I got to take a tour of WTVP’s new building today. I don’t much care for the aesthetics of the outside of the building (it’s got that PSA-prison-architecture look), but the inside is full of interesting and impressive high-tech toys and gadgets. From their enormous production-control flat-screen monitor to their high-definition cameras, it was a sight to behold. Our church, of course, will be moving soon and so our television ministry will likely be getting some new equipment of its own. Obviously it won’t be nearly as extensive as WTVP’s setup, but it’s exciting to see the possibilities.
As I was looking around the facility, I couldn’t help but think that public television must be very popular (and donors very generous) in Peoria for them to be able to afford all that equipment and the building to put it in. I guess those auctions and pledge drives really pay off.
I wonder (tongue-in-cheek) when our local public radio station will be getting its new state-of-the-art building. Is that part of Bradley’s expansion plan, perhaps? Nah. Well, maybe, if WCBU started carrying Bradley basketball games….
On an unrelated note, parking was a cinch — free diagonal parking is available right in front of the studio.
Please! No Bradley games on WCBU. I hate the fact that WTVP 47 puts on Bradley Women’s Basketball. I don’t think a public TV station should be doing so. I got tons of ESPN’s, enough to sink a battleship and I enjoy and support 47. When they started airing those games, I cut my support in half. Apparently Bradley pays them a chucnk of cash to lower their (47’s) standards.
What’s sad is how WTVP puts the commercial stations to shame. No one in Peoria has equipment remotely as good as WTVP does. That building and that gear is way too much for a public TV station.
I could understand them wanting to get out of that building at Bradley, but they didn’t need to spend the money they did. How about developing another couple shows instead?
btw, I like Bradley Women’s basketball on TVP. None of the commercial stations would air it because there’d be no money to be made. The women deserve the TV time and recognition just as much as the guys.
I agree that the women deserve to be on TV. Not WTVP is all. It’s not a sport channel. If it isn’t profitable for a local station to make money on them, then it’s a waste of all the equipment at 47.
“That building and that gear is way too much for a public TV station.”
Well, as I understand it, most of that gear will be the standard among broadcasting stations once the other local stations switch over to digital broadcasting (the deadline set by Congress is Feb. 17, 2009 – that is, unless it is pushed back again) I think that moving into a larger, more adequate building and proactively upgrading their equipment came as a single decision. As I see it, they could have either built a new facility which could accomodate them well into the future or they could move all their old, dated equipment into a new building and then have to replace it in five to ten years all over again–wasting time and money.
The three commcercial stations in town will never have the gear WTVP has. Right now, all three stations broadcast digitally without the toys TVP has. There is very little reason for a PBS station to have HD equipment (unless it’s the Boston station that produces NOVA)…especially Peoria which doesn’t produce a show that is seen outside of Illinois.
Hmm, I honestly don’t know a lot about all of that…What kind of ‘toys’ are we talking about here? Are they just higher quality versions of standard gear (cameras, monitors, etc) or are they more unnecessary peripheral equipment? Is it possible that these extra toys could be part of a plan to increase WTVP’s production capacities?
Two Avid editors, everything in their master control suite, HD cameras..the feed room room is ridiculous. I can’t imagine that they use all those servers. They really only need about half of that studio.
It’s gear going to waste. As far as I know, the only thing produced outside of the studio is Illinois Adventure (which is well done and I do enjoy).
I’ve still never figured out why a PBS station needs a Sat truck. The only conclusion I can come up with is to make money off the commercial stations that can’t afford one, yet need one from time-to-time to feed video to the networks.