While You Were Sleeping...

Working overnight, while lonely, is drama free. Things aren't as busy for the overnight shifts. They can be, but they usually aren't. It doesn't mean the overnight shift isn't important.

As soon as I come in at 11PM, I have to start my "Confidence Tape". I need a tape to give me the confidence to do my job?? No. It's an air check. We record each day's programming for a number of reasons. If something happens on the technical end, we can review it to see what exactly happened, so we can fix it, or whatever might need to be done, so it doesn't happen again. If an operator screws up, it's on tape, as evidence, so don't screw up! It's also used to show an advertiser proof that their spot aired properly. This is a way to ensure we get paid. It's like, "Look. Here's the spot playing. Now give us our money!" Master Control is literally running the cash register. It's our job to keep the money coming in.

My programming starts with CBS12 News at 11. From there I go to Letterman, then Ferguson. I watch these shows. I literally kick my feet up and watch these shows. They're fun. I like seeing how celebrities are just regular people. They poop too.

During news, I set up a feed of Jack Hanna, that plays on our secondary station, on Saturday. I segment it after the late shows.

After that, it's a Paid Program. Tonight's was a guy who sells life insurance. He has a talk show, where he and his dad talk about it. They are very passionate about life insurance. Very passionate. It's an ongoing series. It's funny.

At about 2AM, I go into national morning news. It's an hour show, that gets replayed. I like it, because if I miss a story, or want to see it again, it just plays again. At 3, I dub our 2 promo swaps. I think they are called swaps, because we use them to promote CBS prime time shows. Rodney takes the feed at noon, and takes what he needs out of it, leaving me what I need.

At 4:30, they switch to HD, and give me more news. In this half hour, there are two manual takes. The rest of my night's breaks are entered by clocked times. The times for the late shows are sent via a message system. CBS national news breaks are set times. I watch a lot of TV on my overnights.

At 4:30, we start our local news. I like our morning crew, and soon after our news starts, it's time for a call from the photog. What's a photog?? A video journalist. More than a camera operator! They also feed back video for editors. They film their reporter, and then make a package for later airings. They film, edit drive, and operate any equipment they need to to do their job. So cool!

Sometimes it is easy to tune in a live shot. You turn your dish until you have the best signal you can get. Then you have him turn his dish until it's the best he can get. Tilt up or down until it's just right, and they are tuned in. I basically work with the photog to get the best "handshake" between the truck and news control. "I'm Dude, live in blah-blah..." doesn't happen without me.

Sometimes... It's hard to get a good live shot. Sometimes they are downtown in the tall buildings. It creates a lot of feedback. A lot of play in the signal makes for a horrible looking live shot. Sometimes, when they are down on the waterfront, there's no way to get a good signal. There are times when you have to bounce the microwave signal off something, to get it good.

At 5 AM, it's time to send out any discrepancy reports for the day, and start a new transmitter sheet, and the next day's log.

At approximately 6:41AM, I record a 30 second weather cut in. It gets used later in "CBS This Morning". There's a verbal cue, telling you when to take the cut in. It's something like "Here's a look outside your window". Watch the show, and you'll see what I mean. From there it's just a matter of staying the course until 7AM.

I drink a lot of coffee, but I still get really tired.

"Prime Time" is because of me...

I wanted to give you an entry on Sunday, but I decided to read comic books during basketball instead. Sundays are about the same as Saturday.

I had plans to give you an entry yesterday, but I was busy for 8 straight hours. I hit the ground running, and just never had the time. What could I have possibly been doing???

Mondays are the day of the week that I work the "Prime Time" shift. 3PM-11PM. Great programming, with lots of extra things to do. I like it, because there's no down time. It makes time go faster. It seems more important, than some overnight shift, where I'm pretty sure myself and 4 other "tweakers" are watching, and they're only watching until they decide to take apart the TV.

I've been riding a bike the 4 miles to work on Mondays. Gotta stay sexy, right?? It's actually because I don't get paid like a God. We have one car. Each ride is an 20-30 minute adventure. I ride down MLK Blvd. Now, who's the man?? I have to be careful of the broken 40 oz. bottles, and the little school kids making gun motions with their hands as I ride by. Another weird thing about the trip through "Suicide Slum" (great Superman reference), is that the laws of Atmospheric Science don't apply. Really. If you have a 15 mph headwind, it makes the trip harder. It's constant. As an experiment... I turned around, and rode a block the other way. Same headwind!!! How does that happen?? Only in the hood!

So what did I do at work??

Right...

So, after my cool down...

I relieve a guy we'll call... Rodney. It's his name, anyway, so it works... He gives me any info I need to know, so nothing catches me off guard. Missing spots in my playlist, any work he just didn't have time to finish, or like he did this time... an EAS test. I had to run a weekly test of the "Emergency Broadcast System". It was only a test...

I had a pair of IT engineers in my business for a few hours. They're about the best in the business, and I know, that even though it was a hassle to work around them, they are doing something cool, to make my job easier. What that something is, I don't know. That's why I'm not an engineer.

