Digital Transaction Group completed the installation of a two-channel Xe Automation system at KNOP, the NBC affiliate in North Platte, Nebraska, this month. The system provided KNOP a quick and painless implementation.
According to Mike McNeil, KNOP Chief Engineer, the installation and cutover to the new Xe System allowed the station to go from a manual, spot insertion operation to automated playback with minimal impact and no overtime for the operators. “DTG took our existing spot inventory, transferred the material to a new video server and imported the database. We started on Monday and by Thursday we were ready to cutover to the Xe system. If we went with some other automation system it would have been a lot more work.”
Lewis Carlini, KNOP General Manager, is looking to the future as the Xe system adds new capabilities to their station. “DTG’s experience made the transition to Xe easy. Our on-air look is flawless, and we immediately saw the benefits with less manual intervention and fewer missed switches.”
KNOP’s Xe system takes up 11 rack units to automate two playlist schedules and control up to 32 devices. KNOP can add more channels and devices to the system without needing any new hardware. Xe uses IBM eSeries computers, and all the workstations have the same configuration with all the Xe applications installed including media preparation, content management and on-air playlists.
The operators are excited using the new system and already report greater productivity. Since going on-line, Mike reports that everyone is pleased with the system, “Xe makes it a lot easier than the way we used to do things.”
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