CP Communications Enjoys ‘Flawless’ Night at NCAA Title Game

From ensuring that the directors can speak to their camera operators to getting CBS Sports sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson’s wireless microphone up and running, CP Communications came through in the clutch this weekend in New Orleans.

A rental provider of production-communications equipment and services, CP Communications specializes in both wireless and wired systems for the broadcast industry. For CBS Sports during the NCAA Men’s Basketball’s Final Four weekend, it was the company’s job to keep the wireless comm network throughout the facility online.

“Things went flawlessly for us,” said Loren Sherman, wireless technician for CP Communications, following Monday night’s championship game. “We didn’t run into any problems.”

The size of the venue served up myriad challenges for broadcasters throughout the weekend, but working in the RF world had its advantages inside the Superdome.

“The fact that it’s indoors makes it a little bit easier,” says Laurence Myhre, wireless technician on-site for CP Communications. “The challenge comes from all of the different wireless devices. The frequency coordinator comes by to assign everybody to a certain channel. The fact that it’s in a dome helps us, though, because it shelters us from the outside world a lot.”

CP Communications had three technicians on-site, all with their own responsibilities. Myhre, who normally is a frequency coordinator for the NBA, handled low-power items, such as microphones for the on-air talents and IFB (interruptible foldback) devices. Sherman was entrusted with more high-powered technologies, including communications between cameras.

CBS also used an RF camera during Final Four weekend. The wireless-video job was under the director of Ernesto Quintanilla.

“It was a boring night,” cracked Myhre. “That’s just the way we like it. It means we did our job.”