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Usher is the host. Guest stars include Lizzo, Halsey and Justin Bieber. What’s this all about? It’s the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Awards live at the Shrine in Los Angeles with a national network television simulcast on Fox. 

The list of nominees for this seventh annual event is equally star-studded: Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, Camila Cabello, Cardi B, Daddy Yankee, Dan + Shay, Drake, Ed Sheeran, El Fantasma, Halsey, J Balvin, Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, Khalid, Kygo, Lil Nas X, Lizzo, Luke Combs, Maren Morris, Post Malone, Selena Gomez, SHAED, Shawn Mendes, Snow, Summer Walker and Taylor Swift. 

Music fans are encouraged to participate by voting for winners in many categories: Best Fan Army, Best Lyrics, Best Cover Song, Best Music Video, Best Remix, the Social Star, Favorite Tour Photographer and Favorite Music Video Choreography. 

Wanna attend? Considering concert prices these days, it’s priced quite reasonably, ranging from $75 to $250. 

Come on … what is this — a commercial for the show? No, but I’d like you to view this as a model for creating awards to bestow as a local radio station. 

GIVE YOUR OWN AWARDS

Why are awards important? When we show appreciation with awards, the mere fact that we’re doing so positions the medium (you) as a leader, an authority, a vital entity to the community it serves. Radio stations are certainly accustomed to receiving awards, but we don’t put enough focus on giving awards.

The music award approach we are using as a model is reasonable on a local/regional basis and makes sense in markets with an active, supportive new music scene. Perhaps there’s even a local music organization with which you can partner. 

Behold, your award program creation checklist: 

• A name that simply explains the award. 
• Credible host(s) to deliver authenticity, celebrity and audience.
• Media partners, such as a local TV station, newspaper or website. 
• A broad selection of nominees who will spread the word about their nomination. Create enough categories so you’ll have multiple winners. 
• Judges who are admired or connected and can activate their circle. 
• On-air promotion of the award that includes an audience voting element. 
• External public relations outreach, maybe hiring a local PR firm. 
• Advertising support — perhaps inexpensively on a highly targeted social media platform.
  A live awards ceremony that people can attend in person, hear on-air, comment on social media, watch streamed on television or via Facebook, YouTube or an app. 
• A wrap-up of winners on-air that runs for several days after the event. Make certain to capture pictures and video for distribution. 

Perhaps music awards don’t make sense for your format, or you’re in a relatively small market. No worries. Awards are universally appealing, and there are plenty of other ways to achieve this fun and exciting form of connection and entertainment. 

Instead, your station will want to brainstorm other themes that resonate with your local audience.

Striking an emotional chord is important. 

Visual arts such as photography or painting can generate a lot of interest. 

Teaching, coaching and mentoring are hot topics for families. 

Environmental issues loom large on the minds of many young people, so creating a local “Environmental Action Award” will resonate in certain communities. 

Awards take time to establish, so consider a multi-year approach. You’ll know when you’re on to something if your awards catch on outside your typical sphere of influence. 

There was a time when local radio stations embodied these attributes just by existing at an organic level, but this should no longer be taken for granted. Stations must intelligently and actively assert ourselves as a major arbiter of what’s important in the community. The most challenging part is that we also must earn the role by openly recognizing major talent — music or otherwise — in our communities.

The post Awards for Your Community’s Best appeared first on Radio World.

The comments here were posted to social media by readers of the Radio World ebook “Radio Engineering in Crisis.” Read it at www.radioworld.com/ebooks.

