ROANOKE, Va. – It's a historic day for us here on 10 News: Our first day in a new building in more than 63 years.
We're unveiling our new set Monday morning on Virginia Today. It's taken months of hard work and more than a year of planning. We're so excited to share with you a first look at all our new set has to offer.
Roanoke's first television news station has moved from downtown to a location that's close to the Berglund Center. There's a brand-new, state-of-the-art set with all the latest television broadcast technology.
CEO of WSLS parent company Graham Media Emily Barr says it's as much your home as it is ours.
"The building by itself is going to be the key," Barr said. "It's the magic that happens inside."
Our team has spent weeks extensively training on the new set, doing rehearsal after rehearsal. The production department has put in a lot of long days and nights learning the ins and outs of the new advanced system. Without this team, the newscast couldn't happen.
It took at least 15 miles of cables to make this set come to life.
"This set embraces a lot of new technology, a lot of display technology that's just being developed," said Michael Wright, set designer.
Wright meticulously designed every square inch of this set.
"It's like having a baby," Wright said. "It really is giving birth to something and it's a lot of moving parts, a lot of interrelated pieces so I am super proud of it."
There's a news cube wall, which allows a 90 degree turn in video.
As Wright explains, it's the tiny details that really make the set pop.
"The hard scenics on the set are fabric, printed fabric," said Wright. "Like you print shirts in the store, they can now print fabrics for scenery and that's built with internal lights so that instead of the old days that you front light from the studio, this is internally lit so it has more of a luminous feel and that in turn makes talent look good."
Our new set enhances Storm Team 10's ability to track storms for you.
This is where we'll be working for you, just as you invite us into your living rooms every day. We want to welcome you to our new home.