How AI is Helping Newark TV Stay Ahead of the Game: A Station Manager’s Perspective

by Edward Cologna, Station Manager, Newark TV

To be honest, this is written with help from Chat GPT 4.0

Friends and colleagues, two years ago a famous producer and director, Luis Santos from Argentina, told me that artificial intelligence (AI) in video production is not going to make video people obsolete, but those that don’t embrace AI, will become obsolete. At first, I fought hard against using AI. I still avoid being lazy and letting AI make all the creative decisions for me. But, similar to how a word processor with dictionary and grammar check made the typewriter a tool of the past, AI is like a smart assistant that doesn’t know all the answers, but can help in many ways.

At Newark TV, our mission is to serve New Jersey’s largest city by providing the community with local news, public service announcements (PSAs), education, and government information. As a PEG station, we operate on a tight budget and every decision we make must count. So, when AI became a viable option for streamlining our operations, we didn’t hesitate to dive in. From creating PSAs to managing budgets and even coming up with new content ideas, AI has been a time-saver.
As the station manager, I’ve seen firsthand how tools like ChatGPT and other AI-powered platforms have transformed the way we work. These tools are somewhat affordable, easy to use, and incredibly powerful—helping us produce content faster and more efficiently without sacrificing quality. But while they’re useful, I also know that AI is still evolving, so we always double-check the work to ensure it’s accurate. Here’s a look at how AI is helping Newark TV get things done.

AI for Writing PSAs: Speed, Simplicity, and Impact

One of the main functions of Newark TV is creating PSAs that keep our residents informed about local events, public health, safety, and citywide initiatives. Writing these announcements used to be a long process that involved multiple drafts, reviews, and reworking the message to get it just right. But since we started using AI, particularly ChatGPT, things have moved much faster.


Let’s say we need to write a PSA about a local vaccination clinic or a change in trash pickup schedules. Instead of starting from scratch, we can input some basic info into ChatGPT, and it generates a draft in minutes. Of course, we still review it, tweak the tone, and make sure the message is clear and concise, but the bulk of the work is done. And the best part is we can easily generate different versions of the same message to see which one resonates best with our audience.

We’ve even used AI to help us come up with fresh ideas for PSAs. Sometimes we hit a creative wall, but with ChatGPT, we can throw in a few keywords related to community events or public health and get a variety of angles we can work with. It’s like having a brainstorming partner who’s available 24/7.

Brainstorming Content Ideas: AI Sparks Creativity

One of the trickiest parts of working in local TV is coming up with new content ideas. What will grab the audience’s attention? What are people talking about? At Newark TV, we’re always looking for ways to make our programming fresh and relevant. That’s where AI has also been helpful.

For example, we often need to develop content around local issues like education, community outreach, or city government. Using ChatGPT, we can input general topics (like “Newark schools” or “local arts initiatives”) and get a list of show ideas and story angles in seconds. Sometimes it’s as simple as asking AI for a few ideas, then it gives us prompts that we would never have thought of on our own.

We also use AI for research. Let’s say we’re working on a segment about local housing issues. Instead of spending hours researching, we can ask AI to summarize articles, pull up statistics, and even suggest interview questions based on what’s trending. It doesn’t replace the hard work of real investigative journalism, but it helps speed up the research process and gives us a strong foundation to build on.

Streamlining Budgets: AI Keeps Us on Track

Running a PEG station means managing tight budgets, and every penny counts. AI is making it easier to track expenses and allocate resources efficiently. We’ve been using AI-powered tools for everything from calculating production costs to forecasting upcoming expenses. For instance, AI helps us figure out where we can cut costs without affecting the quality of our content. It looks at things like equipment use and staffing levels then it offers suggestions for improvement. This has been especially useful for ensuring we stay within budget without sacrificing production quality.

AI also helps with scheduling and resource management. We track how long it typically takes to produce different types of shows or PSAs. AI uses that data to recommend more efficient workflows. It’s like having an assistant who always knows the best way to prioritize projects to maximize our time and resources.

Improving Accessibility: AI-Driven Captioning

Another area where AI has been indispensable is accessibility. PEG Stations are committed to making our content accessible to all, including those with hearing impairments. AI-driven captioning tools have been a huge help in ensuring that edited programs are fully captioned. These tools have come a long way, and while they’re not perfect, they’re a significant improvement over manual captioning, which could take hours.

The heart of AI captioning is the software that transcribes and synchronizes the audio with the video. AI-driven captioning tools typically use speech recognition models to transcribe dialogue and sync it with the visual feed in real time or post-production.

