Footer and Foundation Digging

Today the digging continues. The holes for pouring the footers for supports in the center of the building are being dug -- mostly by hand. One of the holes is directly in front of the main entrance to our existing building, so we are having to route visitors and delivery persons to the door to the transmitter room, and then in through master control to the reception area.

We're very grateful that we haven't had some of the rain which was predicted for yesterday. Getting in and out of the building would have been a muddy mess with any rain at all.

The trenches for the foundation are also being dug, as well as the continuation of the trenches for drainage pipes. They had to cut across our driveway today, so vehicles had to detour across open field to get to our parking lot.

I'll try to post more pictures at the beginning of next week. I'm certain that they will show some major changes.

By the way, don't click on the comment attached to yesterday's post. It is nothing but a deceptive advertisement for some supposed virus and malware software. I haven't figured out how to delete it yet.

More progress and a repair

Yesterday, the site was surveyed and the precise location of the building footers and walls was marked. Today, trenches for drainage pipe are being dug. We can now get a slightly better sense of how large the studio itself will be. Certainly it will be a far cry from the 9' x 9' room we are currently using -- and sharing with the videotape library.

We just finished getting our CTN satellite pickup functioning. We originally thought that the LNB (a small amplifier and downconverter) had failed during the intense vibrations by the equipment which was compacting the fill dirt which had been placed to level the area where the building addition will be erected. It turns out that the vibration had apparently moved the dish slightly off its precise position, causing it to lose the signal. A careful realignment with a spectrum analyzer restored the signal.

The construction superintendent predicted that the building could be complete in 90 days. That seems almost too good to be true, so I'm taking the conservative view. It does seem to indicate that we could make our predicted schedule of holding our first Vision Video Institute classes in the facility in September. The excitement continues. Keep checking for our next update.

Oops

A lot was accomplished by the site crew yesterday, but not without at least one "uh oh". A lot of fill dirt was hauled in to level the foundation area of our new studio building. A roller was used to compact the soil, and it was also equipped with a vibrator to help in the compacting process. Our entire building shook rather violently most of the day yesterday. At just a few minutes before 4:00 pm, we lost our satellite feed from Christian Television Network headquarters. I first thought that since the dish was located so close to the construction area a piece of equipment had probably bumped the dish out of alignment.

A few tests indicated that the more probable cause was that the vibration had caused a sensitive amplifier located on the dish to fail. We've ordered a replacement to be overnighted to us, so once it arrives we should have the problem corrected in short order.

I wouldn't be surprised that this might not be the only "uh oh" we'll encounter during the months of construction. Of course, you try to anticipate as many as you can, but there are always a few surprises.

This evening we shoot a local real estate presentation called Market Watch to feature on one of our local programs called Marketplace Wisdom. We will be moving three cameras and assorted equipment to Harborside Event Center to set up this afternoon. The routine work must go on even during construction, of course.

We're Really Underway Now !!!!

After over three years of planning, negotiations, and governmental interaction (I've been involved in almost two years of those), as I arrived at work this morning, I was greeted with the sight a backhoe and grader already at work. Our studio construction project is finally underway. It will be mostly site work this week, but seeing dirt being moved brings a great deal of excitement to our staff. If you'd like to see more pictures, just go to our site http://www.thevisionwrxy.com/ and click on the "watch our progress" menu button.

We continue to work on the curriculum and promotional items for Vision Video Institute. We now have the preliminary outline of content for our twenty days of instruction. Now comes the more involved part of outlining each day, hour by hour, and collecting instructional materials to supplement the personal, live instruction.

Preliminary interest in Vision Video Institute has been very encouraging. We feel that we have the potential to draw students from the southeastern region of the United States, and eventually from the entire country. One of the Christian Television Network executives has a vision to translate the instruction into other languages and welcome students from all over the world. There appears to be a real need for instruction in video production, especially for Christian outreach worldwide.

Now that the studio construction has started, we're feeling the momentum in moving toward fulfilling the vision.

Keep checking back -- the updates will be coming more frequently now!

A busy week

This coming week promises to be both busy and exciting. Monday, our contractor, J. L. Wallace, Inc., will be moving in equipment and start clearing the area around our construction site. By mid-week, the area will start to look quite different. We've done some preliminary work on relocating the cables from our five satellite dishes into our existing master control room -- the current path runs directly under the location of our new building addition. We were slowed down somewhat by the rains last week as well as the challenge of poking a two inch hole in a concrete and cinder block wall over a foot thick. Some special equipment will be here also on Monday to help us get that accomplished.

On Tuesday, we are scheduled to cut over to a completely new telephone and computer network system. When fully functional it will provide high speed interconnections between WRXY and other CTN network stations that will enable transfer of television programs in a digital format between stations. Eventually all twelve CTN station's telephone systems will be connected through this same network. It should cut long distance telephone charges considerably and permit easier, quicker communications between affiliates.

I'm also spending considerable time in formulating a curriculum overview and course outline for our four-week Vision Video Institute which we are hoping to launch in September. It will be an intensive training program in visual communications with an emphasis on video production with a maximum enrollment of ten students in each session. We're hoping to be able to schedule six sessions each year on alternate months.

Vision Video Institute will soon have its own website from which you can track our progress on this project.

Lisa Yeargin has put up a short video montage of shots from our groundbreaking ceremony on our main station website, http://www.wrxytv.com/, so you might want to check that out. It was an exciting day with over 100 persons in attendance.

I'll be posting some pictures and construction updates on this blog just as soon as there is something interesting to photograph. Stay with us.

Step One

Now we begin with the countless details that must be attended to prior to and during construction. It turns out that all of the cabling between our existing master control room and our five satellite dishes runs underground directly where our new studio will be located. As a result, before the major for the footers, foundation, and slab begins, all of those cables must be relocated. We're planning to run them on "ladder" wiring trays high (10 to 12 feet) above ground from the dishes into the side of our existing building. We need to support the wiring trays on posts which must be placed in concrete in order to provide the necessary support and stability. Before we can dig the holes for the support posts, we need to have all of the underground utilities spotted and identified so we don't have any "uh-ohs" such as water line breaks or electrocutions.

We're now underway

Welcome to this new blog. Blogging seemed to be a good way of helping anyone interested to learn about the progress of a very special project.

After more than 2 years of planning and waiting, our anticipated project is now underway. For many months before I arrived in Southwest Florida, WRXY-TV General Manager Paul Lodato, along with Paul Garber and other officials of the Christian Television Network had been planning for the construction of a television production studio for the station. That effort culminated on Thursday, January 31st, shortly after noon, when a groundbreaking ceremony attended by more than 100 area pastors, programmers, CTN officials, and supporters of the station. Spirits were high and the weather was perfect as prayers of dedication were offered and the shovels broke the ground.




The timing of one event proved to be too significant to be coincidental. After more than two years of working with county government in the multitude of permits needed, the final approval of the actual building permit was announced on the very morning of our groundbreaking. We feel and have felt God's presence and provisions up to this point, and we will certainly need his miraculous involvement during the construction and to provide the approximately $1.5 million to construct and equip the facility.

Another exciting plan is for the development of "Vision Video Institute", an intensive training program in the area of visual communication with special emphasis on video production and distribution. We'll have much more to say about this on future posts.


Steve