KCBS Newsroom

This is the Editors work station. The Editor is the person who decides what stories will go on the air and when. They also handle reporter assignments for stories.

In this shot you can see all of the equipment that the editor uses. We'll discuss the equipment from left to right. In the first cabinet you can see four Tascam 122 (and 122 MKIII and MKIV) cassette decks. The top one records everything that goes on the air in the odd hours. It also records the main CBS satellite news channel. We change the tapes every hour, the machine alternates with the one to the right of it, and keep them for two weeks before they are recorded over. The tapes allow us to pull audio off for reuse if necessary. The panel below it is a monitor panel that allows the editor to listen to any of the cassette decks. The three machines below the monitor panel are for recording many other audio sources, CBS satellite channels, AP news, our own digital audio channels or news van or cars. The next rack over has two Cassette machines. The top one records the even hours of our programming and also the main CBS satellite news channel. The next machine is devoted to the main CBS satellite channel exclusively. Below it are all of the cassette tapes for the two on air recording machines. Next is a panel with the two-way microphone. Next is a panel that allows the editor to select phone lines and digital audio lines from our news bureaus and record them on the cassette and cart machine located below the panel. The next panel over is a control panel for the intercom (IFB) for the digital audio lines. You can also see the Newstar computer terminal that is used to write stories and access various incoming news service lines.

Updated 11/07/98