Some popular AI captioning software solutions for PEG TV stations include:

• Rev: Rev is an AI-powered transcription service that offers automated captioning and human-edited captions for greater accuracy. The platform supports both live captions and captions for recorded content. It’s ideal for PEG TV stations looking to serve a variety of content types. Rev provides affordable options for smaller stations and allows for quick integration with video production software.
• Descript: Descript is a powerful tool that not only offers transcription, but also lets you edit video by editing the transcript. It’s useful for creating captions for pre-recorded content. Descript’s AI-driven platform can also help with real-time captions when integrated with live streaming platforms.
• Otter.ai: Otter.ai is known for its speech-to-text capabilities and can provide real-time captions for live broadcasts. This platform is popular for its accuracy and ease of use It allows users to quickly edit transcriptions and captions. It’s a good solution for stations with limited resources that want an affordable, reliable AI-powered captioning option.
• Enco: Enco is a highly regarded AI-powered captioning solution designed specifically for broadcast and live TV environments. Enco’s EnCaption system uses automatic speech recognition (ASR) to generate real-time captions for live broadcasts. It’s especially popular among PEG stations due to its reliable, real-time captioning capabilities and cost-effective solutions. Enco also integrates seamlessly with broadcast equipment and supports caption embedding for TV signals. Its EnCaption4 system offers cloud-based captioning that enables flexibility and scalability for stations with varying needs. Enco’s solutions are noted for high accuracy. It also offers features like multilingual captioning, which is essential in diverse communities.
• StreamText: For live broadcasts, StreamText is a leading solutions that provides real-time captioning. It is widely used by broadcast stations to ensure accessibility for live streaming, including government meetings and public service events. The system integrates with live video feeds and provides accurate captions in real time.
• AI-Media: AI-Media provides both real-time captioning for live content and post-production captioning services. It’s designed for broadcast, streaming, and on-demand content. This makes it a solid option for PEG stations with high-volume live programming. AI-Media is particularly useful in local government and educational settings where real-time communication is crucial.

AI for Video Production: Enhancing the Creative Process

In addition to ChatGPT, we’ve also embraced other AI tools that have helped us streamline video production, automate tasks, and enhance our creativity. Here are a few examples:

  • Descript: Automatic Video Transcription and Editing. Descript is an interesting tool for simplifying video production. It uses AI to transcribe audio into text. This allows us to quickly edit video content by simply editing the transcript. Need to remove an awkward pause or an “um”? Just highlight the word in the transcript and delete it. Descript automatically cuts the corresponding section of video. It also features tools for overdubbing, which means if someone flubbed a line, we can type the corrected text and Descript will synthesize the voice to match the original speaker. This makes post-production much faster, saving us hours of editing time.
  • Pexels AI for Video Clips and Stock Footage. Sometimes, it’s hard to get the perfect footage for a story. AI tools like Pexels help solve that problem. Pexels’ AI-powered platform offers a vast library of free stock video footage, and the best part is that the AI engine can suggest clips based on the subject or mood we’re going for. If we’re working on a PSA about environmental awareness and need relevant B-roll, Pexels can help us find high-quality video clips that fit seamlessly into our story. Of course this is no substitute for your library of stock footage, but in a pinch, you got a fix.
  • Magisto: AI Video Editing Software. Magisto is another AI tool that simplifies the video editing process. With its smart editing features, it analyzes the footage we upload and automatically creates polished videos based on our preferred style. Whether we’re working on a community event highlight or a promotional video for an upcoming government meeting, Magisto saves time by trimming and arranging clips according to the style we select. It even adjusts the pacing and includes music to enhance the overall impact. While we still fine-tune the final product, Magisto does a lot of the heavy lifting.
  • Runway: AI-Powered Visual Effects. When we need to add visual effects to a project, Runway is an incredible tool that simplifies what used to be a labor-intensive process. Runway’s AI tools allow us to apply advanced visual effects, such as background removal or automatic color correction, with a few clicks. This has been particularly useful for interviews or on-location shoots where lighting conditions aren’t ideal. It saves us from having to use complex software like Adobe After Effects for every single edit and allows us to produce high-quality videos quickly.

The Importance of Human Oversight


While AI has been a huge asset, I want to stress that it’s not perfect. Like any technology, AI is still evolving, and sometimes it produces results that need to be tweaked or corrected. For example, while ChatGPT is great for drafting content, it’s not always spot-on with local references or the finer details. That’s why we always review and edit everything generated by AI before it goes live.

At Newark TV, we’ve learned to use AI as a tool to assist with efficiency, but we always apply a human touch when it comes to accuracy and relevance. Our team has decades of experience in local television, and we rely on our judgment to ensure the final product reflects our community’s needs and values.

With new AI tools being developed all the time, we’re always learning and adapting. We regularly test out new platforms to see what works best for us, but we never lose sight of the fact that technology is just a tool. The real value comes from how we use it to enhance the work we do for our community.

Conclusion

As the station manager, I’ve seen how AI has transformed the way we run Newark TV. From writing PSAs and brainstorming new content ideas to managing budgets and improving accessibility, AI is helping us operate more efficiently and serve our community better. But, we also understand that these tools aren’t foolproof.

While AI can help us work smarter, we always ensure that human oversight and local knowledge guide everything we produce. It’s the combination of cutting-edge technology and dedicated people that makes Newark TV thrive—and I’m excited to see how these tools will continue to evolve and enhance our programming in the years to come.