Amendment of Section 73.622(i), MB Docket No. 08-101
Final DTV Table of Allotments, RM-11438
Television Broadcast Stations.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Adopted: March 18, 2009 Released: March 20, 2009
By the Chief, Video Division, Media Bureau
1. The Commission has before it a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking1 issued in response to a petition for rulemaking2 filed by Paxson Communications License Company, LLC (“Paxson”), the licensee of WPXD(TV), channel 13 and WPXD-DT, pre-transition digital television channel 33, and the permittee of post-transition digital television channel 31, Ann Arbor, Michigan, requesting the substitution of channel 19 for post-transition digital television channel 31 at Ann Arbor.
2. The Commission is required to coordinate and seek concurrence with the Canadian government for all proposed post-transition digital television facilities that are located within 360 km of the United States/Canadian border. Paxson’s proposed WPXD-DT post-transition facility is located 27.3 km from the United States/ Canadian border. The Canadian government has indicated to the Commission that Paxson’s WPXD-DT proposed facility is not acceptable because it will interfere with Canadian digital television post-transition channel 19, London, Ontario.
3. We therefore believe, for the reason set forth, that we cannot approve Paxson’s rulemaking petition.
4. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the Petition for Rulemaking, filed by Paxson Communications License Company, LLC, to substitute digital television channel 19 for post-transition digital television channel 31 at Ann Arbor, Michigan IS HEREBY DISMISSED.
5. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, That this proceeding IS TERMINATED.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Barbara A. Kreisman
Chief, Video Division
Media Bureau
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( 3 / 185 )CRTC approves all-obituary cable channel
By Sidhartha Banerjee, THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL - A Quebec entrepreneur is planning to bring obituaries out of the back pages of newspapers to a new home on the small screen.
Gerald Dominique hopes "Je me souviens" - a niche network dedicated to broadcasting digital obituaries - will be ready to begin broadcasting by the summer.
The French-language speciality channel will charge a fee to broadcast obituaries, prayers, hospitalization notices and messages of thanks.
The Quebec entrepreneur obtained a licence in February from the CRTC and has designs on expanding the channel to the rest of the country, under the moniker "Remember the Name."
"The goal of this channel is to tell stories," Dominique said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"How many stories are lost all over the world each year - great stories about people's lives - those are the stories we hope to tell."
Dominique said he'd often hear about people passing away but that the information would be fragmented or cursory.
"There is always the exchange of information (among friends and family) , but it never makes it into the paper which offers only one dimension of the story and it costs a fortune," Dominique said.
"I felt the need to do more."
Dominique said the TV obits will include sound, music, photos, video, text and testimonials and will cost about the same as a newspaper obit.
Eventually, there will also be obits and memorials for more famous personalities, including political figures and celebrities.
Dominique estimates there are about 56,000 deaths yearly in Quebec, and even a fraction of those stories could provide the revenue he needs.
Suzanne Scott, executive director of the Funeral Service Association of Canada, said the television format sounds intriguing.
It's not uncommon for small-town radio stations to broadcast death notices on a daily basis, but she said even such local, free service is starting to disappear.
"There are many radio stations - certainly in Ontario, the Prairies and smaller places - that have a certain time of day that they will announce all the obituaries," Scott said.
If the televised obits are important to people, funeral directors are likely to support them, she said.
Obituary television is relatively new.
Etos TV, one of the world's first television networks devoted to death, launched last year in Germany with quite a bit of fanfare.
That network shows pictures and video clips of the deceased for a fee and broadcasts documentaries on related topics. It is backed by an association that represents German funeral directors.
Dominique, 44, who describes himself as a self-educated entrepreneur, is firming up plans for the launch.
He doesn't have the same type of financial backing yet as the Germans do, and Dominique acknowledges he will need some assistance.
"Certainly I'd like to have some help - I'm not sure what kind - but I would need some help," Dominique said.
"But if the planets align, I should be on the air on July."
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( 2.8 / 150 )
Lim Hitchcock of Defiance is concerned. Click RELATED LINK to see his editorial to The Toledo Blade today. He has a right to be.From the start, the converter has been a bad idea. But to those in government it was the cheapest way of getting the job done.
From the start, I've been saying that there needs to be several factors to the success of DTV.
1 - Antenna Education.
2 - TV tuners with better sensitivity.
3 - Honest Reporting.
