TV123
State of, NY
Male, 15
My career started in 8th grade when I got involved with a school TV news show. I now work on local news shows in the studio and I also record local public events so they can be shown on TV. I've been a director, teleprompter tech, switcher tech, graphic editor, and more.
What I love about live TV is the teamwork, responsibility, intensity, and communication that it requires, more than the artistic part.
I know more about behind the scenes stuff than TV talent stuff, but ask me anything!
No I do not get paid. Mainly because I was looking for a TV station. They weren't looking for me. I probably could get paid, but I don't want to. I use it as an extracurricular activity.
What I really enjoy is the intensity of the control room. I love the teamwork, the comradery, and the work itself. I don't like "the visual arts" anymore than you probably do. I just like having a job that most teens my age do not. I get to work with adults. And although I will probably not make this a career, it does teach me things that I can use in my professional life. It's great experience, and although money would be great, the experience is more than enough.
Hope this helped!
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One of the worst I've seen was when an anchor forgot the name of a reporter. That's 100% okay. The problem was her reaction. She turned red and stalled for at least 20 seconds. She should have tried to say the line in a way that didn't have a name in it.
Another time an anchor dropped the f-bomb by accident.
There was another time when a producer was yelling at the anchor and insulting her. The mic picked it up. No one knew that people watching could hear him until someone realized and took the show off-air until the guy calmed down.
Hope these were good ones!
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Hi John!
The profile picture shows the main control room of a TV studio. When a show is going on, what you see on screen is controlled in there.
Basically the switcher is that thing in the middle of the table that has all the buttons. That basically selects which camera to show, along with many other things. For example, if there is a special report, the switcher operator will push a button going to the "clip." That is also where the green screen (background) is selected. The only other function I can think of is when there is a caption (ie. name, story title, etc.) that can be put on screen.
The director sits next to the switcher operator and tells them what to do.
Other jobs:
Telepromter: Writes up the script and controls how fast the words go that the anchor reads.
Assistant Director: Helps the director. Mainly looks for small problems that the director misses because he/she has to deal with giving commands.
Character generator: Makes the graphics such as names and story titles that go on screen. When they select a graphic to show, the switcher can then put it on screen.
Still station: Plays background visuals that are on repeat. The switcher can put these for the green screen background.
Audio: Controls sound from mics and computers that go on air.
Producer: Varies from station to station. Sometimes in charge of the whole show. Other times they just write stories and do research.
The switcher and directors will sit at the front. The others usually on the sides.
Hope this helped!
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Hi Dan,
Like almost anything, that varies (often from station to station). In my experience it varies show to show. Most regular news shows that I've worked on are delayed by 10-20 seconds. If something extremely awful happens (ie. medical emergency) the show can be cut off the air ("de-routed" in TV talk). This would mean the screen goes black. We do this because we lack the technology to bleep something out.
Larger stations will have a 5-10 second delay. On shows like "American Idol" where a bad word will likely slip out once or twice, they have the capability to bleep it out easily. On a show where a bad word is likely to be used, they would not want to have to cut off the show every time this happens.
But for the most part, live TV really is live, with just a small delay for emergencies.
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Hi TV!
Well I don't really interact that much with the anchors and I don't really have many examples, but usually anchors seem to enjoy their job. It really depends though. I would guess that local anchors are probably more enthusiastic generally because they don't get paid anything exceptional. They likely do it because it is their "dream job."
I guess to summarize it's not the kind of job you'd do only for money, so if they aren't "happy" for whatever reason, they are probably at least glad to be doing something that they like.
Hope this helps!
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I decided on an answer to this in less than a few seconds:
The most annoying part about my job is that the recognition-to-work-done ratio between the on-air anchors and behind the scenes people (in most cases) is extremely unfair. For every hour of live news that you see, there is another hour's worth of preparation. 90% of the hardwork during this hour is script organizing, camera planning, and other behind the scenes stuff. 10% is stuff the anchors do to prepare (reahersing their lines.)
Don't get me wrong, many anchors are responsible, humble, and/or hard-working. But some are far from that. What people don't realize is that the anchors are reading from a script that other people worked hard to make. Sure, they are the ones who are in front of possibly millions of people, and I respect that, but they really need to be more appreciative and less cocky.
Behind the scenes work is more than just pointing the camera at the anchor. Much more is going on. If you have specific questions about that other work, please feel free to ask me.
(Just want you to know that the "angry" tone of this answer was not aimed at you. I appreciate the question.)
VR,
Ryan
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I guess it depends, but for the most part I get treated like a valuable team member. It also depends on the person. To my fellow volunteers (both interns and adults) I am usually treated as an equal. To the directors, I am treated as a younger person, but with respect nonetheless.
The only time I've really been looked down on was with the anchors. One of them got really pissed because there was a grammatical mistake in the script I wrote. It should not have had to happen on TV. The anchor should have read over their lines in the hour before the show. This has happened more times than I can count. They often call me the "little kid" or "the new guy" even though I've been there for longer than some of them. The worst time was when an anchor called up the executive producer to get me kicked off the station. I was lucky the director was there to stand up for me. Although the producer did get rid of someone after this incident, it wasn't me. ;)
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