Torino - Broadcasting Basics

Since I was in early this morning, I had an opportunity to visit the studios and control rooms which were "dark" (not on the air) this morning, and have a look around. NBC has actually used the same set framing and mechanics since Sydney. It can be torn down and setup again in another city, and all they have to do is change the soft parts (decor, background scenery, etc...), and to most people it looks like a brand new set. The call the sets JAWS (Just Add Water Studios)...



The photo above is from the set for Control B which produces the MSNBC and CNBC shows, which deal mostly with Hockey and Curling. These chairs are where the host (usually Jim Lampley) would sit and interview a guest in the studio. Also on the set, is a desk with a Torino backdrop, that they can use simply by turning the cameras around.

Behind the studio set on the other side of a plate glass wall is the control room...



The "front deck" consists of the Director (who calls the shots), TD (Technical Director, who does the actual switching), and ADs (Assistent Directors, who co-ordinate commercial breaks and timeline issues with the main network in New Yorkk).

The "back deck" consists of the TM (Tech Manager, who is responsible for everything technical in the control room), and Producers (who tell "the story" by suggesting to the Director what features/items they would like covered).

The control room is responsible for selecting the camera shots that tell the story of the show that is on the air. Sometimes they are showing live footage, and at other times they are rolling from tape.

In a separate room attached to the control room, the A1 (Audio mixer) and A2s (Audio techs) control the audio that accompanies the video from the control room. The A1 has control of the microphones from the Host and Guests, and the audio from the venues (or from tape). At a venue, the A1 would also have "nat-sound" (natural sound effects from microphones on the playing field) to add to his mix.



The audio and video from the control room is handle by Transmission, which is located in the BOC (Broadcast Operations Centre). BOC manages traffic, venue scheduling, resource scheduling, and transmission issues. The VANDAs (Video and Audio) from the venues are also routed here to the Edit, Graphics, Tape, and Control rooms. The outbound VANDA is transmitted back to New York for airing.



In a room just off the BOC sits COMMs. This is where I work, and our company provides the software that runs the Telex intercoms used here. COMMs is responsible for allowing all of the people in the above chain to talk to each other in real-time during the production of a show.

This photo shows Tony (of the Mountain Venue photos) in COMMs talking to someone on the intercom. All of the COMMs equipment running our software sits in the racks in the background (primarily in the rack just to the left of all the yellow patchcords).



I know that I wrote something similar to this from Athens, but it's nice to be able to back it up with pictures this time. I also know that this part will be boring or unintelligible to some people, but my Athens version was appreciated and commented on by several people, so I decided to do an update this time. Hope you weren't bored!