GREAT FALLS — Making your evening news is a big team effort. Everyone sees the reporters, the meteorologist and the anchors, but what they don’t see are the folks behind the scenes making it all work.
One of those people is Michael, an engineer at KRTV. His job is multifaceted and covers everything from programming to tech support to climbing up mountains to fix radio antennas in any and all weather to make sure that the TV signals reach your home.
His days start early. Sometimes really early!
“I am 24-7. I call I do work Monday through Friday, but sometimes I do have to come on the weekends, depending on what happens. I also sometimes have to get up at two three in the morning. If somebody calls me and they have an issue, it does happen. It did happen today,” Michael said joyfully.
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I went with him on a trip up to the Wolf Creek transponder to see the scale and impact of his work.
We went up a long windy road and after about an hour and a half we got up to the remote outpost on the mountaintop overlooking Great Falls and Helena all at once.
Michael truly enjoys his work, despite the long hours: “It's incredible being able to come out here and seeing all these views and seeing how we skip mountain ranges to do TV transmission.”
With folks like Michael and an enormous network of transponders reaching nearly every corner of Montana, the Montana Television Network has the ability to get you the news, weather, and entertainment that you want no matter the weather or circumstances.