Antenna education is simply letting people know that they may have to upgrade their antenna, or at least the wiring to their antennas. The antennas may be good, but the wiring must be good, too. And the viewers much know the difference between UHF and VHF.
Better Sensitivity is a design in the receiver. There are sets out there that are quite sensitive, but I have also seen some sets that can't get our channel 8 signal from 4 miles away with a good antenna! Come on, manufacturers, your markup is good enough. You can make a tuner that is as sensitive, OR BETTER, than older NTSC tuners. (BTW: The sensitivity issue especially applies to converters).
Honest Reporting is simply that the public is a lot smarter than government thinks they are. The idea of "branding" DTV channels with the NTSC channel number was a bad idea. The PSIP supporters said that it would help people know where their stations are. Stations should have been required to display their call sign followed by the network affiliation. For example, a viewer in Bowling Green commented that he had problems getting WTVG-DT. He said he spent hundreds of dollars trying to get Channel 13. We all know that channels 2-13 are VHF, and 14-69 are UHF, so why couldn't he get WTVG with his antenna?
WTVG is on 13 (analog), but their digital is in the UHF hand. Our viewer couldn't figure out why VHF is somehow UHF. Once he found out this tid-bit he purchased a UHF antenna and all was well. He didn't have a problem with our signal because from the start WLIO said we were channel 8. Period.
I think there is too much water over the dam to correct these issues, but I also think it's a lesson learned about having an arm of government that knows nothing about broadcasting offering, and managing broadcasting.
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( 2.9 / 152 )CLICK on RELATED LINK for original story.
Peter Svensson ASSOCIATED PRESS
Harry Vanderpool, a beekeeper, lives on a hill nearly 1,000 feet above the Willamette River, outside Salem, Ore. It should be a good spot for TV reception, and it used to be.
Now that analog signals are disappearing, however, leaving only digital ones, he may be losing all his channels.
"When you listen to the advertisements, it's 'Oh, all you have to do is get this little digital converter box and hook it up,'" Mr. Vanderpool said.
"Well, we get nothing. Zero signal strength."
While generally better than analog, digital reception with antennas can be tricky. Although millions of people will receive more channels when switching to digital, many others are finding that stations they used to get in analog form won't come in on their converter boxes or digital TV sets.
In Ionia, Mich., retiree Bruce Jones is down to watching the two or three channels, rather than the dozen he used to get.
"They tell me I need an outdoor antenna, which I just can't afford," he said. To spare the $10 for the converter box, he had "cut out a day of groceries."
It's not just rural and small-town viewers like Mr. Vanderpool and Mr. Jones who are having problems with the phase-out of analog TV, which has been on the air for nearly 70 years. It's being done to give more room on the airwaves to wireless broadband, TV for cell phones and emergency communications.
In Hollywood, broadcast engineer Dana Puopolo gets the local stations fine with an indoor antenna in his bedroom, where he gets a view of the broadcast towers on Mount Wilson, a dozen miles away. Unfortunately, even an amplified indoor antenna isn't enough to supply a watchable image to his widescreen TV, which is in the living room on the other side of the apartment.
"You can get it so the picture's perfect, and then when you sit down, 30 seconds later it pixelates into oblivion," Mr. Puopolo said, describing how the picture breaks up into big chunks of color. "The dirty little secret about digital is that it doesn't have nearly the coverage of analog."
A third of the country's TV stations have already turned off their analog signals. Many of them stuck to the original Feb. 17 deadline set by the government, even though it was hastily extended to June 12 to provide additional funding for converter-box coupons.
However, most of the stations that have turned off early are in smaller cities and sparsely populated areas. The big-city stations are mostly waiting until June 12.
On Feb. 18, the day after more than 400 stations went all-digital, nearly half of the
25,320 people who called the Federal Communications Commission's DTV call center did so because of a reception or antenna issue. Of the rest, most called because they had problems relating to the converter boxes or coupons.
There are several issues that conspire to make digital reception tricky.
They can be especially vexing because digital broadcasting is an all-or-nothing proposition: You either get a perfect image or you get nothing at all. The only in-between state is the intermittent freezing that Mr. Puopolo experienced, which is more irritating than snow or static wandering across the screen of an analog TV.
A study published last year by market-research firm Centris estimated that more than half of all households will have problems with digital reception. The study was criticized by several groups as exaggerating the problem. The FCC itself said 5 percent of households were likely to have problems.
