It Takes a Small Army to Put on a Veterans Day Parade Broadcast

In the remote control room: behind the scenes of WRAL's coverage of the 2015 Fayetteville Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, November 7th.

Even the weather saluted military servicemen and women when it came time for WRAL-TV's live broadcast of the 2015 Fayetteville Veterans Day Parade. The crew of WRAL crew on location kept tabs with the WRAL Weather Center, but the rain stayed away as the annual celebration kicked off the route at 10am on Saturday, November 7.

No Rain on This Parade

All week, I was in close conversation with our meteorologists and the Ft. Bragg weather team, said WRAL-TV Director of Local Production Phyllis Parish, who did double duty as the Executive Producer and Line Producer of WRAL's parade coverage. Things did not look promising, early on. In fact, had there been severe storms with lightening, Ft. Bragg would have likely pulled their troops for safety reasons. Thankfully, we had mild weather Friday during set-up and soupy, but rain free weather Saturday whew!

Watching the weather: WRAL-TV staffers (including Pete Sockett reflected in the center) watch the radar hoping the rain will hold off for the 2015 Fayetteville Veterans Day Parade.

It took a 30-person WRAL/UNC-TV production team for the live coverage of the Fayetteville Veterans Day Parade.

I know it sounds like a lot of people, and it is! But it takes a big group to pull off a live broadcast, especially a show on the road.

On the Ground in Fayetteville

WRAL-TV Assignment Editor Jennifer Joyner, who actually lives in Fayetteville and has worked for WRAL from home since the birth of her first child over a decade ago. She got to work in-person at the parade. She explained her role in the coverage to Capcom:

I was an associate producer for the parade, working under the great leadership of Phyllis Parish, said Joyner. In the weeks leading up to the parade, I write all of the parade entry scripts. Day of, I was on the sidelines along the parade route, making sure the units were in order and communicating pertinent information about the entries back to the director and producer in the truck.

She enjoys the work so much, she keeps coming back.

A team of WRAL staffers including Keyetta Mangum (l to r), Gilbert Baez, Phyllis Parish, Michelle Marsh & Jennifer Joyner work to bring the the 2015 Fayetteville Veterans Day Parade to viewers on Saturday, November 7th.

It was my 4th year working on the parade, said Joyner. Living in a military community like Fayetteville, I'm always looking for unique, tangible ways to thank these wonderful men and women for their service. That's why it is my honor to work on this broadcast. To be able to contribute to WRAL's salute to these heroes is a real privilege to me.

Parish mentioned Joyner as an integral part of the parade coverage team.

Everyone on the team works hard setting up Friday and covering the 90-minute parade Saturday morn, said Parish. But I must give a big shout out to producer Jennifer Joyner. She and I began working with Fayetteville's parade chair well in advance of broadcast day. She's such a big help with the Order of March, because she lives and works in Fayetteville and knows good background info on many of the parade entries. After the broadcast Saturday, Jennifer called me the captain of the project.' If that's true, I'd say she was my co-captain! We have fun working together. It feels like we're tackling a giant, military puzzle, with ever changing puzzle pieces by parade day, there are still last minute changes to deal with, but I think this year's broadcast was one of our best. Plus, we had the highest ratings since WRAL began covering this parade in 2012!

Parish raved about all of her team, also giving a special shout out to WRAL-TV Studio Broadcast Engineer Tony Gupton.

I never have to worry about the technical aspect of the parade because I know Tony is on it, no matter what it' is! she said. He's Mr. Detail through and through, which is just what you need on a big remote. He's the first to arrive at the site and the last to leave. Plus, he's fun to work with, like all of the engineers. Hands down, the best engineering team in the industry.

Besides the many pros with WRAL-TV, the station also had some extra-special help from some future broadcasters-in-training, the students in Explorer Post 5.

WRAL-TV Digital Media Administrator Steve Elizondo got several photos of Post 5 members enjoying the day. They started with breakfast with the crew at 7:15am on Saturday.

WRAL-TV's Gilbert Baez talks to students from Explorer Post 5 as they get set for the Fayetteville Veterans Day parade coverage.

WRAL-TV Reporter Gilbert Baez made a point of sitting down with the Post 5 group - which included Grant Hall, Alissa Brasington, Lamar Brown and Sarah Stewart - to find out about them, and give them a few pointers about learning the ropes in television broadcast.

Hall, a senior at Leesville High, acted as cable grip for Greg Clark. Clark manned WRAL's brand new steady cam and stayed on the move for the entire broadcast. Brasington pulled cable for WRAL';s Michael Joyner and Baez.

All of our Post 5 members said they really enjoyed being involved, said Elizondo. The Post 5 members didn't want to leave before getting a shot with the on air staff and producer Phyllis Parish. It was a great way to end the day.

Behind The Scenes

In order to bring the parade live to WRAL viewers, the station had to set up a remote control room. WRAL-TV Newcast Director/Producer Keyetta Mangum serviced as Technical Director for the Production and worked in the dark booth during the event.

The Veteran's parade this year was totally awesome, said Mangum. From the production set-up to the live execution, the WRAL team worked with a spirit of exce

LINK:	http://www.capitolbroadcasting.com/2015/11/10/it-takes-a-small-army-to...
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