Wayne Ruting claims to have business intelligence software that allows station group execs to look over the shoulder of every GM -- every sales person, for that matter -- in their groups at any time to make sure they're making their numbers. It works by gathering all station data into one easily accessible "warehouse."

Sony has the lion's share of the broadcast camera market and intends to keep it with a two-prong strategy, simultaneously developing XDCAM camcorders using optical disks and memory cards, says the SVP of sales and marketing. Both will "continue to evolve."

The group that used to be the Clear Channel stations has one old hand in charge of its technology and he likes his new management's "laserlike" focus on TV station operation as he heads up the group's digital conversions and addition of subnets.

Telecorps’ Wexler Video division thinks it has the answer to getting the most out of TV stations’ field reporters. Its new BackPack lets journalists shoot material and then use cellular technology and the Internet to send it directly back to the station without a live truck or a microwave truck, and without hitting a WiFi hot spot.

The equipment supplier's president says that after adding to its offerings by purchasing companies, it is now focusing on making sure all of its various product lines work perfectly together to help stations run as efficiently as possible.

Panasonic’s marketing chief offers arguments as to why the P2 HD field acquisition format is best choice for broadcasters as they move to file-based workflows and HD.

A TV station is a TV station, right? Wrong, according to the chief tech at the ABC O&O in Philadelphia. At the new plant he's building, file-based workflow is a top priority and the digital broadcast transmitter will be just one of many outputs.

The head of video products says that the company is pushing its solutions for local HD news and file-based workflow (Infinity, Aurora and Ignite) as TV stations will feel increasing pressure to make the move to HD sooner rather than later.

Mall shoppers can literally see what's going on inside Pappas's TV stations in Reno, but they can't appreciate the state-of-the-art automation that's a model for other stations in the growing group.

Yes, says the head of Avid's video business. The troubled company will be spending as much on marketing next year as it ever did, but it will avoid the "hellish din" of the NAB convention to focus of a variety of other ways of getting closer to broadcasters and other customers.

As things now stand, says the president of the Community Broadcasters Association, many of the 2,800 LPTV stations are faced with losing all of their over-the-air viewers in February 2009 when full-power stations make the switch to digital and they are still stuck in analog.

As the chief tech at the Ackerley group in the 1990s, Kelly Alford pioneered centralcasting and was an early adopter of automated news production. He's now putting those technologies to work for his new employer.

A one-time news photographer, Braatz is now the top tech for the NBC O&Os, responsible for keeping all 10 on the air and making sure they have the gear they need to produce not just for broadcast, but for the Web, mobile and whatever other new media comes along.

Centralizing master controls of multiple stations still doesn't make sense to Hearst-Argyle's chief tech, but he's found other ways to improve efficiencies across the entire 29-station group.

The top tech at Hearst-Argyle says the toughest part about producing local HD news is integrating 4:3 video from the archives, other stations and the network news co-ops. "It’s much easier to deal with the increase in resolution," he says.

While making final preparations for the meeting in Pittsburgh in two weeks, the outgoing president says the Society of Broadcast Engineers is thinking about more than just continuing education and certification. It's also working on a smooth BAS transition and effective implementation of the emergency alert system.

Over the past five years, LIN has gradually added 16 of its 29 stations to one of two master control hubs. The chief architect of the system says the hubs have proved their worth--so much so that he is prepared to operate hubs in other regions. Also up for discussion: local HD news, ENG, DTV, Sprint Nextel and news production automation.

There is no doubt in the mind of the technical consultant who helped develop the technology. He believes that a single frequency network of transmitters operating on the same channel can blanket a market with a stronger, more uniform signal than the conventional big-stick approach, improving indoor and planned mobile reception.

Sprint Nextel has blown the FCC's deadline next week for upgrading broadcasters' ENG microwave gear from analog to digital, but the executive in charge of the project believes he has a handle on the process and that the new deadline will be a realistic one.