“That’s a good read. I like Gary Kline’s contribution around interviewing new engineers, specifically around site and equipment condition. As an engineer the condition of equipment is usually high on my priority list, especially if I am being called in to fix something urgently. ”

 

“The status quo is in serious danger, but radio will adapt to the engineering shortage. I can foresee entire stations moving into the cloud, and a greater reliance on manufacturers’ field service. The broadcast engineer of the future will likely become a data center technician or a frequent flier, and there will be many fewer of us. ”

 

“Ditching the high-power RF may be possible around urban areas, but rural areas will get the shaft. Due to terrain shielding, DSL is the only option with 800k download and 300k upload … using remnants of the old Ma Bell co-ax system. Executives at the top still get their big raises and perks annually, but rural areas are ignored. Cellular service … I essentially live in a cellular ‘white area’ … and the FCC doesn’t care about serving rural areas … the FCC talks loud and says and does nothing. ”

 

“This has been a serious problem for a while. It is getting worse as more technologists retire. Employers need to increase pay and incentives to turn this around. ”

 

“Broadcast engineers are an endangered species, there is no doubt. I’m grateful to have worked in a time when at least some management respected and valued their tech staff. The thought of being tied to a pager and having a dozen sites to worry over is not appealing to anyone with ‘a life.’ I loved working on transmitters (in well-cared-for sites) and designing user-friendly broadcast studios, but that was ‘back in the day’ when such settings weren’t uncommon (at least in this market). Seeing the neglected TX sites owned by venture capitalists, I’m glad to be retired. ”

 

“I learned about RF as a teenager with ham radio. That helped me with my first phone and AM/FM transmitters. After college I drifted into TV post. But I still have a love for RF. Is there a future for young RF inclined engineers? Does it take an IEEE degree and will it pay above scale? ”

 

“To attract broadcast radio engineers, the industry needs to respect the job position and compensate accordingly. Turn to the cell industry for your compensation and benefit template, then sweeten the deal a bit more. ”

 

“You can’t get engineers or engineering groups involved in changing the mindset of management. That has to come from other management groups, otherwise it looks like a self-serving exercise. It will take a change of mindset at the local, regional and corporate management levels. This is a problem that has been warned about for decades and it is currently on the cusp of crisis. In 10 years, it will be too late. ”

 

“One must continue to listen, learn and love their chosen professional calling. This requires licensing certification and continuing education to stay on top of their game. ”

“I was working for an AM/FM combo when in college and fully expected to stay in the business. Then industry came calling with a 50% premium to go with them. Never looked back and it appears things headed down hill after that day. I still have my license but that doesn’t seem to be important anymore. As industry has done, most maintenance is contracted out to manufacturers now, so if I were to be in the business, I’d look at the OEM for work. MBAs have decided it doesn’t cost as much to do that. ”

 

“There’s much more RF work in mobile networks, home/metro internet and emergency communications, automotive systems, industrial IoT, military and even space systems. In practice, it may or may not require a degree, depending on level of design or debug or deep sales activity vs just installing. ”

 

“The other challenge is senior broadcast techs who are tired and can’t really be bothered passing the baton to new engineers. I was involved in a short-term project where I saw many of the broadcast techs were 60+ years old. There’s nothing wrong with that; however … their energy levels were fading, they were no longer excited to be at the forefront … Meanwhile company management had no succession ideas because to them it wasn’t a problem. To me, it’s all about the seven traits of a good engineer, including continuous learning, serving as mentors, good tech and listening skills — these are key to empowering the next generation of people who will need to be both IT techs and broadcast engineers for a sustainable future. ”

The post “It Will Take a Change of Mindset” appeared first on Radio World.

GatesAir has appointed three new members to its worldwide sales team. These latest hires are focusing respectively on the Caribbean and Latin America; Europe, Middle East and Africa; and Asia-Pacific regions.

Antonio Satta

Antonio Satta joins GatesAir’s CALA team as sales director, Brazil. Reporting to Felipe Luna, GatesAir’s managing director, CALA region, Satta brings nearly 15 years of broadcast and telecommunications experience to his new role.

Previously he was with Screen Service Broadcasting Technologies for 11 years, most of which were spent in Brazil as managing director.

GatesAir says that as well as direct-end customer relationships, Satta will work closely with Foccus Digital, GatesAir’s long-time Brazilian partner.

Matt Smith

In addition, Matt Smith joins the GatesAir’s EMEA team as regional sales director, covering a diverse geography across Western Europe, the Nordics and southern Africa. Reporting to Andy McClelland, GatesAir’s managing director, EMEA, Smith brings more than 15 years of industry experience to GatesAir.

According to the company, he held roles of increasing responsibility over his years at Envivio and Harmonic, where he most recently served as director, key accounts for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Smith will focus on business growth and managing go-to-market initiatives across nearly 30 countries, with an added goal of strengthening GatesAir’s partner network and reseller base throughout his territory.

Oscar Hu

Finally, Oscar Hu joins GatesAir’s APAC team as regional sales manager, Southeast Asia. Reporting to Jacky Yee, GatesAir’s head of sales, APAC, Hu will focus on raising GatesAir’s visibility and market share across most of Southeast Asia (and parts of East Asia and Micronesia), including Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Hu brings nearly 15 years of broadcast industry experience to his new position, and most recently served as sales manager for Digital Broadcast Asia Pacific.

“GatesAir’s main international initiative has been to establish a stronger global presence, and that strategy included hiring experienced resources with a regional presence that would bring us closer to our customers,” said Rich Redmond, president and managing director, international, GatesAir.

“With a stronger global foundation now in place, we continue to invest in the right talent with the appropriate skillsets that will help broadcasters navigate challenging digital transitions, and develop new business opportunities for over-the-air content delivery.”

The post GatesAir Boosts Global Sales Team appeared first on Radio World.

ANTWERP, Belgium — Radio 2 Antwerpen recently inaugurated new “pop-up” studios.

Els Broekmans is a VRT Radio 2 Antwerpen presenter. Credit: mmpress 

“The basic idea was to bring our regional studios to where people live and work, increasing the station’s visibility,” said Dirk Somers, head of Radio 2’s partners and infrastructure department.

“It was also a cost-savings operation. Before, Radio 2 was housed in buildings with huge studios and space for over 30 people. Today, we have compact, cost-effective and efficient working landscapes in Leuven, Hasselt, Kortrijk and Antwerp.”

“Presenting while standing up is a bonus and results in better breathing,” said presenter Els Broekmans. Credit: Joost Joossen

Boosting the regional station’s visibility was a crucial element in the whole process, echoes Steven Cauwenberg, region-manager for Radio 2 Antwerpen. “The past 41 years, the Antwerp regional studio was located in the back part of De Singel arts center. Today, we broadcast from a glass house, located in the very cradle of the city, within walking distance from the River Scheldt and the town hall,” he said.

“Our neighbors in the Beacon (a smart community and hub that houses more than 60 startups focused on AI and IoT innovation) add value to the location. This is where digital creatives, developing smart-city applications like self-driving vehicles, or elements that could become interesting for radio are located. There’s quite some potential in future synergies or cross-pollination here.”

POP-UP RADIO STATION

Radio 2 Antwerpen’s space for news and digital content. Credit: Joost Joossen

Bearing in mind a possible future relocation, the broadcast site’s infrastructure was conceived as a pop-up studio landscape. “The Beacon building was supposed to be replaced by a new real estate project,” added Somers. “We signed a five-year rental agreement but I gather that, considering the success of the site and its total occupancy, the agreement may be extended”.

The broadcaster initiated the project for the new studio in early 2019, with parameters like visibility, open office structure and user-friendliness playing a crucial role.

The new facilities offer plenty of daylight in the open office space. Credit: Joost Joossen

“Radio 2’s regional programs run on weekdays from 6–8 a.m. and 12–13 p.m., plus three regional news inserts in Radio 2’s national programs,” explained Cauwenberg. “When we designed the studios, we calculated the maximum double use of the rooms. The main on-air studio has no specific ‘Radio 2’ branding or imaging, so other channels can use it. In addition, it’s possible to use the production studio as an on-air facility and our interview studio also serves as a meeting room.”

The 350-square-meter (app. 3,800 square feet) open office landscape with huge windows offers plenty of daylight and looks out on a lively square. The on-air studio and the two production cells are housed in Flexboxes — a 100% plug-and-play concept designed by office furniture manufacturer Ahrend.