At 4, I take a feed of "Inside Edition". I segment it for air 3 hours later. Sometimes, due to technical stuff on the feed, I have to take a replay. It happens. It just tightens up how much time I have to get stuff done.

Sometimes... A guy will call me and say, "Take the next feed, due to..." One time I erased the old one, and prepped for this new feed. Turns out the guy with the fast speech was from the other show, "The Insider", which we haven't taken for over a year. I had to get a re-feed of the show I erased. That cost lots of money. Bad Sean!!! That guy still calls, but I'm wiser now. I tell him to take us off the call list, He still calls. You'd think he'd want to do less work???

While all this is happening... I'm monitoring "The Doctors" and "Dr. Phil". I'm looking for "Creative Services" to come up off my news teases, so I can get them in the playlist in time. Yesterday, they changed something last minute. I hustled, and it got in about a minute before it played. See what I mean by "Television God"?? A mere mortal would have told them too bad, and it would have to be OK. But that is below me. I bend time, so I can pull stuff like that off. "Bend time"??? Some other time, I'll explain that.

So... I get into CBS12 News at 5. It's a 90 minute block of news. I used to have to wait for them to call for break, run it, while giving them time cues back to segment. Technology says, "Do it yourself, yo!!" So, now they do. It frees up time for me, as I am busy filling in the holes where my "episodics" are missing. What's an episodic?? That's a promo for a show that plays every day. They promote the next day's episode. "Tuesday, on Dr. Phil... A guy who's mentally screwed up... On CBS12..."

At 6:30... I go to "The CBS Evening News... With Scott Pelley". This show is the trickiest part of my day. One half hour... 2 local breaks... One emotional man... This show has three breaks. First one... All network. Second break. 2:00 national, then local. Third break... 2:30 national, then local.

It's really hard for me to get this right. Here's why... The count for the 2:00 national, might start when the dip to black, or... it might start when the first commercial starts. You never can tell, and the next break might be the same way... or not. There's one way to help this out. That's counting back at the start of each commercial. That can get you as precise as half a second, if you are lucky.

During this show, I am getting the log for the next day, and entering the playlist. I spend an hour or two dubbing missing commercials, and promos, so there are no holes, and I can watch my prime time shows in peace.

At 8PM, I take a transmitter reading, and check the tower lights. Can't have planes crashing into the tower. That would be rude.

My lineup is so good. I watch "How I Met Your Mother". I just plain watch it. Same with "Two Broke Girls".

During "Two and a Half Men", I start recording "Dr. Phil" for tomorrow. As I segment it, during "Hawaii 5-0", I watch the episode. I make sure it's got audio and video. I then realize, I'm not really that screwed up, and I feel better about myself. Thanks, Doctor... Your show has really helped me.

After that, it's a few news teases to dub in, and kick my feet up, and watch the exciting conclusion of "5-0" Then my relief comes in... We'll call him... Ray...

I like Mondays. Most people hate them. How can you, though?? You get a fresh start, every time one comes around. It's a chance to redeem yourself from last week, and make it better. It's chance to start something totally new.

Back to the Grind...

For most people, Saturday is the first day of the weekend. It's time to catch up on the things they don't do during the week. It's time to relax...

For me, it's the first day of my work week. I work the morning shift on Saturday. I come in during the end break of our local news, and get busy. I hit the ground running, with CBS Saturday Morning. It's the 2 hour national news spectacular. It's a busy show, with lots of manual switching. It has many opportunities to fail, or, as I like to see it... succeed.

CBS offers programming, with the exception of prime time or live programming, with PSAs where breaks are scheduled. Why?? (in my best game show announcer voice) So you can broadcast great CBS programming, even if you don't have paid sponsors!

We used to allow these PSAs to play, instead of utilizing the time for commercials. Our new owners are all about making money with every opportunity presented. It should be this way. Master Control Operators have to "cover" these PSAs. It's a skill that you need to develop quickly. Let me explain...

There is one frame of black between programming, and the PSA. One frame?? Yes. There are 30 frames in one second of video. This means you basically have 1/30th of a second to make your move. Can it be done?? Sure... If you can fully depress the button that fast. Me??? I like a little fudge with my PSA covers. It's a time when I get to have "artistic expression". The key is to find the right spot. Most commercials and promos don't have speaking all the way up to the end (Thank you). This is where I dip to black. Why?? Because that frame of black, and the switch to the beginning of the PSA is hidden, so it's pretty. I have to clip the end just right. If I hesitate, a frame of the PSA will show. They are loud to get your attention. It's ugly. You've probably seen something like this on cable. I look up in the network monitor, and wait for the PSA to pop up, then I take my break.

Why wait??? My break matches the time of the PSA break. If I go too early, the end of the PSA will show. This is ugly too. By waiting, I ensure I cover to the end. It's about giving viewers clean air, so they never know what's going on behind the scenes.

Sometimes, there's a bumper. Sometimes, these breaks don't come with a "bumper". (A bumper is a 5 second "You're watching" or "watch this show". Sometimes, it's something like "2 minutes national break/1 minute local". This means that I have to watch the time the break hits, and count ahead for my hit time. If the break is supposed to hit at 07:24:45, then that's it, right???

