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.

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.

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.

“What seems normal to one man is often simply a dream to another.” These were the words of Reverend Gene White in 1983 when he moved to southwestern Kansas from Chicago. Upon his arrival, Rev. White was astonished at how much he missed the positive influence of Christian radio as he scanned the dial in the Heartland and found no Christian radio.

This past weekend was the annual conference of the CCBE (Central Canada Broadcast Engineers) outside Toronto. The proceedings featured a small-scale interoperability event similar to the AES Plugfest, and a keynote presentation on the benefits of AES67 and AES70. Our Jeff McGinley attended along with Tyler Everitt, from our Canadian dealer Pippin, so we caught up with them for a review.