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Meet the U.S. Radio Olympics Team

They win the gold medal for radio broadcasting

Mike Eaby runs the board for the “Today at Sochi” program.

First in a series.

WestwoodOne, working with NBC Sports, is the exclusive U.S. radio source for coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

So how does programming like this — WestwoodOne “Today in Sochi” hosts John Tautges and Kevin Kugler speaking with Snow Board Slope Style gold medal winner Sage Kotsenburg — get onto the air?

Well, that guy in the shadow peering into the camera is one reason. Meet Mike Eaby, VP and coordinating producer for WestwoodOne Sports. Though he has a nice title, he’s running a board in Sochi. Rather, he’s running “the” board in Sochi. The WestwoodOne Sochi mission is a lean operation run by skilled and multitalented veterans — the broadcast equivalent of a SEAL team.

Let’s meet some of the members of the WestwoodOne team at the Sochi Olympics.

Here’s the production team at a meeting.

This is Mitch Glider, VP of engineering. He is the engineer in charge of the WestwoodOne Sochi venture. This is his fourth Olympics.

The gang works on something to be aired.

Aaron Cummins, producer, WestwoodOne Sports and managing editor, WestwoodOneSports.com, works at one of the edit stations in the bull pen.

Tim Parker, operations manager, NBC Sports Radio, works at one of the bull pen edit stations. Note the Olympic Village maps on the wall.

Bob Bender, director, production, WestwoodOne Sports, gathers material in the bull pen.

Zach Akey, manager broadcast IT and engineering, works at the engineering and transmission station. Along with Mitch Glider, he was instrumental in the design of the WestwoodOne audio ecosystem at Sochi. Sochi is Zach’s second Olympics.

When all works, as it always does, here is the result — happy show host Kevin Kugler. (Or he’s hit the vodka and is about to break out into a Cossack Sabre Dance.)

Related:
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