GUTV Alum Revive Legacy Digital Production Class

Behind sections 101 and 118 of the McCarthey Athletics Center sits a room full of machines, screens and broadcast equipment that hosts 11 students who bring Gonzaga University athletic events to ESPN+. It’s part of a returning GUTV “legacy class” DGMP 482: Remote Digital Productions.

GU alumni Steven Karr and Greg Talbott both went through the course when they were students and have returned as professors to bring the class back to the broadcast program this semester after a 12-year hiatus. Students in the course learn everything that goes into a sports broadcast before producing five volleyball broadcasts on ESPN+.

“We are providing fun and actual opportunities in the workforce for a lot of these kids,” Karr says. “Back in the day, it was a feeder program, not just into SWX but also Root Sports when they’d do games here and for the Pac-12 Network. We ended up being a feeder system into live sports production. And that's what we're trying to create.”

When Talbott and Karr were students, the class looked a bit different. Sports were not broadcast on streaming services, so it was a unique opportunity for students to have hands-on experience in a class producing broadcasts. Karr said the class was the most fun that any student in the broadcast department could take. The course gave students real- life experience while forming life-long friendships.

“We loved it because it was kind of a culminating class in the broadcast major,” Talbott says. “You spend so much time learning the basics, and then you get to combine it with your passion for Gonzaga sports. And the students were and still are always creative, always hard working and the product always ends up being really good.”

Karr and Talbott both left GU after graduating to pursue careers in sports broadcasting. They kept in touch over the years and often discussed returning to Spokane to bring back the class. Karr returned to GU in 2021 and is the video broadcast and production coordinator for GU Athletics. Talbott is a play-by-play broadcaster for the Pac-12 Network and an English teacher at Mead High School. Now that both are in Spokane, the stars aligned to revive the class.

With the help of John Collett, a professor in GU’s Integrated Media department, the two managed to get the course approved for its return this fall.

“It's the honor of a lifetime for us to come back as professors after loving our education here as students,” Talbott says.

The first weeks of the semester were spent lecturing students on different aspects of a broadcast with guests from major sports networks speaking to the class about their experiences and advice. After the initial weeks, the class applied everything they learned and produced a broadcast. Now the weeks rotate between creating a broadcast and rewatching that broadcast to dissect its strengths and points for improvement.

“What we always have them do the week after the game is break down film like they're an athlete,” Talbott says. “We go minute by minute through a broadcast. We analyze it together from the top, because just like an athlete, you have to watch tape to actually get better.”

Students in the class are already moving to work beyond the classroom, helping with productions for SWX in various roles. Karr says that giving students opportunities like he had as a student is what makes this role worth it.

Both Karr and Talbott hope to continue the class because it was foundational to their success, and they want to give as many students opportunities to learn as possible.

"Gonzaga is such a sport-loving school,” says Talbott. “So, giving them a class where they are able to put that passion for sports and broadcasting to use together, in live sports broadcasting, is a blessing for everyone involved.”