Nebraska Goes On

nebraska test 10The technical problems seem solved. Channel 35 is on-the-air in Northeastern Nebraska and I’m on it.

Let me back up. In the digital world, one channel means multiple separate video streams. We’re running two HD and one SD ‘channels’ on one TV station.

nebraska test 12I am part of a wheel of weather, on every ten minutes from afternoon through early morning. All the hits are recorded, but refreshed as necessary. I ‘FTP’ them to Norfolk (pronounced, nor-fork). They air a few seconds later.

A few more stations in Nebraska will be on within the next few months. I’ll do those too.

Nebraska weather is a challenge because it has so many extremes. Very hot, very cold, very windy. Fewer, but larger, snowstorms. Thunderstorms. Hailstorms. Ice storms. Tornadoes.

nebraska test 11It has rivers that flood. It is flat.

Nebraska rises, like a tabletop that’s slightly higher on the west side. Northeastern Nebraska is around 1,700 feet above sea level. The air is 5% less dense.

To produce my videos I’m running a complex string of macros in my TriCaster Mini. Each macro contains multiple commands to my switcher. Take a camera. Dissolve to an animation. It’s all preordained by me step-by-step.

On-air I hold a clicker which runs through the macros one-by-one. When anything moves or changes, that’s me pushing my thumb. I am seriously a one-man-band.

The maps are produced automatically around-the-clock and shipped to me as video files. There are still a few small design problems, but we’re mostly there.

On the air it looks like the shows I’ve always done at the TV station. No difference.

There’s no upside to being wrong. My job is much more enjoyable when I get it right. Accuracy is nothing but selfishness on my part.

5 thoughts on “Nebraska Goes On”

  1. Fascinating! Seems to me you’re on your way to being known as “The Nations Weatherman”. And you do all this in your garage. Amazing.

  2. Amazing ! You do it all from your garage ! Maybe someday you will be back to doing Ct. weather! Now that would be nice !

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