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Panasonic - KEYC-TV

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Panasonic - KEYC-TV
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Panasonic - KEYC-TV
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KEYC Takes News Tapeless With Panasonic

KEYC-TV, a CBS affiliate for nearly 50 years, serves a widespread market throughout southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. For the past three years, we have also operated as a Fox affiliate on an ancillary DTV channel.

This spring, with the addition of four Panasonic AG-HPX370 P2 HD shoulder-mount camcorders, we converted our newsgathering operations to a tapeless, solid-state workflow.

When we started up the Fox affiliation, we invested in two AG-HVX200A P2 HD handhelds that worked with our tape-based ENG camcorders. As we examined our mid-term plans for high-definition news origination, we realized that a key component would be the elimination of videotape. Our experience with the HVX200As had acclimated us to a P2 workflow, and we'd seen how fast we could edit with the separate ingest/digitization process removed from the equation. We were also interested in a larger camera form-factor, and were considering Panasonic's AG-HPX300 just as its successor model, the AG-HPX370, became available.

PAVING THE WAY FOR HD NEWS

Even though we will continue to shoot standard-definition news for a while, we've seen improvements in our overall video quality, even in SD. When we do make the transition to high-definition, the HPX370 will provide us with an acquisition tool for producing network-quality HD images.

We're now shooting two hours of local news daily on 32 GB P2 cards, which work across all our editing platforms: Adobe, Avid, Edius and Final Cut Pro. We can really knock out a piece in a hurry, which gives us a competitive edge.

TECHNOLOGY THAT'S EASY TO USE

The HPX370 had a negligible learning curve, a critical element for a station such as ours, which essentially operates without news photographers. Everyone except our meteorologist uses the cameras and shoots and edits stories. We have no specialists, only generalists. And we've all found the HPX370 to be quite user-friendly.

Our production department has already used the HPX370s for some commercial and promo projects. While these have been shot in standard-definition, we do anticipate using the HPX370 for HD commercial work later this year.

The camcorder's color viewfinder is a tremendous help in setting up shots. It's a simple matter to make any necessary up/down iris adjustments. Our staff is constantly sharing gear and the cameras get banged around, so we appreciate the resilience of the camcorder's internal mounting mechanism. We've also been very impressed with the HPX370's battery life. Our batteries are lasting a lot longer than those we used with our tape-based camcorders.

Overall, we've been very satisfied with the HPX370's performance and are confident that our investment has future-proofed us for our ultimate high-definition news operation.

Douglas Fearing- Co-Founder / President

A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.

Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.

Lois Fearing- Co-Founder/Accounting, Human Resources

A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.

Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.

Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.

Ehren Tresner-VP of Technology and Innovation

Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.

Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.

Ben Voeck-Director of Commercial AV

With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.

By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.

Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.

Chris Matson-Senior VP of Sales

Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.

Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.