So How Does RC Robots Get on PrimeTime Television and Boats Can't?

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

Hello Gentlemen,

It's been a while since I've really posted anything here on IW.

So I've brought a topic similar to this up years ago. I've always believed that we could grow this sport but of course my post was filled with all the reasons it can't, or won't grow. But one day I turn on the TV, I can't remember which network, but either ABC, NBC, or Fox (One of those major networks) I saw Robot Battles. Huh? Robot Battles? I saw these for the first time at one of the AirAge tradeshows and was not impressed really. I can't remember even how much of a crowd there was so it must not have been huge. But someone somewhere saw it and thought it was good enough for primetime TV. We've seen everything from snowboarding to Honey Boo-Boo surpass us in popularity which I don't think should be the case. Snowboarding is just as costly, snow is even more scarce to find, seasonal and often requires just as much travel so that would eliminate some of the excuses we give for our hobby not growing into a huge phenomenon and I think we have some character in RC boating that are just as entertaining as Honey Boo-Boo if not more. LOL!

I see the guys making the best of their races trying to attract a larger pool of competitors. That's great. And some even select locations that make spectator viewing accommodating. Hats off to you guys. Unfortunately lately I've turned to things that take less time away from my family so I haven't been on the RC Boat promotion hunt as I had been in the past. Hopefully I'll get back to it soon. Until then I guess the purpose of this post would be to simply encourage you guys to think bigger than we have been and if anyone has an idea they are trying to put into action to grow our sport support them with help rather than deter them or sit back and see if they can make it succeed. I've been doing this a long time and believe it has the components to be a sizeable participant and spectator driven sport. Just need some the same kind of "Can-Do" spirit that the guys had in their camp to create an RC Robot Battle Primetime Television series or a Honey Boo-Boo show. I think we have enough collective talent and resources to pull something together if we put our minds together.

Sorry... Not hating on the Robot Battles. Just saw that one day and had to shake my head asking the question. "Why couldn't we do that?"

Hopefully this post doesn't become one of how we can't and a green light session on ideas on how we can.

Happy Boating.

 

[WAYDE BLOEDORN]

Our racing isn't really racing its about who can get lane one and hold it 95% of the time who ever has lane one wins and that gets old fast in gas racing. Now nitro days it was different with the flying starts it was exciting to see who came out of them first turn

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

Wayde,

Every once in a while I have a boat that doesn't have a dependable idle or I just haven't had time to test it at that speed so I don't take a chance so I have to depend on the flying start. It's fun because it usually catches everyone off guard and you beat everyone to the turn. It can be a bit harry as you have to fly by boats at a crawl that are often no more than a lane apart so there is not much room for error. But if you can make it through rest assured no one can accelerate fast enough to keep their lane on someone that gets a flying start 3 or 4 lanes outside of them. There never just one way to finish line. It's just perfecting it. BTW - I race primarily nitro. Yes Still.

 

[brad nichols]

Not enough destruction and carnage for TV!

Brad

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

Not enough destruction and carnage for TV!

Brad

Are you sure? I've seen some of these Gas boat drivers. LOL!

 

[Ray Sametz]

Lose the Honey Boo Boo reference.

 

[moparbarn]

Lose the Honey Boo Boo reference.

Why RRRay, she your new girl? We know you gave up on Danica - LOL!

 

[moparbarn]

Roger, I may be all wrong here but - robot battles may have gotten TV time due to Grant Imahara (of Mythbusters fame) coming from that arena. Producers prolly just trying to cash in on him & the Mythbusters franchise. I don't remember the shows/series lasting very long, 1 season & not renewed. One of them may have made a second season, but was cancelled 1/2 way through IIRC. Must not have been popular enough to sell the advertising to support the production costs.

