Reading a Live Link-Up: What 'Going to Air' Really Means
A plain-words guide to the phrases a reporter and a gallery use during a live link-up, from the countdown to the cue, and why each one matters on location.
The phrase that causes the most confusion
Ask three people in a newsroom what 'going to air' means and you may get three answers. For a producer in the gallery it is the moment the programme output switches to your picture. For the reporter standing in a car park in Swansea it is the instant the red light comes on. For the crew it is the point after which nothing can be fixed quietly.
In our live link-ups the term has one working meaning: your signal is selected as the programme output and viewers can see and hear it. Everything before that is rehearsal, even if the camera is already rolling and the reporter is already talking. Keeping that distinction clear stops people from chatting, adjusting a collar or muttering about the wind while the picture is already live.
I have heard experienced reporters say they were 'on' when the gallery had only opened a check shot. Getting the vocabulary straight at the start of a shoot saves a surprising amount of embarrassment later.
Standby, cue and the gap between them
A link-up runs on a short sequence of spoken instructions. 'Standby' means you are next and should be ready, silent and looking at the lens. 'Cue' means start now. The gap between the two is usually a few seconds, though on a busy bulletin it can stretch if a story overruns in the studio.
The producer on call at our end listens to the same talkback as the reporter and relays it when the connection is thin. If the studio says 'standby' and then goes quiet, the reporter should hold position rather than guess. A false start is harder to recover from than a short wait.
Reporters new to location work often wonder why the countdown is read aloud when the clock is on their phone. The answer is that phones drift and gallery clocks do not. The spoken count is the only version everyone shares.
- Standby: be ready, be quiet, eyes on the lens
- Cue: begin speaking now
- Hold: stay as you are, a delay is being sorted out
What 'IFB' and 'talkback' actually are
IFB stands for interruptible foldback. In plain words it is the small earpiece that carries the programme sound and the producer's voice into the reporter's ear. 'Interruptible' means the producer can cut across the programme feed to give an instruction. That is how a reporter hears 'thirty seconds' without the audience hearing it.
Talkback is the wider term for any private channel between the gallery and the people on location. On a portable setup it travels over the same connection as the picture, or over a separate phone line as a safety net. If the picture drops, talkback is often the last thing standing, and the producer will say so.
A reporter who cannot hear the IFB should say so before the cue, not during the answer. We carry a spare earpiece for exactly this reason. A dead earpiece mid-question leaves a reporter answering something they never heard.
Latency, and why the studio seems to lag
Latency is the delay between something happening and the audience seeing it. On a live link it comes from encoding the picture, sending it over a network and decoding it at the other end. A second or two is normal. More than that begins to show as an awkward pause when the presenter asks a question.
This is why a reporter may seem to wait before answering. They are not hesitating; they are hearing the question slightly late. A good presenter learns to ask short questions and leave the pause alone. Interrupting the delay only makes the exchange worse.
Our crews test the delay before every transmission by asking the studio to say a word and timing the return. If the lag is longer than expected, the producer tells the reporter in advance, so that the silence on air is expected rather than alarming.
Pre-live, back-timing and the running order
Pre-live is the period when your signal is available to the gallery but not yet on air. It is the time to check framing, sound levels and the reporter's position. Many problems are caught here, so we treat it as part of the broadcast rather than a warm-up.
Back-timing means working backwards from a fixed point, usually the top of the hour or a handover to another programme. If a link must end at a set moment, the producer counts back to find the latest safe cue. A reporter who knows the back-time can pace the answer and finish cleanly.
The running order is the list of items in the order they will air. A link-up is one line on it, and its position can change. When a story moves up, the standby comes sooner than planned, which is why a crew on location stays ready from the first pre-live check.
- Pre-live: signal visible to the gallery, not to viewers
- Back-time: the latest cue that still finishes on schedule
- Running order: the planned sequence, always subject to change
Why a shared vocabulary protects the story
None of these terms is complicated. Their value lies in everyone using them the same way under pressure. When a reporter, camera operator and producer all mean the same thing by 'hold', a wet, cold, noisy evening on a quayside runs far more smoothly.
In mid autumn the weather is the common enemy. Rain, wind and early dusk shorten the time a crew has to settle. A clear vocabulary lets them spend that time on framing and sound rather than on working out what was just said.
We brief every reporter on these words before the first link, in a few minutes, using a printed card. It is not a rule book, only a way of keeping a live broadcast calm when the minutes are short.
Live television leaves little room for misunderstanding, and most of its vocabulary exists to close that gap. Standby, cue, hold, IFB and back-time are ordinary words with fixed meanings in a link-up. If a reporter, a crew and a producer share them before the camera rolls, the transmission is steadier and the story reaches viewers as intended.
Rhian Davies
Managing ProducerRhian has produced television news for over fifteen years and leads the editorial side of every commission.
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