Remote broadcast
Encyclopedia
In broadcast engineering
, a remote broadcast (usually just called a remote or a live remote) is broadcasting
done from a location away from a formal television studio
and is considered an electronic field production
(EFP). A remote pickup unit
(RPU) is usually used to transmit
the audio
and/or video
back to the television station
, where it joins the normal airchain
. Other methods include satellite truck
s, production truck
s and even regular
telephone
lines if necessary.
leased telegraph lines from Western Union
to provide the first link in what became called "Cabaret Broadcasting." By early 1925, Granlund had established remote lines between WHN and more than thirty New York City jazz nightclubs, including the Silver Slipper, The Parody Club, the Cotton Club
, the Strand Roof, and Club Moritz.
Nils T. Granlund cited the 1925 WHN airing of Senator James J. Walker's announcement of his New York City mayoral candidacy through a "remote-control" broadcast from the New York Press Club as the first such remote link for a political forum.
In Latin America, on October 27, 1920 Dr Sussini made the first remote transmission in Argentina from the theatre El Coliseo in Buenos Aires. In Mexico on September 27, 1921, Adolfo Gomez Fernandez made a transmission from the Teatro Ideal, Mexico DF
The very first live remote broadcast to the Nation was by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1938 when Frank Willis reported on the Moose River Gold Mine disaster in Nova Scotia http://archives.cbc.ca/economy_business/natural_resources/clips/3860/
On June 11, 1955, NBC ,The National Broadcasting Company, provided the 1st live remote broadcast to the nation from Niagara Falls, New York.
, remotes are often used for special events, such as concerts or sporting events, where either the entire event or advertisements for the event are broadcast on location. The cost of personnel and equipment is usually paid for by the host at each performance. However, if the event is recurring, such as a weekly broadcast from a nightclub
, then dedicated lines are usually installed by the local telephone company in order to save on costs.
Originally, analog audio broadcasts were sent through telephone hybrid
s, which, although low quality, were found to be acceptable for voice broadcasts. Later, frequency extender
s were developed that used additional lines, shifting higher treble
audio frequencies down on one end and back up on the other, providing a reasonable reproduction of the original sound
. Currently, digital lines, such as ISDN or DSL, are used to send compressed digital audio
back to the studio. In addition, modern remote pickup units have become extremely portable and can transmit single-channel monophonic
FM
-quality audio over regular telephone lines using built-in modems and advanced compression algorithms (MPEG-4
, etc.). See POTS codec
.
remotes are an almost daily
part of television news broadcasts in the U.S. As a part of electronic news gathering
(ENG), remotes are meant to bring the audience
to the scene of the action, although often nothing directly related to the story is happening there anymore. In some cases live remotes have even taken ridicule
, particularly for reporters who stand out in the middle of a hurricane's wind
s, risking their lives while telling viewers not to do the same.
To get to the scene quickly, a live remote may be done from a helicopter
.
Live television
remotes may often be used in a manner similar to radio remotes (and vice versa) as well.
Broadcast engineering
Broadcast engineering is the field of electrical engineering, and now to some extent computer engineering and information technology, which deals with radio and television broadcasting...
, a remote broadcast (usually just called a remote or a live remote) is broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
done from a location away from a formal television studio
Television studio
A television studio is an installation in which a video productions take place, either for the recording of live television to video tape, or for the acquisition of raw footage for post-production. The design of a studio is similar to, and derived from, movie studios, with a few amendments for the...
and is considered an electronic field production
Electronic field production
Electronic field production is a television industry term referring to a video production which takes place in the field, outside of a formal television studio, in a practical location or special venue...
(EFP). A remote pickup unit
Remote pickup unit
A remote pickup unit or RPU is a radio system using special radio frequencies set aside for electronic news gathering and remote broadcasting. It can also be used for other types of point-to-point radio links....
(RPU) is usually used to transmit
Transmission (telecommunications)
Transmission, in telecommunications, is the process of sending, propagating and receiving an analogue or digital information signal over a physical point-to-point or point-to-multipoint transmission medium, either wired, optical fiber or wireless...
the audio
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
and/or video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
back to the television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
, where it joins the normal airchain
Airchain
In broadcast engineering for radio or television, the airchain or transmission chain is the path or route an audio or video signal takes on its way through a radio station or television station.The airchain begins with cameras, microphones, CD players, turntables, telephone hybrids, video tape...
. Other methods include satellite truck
Satellite truck
A satellite truck is a mobile communications satellite Earth station, typically mounted on a truck chassis on a platform allowing satellite transmission from any location that the production truck can reach, provided a line of sight to the desired satellite is available.-Equipment:Typically a...
s, production truck
Production truck
Television Production trucks were developed to take television studios on the road so video productions could be made at distant locations for a remote broadcast, outside broadcasting , electronic field production with multiple-camera setup and a support of a number of different technologies to...
s and even regular
Plain old telephone service
Plain old telephone service is the voice-grade telephone service that remains the basic form of residential and small business service connection to the telephone network in many parts of the world....
telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
lines if necessary.
