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Broadcast City At Salt Palace
The conversion of the Salt Palace into a broadcast city for the games is moving along quickly. Bruce Lindsay took a tour and found some broadcasters are already here.
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(Dec. 8, 2001)------NBC's Olympic Division-- engineers, mostly-- go to work in the Salt Palace now.
More are arriving every week.
Two NBC sound stages are in place,
and the wiring's going in.
The studios are dubbed JAWS I and JAWS II.
Dave Mazza/V.P. Engineering/NBC Olympics: JAWS STANDS FOR "JUST ADD WATER STUDIO."
That's right. You take it out of the box, and add water.
That's the water pipe right there.
Dave Mazza/V.P., NBC Olympics: THE IDEA IS WE ADD WATER TO THIS, WE ADD CHILLED WATER. WE ADD POWER AND EVERYTHING ELSE COMES WITH US, AND GOES WITH US, WHEN WE LEAVE.
Reporter: What do you use chilled water for?
Mazza: CHILLED WATER RUNS TO THE AIR HANDLER, WHICH PROVIDES AIR CONDITIONING.
NBC used the JAWS studios for the Olympics in Sydney.
After Salt Lake they'll be reused in Athens, Turin, and Beijing.
Yes, Bob Costas's studio desk will be in here.
As for the bigger picture, more than 75-hundred broadcasters from about 60 organizations will work in these temporary quarters
under the single roof of the Salt Palace exhibition center.
I'll say it so you won't have to: 75-hundred broadcasters can create a lot of hot air.
That's why you see 14 miles of suspended duct work to keep the place cool.
Fitting together and building everyone's required space has been the job of
Bob Furstenau.
He's never had a project
like this one.
Bob Furstenau/Pres., Furst Construction: PROBABLY THE MOST UNIQUE THINK ABOUT IT IS THE TIME RESTRAINTS. WE HAVE EXACTLY 4 MONTHS AND 11 DAYS TO BUILD THIS ENTIRE 250-THOUSAND SQUARE FEET TO THE EXACT SPECIFICATIONS SO THAT THE BROADCASTERS HAVE 30 DAYS TO BE IN HERE AND SET EVERYTHING UP AND GET THEIR EQUIPMENT AND CABLING HERE SO THAT THEY'RE READY FOR THE GAMES.
When the world audience of 3 and a half billion watches those games,
it'll be because of the hundreds of miles of cable and wires, the control rooms,
the electronics right here.
Bruce Lindsay, Eyewitness To The Games: IN FACT, COME FEBRUARY, THE SALT PALACE WILL BE THE LARGEST BROADCAST PRODUCTION FACILITY UNDER ONE ROOF IN THE WORLD.
The construction work is ahead of schedule. It'll be done before Christmas. Then, starts work on space for the print media. That job's almost a no-brainer, after this!
Bruce Lindsay, Eyewitness To The Games, Up Close, Salt Lake City.
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