In what’s being hailed as a Canadian television first, a new one hour talk show will originate from a moving streetcar. CP24 is riding the rails with its newest show, called On The Rocket, broadcast live from a working TTC streetcar.
Hosted by Toronto City Councillor and Toronto Transit Commission Chair Adam Giambrone, the show makes it debut Thursday, November 5 on the news and information specialty channel. What’s more, viewers will be able to ask questions and interact with the program host or special guests.
“The streetcar is our unofficial symbol,” explained Bob McLaughlin, Vice President and General Manager of CP24. “Viewers see them go by behind our anchors,” he said, referring to the station’s street level TV production studio in downtown Toronto. “Transit plays an important role in the lives of so many Torontonians and our viewers use the TTC is a big way, so now CP24 will give them a chance to have their voices heard on a monthly basis.”
Saying it’s the first broadcast of its kind he is aware of, McLaughlin explained that CP24 is using COFDM technology to enable this type of production. Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing is a specification for digital broadcasting systems for both audio and video.
“It’s something CP24 is using aggressively, on a day-to-day basis with our braking news vehicle. Our reporters sit in the back of the vehicle, and the technology allows our field crews to report breaking news in a faster and more concise manner.
“Now, we’re taking it one step further, and using the technology on the Rocket in a monthly show. We’ll see where it goes from here,” McLaughlin said, adding that he has already asked his mobile production team to be ready for weekly, or even daily shows.
Brian Carr, CP24’s Manager of Live Operations, explained that the technology, while somewhat geographically dependant, does nevertheless function very well in an urban environment.
“Yes, the signal is more robust when stationary, but when moving it loves bouncing off buildings, it loves refracting and multi-pathing the signal. So you do not need a line of sight (for transmission). The bits are reassembled at the receive site, and just delayed a half second or so for forward error checking.”
CP24 now has three such receive sites in the city; one on the CN Tower, of course, covering a fairly wide downtown footprint, and now, new antennas in both the east and west ends of the city.
The station operates with two portable transmission units, Carr said. The small suitcase sized devices connect to an omni-directional antenna, which on the streetcar can be mounted just outside a window.
Inside, the production crew is operating a live switched, three camera production (everything CP24 produces nowadays is shot with 16 X 9 widescreen cameras, Carr added, with a centre cut being applied to anything that goes to air), while also coordinating interactions between the on-air host and viewers at home
“The show is completely interactive,” McLaughlin added. “People can connect with us via Twitter, using e-mail, on Facebook. They can call, and they can jump on board.”