Client Overview and Project Requirements
TV13 is the City of Winston-Salem’s government access channel — the broadcast outlet for City Council and committee meetings, civic programming, and community events reaching residents across Forsyth County. The control room and studio behind that channel had been in continuous service for nearly two decades, with much of the original equipment still in place.
In 2025, the City awarded CIAVL the contract (RFQ25290) to modernize the TV13 control room and studio while preserving the inter-building infrastructure that ties broadcast operations to the Chamber Room, Committee Room, City Hall South, and the Planning Room. Continuous broadcast service was a project requirement — the upgrade had to be completed without interrupting TV13’s scheduled programming.
The Challenge
After 20 years of service, the original control room had reached the end of its useful life. The Marco console housed a generation of equipment built for analog broadcast: Sony Betacam VTRs, VHS decks, Sigma analog routers, an Audiovox intercom, RF modulator frames, and a Videocipher. Studio lighting was outdated and inefficient.
Several constraints shaped the work:
- Broadcast service continuity. TV13 carries City Council and committee meetings on a published calendar. The cutover had to be sequenced around those meetings to maintain uninterrupted broadcast service throughout the project.
- Preserved inter-room infrastructure. Fiber and copper connecting the control room to the Chamber Room, Committee Room, City Hall South, and the Planning Room had been in place for two decades. None of it could be disturbed, and fiber terminations in particular had to be protected throughout the work.
- Mixed-age equipment. Some systems — the TriCaster TC860 production switcher, Tightrope Media playback, and Cablecast — were operationally sound and needed to be reused, not replaced.
- Defined budget. Like every municipal project, the City had a fixed budget. Maximizing reuse where reuse made sense was central to the design.
- Multi-stakeholder coordination. The work involved CIAVL’s installation team, the custom console manufacturer, City IT, and the Marketing and Communications team operating the channel.
Research and Solution Development
CIAVL’s design replaced what had aged out, modernized the broadcast core to a 12G-SDI and Dante backbone, and reused the systems that still served the City well. Equipment selections prioritized 4K-capable broadcast standards, manufacturer-supported product lines, and direct compatibility with the existing TriCaster and inter-room signal paths.
The Solution
Routing: An AJA KUMO 3232-12G 32×32 12G-SDI router with redundant power supply forms the new heart of the control room. A KUMO-CP2 2RU hardware control panel provides tactile router control at the operator position. CIAVL programmed router salvos for the Committee Room and Chamber Room workflows.
Recording: An AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G 4K recorder/player replaced legacy tape-based recording.
Audio: An Allen & Heath SQ-5 digital mixer, paired with a Dante 64-channel interface card and a DX012 12-output Dante expansion, established a network audio backbone for the studio and control room. Tannoy Reveal 802 studio reference monitors handle near-field monitoring, and three Shure SLXD lavalier systems support on-camera talent.
Studio Cameras: Three Sony PXWZ200 4K XDCAM camcorders serve as the primary studio cameras, supported by two Sony FX6 full-frame cinema cameras with 28-135mm G OSS lenses for ENG and field production.
Studio Lighting: A Brightline L1.2 LED-DMX fixture system — including intensifiers, fresnels, and field screens — replaced the legacy lighting grid. A Lightronics TL4016 console provides DMX control.
Console & Displays: A custom 6-Bay front console, 2-Bay rear console, and Trac Wall with dual display mounts, manufactured by TBC, replaced the original Marco console. Two NEC PN-ME752 75” commercial displays mount on the Trac Wall, with a DVS TLM-170V 17” ScopeView production monitor and ToteVision 21.5” HD-SDI confidence monitors at the operator position.
Reused and Reintegrated: The TriCaster TC860 production switcher, Tightrope Media playback, Cablecast 4RU and VIO, ClearCom intercom to the Chamber and Committee Rooms, Vaddio camera controller, the reference generator, fiber converters, and SDI reclockers all returned to service in the new console. All inter-room fiber and copper to the Chamber, Committee, Planning, and City Hall South locations remained in place, re-terminated only where strictly necessary.
Installation and Coordination
CIAVL uninstalled the original Marco console and segregated equipment into reuse and disposal categories, staging reusable systems for reinstallation. The custom console furniture was delivered and installed on site by the manufacturer; CIAVL coordinated the schedule and site access. Once the new furniture was in place, CIAVL mounted and integrated all retained and new equipment, terminated cabling, programmed the router, and labeled router I/O assignments and signal paths for documentation.
System commissioning verified functionality of every reused subsystem — TriCaster, Tightrope, audio distribution, and inter-room wiring — alongside full routing functionality of the new AJA KUMO. CIAVL provided operator training on the router, the new console layout, and the Allen & Heath audio system, and delivered updated system documentation to the City.
A Distinct Advantage
CIAVL’s principal broadcast engineer designed the original TV13 system over 20 years ago — including the signal paths between the control room, the Chamber, and the Committee Rooms — and has supported the City’s broadcast operations ever since. The upgrade did not begin with discovery; it began with a complete, working map of the legacy system already in hand.
That continuity of knowledge shaped three pivotal decisions:
- Cutover planning. The schedule was built around the City Council meeting calendar, not around the unknowns of a 20-year-old facility.
- Infrastructure preservation. Knowing which cable served which destination meant the inter-room runs stayed intact.
- Reuse decisions. The design identified which legacy components remained operationally sound and which had reached end of life.
100% In-House Execution
CIAVL signed an Intent to Perform Contract with Own Work Force with the City and self-performed every element of the project: design, engineering, installation, AJA programming, commissioning, documentation, and operator training. No subcontracted labor on any part of the AV scope.
Outcome
The City of Winston-Salem’s TV13 channel now operates on a modernized 12G-SDI and Dante audio backbone, with new 4K studio cameras, LED studio lighting, and a custom-fabricated control console. Twenty years of inter-building broadcast infrastructure remained in service throughout the upgrade, and the systems still earning their place in the workflow — TriCaster, Tightrope, Cablecast, ClearCom — were reintegrated rather than replaced. The result is a control room and studio prepared for the next generation of City Council coverage and civic programming, delivered by the same engineering team that has supported TV13 since its original installation.
