Shopping for holiday gifts? Smart speakers make great gifts for those into the latest tech. Maybe you’ve requested one yourself, or know someone who has; they're sure to be on lots of gift lists this holiday season. There’s certainly a lot of buzz around smart speakers, and that’s good news for broadcasters.

One of the great things about being a broadcaster is that you occasionally have a chance to be involved in some unique broadcasts. But while some broadcasts are memorable for the events they cover, others are so unique that the broadcasters themselves become the story.

Such was the case recently with the crew at Channel 4 FM in Dubai, when the marketing team thought it might be fun to do a live 5-10 minute broadcast segment from the Ambassador's Lagoon outside the iconic Atlantis the Palm Resort, more or less as a publicity stunt to promote the exotic location. We’re not talking poolside, mind you, but broadcasting from within the pool – an underwater broadcast from a pool that hosts a variety of sea life!

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...

Ted Randall knows both sides of a radio mic. He’s a longtime broadcast engineer and host of the QSO Radio Show. Holly Misslin quietly keeps PCs, servers, and networks humming along. And David Bialik is coordinating another all-star program track at the next AES convention in Los Angeles. Chris Tobin and I are talking with all these broadcasters on today’s This Week in Radio Tech.

Guest: Ted Randall, Holly Misslin, David Bialik

Hosts:  Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist  and Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Links from the show:

QSO Radio Show

Speakers: Snell Type A, Dahlquist DQ-10, Acoustat, Adam 7

4G LTE Signal Figures of Merit:  RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR

141st AES Convention - Broadcast & Streaming Track

Empire State Building - Master FM Antenna 50th Anniversary Light Show

Ubiquiti Networking How-To Videos from Willie Howe

Engineers seek out tools and products to get the job well done while saving money. It’s important to be frugal when you can, so you’ll have the resources for when you can’t.  Chris Tobin, Andrew Zarian, and Kirk Harnack look at some low-cost solutions for radio engineers.

Guest: Andrew Zarian - Founder, GFQ Network

Hosts: Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist  and Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Links from the show:

BM 8000 Studio Condenser Mic

Mic Pop Filter for many side-address condenser mics

Behringer HA400 4--Channel Headphone Amp

CR2032 Batteries for many PC motherboards

Behringer Xenyx 1204USB

Grandstream 4-Line ATA (SIP to POTS adapter)

Refurbished Dell 755 Core2Duo for PC-based projects

Radio World Magazine

ARRL Hints & Kinks book - 18th Edition 

Connectors! They come in many shapes and sizes, and usually have specific purposes.  Sometimes the same type of connector is used for very different things. Just because it fits doesn’t mean it’ll work. Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack talk about the most common connectors for audio, power, RF, and data on This Week in Radio Tech.

Hosts: Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist  and Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Links from the show:

Installing a PL259 connector (video)

Installing an RJ45 connector (video)

List of common audio connectors and purposes

Pyle Network Cable Tester

Stealthy antennas from those tricky mobile carriers... Can you count on mobile data bandwidth now - or in the future? Sun transit fade - on a terrestrial microwave path? A better Ethernet switch will solve that and more. And some TV stations are sharing the same frequency! Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack talk radio engineering on TWiRT!

Hosts:  Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist  and Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting