SALT LAKE CITY -- Sept. 27, 2011 -- Utah Scientific, the worldwide leader in routing and master control switchers, today announced that Ohio's Hometown Stations (WLIO and WOHL) have installed four GS-4000 master control branding systems to speed workflow and to post graphics more easily for each of its four uniquely branded stations.
WLIO/WOHL serves about 750,000 households in Ohio and Indiana, and is the only station in the nation that broadcasts programming from four of the major U.S. networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox -- which means WLIO/WOHL often must display the same information with four different branded looks. The GS-4000 units make it possible to integrate graphics such as side panels, time and temperature inserts, lottery numbers, and crawls onto the screen in a way that's branded for each network, and more quickly and easily than ever before.
"Since we have four stations co-located, the ability to get something done in the least amount of time is very important to us," said Frederick Vobbe, WLIO's director of engineering. "Since the GS-4000 has macro capability, we just put data into one unit, and it produces four different graphics for each of our four stations. In the old days it might take 30 seconds or more for the operator on each station to put together a lottery crawl. Now we do that same function in three seconds, for all four stations."
The GS-4000 units operate through Hometown Stations' existing Utah Scientific master control switchers, so the master control operators can call up preconfigured pages from memory at the touch of a button.
"We looked at a lot of systems, but the GS-4000 was a good marriage for us because of the way it interfaced with the rest of our system," Vobbe said. "The Utah Scientific product specialist, Chris Harmon, came here and installed all four machines -- and had them running in 40 minutes. We've had other products that have taken days to get them configured and working."
The GS-4000 is a full-featured graphics system designed to support all of the varied requirements for text and graphics in master control branding applications. The GS-4000 supports static logos imported from standard graphic files, as well as animated logos, which are flipbook animations played back in real time. In addition to supporting unlimited static text elements on a scene, the GS-4000 offers a very powerful set of linking tools for presenting text from external data sources including, but not limited to, time and temperature displays and news tickers.
"Utah Scientific for me is the benchmark for what a lot of businesses should be doing with their products and service," Vobbe said. "They're the easiest to work with, and their 10-year warranty is by far the best of all the companies I've dealt with."
"I've enjoyed a great relationship with Fred for more than 20 years now, and that kind of loyalty is hard to find," said Tom Harmon, president and CEO of Utah Scientific. "We really appreciate that we can continue to work with Fred and his team of innovators. They're always looking for new ways to put technology to work so that their unique operation runs more smoothly and efficiently, and we're pleased that we get to help them do this."
More information on Utah Scientific routing and master control switching products can be found at www.utahscientific.com.
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About Hometown Stations (WLIO/WOHL)
"Our Reach Is Wide." Block Communications, Inc. (BCI) is a 107-year-old, privately held, diversified media holding company headquartered in Sylvania, Ohio. It has primary operations in cable television, newspaper publishing, high-speed Internet and residential telephone services. Its properties include Buckeye Cablevision, Inc. (Toledo, Ohio), Erie County Cablevision, Inc. (Sandusky, Ohio), The Blade of Toledo (Toledo, Ohio), Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Penn.), Buckeye Telesystem, Inc. (Toledo, Ohio), WLIO-TV (Lima, Ohio), WDRB-TV (Louisville, Ky.), WFTE-TV (Salem, Ind.), WAND-TV (Champaign/Springfield/Decatur, Ill.), KTRV-TV (Boise, Idaho), and Metro Fiber & Cable Construction Co. (Toledo Ohio). Block Communications companies employ nearly 3,000 people nationwide. It has an experienced management team focused on improving the competitive position of its media properties.
About Utah Scientific, Inc.
Throughout more than 30 years in business, Utah Scientific has earned its position as worldwide leader in routing and master control switchers by working with customers to meet their needs for advanced signal distribution and control technology. The company's confidence in its industry-leading products is exemplified by its renowned no-fee, 10-year warranty, and validated by multiple Frost & Sullivan Customer Service Leadership Awards. Additional information about Utah Scientific and its products can be found at www.utahscientific.com.
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