History
The first airing of a "remote-control" broadcast came in 1924, when Loew's Theater publicist and WHN (New York City) station manager Nils GranlundNils Granlund
Nils T. Granlund was an American Broadway show producer, radio industry pioneer, a publicist for Marcus Loew who formed Loews Theatres and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
leased telegraph lines from Western Union
Western Union
The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...
to provide the first link in what became called "Cabaret Broadcasting." By early 1925, Granlund had established remote lines between WHN and more than thirty New York City jazz nightclubs, including the Silver Slipper, The Parody Club, the Cotton Club
Cotton Club
The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem, New York City that operated during Prohibition that included jazz music. While the club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the era, such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Adelaide Hall, Count Basie, Bessie Smith,...
, the Strand Roof, and Club Moritz.
Nils T. Granlund cited the 1925 WHN airing of Senator James J. Walker's announcement of his New York City mayoral candidacy through a "remote-control" broadcast from the New York Press Club as the first such remote link for a political forum.
In Latin America, on October 27, 1920 Dr Sussini made the first remote transmission in Argentina from the theatre El Coliseo in Buenos Aires. In Mexico on September 27, 1921, Adolfo Gomez Fernandez made a transmission from the Teatro Ideal, Mexico DF
The very first live remote broadcast to the Nation was by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1938 when Frank Willis reported on the Moose River Gold Mine disaster in Nova Scotia http://archives.cbc.ca/economy_business/natural_resources/clips/3860/
On June 11, 1955, NBC ,The National Broadcasting Company, provided the 1st live remote broadcast to the nation from Niagara Falls, New York.
Radio
In radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, remotes are often used for special events, such as concerts or sporting events, where either the entire event or advertisements for the event are broadcast on location. The cost of personnel and equipment is usually paid for by the host at each performance. However, if the event is recurring, such as a weekly broadcast from a nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
, then dedicated lines are usually installed by the local telephone company in order to save on costs.
Originally, analog audio broadcasts were sent through telephone hybrid
Telephone hybrid
Telephone hybrids are an essential functional component of the Public Switched Telephone Network . The term also describes the piece of equipment used in broadcast facilities to enable the airing of telephone callers....
s, which, although low quality, were found to be acceptable for voice broadcasts. Later, frequency extender
Frequency extender
In broadcast engineering, a frequency extender is an electronic device that allows high-fidelity analogue audio to be sent over regular POTS telephone lines, without the loss of higher audio frequencies . It is an extended concept of a telephone hybrid.The concept uses frequency shifting, in order...
s were developed that used additional lines, shifting higher treble
Treble (sound)
Treble refers to tones of high frequency or range. In music this corresponds to high notes, and for this reason the treble clef is often used for instruments with higher pitch. Examples of treble sounds are guitar tones, female voice , young boy voice, etc. They have frequencies above 9 KHz. Treble...
audio frequencies down on one end and back up on the other, providing a reasonable reproduction of the original sound
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
. Currently, digital lines, such as ISDN or DSL, are used to send compressed digital audio
Digital audio
Digital audio is sound reproduction using pulse-code modulation and digital signals. Digital audio systems include analog-to-digital conversion , digital-to-analog conversion , digital storage, processing and transmission components...
back to the studio. In addition, modern remote pickup units have become extremely portable and can transmit single-channel monophonic
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
FM
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
-quality audio over regular telephone lines using built-in modems and advanced compression algorithms (MPEG-4
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group under the formal standard ISO/IEC...
, etc.). See POTS codec
POTS codec
A POTS codec is a device used in broadcast engineering to send high-fidelity digital audio over regular telephone lines. A hardware codec, implemented with digital signal processing, is used to compress the audio data enough to travel at a bitrate equivalent to a 33.6k modem...
.
Television
In TV, live televisionLive television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
remotes are an almost daily
Day
A day is a unit of time, commonly defined as an interval equal to 24 hours. It also can mean that portion of the full day during which a location is illuminated by the light of the sun...
part of television news broadcasts in the U.S. As a part of electronic news gathering
Electronic news gathering
ENG is a broadcasting industry acronym which stands for electronic news gathering. It can mean anything from a lone broadcast journalist reporter taking a single professional video camera out to shoot a story, to an entire television crew taking a production truck or satellite truck on location...
(ENG), remotes are meant to bring the audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
to the scene of the action, although often nothing directly related to the story is happening there anymore. In some cases live remotes have even taken ridicule
Ridicule
Ridicule is a 1996 French film set in the 18th century at the decadent court of Versailles, where social status can rise and fall based on one's ability to mete out witty insults and avoid ridicule oneself...
, particularly for reporters who stand out in the middle of a hurricane's wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
s, risking their lives while telling viewers not to do the same.
To get to the scene quickly, a live remote may be done from a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
.
Live television
Live television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
remotes may often be used in a manner similar to radio remotes (and vice versa) as well.