Steven Cauwenberg (left) is region manager for Radio 2 Antwerpen. Geert Cantens is engineer with VRT Labo Radio. Credit: mmpress

The cabins are designed to offer flexible, modular and functional room-in-room operations. The acoustically insulated Flexboxes, equipped with mains, data connection, LED-lighting and air circulation, were optimized for radio use. Whereas the two production boxes were standard, the on-air studio cube was tailor-made and equipped with air conditioning.

“Alongside the three studio-boxes the work floor is split in a production section for audio production, and a news section for digital and radio content, plus two national news journalists operating from Antwerp as regional hub,” said Cauwenberg.

HEIGHT-ADJUSTABLE DESKS

A DHD 52/XC2 core powers the main on-air studio. There are two DHD 52/MX mixer frames at the presenter position and one mixer for the news host or program sidekick.

“The entire configuration is packed in three racks,” said Geert Cantens, engineer with VRT Labo Radio. Credit: mmpress

“Two presenters in one self-op studio is new — before, the presenter and news host worked in separate studios,” explained Geert Cantens, engineer with VRT Labo Radio.

Another novelty for Radio 2 Antwerpen is the integration of the Broadcast Bionics PhoneBOX SIP telephone system “Until recently, the Antwerp studio used an ISDN-based telephone system with analog lines. PhoneBOX is fully IP-based allowing recording, editing and the transfer of telephone content from a PC. On the journalists office desk, a small DHD module is used for preliminary talks and switching PhoneBOX footage/material to the main studio, boosting the news flow’s flexibility. PhoneBOX is not only the main hub to receive telephone calls, but can also receives LUCI calls from reporter smartphones.”

The transportable Flexboxes are the basis for Radio 2’s pop-up principle. Credit: mmpress

The on-air staff also works from height-adjustable desks — Radio 2 Antwerpen was the last studio with seated presenter positions. “Apart from the fact that we’re really in the middle of the action, quite a different vibe. presenting while standing up is a bonus, and results in better breathing,” said presenter Els Broekmans. “Radio 2’s former tagline, ‘Altijd dicht bij jou’ [‘Always Close to You’] has become true and this reflects in our presentation.”

Although most processing takes place within the DHD engine, an Empirical Labs Distressor was added in the equipment rack. “It has become a standard component for our on-air studios and engineers have become used to the settings,” commented Cantens. “We also use DHD’s internal automatic mic mixer feature for studio guests.”

The on-air studio is equipped with a Dalet Plus playout system, connected with VRT’s database in Brussels as well as Genelec 8240A monitors and Neumann U89 microphones. Two silent PCs are located under the presenter desk. “The whole concept had to be economical. We stepped away from the expensive and complex KVM connection to the engine room,” Cantens explained.

CROSS-TALK STUDIO

“It was crucial that the on-air and production studios had the same functionalities and layout,” continued Cauwenberg.

The production booth’s configuration is identical to the on-air studio’s setup. Credit: mmpress

“All studios are self-op — for many people with a journalistic background, this is a next step ahead. That’s why our production booth is identical to the main studio,” he said.

The production Flexbox has a back-up on-air studio, and Cauwenberg underlined the multipurpose aspect of the studio, for use by other VRT channels or programs.

The broadcaster uses a third booth so a guest can be in the Antwerp studio and the reporter in another VRT studio, thus not having to travel between different cities. “We had this option before, but we’ve added a Sennheiser HMD26 headset, an Axis camera and a big display,” Cauwenberg said.

“This allows us to interview people in Antwerp face-to-face, offering a clean feed for any VRT channel, without them having to travel to Brussels. And the room also serves as meeting room.”

The three studios are connected with the DHD 52/XC2 core in the technical area — the signal is routed to VRT’s line center by means of a redundant fiber-optic link.

It was system integrator Amptec who won the public tender for the cabling and installation of the new studio landscape. The company also took on the integration of the studios in Leuven, Kortrijk and Hasselt.

“The main challenge was that the configuration had to be designed in view of a future relocation,” said Jasper Willems, broadcast project engineer with Amptec.

“Both the presenter desk as well as the three racks in the machine room can be disconnected — just put in place the horizontal cabling and the studio can fairly easily be relocated … plug and play!”

