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Sad News
When the phone rings at 5 AM, it’s almost never good news, and this morning was no exception. This call brought news of worst kind. A freelance audio engineer friend called to tell me that Ron Scalise, one of the people most responsible for bringing me into the television audio fold, died in a car wreck sometime last night.
Back when I was a freelancing tadpole, Ron was the audio mixer, or A1, for NASCAR on ESPN. In my days BT (Before Television) I considered myself an avid, maybe even rabid racing fan. I would plan my Sunday around The Race, and watched nearly every single broadcast. When racing was on TV, nothing else mattered. Then it dawned on me that there must be a lot of people that worked on those races. To me, a HUGE race fan, what job could be better? And so, a very long and strange career in television audio began, with me taking whatever bull riding, bowling, or public access talk show job that was offered, with the one goal of eventually working on racing.
One day that opportunity came, and I lied my way into being an A2, or audio assist, at a Busch race in Nazareth, PA for The Nashville Network. Though I knew nothing about the mechanics of racing audio, I either did something right, or more likely lied convincingly enough, because soon after I was working on every Busch race TNN had. The racing audio door had opened a crack. Through those TNN connections, I managed to fake my way on to an ESPN Winston Cup race, which to me was the Big Leagues. I finally got my big break. I had a chance to work on one of the races that I’d watched for so many years.
Unlike today’s racing TV compounds, which can consist of a ridiculous fifty or more production trucks, back in those dark ages, we used just one single truck. And it was in Watkins Glen, NY, in that single truck, called ESPN EX-1, that I met Ron Scalise for the first time.
I still remember the meeting, clear as day. I nervously walked around that TV compound, without knowing anyone really, deathly afraid of screwing up this one opportunity. Ron, who had been mixing racing for ESPN as long as there had been racing on ESPN was finally introduced to me. “Frenchy, huh? Well good. Get to work.”
And that was it, for that day. A few days and several hundred thousand miles of cable later, Ron, almost offhandedly, gave me the break that opened the doors for almost everything that followed in my career.
“Frenchy, this is Donna, the head of ESPN’s Remote Operations (crewing) department. She wants to go out to the camera positions and see the track, and needs a driver. Since you aren’t doing anything, go get your golf cart, you’re going to be her tour guide.”
Whether Ron knew what he was doing or not, I’ll never know, but getting to talk one on one with the head of freelance crewing was the rarest of rare opportunities for a newbie, because crewers are the ones that hire freelancers, and to a crewer, most times a freelancer is just a voice on a phone that gets hired for a job. Ron set up a face to face audience for me, just like that. It wasn’t long after that race I started getting regular calls from ESPN, and what was until that point a scary, sit-and-wait-for-the-phone-to-ring, day to day way to scrape together some nickels to get by became an actual freelancing career.
Ron and I became friends, that is to say that I became one of ‘Ron’s Boys.’ It was pretty simple. If Ron liked you, you worked, and worked a lot. When the great sport of NASCAR left ESPN for NBC and FOX, Ron became ESPN’s Senior Audio Production Supervisor. We sort of lost touch at that point, as I’d moved on to work for the WWE. But, in the television freelance world, it’s never really ‘goodbye’, it’s more like ‘See you down the road.’ A few years later, he called out of the blue to offer me a position on the X Games. That call that led to several years of working on the X Games, as well as to NBA on ESPN and various other jobs.
Now Ron and I didn’t always agree on everything, didn’t see eye to eye on every issue – I think just about anyone that worked with Ron could say that. But at the end of the day, those disagreements didn’t really matter. At the end of the day, when we sat down for a cocktail or, as they were more commonly known, a ‘hydraulic dinner,’ the inside jokes would fly fast and furiously, and whatever else was soon forgotten in fits of laughter.
The Winter X Games a few years ago in Aspen was the last time I saw Ron.
It boggles my mind to even write that.
And now, because the television freelancer community is so small, our grapevine will deliver this sad news faster and more efficiently than CNN ever could. Shock and devastation will turn to sadness at our loss, but as always, the show will go on, because it must. It’s what we do.
