Tech Focus: Radio, Part 1 - Migration to AoIP Helps Keep the Medium Robust The shift to streaming has provided a technological boost By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
This year's World Series is a milestone for broadcast, though a largely unheralded one: it marks 100 years since the first World Series broadcast, on station WJZ, of Game 1 between the Yankees and Giants, when both teams lived in New York City. And of course, it was broadcast on radio.
Audio-over-IP is the latest wrinkle in radio's carriage of live sports, part of the medium's strategy for remaining relevant as internet connectivity reaches the automobile, where terrestrial and, later, satellite radio has reigned supreme for most of that century. The technology is keeping up.
Calrec Director, Product Development, Henry Goodman, a primary designer of the company's Type R modular IP-based audio console, sees IP as the future of radio just as it is for television broadcasting, in part because of the need for pandemic-driven remote-production capabilities. Redundancy, in the form of the SMPTE 2022-7 standard, has become a workable solution, providing dual simultaneous signal paths that act as redundant failovers.
It was developed for audio for television applications, but now network redundancy has become absolutely necessary for any 2110 environment, he says, referring to the suite of SMPTE standards that describe how to send digital media over an IP network. [Broadcasters] of all types have come to expect that level of redundancy in the console.
That, in turn, drove development of the Type R, which he says marries hardware redundancy with software's virtual backstop. We have two Type-R cores mirroring each other, he explains. If the main one fails, the audio fails over to the other core, and that's added to the redundancy of 2022-7.
In fact, while radio has historically taken a backseat to television when it comes to technical innovation, the shift to streaming has enabled radio - and broadcast audio in general - to benefit from the kinds of technical advances that IP fosters.
Streaming Changes Everything The overall archetype is pretty much the same as it has always been, says Phil Owens, senior sales engineer, Wheatstone. You go to the venue with a remote kit and send the audio back to the station. What's changing things is streaming.
Wheatstone Phil Owens: Radio is trying to extend its reach via streaming, and it can do that in ways that [conventional] radio can't.
He cites Wheatstone's evolving Blade product series. The recently released fourth generation of I/O BLADE, the interface for the company's WheatNet-IP AoIP protocol, has two OPUS codec channels built in, eliminating the need for an additional codec box to transport audio facility-facility or venue-studio, outputs for monitoring, and a graphic mixer interface. It also supports interoperability standards, such as NMOS for discovery and AES67 for audio transport, and multichannel support for one, two, or eight channels. It has selectable encoding and AGC, peak limiter, and other processing tools developed to optimize the sound quality of encoded audio content.
For instance, Owens explains, at the venue, Blade 4 will give you eight microphone inputs and eight line outputs as well as a mixer, all of which can be accessed and operated remotely. Plus, the built-in mixer has a section of memory reserved for apps and processing, so you can sweeten the program output.
Essentially, he says, it's a radio solution that has evolved in a parallel manner to the way broadcast audio for television production has evolved for live sports, addressing both the remote operationality required for cost and COVID controls and deepening the integration of IP and streaming connectivity.
Radio is trying to extend its reach via streaming, and it can do that in ways that [conventional] radio can't, he says. What we're trying to do is give radio broadcasters the tools they'll need to get from the venue to the streaming point and then into the cars.
Radio Remains on Studer's Radar When Evertz finalized acquisition of Harman Professional's Studer brand from Samsung this year, Studer's modularized Glacier series solutions, which had been aimed in part at radio production, were part of the package. According to Mo Goyal, senior director, international business development, Evertz, who oversaw the transaction, the company plans to turn its attention to the Glacier series and related products in the near future. Evertz has relocated manufacturing of Studer's Vista series broadcast-audio consoles, most of which it plans to continue to support, from Harman's plant near Budapest, Hungary, to Evertz's facility in Hamilton, ON.
That was a challenging exercise, he explains, to ramp up manufacturing processes that we hadn't done before, to reset the supply chains for it, and then to ramp up the [sales and support] teams for it in the UK and North America, as well as integrating that technology into our IP workflow on Evertz platforms Bravo and DreamCatcher.