If broadcasters delay in scheduling tower and antenna work, says the president of a leading tower company, they may be not have the digital signal and coverage they want when in comes time to pull the analog plug in February 2009.

The industry must get together and come up with standards for exchanging file-based spots, programs and news to and among stations, says Tribune's chief technologist. Also up for discussion: centralization, local HD production, HD news acquisition and editing, news production automation and more.

Maybe so. The National TeleConsultants project director says he has helped transform the PBS station in San Francisco from “a very labor-intensive, manual, single-channel analog operation to a very highly automated multichannel digital HD operation.”

The president of engineering for the Fox Entertainment Group says the Fox stations' adoption of the Panasonic P2 format will lead to advancements in efficiency and creativity that even he can't imagine.

Philadelphia-based Rembrandt Technologies is suing ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox claiming that their DTV broadcasts infringe on one of its patents and demanding heavy license fees. It's also battling Harris in court over the same patent. Will the FCC intercede?

The VP of engineering explains why he passed on Sony and Panasonic for a format that fits his way of doing news and business. "There are no trade-offs with this product," he says.

The head of enginneering for the 10 ABC O&Os thinks he can eliminate much of the redundancy in their operations without affecting the station autonomy for which the group is known.

Offering advice to TV broadcasters on new stations and major upgrades, the head of the Ascent systems integration firm explains why the RCA approach to design doesn't cut it in 2007.

Having revamped four newly acquired NBC stations to bring them in line with the group's centralized monitoring and control system, the station group's chief tech exec is now centralizing graphics production, while keeping an eye on mobile video developments.

The chief of broadcast operations says the 23-station group will begin offering HD newscasts this year in Tampa, Fla.; Spartanburg, S.C.; Roanoke, Va.; Columbus, Ohio; and likely one other market.

CBS is committed to making HD from the field part of its HD newscasts just as soon as possible, says the CBS advanced technology VP. So, he says, introduction of Sony XDCAM HD camcorders has been a first step in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago and other markets.

Just don't call it centralcasting, says the operations manager at WCTV Tallahassee who is building one of four hubs that will oversee master control and traffic across the entire TV station group.

The strategy at Raycom is to use technology to produce more and better news, not take the lead in HD news production.

In part one of a two-part interview, the Raycom CTO offers a plan for smoothing the final DTV transition and preventing mobs of angry villagers from storming the gates of the FCC on Feb. 18, 2009.

NAB's chief technologist has his hands full not only making sure that the digital conversion goes smoothly, but also making sure that broadcasters don't miss the opportunities that digital provides.

The association's chief technologist unveils a board-approved initiative to bring new broadcasting technologies to the marketplace. Would you like a laptop with a built-in DTV tuner and antenna?

The experienced system integrator shares his hard-earned advice on how to assemble a digital TV station that can deliver full-blown HDTV and on where some of the pitfalls lie.

The NAB's new VP talks about his upcoming campaign to make sure that the millions of homes that receive off-the-air TV today will still be able to receive off-the-air TV after the February 2009 switch to digital.

The president of the standards-setting body says work is underway on interactive, mobile and non-realtime applications and that the only limit on what can be done is the imagination of broadcasters.

While continuing to protect broadcast TV from harmful interference, the MSTV chief will be taking the initiative in the coming months to make sure that TV stations have the necessary transmission gear in place to make the switch to digital in February 2009.

The group's top engineer tells how he is managing the simultaneous rollout of several new technologies and systems in his drive for cheaper, faster and better.

The top engineering executive for the 14-station TV group is dealing with many issues at the same time to keep pace with the competition and take full advantage of the latest technological efficiencies.

With the build-out of the digital broadcast plant behind him, Sinclair's VP of engineering is now working on upgrading the stations so that they can all handle HD and, in many cases, produce it.

The Sinclair VP of engineering kicks off TVNEWSDAY's new series of tech Q&As with the story of how the station group learned to stop worrying and came to love 8-VSB (well, almost).