ABC broadcast hit by static after sideline report on Trump-era comms worries
The short version
- President Trump attended Texas vs. Tennessee at Neyland Stadium but did not appear on College GameDay.
- Reporter Laura Rutledge said both teams cleared radio frequencies with the Secret Service, with coach-to-player communication the remaining concern.
- ABC's booth audio degraded into static almost immediately after her report.
- Chris Fowler apologized on air; the issues continued through the first half before clearing up at halftime.
- The cause of the audio problems was not confirmed.
Moments after Laura Rutledge explained how presidential security could affect coach communication at the Texas-Tennessee game, the network's booth audio deteriorated.
President Donald Trump attended Saturday afternoon's college football matchup between No. 1 Texas and No. 14 Tennessee at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. He did not, however, appear on ESPN's College GameDay despite widespread speculation that he might.
Following a commercial break in the first quarter, ABC carried the stadium's announcement introducing Trump to the crowd. Play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler noted the elevated security presence from the Secret Service and said fans had arrived well before kickoff.
Fowler also explained on air that when a president moves around during a game, it can interfere with the headsets coaches wear as well as communication with players on the field. A few minutes later, during an injury timeout, he handed off to sideline reporter Laura Rutledge for more on the situation.
Rutledge reported that she had confirmation from both programs that they had coordinated with the Secret Service to have their radio frequencies cleared. She said both schools believed coach-to-coach communication would function normally, while coach-to-player communication remained the one open concern, with alternate signaling methods prepared in case those lines went down.
According to Rutledge, sources close to the Secret Service declined to take an official position but told her that major events like this one involve electromagnetic deconfliction procedures.
Almost immediately after her report ended, the ABC broadcast's sound quality collapsed into harsh static. Fowler and analyst Kirk Herbstreit attempted to continue calling the game and discussed how Trump's attendance had affected headset communication during the College Football Playoff National Championship in January, but viewers could barely make out their commentary.
Fowler apologized on air for the technical trouble, telling the audience he was unsure whether viewers at home were hearing the same severe static the booth was experiencing and promising the network would work to resolve it. Herbstreit's audio in particular remained problematic as the issues continued.
The sound problems persisted on and off through the first and second quarters before the broadcast returned to normal audio by halftime. There was no confirmation of whether Trump's presence actually caused the malfunction or whether ABC simply suffered an extraordinary coincidence.
The timing did not go unnoticed online, where several observers pointed out the irony of the audio failing seconds after a report about communication safeguards, and one commenter joked that Herbstreit's dog might have chewed through his microphone wire.
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