Behind The Scenes: Channel 3 News Today

Here is a look at some of the things that go on behind the scenes during a live newscast at WKYC. You can see a little of what Producer Caitlin does during the show, what Kim Wheeler does during breaks in the show, and watch Director Matt work the web for Kim during our Facebook/Twitter segment. Check it out...

Behind The Scenes: Like Never Before

If you enjoy our "Behind The Scenes" videos here on the Weekend Morning Show blog, then you will love the twist that we've come up with for the segment. You choose the topic with our "Behind The Scenes: On Demand" feature.

If there is any aspect of our television station's operation that you would like to see featured here, send your email requests to weekendmorningshow@wkyc.com or contact @Director_Matt on Twitter and we will do our best to bring it to you in our "Behind The Scenes: On Demand" segments on the Weekend Morning Show blog here on WKYC.com.

Cub Scouts Visit WKYC Studios

Cub Scout Troops from Berlin Heights, Independence, and Macedonia took time Saturday morning to tour Channel 3 and the Weekend Morning Show. They got a first hand look at the studios, the newsroom, and all the other parts that make Channel 3 work.

Behind The Scenes: WKYC Control Room

Here is a recording from our control room during the Sunday, January 18th show. Here, you can see what goes on in our control room during a typical broadcast. The guy to the left of the screen is me, TD/Director Matt Babb, and the woman on the far right of the screen is Caitlin Kollar, our producer. Enjoy!

Behind The Scenes: Race For The Cure (Part 3)

We had a very successful "Race For The Cure" special this past Saturday morning. I hope that you enjoyed my look behind the scenes as I prepared for the special last week.

Here is a little behind the scenes video to wrap things up. In the first couple of videos, you can see me in the control room with producer Jon Adkins, and Caitlin Kollar and Susan Moses who were answering phones and helping to communicate with the crews in the field so that we knew where on the course the leaders of the race were located.

In the last video, you can get a look off of the back deck here at Channel 3 as the runners passed by on the shoreway. Enjoy!







Matt Babb, TD/Director WKYC
mbabb@wkyc.com

For more information on the 2008 Race For The Cure... CLICK HERE

Behind The Scenes: Race For The Cure 2008 (Part 2)

Ok, now that I have all of the camera positions straightened out, and things in the field seem to be squared away, it's now time to concentrate on the "in-house" portion of our coverage. These are the elements that I'll need in the control room to pull off a smooth broadcast.

Here is a small list that I've compiled of elements that I'll need...
1. Race For The Cure Show Open - This is pretty self explanitory. It's the beginning graphical element of the show. This will be made by one of our graphic artists, Steve Shirilla, who has worked with me in the past on Race For The Cure. The only change in the open this year, is that I asked that he make it in High Definition so that we can run it at the highest possible quality. To do this, Steve will use Adobe After Effects and render for me a targa sequence that I will import into our "X-Clyp" player which is an HD playback device that we use for all of our news wipes (the things that go "woosh" during the news).

2. Race For The Cure Transition - This will be a graphic element that I can use to transition from one source to another. For example, if Monica tosses in to Jennifer Murphy, then I can use this element to switch between the 2 sources. It's just a little nicer than a cut. This will also be made as a targa sequence and played back from the "X-Clyp" player.

3. Race For The Cure Copyright - This is the last element that will air in the broadcast to "stamp" the show as property of WKYC and Gannett. This just needs to be updated from 2007 to 2008, made in HD and then rendered as a targa sequence also for playback out of the "X-Clyp" player.

4. Race For The Cure "Ribbon" Effect - This is a graphic element that I actually saw in the promo that is currently running on air for Race For The Cure. It's a pink ribbon that sits at the lower 1/3 of the screen and says "Race For The Cure" on it. I liked it, tracked down who made it, and now have it available for use during the show. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use it yet, but I'll figure it out by Saturday.

5. Race For The Cure "HD Flag" Effect - This will be an element that I'll use to cover up the "HD" flags that you see at home on video that is not HD. Instead of the black and gray "HD" that we normally run on Channel 3 video, it will be a pink and white graphic just to make it a little more fitting for the broadcast.

That's a quick look at some of the "in-house" elements that I'm going to need for Saturday. As of this moment, Steve is still working on getting them to me, hopefully by tomorrow, and I can guarantee you that I'll be very busy between the 7pm and 11pm newcasts on Thursday getting these elements ready for air.

I'm sure I'll have one or two more tricks up my sleeve for the broadcast, but I can't tell you everything that I'm up to. You'll just have to watch on Saturday morning beginning at 9am in WKYC.