While the Glacier products are on pause for now, says Goyal, they are under review on how they might fit into Evertz's expanding audio plans. He acknowledged Studer's existing customer base in radio, including consoles and related systems in a reported 512 Canadian radio stations.
Radio definitely remains part of the picture looking ahead, he says. It's something we will address at some point.
As much as radio might seem an antique technology, it remains part of the cultural infrastructure, particularly the automotive branch. That is reflected in survey after survey, even as radio stations and networks themselves move online as
Most recent headlines
17/02/2025
TVBEurope talks to the team who brought a piece of broadcasting history back to life on BBC Wales last night
By Jenny Priestley
Published: February 14, 2025 ...
17/02/2025
Eligible studios will receive the relief directly from their local authorities, with no need to submit a claim
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 17, 20...
17/02/2025
As DEI initiatives come under pressure in the USA, supporters of Rise, which promotes diversity in the media and entertainment sector, discuss the continuing im...
17/02/2025
EIB Global loan will partially fund SES's continued O3b mPOWER medium earth orbit (MEO) fleet expansion enabling additional capacity worldwide. O3b mPOWER s...
15/02/2025
At Nielsen, Business Resource Groups (BRGs) play a critical role in nurturing a ...
15/02/2025
Innovation to empower creativity: Explore the latest in Lightroom
Rob Christensen February 15, 2025
0 Comments
Whether you want to remove distracting ...
15/02/2025
Wisycom, a worldwide leader in RF technology and provider of wireless solutions, announces a new distribution agreement with EQUAPHON. An Argentinian profession...
15/02/2025
DPA Microphones, the leading manufacturer of high-quality microphone solutions, is pleased to welcome Nicholas Nick Mariano and Vincent Vince Divine to the ...
15/02/2025
Tuxera, a leading provider of quality-assured file systems and networking solutions, will showcase how Tuxera Fusion SMB enables unprecedented performance for m...
15/02/2025
Bitmovin's latest Video Developer Report indicates an increasing role of AI, the slow adoption of next-generation codecs, and continuing challenges when it ...
15/02/2025
When Michelin Enterprises set out to promote its prestigious Hotel Guide in the new Sleepless in the Kitchen , campaign, veteran German/Slovenian gaffer Robert...
15/02/2025
Formula E, the world's first all-electric racing series, revolutionizing motorsport with cutting-edge technology and a commitment to sustainability has sele...
15/02/2025
Agile Content, a global leader in TV and video technology solutions, announces its rebranding to AgileTV.
The transition to AgileTV stems from a commitment to ...
15/02/2025
Hiltron Communications will promote the latest additions to its range of satellite communication products, systems and supporting services at GovSatCom 2025. Th...
15/02/2025
Following the success of the original Airglow Booklight, DoPchoice debuts a new addition to their inflatable line the Float. This lightweight, inflatable, round...
15/02/2025
LAS VEGAS Marshall Electronics has announced that it will debut its newest camera controller, the RCP Plus, at the 2025 NAB Show at Booth N2649 between April 5 ...
15/02/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Blake Sebo as the next general manager of KTUU and KYES, Gray's NBC and CBS affiliates in Anchorage, Alaska....
15/02/2025
KOKKEDAL, Denmark DPA Microphones will feature its new CORE+ technology for distortion-free microphone sound at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas....
15/02/2025
SWANSEA, U.K. QuickLink will launch StudioPro-NDI and StudioPro-3, two new models of its QuickLine StudioPro video production platform, at the 2025 NAB Show, Ap...
15/02/2025
Live From 2025 NBA All-Star Game Weekend: After 25 Years, Turner Sports All-In F...
15/02/2025
NASCAR Driver Cam on Max Embraces Cloud-Based Workflow for 2025 Season Chris Brown of WBD Sports says Mobii will play key part in delivering signals from the tr...
14/02/2025
Last month, we officially launched the Spotify Partner Program, a powerful new m...
14/02/2025
From an island off the coast of Lutruwita to the global stage in France SBS & ...
