Broadcast at the Stake Center

Last night Elder Cook spoke to the young adults of the LDS Church. My two older sons attended the broadcast in our stake center. Half way through the time of the meeting, I had settled my youngest into bed after a few rounds of dominoes and mancala, and having time and interest in what my sons were being exhorted, I pulled up the broadcast at home via the Church’s website. I came in at the point when Elder Cook’s young son had decided not to become a doctor in the future because he realized that such a profession would cut into watching Saturday morning cartoons. There were a couple crowd shots that looked like the audience was seated in a stake center rather than a larger meeting space, but I assumed that was because of camera angles or such. A choir sang at the end, and the setting made me think a little of when choirs performed in my stake’s conferences. The pipe organ even looked the same.

Almost an hour later, my sons arrived home. Sometimes we speak of attending the conference or fireside broadcast at the stake center, and we mean the conference broadcast to the stake center, and I assumed that was the case last night. So did one of my sons, but the other knew better. For the one not in the know, it was puzzling why a large truck trailer with a satellite antenna was parked outside the stake center. Perhaps the building’s system was down, and this was a temporary fix? There was some parking available, and seats left in the back of the cultural hall, but it was a pretty big crowd of young adults for one stake. And then everyone stood up. “Why is everyone standing?” Because Elder Cook was walking into the chapel. So, the boys explained to me, the broadcast at the stake center had been a broadcast from our stake center.

A special bonus of attending at the point of origin was time afterwards spent with one of the broadcast crew. He showed my sons around the trailer, and answered many questions. Such as: the main camera cost about $100,000 and its lens $120,000. The satellite that the antenna was pointed at was located by holding up a tablet with an app that showed where it and other satellites where. This broadcasting crew had been in several East Coast cities over the past week, mostly for sporting events. They also had covered Trump and Clinton political events. The man telling them all this, a Baptist, found covering a Mormon apostle speaking to Mormon young adults a far more enjoyable event to cover.