Mr. Vanderpool's reception problem is likely due to the fact that nearly all digital signals are in the UHF band, which doesn't travel well over hills compared with the VHF band — channels 2 through 13, where most major stations broadcast in analog. While Mr. Vanderpool is on a hill himself, his home is in a small dell. Even the UHF addition to his antenna doesn't seem to overcome that.
The FCC official in charge of engineering and technology, Julius Knapp, said that when a station moves from VHF to UHF, there are spots where the signal will not reach as well as it did before, even though overall coverage will be the same.
The good news for people like Mr. Vanderpool is that some stations will use their VHF frequencies for digital transmissions after June 12.
Overall, however, there will be fewer VHF TV signals because channels 2 to 6 in that band are difficult to use for digital transmission, particularly the lowest ones. As Mr. Puopolo put it, the electrical noise from a thunderstorm or a passing bus can disrupt a digital TV picture on those frequencies.
Also, moving digital signals from UHF to VHF carries its own set of problems. Some indoor antennas that have been marketed as being for "HDTV reception" are designed for UHF only and will do a poor job with VHF. In general, it's difficult to make good indoor antennas for VHF.
Bruce Franca, vice president of policy and technology at the Association for Maximum Service Television, a broadcast-industry group, said new "smart" antennas can help a lot of people. These can direct themselves electronically to pick up the best signals, which is particularly useful in households that lie between major cities. In his home outside the District, he uses a smart antenna to pick up both Washington and Baltimore stations.
"I can watch both the Orioles and Nationals, and you don't have get up and adjust the antenna," he said.
Many stations now have an analog antenna at the top of their transmission tower and a digital one mounted lower down on the side of the tower. Many plan to eventually move the digital antenna to the top, which can improve coverage. The FCC also has given stations clearance to put up a new type of small repeater station for digital signals to help with coverage in hard-to-reach pockets.
There are other developments that are likely to improve reception in the future, but it's not clear if people who have reception problems will have the patience to wait for them, or if they'll conclude on June 13 that they need to pay for satellite or cable.
Mr. Puopolo has already given up on over-the-air TV, expanded his satellite package for $10 a month to get high-definition programming for his widescreen. But, he said, digital TV can catch up, just like color TV did after some initial problems.
"Remember the old color TVs that had color controls? You'd adjust the knob to get a good flesh tone, and then you'd sit down and 10 minutes later the guy would have a purple face, and you'd have to adjust again," he said. "It's like any technology — there's growing pains."
_______________________________________
We would like to hear from our viewers. How is your reception of WLIO-DT channel 8? Click on comments and tell us. - Fred Vobbe
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( 3 / 142 )From the CGC Communicator, Gary Stigall of SBE Chapter 36 has some antenna recommendations that look very good.
A good antenna for viewing high band channels, such as channel 8, (WLIO-DT) is the Winegard YA1713.
He's a real evangelist for the Terrestrial Digital 91XG UHF receiving antenna. It has high gain AND excellent front-to-back ratio, 28 dB!
Remember, without a VHF and UHF antenna, you have only HALF an antenna system.
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( 2.9 / 199 )Commerce's NTIA Begins to Clear TV Converter Box Coupon Request Waiting
List to Assist More Americans with Transition to Digital TV Broadcasting
For Immediate Release: March 5, 2009
Contact: Bart Forbes, (202) 482-7002 or press@ntia.doc.gov
WASHINGTON - U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced that the agency has begun to clear its waiting list for requests to the TV Converter Box Coupon Program as a result of additional funds provided by Congress.
"NTIA expects to eliminate the current waiting list within two to three weeks," said Acting NTIA Administrator Anna Gomez. "This is good news for the more than two million households on the waiting list, who soon will be able to enjoy the benefits of digital television broadcasting. I encourage all consumers to redeem their coupons immediately so that they, too, can enjoy clearer pictures and more programming choices from digital television."
On January 4, 2009, the TV Converter Box Coupon Program reached its funds obligation ceiling and placed incoming coupon requests on a waiting list. While NTIA has fulfilled requests for 3.4 million coupons from the waiting list, requests for over 4.1 million coupons – representing over 2.3 million households - still remain on the waiting list. While the DTV Delay Act signed by the President on February 11th allows NTIA to issue replacement coupons to households whose coupons have expired, NTIA is currently not accepting requests for replacement coupons. NTIA will announce shortly when it will be able to issue, upon request, one replacement coupon for each coupon that expired without being redeemed.
