I've worked in various capacities such as utility/grip, camera, A1 audio tech, Chyron/CG operator and others.  Productions I've worked on include ESPN SportsCenter, Outdoor Life Network PBR Bullriding, Showtime's ShoBOX boxing, and boxing airing on FOX Sports Net.  I'm on the video crew at the local Civic Center as well...it helps satisfy my appetite for live shows now that I'm out of broadcasting and in the world of post production.

I spent several of my 14 years with NBC North Dakota Sports as part of the live broadcast crew.  After starting out in Master Control I moved on to Creative Services, which freed me up for duties in our live production truck. Here's a little bit more detail about that sports background:
NBC North Dakota Sports StationsNBC North Dakota Sports is comprised of the five NBC stations serving our state.  They're owned by the same company, which allows them  to easily cooperate on news and sports coverage.  Roughly half of the crew comes from KVLY, serving the Fargo-Grand Forks area, and the other half comes from KFYR-TV. We also get the opportunity to work with each other on joint satellite interviews as well as live shots from one end of the state to the other.

NBC North Dakota Sports Production & Transmission VehiclesNBC North Dakota Sports has its own live analog production trucks.  Combined with a statewide microwave transmission system and crew of seasoned regulars they make an efficient and self-contained mobile production powerhouse!  In fact, we were given the opportunity to televise the 2001 NCAA Division II Football Semi-Finals with two days' notice in an arena we'd never scouted, and were able to put our expertise to work to quickly assemble a show that left everybody proud.

My tasks in these live productions:

  • Generating graphics and manual scorekeeping on our Chyron PC-Scribe, running on a dedicated PC with a PC-CODI card.  I'm well equipped with Adobe Photoshop for those last minute logos that come rushing in!

  • Playback of open animations, sponsored billboards, an occasional time-out commercial, and keyable "whiz-bang" animations in our DPS Velocity machine.  I run dpsReality and dpsVelocity software simultaneously on this machine.  Keyable animations are kept handy in the Reality gallery and timeline. Player lineups and other animated features are pre-arranged on Velocity timelines.  In between broadcasts I edit pre-opens and other features on this machine. Thanks to the versatility of the DPS machine I'm able to transition from a keyable animation straight into a commercial with audio all in a small timeline window, jumping back and forth between applications as I please! Our resident 3D animation whiz at our Fargo station provides animations such as the basketball & hockey graphics pictured above.

  • I compose logo graphics and team graphics for our Chyron Maxine using Adobe Photoshop; as much as possible is pre-produced on my machines at the studio and transported on ZIP, but we're able to do everything we need in the truck as well.

  • All my machines are networked; I share graphics between the DPS and PC-Scribe machines, plus logos and pages between the DPS and Chyron Maxine via Chyron's Overdrive software, plus I share client logos with our DVE/tape operator on his Pinnacle Aladdin.

One could argue that I have had the most toys (and fun) in the NBC ND truck!

Aside from high school sports and local newscasts I've also had the opportunity to perform as Chyron Maxine/Infinit operator for Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks baseball games as well as the "Power Bowl," an annual college football matchup between Minnesota State University - Moorhead and Concordia College (also of Moorhead, MN).  I've also been a technical director for the pool feed of the North Dakota State of the State Address, audio engineer for debates in state gubernatorial races, and more. What I'd really like to try now...motorsports!