McFatter Technical College Updates With Broadcast Pix

BILLERICA, MASS.—Broadcast Pix announced McFatter Technical College and High School in Davie, Fla., is training students with a Granite 6000 integrated production switcher. New students begin learning the basics of switching with the Granite during their first of four courses at the school, and produce 30-minute practice “drills” every Friday and every other Thursday to test their skills.

Part of Broward County Public Schools, McFatter offers a television production curriculum that usually take 17-20 months for students to complete. Each weekday, adult students spend five hours at the facility, plus complete an hour of online coursework. High school students spend three hours at the facility during the afternoon. Students who complete the program earn a Certificate of Completion from the state.

The new Granite 6000 represents a upgrade from the facility’s aging Intergroup analog switcher and QuantaFont CG. It was installed in late April by Pro Sound, a systems integrator with offices in Florida and California.

McFatter still has a dedicated tape operator area outside the main control room with DVCAM tape decks, but the Granite’s built-in, dual channel clip store is being used to play commercial breaks during drills.

The facility also features five dedicated Final Cut Pro/Adobe Premiere Pro edit suites, as well as a classroom with more than two dozen 27-inch iMac computers with Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere NLE software. Frank J. Boulton, lead television production instructor, hopes to use Watch Folders, Broadcast Pix’s built-in content management system, in the future to deliver completed projects directly to the Granite over the school’s network