The Whole Origin Story of Audio Over IP - Greg Shay, CTO Telos Alliance

It is not that often that your inner monologue, history as you remember it, is of interest to others. On this occasion of being awarded a technical Emmy by the television industry for the Development of Synchronized Multi-channel Uncompressed Audio Transport Over IP Networks, I wanted to share the story, the whole story from my point of view, of how this came to be at Telos Alliance.

Any story worth reading is worth telling well, so please forgive my somewhat loose writing style and enjoy the ride, as I have over these 24 years.

So, kiddies, set your PTP way-back machine to 1996. (Oh wait..., that was before PTP was invented....!)

2019 held so much for the Telos Alliance that it's tough to quantify all of our favorite moments. We've seen radio stations undergo complete transformations to bring the best workflows to their operations and the best sound possible to their listeners, TV stations begin pondering the transition to ATSC 3.0 infrastructure, and companies in the PRO AV market streamline their entire communication systems with new matrix-free intercom technology. We've been lucky enough to be a part of these exciting journeys, helping to create the future of audio alongside our customers. To wrap up this unforgettable year, we've put together a list of our top 6 Telos Alliance introductions to the world of audio in 2019.

Legendary Los Angeles radio station KCRW 89.9 FM gets a fresh start in their brand-new $38 million headquarters at Santa Monica College’s Center for Media and Design. The recently completed headquarters features 11 Audio over IP studios operating with the help of Axia consoles, xNodes, and more. You can read the full story from Key Code Media here and watch the video below.

Luca La Rosa, (Project Manager, R&D Team and Quasar Designer), sheds some starlight on the brand new out-of-this-world flagship Axia AoIP mixing console, Quasar!

How AoIP Helps Future-Proof Your Facility

When it became clear that the audio routing system at Colorado Public Radio (CPR) network was failing repeatedly and reaching its end of life, CPR revived its air waves with Audio over IP from Axia. CPR began the conversation about switching to an AoIP infrastructure in its CPR Bridges Broadcast Center located at the Denver Tech Center in Centennial, Colorado, in August of 2015. The Colorado Public Radio family includes three separate services: CPR News, CPR Classical, and CPRs Open Air, an independent music format. According to CPR, its network reaches more than 470,000 listeners via 14 stations and 20 translators, with five studio sites across the state. 

Gary Langley is Chief Broadcast Engineer at Interlochen Public Radio, a service of the Interlochen Center for the Arts consisting of two radio stations featuring fine arts and public affairs programming for Northwest Lower Michigan and reaching into the state's Upper Peninsula. A relative newcomer to Audio over IP, Gary says learning the ropes of AoIP was simple thanks to a fresh Axia installation at IPR shortly before he came on. But it wasn't just a transition to AoIP for Gary—it was a transition to radio from the TV world. Gary tells us how Axia, AoIP, and VoIP have made his dual transitions easier than he'd have expected.

Broadcasting from Fresno and Bakersfield, Valley Public Radio is the NPR affiliate for the greater San Joaquin Valley of Central California. Founded in 1978 and celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, VPR recently moved into a new facility in Clovis, just outside Fresno, which included upgrades to Axia Fusion consoles in multiple studios and Telos VX phone system. We checked in with Director of Program Content Joe Moore for an update on the new digs.

Axia PowerStation and StudioEngine, which can be used with Axia Fusion consoles as a standalone studio solution or as part of a larger IP-audio network, just got more powerful with the release of software update v3.2 for Fusion Console Mix Engines.

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.