Ron Scalise 1953 – 2007Ron, I’ll see you down the road.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Rosario (16 yrs), R.J. (11 yrs), and Brenna (10 yrs).
Contributions can be made to:
Ron Scalise Memorial Fund
C/O Kurt Heitmann
200 Clearbrook Rd
Elmsford, NY 10523
All checks should be made out to:
Ron Scalise Memorial Fund.
Author: frenchy
16 Responses to “Sad News”
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Unfortunately I never met Mr. Scalise – I was looking forward to an opportunity to work with him. It’s obvious from the sentiments of so many of his friends and peers that he was a visionary in the audio field.
Thanks Frenchy for putting your thoughts out there for all of us.
Cody Coe
over the way too may years, Ron was always and interesting person to work with.
What he believed in he would always back to the hilt, and even listened to an truck/transmission engineer every now and then.
there is another void in the universe
It’s been a long time since I shared truck space with Ron, but I know that there are many, many people throughout the industry who are as shocked and saddened by this news as I am. The years have not diminished my memories of him as a great artist and a wonderful, funny guy. My heart goes out to his family and friends.
From John Daly at thedalyplanet.tv
Word started to circulate through the sports TV community on Friday morning. One of ESPN’s best known “crew guys” had lost his life late Thursday night in a single car accident on a Connecticut highway.
Ron Scalise was only 54 years old. In his decades of hard work on the road, Scalise had become an audio legend. As we said many times this season, the ESPN audio of the NASCAR races was outstanding. It had to be, if Ron was in charge.
Over the years, Scalise had moved-on to become what many consider the “audio guru” of sports television. He wanted to educate both the industry and the public on the incredible changes taking place in the audio side of the television world. The technical innovations that he helped bring to TV sports coverage will never be forgotten.
NASCAR fans may remember during the “old” ESPN days when Ron pushed the “natural sound” from the cars right-up against the announcers voices. Even though the announcers were actually high-up in an air conditioned booth, Ron still made them “talk over” the real sound of the race. It made all the difference in the world.
Remember loudly hearing your first “air gun” on a pit stop? How about the tires of a car squealing as it left pit road? When a car spun, hit the wall and you actually heard it hit…at home. That was Ron.
Few people in the sports TV business had the single-minded focus of Ron Scalise. As a part of his drive, he met and befriended many young people who were willing to work hard and learn the audio side of the business. One outstanding testament to Ron’s influence can be read by clicking here for Frenchy’s blog.
Ron influenced the importance of audio in almost every sports telecast, and he was able to do it because ESPN was on-the-air every day for 24 hours. As the network grew, Ron was able to pass along his belief that a strong natural sound “bed” should be a vital part of every sports event. Sports TV viewers grew to expect that if they saw it, they should be able to hear it.
In the middle of a screaming crowd at a Duke vs. Carolina game, ESPN viewers could hear the players sneakers squeaking on the floor under the basket. When Tony Hawk or Saun White tipped slowly off the lip and headed down the “vert ramp” at lightning speed, all four wheels of that skateboard made their way right into your home.
That was the whole idea. While the announcers told you about the action, and the cameras showed it to you, there was only one way to make it real. That was to hear it.
In my ESPN NASCAR days, it was Ron Scalise at one analog audio board behind a glass window mixing the entire race by hand. He sat in the same part of the TV truck as the Producer, Director, Technical Director, Graphics Operator, Assistant Producer, and Associate Director. It made for cozy confines, and rather stimulating conversation.
Decades later, Scalise was moderating seminars on how Digital Dolby Surround Sound should be used in major sports venues. His success was due to hard work and seemingly endless dedication to his cause. We can only hope that the generation of audio mixers influenced by Ron will keep his memory alive by passing on his passion for using audio to bring the event right into the viewer’s home.
Ron Scalise won 14 National Emmy Awards and called Kenmore, NY his home. The sports TV world will go on, but it will never be the same.
Arrangements have been made for a fund for Ron’s children.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Rosario (16 yrs), R.J. (11 yrs), and Brenna(10 yrs).
Contributions can be made to:
Ron Scalise Memorial Fund
C/O Kurt Heitmann
200 Clearbrook Rd
Elmsford, NY 10523
All checks should be made out to:
Ron Scalise Memorial Fund.
