WPBF television, the Hearst Television ABC affiliate for the West Palm Beach, Fla. area recently completed an upgrade of its control room facility and technical core. Integrator BeckTV was chosen to handle project details. The scope of work involved transitioning the station for full high-definition operation.
"BeckTV was involved in every step of this project, from planning through implementation, to ensure that we could meet our new technical and operational goals," said Cliff Thomas, WPBF’s chief engineer. "With their help, we have built a new facility that will withstand the test of time, and we did so while staying on budget and on schedule."
The upgrade program was completed in phases, with a relocation of control room operations to a new engineering wing and the installation of a new electrical system and enhanced air conditioning. BeckTV was also responsible for construction of all control room cabinetry. "The planning started more than a year before the project started," said Thomas.
"BeckTV engineers sat down with us, went over our existing workflow, detailed the facility we were using, and then worked out our transition from old to new equipment, as well as the changes that would take place in our day-to-day workflow. The company was obviously very experienced at doing this type of work, and for us the process was nearly painless."
The technical facility revamping has provided WPBF with a flexible infrastructure for HD workflows and reflects the move to as IT-centric infrastructure.