The DTV Delay Act also established June 12, 2009, as the final date by which all full-power television stations in the country will be required to shut down analog broadcasts. However, some stations and entire markets may choose to switch before then. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced that, of the nation's nearly 1,800 full-power televisions stations, a total of 641stations (36%) terminated their analog signals as of February 17, 2009. The FCC has released a list of fullpower TV broadcast stations terminating analog service on or before February 17, 2009. That list can be found at http://www.fcc.gov/021609AttachmentA.pdf. More information on the digital television transition is available by calling 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) or by going on-line to the Web site www.DTV.gov.
Consumers can receive digital television today by purchasing a TV converter box (with or without a government coupon), buying a digital TV, or subscribing to cable, satellite or another pay service.
Consumers who currently have coupons in hand should use them immediately. The coupons may not be used as a rebate and must be presented to the retailer at the time of purchase.
Background:
The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 Act originally required full-power television stations to cease analog broadcasts and switch to digital after February 17, 2009. The Act authorized NTIA to create the TV Converter Box Coupon Program, which is currently funded by the airwaves auction proceeds. The Act originally funded the Program at $1.5 billion, which included an obligation limit of $1.34 billion for ordered and redeemed coupons. Funds are obligated as coupons are issued. If coupons are not used and expire, those funds are returned to the Program to fill requests.
The transition to digital broadcast television will free up the airwaves for better communications among emergency first responders and new telecommunication services and offers consumers a clearer picture and more programming choices.
The TV Converter Box Coupon Program currently permits all households to request up to two coupons - each worth $40 - toward the purchase of certified converter boxes. Coupons may be requested while supplies last, and only one coupon can be used to purchase each coupon-eligible converter box.
Consumers can purchase a converter box at one of the more than 34,000 participating local, phone or online retailers. Consumers will receive a list of eligible converter boxes and participating retailers with their coupons and may search for a local retailer on-line at https://www.dtv2009.gov/VendorSearch.aspx. Consumers should call stores before shopping to ensure the desired converter box is available. Converter boxes generally cost between $40 and $80 and coupons expire 90 days from the date they are mailed.
When consumers receive their coupons in the mail, they should buy a converter box as soon as possible, and try the box with their television to address any potential technical issues. Some viewers watch programs over translators or other low-power stations which may continue broadcasting analog signals after the digital television transition deadline. Those viewers may wish to select a converter box that will pass through analog signals.
Households may apply for coupons online at www.DTV2009.gov, by phone at 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009), via fax at 1-877-DTV-4ME2 (1-877-388-4632) or by mail to P.O. Box 2000, Portland, OR 97208-2000. Deaf or hard of hearing callers may dial 1-877-530-2634 (English TTY) or 1-866-495-1161 (Spanish TTY). Nursing home residents may apply with the paper application available downloadable at www.DTV2009.gov. For more information about the Coupon Program, please visit www.DTV2009.gov and for questions about the DTV transition, go to www.dtv.gov or call 1-888-CALL-FCC.
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( 3 / 177 )NTIA Gets Access To DTV Funds; Coupons to Flow Next Week
Coupons allow analog over-the-air TV's to display a digital signal
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/4/2009 12:35:38 PM MT
The DTV Countdown: Continuing Coverage of the DTV Transition
According to the Office of Management and Budget, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration now has access to funding to help unclog the DTV-to-analog converter box coupon program.
"We apportioned these funds earlier this week; coupons will start being received next week," confirmed an OMB official.
The $40 coupons, up to two per household, allow analog over-the-air TV's to display a digital signal. Over a third of TV stations have now gone all digital after more than 400 pulled the plug on the original DTV hard date of Feb. 17.
The Obama administration set aside $650 million in the economic stimulus package to be used primarily to allow NTIA to start sending out converter box coupons to fill over four million requests on its waiting list. That list was created after NTIA ran up against a funding ceiling in early January. Another $90 million is for DTV education and FCC expenses associated with educating consumers about and administering the move of the hard date. Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps had said the commission had enough to handle the initial Feb. 17, but not enough for the intervening months until June 12, the new hard date.
It was NTIA’s much-publicized waiting list that helped prompt then President-elect Barack Obama to call for moving the DTV hard date from Feb. 17 to June 12. Republicans had countered that simply fixing the accounting problem rather than allocating more money could have sufficed.
