Wire? Who needs wire?

Any engineer that’s been around the block a few times knows dozens of ways to use a piece of equipment that the manufacturer never intended. Some long-time favorites are: dead mixer as a doorstop, and: dead portable recorder as a paperweight. But wait… there are even things you can do with the stuff that still works!

For example – say you’re doing a remote broadcast from the fair, and you’ve got to run speakers waaay over there. Even if you had that much wire with you, it’s inconvenient to run it where the public won’t trip over it.

You can use a wireless mic or in-ear monitor system to deliver the audio to the distant speakers. Popular manufacturers include Shure, Audio-Technica, Listen, Galaxy, and others.

Most of these systems will transmit 150-200 feet easily. A beltpack or plug-on wireless mic transmitter can be connected to a spare output on your mixing board (Mackie outputs can be switched to mic level).

Put the receiver at the destination. If you need more range, use a directional antenna pointed back to the source.

Need to send a stereo signal across the way? No problem. Galaxy’s AS1000 system transmits full stereo. The receivers can output stereo, or a single channel (receiver at the left speaker just outputs left channel, right receiver outputs right).

Put as many receivers around as needed. They’ll all pick up the audio. Gee, it’s almost like… radio!

I spoke to an engineer today that wants wireless stereo for his remotes, because he’s not looking forward to cleaning the “rodeo residue” from all of the cables when the event is over. Can’t say that I blame him!

Here are some links:
In-ear monitor systems.
Plug-on and beltpack wireless mic systems.

Back to the Basics…Live and Local

Comparing ‘there” versus “here”….hmmm. Fact is,  we don’t really know where “here is” in broadcasting vernacular. I remember many years ago our “local” radio station receptionist trying to explain to an elderly listener (who baked a pie for her favorite DJ), that the DJ actually lived 2000 miles away in Chicago.  Shocked and disappointed,  Grandma and her Peach Pie went out the door (with a bumper sticker of course) never to return. I love pie. And it disappeared.

Yes, Radio Stations were the early adopters of outsourcing. In fact, BSW’s company founder Irv Law, was the first to introduce ‘automation systems” to stations in the 1960’s. Nowadays,  listeners are not amazed to learn that many local DJ’s are, in-fact, local fiction.  A local radio station actually emulating from another loCAL (New York, New Brunswick, or Mars) ain’t no big thang. Local is a state of mind right?

So let’s talk about you shall we?  Wanna be hip? Wanna be cool?  Simple…Broadcast Live and Broadcast Local. Turns out this is is an effective serum to cure broadcasting blahs. Being connected with your local community is your opportunity to profit successfully in a soft economic climate.

Broadcast live from the hotel or 50,000 seat arena . (Worked for Murry the K and The Beatles). See how many high school kids can cram in a VW at the local dealership. Set up a mic on a local street corner and engage your listeners with a real person. Or…broadcast a boat race like BSW’s John Lynch does every summer for the local radio station.

Lastly, do the math. Live + Local = Hip . And guess what? Hip  = Profit. And, people pay for Hip…simple as that.

Old School Broadcasting STILL rocks. So go sell a local REMOTE broadcast. (Buy your remote gear from BSW). And while you are at it, pass a slice of granny’s peach pie.

Mmmm pie.

Tending To Radio’s Rosy Future

Radio broadcasting students from Penninsula High School placed first in Team Newscast category. Instructor Leland Smith is on far right.

When Old Man Winter stops his whining, Spring arrives with the promise of youth. What a perfect time to honor the efforts of high school kids as they grow into the wild and wonderful world of Radio!

For the second year running, Leland Smith and radio station KGHP-FM from Peninsula High School in Gig Harbor organized and hosted the Washington State High School Radio Conference and Awards extravaganza this past May 14th. Attended by nearly 200 radio broadcasting students from all over Washington State, the conference offered guest speakers and breakout sessions taught by communications industry professionals. Awards included Best Locally Produced Public Service Announcement, Best Public Affairs Series, Best Individual Newscast, Best News Feature, Best Team Newscast, Best Sportscast and more. BSW is proud to be a sponsor of this event, and we gave away headphones as prizes to the deserving award winners. It was thrilling to see so much youthful exuberance devoted to our industry, and we were especially happy to see one of our customers, Nathan Hale High School’s KNHC-FM, once again receive the General Excellence award. After spending the evening with such high energy kids, it is easy to see that the tired old cliche “Radio is dying” is just a bunch of cold winter air.

SIGSALY

And just when we thought we had heard of everything… SIGSALY was mentioned. Actually more than mentioned, we met an unbelievable man who was involved with the invention of this fascinating technology.  His name is Frank Laico, and he is a CBS Recording Engineer Emeritus who’s recording credits reads like a who’s who in hit records. (Sinatra, Bennett, Streisand, and on and on and on). Frank was the guest speaker at the recent AES Meeting in Seattle. Magnificant gentleman who gave us three hours of fascinating information regarding making hit records back in the days when hit records were really records.

Back to SIGSALY. The brief description (from Wikipedia)

n cryptography, SIGSALY (also known as the X System, Project X, Ciphony I, and the Green Hornet) was a secure speech system used in World War II for the highest-level Allied communications. It pioneered a number of digital communications concepts, including the first transmission of speech using pulse-code modulation.

Frank Laico and his military buddies were pioneering digital audio long before digital …existed.

So go put on a Miles Davis album, (also recorded by Frank) , sit back and read all about SIGSALY  here. Fascinating story.

