Arbor Broadcasting is a fully volunteer based broadcasting service that primarily streams the University of Michigan Women’s Ice Hockey team along with a multitude of sports at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor. The program is run by Mark Wiseman, the play-by-play announcer, and he is helped by his family and a few other kind volunteers.
Wiseman always wanted to get into sports broadcasting but his schooling ended up taking him elsewhere. For the past sixteen years, he has worked at Thomson Reuters in the training and consulting department where he has been training accountants and teaching them auditing software for the past eleven of those years. He jokes that he “puts people to sleep teaching in [his] day job, so [he] broadcasts sports in the evenings to give people excitement”.
Wiseman grew up playing sports but “never had a lick of talent”. He “always dreamed of being a play by play announcer ever since growing up listening to Ernie Harwell”. He would even mumble play by play to himself while sitting in his season ticket seats watching Michigan Men’s Hockey at Yost Ice Arena, but he had no idea if he had any talent until he was given the opportunity to try it out. He no longer has enough time to watch a majority of the men’s games due to all of the broadcasting he does now, so season tickets are not something that he and his wife invest in anymore.
In 2016 he decided to reach out to a few schools and was able to get in contact with the manager of the Pioneer Men’s Hockey Team, and that is where his
broadcasting experience began. The first time broadcasting, the equipment was limited and they were using the Apple streaming device which did not end up working out very well. They ended up trying out a program called Spreaker and found out that they were pretty good at what they were doing, so they continued and grew.
After broadcasting the Pioneer High School Men’s Hockey Team for the first season in the winter of 2016, they also went on to broadcast the Pioneer High School Men’s Lacrosse Team the following spring season. Wiseman says that he “enjoys broadcasting the fast sports”. Since then, they have picked up many more teams from Pioneer High School including women’s hockey, basketball, lacrosse, field hockey, and men’s football. The following season, one of the moms of a player on the Pioneer men’s hockey team who also had a daughter on the University of Michigan women’s hockey team, connected him with the team. They ended up broadcasting their first Michigan women’s hockey game on September 30, 2017. Wiseman says that this was “where [they] started and how it blossomed”.
Outside of his day job, Wiseman mentions that he broadcasts on average about 5 games a week at about 3 hours a game. He also spends countless hours behind the scenes doing different prep work tasks like memorizing the rosters of the away teams, creating graphics, and searching for stats. This adds up to him spending, on average, about 30 hours a week on content for Arbor Broadcasting. There is also at least one of his family members with him for each game. The time that this family puts into their content and support for each team is exceptional and should be heavily appreciated.
Wiseman also does occasional interviews with University of Michigan Women’s Hockey head coach, Jenna Trubiano, where they talk about topics such as recent and upcoming games, league and national rankings, and their visions for the program moving forward. During his interviews, it is apparent that he has dedicated a significant amount of time to prepping questions and comments to make the interview as efficient and engaging as possible.
The typical game day routine for Wiseman and Arbor Broadcasting is surprising considering they are not getting paid for their time and hard work. The evening before a game, Wiseman will get access to and start memorizing the rosters to make his play by play announcing the following day a lot smoother. He will then try to find as many stats as possible on the specific players, teams, and leagues. This can vary based on what sport and level he is broadcasting, simply because some sports and teams have easier access to records and stats. Then, the day of the game, Wiseman likes to arrive an hour before game time to ensure enough time to set up all of the equipment. They will then set up all of the cameras, gear, and microphones needed, along with the boxcast program that they use to broadcast the games. Some facilities allow them to connect the broadcast to the scoreboard which makes it possible to show a running clock graphic.
They also do an amazing job at posting on twitter, facebook, and instagram to stay in touch with the community and to gain as much support for each individual game as possible. Typically, there are two people that go into broadcasting a game, mainly because it is hard for the team to convince anyone to work without pay. [Mark] Wiseman’s wife, Christina Wiseman, or his father, James Wiseman, will usually run the camera while [Mark] Wiseman announces the play by play, controls the volumes, and runs the audio on the Spreaker program which includes the music between periods.
During the University of Michigan Women’s Hockey games, Mark Wiseman does a great job of keeping up with the play which makes it easier for the audience to understand who is doing what at each moment during the game. He also does a great job at keeping the audience engaged before the game and in between each of the periods. During on ice warm ups, he usually goes over the teams upcoming schedule and talks about the teams that they will be playing, if they have played them prior, and how the two teams have matched up. With the statistics that he went through the night before, he will list the top five point scorers for each team. Finally, he will go over each team’s prior game and do a scoring and penalty report.
While the first resurface is happening, Wiseman recaps recent ACHA (American Collegiate Hockey Association) scores, which is the national league that the University of Michigan Women’s Ice Hockey Team plays in, and current ACHA and CCWHA (Central Collegiate Women’s Hockey Association) rankings.
Lastly, while the second resurface is happening, Wiseman will go over recent scores of other University of Michigan teams, to show support for those teams as well. Many times, he will also cover recent scores from men’s and women’s NCAA hockey games. Many people watching have multiple hockey and sports connections so doing this keeps the audience interested and engaged while the current game is in intermission.
Arbor Broadcasting not only broadcasts a video version of the games they are working on but also an audio podcast version that allows just that many more people to get connected to their sports community.