I have worked with Ron on so many ESPN projects and on all of the X Games since Rhode Island. We all need the passion for what we do, as Ron had. Let us never forget those who have paved the road for what the future is in this wacky business. Ron was always willing to give and accept the challenges as they came and was willing to pioneer new roads for all of us to travel.
We will always remember!
Dave Cooper
I’ve known Ron for thirty years. He was the A1 on the first NFL game that ESPN carried, I was the mobile unit EIC. Ron was not necessarily the neatest audio operator, the audio room was someplace for patch cords and faders. I would lighten difficult moments during the shows by either getting on the intercom or opening the audio door and telling him “remember, neatness counts”. It became our greeting over the years. I had the pleasure of spending time with Ron at a NYC establishment bent over a martini last week. I never thought that would be our final time together! As we went our separate ways that night Ron turned to me and said “remember, neatness counts”. Goodbye my friend! See you next time.
JT
Ron was a friend and a mentor. Not just about audio, or the industry, but about the road and home. Like you all, I’ll miss those meals and conversations. One thing that strikes me is how Ron never asked for things? He was so passionate about his work…always giving to others, not wanting from others. I wish I had given more. I’ll miss him.
Larry Wilson
Frenchy,
Very eloquent. And I believe Ron and Stuart have found one another, mixing up a storm and sharing laughs. Ron and I had e mailed one another Thursday night with promises of “getting in touch.” The news Friday morning reminds us how fragile life can be, how quickly it can be extinguished. We need to let each other know the love is there today, before its too late tomorrow.
I still don’t want to believe it, my brother can’t be gone…I’m glad I had the pleasure of giving Ronnie a man hug in Homestead in November and him asking “how you doing brother?” he was in a gerat place in his life and it made us all feel good that one of us made it. Ronnie never changed, he was always one of us. When we all come out of this fog we should come together in his honor and bond somehow. I love you bro big time and hang out with Stu & BP, thy will take care of you up there. know you are Loved and won’t be forgotten!
T-Bone
Lynn,
I know they are up there laughing at the rest of us. I am sure I heard their glasses clinking together this afternoon.
Thanks once again Frenchy. Ron and Stuart are up there laughing their butts off and toasting each other.
Lynn Shurtleff
hey frenchy..
this really sucks…
i just saw ron recently,he said he was loving life..and things were great. he really had found his niche at ESPN.
ya know it’s funny how you remember things that people say many years ago. at least once a week,i think of ron after i have shave in the morning. back in the days after a nascar race after i had just showered and shaved as fast as i could and raced down to the hotel bar, ronnie would be the first one there usually with bill fuchs close behind..i’d say “hey ronnie whats up?” he’d look at me and say, “damn ted, you clean up nice” and i’d say “ronnie it’s not me, it’s the company i keep” and we’d clink glasses and kick em back. ronnie, here’s to you brother
…TEDDY
I’m at a lose for words. truly speechless. shock!
Just like frenchy I had lost touch with ron, but with ESPN getting back into the NASCAR world this year I was able to see ron in between one of those 50 remote trucks every once in a while. I saw ron in homestead for a brief second and as I did not have time to stop and chat I gave him my signature call…”CRANK IT RONNIE!!!!” he turned, smiled and said hey rat.
I just didn’t think that would be the last thing I said to ron.
wish I could have stopped and told him something more.
thinking about all you guys today out in the TV world. we lost a great guy.
one last time … CRANK IT RONNIE!!!!
Keith D’Alessandro
I think many a freelance audio careers were boosted by Ron. He definately had a stable of “his boys” I am very saddened by the lost of this audio pioneer in the remote TV industry. Ron was always pushing the envelope of technology and wasn’t afraid to try something new in the audio world. I have worked very closely with Ron the past 3 years on X-Games, NASCAR and BASS fishin’. I just had dinner with him last week and spoke to him on Monday. He will be missed in the TV world and I offer a toast of Ron’s favorite after show cocktail…the Appletini! Here’s to you Ron! Gone but never forgotten. RIP
the Heckler
Very eloquent, something I needed to read today. Thanks, Russ McGonagil