Matt Babb, TD/Director WKYC
mbabb@wkyc.com

For more information on the 2008 Race For The Cure... CLICK HERE

Behind The Scenes: Race For The Cure 2008 (Part 1)

As I was preparing for WKYC's coverage of the 2008 Race For The Cure, which airs this Saturday beginning at 9am on Channel 3, I thought it might be fun to share with all of you what it takes to get a show like this ready for air. So, here goes...

First up, we held a meeting about a month ago to go over the course layout, etc. Next up, we had to figure out how many cameras it will take to cover the action, and also where should I place the cameras to bring you the best angles of the race.

If you check out the course map below, you can see what we've decided to do. The camera positions are indicated on the course map below with the pink "X's".

Here is what each camera's responsibility will be on race day.


X(1) - Location - Starting Line
Function - This will be the camera that shoots Monica Robins, the anchor of the show. It will also be able to shoot the start of the race.

X(2) - Location - Starting Line
Function - This camera will be for Jennifer Murphy, who will be sideline reporting, and running in the race. Monica will be able to "toss" as they say in the business to Jen for a report before the race starts, and then this camera will be strictly for race coverage after that.

X(3) - Location - Back deck of the WKYC Studios
Function - This camera will be able to show the runners as the move east and west on the shoreway. We picked this location for 2 reasons... 1) It's a nice shot off of the back deck and 2) It's very functional because the runners pass by this camera twice during the course of the race.

X(4) - Location - East 55th Street Bridge over the shoreway
Function - This camera can get runners moving in several different directions on the course as well as "bump" shots of Lake Erie. Bump shots are beauty pictures that you see going into and out to commercial breaks. Also, Jennifer Murphy will stop at this camera during the race to give us an update on how things are going out on the course.

X(5) - Location - Outside Cleveland Browns Stadium
Function - This camera can get a nice angle of the runners as they pass in front of Browns Stadium. It's a beautiful location, and also covers a part of the course that no other camera can see as the race comes down to the wire.

X(6) - Location - Finish Line
Function - The first of our 2 finish line cameras will stay focused on just the finish line. It is also the camera that we will be streaming live on wkyc.com so that you can see every single runner cross the finish line. You can watch for your loved ones at home thanks to this camera.

X(7) - Location - Finish Line
Function - Kim Wheeler will be at the finish line on this camera and her function will be to interview runners as they finish the race. She'll be talking with the first male finisher, the first female finisher, and also the first survivor to finish the race among others.

In addition to all of these angles, and weather permitting, we will have our chopper flying over the race to get the beautiful high angle shot that we all love. I really hope it doesn't rain. The chopper shots really add to our coverage.

That just about covers the camera portion for our Race For The Cure special. I'll have much more tomorrow on some of the other elements that I still need to finalize here in the building for Saturday's coverage.

Matt Babb, TD/Director WKYC
mbabb@wkyc.com

For more information on the 2008 Race For The Cure... CLICK HERE

Behind The Scenes: Saturday, August 30th

Behind The Scenes: Jeff and Kim and other stuff

Here are Jeff and Kim having a discussion during one of the breaks during this morning's show.

Behind The Scenes: Like Never Before

If you enjoy our "Behind The Scenes" videos here on the Weekend Morning Show blog, then you will love the new twist that we've come up with for the segment. You choose the topic with our new "Behind The Scenes: On Demand" feature.

If there is any aspect of television production that you would like to see featured here, send your email requests to weekendmorningshow@wkyc.com and we will do our best to bring it to you in our new "Behind The Scenes: On Demand" segments on the Weekend Morning Show blog here on WKYC.com.

Behind The Scenes: Control Room

Here is a little behind the scenes video from the control room that I shot this morning as the show was wrapping up. This was during Jeff's last update from Twinsburg at around 10:25am.

Behind The Scenes: Indians On Deck

In addition to bringing you all of the various newscasts and programming we put on here at Channel 3, we also are the home of SportsTime Ohio, and bring you all sorts of programming for STO as well.

Well, this weekend, like many weekends, the same crew that would normally bring you the weekend morning show at 9am and the noon news on Channel 3 just so happens to be the very same crew that brought you today's "Indians On Deck" pre-game show. We literally move one control room over, and we're now the production crew for SportsTime Ohio's show. It's fun to be able to mix in these types of shows with all of the news coverage that we do. It's a nice change of pace for the crew.

Anyhow, more video on the control room side of things later, but for now, here are a couple of behind the scenes looks for you from inside Studio B where the set for the "On-Deck" show lives.

Below is floor director Jess Starr talking with host Al Pawlowski as he gets mic'd up and ready for the show...



Below is our camera man Jerry getting the camera shots set up on Al...



Some more behind the scenes video with Jess Starr and host Al Pawlowski about 5 minutes before show time...