When it comes to someone being exceptional, Wiseman struggles to say he is there, but that it is something he is always working towards and striving for. If anyone in the Michigan Women’s Hockey community was asked if Mark Wiseman and Arbor Broadcasting were exceptional, the answer would be an easy yes. Although Wiseman does not know if he will ever make it to that status, everyone around him knows that he already has. This is shown in his answer to the question: Is there anything else you would like the readers to know about Arbor Broadcasting? He responded with, “I know that everytime we are on air we are representing the university, the team, and the fans so I do my best to represent them in the best way possible. It is a huge honor and something that I take very seriously. We do not ever complain about coaches decisions, things the players did, or complain about officials because that is not fair and everyone is working their hearts out out there. I try my best to keep it positive for both teams because again everyone is playing their guts out out there and I feel like that is an important part of what we do. When we do have students helping us out, that is something I really do focus on because I think it is super important.” This is something that is very apparent when watching one of Arbor Broadcasting’s streams. Although Wiseman is there to support the home team, whether that be University of Michigan or Pioneer High School, he always shows equal and great respect to the away team as well. The little things like memorizing the away teams names and numbers the night before show just how important it is to Wiseman to make the experience as smooth, engaging, and respectful as possible for both teams. The family is so committed to supporting the University of Michigan women’s team, that they drove over 24 hours to follow the team out west to Utah for a three game series in games against Montana State University, University of Utah, and University of Massachusetts Amherst. Not only is all of their work volunteer and unpaid, they also went on this trip, which took extra time and expenses.
Wiseman is proud to be part of both the Pioneer High School sports and University of Michigan Women’s Ice Hockey communities. He says, “It is awesome to have that comradery and appreciation and people who are just wonderful. With the Michigan hockey fans it has been wonderful with the parents and everyone with Michigan Women’s Hockey, it has just been great.” He also talks about broadcasting for Pioneer High School and how fun it is when parents or anyone else approaches them after games and shows acceptance and appreciation. It is something that he usually fails to receive during his day job, and getting to go do something a little more exciting in the evenings is a fun switch. He mentions that the Michigan Women’s Hockey and Pioneer sports communities are the two communities that he has really felt a big part of and have helped him make some really good friendships in recent years.
One of Wiseman’s goals is to help support communities and help support the families and extended families who are not able to be there in person. He wants them to feel like they are a part of the team by being connected and getting to cheer for their team. He enjoys feeling like a part of a big community and it helps him feel appreciated when the parents and players also consider them a part of the community.
The University of Michigan Women’s Ice Hockey team has been in a long battle for support, resources, and recognition from the school and the entire hockey community. Wiseman and his family have been supporting the team since 2017, shortly after their debut with Pioneer High School. When asked about Arbor Broadcasting, Mariah Evans, the President of the team, says, “[they have] been very important to our team as well as viewers who may not be able to come to a game in person. Many of our out of state players’ parents rely on Arbor Broadcasting to watch their daughter play, and they never miss a game. Through their livestream and broadcasting we are able to reach a much larger audience, and their support has been monumental for the recent growth and recognition the program has received.” Not only have they helped the team reach out of state parents, but also possible recruits and other supporters that may otherwise not have access to the games.
Multiple times throughout my interview with Wiseman, he mentions how it is an honor to be able to do what he does, and how the teams and parents are so kind about letting him do what he does. He says, “I am so appreciative of how kind the families have been, they let me pretend I am someone cool for a few hours each day and that means a lot.” The families and extended families of players would say the exact same about Wiseman and Arbor Broadcasting. The hours of work that they put into the teams is so greatly appreciated. Jonathan Lindahl, a parent of a player on the University of Michigan Women’s Hockey team stated, “We so appreciate the ability to watch our daughter’s college games from our home in Minnesota. Our kids’ hockey has always been such a huge part of our lives as a family, and having access to [our daughter’s] games in her first year away at college has been a wonderful blessing. Not only is Wiseman making it possible for these families and extended families to be a part of the team but he is doing so in a manner that can easily be described as exceptional. Lindahl continues, “Perhaps the best part is that we can really tell how much the crew at Arbor Broadcasting genuinely enjoys being around the team and being a part of the game day experience. The selfless dedication their small crew exhibits – in the time and energy they put into the actual broadcasts, but also in the prep work, travel, and expense – is truly amazing! Arbor Broadcasting is increasing the visibility and legitimacy, perhaps even long-term viability, of the U-Michigan women’s hockey program. At the same time, they are making parents hundreds of miles away like us very happy.”
When looking at the future of Arbor Broadcasting, Wiseman hopes to, in some way, get more students involved. Most people that are interested in helping out are interested in the announcing aspect, but a few wrong words on air could lead to other issues. Ideally, Arbor Broadcasting would be able to find students interested in broadcasting through helping run cameras, create graphics, and direct the broadcasts in the chance they are able to find enough people to run multiple cameras. At this point, local rules disallow them from making any money off of high school games, which is a majority of the games that they broadcast. Wiseman says the ultimate goal would be for Arbor Broadcasting to break through and start making money, but that he never plans to or wants to charge people for watching a broadcast. This is again, another example of why Wiseman and his crew are exceptional, because what they are doing is for the sole purpose of connecting people to their sports communities, no matter how many hours and resources that takes.
There are many, many people who are greatly appreciative of Mark Wiseman, his family, and what they are doing for the University of Michigan and Pioneer High School sports communities in Ann Arbor. This crew deserves all of the appreciation they get and more.
If you would like to donate to support Arbor Broadcasting and their goal to help others in their community, you can do so by visiting the arborbroadcasting.com home page and clicking the blue “Donate” button beneath the most recent broadcast upload.
Resources:
Arbor Broadcasting. Arbor Broadcasting, https://arborbroadcasting.com/.
Wiseman, Mark. Personal Interview. 9 February 2023.
