SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW: CLAIRE GRANT

Posted on April 13, 2022 in ATSC News

Claire Grant, General Manager, Radio and Television Services at the RJRGLEANER Communications Group, says it’s special for Jamaica to go down in history as the third country in the world to adopt the ATSC 3.0 Standard.

In January 2021, the Jamaican government announced that the standard chosen and mandated was ATSC 3.0. They also indicated that they wanted the process to start in January 2022. We are moving from analogue transmission to digital transmission.

Grant is involved with the ATSC 3.0 areas of Educational Projects and Future Broadcast Ecosystem Technologies. She says she is most proud of making history when ATSC 3.0 came to Jamaica.

“We know that this makes many Jamaicans at home and abroad quite proud and this helps to create another dimension for people to see when they think about the capabilities on our island,” Grant says.

“It is also a very important legacy for our group to continue to be the trendsetting organization for media in Jamaica. We have the first commercial radio in the island and the first TV station in the island so it is quite fitting that we should be the first to launch this revolutionary service in Jamaica. We are very proud.”

Grant says that they are also very satisfied to have done so much work locally, to get the ATSC 3.0 project off the ground.

“While we did have overseas consult virtually on the deployment of our first transmitter that we switched on January 31, 2022, all hands-on work on the ground was executed by our team locally. Additionally, it was important to be in step with the vision of our government and formally start sending out a signal in January 2022 as they envisioned.”

ATSC 3.0, when fully implemented, will be a revolutionary game-changer for a country like Jamaica, according to Grant. She says merging the properties of the internet with the capabilities of broadcast technology is a true sweet spot for NextGen TV.

“It will level the playing field in the marketing conversation around TV and its future. Making TV accessible everywhere without the need for data purchase is a revolutionary step for the future of broadcasters everywhere,” Grant says.

“How it will merge with phones and other devices is a game changer that is important not only for the purpose of entertainment but can also play a pivotal role in education and other special need developmental areas. The free reach of broadcast technology has always been what has made it so special to populations across the globe and that defining quality combined with the ATCS 3.0 features is what makes the impact more profound.”

Grant says there are five impressive features of ATSC 3.0 that immediately come to mind:

1. The promise of improved reception to audiences in buildings is a game changer. There are many persons in apartment buildings who prior to the deployment of ATSC 3.0 would have had no option on how to access a broadcast signal over the air as they would not be able to place an antenna on their roof in an apartment;
2. The improved picture and audio quality from an over the air signal is a big deal for Jamaicans;
3. The promise of the access to data from viewers to give real time viewership data is also a game changer;
4. The emergency alert system will make a major difference to Jamaica for notifications about flooding in particular;
5. The ability to deliver regional advertising spots within a national broadcast is going to allow more of the market to feel the power of television for their business.

Grant has more than 30 years experience in media. She started in print as a reporter in 1990 straight out of university. She progressed on that platform to become the editor of a national daily afternoon paper, a position that she held for 10 years. After 16 years in print and earning an MBA in Marketing in 2006, Grant moved on to be the Marketing Manager for Television Jamaica. After six years as Marketing Manager in 2012, Grant was appointed General Manager for Television Jamaica. She has had other TV stations and the Radio division added to her portfolio over the years as General Manager.

Grant went to high school in Jamaica at St. Jago High in St. Catherine Spanish Town. She has a first degree in History and Social Science from the University of the West Indies, Mona; a Masters of Arts in International Journalism from the City University in London; a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with a specialization in Marketing from the Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM) that is at the University of West Indies, Mona; and in October 2021 Grant successfully defended her Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) also from the MSBM and is now completing minor corrections to the thesis for the formal award of this degree.

Grant has been married for 24 years and has two sons. She is an avid chess player and lifelong lover of the game. She enjoys track and field and sports in general. Grant likes working with young people and spending time doing this with her high school alma mater. She says nothing is more important than family and providing pillars for intergenerational growth.

Posted in ATSC News