San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
S.A. company bringing Miss Universe to the world
When the Miss Universe pageant goes live around the globe today, one of the people making sure the show hits the airwaves smoothly will be San Antoniobased producer Philip Nelson.
Nelson’s company, Nelco Media, was tapped to oversee the international broadcast of the competition from Hollywood, Fla. The pageant airs in more than 160 territories and countries, according to an Associated Press report.
“We’ll be working with all of the broadcasters all over the world taking this feed, coordinating all of their signals and getting it to the satellite,” Nelson said. “It’s definitely a big deal and a lot of stress. And we’re doing this with the COVID compliance guidelines. In the TV truck, we have to have a smaller team working on the show, and we have to have the dividers between each station.”
The pageant, hosted by Mario Lopez and Olivia Culpo, will air live at 7 p.m. today on FYI and Telemundo. The pageant hasn’t been staged since December
2019 because of the pandemic.
The United States will be represented by the reigning Miss USA, Mississippi native Aysa Branch. The current Miss Universe is Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa.
Nelson, 49, is well-versed in putting a live pageant on the air in the coronavirus era. He played the same role for last year’s Miss USA Pageant, which was held in November at Graceland, Elvis Presley’s Memphis home.
“I love what I do, and it’s so much fun, the stress is exciting stress,” he said. “And its really cool to know every button you push, millions of people see that camera shot. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Live programs like the pageants are just part of what Nelco Media does in San Antonio and across the country.
They company has outfitted podcasting studios for some high-profile people in that growing field, including Joe Rogan, Adam Carolla and Tom Green. Green gave Nelson a shoutout on a vlog he posted last year, during which he noted that a camera in his studio was being controlled by Nelco in San Antonio.
“I’m getting a lot of great help from Nelco Media out of San Antonio, Texas,” Green said. “What up, Phil Nelson?”
He said he’s worked with Nelson since “the early days of Webovision,” his term for his streaming shows.
“He’s still helping me with technical advice, putting this whole thing together,” Green said.
Nelco also is working on a new esports venue in South Bend, Ind., linking the computers in the space and building the lighting, rigging and custom furniture for gamers.
In San Antonio, the company installed the multicamera system at Texas Public Radio’s Carlos and Malú Alvarez Theater in its new headquarters at the Alameda Theater.
“We are, for the most part, a glorified video equipment seller,” Nelson said. “We build out TV studios, we sell cameras, we sell lighting.
“But my philosophy is it’s hard for me to go out and tell you ‘This is the best thing to do’ if I don’t do it. You don’t want to take fashion advice from somebody who is a terrible dresser, and you don’t want want to take medical advice from someone who is unhealthy.”
Nelson has worked in live television and video since the late 1980s and has cultivated a deep bench of talent he can call on for projects. He asked John Leland, former tech director for NBC Sports, to help on Miss Universe.
Leland said he was glad to step in — no small thing, he added, given that he retired in 2012 and is now 73 years old.
“I keep my hand in only by working for people I want to work with,” said Leland, who got to know Nelson when he was with NewTek, a San Antonio digital technology company. “It’s nice to be able to help somebody who’s worth helping.”
The day before Nelson flew to Florida for Miss Universe, he was at TPR, working in the tech booth for the livestream of “¡Viva!” — a telethon benefiting local artists spearheaded by the station and Luminaria.
The event raised $5,187, which was boosted by a matching contribution of $5,000 from San Antonio philanthropist Guillermo Nicolas. Donations still are being accepted.
The telethon debuted last year as a way to help artists struggling because of the pandemic, and
Nelson was part of it then, too.
“He’s really good at what he does, and it’s great to have someone in San Antonio like that who is willing to give up their time to come and help us produce an event like that, a fundraiser, gratis,” said Adam Fleming, events manager for TPR. “He is very into the idea of elevating San Antonio, and I think for him to give up his time and help us produce this thing so that we can raise money for working artists in San Antonio, it speaks a lot for what he wants to happen in this city.”
Nelson, a native of Louisiana who moved to San Antonio in 1998 to work for NewTek, said he has made it his mission to do what he can to foster connections between creatives all over the city. Before the pandemic, he said, Nelco hosted networking events monthly to that end.
“There are people who succeed by building people up around them, and some who succeed by crawling over people and pushing people down,” he said. “Life is too short to work with people who aren’t building others up.
“That’s why I love San Antonio. It really is a helping community. And we need more opportunities for collaboration and for us to build each other up.”