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Roland Schupfer, Technical Director ORF Styria #73 What does "iterative" mean in Styrian? ...is a guiding principle that is certainly not in any specifications, but which has had a strong impact on the year 2020 and has thus brought us a big step forward in the process of digital transformation. In many areas, we have "acted" instead of just "reacted" - never doubting that we will achieve our goal in the end, but always eager to see what new paths will open up for us as a result. Digital transformation - what do these two terms actually mean and what do they stand for? Does it mean the purely technical component that opens up new opportunities? Or isn't it also up to people to turn new technical possibilities into innovations in the first place - with the corresponding courage to change and enthusiasm for creating new perspectives? In my view, it takes both, but above all a motivated and solution-oriented team that shares this spirit. In retrospect of the Corona year, which for many in the private and economic spheres was primarily associated with restriction, regression or even standstill.

At ORF Styria, too, it was a year that defied all standards and required all colleagues to act under completely new conditions. In many areas, solutions had to be implemented even faster and in a simplified manner, even with limited resources in some cases - key words: short-time work, isolated operation or homeworking. A "balancing act" that the Styrian team succeeded in doing and even more - there was no question of stagnation at the Styrian regional studio, on the contrary: the crisis proved to be a "booster" for creative ideas and the best team-building seminar so far.

The kick-off of all challenges in 2020 was - even before the first Corona lockdown - the "Benefit Concert for Kerstin", a private initiative for the family of a victim of violence. ORF Styria took over the broadcast of the concert in a livestream from the Graz Orpheum and thus not only set a sign of solidarity to the outside world, but also provided a prime example of digital transformation at the same time. Without further ado, the mobile rapid reportage vehicle (mSRW) was adapted into a "multicam vehicle"; after all, there were seven cameras that captured the several-hour concert evening and eleven music groups with emotional images and made them accessible to a wide audience via steiermark.ORF.at.
At the latest with the beginning of the first lockdown, it was necessary to work under completely different conditions and unprecedented circumstances. Not only once were press conferences called at short notice, which from a technical point of view could be filled quickly and cost-effectively with "flying equipment" - with the aim of informing the Styrian population trimedially as quickly as possible. Most of the time, ORF Styria was in action with three cameras.

The cultural sector was almost idle this year, and yet it remained our goal to maintain the cultural radio, TV and online offerings as best we could, and above all to offer Styrian cultural and musical artists a new stage. This year, for example, we succeeded in streaming the ORF Styria cultural event "Hör- & Seebühne" (Listening & Lake Stage), in addition to many other programming activities - technically largely unexciting, but with creative solutions throughout. The experience gained from previous productions, the technical prerequisites that are now already in place, coupled with individual expertise and, in some cases, creative approaches, have helped to bring the already traditional summer reading at the Funkhausteich into a "unique" format, which at the same time has made it possible to address a new audience.

How can good journalism succeed even in times of working from home and strict distance rules? We were also confronted with this completely new question from one day to the next last year. The editorial possibilities in homeworking, as it very soon turned out, are severely limited: Interviews arranged via Messenger provided good sound quality, but did not allow for critical interviews with interstitial questions. For this reason, a prototype for mobile "mixing consoles" was developed with little equipment, which could eventually go "into series production" at low cost. This made it possible to record conversations via smartphone or live audio recordings and to edit them digitally.

At the end of the year, the idea of a TV announcement for the Radio Steiermark Advent Singing with "a little unplugged in home video style" ultimately became a trimedial series of "mini-concerts" for the Light in the Dark Advent Calendar. 24 Styrian artists visited us under strictest corona conditions and played live and "acoustically" from a simply adapted office - reduced to "Molton (decorative fabric) meets string of lights". The positive response was enormous, both internally and externally.

"Tua ma amoi, dann seg'n ma scho..." - and, what I see at the end of the past year, is that much, not to say everything, has succeeded - just not only with the help of technical means and innovative equipment. My personal thanks go to the colleagues who contributed to the solution-oriented realization of all projects with technical know-how, but also with unconventional approaches to solutions as well as with motivation. I am therefore convinced that, with all this experience under our belts, we will continue to achieve great things in the future - in view of the new challenges and perspectives that the ORF player may soon reveal - certainly also in the sense of digital transformation.