Fixing a Broken Television Set

Canterbury Television was brought to its knees in the devastating earthquake that hit Christchurch on 22 February 2011. Along with the tragic death of 16 staff and the complete destruction of its CBD headquarters, the station lost its equipment, infrastructure, business records and programming. Yet miraculously this small, regional channel was back on air in just under two months. **Carolyn Brooke **talks to surviving CTV editor Stephen Botting and broadcasting specialist Jef Grobben about hard work, resilience and how to build a television station.

Despite a heavy workload, often running on empty and plenty of emotional turmoil, CTV editor Stephen Botting is grateful the channel is back on air after its complete destruction in the magnitude 6.3 earthquake. Working for a television station that went from full operation one day to nothing the next is tough going.

“We only had two cameras that were out of the studio at the time, we had nothing,” Stephen says.

Wearing a few different hats is part of the job at any small broadcaster but Stephen says losing 16 colleagues in one go took it to a whole new level. “You just pick it up because there is no one else to do it.” Stephen says. The nine surviving staff somehow managed to honor a contract to cover a dressage event the weekend after the earthquake. “We still did it. We borrowed a deck. One of the editors who died has his own deck but the police had it for fingerprinting for identification. I had to edit from my computer at home.”

There were immediate talks of rebuilding, but it was a few weeks before owners Allied Press made the decision. In between there was a week of funerals with staff going to two on most days. Stephen says he and others were keen to get back to work despite the sadness and uncertainty. An offer of a boardroom at Tait Electronics was gratefully taken up until a storage area in the Mainland Press Building (also owned by Allied Press) was identified for CTV’s new home. "All of a sudden we were a focus of attention. The CTV building collapse was an icon of the earthquake and this made rebuilding the station even more important."

A continuous loop of public service information about the quake and CTV, organized by Auckland-based broadcasting specialist Jef Grobben, played out on the channel’s UHF frequency from 24 February until 18 April when news programming went to air. Stephen says it was a significant move. "Jef put us back up on air within days. At the time we didn’t know how it was happening but it was great. It was good to see there was something there."

The channel now runs repeated programming 24/7 with staff onsite 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday. CTV generated content includes daily news, lifestyle, shopping, and sport shows, although initially programming on loan from production companies kept it on air.

Stephen started with CTV almost six years ago after working as a technician at Magnum Mac and going to broadcasting school. In recent times he has become somewhat of a technical manager around the place, dealing with daily issues and teaching staff how to use the new gear. Editing systems include two suites, two MacBook Pros, two Mac Pros, and graphics vision-switcher package BroadcastPix Granite 2000. Upgraded software includes Cut Pro Studio 7 and Adobe CS 5.5. "We have gone from a very workstation-based workflow, to a network-based workflow. It’s modern while a lot of the other stuff was quite old. We’ve got better gear than we did before and are much more future-proof." A tapeless workflow is now in place and works alongside a media server, storage, browser, and archive system.

Stephen says everyone is trucking along and having about 13 contractors around helps a lot. Receiving emails from viewers happy to have the channel back are also appreciated by the team, as are the flowers and messages of support that are still received. Even baking has been brought in. "We’ve become a lot closer because of what has happened and what we’ve been through, although it doesn’t seem as relaxed and fun as it used to. There is still a lot of uncertainty. Decisions have to be made and we still haven’t got all the equipment we need."

When you don’t know what the future is, it’s hard to feel comfortable."

Behind the technical rebuild

Auckland broadcasting specialist Jef Grobben’s involvement with CTV started when he organized the loop of information to be played on the channel in the days after the earthquake. He linked it from his Epsom play-out facility, Broadcast Inc., after calling in some help from around the industry, including from Kordia and Sky Television. Like many watching the aftermath roll out on the news, he wanted to help. The go-ahead for the rebuild was given in early March, and Jef was tasked with the job by Allied Press. "The challenge with CTV was that essentially it wasn’t a rebuild; it was a cold start of a brand new television station that had a potential audience and a traumatised group of staff and no real business plan," Jef says. Normally you’d do it the other way around, building the facility requirements around a channel plan and business model, he says. "Instead we kind of went down there and said this space will do, we’ll stick a wall there, one there and one there. We’ll paint it this color and put some flooring on the floor and we’ll get back on air whatever it was you were broadcasting before."

Getting content to air essentially involves a server, playlist software, an ingest mechanism, scheduling tools, and a transmitter, he says. "If you need to just stick something on air then you can do it in a day if you’ve got the bits. But the technology we had to put together had to be sustainable without requiring a huge influx of staff."

An initial challenge was finding a space with adequate ceiling height and power supply for air-conditioning, lighting, and other broadcasting equipment. An area in the Mainland Press building in Harewood, Christchurch proved suitable and a floor plan was drawn up with the basic construction completed within three weeks. "There were some very good tradespeople." The new facilities include a studio, MCR (master control room), presentation area, voiceover booth, and two edit suites. There are also a couple of offices, while the server and newsrooms are shared with Mainland Press. "The thing that had to get going first for CTV was its news production, as it was the bulk of its programming, that’s what made it uniquely CTV."

When it comes to television, he says, content should always come first. "Content is king and carriage is queen."

Jef’s nearly 30 years in the industry include helping to start Juice TV, government initiative Aotearoa Television, the Documentary Channel (now owned by BBC), and The Arts Channel (now owned by Sky TV). He also helped set up TV3 in the early '90s and co-owned post-production facilities including Image Post (now Images and Sound).

The tsunami in Japan impacted worldwide equipment supplies, but Jef drew on his industry contacts to get the goods needed including camera, audio, lighting, and editing equipment. Jef is also a collector of old television and broadcasting gear which certainly came in handy. Some was hauled out, dusted off, and reassembled ready for shipment to Christchurch to use in the interim. "I’m not an engineer but a collector of stuff and some of the stuff still has its usefulness." Timing the arrival of goods was not always easy nor was reconciling the expectations of staff from what they were used to, to what they would get in the interim. He learnt to "nod and say yes a lot" but says being as honest as possible was most important. "It was rather like being a short-order cook of television designers - we could do the thing that takes four hours to make and is exquisite at the end, but right now you’re getting a poached egg, bacon, and fries."

Once staff understood the restraints and saw what they had to work with, he says, they had something to focus on. "It’s fair to say they are all heavily traumatised after the earthquake and after losing most of their colleagues. With the emotional trauma of that and the frustration of not knowing what was going to happen next, there were a lot of very brave people down there. A lot of them didn’t know how affected they were until recently." Jef says CTV is a work in progress and will not be complete until it has the ability to playout (broadcast a programme to a network for delivery to an audience). Live news is on the cards with developments also planned around scheduling, media management, and archiving. He says CTV has much potential for the future but will need financial backing. "I think CTV has an opportunity to become a national brand if the shareholders want to take that step."