Untangling EAS with Pathfinder

For many years, broadcast stations have been required by law to incorporate emergency alerting into their air chains—usually directly in line with the program path as the last stage prior to the transmitter. As station groups have consolidated and air chains have become more complex, however, managing this insertion gets a bit trickier. What used to be a 1:1 correspondence between studios, transmitters, and everything in between is often now a matrix of possibilities including multiple studios or automation outputs, along with main and backup program paths and transmitters.

Passionate About Radio

At Telos Alliance, we hire people from all walks of life, but mostly, we hire people who are Passionate About Broadcasting, whether it be TV or Radio! Dave Sarkies, Social Media Community & Content Coordinator, is all about passion. Passion for music, passion for Radio...

Topics: Radio, The Telos Alliance, Broadcasting

Harnessing the Full Potential of Audio over IP

There is a misconception in the broadcast space that media outlets must wait for video over IP to mature before fully embracing an audio over IP (AoIP) infrastructure, but this is not the case. AoIP technologies have been stable for some time and today can provide the flexibility, reliability, and connectivity needed to deploy audio separately from video. Before the introduction of SDI video with embedded audio, video and audio had been handled separately for years. Although embedded audio seemed like a step forward, it did not reduce lip sync issues, and associated metadata is still easily separated from the audio. Since metadata is an increasingly essential part of new audio services, this becomes a major problem.

10 Ways to Save with Broadcast VoIP Phones for Your Facility

If you're reading this, chances are you are paying way too much for expensive analog phone lines. 

TWiRT 335 - Amazing Dynamic Mics with Bob Heil

There are hundreds of microphones on the market - a huge selection. What does Bob Heil know about mics that others have missed? Why do Heil mics sound great - on Ham Radio and in high-end studios? And what is Bob’s secret piece of test equipment for mic development? Bob Heil joins Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack on this episode of TWiRT!

Hosts:

Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist 

Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Guest:

Bob Heil, Founder and CEO of Heil Sound, Ltd.

Show Links:

Heil Sound Pro Microphones

Heil Mic Primer

Ham Nation podcast

Theatre Organ from the Ozarks

Whirlwind SC48 multi-cable tester

The Seaworthy Streamin’ Sound of Omnia.9

Lunare Project is a collective group of DJs who produce music for a variety of special events. And in the luxurious world of yachting, it’s one special event after another. Enter Lunare Project’s Radio Yacht, an online radio station built around the yachting lifestyle in southern Italy and other exotic locales. Based in the premier international yachting community of Naples, Radio Yacht targets the yachting crowd with an emphasis on the yachter’s lifestyle. It has provided music for trendy upscale events, including an Andy Warhol art exhibit in Naples, the UIM Awards for Powerboating in Monaco, the Winter Music Conference in Miami, sunset at Café del Mar - Ibiza, and Capri Palace Hotel & Spa on the Isle of Capri. In fact, it’s more than just an online radio station. It’s a way of life. It’s music and conversation that reflects the lifestyle of a demanding audience accustomed to the very best in life.

Topics: broadcast audio processor

No Problem in Houston: Replacing STLs with xNodes

In late 2015, I was examining the expiring contracts for many of our legacy telco services. As I did, it quickly became apparent that we could do much better, both in terms of cost savings and quality.

CBS Radio Houston has a somewhat unique situation, in that all four of our FMs are co-located at two transmitter sites. The main site for the FMs is the Senior Road Tower, and our aux is an American Tower site nearby. In the past, both sites were linked to the studios via digital 950 MHz STLs and multiple T1s, with the 950 MHz links serving as mains and the T1 links serving as backup.  As you might expect, data for things like telemetry and HD Radio rode on timeslots in our T1 frames that weren’t being used for audio transport.

Program Delay. Reinvented and Updated.

Since its introduction, Program Delay Manager has set the bar as the best sounding and most powerful audio broadcast delay on the market. Programmers, engineers, and managers rely on PDM's advanced features, especially PD-Alert™, our patented process where two time-stamped audio files capturing what took place both on air and off air get internally archived and e-mailed to the PD (or GM, CE, or legal team) every time questionable material is “dumped.” With PD-Alert, you get an instant notification of what took place both on and off air.

Axia Sets the Tone for UK College Station

For Tone Radio, the student-run radio station at the University of Glousterchire in the UK, the time for a change was long overdue. They started out in 2006 with a limited FM signal that covered the campus. In 2008, Tone began streaming online. Jack Higgins, Audio and Music Technician at the university, explains the decision point.

“We started out with mostly analog gear. Over the years, our broadcast consoles had completely broken down, and were replaced with live music soundboards which were difficult for some of our volunteers to use.” Higgins and the students worked with Richard Lawley of Radio Studio Services Ltd., who helped in the procurement and design for new studios and equipment. The three studios were equipped with QOR.32 integrated console engines and Axia iQ AoIP mixing consoles, with the one in the control room having a 6-channel extender board.

TWiRT 333 - Thoughtful Engineering Aids Workflow

One of the best ways a thoughtful engineer can improve a broadcast facility is to make workflows, well, flow.  What design choices are slowing down your talents’ daily work?  What can an engineer do to help talent be more self-sufficient? Chris Tobin reveals some interesting scenarios where the engineer made a big difference in on-air operations.

Hosts:

Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist 

Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Show Links:

WebGopher for Radio

Introduction to AES67