While you are at it, Google Frank Laico. His story and recording credits are amazing as well.

Higher Orders

In my hectic, always-spinning world of order fulfillment, it’s easy to get caught up in the process and not think about what all this gear is actually going to DO out there in the real world. So I was happy to hear from one of my favorite customers recently, reminding me of what a force for change broadcast equipment can be.

Gene Sharp, of Christian International Radio, has built missionary radio stations all over the world. His latest achievement is Amazing Grace Radio 105.1 FM in Rwanda, Africa. Thanks to a 1,000-Watt transmitter with a 5-bay antenna system (and a lot of hard work by Gene and his colleagues), Amazing Grace Radio is reaching out to over 16 million people in five countries, airing music, news, preaching and teaching 24 hours a day, every day. It’s humbling to think that all this grew from a few lines on some order forms, but most importantly, from people who dream of a better world and have the gumption to make their dream come true.

EAS is not always EASy

You may have heard that changes are coming to the EAS system.
Some time soon…
Any day now…
Eventually…
[sound of crickets]

Truth is, the rules haven’t been written yet. The EAS equipment manfacturers have evaluated the various proposals being considered, taken their best guess as to what will be required, and made up products that will be able to meet the need. But they can’t finish the products until the rules have been finalized. Everybody’s just waiting for FEMA to give the word.

The EAS equipment in your station may be ready for replacement now, and you can’t wait for the new rules. Now what?

The new products will operate under the present EAS structure now, and can be easily upgraded in the field to comply with the new requirements when they are released. So there is no need to keep a non-working unit in service (and risk a fine) while waiting.

BSW currently offers EAS products by TFT, Digital Alert Systems, Sage, and Gorman-Redlich.

If you’d like to keep up on the evolution of the new rules, here is a link to a page on the SBE website that discusses where it’s been, and where it’s headed. The “CAP Roadmap” from the SBE site gives a detailed look at the proposal submitted to FEMA.

Gimme More HD Signal Pleeeze

So, admittedly, I  have HD buyers remorse.

I purchased the HD Radio option in my BMW-X5 in January 2008. (I have commented in the past regarding this experience). But I must say after having paid for and using this option I kinda secretly wish I could get my money back. And here’s why. The HD  audio signal can’t seem to find my car.

Here in the Seattle-Tacoma area we have one AM and ten or so HD stations on FM.  After a year of trying to listen to the HD signal, I’m now conditioned expect the HD signal constantly pop in and out just like mono/stereo signal in my old 1970’s FM converter box. Oh for the days of my 1964 Chevy Impala,  AM Radio and a FM Converter box. Good times,  good times…but I digress.

The HD kicks in and out alot. If I happen to tune into a HD2 signal then the “no commercial HD2 Crawdaddy Blues format” just mutes. And Mutes. And Mutes some more. You get the mute point.

I assume more transmitting power on the HD signal would go a long way in improving this. So why not just crank up the HD output power? Probably a zillion reasons why not. But speaking as a citizen here in publicville I feel gypped. And I really don’t care what the technical reasons are…I just want HD to work. So..FIX IT.

Didn’t realize I was so grumpy. Maybe, I should just go look for a 1964 Impala on Craigs List to feel better.

Presonus Livens Up Our Studio

As some of you may know, we have a brand new location with a beautiful new studio for product demonstrations and testing. Recently, Bob Connelly and console expert Gilbert Perales from Loppnow and Associates (representing Presonus, among others), came by to christen our studio. They didn’t bring a bottle of champagne to smash on the wall, but the atmosphere was pretty giddy anyway as they demonstrated the Presonus Studio Live 16.4.2 digital mixer.

[ahh-choo, cough, cough, sniff] “Kiss Me…”

It’s that time when it seems everybody’s coughing and sneezing. You do your best to avoid contact with any “toxic substances” that may be in the air or on your work surfaces. But what about the studio mics?

Here in the US, on-air folks tend to nuzzle up close to the foam windscreen. Many people work with their lips or nose actually touching the foam. This is more “sharing” than most of us really need.

So out comes the can of spray disinfectant, and the foam windscreen gets a good soaking every now and then . This is not good for the foam. Not good for the mic. Just not really good at all.

A better solution is to use a screen-type pop filter. They are equally effective at preventing plosives, and they don’t attenuate high frequencies (as foam filters can.)

Many pop filters use a nylon mesh screen. While these do a good job, they are not convenient to keep clean.

However, metal screens can be easily treated with those pop-up disinfectant wipes.

BSW’s REPOP and RE27POP use metal screens. They fit RE20, RE27, Heil PR40, and Rode Procaster. Raxxess’ POMT-ST is a general-purpose metal screen that can be used with most any stand-mounted mic.

Better blow your nose… you’re on in 15 seconds.

It’s All About Relationships

There’s nothing like an exclusive relationship to get the ego soaring, and if I could dislodge the gallon of french onion dip that somehow got into my horn at the last BSW New Year’s Eve party I’d be tooting it to beat the band right now.

Our friends at Arrakis have asked us to be the exclusive domestic distributor of their Digilink Xtreme-Complete, a complete PC-based automation system for on-air, production, scheduling and logging. They call it a “radio station in a box” and they aren’t kidding. They give you everything you need (software, hardware, free training and support) to handle any separate on-air channel you want at your station. Considering how sophisticated it is, setup is incredibly fast and easy. Best of all, you avoid the nasty complications of messing around with third party gear. Arrakis and you are a party of two.