A Sea Of Red

what is a Master Control Operator?

A guy sitting in a chair 24 hours a day making sure that what's on the air is what's supposed to be on the air.

I have no comms qualifications, but I've done that for 4-6 hours at a time at a radio station. Am I qualified?

Also, is this my dream job? It sounds like watching TV all day.

LUconn wrote:I have no comms qualifications, but I've done that for 4-6 hours at a time at a radio station. Am I qualified?

All you need is an utter lack of social skills, a BO problem and the need to take smoke breaks every 15 minutes. Yes, it's watching TV for an entire shift except that you can't change the channel.

hmmm, my social skills aren't too bad, although they could be better. I could easily develop a BO problem if need be. I could probably handle the same channel all day. Unless it's like The Over the Hill Gang or something. That's not even bad in a funny way. It's boringly bad.

I assume that you're asking this question for a reaon?

It's an available job. Just wondering if I could do it or if you had to have some prestigious TV background to do it. But it doesn't sound like it'd pay very well if a monkey can do it.

I think most all of us in television have served as MCOs at some point in our careers. My first real jobn in TV was as an MCO for the old WJPR TV-21 on Old Forest Rd back about 1986.

It doesn't pay particularly well if that is what you are hinting at, LUconn.

LUconn wrote:Also, is this my dream job? It sounds like watching TV all day.

If that is your dream a buddy of mine son at Genworth got your Dream job.....He majored in engineering and applied at Dish Network in Colorado. His job is literally to watch about 10 monitors in his office ( some plasmas, some LCD, some DLP ) and look for signals that aren't translating properly. He even gets every channel unlocked for his own home use, just in case so he can fix it on Monday morning.

Dish Network is so stupid. I would pay them to do that. I wonder why it's in Colorado and not anywhere he wants it to be?

I would imagine he needs to be someplace where he could correct the issues himself. Then again, I could be wrong.

LUconn wrote:It's an available job. Just wondering if I could do it or if you had to have some prestigious TV background to do it. But it doesn't sound like it'd pay very well if a monkey can do it.

No background whatsoever necessary. Just ask Knucklehead.

LUconn wrote:Dish Network is so stupid. I would pay them to do that. I wonder why it's in Colorado and not anywhere he wants it to be?

Thats where the HQ are from my understanding.....plus i think besides the job he get crazy deals on skiing stuff ( lift tickets etc) so i know he loves the area. I agree i don't really much like the company either, but i hear its a pretty laid back attendance policy as well..........now that would be a nice perk as well.

How did I miss this thread. After a stint with LBN as a lighting Grip, I was a MC op at WJPR as well. I was there from 1989-1990.
MC ops are under the the Operations Dept. here at the big 13. I am the Ops. Mgr. I would sorta echo Lib, with some changes. We don't look for folks with BO who chain smoke and have bad social skills, but that can tend to be the trend. Here, you don't sit at the board the whole shift. You do that for part and run tapes for newscasts the other part. It's a great foot in the door job. We look for experience, but if it isn't there and interest and a pulse will do.

I don't know about the Liberty channel, but we are now airing most everything off of server. That makes things a little more fun, but a lot more streamlined.

Libertine wrote:

LUconn wrote: Yes, it's watching TV for an entire shift except that you can't change the channel.

Why would you want to change the channel. Don't you like Judge Joe Brown?