14/02/2025
The future of electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) land systems is evolving so that ...
14/02/2025
Here are 5 reasons why you should attend ISE 2025
Discover more about Calrec: Learn more about Calrec's legacy of innovation in broadcast audio solutions ...
14/02/2025
World Radio Day: On the same wavelength
By Graham Murray, International Sales Manager at Calrec
To mark World Radio Day, Calrec's International Sales Ma...
14/02/2025
DALLAS and TYSONS, Va. Tegna has concluded a broadcast rights agreement that makes Tegna's KFAA in Dallas the exclusive local television partner of the Dall...
14/02/2025
Amazon's Prime Video has released a new app for Apple TV that the streamer said delivers an improved streaming experiences with faster scrolling, improved s...
14/02/2025
CLEVELAND Telos Alliance announced a software update for its Axia Quasar XR and SR line of audio-over-IP (AoIP) mixing consoles and will show the offering at th...
14/02/2025
Puget Systems Returns to HPA Tech Retreat 2025 with New Analysis Tools for Puge...
14/02/2025
Glass Animals: Tour of Earth Uses Blackmagic Live Production Workflow
Brie Clayton February 14, 2025
0 Comments
80six deploys Blackmagic URSA Broadcas...
14/02/2025
A dispute between Paramount and Youtube TV that would have pulled CBS stations and Paramount's cable channels from the streaming service has been temporaril...
14/02/2025
Colourist Deidre (Dee) McClelland details how she helped shape the distinct look and feel of whimsical Oscar-nominated stop-motion film, Memoir of a Snail
By C...
14/02/2025
BitFire said it intends to introduce forward-looking services that simplify the launch of live production workflows, and enhance real-time collaboration
By Jen...
14/02/2025
The claim by the liquidators is the latest twist in the ongoing saga of the companys collapse at the end of 2021
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 14, ...
14/02/2025
A carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Paramount could come to a head today (Feb. 13), with the virtual pay TV provider threatening to pull all of the progra...
14/02/2025
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. LG Electronics USA has opened a new in-house, state-of-the-art virtual production studio at its 360,000-square-foot North American headqu...
14/02/2025
NEW YORK In a bid to help local broadcasters find new ways of monetizing their content, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and TVB have relea...
14/02/2025
WASHINGTON Three Democratic U.S. Senators have sent a stern letter blasting FCC Chair Brendan Carr for the weaponization of the agency for attacking broadcast...
14/02/2025
Years after launching the streaming service Apple TV+ in November of 2019, Apple has finally released a version of its steaming app for Android devices....
14/02/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. Red Digital Cinema will make its V-RAPTOR [X] and KOMODO-X camera systems available with Nikon's premier Z Mount, providing filmmaker...
14/02/2025
DAYTONA, Fla. The Fox Sports production of this year's Daytona 500 will see the addition of a few new tech elements and the continued unfolding of the broad...
14/02/2025
Watch Bryson Battles Blind Audition on The Voice Get a Four-Chair Turn Michael Bubl said the Boston Conservatory at Berklee musical theater senior might have...
14/02/2025
2025 Daytona 500: FOX Sports Looks To Ride Super Bowl LIX Momentum Into NASCAR S...
14/02/2025
14 Feb 2025
VEON's Kyivstar and the Come Back Alive Foundation Raise USD 2....
14/02/2025
Max Renews THE PITT, Starring Noah Wyle, For A Second Season
Max
Warner Bros. Television Group
The Pitt
New Episodes Of The Medical Drama From John...
14/02/2025
This year, Technicolor proudly celebrates 110 years of shaping the magic of cinema pioneering color, visual effects, and innovation that bring unforgettable l...
14/02/2025
NBA All-Star: More Games, More Teams, More Music, More Sound From the Court Turner Sports' team will deploy familiar tech to capture all the audio By Dan D...
14/02/2025
LIV Golf Continues To Innovate With Drones, Data-Driven Graphics, and All-Access...
Tech Focus: Radio, Part 1 - Migration to AoIP Helps Keep the Medium Robust The shift to streaming has provided a technological boost By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