For more information about SportTime Ohio... CLICK HERE

Behind The Scenes, Like Never Before

If you enjoy our "Behind The Scenes" videos here on the Weekend Morning Show blog, then you will love the new twist that we've come up with for the segment. You choose the topic with our new "Behind The Scenes: On Demand" feature.

If there is any aspect of television production that you would like to see featured here, send your email requests to weekendmorningshow@wkyc.com and we will do our best to bring it to you in our new "Behind The Scenes: On Demand" segments on the Weekend Morning Show blog here on WKYC.com.

Starr Sightings: Inside Studio A - "A Fun Show Today"

Busy day in the studio! It was such a fun show. We had Greg on with a dog to adopt, Tom Beres live with political, and Mike with our law segment. We also had fun with our viewer emails. Jeff and Kim had a few problems with the laptops. Jeff couldn't figure out why his wasn't working... so I turned it on for him and we all had a good laugh.

It was hectic trying to set up the different camera shots, but that's what I love about live television. Bruce had another great trivia question... but unfortunately I was wrong. I thought the leading cause of weather-related deaths is lightening, but it is actually flash floods. I'll try again next week!

Jeff mentioned my puppy, Bianca on the air. I brought her in yesterday afternoon and everyone loved her. She is a seven month old Pomeranian. She is chocolate colored and only four pounds. She won't get much bigger. I'll post a picture of her during the week. She is adorable.

I also had the chance to take some pictures before the show.

On the left is Senior Political Correspondent, Tom Beres with one of his guest political analysts, Dennis Eckart having a pre-show discussion about today's topics.



On the right is Meteorologist Bruce Kalinowski preparing for today's show. Maybe he's coming up with today's trivia question.

On the right is robotic camera operator, Raleigh. Using the controller in front of him, he can move the 3 studio cameras in Studio A to get the different shots of Jeff, Kim, and Bruce.
Stay Tuned,
Jess Starr
Email: jstarr@wkyc.com

Behind The Scenes: "Makin' Magic" with Dawn

This morning Jeff asked our technical director, Dawn, to make him some graphics from a show he saw on Mother's Day, Barefoot in the Park, at the Geauga Lyric Theater, which is in the old movie theater at Chardon Square. Anyhow, this is how Dawn goes about making these graphics for him.

First, Dawn has to call up the website where the picture exists on a computer that she can see in the control room. Below is Director Matt Babb asking Dawn how she is doing on the project.



Hopefully she can get the computer up and running. Let's check in on her again.



OK, now she has what she needs, so what does she do with it?



It's showtime! Here is Dawn putting her now finished graphics on the air. This is actual control room footage of Dawn switching the show.



Finally, kudos from Jeff for all of her hard work. Way to go, Dawn!

Behind The Scenes: "Obie's Green Adventure"

WKYC's Obie Shelton is spending the next week trying to make do without a car. See how he is doing be clicking on the links below, as he bikes and otherwise gets where he needs to go without the help of his car.

See Obie's Blog: http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=89432

See Obie bike to work: http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=63678&bw=

See Day 2 of Obie's Story: http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=63682&bw=

See Day 3 of Obie's Story: http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=63835&bw=

See Day 4 of Obie's Story: http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=63678&sid=89432&bw=

Below is a Weekend Morning Show Blog EXCLUSIVE. Channel 3's Kim Wheeler and Producer Caitlin Kollar check in with Obie in the WKYC parking garage to find out how "Obie's Green Adventure" is going so far. You can also watch Channel 3 all this week to see Obie's progress.



Email Obie: obieshelton@wkyc.com

Good Luck, Obie!
From the Weekend Morning Show staff

Behind The Scenes, Like Never Before

If you enjoy our "Behind The Scenes" videos here on the Weekend Morning Show blog, then you will love the new twist that we've come up with for the segment. You choose the topic with our new "Behind The Scenes: On Demand" feature.

If there is any aspect of television production that you would like to see featured here, send your email requests to weekendmorningshow@wkyc.com and we will do our best to bring it to you in our new "Behind The Scenes: On Demand" segments on the Weekend Morning Show blog here on WKYC.com.

Behind the Scenes: Producer's View

Hey everyone, it's Caitlin, your producer. For today's blog, I shot some behind the scenes stuff of what I do to prepare the show. I'm the one who puts the stories and writes them. I work on the show throughout the week, scheduling live shots and guests. I also put those live shots into the rundown so they are ready on Saturday and Sunday. On the day of the show, I come in around 3 a.m. to start work. Click on the video below to see what it's like when I first arrive.



So the first few hours I spend choosing the stories and putting them in the rundown. I figure out what order to put them and how to fit them around the live shots and guests. The next video is around 5:30 a.m. when most of the stories are in and I'm starting to write.



