KOMO TV Seattle engineering visit.

I worked an ABC news job today where I ended my day at the ABC Seattle news
bureau which is located in KOMO TV's building at Fisher Plaza. I ventured
back to the engineering department and had a great talk with their chief
night-time engineer who gave me revealing insights into technical issues
they face as well as the realities of manpower and monitoring of their
off-air HD signal. I now have this gentleman's cell phone number and email
address so I can provide direct and immediate feedback when problems occur
that they are not yet aware of due to the extensive duties and distractions
the engineers have to deal with during their full and busy shifts. As one
may imagine there's no one sitting there 24/7 in a surround sound monitoring
environment to verify that all is well with the HD broadcast. Though I'm not
at liberty to give out this information please feel free to email me with
your concerns and issues and I will be sure to pass them directly to the
person responsible for sorting out and fixing these problems. Please include
all pertinent information including time of occurrence, the service provider
you are using to receive the signal, the brand/model set top box or other
equipment you are using to receive the signal and your physical
location/antenna if you are receiving them OTA.. It's amazing how many hoops
these guys have to jump through to provide an HD signal and all of the
little "I gotcha's" that are imposed by the lack of standards and equipment
a station has to deal with to provide a seamless interface with their
existing SD equipment/signal path and the plethora of viewer equipment on
the receiving end.

Feel free to email me at and I'll do my best to
convey your concerns and issues.

Charles Tomaras
Seattle, WA