 

[Patrick Mulvany]

Hey Roger,

Dang it's been a long time since I heard of the Hooks!! 1986 Dallas Nats You was just a kid.. The biggest downfall to try and make RC Boating a continueing tv series would be you would spend half the show explaining the purpose and intent of the competition?? Then when you have a heat when only one boat makes the start well how exciting is that?? MeTime was doing a Great job of video taping "Big" races for a while and they offered them for sale but it turned out to not be profit making?? Myself I don't know how to make playing with toys glamorous enough to attract the television audience?

Later!!

Pat

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

Hey Roger,

Dang it's been a long time since I heard of the Hooks!! 1986 Dallas Nats You was just a kid.. The biggest downfall to try and make RC Boating a continueing tv series would be you would spend half the show explaining the purpose and intent of the competition?? Then when you have a heat when only one boat makes the start well how exciting is that?? MeTime was doing a Great job of video taping "Big" races for a while and they offered them for sale but it turned out to not be profit making?? Myself I don't know how to make playing with toys glamorous enough to attract the television audience?

Later!!

Pat

Hello Patrick. Yes. In 1986 I was just a kid.

After I read your comment I went and watched a 6 boat Scale race with one trailer (so 7 boats total) on Facebook. All boats started. I thought I had just recently saw a race where a lot of boats finished the race. 4 boats finished with the lead boat pulling off a backward flip as he crossed the start/finish line. He actually came from behind and past on the outside on the second lap. Seems like a pretty exciting race to me. I've talked this idea over with Andy Brown many times. He said a couple of things. First you'd need a group that just focused on the one boat. This would ensure boats are well prepared to start and finish a race. You would notice this while watching Norhwest Scale races where scale is often all those club members run. As a result their boats are faster than the average fleet of scale boats around the country and are more reliable as far as finishing race. Since they focus on one boat and one class drivers are more accustomed to their boat as well as the competition they are up against. The result is more consistent finishes. Now based on the race I just described at the beginning of this post that sounded pretty exciting to me. Add some back story to each driver, where their from, adversity they have encountered along the way, their desire to win, an antogonist preventing it and what it would mean to them along with good camera work and on the spot announcing and I think you'd have a pretty exciting segment. MeTime had their heart in the right place. The AirAge Media Kit showed of all the RC groups RC boaters spend the least amount of money. So trying to make money from the racers would probably be difficult since of all the RC Groups we are like to spend the least amount of money on our toys. It'd be better to get a cable channel. Air the races there and sell affordable advertising around those episodes. Something affordable may serve many of the small garage boat businesses quite well. You wouldn't make a killing but I think you'd make a lot more than selling DVDs of racers races.

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

Roger, I may be all wrong here but - robot battles may have gotten TV time due to Grant Imahara (of Mythbusters fame) coming from that arena. Producers prolly just trying to cash in on him & the Mythbusters franchise. I don't remember the shows/series lasting very long, 1 season & not renewed. One of them may have made a second season, but was cancelled 1/2 way through IIRC. Must not have been popular enough to sell the advertising to support the production costs.

I see. I had worked with Grant on a couple of myth buster episodes they did using the RC Helicopters that I was doing some marketing work for. That's good to know.

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

Lose the Honey Boo Boo reference.

Why?

 

[HTV Boats]

Most of boat racing model and full size, one boat gets the lead out of turn one and it's a dog and pony show for 6 laps. Not enough passing and position changes. Champ boats and Unlimiteds are not a draw on network and major cable. I see drag boats all the time. Same reason Formula 1 cars don't play well with an American audience. I have seen some drivers stand "drama" that could make news. RC cars are not on the radar either and have bigger numbers than boats. Supply and minimal commercial demand.

JMO-Mic

Drone racing might make it with plenty of crashes.

 

[Andy Greene]

To mirror the words of what most have said and what you already have experienced and know Roger - a TV / even cable based deal is a pipe dream at best, unless it was a single show that was an accumulation of an entire season ( poss even a national title series or events ) - displaying highlights / best races/ good interviews , ect. - With Guys like Martin Truex Jr and Antron Brown

(know national names outside the RC Boat circle) supporting it.

