Dylan Brogan
Carrie Stenerson (left) and Joe Schraven orchestrate City Channel’s broadcast of an Alcohol License Review Committee meeting.
It’s showtime at Madison City Channel. Tonight’s prime time programming is the Jan. 16 meeting of the Alcohol License Review Committee (otherwise known as the ALRC). Camera operator Carrie Stenerson has a shot of Tom Landgraf, the committee’s chair, framed and focused on one of the monitors. Joe Schraven, tonight’s director, quickly pushes a few buttons as Landgraf calls the public meeting to order and the ALRC meeting goes live on cable and the internet.
“You kind of become a city policy wonk whether you want to or not,” says Schraven, one of four full-time producers on the city’s media team. “Most meetings are actually really interesting. The ALRC doesn’t disappoint.”
The main control room at the station is decked out like the bridge of a spaceship. There are five large monitors (and several smaller ones) surrounded by racks of impressive-looking equipment. Dozens of buttons, knobs and dials glow and blink in the low-lit control room. Schraven and Stenerson sit side-by-side like copilots. As people make motions or address the committee, the pair switch back-and-forth between cameras to capture the action. The meeting’s agenda acts as a broadcast script.
“I do the ALRC meetings and at this point, I can look at the agenda and have a pretty good idea which items they are going to discuss and which ones they’re not,” says Schraven, as he seamlessly switches to a shot of police Capt. James Freeman. “We prepare titles so people know which [committee member] is speaking. We also list which agenda item is being discussed. The meetings go by pretty fast because you’re always doing something.”
Even though the ALRC meeting is convening in the council chambers, all the television magic happens one floor above in the Madison City Channel studio. The chambers, and several other rooms at the City County Building and the newly remodeled Madison Municipal Building, are equipped with robotic high-definition cameras that can pan, tilt and zoom remotely.
Stenerson manipulates the three robocams in the council chambers with a joystick. She pivots one of the cameras over to Ald. Shiva Bidar, makes sure the shot looks good, and sets a preset so the camera, with a touch of a button, will return to that precise position. Schraven then uses the video switcher board to put that camera shot live on the air. It’s a practiced dance between the producers and they work in tandem often without speaking.
Boyce Johnson, the city’s digital media supervisor, says each committee has its quirks.
“Some are slow. Some are fast,” says Johnson. “Some committees have chairs who crack the whip. Some chairs play it by ear.”
When the city vacated the Madison Municipal Building in 2016 for a renovation, a new studio and headquarters were built for City Channel across the street on the third floor of the City County Building. That year, the agency also became part of the city’s Information Technology Division. Robotic cameras were first installed in the council chambers 15 years ago but still required producers to physically be in the room to run the broadcast. Not anymore.
Today, the station only needs to operate cameras in the room for press conferences, a few meetings and special events. “Instead of spending hours setting up and tearing down, we are basically ready to go in minutes now,” says Johnson. “That’s allowed us to expand our coverage.”
The station’s vast archive of meetings has also become an important tool for journalists, alders, developers and average residents who want to watch how city policies were crafted.
“We see the views on old meetings steadily tick up all the time.... This city is really into transparency. Every mayor since I have been here, every council, has fully supported us,” says Johnson, who has worked at Madison City Channel since 1990. “If anything, they are always looking for ways for us to expand. Can we cover more meetings? Can we distribute them in more places?”
Schraven has become somewhat of an expert on the interpersonal dynamics of many city bodies. “I like doing the Common Council meetings,” says Schraven, who is diplomatic when asked if there are some alders who tend to dominate the debate. “Ha! Yes. But you gotta watch the meetings to find out.”
Meetings covered by City Channel:
• Alcohol License Review Committee
• Common Council
• Dane County Board of Supervisors
• Disability Rights Commission
• Finance Committee
• Plan Commission
• Transportation Commission
• Transportation Policy and Planning Board
Original shows:
• Access: City Hall
• District Reports
• Know Your Candidates
• Senior Beat
• Special videos and public service announcements requested by city agencies
Cable stations:
• Charter Digital 994
• AT&T U-Verse 99
Robotic camera locations:
• Three in the Common Council/county board chambers
• Six in two City County Building meeting rooms
• 14 in four rooms in the Madison Municipal Building
