Training of Broadcast Engineers in the Digital Era

As broadcasting embraces the digital era the issues of how to train the technical staff, together with the skills needed by this elite band of specialists come sharply into focus. — The introduction of new technology over recent years has seen a steady decline in technical staff numbers due to improvements in equipment reliability. There has also been a decrease in numbers of technical traineeships. As a result the average age of technical staff across the industry is high (approximately 45–48 in the ABC alone). — How then does the industry plan to be viable into the next millennium? Where do the resources come from to digitise the entire industry, both radio and television, while keeping the existing systems on-air? Where will the broadcast technical ‘think-tanks' of the future come from? The industry will need to take a fresh look at what will be the technical needs of the future and then make some hard decisions on how to meet these needs. And the scrutiny will need to continue as technological change continues and accelerates. The ABC has reviewed how it is going to meet the challenge. There will be new trainees, who will enter with a mix of educational qualifications and be provided with in-house, broadcast-specific courses. The training will address convergent technologies and will attempt to provide the trainees with knowledge and skills that can be adapted for the changing technologies which will be encountered. For our existing staff, we are constantly developing courses to upgrade the skills of the staff in relation to the changes being wrought.

Published

1999-07

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/M001222

ISBN

978-1-61482-948-5