For our upcoming daily show, This Is Nashville, transparency is important. So, we want to take you behind the scenes as we build this show from the ground up. This is the fifth in a series of blog posts introducing our team and letting you in on the process.
Where exactly does a radio show call home? This question might bring about a variety of different images for each listener — a sterile cube with a couple of intimidating microphones dangling from tall stands; a dark control room with fluorescent lighting over the board, illuminating dozens of buttons; an isolated host wearing headphones.
Mikayla Elias The faders sit untouched in Control Room A in the WPLN Studios. The faders and other controls ensure that the audio used on “This Is Nashville” sounds crisp and clean for the radio.
This is Nashville’s creative hub paints a different picture. In Studio A, warm lights shine on four silver microphones, rising like hood ornaments before their respective chairs. Two massive whiteboards, at maximum capacity with notes, decorate the space with goals, ideas and ambitions.
The control room is where it all comes together. From the curved desk table rise a score of monitors, two microphones, a blinking gray phone and, most importantly, our console. Like something out of the Millennium Falcon cockpit, the console pulls together the technical guts of the show. Each channel controls audio elements like volume of music, who is on air and whether or not that person can hear our cues. It takes time to master, but a seasoned board operator is able to fly around the console effortlessly (or make it seem that way). To the right is our director’s station, where the executive producer calls the shots. Before the console desk sits a table with another gray phone, the home base for our line producers making and taking calls.
As the technical director for This is Nashville, I keep the team in sync with the console as my metallic, computerized steering wheel. A lot of work goes into building Studio A, and we could not have done it without our Chief Engineer Cameron Adkins and the Nashville Public Radio engineering team. Once they had all the wiring and tech configured, we were able to start producing pilot episodes and segments. We worked hard to craft topics, collect amazing guests and rehearse our show flow. The team took audio from their time in the field and produced smooth clips to facilitate conversation. We melded all of these elements together in a series of episodes full of trial and error. Sometimes we aired clips too quickly, sometimes too slowly. Other times, we had issues connecting our guests. But it was all part of the learning process. With a handful of pilot episodes in our pocket, we began to make strides in smoothing out our challenges.
And in just a few weeks, you’ll get to hear our hard work. We are so excited to be joining you on the airwaves. From our home to yours, we are This is Nashville.
Mikayla Elias is the technical director of This Is Nashville, a new daily show launching March 1. Email them at [email protected] or follow them on Instagram at @crybabyaudiotn.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM