NBC boss soaks up Vancouver

It was, he said, the experience of a lifetime, humbling and unforgettable, and that's saying a lot for a guy who has been at the helm of network news coverage that has included 9/11 and the election of the first black U.S. president, a guy who has won four Emmys and six Edward R. Murrow awards.

But there was Steve Capus on Tuesday morning, outfitted head to toe in official 2010 Olympic regalia, right down to the red mittens with the iconic white leaf, jogging down a cobblestone street in a Vancouver suburb, holding the Olympic torch high as thousands of locals cheered both him and the flame as it headed into the home stretch of its 106-day run.

For Capus, president of the NBC News division, Vancouver makes his sixth Olympics and he'll tell you that his broadcast troops, who number about 350 for these games, cover the Olympics like a well-oiled machine.

He'll also tell you that every Olympic Games, summer or winter, are magnificent unto themselves, but being able to carry the torch, well, that's something else.

It was Dick Ebersol, who's in charge of sports and Olympics for NBC, who asked Capus last November if he wanted a spot in the relay. He hesitated for not one second.

"It was so cool," said Capus. "Jumping off that [torchbearer] bus into those crowds. They made me feel like a rock star."

So did his staff back at the International Broadcast Centre in downtown Vancouver, who started taking photos of the boss when he showed up after the relay still wearing his torchbearer uniform and carrying the soot-covered torch.

Capus's 300-metre relay leg was all downhill, on New Westminster's cobblestoned Fourth Street as it heads toward Columbia, and the Fraser River, and Capus says he was overwhelmed by the energy and enthusiasm of the crowds who lined the road, by the diversity of the faces of the young and old, and by their unabashed patriotism.

"It's a wonderfully unifying thing. All these generations, and these beautiful children. I felt like I'd been dropped into a storybook."

Capus is here to work, of course, in charge of the NBC News operation for the duration of the games, including the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and The Today Show with Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieria and Ann Curry, broadcasting every morning from atop Grouse Mountain.

NBC has aired the Olympics since 1964, and for the 2010 Games decided, rather fittingly Capus says, to repatriate popular NFL commentator Al Michaels, who last covered the Olympics in 1988 in Calgary. Michaels will handle daytime hosting throughout the games, leaving the evening slot to veteran Bob Costas. Costas will also co-anchor tonight's opening ceremony with Matt Lauer.

The network plans 800-plus hours of coverage, (about twice that of the 2006 Winter Games in Turin), expects upwards of 200 million viewers, favoured by time zones allowing them to broadcast much of the action live.

And while the network will be up against some stiff prime-time competition, like American Idol, it also has some serious sporting stars to keep American viewers glued to their sets, including speed skater (and Dancing With The Stars winner) Apolo Anton Ohno, carrot-topped snowboarder Shaun White and multi-medal hopeful, alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, who may or may not compete following news this week that she has a serious shin injury.

Capus, who is 46, cut his broadcast journalism teeth in newspapers and radio in the Philadelphia area before joining NBC in 1993, working in various positions, including executive producer for NBC Nightly News. In 2005, he was named president of NBC News.

Source:vancouversun.com/