Buffalo Live and Local

[fybush]

When I visited Houston last year, the director of engineering at KTRK (the ABC O&O) was very proud of that station's latest big innovation: as its newsroom shifts from focusing on traditional newscasts to being live all day on digital, there was no way the budget was going to allow for a traditional full control room.

So they've created a podium in the newsroom for the anchor who's also functioning as her own TD - there's a touchscreen in front of her to bring up video and audio sources and graphics, live on the fly.

Does it work? They say it does, and that it will be a model for other stations going forward, though it's going to be harder to roll out in unionized stations in other markets. But if you hit up KTRK's stream during the day and you see an anchor in the newsroom instead of the studio, she's doing her own switching as you watch.

And if broadcast TV news is going to stay viable in a world where we all have 4K production studios in our pockets, it's going to have to be more of these setups.

 

[Kelly A]

The proof of that can be seen on YouTube and Twitter every day. I'm always amazed at how much impactful TV I see that I know is being done by untrained people, sometimes using only their phone. Same with music. One of the most talked about pieces of music released last year was recorded by a guy using his phone. No studio, no label, no promo department. This is what we're competing with, folks. The audience doesn't care about how many people are employed. They only care about the product.

Very true.
No knock on industry vets, but back in the early 2000's when we started installing automated news environments, we tried training veteran Directors on how to run the system. We owed it to them to give them a shot. None of them, (zero) were able to learn the concept. They would literally sit in front of the console and blankly stare at the monitors. After over thirty hours of training, it became obvious to both the vets and management a different direction was needed.
On the other hand, a twenty-something working in the newsroom eagerly sat down and figured out how to produce an entire newscast in less than five hours of official training. Most would eagerly stick around after their shift to try building different macros and processes. They then brought along other twenty-somethings who also took to the workflow like fish to water.

 

[TheBigA]

They then brought along other twenty-somethings who also took to the workflow like fish to water.

And they'd do it for free. I get it. I felt the same way when I was their age.

For years, guests had to come into studios, hair & makeup, lighting, controlled environment. Then the pandemic hit. We all still had to do our jobs, get stuff done, but we couldn't gather together in studios. So all of a sudden, someone's laptop camera in their kitchen becomes our new studio. We all worked that way for three years. I said at the time it's going to be hard to get them back in the studios, and for some, it has. So the standards have been lowered. We have to decide what really matters.

 

[Shadageeirish]

I knew a GM so cheap he would've wanted an estimate of exactly when the guy died so he wouldn't have to pay the estate for those unworked hours.

Usually that's how it works. I invented TV CentralCasting (MC Hub), so I'm pretty familiar with the end result. TV isn't a jobs program.


Actually breaking news happens much faster in automation than traditional new production control environments. One doesn't need to assemble a control room with TD, graphics, playout, and audio people. A single trained Director can sit down and run a live newscast, including breaking live news with no rundown. I think what you heard, were some anticipatory macros that can be created in advance which can provide multiple functions in order with one button push. An example could be: Roll breaking intro with music, fade music, cue camera 1, take camera 1, raise mic. 1, take anchor lower third. Then, if you have a liveshot, a separate macro button according to the REM can be pressed and taken which can create an OTS behind the anchor, push the space bar and take the REM live with lower third.
I've personally been responsible for installation of 17 GVG Ignite! production systems, 5 Ross Overdrive, and one Sony. So I'm very familiar with the process from A to Z.

Congratulations on your achievement. Hope you put lots of money away and you never have to rely on a “job program”.

 

[Kelly A]

Congratulations on your achievement. Hope you put lots of money away and you never have to rely on a “job program”.

Thanks! Thinking up new ways of doing broadcasting more efficiently from a technical and production side has allowed for investing those cost savings into where it counts; content. As BigA mentioned; what I did back in the early 2000's has evolved forms of inexpensive automation and cloud-based tech and allowed for all sorts of new online content creators. I'm proud to have helped break that ground.