In the lush green surrounding of J.C Road, the road leading to R.T. Nagar nestles the Bangalore Kendra of Doordarshan (DD). This was the destination of the students and faculty members of the Department ofCommunication recently.

The purpose of the trip was to givepractical exposure to students on theworking of a television channel andstudio besides providing an insight intothe management aspects.

The entourage was received at thestudio by Mr. Chandramouli, theDeputy Director of Audience Research and Marketing at DD Bangalore Kendrabefore undertaking a guided tour of theexpansive studio.

Mr. Siddalingappa, the AssistantStation Engineer was at hand to guidethe students through variousdepartments engaged in producingtelevision programmes. The first stopwas the studio where the recording of adrama slated for Children’s Day was in progress. Here Mr. Siddalingappaexplained to the student about variousaspects of digital cameras used farshooting.

An equally informative sessionfollowed in the Production ControlRoom. Here the students witnessedhow the director gives instructions tothe camera person and the floormanager. Also they got to understandhow lights and sound were controlledfrom the production control room.

In the Camera Control Unit (CCU),the various technical and functionaldimensions of the way shots are chosen and signals are processed for furtherprocesses was revealed.

The students also becameacquainted with equipment such ascharacter and graphic generator. Theequipment is an integral part of videoproduction process. Further, they got anopportunity to see in practice the use ofconcepts like chroma-key effect andgeneration of characters and graphics.

After getting can idea of therecording and studios, the studentsproceeded to the editing department.Here they were guided by Mr. Ashok,one of the video editors. He explained ahost of software such as Velocity andFinal Cut -Pro used for editing.

Then came time to visit the earthstation from where the recorded andedited programmes are finallytransmitted. Doordarshan Bangalorehas two terrestrial transmitters out ofwhich one is totally devoted to news.Apart from this, the Kendra also hastransmitters to send and receive satellite signals. Here the team was guided byMr. William, a senior technician atDoordarshan.

The students were also fortunateenough to get a glimpse of the world ofFM radio. The channels, Radio Indigoand Radio One use the DD transmittersfor their signals. Signals from thestudios of these radio stations arereceived here and then transmitted tothe radio sets of the listeners. Thetechnicians of these channels citedinfrastructure and security to be thereasons for using Doordarshan facilities.

Towards the end of the visit, thestudents had an engaging andinformative discussion with Mr.Chandramouli. It must be recalled thatthe affable administrator had earlier aguest lecture at GCC campus thathelped the students grasp the nuancesof media management. He enlightenedthe students on the economics involvedin television production and running ofthe channel.

At the end of it all, it was a trip wellworth the efforts. The students spentthe day amidst the various studioequipments and transmitters withknowledgeable people to guide themaround. The trip benefited the studentsin more ways than one with somelooking at entering the challenging andintriguing world of broadcasting.

Anumeha Verma

MS (Communication)