On April 4, our Probus Club Member, Don Dempson, will be speaking about the logistics behind the Calgary stampede TV coverage.
After a 26-year career with Kodak Canada in the Corporate, Marketing and Management areas, Don moved back to Calgary in 1997 and spent the next ten years working in senior management with a business consulting company, the Calgary Olympic Development Association and as president of the Calgary Tower and Palliser Square. He moved to Vancouver Island in 2008.
Don became involved with the Calgary Stampede back in 1987 when he was sent out to secure a sponsorship with the Stampede to protect film and camera rights leading up to the 1988 Olympics. Since that first encounter he has never missed a 10-day Stampede, graduating from being a sponsor to joining the Rodeo Committee in 1997. In 1999 he was asked to be part of the Production Team and since then has been directing Rodeo television for the Stampede ever since.
His role has been to coordinate with Stampede staff and outside broadcast groups including CBC, TSN, ESPN, Global TV, the Wrangler Network and Cowboy Channel. As the TV director, Don oversees the action and controls the production flow for host broadcasting (through their network programming and streaming services) to the on-site Superboard screens seen by the 20,000 spectators at the rodeo. At any one time, there can be upwards of 50-70 people who are following the scripts and direction that comes through Don in the booth.