NTIA has said it will take two-to-three weeks to clear up the backlog of requests, but that if there is a rush on requests that create another backlog, it will give priority to households that rely on over-the-air analog TV service. The bill that moved the hard date also allowed everyone whose coupons had expired to reapply for them, irrespective of the reason for the expiration or whether they were from an analog-only home or one that was getting TV from cable or satellite.
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( 3 / 177 )FCC Unveils Plans For Second Wave Of DTV Transitions
The FCC late Friday released its second order implementing the DTV date delay bill
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/21/2009 7:09:23 AM MT
(Click Related Link Below for Original Story)
The FCC late Friday released its second order implementing the DTV date delay bill. That included changing all the relevant Feb. 17, 2009 dates to June 12, but it also contained various modifications and additions to handle the second wave of analog shut-offs, including the tentative conclusion--in a separate notice of proposed rulemaking on which there will be a brief comment period--that stations should not pull the plug earlier than April 16.
There are many more dates: March 17 (St. Patrick's Day) is the date by which all broadcasters must inform the FCC of when they do plan to pull the plug on analog if it is before June 12. Anyone who doesn't will be assumed to be going June 12 and won't be able to pull the plug earlier (absent a disaster or unforeseeable emergency). The commission said that date certain was only fair given that cable operators, satellite carriers, broadcasters and tower crews will need that certainty.
April 16 is the deadline for filing updated DTV Transition Status Reports that outline those transition plans.
The FCC also sought comment on a plan for stations that want to go before June 12 (but after March 14, which is the earliest the second wave of plug-pulls can resume). It promised to release an order on those proposals by March 13 (yet another Friday the 13th) and suggested that any stations that do want to go before June 12 provide a proposed date in their comments, and explain why they need or want to go early.
Among the other changes in the order are extending the DTV education deadline for cable, satellite and telco video services to the end of the second calendar quarter, and expanded them to require notices--in bill stuffers, for example--to include contact info for the FCC call center, coupon box program, and the suggestion that they contact their local TV station for more information. Those multichannel video providers have until April 1 (April Fool's Day) to modify their information.
Broadcasters also must continue to air DTV transition information, revising it to reflect that the deadline has been extended to June 12, but that many stations have already transitioned (641 stations to be exact) and more may before that June 12 date.
Broadcasters who have not transitioned and must reset their countdown clocks beginning 100 days out, Which is March 4 (there's another deadline).
The Winners of the analog spectrum being reclaimed after the transition will get another 116 days to meet construction benchmarks.
Not surprisingly, the FCC moved the Analog Nightlight Act to the June 12 deadline, which allows stations to keep an analog signal on for another 30 says past that deadline with DTV transition and potentially emergency information. The programming can have no ads, but can carry sponsorship credits similar to those on noncommercial stations. That is in contrast to the enhanced nightlight service being provided by at least one station in at-risk DTV markets where the rest of the network affiliates transitioned Feb. 17. That service must include news and public affairs programing as well, can contain ads, and must run for 60 days past the Feb. 17 deadline.
But the FCC also tentatively concluded that it didn't want all the affiliates in a market to pull the plug before June 12, essentially proposing to extend its enhanced analog nightlight requirements through the new hard date.
The first order, which came only four days before the Feb. 17 date (Friday the 13th) had no comment period due to time constraints. That was something of an irony from a commission led by a critic of the lack of sufficient public comment on FCC decisions.
In this case, there will be time for comment, but only five days, rather than the usual 30. It will also be a one-round cycle rather than comments followed by replies.
In addition to the order, the FCC also sought comment on whether it should require viewers of possible service loss, the need for rescanning channels by DTV sets and converter boxes.
The order is online at fcc.gov.
FCC Word97 DOC files:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a ... 9-11A1.doc
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a ... -521A1.doc
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( 3 / 193 )...from Washington State and Erin Middlewood at the Columbian:
Many clueless about making switch, while help is sorely lacking
Savannah Young received her coupons for digital converter boxes, purchased the devices, and then let them sit untouched for two months. "I didn't have one clue," said Young, 55, of Vancouver.
The boxes are finally hooked up to her two television sets, thanks to a friend.
Now she's worried about the elderly, disabled and anyone else who might have difficulty. "If I couldn't do it, I know they're going to need help," Young said.
They may have trouble finding help, but at least they'll have more time.
Today was going to be the day when analog TV signals across the nation were to go dead, freeing up bandwidth for public-safety communications and wireless signals. But the federal government delayed the deadline until June 12.
