MediaRoad SkillBytes

Technical and editorial staff working on the frontline of news operations need to be able to react quickly to rapidly changing scenarios – often pushing themselves and their equipment to the limit in order to deliver reliable, high quality coverage. Rasha Hasbini has taken those skills that she developed in the field and is using them to help EBU members and clients realise the possibilities of IP and software workflows. In this episode of MediaRoad SkillBytes, Rasha explains that change is now a constant in the broadcast world and that curiosity is the most transportable skill.

If you were to take a smartphone-savvy teenager into a radio studio, it’s likely that they would question why it needed so many buttons, faders and wires. The transition to IP presents an opportunity for broadcasters to look again at how radio is made. In this episode of MediaRoad SkillBytes we meet Renaud Schoonbroodt, co-founder of media technology start-up, On-Hertz. Renaud and his business partner have created a software tool that allows radio presenters and engineers to escape the confines of the studio and to operate from just a tablet.

The transition to IP workflows is allowing public service broadcasters to find efficiencies in delivering better content. In this episode of MediaRoad SkillByes, we meet Hugo Ortiz, who is an IP Broadcast Coach at RTBF in Belgium. Hugo believes that broadcasters need to relinquish their current "crush" on hardware and embrace a future that they can't touch. Software-defined workflows and virtualisation have created new roles for IP and IT specialists, but Hugo insists that there is still an important place for engineers that understand the pressures of a live production environment. 

Virtual Reality is finding a home in the traditional broadcast environment - through workflows that aid set design and provide new ways of telling stories online. In this episode of MediaRoad SkillBytes we hear from Gregg Young, who works in the Innovation Department of Belgium’s Flemish-speaking public service broadcaster, VRT. Gregg talks about the importance of working in an agile environment, allowing him and his colleagues to explore ways of exploiting game engines, 360-video and augmented reality.

In this episode, Gregg relates VR and AR developments to the early days of the film industry, with pioneers pushing the boundaries of technology, to find new ways of telling stories. Gregg also relates the recruitment of game developers at VRT to the first days of the internet, when broadcasters were bringing in coders and web designers. 

As the broadcast industry embraces new technology, the traditional long-term career is disappearing – replaced by short-term contracts and freelance roles. Is it right for employers to turn to graduates fresh from university with relevant qualifications in emerging technology, or should they look to re-skill and train existing staff? And what of the freelancer? In this episode of MediaRoad SkillBytes we hear from William Maunier, a technical manager at France Télévisions and President of the Media, Entertainment and Arts sector of UNI Europa, the European services workers union in Europe. In this episode, we learn the importance of remaining curious, ready to embrace new technology. 

In this episode of MediaRoad SkillBytes we meet RTÉ’s Director of Transformation and Technology and acting Director of Operations and Production Services. Richard Waghorn has enjoyed a varied career - starting in the BBC and commercial radio in the UK. After 3 years as CTO at SABC in South Africa, he is now back in the Northern Hemisphere, working to drive strategic and technological change at RTÉ in Dublin. In a city that hosts many global tech companies, how does Richard attract talent to the public service media organisation? In this episode we’ll learn how Richard has benefited from exposure to different areas of the broadcast industry and how he has developed his leadership skills as a CTO, despite his non-technical background. 

How does a formal education in classical archeology lead to a role as Head of Metadata at Bayerischer Rundfunk? In this episode we meet Katharina Giesen, who started her career at a time when German public service broadcasting was developing its online presence. Katharina has used training and certificates to help her to build a foundation in various technical areas and to allow her to speak the language of technical teams.  We learn how she has positioned herself to act as an interpreter between technical and editorial departments. 

How does one of Europe's smallest broadcasters maintain a technical edge with just a small team of busy engineers? In this podcast we meet Dr. Yioula Kyriacou, Head of Engineering for Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. Yioula leads of team of broadcast and I.T. engineers who deal daily with the merging boundaries between computer technology and broadcast infrastructure. How does she attract new talent and how has her own training in project management helped to drive technological change within CyBC. 

In the second episode of MediaRoad SkillBytes we meet Judy King who is Innovation Director at BBC Monitoring, Judy heads up a small team bridging the gap between editorial and technology. She is now focusing on the challenge of combining automation and algorithms with the expertise and insight of BBC Monitoring's multilingual journalists.

This is the first episode of our new podcast series, MediaRoad SkillBytes: where we're exploring changing skillsets and career paths in today's media technology environment. Our first guest is Léonard Bouchet - head of Data and Archives at the French speaking Swiss broadcaster RTS.

Léonard shares his experience of developing a new organisational structure within the Data and Archives team and explains what helps to drive rapid change inside RTS.