WANE-TV Delivers “Coverage You Can Count On” with End-to-End Avid Broadcast Environment
No television station delivers more hours of local coverage in Fort Wayne, Ind., than the CBS affiliate WANE-TV 15. The station, owned by LIN Television, bills itself as “The News Channel” and stakes its reputation on providing the most hours of in-depth local coverage in its market (DMA 106). This is the justification behind the station motto, “Coverage You Can Count On.”
Upholding a reputation built on reliability is a tall order. That’s why in March of this year, WANE moved its broadcast workflow to a complete, nonlinear Avid broadcast solution.
“The Avid strategy is to train super users. The strategy works. We were able to train and do the news every day
and go on air with our nonlinear setup on deadline.”
- Ted Linn, News Director, WANE
Taking the Nonlinear Leap
The WANE promotions department had been using Media Composer systems for more than 10 years. And for 13 years, the news team had been using Avid’s legacy NewStar newsroom computer system to create scripts and manage rundowns. Yet until March, the news-production group was still using an aging Sony Betacart machine to playback edited segments from Betacam SP tapes.
Mark Johnson, WANE-TV’s chief engineer, is the first to admit that the station’s old-school, tape-based editing and playback processes had become unreliable. He explains, “We had to move away from Betacam for a variety of reasons. Replacement parts were becoming unavailable, and we needed to dub down content to Beta SP for playout, so broadcast quality was deteriorating.”
The end-of-life status of the NewStar system was also the catalyst for WANE’s decision to expand its nonlinear setup and create an end-to-end digital workflow for news management and production. “Once we chose the upgrade path to the Avid iNEWS newsroom computer system [NRCS], overhauling our news-production process with an all Avid nonlinear solution was the next logical step,” says Johnson.
“As a news leader, we need to keep our eye on the HD future. Avid [systems] can help us do that.”
- Mark Johnson, Chief Engineer, WANE
WANE’s Big Avid Overhaul
In addition to the 25-seat Avid iNEWS NRCS, the WANE newsroom setup now includes an 8 TB Avid Unity ISIS shared-storage solution, an Avid iNEWS ControlAir automation-assist system, four NewsCutter Adrenaline editing systems, 10 licenses of the Avid Instinct journalist-editing workstation, two Avid AirSpeed playout servers, and Media Composer software with Avid Mojo SDI hardware. Additionally, the WANE promotions department includes a Windows-based Media Composer Adrenaline system plus two Media Composer software setups, each with Avid Mojo SDI hardware.
All of these systems are linked by an Avid Interplay system, the first nonlinear workflow engine for managing end-to-end, news management and production processes. It integrates directly with the Avid editing systems and the Avid Unity ISIS shared-storage solution to manage and track projects while providing simultaneous desktop access to digital media used by WANE reporters, photographers, producers, and promotions staffers.
News director Ted Linn was impressed with the Avid commitment to ensuring that WANE’s rollout took place on schedule. He believes that the entire station benefited enormously from the Avid training. “The Avid strategy is to train super users,” says Linn. “The strategy works. We were able to train and do the news every day and go on air with our nonlinear setup on deadline.”
Easing Access to Media
WANE delivers 22 hours of news each week. On weekdays, this includes two, one-hour morning news shows at 5am and 7am, plus four 30-minute newscasts at noon, 5pm, 6pm, and 11pm. On Saturday and Sunday, WANE offers 30-minute newscasts at 6pm and 11pm. And once a month the station runs a community affairs program, Focus 15, which focuses on the hot newsworthy topics of the day.
Managing such a packed schedule requires WANE’s news team to work efficiently and at full capacity from the moment footage is received on tape or over satellite connections to the moment the news is aired. WANE relies on its Avid workflow to provide its entire staff with instant, simultaneous access to digital media. Driving the process is the Avid Interplay workflow engine.
Scott Murray, assignment editor at WANE, believes that the Avid Interplay system maximizes productivity by eliminating a lot of manual tasks and back-and-forth communication among staffers. That’s because once media is checked into the Avid Interplay system, everyone has access to the digitized footage right away. No one needs to rewind and fast-forward tape, and no one needs to locate or dub a tape to cut a tease. Murray finds this especially valuable when crunch time comes around. He explains, “Before Avid, reporters and producers were stepping all over each other in our edit bays to work on the same tape. Now they can just grab what they need from their desktops.”
The Avid Interplay system’s media-management features make it particularly easy for reporters and the promotions team to quickly find shots and sequences. “With [Avid] Interplay, I organize work for each day into a project. Within the project, I create a folder for each reporter to store media for that day’s story assignments,” he says. “Typically, each folder holds about 20 minutes of edited media, including reporter packages, raw video, JPEG files, and sound bytes. And all of it is shared. So if the promotions group needs media from a reporter’s folder to cut a tease, they can use the Interplay system’s search capabilities to get it immediately.”