The post Radio 2 Antwerpen Inaugurates New Pop-up Studios appeared first on Radio World.

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Dismissed the complaint with prejudice and terminated the proceeding

Media Bureau issues forfeiture to Carolina Radio Group, Inc., in the amount of $2,000 for failure to notify FCC of change to W225DF's primary station and failure to submit technical need showing

Granted the WRNN Market Modification Petition

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FCC seeks comment on whether to eliminate or modify the requirement that cable operators maintain records in their online public inspection files regarding the nature and extent of their attributable interests in video programming

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Stakeholders weighed in Feb. 28 after the FCC voted to proceed with a public auction of C-Band spectrum for 5G, an item that had prompted heated debate from the Hill and elsewhere.

“The U.S. must win the race to 5G,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) in a joint statement. “It’s simple: either we lead the way, bring along other like-minded countries, and write the rules on advanced technologies, or we have them dictated to us by China. We know that only the first option will be written with free-market principles in mind. I’m encouraged chairman Pai and the FCC share this mindset and I commend their progress on the C-Band auction order.”

“ACA Connects praises chairman Pai and the FCC on the adoption of an order today that strikes an appropriate balance between clearing a large portion of the C-Band for 5G use and protecting incumbent users of the spectrum,” said ACA President Matthew Polka. “This proceeding turned out to be one of the most challenging undertakings of any FCC chairman’s tenure, and Chairman Pai and his team proved once again they know how to get things done.”

[Read: FCC Preps Big Spectrum Moves]

The C-Band is used by satellite companies to deliver programming to broadcasters and cable operators, so the FCC is having to free up 280 MHz of the lower portion of the band, move incumbents to the upper part, and make sure that new wireless broadband users of the freed-up spectrum don’t interfere with those incumbents.

“Today’s vote is another major step toward unleashing mid-band spectrum for 5G,” said AT&T EVP Joan Marsh. “Making the C-Band available for mobile flexible use will provide a vital resource for deploying next generation wireless networks and securing U.S. 5G leadership. We look forward to reading the details of the item and continuing to work with the commission to ensure a successful auction and effective transition.”

“The FCC’s vote today is a great success for the future of 5G in America. We cannot afford to wait any longer to roll out 5G nationwide in America and the approval of a public auction of the spectrum is a great step to unleashing American innovation,” said 5G Action Chairman Mike Rogers. “China has a head start on cornering 5G, but with this vote we are one step closer to ensuring we don’t lose the race. Getting 5G right is critical to our country’s long term economic and national security and I applaud the FCC’s and Chairman Pai’s actions today.”

“While surely there will be much quibbling about various facets of the FCC’s decision, to my mind, Chairman Pai and his Republican colleagues deserve much credit for proposing a sound way forward,” said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. “Absent the willingness to consider somewhat novel approaches to address the need to repurpose this midband spectrum sooner rather than later, I suspect we’d still be stuck in neutral — and in today’s technologically dynamic and competitive marketplace environment, being stuck in neutral doesn’t advance overall consumer welfare or the national interest.”

“I applaud the commission for voting in favor of the C-Band auction rules,” said Competitive Carriers Association President Steven K. Berry. “C-Band spectrum provides incredible potential for all carriers — both large and small — to deploy next-generation technologies, and a public auction of this invaluable resource is certainly the right decision. An auction of 280 megahertz will go a long way to helping meet consumers’ insatiable demand for more. While we would have liked to have seen a limit on spectrum aggregation to further promote competition, we commend the commission for its work on this enormously complex issue and look forward to a robust auction in the near future.”

 

The post D.C. Reacts to FCC C-Band Vote appeared first on Radio World.

The Intercollegiate Broadcasting System will host its 80th High School & College Media Conference March 6–7 in New York. 

Ahead of the event, IBS President Chris Thomas and IBS NYC Co-Coordinator Shawn Novatt told Radio World that the event would feature guest speakers including iHeartMedia Division President Scott Hopeck, Z100’s Maxwell, WCBS(FM)’s Race Taylor, New 102.7FM’s morning show team, Cox Media Group Long Island’s promotions/marketing and sales team and many others.

