Sounds like the perfect job for me monitoring premier league feeds and enjoying fantastic views of London, what would this job be called out of interest?
Broadcast Engineer! It does take a wee bit of training - they're not just doing the switching (indeed, a lot of it is automated), but there's maintenance work and fault-finding and having to think on your feet when things aren't quite going to plan.
When you say facility lines does that mean you could see an empty studio E at BBC News sort of like the feed seen somewhere out in Australia or even the pundits rehearsing at IMG studios?
It depends what the other MCR has switched out. If another broadcaster has requested a clean feed of
Studio E for whatever reason, then the BBC will have it switched out to an outgoing line, and the other end would be able to book across it. And the folk in Tower could monitor it if they needed to.
Earlier today I was getting a clean feed of Network Ten - including the bits between the ad breaks on The Project - because we're taking the programme on after it. That's really the exception to the rule; a lot of the time you'll just get colour bars until the thing you're after starts.
Do the lines and the operators actually work in the tower or nearby?
Yup, they're in the building. But it's pretty secure building to access, and the apparatus rooms aren't near external walls, and much of it can be operated remotely. There's a DR site too.
It's been a terrorist target in the past -
the IRA detonated a bomb on one of the observation floors in the 1970s - so they do take security seriously!
Last edited by thegeek on 22 December 2017 8:57am