Emmis Employs a Super-Cop

While many station groups look to standardize traffic systems, some are planning to centralize them. The Emmis Communications Centralcasting facility, located in Orlando, Fla., handles master control for five stations: WKCF Orlando; WFTX Ft. Myers, Fla.; WVUE New Orleans; WALA Mobile, Ala.; and WBPG Gulf Shores, Ala. Each station has its own Harris/Encoda traffic system tied into a Florical automation system located at the hub. Together, the systems handle playout of all SD and HD programming.

Joe Addalia, Emmis Centralcasting director of operations, says a program from Harris/Encoda helps the traffic and automation systems speak the same language. The station group works with content packaged as files, moving it between the Centralcasting hub and the stations across a wide area network (WAN). “Purge lists, dub lists, logs, as-run logs and user reports are what keep the processes flowing,” says Addalia.

The facility highlights the delicate dance between automation and traffic. In addition to on-air operations, the Florical system also handles programming from other sources, including networks. It deals with as much as 18-21 hours of syndicated programming on weekdays and nearly 80 daily satellite feeds.

The Harris/Encoda system does require some manual intervention.

Addalia's bottom line: First figure out the workflow. Then buy the technology that can do it. “That's especially important with traffic,” he says, “because otherwise the workflow is based on the system's limitations.”