Burlington, Mass.-based Volicon Inc. has sold its award-winning Observer multichannel media monitoring system to CBS' WTOG-TV/DT in St. Petersburg, Fla. WTOG-TV/DT is using the Observer mainly for on-air logging related to FCC compliancy and advertising issues.
"I had been looking for a system like the Volicon Observer for quite some time," said Bob Sink, assistant chief engineer at WTOG. "In addition to the on-air logging, we needed to be able to automate the storage of these signals for both our NTSC and digital stations. The ability to quickly search on-air events for content as well as the capability for multiple users within the station to access the unit from their desktops was also a necessity. In short, the Observer meets all of these needs."
Prior to the Observer, the station had been logging on-air programming using a system involving three VHS tape decks in eight-hour mode, storing the tapes for 90 days. An operator needed to load each deck manually, and when a compliancy, advertising, or technical issue arose, a staff member needed to find the tape and search through the eight hours of video for content.
The Observer automatically records and stores its programming to a server with no operator effort. Multiple users within multiple departments can immediately search on-air events via a desktop client. There is no longer a need for manually loading a tape deck or even storing the tapes. The station was able to eliminate an entire wall of tape stock and cease manual loading of tape decks, according to Volicon. Staffers can also export video clips to viewers outside the facility, such as advertisers or the FCC.