Imho , the best market in this day and age , would be a web based broadcast - very much like what MeTime attempted several years ago, Again the downside being - It couldn't really be a for profit deal, its not there. It would have to be someone doing it for the love of our hobby and the outside chance to draw new racers. I'm sure most that watched MeTime in the day would love to see it again, but as already proven - it wouldn't generate funds.

Just my .02

That said, given the mindless reality shows out there ( aka HBB ) See Rrray I didnt say it - lol . We certainly have enough drama out there on just the forum boards alone on certain topics to sustain a Reality Based show

Andy

 

[bsmtboy2]

The main reason we will not make it to prime time tv is that we have no marketability to the average joe who would be watching. We don't have anything in common with Joe except tools i.e. Craftsman,Matco,Snapon. Our hulls,motors,parts,fuel,and radios are all niche stuff. The only other angle is what we drive to haul our hobby around, GM,Ford,Dodge,Toyota,Honda. If the hobby took a stand as a whole ( Apba,IMPBA,Namba) and lobbied to get us on prime tv for the purpose of not making money but esposure to get new members then we got a shot at a once a year thing. How many of us would be willing to give 100 bucks per person to see a one time event on ESPN ,ABC,FOXsports. Exposure will not be cheap.

 

[Andy Brown]

We have no audience to capture!

Pewdiepie making $12 million a year!... just acting stupid on Youtube!

 

[John Finch]

We held a race in Richmond, Va years ago at the city park. It was advertised on TV and promoted by a promotor who knew all the right people. There were dance contests, clowns, etc and it was a day in the park with the boat race being the primary event. We did this two years in a row. I was club president and Dick Tyndal was District director at the time and together we had to attend weekly or bye weekly meetings at the local TV station board room for the event to take place. It was six months of planning and meetings with all the folks involved. We got one new member because of the event that drew thousands of people. That would be our very good friend Mike Tyson. One person from all that effort! The main issue was that the boats were too expensive. Today the kids play videos and hit reset when they mess up. They don't even need to leave their house or know which way to turn a screwdriver to tighten up a screw. Sad, But the way of the world today. I have to admit the boats are more expensive than the average guy can afford. I was at a race a couple weekends ago and the guy behind the check in desk asked why we were in town. I told him a model boat race. He said he and his friend were thinking of getting boats to race in their hotel pond. When they asked how much money to get a small boat and I said about $300.00 they looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders with a sigh of ...oh.

The lane one and you win scenario is so true here in our district. All the boats run the same speed. Same motors, props, boats, etc. Sometimes I have more fun racing at the local pond switching positions and chasing each other for the fun of it. Something needs to change to make racing more exciting. When we did a promotion for the TV station for the race in the park we did a staged race on a course half the size of our normal race course and we contained the racing to a small area that showed a lot of action. It looked great for the cameras. As much as I love the hobby and racing, it can be pretty boring at times, even for a racer. I think we spend too much time trying to go fast rather than looking at trying to make it more fun for us as drivers. We need to make racing more fun for the spectators too if we want the sport to grow. Especially at the price tag to play.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

The lane one and you win scenario is so true here in our district. All the boats run the same speed. Same motors, props, boats, etc. Sometimes I have more fun racing at the local pond switching positions and chasing each other for the fun of it. Something needs to change to make racing more exciting. As much as I love the hobby and racing, it can be pretty boring at times, even for a racer. I think we spend too much time trying to go fast rather than looking at trying to make it more fun for us as drivers. We need to make racing more fun for the spectators too if we want the sport to grow. Especially at the price tag to play.