This last video is around 8 a.m. and really all that's left to do is print scripts for the director Matt, tidy up some scripts and make any last minute changes. Enjoy the video!

Behind the Scenes: Chris Kunz Liveshot for Sunday, May 4th

Photographer Chris Kunz day starts off with a hot cup of coffee and a trip to the newsdesk to meet with producer Caitlin Kollar and News Assistant Julie Ocepek to find out where he will be sent for the upcoming show. See Below...

Next it's up to Chris to gather up all the gear he will need to execute the liveshot. He wants to be sure that he doesn't forget anything. He is working alone and doesn't have time to run back to the station to pick up any gear he may have forgotten. Today, he will be over at Progressive Field, but on other days he may be asked to drive way out to the eastside or westside, and he really has to be sure he has everything he needs. There's no time to drive a hour back to pick up an audio cable. Here is Chris as he loads up for the day...

Finally, Chris is on his way over to Progressive Field. You can see his liveshot on Channel 3 News Today beginning at 9am. Good Luck, Chris!

Jeff and Kim: More "Behind the Scenes"

So you want to know what anchors do during taped segments, huh? Well, here you go. Ask, and you shall receive. This is Jeff and Kim today during the Del's Folks Classic piece. Enjoy!

Weekend Morning Show from Sunday, April 20th

10:27
Matt just said we are in for a comfortable landing. That means we won't run out of time. Nice way to end the show. Another one is in the books. Look for our behind the scenes video later today. Thanks to Matt, Dawn, Bethany, Jose, Jerry, Julie, Torris and Chris for another great weekend!

This was our first shot at the blog. We will live and learn each week. Feel free to comment on anything you read or see. Thanks for playing.

10:22
The one thing that always seems to happen on Sunday is that we get a little tight at the end. Bruce has to get the forecast and the answer to trivia answer in, so we always seem to run out of time. Let's see what happens this week.

10:16
Behind the scenes note. The producer is the person who keeps track of the time during the show, but when I went out to the studio to do our website feature, the job fell into Matt's hands. He multi-tasked his way through that segment. I gave him our target times and he kept Bruce right on time.



10:06
This is where things are a little different for us on Sunday. Between The Lines is usually taped, so there is not much for us to do during this segment but watch. Tom usually tapes on Thursday. I help him get his segment set for the director, but he decides the content on his own. This is Tom's baby. I like it. We hope you do too.

What I do during the little break is finish preparations on the noon show, which I also have to do, or go out to the assignment desk to see if there is anything happening.

It is nice to get a little breather. We don't get that on Saturdays.

10:04
Another Del classic.

9:59
I just watched the behind the scenes look at getting a guest. Sorry about the extended ceiling shot. I was trying NOT to step on the dogs.

9:55
By the way, I was surprised Greg had two dogs this morning. Sometimes it's hard enough to control one. I have to give him credit today.

9:54
So our little experiment was a success! When we showed the website on the air, I was clicking and scrolling live on the air. We hope that makes it easier for everyone to find the blog.

9:44
Just took Greg Willey into the studio and taped it all for you to see. We just wanted to give you an idea of what happens during a break when a guest segment is coming up.



9:36
I just got back to the control room. I went out to the studio to explain to Kim what we are planning after the dog segment. We will post that video later too.
You can see exactly what happened during the break.



9:31
We are going to try something this morning. We are going to put our website up "live" on the air and try to show those who may not know, how to find our blog.

9:26
A funny little moment before we talked with Steve Taylor at the zoo. I kept giving him a "stand by" cue every time I thought Bruce was wrapping up. It took three or four, but we finally got there.

9:23
Bruce just revealed the trivia question and I have to admit that I already know the answer. I heard him telling someone earlier today. I can't play and Matt Babb is out too.

9:18
It's never over until it's over. I just spent the last five minutes adding a script to the next half-hour. You will see it after Bruce does this week's dog segment. I still have to go out to the set and explain to Kim what we are going to do. We are going to change that block of news. There is a lot of "drop and add" during a newscast.

9:11
Mike Solomon is here and ready to go. He's one of our legal analysts and he will be talking about online medical records today. Mike does a good job of finding topical stories to talk about each week. It's my job to take his script and add the video and the graphics that you see when the segment airs.

9:07
I just shot some video of our Director Matt Babb and Technical Director Dawn Ermler. I want you to see what they're doing during a typical block of news. We'll post it after the show.



9:03
Sunday shows are a little different because we have "Between The Lines" at 10:10 A.M. That makes my job a little more difficult because I have less time to get everything I want you to see in the show.

9:01
It's Dave in the control room. Sunday morning's show is off and running.