Live, from Newport Beach, it’s the Toshiba Classic!

It’s just a few minutes until the Golf Channel goes live with coverage of the Toshiba Classic and one of the guys in the truck quips, “The stock market closed 32 points up today. We’ve hit bottom.”

This sets off a cavalcade of joking and teasing until associate director Chuck Whitfield reminds Producer Keith Hirshland that he still owes him $20 on a bet they had during the presidential election. Hirshland, who lost the bet by how much Obama would win, jumps up, pulls out his wallet and looks for the 20 bucks. Whitfield shakes his head and waves him off that it’s not necessary as he whispers to a reporter, “This is why I love this guy so much.”

Hirshland tosses the bill over to Whitfield and jokes about it being an example of the “trickle-down effect.”

Less than a minute to go before air time, Hirshland sits down, stares at dozens of TV monitors covering every angle of the golf tournament and as his hyperactive knee bounces he announces, “All right, let’s get to work. Cover me boys, I’m going in.”

Director Peter Esposito and Whitfield share a little fist bump 30 seconds from air time.

The crew multitasks like an NFL quarterback with the ’85 Bears zeroing in on him, and yet they do it with professional calm and a dash of jocularity when they can.

You won’t find them on the course. They’re in a couple of huge trucks on one of the parking lots at the Marriott hotel next to Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Meanwhile camera operators, eight behind the large cameras anchored at some holes and five or six strolling the country club with mini-cams, pick up as much of the action as possible. Somehow Hirshland and Esposito have to make sense of it all for the viewer at home.

It’s a standard way of covering large sporting events to direct the TV action from a remote location. And the Golf Channel rents the trucks from the NEP company in Pittsburgh because it would be too expensive to buy them, Hirshland said. When they’re all done Sunday, the trucks can contract to a normal-size 18-wheeler, he added.

The trucks used for this production are outfitted with standard-definition tech. The difference between a standard-definition truck and a high-definition TV truck is vast. The standard truck costs about $5 million and the high-def truck is worth about $17 million.

“That’s part of the reason the Golf Channel is not in the trucking business,” Hirshland said. “If we bought a truck it would be outdated in a year.”

The quarters aren’t too cramped, but they’re tight. At the front is the wall of TV monitors with Whitfield, Esposito and technical director Mark Causey. Whitfield is in the row right behind them. One of his main responsibilities is coordinating the commercial spots with the office in Orlando. He “keeps Hirshland honest” with reminders about which commercial sponsor needs a little love.

Hirshland’s main task, he said, is to develop the narrative.

“The producer’s job is to decide on what story to tell,” he said, adding that on Friday, as the tournament began, there would be a broader focus with the camera on a variety of golfers. But he paid most attention to Bernhard Langer, Scott Hoch and Ben Crenshaw because they were in one group. “That’s the group I will build my story around,” he said.

It paid off as Langer shot a 6-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead in the first round.

One of the other stories they focused on was a breakdown of Tom Watson’s swing. As the announcers rehearsed their opening table-setting analysis, Elizabeth Wright and Brian Stoll, who handle the replays and other features, worked on building a side-by-side comparison of Watson swinging in 1975 and today. Esposito directed one of the camera operators to the hole Watson was playing so they could get a shot of him teeing off. It’s an interesting comparison considering Watson had hip-replacement surgery last fall.

Years ago, TV coverage teams had to run thousands of feet of cable on a course, but today one person operates the camera and another carries a transmitter pole pointed toward a receiver, which was on top of the Marriott on Friday.

Hirshland’s other main job is helping the announcers with what to say. For instance, on one hole Langer did a little jig after a putt and Hirshland pointed that out. Moments later the announcers had a little fun with the moment during the replay.

Esposito tells the camera operator if he wants a close-in shot or a mid-range view, etc.

“He tells them, ‘I want a shot of his eyes,’ or I want a wider shot,” Hirshland said.

After two hours of coverage Friday, the Golf Channel will return with three hours today and 2 ½ hours Sunday.

ON THE AIR

The Golf Channel will air today’s action from the Toshiba Classic from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday’s championship round will air from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

City Editor PAUL ANDERSON may be reached at (714) 966-4633 or at paul.anderson@latimes.com.