I have to agree, to an extent. In my club, we have a group of three guys that, between them, have taken the season championship for more than the past decade. Doesn't really seem to matter who is racing against any one of them as they seem to be able to pull out a win in just about every heat they run. Guys like me pretty much have to fight it out to see who will get into the final and race for third place if they all show up at a race. I've heard the "You would be faster if you test more" line before but, when one or two of the guys show up with the latest and greatest, it doesn't matter how much testing you do, you're not going to keep up

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

We held a race in Richmond, Va years ago at the city park. It was advertised on TV and promoted by a promotor who knew all the right people. There were dance contests, clowns, etc and it was a day in the park with the boat race being the primary event. We did this two years in a row. I was club president and Dick Tyndal was District director at the time and together we had to attend weekly or bye weekly meetings at the local TV station board room for the event to take place. It was six months of planning and meetings with all the folks involved. We got one new member because of the event that drew thousands of people. That would be our very good friend Mike Tyson. One person from all that effort! The main issue was that the boats were too expensive. Today the kids play videos and hit reset when they mess up. They don't even need to leave their house or know which way to turn a screwdriver to tighten up a screw. Sad, But the way of the world today. I have to admit the boats are more expensive than the average guy can afford. I was at a race a couple weekends ago and the guy behind the check in desk asked why we were in town. I told him a model boat race. He said he and his friend were thinking of getting boats to race in their hotel pond. When they asked how much money to get a small boat and I said about $300.00 they looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders with a sigh of ...oh.

The lane one and you win scenario is so true here in our district. All the boats run the same speed. Same motors, props, boats, etc. Sometimes I have more fun racing at the local pond switching positions and chasing each other for the fun of it. Something needs to change to make racing more exciting. When we did a promotion for the TV station for the race in the park we did a staged race on a course half the size of our normal race course and we contained the racing to a small area that showed a lot of action. It looked great for the cameras. As much as I love the hobby and racing, it can be pretty boring at times, even for a racer. I think we spend too much time trying to go fast rather than looking at trying to make it more fun for us as drivers. We need to make racing more fun for the spectators too if we want the sport to grow. Especially at the price tag to play.

Sounds like a successful event. What did the TV Station think of the event? IDid you offer a spectator race? This would have been toy boats that a novice could handle. You could have had people put their names in a free raffle to win a chance to race the local news anchor or something. That would have got the spectators more involved. You would have used the raffle ticket to get names and phone numbers of prospects. Used that to invite them to a fun race perhaps partnering them up with a member as a team. That would have been for the membership drive. Would have been good to invite the local hobby shop out to have some RTRs for sale too.

Sounds like you had a good crowd. Should have been enough for the TV station to sell sponsorship to their existing advertisers. An outdoor shop, an boat shop, sporting goods shop or even banks, grocery stores or car dealerships should have been interested enough to keep it going. Sounds like you had the formula brewing just needed a couple of more elements to make it what you wanted. Where I live the market is too big so there is always something bigger going on. Makes support from a TV station highly improbable. Always thought a small town would do great.

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

The lane one and you win scenario is so true here in our district. All the boats run the same speed. Same motors, props, boats, etc. Sometimes I have more fun racing at the local pond switching positions and chasing each other for the fun of it. Something needs to change to make racing more exciting. As much as I love the hobby and racing, it can be pretty boring at times, even for a racer. I think we spend too much time trying to go fast rather than looking at trying to make it more fun for us as drivers. We need to make racing more fun for the spectators too if we want the sport to grow. Especially at the price tag to play.

I have to agree, to an extent. In my club, we have a group of three guys that, between them, have taken the season championship for more than the past decade. Doesn't really seem to matter who is racing against any one of them as they seem to be able to pull out a win in just about every heat they run. Guys like me pretty much have to fight it out to see who will get into the final and race for third place if they all show up at a race. I've heard the "You would be faster if you test more" line before but, when one or two of the guys show up with the latest and greatest, it doesn't matter how much testing you do, you're not going to keep up

There are always these guys. My dad and I just kept trying until "those guys" you speak of eventually became us.