PDF of WKTV`s Story

LEIGHTRONIX Customer Profile
WKTV Community Media
“It especially comes in handy during the holidays... Now when we’re off for
a holiday I can run both channels for days on end without anyone having to
come in.”
Friday, June 29, 2012
– Kelly Taylor, Program Director, WKTV
The Problem
WKTV broadcasts two channels,
government access and community media,
and has an internet presence. In a time
where technology changes constantly,
WKTV strives to stay current.
The Solution
NEXUS (2)
PEGvault-SD (2)
PEG Central
PEGstream-SD
PEG Stream
How It Works
WKTV runs two channels, each off their own
individual NEXUS video server. To provide
their viewers with more access to content,
the station also uses the live and videoon-demand streaming services to add an
internet presence to their already powerful
broadcast presence.
In Their Words
“We exchange government meetings
between municipalities and in the old days
we used to shuttle VHS tapes and DVDS,
but now it’s much easier with the NEXUS.
We can just use the File Transfer Protocol
sites.”
–Tom Norton, Executive Director, WKTV
End Result
“I would say 100 percent it’s great. We used
the older system before and I was a fan of
that so yeah, we really like LEIGHTRONIX
and it’s worked great for us.”
–Kelly Taylor, Program Director, WKTV
www.leightronix.com | (800) 243-5589
Wyoming, MI— WKTV, a community media station in the Grand Rapids
suburb of Wyoming, has prided itself on staying on the forefront of broadcast
technology since 1974 when the station was incorporated. To continue to stay
ahead of the times and deliver a quality broadcast to its viewers, WKTV has used
LEIGHTRONIX products since 1992 when the station purchased a PRO-16™ to
automate playback of its VHS players.
Fast-forward 20 years and the station has upgraded its LEIGHTRONIX products,
creating both a Web and broadcast television presence for viewers. WKTV
currently provides content to two channels using two separate NEXUS® video
servers. WKTV also utilizes two PEGvault-SD™ digital video recorders and a
PEGstream-SD™ paired with the PEG Stream™ live streaming service. Additionally
WKTV allows its viewers to access media content on the web through the PEG
Central® video-on-demand streaming service.
“We have two NEXUS systems, one for the government and one for the public
channel, and we use them quite extensively,” WKTV Executive Director Tom
Norton said. “We pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve.”
Digital Archiving
WKTV is in the process of fully transitioning to the NEXUS for archiving.
Archiving digitally allows the station to store years of content without taking up a
lot of physical space, and makes for easy recall when the station wants to re-air
past content.
“We have two NEXUS systems... and we use them quite extensively. We
pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve.”
–Tom Norton, Executive Director, WKTV
At a Glance
Name: WKTV, Incorporated: Nov. 11, 1974
Innovation: WKTV was the first community
media station in Michigan to purchase a
mobile camera unit
Featured: WKTV was featured on the Sony
DXC-3000 brochure in the 1980’s for being
one of the first community media stations to
purchase a three chip camera
Longtime Customer: In 1992, WKTV
bought the PRO-16™, its first product from
LEIGHTRONIX
The Station: Currently has 400+ volunteers
and estimates they generate 75-80 percent of
their content
Size: Wyoming is the largest Suburb of
Grand Rapids with a population of 72,125
Origin: Wyoming is named for Wyoming
County in New York, where many of the area’s
early settlers came from.
Higher Education: There are 18 colleges in
the Wyoming, Michigan region
Notable Residents:
Drew Neitzel- Michigan State Basketball,
2007 Second-team All-American
Buster Mathis- Professional Boxer
Buster Mathis Jr.- Professional Boxer,
Heavy Weight Champion
Chris Kaman- Center, New Orleans Hornets
“The long term goal is to get away from airing tapes and DVDs,” Program
Director Kelly Taylor said.
WKTV models its production after network stations, running new schedules
every day and limiting the repeated content. Still, archiving digitally is crucial to
the station’s workflow because they still need to pull content from it on occasion.
As every day is a new schedule with new content, browsing through a physical
archive to find a particular video would be nearly impossible.
“We have a few programs and specials that will repeat,” Taylor said. “Last year
we got a lot of boating PSAs that, in Michigan, are only timely for a certain
amount of time. This year I didn’t get any new boating PSAs so I pulled up old
ones. That’s what I use the ingesting for; I put things in the system so if I don’t
get anything new I have something for next year.“
Ease-of-Use
Taylor is the main user of the system at WKTV and works with the system daily.
She admits that when she first heard about the features the new system would
bring, she was nervous the system would create more work for her. Taylor,
however, quickly realized that the NEXUS system led to a simpler workflow and
saved her time and effort thanks to its ease-of-use.
“I was kind of leery when they first brought this up, but it has worked great for us
and I’m glad we made the change and implemented the system,” Taylor said.
The primary time saver for Taylor is one of the scheduling features with the
NEXUS system’s management and control software, WinLGX. This feature
allows her to see how much time she has to fill.
Get the rest of the story at leightronix.com/WKTV
About LEIGHTRONIX
www.leightronix.com | (800) 243-5589
LEIGHTRONIX is recognized as an industry leader in specialty video
equipment design and manufacturing, including digital video solutions,
television automation, live and video-on-demand streaming media, and
remote equipment control. For more information, visit www.leightronix.com.