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Do station employees watch their own station?

Discussion pertaining to Detroit, Ann Arbor, Port Huron and SW Ontario
km1125
Posts: 3789
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:09 pm

Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by km1125 »

If they do, do they provide "first hand" feedback when they see things amiss?? Something like errors in the crawls, bad lighting, bad audio, etc... do they just expect that only the folks working those issues know about it and can't do anything about it? Is there normally a mechanism for them to report it? Is that kind of thing encouraged at a typical station?

And further, do those station employees watch the subchannels their station carries? Say, for example, do WXYZ employees watch 7.2, 7.3 or 7.4 or would that be considered "competitors" to the main 7.1 subchannel?

I just wonder when I see things on-air or see some of the things reported in forums like this.

Just a couple examples would be the audio on 7.3 and 7.4 being noticeably lower than 7.2 or 7.1. Or 3.10 being lower than all (or most) of the other subchannels. I don't recall the audio on 7.3 or 7.4 being an issue until they did the switcheroo with the WMYD subchannels.
Deleted User 14896

Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by Deleted User 14896 »

If what you are asking if someone at the stations job is to watch the on air signal, I've wondered the same in the past. Some of the things you mentioned stand out from time to time.

Before the virus, one thing I would notice is when someone is live at a festival or something like that. The banner would cover the food or the artwork that the reporter was talking about.

"Look at this bbq sandwich I'm holding".
Sorry, can't see it.

And it would be like that the whole segment. A line of arts or crafts on a table partially covered by the banner as the camera moves along.

I've said before on here. It may not be a bad idea to put a strip of blue painters tape on the bottom 1/5th of the viewfinder of the cameras used out and about.

It seems that if someone at the controls was watching the on air signal, they could tell the folks in the field to back up a bit and get it all in.
thatonedude
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Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by thatonedude »

In 7's case, I think they watch the feeds from Indy since that's where master control is, unless they still have a small control room at Broadcast House.

Every major station here is hubbed, to the best of my knowledge.

Mike -- that is a pretty good idea, or they could have master control drop the Chyrons whenever they have to focus on something in a live shot. The tape trick sounds more practical, though.
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km1125
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Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by km1125 »

Mike Oxlong wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 6:07 pm If what you are asking if someone at the stations job is to watch the on air signal, I've wondered the same in the past. Some of the things you mentioned stand out from time to time.
I'm certainly not expecting real-time feedback unless there's something egregious, and I would think the director (?) would be taking care of those issues.

I'm thinking more of smaller "QC" issues. How do you make the product better? Do most of the folks leave the station at the end of their shift and never watch their channel, or do they feel any obligation to their channel (and their current career or livelihood) to check in every now and then and see what's broadcasting and see if there's anything amiss that someone should report.
Bobbert
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Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by Bobbert »

km1125 wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:04 am
Mike Oxlong wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 6:07 pm If what you are asking if someone at the stations job is to watch the on air signal, I've wondered the same in the past. Some of the things you mentioned stand out from time to time.
I'm certainly not expecting real-time feedback unless there's something egregious, and I would think the director (?) would be taking care of those issues.

I'm thinking more of smaller "QC" issues. How do you make the product better? Do most of the folks leave the station at the end of their shift and never watch their channel, or do they feel any obligation to their channel (and their current career or livelihood) to check in every now and then and see what's broadcasting and see if there's anything amiss that someone should report.
I would guess that a producer who watches everything on screen makes corrections on things that appear more than once on one or more newscasts. That producer might then mention these corrections at staff meetings.
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Herm
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Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by Herm »

I rarely watch the news at home, but when I do, I watch the station I work for. When I do watch the news at home, it is mostly in the mornings. If I see a mistake, I might mention it to someone but only if it’ll be productive. Mostly I just text the crew in the control room to bust chops or to say good job!
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Herm
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Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by Herm »

thatonedude wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 4:50 am In 7's case, I think they watch the feeds from Indy since that's where master control is, unless they still have a small control room at Broadcast House.

Every major station here is hubbed, to the best of my knowledge.

Mike -- that is a pretty good idea, or they could have master control drop the Chyrons whenever they have to focus on something in a live shot. The tape trick sounds more practical, though.

There are operators in Broadcast House.
Master Control doesn’t run the “Chyrons”.
The tape is a good idea! For photogs, editors, producers, and anyone else who creates a video or graphic that might end up with a lower third graphic keyed over it.
km1125
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Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by km1125 »

Herm wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:49 am I rarely watch the news at home, but when I do, I watch the station I work for. When I do watch the news at home, it is mostly in the mornings. If I see a mistake, I might mention it to someone but only if it’ll be productive. Mostly I just text the crew in the control room to bust chops or to say good job!
Thanks. That the kind of input I was looking for.

If your station has subchannels, would that process extend to those subchannels or would you consider those "not my station"?
SolidGoldDancers
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Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by SolidGoldDancers »

When I worked in TV, I did watch the station for newscasts. It was far easier to see problems live rather than having to play twenty questions with the person calling me from the station. Likewise, when management showed up in the shop complaining about something, being able to say "I saw that" headed off a lot of bullshit, hearsay diagnosis and primrose paths. Investing 30 minutes into the 11 p.m. newscast became a way to keep witch hunts on the correct side of the building.

It was also very helpful to see the end product broadcast during the BAS transition, when sub-channels were fired up and overall quality control from the field.
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Herm
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Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by Herm »

km1125 wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 1:02 pm
Herm wrote: Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:49 am I rarely watch the news at home, but when I do, I watch the station I work for. When I do watch the news at home, it is mostly in the mornings. If I see a mistake, I might mention it to someone but only if it’ll be productive. Mostly I just text the crew in the control room to bust chops or to say good job!
Thanks. That the kind of input I was looking for.

If your station has subchannels, would that process extend to those subchannels or would you consider those "not my station"?
I really don’t watch much TV that isn’t an on-demand show or news. I guess I would consider those other stations not my station because I don’t do news on those other stations.
SoutheastMIViewer
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Re: Do station employees watch their own station?

Unread post by SoutheastMIViewer »

Never thought of that. If I worked for the station, I know I wouldn’t be watching as I don’t want to mix my work and personal life.
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