0402 – Silence to Let Sound Tell the Story

2022.02.06 – 0402 – Silence to Let Sound Tell the Story

Silence to let sound tells the story

Radio consultant Tracy Johnson tells the story[1] of former Dodgers baseball play-by-play ‘personality announcer’ Vin Scully and quotes his commentary[2] of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run, the blast that “made him baseball’s home-run king”.

Scully later talked[3] about using silence to capture the drama when he was asked what he did as soon as he made the home run call.

“(I) shut up.

 I try as hard as I can to call the play as quickly and as accurately and then shut up, there are no words better than the roar of the crowd… When Henry Aaron hit the home run, I put the microphone down, got up and went to the back of the booth cos I had nothing to say. The place went bananas.… I think I poured a little coffee and I stood there and just revelled in the sounds and the sights. And I’ve timed it since and it’s about a minute and 24 seconds without a word spoken and that’s a long time in radio but I had nothing better to say. And it also then gave me time to calm down and think and then go back and talk about the importance to America.”

[1] https://tjohnsonmediagroup.com/blog/power-of-the-pause/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvfYg_kNtTk&t=290s

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1207&v=0ocs1zJIkUY&feature=emb_logo (from 17.22) 

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