremlin” make it difficult to maintain the equipment on a truck.
- 40:20 - What the best thing about what Brian does as a mobile tv truck engineer.
- 41:29 - Best accomplishment of his career.
- 42:06 - What’s it’s like being a truck engineer for anyone who is interested in this industry.
- 44:08 - What qualities an aspiring engineer should have.
- 44:49 - How someone can find out more about Game Creek Video’s apprenticeship program.
- 46:32 - What some of the advantages of being a truck engineer are.
- 47:32 - What the next big event is for Brian and what to keep in mind for that event. (recorded prior to the cancellation of sports because of the COVID-19 pandemic)
- 49:33 - Brian shares a funny story working on auto racing.
- 51:39 - What he would like sports fans to know about the industry he works in.