The completion of a new production complex at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Communications Services (DCS) will enable it to respond to a health crisis with programming and interviews that can be aired on news and popular talk shows.

A key part of the audio, is the installation of a Solid State Logic C100 HDS Digital Broadcast Console in the facilities new Control Room B. This joins an existing C100 in the facility’s Control Room A, providing operational consistency between the studios.

Additionally, DCS will use the studios to produce a continuing series of in-depth educational programmes on health related topics of interest to the medical community.

‘The primary use for the C100 HDS will be for everything from talking-head-type productions to panel discussions using call-in capabilities to produce programming and other news outlet related events,’ says Russell Chamblee, facilities manager for Division of Communications Services (DCS). ‘We have experienced excellent results with our existing studio equipment in Control Room A and wanted to have Control Room B mirror those capabilities. This set-up gives us a great deal of flexibility for scheduling regular programmes and producing content for health emergencies. The addition of the second C100 allows our engineering staff to operate between Control Room A and B without missing a step.’

Due to budget constraints, the Studio B complex was not built until the workload demanded greater access to production facilities to meet the needs of the CDC mission. The DCS facility produces programming at 720P HD –from training videos for healthcare workers to live satellite broadcasts to all the healthcare workers in the US.

‘One type of programme that we do involves health care workers in the field calling in to join a conversation with experts in various fields of medicine, covering topics like epidemiology or prevention, for example,’ Chamblee says. ‘The C100’s straightforward and powerful mix-minus feature makes these call-in programmes easy to set up and produce. We also have a four-part series on vaccines and preventable diseases that are each three to four hours long. The console allows us to store programme settings, speeding up our program changeover process, as all our programs are live-to-air. The C100 works very well for this application.’

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