Tech Case Study: Sesame Street
In 1980, the video library required a major overhaul as Rauffer’s team came to realize that, as with all incarnations of analog video, 2-inch tape didn’t have the shelf life they had hoped for. The tape was wearing out and CTW was forced to regularly replace segments.
"I set-up a system in the summer of 1980 to re-record all the 2-inch segments onto the new standard, 1-inch [Type-C] tape," says Rauffer. This transfer was considered an upgrade to state-of-the-art and would continue to preserve the library. "I set up a three machine recording process. I kept what I call the A and B copies online for editing," says Rauffer. "As an A or B reel was developing problems, we simply dubbed a new copy from the C reel, or archival reel."
With the transfer to 1-inch tape, CTW continued to face the constant battle of increasing efficiency while reducing the massive library of segments. Time code use had now become a standard component of the editing process and the convenience of maintaining upwards of 10,000 short reels of individual segments was no longer a matter of necessity.
"We condensed [10,000 2-inch tapes] into about 200, one-hour reels. We could call up the time code and get to that segment," says Rauffer.
The More Things Change …
In 1997, CTW’s future director of technical operations, Rob Schuman, was working at Dow Jones Interactive when he received a call from CTW’s executive in charge of production.
"She said, ‘Do you do television consulting work? We need to figure-out what to do with this technical operations department, it’s just not working right for us,’" says Schuman.
It had been 16 years since Rauffer left CTW to pursue other business interests, and apparently the technical operations department hadn’t maintained the same attention to detail or preservation established under his direction. In fact, they had never hired a replacement to fill Rauffer’s staff engineer position.
Segment production had moved to the next generations of modern video (Betacam, 3/4" and VHS), but the archives of 1-inch tape were left uncared for and vulnerable to deterioration. The various pieces of production equipment, according to Schuman, "were on these metal bookshelves with this rat’s nest of wires behind it and homemade patch panels."
Six months after Schuman completed his initial consultation, the same executive called him again, explaining, "‘We’re making some changes, how would you like to put your money where your mouth is?’" says Schuman.
As fate would have it, Schuman and Rauffer had worked together years previously at a New York City duplication house. "One of the first things I did when I came here was call my friend Walter (Rauffer) … we rebuilt the place," says Schuman. The pair was hired full-time and Rauffer returned to the production he had helped to pioneer.
Schuman’s background in television and Rauffer’s intimate knowledge of CTW, not to mention his 40+ years in broadcast engineering, essentially launched a technological renaissance within the organization.
Look for Part II of Tech Case Study: Streetwise to appear on streamingmedia.com on November 8.
Related Articles
It's Netflix for nursery school: Sesame Workshop partnered with Kaltura to create a low-priced all-you-can-stream service that engages as it educates.
04 Sep 2014