Thursday, May 24, 2007

Sizing Up A Story

From time to time, we cover stories that require us to do site surveys.

I recently had a conversation with someone who asked me to explain to him what a site survey actually entails. I figured it would make a good topic to blog about.

Just a few weeks ago, we were discussing one of the state bar hearings for Durham District Attorney, Michael Nifong, that was coming up. We decided it was best if we did a site survey.
We sent a photographer down to the site where the hearing was going to take place. On a site survey we are…well…surveying the site. 

We are looking at what parking requirements are in place? How far of a cable pull would it be from the location of our parked live truck to the nearest door or window access point? Do we have to cable up or down a flight of stairs? Are their power lines or any obstructions in the area that would prevent us from putting up the mast on our microwave trucks?

After all, it would be very bad to put the mast of one of our microwave trucks up into a tree. Not to mention, it’s very dangerous…not only to the truck operator but to anyone in the vicinity of the live truck.  Safety is our top priority. A site survey allows us to identify all these potential problems—and seek solutions to them, prior to the day of the event.

In some cases, we actually test a microwave signal from the location to ensure we are able to get a live shot out from that particular area. I could explain the microwave signal process—but I will save that for a rainy day.

Site surveys can take anywhere between 30-45 minutes.

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