KAYU Reduces Workload With ARAMYST

The transition from serial-digital to high-definition encoding opened up new possibilities for regional broadcasters. Now more stations than ever are taking advantage of multiplexing to bring quality content to a wider audience.

These developments introduced us to content delivery over the internet; as opposed to trucking tapes and linear satellite feeds. Along with this progress come the challenges of file formatting, acquiring media, and transfer to on-air devices.

KAYU Spokane is Northwest Broadcasting’s Fox affiliate serving eastern Washington and northern Idaho that transmits seven channels. KAYU relies on high volumes of syndicated content to supply six of those channels with programming.

Operators would spend a total of 24 man-hours handling syndication, on average. It took two hours of transfer, flipping, and preparation to ready each one hour program for air. Now that KAYU acquired ARAMYST automated workflow, that work is cut down to 1/6th the time.

“What once took hours to download and manually trim a segment, took 10 minutes,” said Robert Cram, lead master control operator, about the new system.

It works by using a set of definitions to automatically transfer the appropriate files from PitchBlue and Pathfire syndication servers to network storage. Next it renames the files in consistency with station traffic’s naming convention. Then, using included metadata, ARAMYST auto-segments the files, instantly preparing them for playout.

During this process, the system incorporates network commercials into the segments, according to the station’s barter agreement, while leaving gaps for local commercials. And it will automatically insert specific ID’s for channel branding.

The only time required is the time it takes to transfer media without transcoding. Operators then perform optional quality control, with included NFinityView software, and schedule their commercial inserts.

“Once I was done [configuring the system, the programs] started to download automatically.” Cram said, “after they were done downloading, I checked the segments against the generic run down and everything matched. Barter breaks were correct, number of segments matched, local breaks matched and landed in the right spots.”

By making ARAMYST a part of station infrastructure, KAYU said it saves a conservative 400 hours per month with their syndication heavy schedule. Tedious and time-consuming tasks are automated, freeing operators for different work.