Our station is in the process of overhauling everything — and I mean EVERYTHING — to be ready for the federally-mandated switch to high definition. Master Control, the folks responsible for piping all the feeds (network, our news program, satellite, etc.) just finished their big switch with a few hiccups, and now it’s the control room’s turn.
As I’ve noted before, the control room is “where the magic happens”, so to speak. Within its dry, well-ventilated walls, you have the main switcher, the producer’s and director’s stations, graphics, prompter, and audio.
Since all of this stuff is dated, it all had to go. Well, audio got to stay, since most of the stuff in the booth doesn’t need to be updated on the same timeline. So, the audio operator gets to stare out into a darkened, near-Orwellian room for the duration of the broadcast.
If I were to picture Room 101 at Miniluv, this is pretty darn close:
Okay, the above setup was engineering’s idea of a joke, I think. Of course, they pulled an all-night getting all of the stuff out and relocated down the hall so we could still put on a show, so maybe the humor is a little lost on me.