The Hotel Pennsylvania-hosted conference will cover topics ranging from production, on-air and show preparation, podcasting, sales, production and more in order to teach attendees how to improve their student media operations. 

IBS events are for member stations only; however, all college and high school media outlets are eligible for membership. Attendance costs $110 per person or $660 for groups of six or more people. 

The post IBS to Host High School & College Media Conference for This Weekend appeared first on Radio World.

“StudioHub is back, baby!” Angry Audio founder Michael “Catfish” Dosch announced in a Monday press release. 

Radio World reported in October that Dosch’s new company planned to acquire the StudioHub line of R-J45 adapters, cables and studio accessories from Radio Systems. That has now gone through. 

“We purchased the IP to all of the products formerly manufactured by Radio Systems under the Radio Systems and StudioHub brands,” Dosch told RW Monday. “We bought the StudioHub brand and trademarks, but did not buy the Radio Systems brand. We also purchased all remaining inventory of Radio Systems.”

The terms were not disclosed. It was a three-party business transaction between Angry Audio, Radio Systems and Michael Sirkis, who owned most of the IP for the products manufactured by Radio Systems.  

Earlier, Radio Systems had announced that it would no longer manufacture its own equipment but would instead serve as Lawo’s exclusive U.S. distributor. 

Angry Audio is now offering the StudioHub products on its website at its own brand page, https://angryaudio.com/studiohub/. 

Dosch said Angry Audio is manufacturing most of the more popular Radio Systems products. Angry Audio is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. The adapters and cables are manufactured in China; electronics products are assembled and tested in Nashville from parts sourced mostly from China. 

Angry Audio is not continuing the Millenium console line. “We will however, provide spare parts support for owners of Millenium consoles on a ‘best effort’ basis, meaning as long as we have, or can reasonably obtain, inventory,” Dosch said.

The post StudioHub Products Now Available From Angry Audio appeared first on Radio World.

From Radio World’s “Who’s Buying What” department: Canadian broadcaster Bell Media says it has signed a deal to pilot Veritone Essentials and Veritone Attribute artificial intelligence solutions at three dozen of its radio and television stations for several years. 

In the announcement, Bell Media Vice President of National Radio Sales Dean explained the Veritone deployments enable “real-time campaign optimization” in addition to “attribution and effectiveness metrics.”

Rutherford said, “We are now able to see campaigns as they air, including preproduced, live, and in-show executions. This allows us to provide up-to-the-minute analytics with a new level of transparency, enabling our local and national advertising partners and sponsors to better measure campaign effectiveness and return on investment.”

[Read more: Radio Just Got Smarter Thanks to AI]

For example, the Veritone Attribute app demonstrates correlations between advertisements and web traffic within a select time frame via “intuitive dashboards and reports.”

Bell Media has 109 licensed radio stations in 58 markets in Canada.

Send your Who’s Buying What news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Bell Media Chooses Veritone for AI Ad Solutions appeared first on Radio World.

With three national and several local DAB+ multiplexes on air today in Italy, about 83% of the Italian population can receive digital radio broadcasts. The March issue takes a look at how one of the national consortiums, DAB Italia, is working to expand the country’s digital services.

This month we also highlight BR Verkehr in Germany and detail the station’s use of an integrated newsroom system to help ensure the broadcast of timely traffic alerts.

Read the March issue of Radio World International here!

Prefer to do your reading offline? No problem! Simply click on the Issuu link, go to the left corner and choose the download button to get a PDF version.

COMMENTARY

Sound Ideas. Sound Decisions

The sound of radio is changing and the industry needs to listen

PRODUCT EVALUATION

MicPort Pro2 Delivers the Smartphone Audio Goods

CEntrance has a pro-grade recording interface for radio reporters and voiceover artists

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

BR Verkehr Puts Focus on Traffic

Kenya’s Simba Radio Selects Lawo

Buyer’s Guide: Sports Reporting & Remote Gear

The post Inside the March issue of Radio World International appeared first on Radio World.

