Welcome to the UR TV Cast Live Desk Glossary, where we clarify essential broadcast terms that enhance your viewing experience during our live coverage of events.
Here are some key terms you may encounter:
- ISO: This refers to an isolated audio or video feed, allowing for individual control during editing.
- IFB: An Interruptible Foldback (IFB) is a communication device used by producers to talk to on-air talent without the audience hearing.
- Slate: A slate is a visual marker that indicates the start of a recording, often displaying the title and other relevant information.
At UR TV Cast, we are dedicated to providing clear and informative content as we cover live events, concerts, shows, and entertainment programming across Los Angeles. Understanding these terms can enhance your appreciation of our broadcasts and the behind-the-scenes efforts that make them possible.
More Terms You'll Hear Behind the Live Desk
Beyond ISO feeds, IFB and slates, a live broadcast runs on a shared vocabulary that lets directors, camera operators and audio engineers make split-second decisions together. Here are more terms that come up whenever a concert or show is being carried live.
Signal and switching
- Program (PGM): The feed actually going out to viewers. Whatever the director selects on the switcher becomes program.
- Preview (PVW): The next shot lined up and waiting. Directors check preview before cutting, so mistakes are caught before they reach the audience.
- Tally light: The small red light on a camera that tells the operator and any performer facing it that the shot is live.
- Latency: The delay between something happening at the venue and viewers seeing it. Streaming always adds some, which is why a live stream can run several seconds behind a broadcast signal.
Audio
- Mix-minus: An audio feed that contains everything except the person receiving it, so remote guests don't hear their own voice echoed back.
- Room tone and ambience: The natural sound of a venue and its crowd. Engineers blend audience microphones with the stage mix so a concert feels like a real room rather than a studio recording.
- Lip sync: Keeping audio and picture aligned. Separate processing paths can drift apart, and engineers add small delays to correct it.
Production language
- Run of show: The minute-by-minute plan for a broadcast, listing segments, performers and timings.
- Hard out: A fixed end time that cannot move, common when coverage hands off to other programming.
- B-roll: Supporting footage, such as venue exteriors or crowd shots, used under narration or during transitions.
- Lower third: The on-screen graphic near the bottom of the frame that names a performer, location or song.
- Stand by: The call that a cue is coming, followed by "go" when it should happen.
Live music adds its own challenges: lighting changes fast, artists move unpredictably and set lists can shift on the night. Knowing these terms makes it easier to notice the choices behind each cut. To see them in action, check the schedule for upcoming coverage, or browse our LA venues guides to learn more about the rooms where the shows happen.
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