Routing Alternate Content the Wright Way

Many stations that carry sports programming—particularly pro sports broadcasts—are likely to be limited by league rules when it comes to streaming game broadcasts due to copyright regulations. As the flagship station for Chicago White Sox baseball and Chicago Bulls basketball, we are one such station here at WLS-AM in Chicago. Due to licensing restrictions of MLB and the NBA, WLS isn’t allowed to stream these teams’ games on their normal internet stream. Instead, alternate programming such as “Best of” editions of local or satellite-delivered shows—usually put together and aired by a producer in the control room—are routed to the internet stream.

To make the routing of the alternate content easier, I devised a solution using Axia Pathfinder. The only requirement is a spare PC capable of running Livewire audio drivers and VLC.

Meet Maciej Szlapka

It's funny how things work out sometimes. If not for a hometown connection in the broadcast industry, Maciej Szlapka might have never even heard of the Telos Alliance. But when his studies required an international internship, his friend Piotr—a Telos Alliance dealer—recommended him to Steve Church. The rest, as they say, is history, and these days Maciej is approaching 20 years as a Telosian. We sat down with him recently for a review of his experience.

WABE 2017 Conference Is Medal-Worthy

The Telos Alliance has long had a strong relationship with Canadian broadcasters. This was reflected at this year’s conference of the Western Association of Broadcast Engineers (WABE), held recently in Edmonton. WABE represents broadcast engineers across Western Canada, including the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

TWiRT 373 - Visual Radio Live from WAMU

Radio industry experts are talking with each other, sharing ideas about “visual” radio. We’re asking a lot of questions, too. What are we trying to accomplish with video added to radio? Can we engage our audiences better and longer? What strategies seem to be working?  Chris and Kirk attended the Visual Radio Symposium this week, and Al Reynolds of WAMU was there, too.

Topics: Broadcast Engineering, Streaming Audio, audio, audio quality

The Bisset Brief: Winter Weather Preparedness Revisited

Winter weather preparedness is a topic near and dear to our readers’ hearts, with some good suggestions from our initial column on the subject. Ray Gorney is the Assistant Director of Engineering for Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls, ID, CSN International, and the Effect Networks. Ray added a very important consideration to that survival backpack we wrote about last issue—prescription medications. For engineers who take prescription or even over-the-counter meds, having a one- or two-day supply in the survival kit is a necessity. It could be dangerous, if not deadly, for some to be without their meds.

Topics: Broadcast Engineering, weather preparedness

Cutting Edge Audio for Cutting Edge Music

On the air for more than 25 years, CISM (broadcasting in French) specializes in cutting edge music and elements of Montreal's creative culture. The transmitting antenna is located on top of Mount Royal and covers about a 50-mile radius which includes Montreal, Laval, the South Shore, and the North Shore with 10,000 watts of power and a potential audience of over 4 million people. Each week, the station broadcasts 70 different programs featuring nearly 100 radio hosts.

Recently we sat discussed the sound of the station with CISM's Gabriel Meunier, and how he achieves just the right sound for music on the cutting edge with OmniaSST.

Barefootin' from A to Z: AoIP to Z/IP ONE 

Jordan Bitz is Chief Engineer for Barefoot Media Ministries, a small Christian radio group headquartered in Boise, Idaho and operating 89.5 KTSY, the heritage Christian radio station in the Boise market, as well as Project 88.7, a Christian Hip Hop station, 88.1 The Bridge in Twin Falls, and a handful of other stations and translators across Idaho and Oregon. In short, Jordan is a busy engineer managing multiple sites over hundreds of square miles.

Before joining Barefoot 15 months ago, Jordan’s previous experience was as engineer and programmer at stations in North Dakota, where he hadn’t worked much with Audio over IP. While the adjustment to AoIP took some time, once he got the hang of things he’s been amazed by the simplicity and flexibility.

TWiRT 372 - Tom Vernon on Smart Speakers

“We’re on the verge of a Voice Activated Internet,” says Tom Vernon. Tom’s recent front page Radio World article, “Can Smart Speakers Bring Radio Home?” points to new radio listeners using smart speakers. We may also find voice-activated tasks around broadcast stations, facilitated by Amazon Echo or Google Home devices.

Topics: Broadcast Engineering, Streaming Audio, audio, audio quality

New Consoles in Newcastle

Southern Cross Austereo is a major Australian broadcast network consisting of over 100 radio and TV stations across the country. Recently, SCA has made the move to AoIP and Axia at a number of their radio facilities, including moving their Newcastle operation – about two-and-a-half hours north of Sydney – into a new building earlier this year. The Newcastle location features two radio stations, KOFM 102.9 and NXFM Hit 106.9.

Slaying the Lost Packet Dragon with Pathfinder

Using IP radios as your STLs has many advantages. One disadvantage though is that they can be more susceptible to rain and snow fade than other STLs.

Using Axia Pathfinder and syslog, I’ve been able to keep my stations on-air, without hearing a dropped packet. Though I am using syslog, the same result can be achieved using SNMP. Even if the IP radio you have is not capable of sending syslog, you can still make this work for you with a little tweaking...