By Frank MacekHopefully you got to see our special "Rock Hall Induction Preview" that aired last Friday from 7 until 8 p.m. The show featured hosts Mark Nolan and Carole Sullivan, Jeff Maynor and Monica Robins on location at the Rock Hall giving you a preview of this year's Inductees and the stories behind the music.
As I mention earlier, I had the pleasure of being the Director for the show and wanted to spend a few moments talking about what went into the broadcast for our readers interested in getting into television or knowing more about how television works.
The planning started weeks ago with the Rock Hall and our producer, Amanda Subler, who began putting a rough outline of the show together. This included scouting locations where we would put our talent, gathering information about the Inductees and putting a rundown together for how the show would flow.
After our plans were finalized and the program was scheduled by the station, the reporters and producers went to work putting the feature packages together you saw during the broadcast. This included researching, shooting, writing and editing the content. This process can take from a few days to a few weeks depending on how involved the stories became.
Finally the big day arrived. Our crews headed to the Rock Hall during the late afternoon hours and put the finishing touches on the setting up the technical part of the broadcast. This included positioning cameras, testing our microphones and establishing IFB communications with the station so talent and camera operators could hear the Director and the booth producer during the live show. Communication is the most important aspect of any broadcast - live or taped.
At 7 p.m., we hit the air and everything fell into place. With very minimal issues, the show flowed well through the entire hour. The only problems we faced were more weather related. We had planned on using the Goodyear Blimp for aerial shots, but high winds and low cloud ceilings Friday afternoon put a wrench in those plans.
But since the station is so close to the Rock Hall, we were able to mount a camera on our back deck and provide outside pictures that filled the void - although our camera operator experienced very windy conditions.
We hoped you enjoyed the special and our small look at behind the scenes of the Rock Hall Special that we hope to bring you again when the Induction Ceremony returns to Cleveland every third year!
If you missed our special, I've posted a few clips of video from the show you may still enjoy.
