Live Remote Newscasts (State Fair Edition)

[Thundershock MN 169]

Thought this might be an interesting topic. Maybe not.

 

So, every year I think we have to be only market to broadcast our newscasts remotely from the Minnesota State Fair. I can't possibly think we are alone in dong this. But, I know of only a few instences here and there of stations being at their State Fairs. But, it never appears to be of the same extent or size. IDK, maybe I'm just oblivious and haven't noticed.

 

Anyway, All of the big 4 affiliates broadcast their newscasts in some form for the entire 12 day duration. They all have permanent structures that they use to produce the newcasts and/or provide an appearance area for people to meet and greet the on-air staff. Here is a brief rundown along with pics and videos give you a lay of the land.

 

WCCO/CBS:

They go all out. 'CCO does amost all their newscasts from the fair the execption being the morning newscast. They also produce a special hour-long 4pm newscast just for the fair. The 10pm is kind of a hybrid though with one anchor at the main studio and the rest of the team at the fair. The building years ago used to house the set with windows providing a view in. They have since moved to a stage next the building with outdoor seating. The bulding now used to house interactive exhibits. This year is the “become a meteorologist for a day" exhibit. You can do a report in front of the large 80" touch screen TV and chroma key wall.

 

Pics: Building (dated pic in article), Set/Stage (w/ Building in background), Set/Stage

Video:

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KSTP/ABC & KSTC/IND:

Not to be out done KSTP/KSTC produces almost all their newscasts from the fair as well. With the execption being the morning newscast. A few years ago they redesigned their building to build a set/stage that opens from the inside to expose the outside. The other half of the building usually houses a "history of KSTP" exhibit and their appearance area.

 

Pics: Building Exterior, Building Interior

 

KARE/NBC:

KARE does their weekday 11a, 4p, 5p & 6p at the fair. On the weekend they just do hits. Built a brand new "Barn" to replace their old bulding/set a few years back. The old building/set was built in 1986 and didn't allow for much interaction as the set was on the second floor with stadium seating out front.

 

Pics: Old Building, New Building

Video:

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KMSP/FOX:

KMSP does the least only doing hits. In the AM they have the met on site at the fair. In the PM they have the met and an anchor at the fair. All the weather forecasts are done from the fair. The PM anchor will usually provide some fluff pieces. They use their building as strictly an appearence area.

 

Are we really alone in giving people this 12 day peak behind the curtain? Anything similar elsewhere? Your thoughts and comments.

[Leavellebrett 85]

In Central PA, we have tons of county fairs in about a month's time. The chief met is always at various county fairs just giving the forecast and talking to vendors. The lifestyles "newscast" is filmed half in-house and half from whatever county fair the co anchor and chief met are located in. "Central PA Live" is filmed, any other time, with one anchor at the WTAJ Studios in Altoona and the other anchor at the WTAJ Centre County Bureau in State College.

 

WJAC never does any full newscasts from the field. They do, however send out the same reporter to ever county fair.

[LoadStar 363]

In Milwaukee, there once was a day where most of the newscasts would broadcast live from stages throughout Summerfest (and, I believe, Wisconsin State Fair). Those days are long gone, although for Summerfest, they still tend to have reporters there every night.

[WCAUTVNBC10 408]

During the US Open this year WCAU sent one anchor from each newscast out to Merion along with a meteorologist and the sports dept to anchor the newscasts from there. The other anchor stayed at the studio and read the hard news stories.

[sanewsguy 509]

Only things in San Antonio remotely similar to the State Fair (ours is in Dallas) are Fiesta, the Rodeo, and "Celebrate San Antonio" (New Year vent).

