Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

By Frank Macek It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center. It's been far too long since I have written an updated column, as time has been in short supply with several projects happening here at WKYC. You may have noticed a change in "Channel News at 7" as we launched the show as "Donovan Live" on Monday, April 24th. The show will be much lighter than our traditional newscasts and be more personality based focused on the news and social media of the day and hosted by Cleveland TV legend Jim Donovan. Follow the new show on Twitter @3donovanlive and send us your feedback or ideas for the broadcast! Behind the scenes, we have been busy in the studio replacing our main studio cameras with new Ross pedestals and Sony cameras. This was done in preparation to allow our Director's to control all of our cameras through our Sony ELC News Production Automation system. Since the ...

By Frank Macek It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center celebrating our 15th year at 13th and Lakeside. The holidays are almost upon us and so is our first snowfall of the season. What a year it has been for local television! We have seen the Cavs win the NBA Finals, the Republican National Convention come to Cleveland, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, the Indians get to the World Series and a bizarre presidential election whose outcome not everyone expected. It's doubtful 2017 will be as eventful for Cleveland, but we can hope for a prosperous and joyful new year - and maybe another world championship. WKYC had two very successful events in October including our 4th annual WKYC Health and Wellness Expo at the Huntington Bank Convention Center. Thousands turned out to get free information and health screenings, got a turn in "The Voice" chair and met many of our on-air and off-ai...

Check out a time lapse from behind the scenes of our 6 pm newscast that I directed tonight. A lot happens in just 30 minutes! Thanks to David Hrvatin for putting this ditty together and Floor Director Jessica Dickard for recording it. Post by WKYC Channel 3 - Cleveland .

Here is a behind the scenes look at Robin & Chris as videographer Barry Wolf works his magic on a tease for the Browns Halftime newscast this evening during the Browns vs. Eagles game on Channel 3:

Producer Jon had the digital camera in his pocket tonight and whipped it out in the WKYC News Control Room to capture your blogger (left at the switcher) and my boss, WKYC Production Manager, Al Wohl (center) doing a little pre production for the 6 p.m. broadcast. This is when we tape certain aspects of the show to roll in during the live newscast. Let's just say it took a while to get it just right - but the end result was worth it.

The match: The Steelers vs. The Cardinals... The place: Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida The date: Sunday, February 1st on NBC and WKYC. Kristin Dahlgren's behind-the-scenes tour of media operations Mark Barger's behind-the-scenes tour of Super Bowl Media Day.

We had a chance to grab the flip cam this afternoon between my regular tapings to grab some video of WKYC anchor Tim White recording a promo in the studio for our Food Drive on Thursday, October 2nd from 5 AM until 7:30 PM at the WKYC studios. Videographer Steve Pullen was behind the camera as "one take" Tim made it look so easy.

In our spotlight feature this week, we are going to give you a double treat of life behind the scenes at one of Channel 3's preseason football games and NBC's Sunday Night coverage of the Browns vs. Steelers game. In both cases, it's a complex process that's fascinating to watch. Channel 3 Reporter Lynn Olszowy takes us first inside our production truck as Director Allen Wohl leads our local team of engineers and technicians in perfect harmony. In the next video, Lynn goes behind the scenes of Sunday Night Football from the weekend's Browns vs. Steelers game right here in Cleveland.

With the Olympics behind us, we look forward to the Democratic National Convention all this week in Denver, Colorado. Every night this week at 10 PM, NBC will devote an hour of prime time programming to cover the night's biggest events. NBC Producer Geoff Mason gives you a "behind the scenes" tour at the Democratic National Convention.