It's 5:50 PM, about 8 minutes to air. This is when the fun really begins.
To my immediate left sits the technical director, Jim - he's the guy that switches all the video elements you see on TV. To the right is Leigh, my producer who has worked tirelessly all day putting the show together. On her right side (in a separate booth) is Bruce, our audio man who is responsible for everything you hear on the air. Behind me on the 2nd level is where the graphics operators used to be until new techology recently allowed the Director to also run the graphics system during the show using computer screens placed strategically in front of me.
In the studio with Tim, Romona, Mark and Jimmy is Brian, my Floor Director. He's the guy you often see on wideshots standing next to the cameras, listening to me on a headset and guiding the anchors to the proper camera for each story. He's the one I can yell at if Tim is looking at Camera 12 when he should be looking over at Camera 11. Brian will get Tim's attention and guide him to the right camera hopefully before it's too late.
Also in the studio is Greg, our teleprompter operator. Greg is responsible for making sure the scripts are in the right place on the monitor from which the anchors read. The prompter is a neat device that mirrors an upside down TV monitor in front of the camera so the anchors can see the words as they look directly into the camera lens giving the illusion that are doing every story from memory.
On many of our shows, the floor director is also the teleprompter operator and must do both jobs at once. It's not easy. But Brian, Greg and the other production assistants do a great job of making it work flawlessly.
The camera operator is also in the studio and is responsible for running 3 robotic High Definition cameras from a touch screen in front of him. Each of the shots is pre-programmed and indicated on the format for each story by the Director. Also, we use a Hi Def jib camera with its own operator who provides all the dramatic, swooping shots you see on the air. We are the only TV station in the market to use a jib regularly during our newscasts.
Many other people are involved in the show including the Master Control Room Operator, the video playback person who rolls tapes, a video person who makes sure the cameras aren't too bright or too dark, a signal acquisition operator who tunes in all the liveshots we might have from reporters broadcasting in the field....and of course, all the people in the newsroom including graphic artists, reporters and producers who write the stories and the editors who actually create the video you see on the air. It's a large team effort.
And it's a controlled chaos until things start to go wrong... That's when being calm and cool can either make or break a show.
Three minutes to air now and there's word of a problem with a liveshot trying to feed a package to us. Did it affect the show, I'll let you know next time.
