In the past, we’ve talked about one of our largest customers and how they apply Burli coast-to-coast in order to serve the largest media markets in Canada. Does that mean Burli is only suitable for the biggest media companies? Absolutely not!
Today we’re pleased to have a look at two comparatively smaller market members of the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group. While the Jim Pattison Group is in itself a big player in Canadian broadcasting, many of its member stations are located in less populous parts of Western Canada.
We had the chance to speak with Dave Barry in Prince George, BC, and Doug Collins in Kamloops, BC. Both are News Directors in their respective markets, and each has a responsibility to a local TV station and two local radio stations. Both of them have a great need to keep their newsrooms running as smoothly as possible, and have been long time customers of Burli to help meet that need.
Burli Goes Way Back
In speaking to both Barry and Collins, they each reflected on just how long they’ve been working with Burli Newsroom, having been among the earliest adopters of Burli Software’s technology.
Barry remarked that he started in the news business putting together stories on a manual typewriter and yellow carbon paper (although he eventually graduated up to an electronic typewriter). When Burli was introduced in the late 90’s to CKPG, it ushered these (and several noisy cart machines) out the door.
Collins said that he had also been using Burli since “ground zero”, having also been an early adopter in the 90’s at CFJC. And whenever his management floated the idea of trying another system out, he pushed back hard to keep Burli.
The Day to Day
“I do the morning news run, so I use it every day,” Collins said. “And of course there’s been lots of improvements since then to make it ever more valuable.” He uses Burli as the basis of the newsroom for the TV scripts each night, and for virtually everything in the radio news. “The editor is very powerful.”
Plus, Burli helps him when he’s on the spot, saying the ticker display that’s always on the bottom of the screen is handy for adding breaking stories into a cast at the last moment. Collins says you easily see Burli was “developed by news people, for news people”.
Similarly, Barry also gets his hands on the software on a daily basis. Drawing from traditional newswires as well as RSS feeds and their own interviews, his team is using Burli to create hourly TV and radio scripts. “It’s the heart of our newscasts for television and for radio,” he says. “Everything we do on air is a result or is a product of the Burli system”.
Barry mentioned that they switch between pre-recording and reading news live to air each day, but that Burli is so easy to work with that both processes are equally useful. “You always find the path of least resistance, and Burli provides that!”
And as many of their incoming staff are coming from BCIT and other Canadian schools teaching Burli as part of the curriculum, getting new people up to speed is easy. That makes getting on with the day much simpler for Barry.
Looking Forward with Burli
Both newsrooms have gotten more heavily involved with taking their radio and TV news content and moving it to the web – content that got its start in Burli. Collins in particular was interested in getting more involved in using Burli for social media – something their operation in Kamloops is already doing, but wants to grow using Burli’s technology.
But whatever happens, both Barry and Collins expressed happiness with Burli’s people, and the ease of doing business we offer. “Any time we’ve needed the support it’s been there” said Collins. “We’ve had really good response any time we’ve had an issue.”
To learn more, come visit us at the all-new www.burli.com for more info, or email us to get in touch.
