Friday, July 11, 2014

The [military] broadcast center of the universe

My cubicle is NOT the center of the broadcast universe.

That title may have built this post up a bit, but my new job really is in on the front line of military news reporting.  I work for DoD News (formerly The Pentagon Channel) which reports on all military-wide news.

Working very near us are armies of servicemembers and civilians producing content for individual military branches.  Everyone is churning out TV broadcasts, commercials, social media blitzes and much more.
 
The DoD News control room.


My building is called Defense Media Activity, or DMA, and it's located on Fort Meade.  There are billions of high-paced conversations happening all around me. 

"...Did you get the lead-in request for that Kirby brief?"
"...We're at speed when content control is ready for Sundance recording"
"...I need to coordinate a web transfer for this rotator please."

These and many other phrases are sloooooowly becoming things I understand.

 


Ever watch a news show where they cut to someone in the newsroom?  We do that here.  Air Force Staff Sergeant Chad Usher is preparing for what's called a "toss" to him from the studio.



See the camera way back there?  It's controlled remotely from the DoD News control room.




I can run the teleprompter!