Portland stations are maintaining their analog signals until then. After that, receiving over-the-air TV will require either a digital TV set, a converter box or a cable TV subscription.
As of December, about 9 percent of households in the Portland media market — compared with 5.7 percent nationally — were "completely unready" for the digital conversion, according to a January report by The Nielsen Co.
Nationwide, blacks, Hispanics and Asians are less prepared for the switch, according to the Nielsen report.
"This has become a civil rights issue," said Al Stavitsky, director of the University of Oregon's Turnbull Center in Portland and a journalism professor. "One of the reasons behind the delay is that it's vulnerable populations that are the least likely to make the switch."
The economic stimulus package approved by Congress includes $650 million for the digital transition. Most of that money will supply converter box coupons for the hundreds of thousands still waiting for them; $90 million of it will go toward outreach and programs to help rural, elderly, disabled, low-income and minority households make the switch.
The effort isn't just to ensure people can keep watching "American Idol" and "Grey's Anatomy." It's to maintain an important information lifeline, Stavitsky said.
"Even though there are so many sources of information, for many people, television is it," Stavitsky said.
That echoes Young's concern. "Clearly, just being able to know what's happening in the world, you need to have TV," she said.
The recession makes the switch harder, said Young, who recently lost her job. She shut off cable, and now relies on over-the-air TV.
Even with the coupons, she shelled out $28 for two converter boxes. She also bought a $50 antennae to boost the signal. She's grateful a friend helped her set it all up for free.
For those who have trouble hooking it up, there's little help.
The Federal Communications commission offers how-to information on the Web and by phone, as does the AARP.
Drivers for the Meals on Wheels program, which serves 300 people in Clark County each day, have hooked up converter boxes on an informal basis as seniors ask, said Julie Piper Finley of Loaves & Fishes Centers Inc., which runs the program.
The Portland-based Oregon Alliance to Reform Media applied for a grant from the FCC to provide assistance, but hasn't heard back yet, said the group's Bruce Fife. And even if the group does get money, its plan doesn't include reaching across the Columbia River. In Washington, the group Reclaim the Media provides training but only in the Seattle area.
"Someone needs to organize around here," Young said.
Click on RELATED LINK for more information
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( 3 / 215 )
Here is our new master control room that was built just prior to the 2008 Olympics.In this picture you see the two switchers, one for WLIO 8.1, and the other for WLIO 8.2. WLIO 8.1 is now NBC in HD. WLIO 8.2 will be Fox in HD.
The master control was designed by WLIO's engineers, and is a Utah Scientific HD product. Employee involvement was key to the success of the building of the master control.
Click on the picture to get a large image.
The Utah Scientific system consists of Miranda and AJA converters to automatically take content from analog, or SD-SDI and convert it to HD.When SD programming is aired, we put two bars on the sides of the picture to fill out the 16:9 picture. Both station transmit 16:9 in the 720P format at all times.
The monitors you see are large screen "picture in picture" monitors that allow the operator to see what is happening on all the feeds and stations.
Two monitors between the larger big screens allow the operator to see the parameter's of the transmitter, that is located in a room behind the operator.The screen on the bottom is the automation that allows the commercials and shows to be played out on the air.
The automation system is by a company called Wireready NSI which has been a leading automation supplier since the early 1990s.
The Wireready automation runs the MC2020P control panel, that in turn selects the programs and sources seen on the air.The operator can take control of the panel at any time, should there be live programming or breaking news.
Each panel has the ability to seize control from the other station, so operators don't have to dash from switcher to switcher.
Additionally, the panel contains a button called "Emergency Join" that allows once switcher to take over the programming from another station.
The master control room is designed ergonomically for operator comfort, and the floors are wood to remove all possibility of static.
In the back room, behind the operator you find the Axcera 5,000 "Innovator" high-band VHF transmitter. This is our digital transmitter.The transmitter is all air cooled, with (2) redundant exciters, controllers, and eight power amplifiers.
We have also kept our original Larcan DTT-250 transmitter, the one we first used to come on in digital, and now serves as a third level of backup. Along with our new generator, this makes WLIO a very dependable source for information in west-central Ohio
CLICK HERE for a PDF map showing our digital coverage (large circle) vs the analog coverage.
We will have more pictures as time progresses. Look for our new ABC and CBS to pop up soon!
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( 3 / 190 )
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