WGBA Maintains Busy Remote Production Schedule with Broadcast Pix
WGBA, the NBC affiliate in Green Bay, Wis. (DMA #68), uses a Broadcast Pix Granite 1000 integrated production switcher in its remote production van to produce close to 100 events per year. The station used to rent a large production truck, but rental costs made it difficult to make money on remote shoots.
“It’d be fair to say we are a Broadcast Pix ‘power user,’” said Tom Matthies, live event producer/director for WGBA. “We push just about every feature on the Granite pretty hard, and it’s worked very well. You also get a lot of bang for your buck with Broadcast Pix. It has a lot of features in a relatively small footprint.”
The station’s two most popular productions focus on the Green Bay Packers, and are distributed regionally on the Packers Television Network. Last summer, WGBA produced live coverage of Brett Favre’s induction into the Packers Hall of Fame, which was carried by local stations and NFL Network. “With so many outlets needing access, it was a very complicated production,” Matthies noted. “The Granite’s aux buses came in very handy. I could just provide separate feeds right off the switcher with no outside switcher.”
In August, WGBA will resume producing weekly high school football coverage, followed by high school basketball. The station uses Broadcast Pix’s Rapid CG software and interfaces directly with Daktronics scoreboards, so score and game clock data is inserted automatically into graphics without having to type the information. Also this year, WGBA is using the truck for news and weather segments on location throughout its viewing area.