WVIA entering HD era

JENKINS TWP. – The new theater at the WVIA studios still smells like paint. The 100 stadium seats are still under plastic, and the television-studio curtain isn’t hanging yet.

But that will all change within the next three weeks.

WVIA is creating the area’s first high-definition television and radio studio/theater, and even though the hallway leading to the studio is still begging for a final paint job, it will be ready for its Sept. 27 unveiling with Paula Kerger, president of Public Broadcasting Service, and Kevin Klose, president of National Public Radio.

“They will be here,” said Bill Kelly, president and CEO of WVIA. “The affair will have a few more than 100 guests. We’ll have dinner in the main studio, Studio A, and, after that dinner’s over, we’ll go to the new theater studio, which no one will have seen.”

There will then be an hour-long program with Kerger and Klose, something that will be done more often when the theater is ready.

The “brick” wall (it’s really just paneling) will act as a backdrop sometimes, and a curtain also will be used. With analog television, the picture isn’t perfect. With hi-def digital programming, it’s crystal clear – so the fake bricks needed to look good.

It’ll sound good too, with Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. As of Friday, the studio had only two of the five speakers and the subwoofer in place. It also had the grid for studio lights but no lights yet.

The equipment is almost all there, but the technology is ready for WVIA to broadcast four channels.

It’s similar to Channel 56. Right now, a digital-television user has the choice of channels 56-1, 56-2, and 56-3.

The same will happen with WVIA. The digital channel will have about a three-second delay, according to Carl Budrecki, a maintenance engineer at the station.

“The processing has to go through a converter from analog to digital,” he said.

When the million-dollar project is complete, Kelly said, WVIA will be the only station in the market broadcasting local programming in hi def. Right now, while stations such as Fox 56 offer hi-def channels, it’s all national shows.

“At the moment, to the best of our knowledge, we’re the only one planning to have studio-based programs in hi def,” he said.

This is the way all stations might be going eventually. Digital is a sure thing.

“At midnight on Feb. 17, 2009, federal law requires that all full-power television broadcast stations stop broadcasting in analog format and broadcast only in digital format,” according to the Federal Communications Commission’s Web site at www.fcc.gov.

WVIA’s radio station is not broadcasting in high definition yet, but it will begin that soon.

“This is a very new idea,” Kelly said, adding, “It will change WVIA’s programming.”