WJAR, the NBC affiliate serving Providence, RI/New Bedford, MA, markets, has upgraded its SD Grass Valley Ignite automated production system to full HD capability to produce its local newscasts. The upgrade includes the addition of a third M/E channel to the Ignite system's Grass Valley Kayak HD switcher.
The newly configured Ignite system is part of the station's HD migration that included the installation of a new on-air news set. The file-based Ignite system has facilitated a high degree of production control and efficiency at all of the stations and improved their on-air look. WJAR has experienced the same behind-the-scenes and on-air benefits.
Joe Doris, operations manager at WJAR, said with the station's move to HD news, upgrading the Ignite was the next logical step.
The Ignite system allows a single operator at WJAR to produce its daily newscasts in HD using a semiredundant Grass Valley Ignite HD system with robotically controlled HD cameras.
In 2010, the Media General Broadcast Group, owners of 18 network-affiliated television stations across the eastern U.S., began converting the newscast production crew at three of its broadcast properties — WKRG, the CBS affiliate in Mobile, AL; WSAV, the NBC affiliate in Savannah, GA; and WJHL, the CBS affiliate in Johnson City, TN — to the latest version of the Ignite HD system.
Coinciding with the new HD upgrade, management at WJAR has signed a systems and services contract with Grass Valley to have Grass Valley technicians help train operators and service the system when required.