The control room is the heart of a working television station. Forget the
studio, that's just for the
talent. In the control room, the
Master Control Operator runs their
board, rolling videotapes, cutting to commercials, making sure your TV has something on it. During
newscasts, the
Technical Director pushes the buttons on the
patch board to switch between cameras, while the
Audio Board Operator runs the sound levels. Those words on the screen? They are called
fonts, and the
Graphics Operator runs the
character generator to put them on. (And remember,
you can't put a font over a pontiff.)
Broadcasters describe the control room as organized chaos. Live television is about split-second timing, huge egos, and not screwing up visibly.
When having sex in a control room, it's referred to as the Loss Of Control room. And there are no virgin control rooms in America.
How do I know this? Noteponymous is a broadcaster, so this is straight from the handmate's mouth.