Field Trip to KTVU Television Station
by Alison Cronin
February 27, 2014

Yearbook and journalism students took a trip to Oakland on February 27 to the KTVU 2 news station.  We took Bart from Concord to Oakland and we walked a few blocks to the news station.  Mrs. Martinez’s husband Jay was the tour guide. He has worked at KTVU for 25 years!

We had the opportunity to witness a live broadcast behind the scenes. We were given the chance to visit the newsroom and control room to learn about everything that goes into a show. Jay also let us into the newsroom to sit in the same chairs as the newscasters and use the green screen. I think the coolest part was learning about the control room tech’s job. He controls everything from the cameras to the microphones. When you think of a news broadcast, you may think of people controlling the cameras that film the anchors. Jay told us that it used to be that way, but now all of that is controlled by the person in the control room. The cameras are basically robots. When it was time for the show, a total of three people were in the control room; the producer, and the two techs.

The tension is high when the show begins, so many people are working together from different rooms and it is important that everyone is in sync. We watched the 12 o’clock news live from both the newsroom and control room. It was interesting that there are only a few people in the room where the news is being filmed; the weatherman, the anchor and a guy that tells them when they will go on and off air.

After the show we walked to Jack London Square and ate lunch. Overall, the experience was amazing and we all had a really nice time.

 

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