Litepanels, a leading lighting fixtures manufacture based in the USA has converted the lighting of the studios of Quincy Newspapers television station WGEM-TV into LED lighting.
 
Brady Dreasler, Quincy Newspapers’ Director of Capital, Facilities and Engineering, said the lights helped flesh-tones pop. He added that WGEM’s news anchors have also seen a difference with the HD cameras and the lighting.
 
Dreasler noted that the cool operation of the Litepanels LED fixtures brought an added benefit to the talent, allowing them to wear jackets in the summer time. Prior to the conversion, the stations were running full air conditioning, even when it was 20 degrees below zero outdoors.
 
In fact, the Litepanels fixtures add so little heat to the equation that at KTTC-TV, Quincy’s Rochester, MN, station, engineers have installed small heaters under the anchor desk for those coldest of the cold days during the region’s brutal winters.
 
With well over a year’s experience with Litepanels at KTTC, Dreasler said the considerable energy savings, plus a healthy rebate from the local electrical power utility, has put them on track for a three-year payback on their investment.
 
Lighting designer Steve Mulkey of Redwood Media Group, who lit WGEM’s news set, relied primarily on Sola 4 daylight-balance LED Fresnel fixtures, which combine the advantages of LED technology with the classic Fresnel fixture design. He also incorporated daylight balance 1x1 Flood and 1x1 Spot fixtures in the studio, and used Sola ENG daylight Fresnel fixtures in the newsroom.
 
In addition to WGEM and KTTC, Quincy has done Litepanels conversions at WVVA-TV in Bluefield, WV, and WSJV-TV in Elkhart, IN.