Template:Did you know nominations/Announcerless Game


 * The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as |this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by BlueMoonset (talk) 00:10, 20 December 2015 (UTC)

Announcerless Game

 * ... that on December 20, 1980, NBC broadcast an entire NFL game without any announcers to boost its ratings?


 * ALT1:... that while the graphics technology existed to use a score bug and running clock during the December 20, 1980 Announcerless Game between the Jets and Dolphins, the NBC production crew didn't think to use it?
 * ALT2:... that the Orange Bowl's P.A. announcer was asked to provide more information about the game than usual to make up for the absence of television announcers during a December 20, 1980, New York Jets–Miami Dolphins game?
 * ALT3:... that the December 20, 1980, Announcerless Game telecast on NBC led young Mike Tirico to both doubt his sportscasting skills and worry that he would have to change to a different career?
 * ALT4:... that while the December 20, 1980, Announcerless Game telecast on NBC was considered a failed experiment, Dick Enberg said it taught him to sometimes let the moment speak for itself?
 * Reviewed: Kevin Jordan (American football)
 * Comment: As suggested I would like this to run December 20. Yes, I know, that's in two days ... I will be putting in a request for expedited review at WT:DYK.

Created by Daniel Case (talk). Self-nominated at 07:24, 18 December 2015 (UTC).


 * Symbol question.svg the article seems to pass, but with regards to original hook, the source states "the game means little" to NBC. I don't know if that is explicitly the same as having low ratings. I get the feeling it was more of an experiment with little risk involved rather than an attempt to increase ratings for that particular event.  Jolly  Ω   Janner  08:54, 18 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Basically, yes, it was an experiment. Neither team was going to the playoffs, so it wasn't likely to draw much interest outside of the two markets while it was being broadcast nationally. But as for the ratings, the ESPN article I used as my main source says: "And, company man that he was, Ohlmeyer had an eye on the ratings. NBC, with its smaller AFC markets, was giving CBS all it could handle and this might be a way to squeeze a few more points out of an unattractive matchup." Daniel Case (talk) 17:20, 18 December 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ I have reconfigured the footnotes so that the first graf is supported entirely by the ESPN story. Daniel Case (talk) 17:26, 18 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Symbol possible vote.svg Daniel Case, the unlinked QPQ listing is odd; so far as I can tell the article is old, not recently expanded or a passed GA, and not nominated at DYK. If this is to make it, a valid QPQ needs to be submitted right away. BlueMoonset (talk) 12:15, 18 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm surprised it didn't link. And I thought it was recently expanded. Let me check. Daniel Case (talk) 17:20, 18 December 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ I had given the wrong article. It has the right one now. See what happens when you do this very late at night? Daniel Case (talk) 17:22, 18 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Symbol confirmed.svg New enough, long enough, neutrally written, well referenced, no close paraphrasing seen. The first hook is shortest and to the point; hook ref verified and cited inline. QPQ done. Good to go. Yoninah (talk) 18:35, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Symbol possible vote.svg Sets for 20th are full. When the 20th passes by, the hook will no longer be hook-y. I suggest an ALT please. George Ho (talk) 19:27, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Creating ALTs isn't necessary ... I just struck the "35 years ago today" from every hook and replaced it with the date of the game (Prompter action on this would have eliminated this problem, BTW). Although, to be fair, I did think of another hook or two to add as suggestions. Daniel Case (talk) 19:46, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Can you eliminate dates except the year? They are no longer necessary. Also, I reformatted quotes in the article as they appear to be long. George Ho (talk) 19:48, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Funny, during a recent (sucessful) GA nom I was told to merge blockquotes longer than the ones you created back into their parent paragraphs, so I did this one that way. Can we be consistent with how we handle these? Daniel Case (talk) 19:58, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
 * as long as a set has not been promoted to the Main Page, an administrator can always update a last-minute hook to the Queue. And as long as a set is still in the Prep Area (which Prep 4 still is), any editor, including yourself, can promote it and swap out a different hook.
 * Personally, I think this hook is ready to go with the original hook. I would even shorten it more:
 * Symbol confirmed.svg ALT5: ... that 35 years ago today, NBC broadcast an entire NFL game without any announcers? Yoninah (talk) 19:52, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Symbol possible vote.svg I think this is good as part of OTD. If featured, it would no longer be eligible. Otherwise, I'm still not convinced as Yoninah objects my objections. Meanwhile, Daniel, please help me add this into Selected anniversaries/December 20. It's currently protected there. George Ho (talk) 20:14, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

Adding more ALTs would give Yoninah an advantage to approve one of the hooks again. I wish I had promoted this sooner, but this nomination has plenty of time to be promoted, even after the day will pass. Here's something unrelated to OTD-ish:


 * ALT6: ... that no U.S. networks have broadcasted sports announcer-less since NBC's 1980 Announcerless Game until Fox Sports Detroit Plus started doing so in 2013 for its premium subscribers?
 * ALT7: ... that Fox Sports Detroit Plus broadcasted some baseball games without announcers for its premium subscribers since NBC did the same for an American football match in 1980?

I'm doing my best. --George Ho (talk) 21:13, 19 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Symbol confirmed.svg Restoring Yoninah's tick and promoting nomination based on it and the original special request, which is still possible to fulfill; OTD is irrelevant at the moment as nothing regarding this article is scheduled, and I don't believe this article wasn't a great candidate for it anyway. BlueMoonset (talk) 00:10, 20 December 2015 (UTC)