| This study examined the use of humor in ESPN's SportsCenter. The purpose of this study was to find out what humor on ESPN's SportsCenter broadcast was used most often and in what context it was most displayed. To make these determinations, a content analysis was performed to record and analyze frequency in the use of humor as it related to several different broadcast characteristics, including the type of sport, the aggressiveness of the sport, the gender of the athletes, the experience of the sportscaster (veteran—3 or more years vs. newbies—0–2 years) and the gender of the sportscaster. Based on theoretical expectations, comparisons were made to see if humor strategies differ for specific types of sports (such as male vs. female sports, violent vs. nonviolent sports) or specific types of broadcasters (such as male vs. female broadcasters, veterans vs. newbies).;The study found that non-violent sports used more humor more often than violent sports. Veteran sportscasters used humor 7.5% more than newbies. Male sportscasters demonstrated a greater usage of humor per segment than female sportscasters. Baseball captured a 26.3% usage of humor per segment, while all other sports combined garnered a 21.2% usage of humor. The other surprise was that female sports showed a greater usage of humor by sportscasters than male sports. Finally, female sports with humor, gained more non-tendentious humor by sportscasters than male sports. |
