By Frank MacekThis year is the 10th anniversary of the an idea that revolutionized the broadcast industry for better or worse - the MOS (Media Object Server) Protocol.
MOS is a language that was born on August 28, 1998, by a group of broadcast vendors and their customers who agreed to a standardized protocol that would allow a variety of electronic and computer related, broadcast devices to talk to one another. On that day, automation became reality and the moment was seized as the broadcast station owners' dream to improve efficiency, save time and money on large staffs began.
I would even argue, this moment was as destructive for television employees as was the 1996 Telecommunications Act was to radio in bringing about a revolution that would forever change the landscape inside a television station.
But it did happen and we must now deal with it as newsroom systems, graphics, teleprompters, switchers, cameras, videotape machines & servers, audio and others pieces of equipment are built around a common language that allows them to understand and talk to each other like they had some sort of conscious awareness of what they were doing.
In the "old days", a newsroom computer system like BAYSYS, for example, was its own entity. Producers were limited to the newsroom to use the system and virtually nothing in the control room was integrated electronically into the basic rundown. It was just a word processor to bang out anchor scripts. Everything was done manually. You needed to send paperwork to a graphics operator to order graphics, to an artist to build a map or to an editor to edit your story. That has all dramatically changed with MOS.
Today a system like WKYC's Avid I-News system controls virtually everything in the control room. One person can create an entire newscast by themself.The producer or director can sit at their newsroom computer and work on every facet of the production from start to finish. The MOS system integrates the graphic associated with a story right into the rundown - whether it be an over the shoulder (OTS), a full screen, a lower third or a tease slug.
Today's MOS integration lets the newsroom computer system control "talk" to every other system in the facility. Entire graphic systems, video servers and teleprompter systems all get their commands from a single source - the rundown.
When the rundown changes, everything else follows with it.
To the extreme, a system like Parker Vision goes even further and can handle a completely automated product with very little input from the director or producer once the original rundown is completed. Cameras, graphics, microphones, lighting grids, video servers, music and everything else runs on a pre-built timeline.
We have the Media Object Server protocol to thank for this. Happy Anniversary to the one concept that changed the lives of everyone in broadcasting today. It's not been a pleasant experience for all those who found themselves on the wrong side of technology. The transition has been painful for so many in our business.
Unfortunately, the future is not much brighter. Learn about new technology. Use it to your advantage. Survive.
Disclaimer: The comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of WKYC or Gannett Broadcasting. Please post your comments below or email me: fmacek@wkyc.com
