The SBE gang held its annual holiday luncheon this year at Mimi’s Cafe in Mission Valley and had a great time of it. Congratulations to those who walked out with prizes. Nigel Worrall received a ham radio handi-talkie from RF Specialties. Bob Gonsett, Steve Frick, and Barbara Lange walked off with chocolates or wine from Piper Digital and Utah Scientific. Everyone got great food and conversation.
When broadcasters swap CD’s, cart machines, turntables and audio consoles for PC-based digital playout, mixing & processing systems, we call that Virtual Radio. At our next meeting, guest speaker Bill Bennett, Lawo’s Radio Applications lead in the U.S., will describe virtualization in greater detail by outlining the real applications in use today. He’ll explore how broadcasters may now reap operational benefits and gains by capitalizing on I.T.’s investment in R&D and will discuss virtualization’s anticipated role in content creation and broadcast workflow in the future.
Virtual Radio is a hot topic. A recent episode of This Week in Radio Tech (TWiRT) featured a Lawo presentation on this topic. How did they conduct their broadcast interview? Virtually, of course!
Lawo is a provider of virtual radio products, digital mixing consoles, routing systems, video solutions and turnkey systems for the professional broadcast industry. Their equipment is utilized by TV and radio stations, production companies, and theaters worldwide.
Bill Bennett made his presentation Wednesday, November 9th, 2016 at iHeartMedia, San Diego before a sizable audience of local broadcast engineers.
Bill Bennett has been a long time audio engineer and project manager, leading media venue technical set-up teams for several Olympics. He’s also managed NBA, NHL, and regional events. He joined Lawo last year.
Many, if not most, radio stations these days have an Xpress box to bring them some flavor of satellite-delivered content, whether a talk show or syndicated music broadcast. But did you know these receivers are made in San Diego? Did you know they can be programmed to operate as self-contained radio automation systems? What can networks do with these store-and-forward devices?
Damon will talk about their watermarking and monitoring technology as well.
Pico Digital started as Pico Macom in 1969, selling TV modulators and related RF devices for the cable TV and hospitality markets. They still make and sell sophisticated cable RF modulators, but have widened their offerings to include radio and TV IRDs.
Damon Semprebon of Pico Digital will give a talk on the capabilities of the Xpress line of receivers and other Pico products of interest to TV and radio broadcasts Wednesday, August 10th at 12 noon at KFMB, 7677 Engineer Road in San Diego. We’ll have a small lunch provided by Pico Digital, then the presentation. Members and guests welcome.
Damon Semprebon has 30 years experience in technical project management, product development, and other technical services. Before coming to Pico Digital a year ago, he spent 25 years at the San Diego company variously known as Comstream, Tiernan, Radyne, Comtech, and International Datacasting.
On July 22nd, 2016, SBE Chapter 36 toured the new KNSD/Comcast NBC plant on Granite Ridge Drive in San Diego.
They showed off:
All sales, news, and administrative personnel operated in shared space divided by cubicles with acoustic ceilings and shared offices available for private phone calls.
Many thanks to KNSD Director of Technology and Operations Dave MacKinnon for setting this up for us, and to Ross for lunch pizza. We had such great response, the group was divided into two dates.
With the FCC auctioning UHF-TV broadcast spectrum to telecom, “white space” is destined to be a mostly obsolete concept.
Kelly Fair of Lectrosonics will discuss wireless microphone and IFB spectrum at a Chapter 36 SBE meeting 12 noon on June 15, 2016 at KFMB Stations, 7677 Engineer Road, San Diego. Kelly will provide a lunch in the station deli, then move on to Studio A for the presentation. SBE members and guests are welcome.
Kelly has been in technical broadcast audio sales for 27 years, representing Sennheiser, Riedel, Wohler, and most lately, Lectrosonics. Kelly lives, and occasionally beats a set of drums, in Los Angeles.