 

• For Fiesta, no station does a full newscast there (two of the stations downtown, one Neartown, three Northwest side) because of location issues. But KLRN does air the parades (previously on KMOL/WOAI, KENS, and most recently KABB) and it's always been a tradition to use local news personalities. KLRN, lacking a news department and remote broadcast equipment, uses KSAT resources, including their SNG truck and news personalities. They also used WOAI personalities until they sold out to Sinclair. The funny thing is that in the past, when they were on KMOL, KENS, and KABB, all the anchors presented the parades on location. When KLRN took over, they decided to have their anchors present in their studio in front of a chroma key image of live parade footage. It looks stupid. I don't know why KLRN can't have them outside since they obviously have camera people out there filming the parade. The commercial stations all send a reporter every night (the event lasts ten days, but IIRC, they expanded it another 10 days starting next year) and fly their chopper over the carnival (excluding weekends).
  
• For the Rodeo, they just fly the chopper over the carnival every night (lasts two weeks) for weather. But not much more than that due to February being sweeps month (ridiculous stories are more important than the Rodeo or community involvement )
  
• For Celebrate San Antonio, stations just fly their chopper over it and send a reporter except WOAI. WOAI actually broadcasts it starting at 10pm. This preempts the 10pm news (the main news personalities host this) and the fireworks/ball drop from NYC but that's fine with me.
  

[Weeters 1812]

 

In Milwaukee, there once was a day where most of the newscasts would broadcast live from stages throughout Summerfest (and, I believe, Wisconsin State Fair). Those days are long gone, although for Summerfest, they still tend to have reporters there every night.

 

I heard rumors that WTMJ wanted to start this up again at Summerfest a few years ago (supposedly had a set designed and everything) but it fell through. About the only thing that comes close is WDJT doing 5PM sports segments from the "Hole in One" contest they co-sponsor with Hooters. Even then, those are now usually done on the deck built for the contest a few years ago, which is up and out of sight of the people on the ground.

 

If you search for "news" here, you can see a few pictures of some of the old Summerfest booths.

[TheRob 920]

As someone who previously worked in Minneapolis, I can tell you it's convenient to have the state fair right there in town. You don't need satellite time, and multiple stations can suck up the bandwidth with LiveU for live shots these days.

 

From KC, our closest state fair, the one in Missouri, is about 75 miles from here. We don't even go for b-roll every year. But we went bonkers with remote newscasts for the MLB All-Star Game, MLS All-Star Game, and many other events in the last decade.

[AaronQ 260]

WBTV in Charlotte broadcast a New Year's Eve event called "First Night Charlotte" and a Thanksgiving Parade as well over in Uptown Charlotte (even so this year's Thanksgiving Parade is a no show due to lack of sponsorship).

[Thundershock MN 169]

 

As someone who previously worked in Minneapolis, I can tell you it's convenient to have the state fair right there in town. You don't need satellite time, and multiple stations can suck up the bandwidth with LiveU for live shots these days.

 

From KC, our closest state fair, the one in Missouri, is about 75 miles from here. We don't even go for b-roll every year. But we went bonkers with remote newscasts for the MLB All-Star Game, MLS All-Star Game, and many other events in the last decade.

 

Yes, it helps it's that it's in town. But, the congestion around it is less than convenient. Jamming approximatly 150,000 people into a 0.5 square mile area is going to create difficulties. Plus, The media lot is small and is a hike from any of the stations outposts within the fairgrounds. So, even the simple task of moving staff in and out can get to be a little dicey. For example, WCCO has a de facto news bureau in their building (pics #15-19.) It's eaiser to just set up shop for the day at one of the two "bases", either the fair or the main studios.

 

As of last year, all the stations were still using a traditional ENG vehicle to send the signals back via microwave. I don't believed that has changed, again the proximity helps. KMSP is the only one I know of that has used (on occasion) mobile/cellular solutions (like LiveU) to send signals back.

 

I realize it provides the stations with great publicity and helps them directly connect with veiwers. But, It just amazes me that this "relic of the past" has outlasted the corporate bean counter's axe. And, on top of that they have all invested in improving their presence there through new/renovated buildings, etc. Plus, the logistical effort behind it all is really quite large. It's really "all hands on deck" due to the amount of personal needed. You have to have a extra person or team "camera ready" back at the studio in case of breaking news or bad weather at the fairgrounds. The producers are constantly having to balance the "carnival like" backdrop with the serious nature some might stories present. Having a large amount of equipment and personal at the fair takes away the ability to cover some stories elsewhere. It might to look easy to some. But, when you step back and look at it the effort to basically relocate your "studio" to a temporary remote location like this really is amazing.

