We’ve all heard the mantra “it takes a village to raise a child.” It’s also true that it takes a village to put on a telethon to help a child. The Texas Boys Ranch Telethon is an annual live event that raises money to keep TBR funded. This video shows the real behind the scenes work taking place so that the television and studio audience get a seamless viewing experience. You can see, it’s all hands on deck as Lubbock’s top media professionals donate their services to make sure children in state custody at Texas Boys Ranch are continually cared for by loving adults who are reshaping their futures with hope and restoration.
Working in live television is unlike anything in the world.
Live TV is actually a lot of fun. It can be very stressful because when things break or go wrong, you have to fix them. And no one needs to know about that.
I guess you could say the production of the telephone is really kind of, what you see is like the tip of the iceberg.
When you look at the amount of cable that's being run, the number of cameras and the amount of hours and labor that it takes to put the telethon on is it's, it's a big deal.
You know, we bring in literally a recording studio and set it up inside the hall. This is all tracked live. There are thousands of feet of cable, more gear than you can imagine. And we're bringing in real equipment.
The telephone is a lot of work. There's no getting around that, but it is all worth it. It is so much fun because we do a lively broadcast every year.
We're putting on this show that is beautiful. The lighting's great. The backdrops are great.
Most people don't realize this there's three sound mixes happening all at the same time, simultaneously at the telethon. I mean, there's this mix for the band. There's a mix for the audience. And then there's a mix that's just going to the television station to broadcast.
This is a massive production that takes a video production, piecing all these stories together, getting all the acts on stage, getting all the guests on stage. That's a really, really big effort. And I think it shows with what actually makes it to air.
People don't realize it takes over 40 technical staff members to put the telephone on.
There's production people and sound people and staff, and someone who even telling us where to go. You know what it is that we need to do and be ready for it the next moment.
And I think the fact that that show is local and then it's all locally produced with local talent, really speaks highly of the team involved in its production.
It is a great reminder that Lubbock is full of just top tier talent. These are guys who do this for a living. This is their bread and butter. And in a lot of cases, they're donating their time to make this broadcast happen.
It's really incredible to see all these really talented people kind of come together for this event.
Not only yes, it's fun for hours of live TV and it's this fun little challenge and game of, can you pull it off? But the biggest thing with the Boys Ranch being local, you can see locally, the difference that you make.
It makes all the difference in the world that the people that are working on the telethon with us believe in our mission and are part of the work we're doing.
To be honest with you, I wanted to be involved in this because of the great work that the Texas boys Ranch does with children in the West Texas region.
To me, it's always been, if you could have one person, then you've done something, Texas Boys Ranch helps a lot of people.
I'm really proud to be part of something that is truly changing the lives of children.
Anytime that we can have a chance to put our gifts and our talents that we're given to use to help those, I think that's what makes it all worthwhile to me.
Those of us who are in the news business are in this business because we want to serve the community. I'm from Lubbock, born and raised here. And I want to do things that better my community.
