WAB Idol broadcast

On 22 March our broadcasting team did WAB Idol, traditionally our biggest show of the year. I was a producer during the event, managing logistical/organizational and technical considerations, as well as training the director/Tricaster operator for this event, who is new to the position.

WAB Idol is one of the most challenging regular broadcasts of any given year, and ties with or beats sports events for viewership. We had one fixed (remote-controlled) and one roaming/floor camera, as well as the projector connection, feeding in from the Blu Theatre venue, as well as video/audio feeding back to the theatre. Live viewers included both a large audience in the Link watching on a large screen we output directly to, as well as online viewers — we reached a record for the year with over 70 simultaneous viewers on our international Livestream link and more on the local domestic stream (which does not provide this data). Replays of each performance were recorded in realtime and later played back as a recap with voting numbers, as it is done on numerous TV shows.

There were some hiccups with information/communication with the WAB Idol crew as well as with cabling and some other technical items during the broadcast, which we fixed and have since learned from. Up till now, my co-producer Roy as a member of FNL (organizer of the event) liased with them directly. However, as he (and the current FNL-side manager/producer of WAB Idol) are graduating, next year I will be in charge of liasing with FNL for broadcast requirements — with a new FNL-side manager as well. This will probably prove to be a challenge but I am confident we will be able to produce an even bigger and better show.