“We wanted a console backed bya manufacturer with a solid reputation and years of broadcast experience”
TULSA, OK – KOTV and KQCW, owned by Griffin Communications as CBS and CW affiliate stations respectively, recently opened a new 57,000-square-foot, broadcast facility that relies on a Solid State Logic C10 HD Compact Broadcast Console to cover audio for news, weather and specialty programming. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based production facility houses both stations, but also has dedicated fiber lines between it and sister station KWTV in Oklahoma City to streamline production resources for statewide news coverage. The C10 HD was chosen for its advanced features, compact size and sound quality, in addition to SSL’s industry reputation for building high-quality products.
“For our new production facility, we wanted a console that was very capable, but was also cost-effective and backed by a manufacturer with a solid reputation and years of broadcast experience. That led us to the C10,” says John Quesnel, director of production for KOTV and KQCW. “Several of our engineers have had good experiences freelancing with the larger C100 HDS and we even had the SSL C10 Broadcast Equipment Demonstration Vehicle visit our facility for an extensive hands-on session. We are an HD, AES-embedded house and the C10 gives us the kind of flexibility and capability that we need to support a large news set.”
The new production facility has one large 5,525-square-foot studio with associated production and audio control rooms. The expansive news set in the studio is broken down into subsets to accommodate different programming needs. For example, one of the largest subsets is for weather forecasting. Additionally, the studio features a large news anchor area, three smaller news presentations sets, an interview set and speciality sets for entertainment presentations or commercial production. The C10 is used to produce over seven hours of news and speciality programming per day.
“We use the one-touch setup recall on the C10 to streamline our workflow through the different news and non-newscast programs we produce,” continues Quesnel.“Because we are located in tornado alley, weather is a very important element for us, so that particular area of the set is very large and comprehensive. We have a standard microphone setup for the area that we can easily call up for breaking emergency weather coverage. Beyond news programming, we also have a full kitchen set for cooking segments and a stage set for presentations ranging from live music and fashion to the DIY hardware guy. The C10 has been an excellent choice to handle audio for this type of multitasking facility.”
The compact design of the C10 was also a factor as the console is essentially self-contained, without the need for a mainframe in a climate-controlled machine room. The C10 is supported by three Alpha-Link 8RMP remote mic-pre units and five Alpha-link Live-R I/O units and was ordered with the Dialogue Automix option. As the station relies on many people to run the console, having a user levels system that tailors the features available for control to the skill set of individual operators is a key component for the team.
“We have engineers operating the console that have varying degrees of experience, so the C10 offers us the opportunity to lock out certain features when a less experienced person is scheduled to run a preset program,” concludes Quesnel. “This console gives us big board power at a reasonable price.”
Solid State Logic is the world’s leading manufacturer of analogue and digital audio consoles and provider of creative tools for music, broadcast and post production professionals. For more information about our award-winning products, please visit: www.solidstatelogic.com.