Wrong! We count frames here. 30 seconds, for us, means 30... with no extra frames. We have to keep things tight, to conform to network timings. But network... is network. We have to work around them. They don't have to count frames, so all commercials go black to black. This could be up to five frames per commercial, heavy or light. Four commercials in the break?? That could be half a second!

But now, it's time for March Madness basketball! These breaks are easy. Network gives is a 5 second bumper for these. "Watch this show, this night, only on CBS." It's live sports, so there are no PSAs to cover. They go to black, and my break runs. Coming back clean is key. You can't come back late, so you have to be fast on that button.

I'll share another secret to being a Television God tomorrow. What will it be??? Maybe you'll have to check in, and find out.

What's a Television God??

Captain's Blog Stardate 20120314.0344

I'm a little over halfway through my overnight shift. Since my blog is supposed to describe how I am a television god, I had better get to it, or else I might lose my one reader.

It wasn't my plan to be a "Television God". It was my plan to be a radio god. It all started way back when...

I was a long haired rocker type guy. I was 18. I was told, by someone who was a DJ, to go to school. After years of procrastination, and dealing with only what I had to, I was moving furniture, sun up, to sometimes past sundown, 6 days a week. It's a pretty miserable existence, if you can get it.

In 2006 (almost 20 years later), I did go to that school. After that, I got hooked up (there's no other way to put it) by my job placement counselor, with a job in West Palm Beach, Florida... in television. I worked my way into a Master Control Operator position. It's so choice!

In a week, I work all three shifts (1st, 2nd, and 3rd). I am pretty cool like that. I get the best of all three worlds. In upcoming episodes, I'll be telling you the ins and outs of some of the things I do, as long as they don't violate "intellectual property policies".


I am the one who runs the station. I'm not some suit... I'm the guy who pushes the buttons that run the station. Some people say all I do is watch TV. That's not true. I "monitor the air". While I do watch TV, I do other things...

I'm responsible for dubbing commercials in the server for later airings. I take feeds of shows, and segment them for later airings. I enter clock times for all the events I can, so automation makes the switches at the proper times. I monitor the transmitter, and make sure it's running. When you see a news crawl, or a weather warning... Yeah, I do that to.

So when you think about it... I am the guy who mans the helm, ensuring that the humanoids of  "The Golden Metropolis" can just go on with their lives never knowing anything is wrong. And when there is... I'm the one who informs them of the things they need to know, whether it's me, or someone I give the switch to.

That's what makes me a "Television God". Who better than me???

Why I don't have a blog yet

 Captain's Blog Stardate 20120314.0251

Instead of telling you why I have a blog, I'll tell you why it's taken me so long to finally have one...

I am one of those people who worries too much about what others think. Most times, I bring this upon myself. I am the one who posts stupid things on Facebook. I'm the one who is always saying things that are, quite frankly, corny. Most people probably think I am not the knife in the drawer. In reality, I have always been very intelligent. I took it upon myself to "dumb myself down". Why would someone do that?? It's not normal.

When you spend your life unsure of yourself, for whatever reason, you tend to do things that are unorthodox. I act this way, to ensure that people like me. I have been this way, so people can be comfortable with themselves around me. It has worked, to an extent. It does tend to classify you in a manner that doesn't reflect who you are.

Does it matter? In my mind it has. It has brought about an equal, but opposite problem. Now I am in a world where you need to be smart. You have to be quick. I am currently in the process of reinventing myself. It's hard to do, when you've spent most of your life being a lovable dolt.

So... Why don't I have a blog yet??

I have a lot to say, more than what can be put in a Facebook status. I think I worry that people will pick it apart. I worry that my words will be misunderstood, or not translate well into text. People who know me, know that I use character voices, pop culture references, and twisted song lyrics to get my point across, most times heavy on the comedy. I think sometime down the way, I'd like to make a video blog, so people will understand more of the things I say. But for now, I'll work on getting this off the ground.

I worry that my writing skills are lacking. I study myself, and I feel I have a problem with keeping focus, and with keeping intensity throughout the project. I tend to ramble, and I am, right now, thinking of the next subject, while I'm typing this.

My wife seems to think I have A.D.D., and I think I would agree with her, but... We're not doctors. My brain works like a Robin Williams stand-up act. It gets kind of hard sometimes. My wife (We'll call her Jackie... since that's her first name) thinks medication would help. I say, no. I need to be able to cover all the angles, before they come up, if I'm ever going to take over the world. Medication would dull my extreme intelligence.

I think I worry that no one cares to hear what I have to say. I'm not anything special, but neither is anyone else. I sometimes think that my life is nothing worth writing about.

I'm a procrastinator. I am just being lazy. I watch the right opportunity pass by, and my brain paralyzes my body into doing nothing but worrying about failing. It's crazy that I've accomplished anything so far.

I could write a book on procrastination. Maybe I'll start tomorrow...

So... Why don't you have a blog???

I do... You just read it.