Tennessee Turnaround
WKNO-FM, an NPR member station in Memphis, began operations on April 1, 1972, on 91.1MHz with 40kW of effective radiated power. The station launched its HD Radio signal in the fall of 2007. Up to that point, we underwent incremental upgrades and adjustments to the original installation.
New Year's Eve 2007: Berklee College of Music
We spent a few hours talking through how everything would be handled, from power access to running the audio and com (including video) lines from the performance space, through the kitchen and out to the truck.
New Year's Eve 2007: Dakota Jazz Club
For this presentation by Nachito Herrera, we had three keyboards added at the last minute on a small stage and we were able to work things out.
Toast of the Nation
We want our listeners to experience Toast as one program. When the broadcast moves from location to location, we don't want the audience to feel a jarring change. Our Boston venue is the David Friend Recital Hall at Berklee College of Music, while our new West Coast venue, Yoshi’s in San Francisco, is a 400-seat nightclub. But the audio teams managed the sound so that we created one program out of many parts.
Tips on wall-wart power supplies and leftover 6' cords
Wart remover, the spaghetti alternative, and send a tip, win a book.
Salem Omaha rebuilds
Salem Communications owns three stations that serve the Omaha market: KCRO-AM, KGBI-FM and KOTK-AM. Each station has a history that goes back many years, and the stations’ previous studios had seen a major part of that history. Salem acquired the three stations in 2004 and 2005, and it was known early on that new facilities were a necessity.
New Year's Eve 2007: Dazzle Restaurant
Presenting in surround really makes the experience so much better. Jazz typically lends itself to doing surround, because you generally have a real audience and real musicians. It is not heavily post-produced.
Remotes via IP
In the January Trends in Technology I discussed the difference between TDM and IP in the context of a station's STL system. I asserted that with a LAN
New Year's Eve 2007: Jazz Standard
We spent a few hours talking through how everything would be handled, from power access to running the audio and com (including video) lines from the performance space, through the kitchen and out to the truck.
New Year's Eve 2007: San Francisco
You can't capture everything, but you want to hear almost all the details you can possibly put into it. What you end up doing is filling holes. When something falls out of the mix, you find it and grab it. If something pops up you grab that, too.
Tips on rack maintenance, efficient rack use, power distribution, and deeper racks
Rack maintenance, efficient rack use, power distribution and deeper racks.
Built Right
For the Saga Communications stations in Asheville, NC, the need to update the facility that had more than 30 years behind it set the steps in motion. While a modern facility was the goal, the Asheville project provided Saga with the opportunity to implement some new technologies and try some new approaches. In the end, a necessary rebuild provided a showcase for the station and the group owner.
Automation Server Performance Enhancement
The keys to the revenue-producing potential of a facility are performance, reliability and ease of operation of the computer-based audio system (CBAS). Here are some ways to improve performance and reliability of the CBAS in a facility. Ease of operation I’ll leave to the vendors.
A break from Tradition: Using IP for an STL
A station's studio to transmitter link (STL) is an integral part of its mission-critical transmission system, linking the site that generates the program material to the transmitter location itself. As such, the quality and reliability of STL equipment has always been of paramount importance. One critical aspect of an STL system has historically been lack of contention in its use.
Server Performance Enhancement: Fine-tuning
Here are a few more quick tips to jazz up a file server.
Tips on rack mounting, RE-20, studio head room, and tape machine maintenance
Remote rack mounting, tape machine maintenance, studio headroom and from the Tech Tips Mailbag.
Sleek, fast and ready to move
In early October of this year, MRN Radio, the voice of NASCAR, crossed the finish line by moving to its new studio facilities. While one advantage of this move was that the facility did not support a 24-hour on-air operation, it was not simply a move across town. The studio moved 500 miles.
Performance evaluation
With HD Radio, it's important to monitor and measure the time alignment and level alignment between the analog modulation and the MPS, and stations will likely want to monitor the RBDS on the analog channel along with PAD data for both the MPS and SPS. Fortunately, there are now multiple monitoring devices made specifically for HD Radio, and each of these devices gives the end user options about which parameters are to be measured, and how the device is to alert the user once a problem is detected.
Putting it all together
It's no secret that everyone feels pressed for time. Workloads are increasing while staffs continue to be cut. We are asked to do more, but we're not always sure how to get it all done and keep track of the steps along the way. The good news is that there could be some assistance already available.
Planned Transition
A station rebuild usually includes all new equipment. Sometimes, it's not practical to replace everything, in which case, an incremental approach is needed. The Cumulus Indianapolis stations had a decent facility, but the on-air consoles weren't performing as expected or needed. The new consoles solved the existing problem, but they also set the stage for a future upgrade path.
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