Seemingly a new NAB Show tradition, once again Inovonics has a new INOmini SiteStreamer available for NAB attendees.

The Sofia 567 SiteStreamer+ focuses on monitoring the AM band (520–1710 kHz) and then offering an analog feed, AES3 digital feed (44.1 or 48 kHz), Dante AES67 AoIP network and web streaming (MP3 or Ogg 16–48 kHz and 32–256 kHz). It can be installed at a transmitter site or any place where an AM signal needs to be monitored.

SNMP and email messaging is supported as is remote operation via the web. Alarms include audio loss, low signal and AM reception loss.

The Sofia 567 can entertain up to 10 listeners via the internet. The StationRotation feature allows the 567 to monitor a programmed series of stations.

It is in the familiar rackmountable INOmini half-rack box.

NAB Show Booth: N6525 Info: www.inovonicsbroadcast.com

The post NAB Sneak Peek: Inovonics Sofia 567 to Visit NAB Show appeared first on Radio World.

BOSTON — For approximately 10 years, I worked for the New England Patriots football team. I didn’t have any radio skills when I began, but over the course of my first five years, I learned how to be an engineer and how to produce great radio. About a year ago, I decided to venture out on my own as an independent engineer, working with radio and podcasting clients.

I now work with several organizations, and much of my time is spent working with Boston College. I oversee their football, basketball and hockey programming in a chief engineering role. Additionally, I do color commentary for their away basketball games. I played basketball all through college and studied journalism, so working as a color commentator is a natural fit.

Recently, I purchased an Access NX (and finally retired my old Access 2USB, which I had owned for seven years). To broadcast college sports games, we connect with IMG Learfield, which owns over 100 Access units. When it’s time to connect, I get in touch with my guy, find out which studio he’s working from, select his Access unit from a dropdown menu and hit connect. It’s that simple. 

The beauty of Access is once we set up connection presets with IMG, we can now see all the different units they have online. So when it’s time to connect, I can see the status of all their Access units, and I don’t need to enter additional information at any point.

When I was introduced to Access, I was really intimidated. I was originally taught to use ISDN, and I wasn’t sure what to do when IP codecs started to take over. I didn’t want to let go of my ISDN, but after getting some pretty simple instructions and diving into the user manual, I discovered that IP codecs are even easier to use than ISDN.

CONNECTIONS

Not to mention, IP codecs are much more convenient to travel with. IP connections don’t take up a ton of bandwidth, so as long as you’re not sharing your connection with anything, you’re all set. Most arenas these days have a dedicated network for handling home and visiting radio, so when I’m traveling around the country, there’s usually reliable high-speed internet. Because networks are solid, it’s very rare that I get a lot of dropped packets or struggle to connect. IP networks are everywhere now, which makes IP codecs very easy to use.

When I began buying equipment to start working independently, I ultimately chose to buy a Comrex Access because I preferred the user interface. I also like having the portable Access mixer available. 

I usually travel with a large Mackie audio mixer, and rarely use the Access mixer, but if I ever need a very bare-bones set up, it’s a great solution. I also regularly send it out with talent if they won’t have access to an engineer. It’s plug-and-play and takes no real tech experience to set up; all they need is the Access, mixer, microphones and some headsets.

[New firmware available for Comrex Access codecs]

In my opinion, Access is the best IP codec I’ve worked with, and arguably the best one in the market. In the eight years I’ve been using one, I’ve never had a major problem. If I have anything minor, I know that I can call the support team and get dedicated, knowledgeable experts who will be able to answer my questions.

Comrex loaner units are also a lifesaver. I once had one for three weeks, when my unit was acting up right before the Super Bowl. Comrex took my Access in for repair and gave me a lovely portable travel unit as a loan, free of charge, no questions asked. There are very few places in this line of work, or in any line of work, that give you that level of attention to detail and customer service.

For information, contact Chris Crump at Comrex in Massachusetts at 1-978-784-1776 or visit www.comrex.com.

The post User Report: Comrex Access Delivers College Sports appeared first on Radio World.