TWiRT 356 - Practical Drone Use with Sam Wallington

Are drones more than “big boy toys” for broadcast engineers? Well - YES! Sam Wallington is VP of Engineering for Educational Media Foundation. He’s using drone video and photography to locate trouble spots and prep for tower repairs, saving return trips.

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

TWiRT 355 - The Way We Do Things

Let’s examine a couple topics and explore “how we do them”. Chris Tobin discusses mics, pre-amps, and techniques for recording live music at WBGO-FM.  Then we see how PC platforms have moved into the equipment space that was only purpose-built equipment. And just how far is that concept going?

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

 TWiRT 354 - Vintage Microphones with John Holt

The first microphones were invented as far back as the 1870’s, but that’s before there were any tube amplifiers! We’ve come a long way, though most mic inventions occurred 70 to 90 years ago. John Holt is an expert on vintage microphones and gives us a fascinating look and lesson.

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

TWiRT 353 - The Beauty and Value of a Bird's Eye View 

Small Unmanned Aerial Systems or “drones” are quickly getting popular with broadcast engineers and consultants.  A bird’s eye view can help us better visualize our antenna systems, plus there’s real value in catching visible problems before sending a tower crew to troubleshoot.

Chris and Kirk show video examples of aerial tower shots, plus Chris describes bringing Internet access to a Boy Scout camp in New York State.

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

TWiRT 352 - Streaming Challenges & Solutions with Matt Kellogg

Streaming audio is bringing a whole new lexicon - geo-targeting, geo-fencing, interstitials, pre-rolls, adaptive bit-rates, video, and virtualization. Matt Kellogg - a guy with a solid radio background - joins us from StreamGuys to sort it all out.

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

Thunderstorm Season (Yes, That's a Thing!)

In the wintertime, humidity levels plummet as temperatures drop and forced air heating systems dry the air out even more. During these months we are extra conscious of electrostatic discharge. Many will make a habit of grounding themselves to a doorknob or rack case before touching any controls in the studio, so as to avoid zapping the electronics with static electricity.

When winter gives way to warmer weather, thunderstorms and line surges present a new threat to our precious technology. Broadcast engineers take steps to protect their mains power inputs with spike suppressors and surge protectors. These devices can help, but can only do so much with the extremely fast transient swings in voltage that are observed during these events. There are also threats that are not so obvious.

Topics: Broadcast Technology, Broadcast Engineering, Telephone Systems

TWiRT 351 - Virtualizing Automation with Dub Irvin

Virtual Machines and Virtualization in general are becoming popular techniques in the IT world.  Now, broadcasters are adopting virtualization for their automation systems.  How does this work, and what are the pros and cons? Dub Irvin from WideOrbit joins us to explain.

Topics: Broadcast Engineering, audio, audio quality

TWiRT 349 - Translators and Main Studios with Larry Fuss

The FCC is proposing to eliminate the Main Studio Rule. Sounds good to many, but what are the consequences? And FM translators are in the news again, with a window opening this summer for AM stations to apply. Larry Fuss is with us to explain what this means. And - as is often the case - you won’t believe where Chris Tobin is!

Topics: Broadcast Engineering, audio, audio quality

TWiRT 348 - VO Mics & Studios with Joe Cipriano

How does a top-shelf voice-over artist work on the road?  He makes a “MacGyver studio”! Joe Cipriano joins us to talk mics, pre-amps, processing, and how voice-over work gets done today.

Chris Tobin is here, too, from a hot transmitter room!

Topics: Broadcast Engineering, audio, audio quality

TWiRT 347 - Jeff Welton - IT Security and 400 Kilowatts

Canadians may be polite, but most don’t want you hacking their Internet-connected stuff.  Jeff Welton from Nautel offers advice for IT security at the transmitter site, plus describes hand-on a 400 kW AM transmitter, and what tools to keep handy nowadays for solid-state transmitter maintenance.

Topics: Broadcast Engineering, audio, audio quality