KHQ-DT, the NBC affiliate in Spokane, Wash., is using Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 live television production system for single-operator production of the station's "Weather Plus Updates." Weather Plus Updates are polished TV weather reports formatted as two or four-minute recorded segments and updated seven times a day using the Slate 2100 platform.
The weather report is broadcast daily on its DTV channel 6-2, carried locally by Comcast Cablevision, and available from the station's Web site. The updates are also fed to two other Central Washington stations owned by KHQ-KNDO-DT in Yakima and KNDU-DT in Kennewick-for broadcast on their DTV secondary channels and Web sites.
The Broadcast Pix Slate 2100 system integrates a production switcher, production control panel, Inscriber CG, transitional effects, chromakeyer, clipstore, and multiview monitoring, and other functions, in a single workstation-based system. The system can be operated with a production switcher-style control panel or by using a keyboard and mouse interface. In addition to the Slate 2100 system's integrated design, KHQ also installed the Slate 1000 in late 2006, which now serves as the centerpiece for a new space called Production Control 2.
Formerly a newsroom edit suite, Production Control 2 is a 6-by-6-foot space adjacent to an auxiliary set dedicated to producing Weather Plus Updates, as well as news and elections updates. The studio, which is equipped with several four Panasonic robotic cameras, has a green screen chromakey wall for keying weather graphics generated by a WSI weather graphics presentation system.
"Since Production Control 2 is extremely space-challenged, it was critical to have an integrated production switcher that could be managed entirely by a single operator, as opposed to our main production control room which requires a director, technical director, and audio person," said Doug Miles, KHQ's production manager.
