I always wanted to have a daily television show.
Be careful what you wish for, as the saying goes.
Sure, now I’ve got it in gear, hitting the airwaves in cities such as Los Angeles and Seattle for two hours each day from a studio here in downtown Chattanooga – but getting there wasn’t easy.
Technology, as another saying goes, has come a long way, but sometimes that means it takes many experts and a little luck to hit the right spot, successfully connecting one piece to another. The plan was to go on the air in January. I’ll spare the jargon, but boil it down to this: The locally produced and nationally distributed show is sent to satellite in Nashville through a direct loop of high-speed transmission lines.
Easy enough, I was told.
Then there were routers and encoders that required configuration on both ends, and many other conflicts. In the beginning, I was of little help in getting it done. But needing and wanting to get the program on air, I became an expert of sorts in video and audio transmission via high-speed lines.
Once all that was figured out, we encountered problems with cameras and lighting and a myriad of other issues that normally are not problems – unless you are doing the unusual, broadcasting live and beaming out over satellite.
At more than one point, I wondered if I should have kept the desire that suddenly had met opportunity just that – a wish. But I’ve never been one to run from a challenge, so I pushed ahead.
Eventually, solving each problem led to the end result: two hours of live television each weekday in markets around the nation. Some might say that’s a testament to another saying: Yes, wants and dreams do come true.
That’s what I’ve had to remind myself each day last week when greeted by more issues to be solved.
If you’re on the air for two hours every day, you want it to be good – very good. That’s easier said than done when you’ve spent two months figuring out how to make the show happen in the first place. But as I stress about the situation, I’m reminded of something else.
There’s always tomorrow.
E-mail David Magee at dmagee@timesfreepress.com.