Enabling a Seamless, Collaborative Process
At the heart of the Avid Interplay system is a client-server engine that works with WANE’s 8 TB Avid Unity ISIS shared-storage solution. Together, these systems provide secure access to media assets from the station’s Media Composer Adrenaline, Media Composer software, NewsCutter Adrenaline, iNEWS, iNEWS Instinct, iNEWS ControlAir, and AirSpeed systems.
The tightly-knit Avid workflow streamlines the broadcast lifecycle from tape acquisition to playout. “Let’s say temperatures soar into the 90s and someone collapses on the street. One of our photographers captures the event on a Sony DNW7 video camera. He brings the videotape back to the station and logs it into the Media Composer Adrenaline in production. Next, it gets checked into Avid Interplay,” says Linn.
Once footage is in the Avid Interplay system, the station really moves into high gear. Linn explains, “A reporter can go to one of our four edit suites and create the story on a NewsCutter Adrenaline system. At the same time, a producer makes edits from his desktop on an iNEWS Instinct [workstation], while promotions accesses the footage from Media Composer software for a promo. Promotion’s work gets stored in the [Avid Unity] ISIS [system], while the news story goes into the rundown on the iNEWS NRCS. At show time, the iNEWS ControlAir [system] pulls the rundown information from the NRCS and signals the AirSpeed [server] when to run the story.”
Avid Behind the Scenes
Linn describes the Avid iNEWS system as “the backbone of the newsroom.” The station uses it to store scripts and rundowns, and it interfaces with the station’s teleprompter and closed-captioning systems. It also enables the station to slash time from the broadcast workflow. Says Murray, “The iNEWS NRCS lets us work in several different newscasts simultaneously. We can quickly drag and drop stories into newscasts. It also gives us the flexibility to change the look of our rundowns, so we can work the way we want.”
As for the Avid Unity ISIS system, its 32 intelligent hard drives with a mirrored configuration are particularly appealing to Johnson from a reliability perspective. He says, “With a technical department of just four people, we need our systems to be absolutely reliable. If we were to have a failure, with the ISIS [system], we’d easily be able to move data off the bad drive.”
Productivity and reliability are not the only benefits WANE has achieved from its all-digital Avid workflow. Johnson has also noticed a big difference in broadcast quality. He says, “By not editing on tape and going to Beta tape for playback, the audio and video quality of our broadcasts has improved tremendously in terms of sharpness.”
Unleashing Creativity
Contributing to the improved quality of WANE broadcasts are the editing capabilities of the NewsCutter Adrenaline systems and the Instinct journalist-editing stations. The NewsCutter systems are primarily shared by the station’s seven reporters; while the Instinct system is the “best friend” of the station’s eight producers, says Linn.
Linn believes that reporters have become more creative using special effects with the NewsCutter Adrenaline systems. “The effects are cutting-edge and easy to use,” he says. “It’s also easier to edit long-form packages. Since we introduced the NewsCutter [systems], I’m seeing more and more reporters adding special effects such as dissolves, color corrections, and 3D to make their packages more compelling.” Training on the editing systems also enabled the reporters to use all of the effects features to their fullest.
WANE producers have traditionally done a lot of editing. Murray says that with the Instinct system, it’s a lot faster and easier than ever. Designed for people with limited familiarity of nonlinear editing, the system enables producers to easily drag and drop video to match scripts side-by-side on their computer screens.
As for the promotions group, its five staffers mostly use Media Composer Adrenaline systems to create promotional items such as a 10-second teaser, bumper, or open. Johnson says that since purchasing the two Media Composer software packages with Avid Mojo hardware, the promotions group has also been able to take advantage of the same capabilities as those found in the fast-processing Media Composer Adrenaline system. “Media Composer software gives us all the features of the Adrenaline [system] with more affordability,” says Johnson.
Next Steps
WANE’s next big step is to move to high-definition formats. Johnson says that with the station’s new Avid setup, WANE is poised to make the leap. “The Media Composer Adrenaline systems become HD boxes easily. All we need to purchase is a card. As a news leader, we need to keep our eye on the HD future. Avid [systems] can help us do that.”
At the same time, WANE must keep its eye on the bottom line. Budget factored into the decision to purchase the scalable, flexible Avid setup that can be easily expanded to meet the demands of an ever-changing industry. Johnson explains, “As a smaller station, we don’t have the money to reverse a poor purchase decision. Based on our history with Avid, we know the company will deliver the training, support and expertise we need.”
* CREDIT: Images courtesy of WANE-TV