[A3N 996]

 

Yes, it helps it's that it's in town. But, the congestion around it is less than convenient. Jamming approximatly 150,000 people into a 0.5 square mile area is going to create difficulties. Plus, The media lot is small and is a hike from any of the stations outposts within the fairgrounds. So, even the simple task of moving staff in and out can get to be a little dicey. For example, WCCO has a de facto news bureau in their building (pics #15-19.) It's eaiser to just set up shop for the day at one of the two "bases", either the fair or the main studios.

 

As of last year, all the stations were still using a traditional ENG vehicle to send the signals back via microwave. I don't believed that has changed, again the proximity helps. KMSP is the only one I know of that has used (on occasion) mobile/cellular solutions (like LiveU) to send signals back.

 

I realize it provides the stations with great publicity and helps them directly connect with veiwers. But, It just amazes me that this "relic of the past" has outlasted the corporate bean counter's axe. And, on top of that they have all invested in improving their presence there through new/renovated buildings, etc. Plus, the logistical effort behind it all is really quite large. It's really "all hands on deck" due to the amount of personal needed. You have to have a extra person or team "camera ready" back at the studio in case of breaking news or bad weather at the fairgrounds. The producers are constantly having to balance the "carnival like" backdrop with the serious nature some might stories present. Having a large amount of equipment and personal at the fair takes away the ability to cover some stories elsewhere. It might to look easy to some. But, when you step back and look at it the effort to basically relocate your "studio" to a temporary remote location like this really is amazing.

 

Do the tv stations own these buildings shown in the pics? or do they rent/lease them?

[Thundershock MN 169]

Do the tv stations own these buildings shown in the pics? or do they rent/lease them?

To the best of my knowledge they are all owned.

[WXmanTim 88]

When I was in Great Falls, both stations (KFBB, KRTV) did partial early (5:30/KRTV; 5/6 KFBB) newscasts from the state fairgrounds, which are about 3/4 of a mile from the studios. Both kept an anchor in the studio to handle the "news of the day" stuff while everything else originated from remote. I believe they did the same again this year.

 

The first year I was in town, IIRC, KRTV's truck was busted and they couldn't broadcast live. KFBB was live during their (then) 5:30 show and we set up in different sections of the park (Food Avenue, one night; the carnival the next, etc). The second year, we did the same thing while KRTV broadcast from their booth inside one of the exhibition halls.

 

Honestly, I was floored that both stations even had live capabilities in a market so small (KR's truck is a Ford Aerostar ENG truck with outdated editing equipment while the "B's" is an ambulance-style truck with no editing capabilities period).

 

Here in Houston, it's very very rare for the stations to originate any programming outside their studios, beyond typical news "live" shots. Even sending the weather folks to a festival happens only on the rare occasion. The closest thing we have to a county or state fair is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in February. And even then, beyond your typical live shot within the newscast, there's very little of a presence by the stations.

 

The exception being Fox 26, which does "Hometown Fridays" during sweeps month. The concept started out as a true "field" newscast (starting at like 4 or 5 am with all the anchors in the field), but I believe they proved either to technically complex with our automated set-up, or was too expensive budget-wise. So now, the anchors each do a feature report on the location to "tease" the live shows, followed by live hits at 6:00 and 7:00, then live remote newscasts at 8:00 and 9:00.

[C Block 1490]

The state fair is in Pueblo and is so pointless that nobody in Denver cares about it, let alone do any stations cover it. I'm sure KOAA goes crazy over it though (or at least I presume).

[ABC 7 Denver 1564]

 

The state fair is in Pueblo and is so pointless that nobody in Denver cares about it, let alone do any stations cover it. I'm sure KOAA goes crazy over it though (or at least I presume).

 

KOAA does go crazy. They've produced newscasts from there! It's a bit much!