Tech Focus: Sports Radio, Part 1 - Long Ahead of TV in Broadcast Technology IP, REMI, DSP have been deployed for 10 years; production development's going strong By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, December 21, 2022 - 7:05 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
By the time sports made it to television - when NBC carried a Columbia-Princeton baseball game at Baker Field on May 17, 1939, to the 400 or so sets then capable of receiving it - radio was already the sports-media veteran. Eighteen years earlier, Pittsburgh's KDKA had broadcast a boxing match between Johnny Dundee and Johnny Ray at Pittsburgh's Motor Square Garden, launching what has become a $30 billion business in the U.S., $350 billion globally.
Sports radio has taken a back seat to television much of the time, kept alive in cars (mainly in the front seats, Meatloaf songs notwithstanding) and other venues. But, in the last decade or so, radio was developing and implementing workflows that prefigured what sports television would encounter more recently.
Every installation we've done in the last 10 years has been IP-based, says Phil Owens, senior sales engineer, Wheatstone. Ten years ago, it was just about connecting devices within the facility over common Ethernet, on platforms like our Blade product, a reference to the interface for the console and systems manufacturer's WheatNet-IP AoIP protocol. But radio was doing that before television. It was ready for REMI, for hybrid work models, before television had to move there because of budgets and then COVID. The console that used to be the hub for all of the audio sources is now part of a distributed-mix system that ranges from the broadcast facility to people's home studios. Radio was ready for IP.
Lawo diamond modular broadcast console for radio on-air, production, MCR, remote control, and remote production.
Johan Boqvist, senior product manager, radio, Lawo, asserts that radio is ahead of television when it comes to audio capture and processing.
Not so long ago, digital-signal processing was an exotic technology that only the largest media houses were able to afford, he says. Today, DSP is readily available; it's what you use it for that matters. For instance, our newest broadcast consoles for TV and radio have assistive-mixing features that help sports coverage on radio sound just as good as, if not better than, that on TV.
In fact, Boqvist contends, an IP infrastructure is simply assumed now in many, if not most, cases for both radio and television.
Further innovation will come, I think, on the delivery side of things, he adds. Consumers are now used to an on-demand world, television has seen viewing patterns shift dramatically from OTA to OTT delivery, and this parallels the rise in on-demand delayed playback. But TV shouldn't have a monopoly on this; sports-radio listeners are overwhelmingly made up of mobile, outdoor, or at-work listeners. On-demand playback for radio broadcasts of major sporting events could be a lucrative addition to broadcasters' developing library of online streaming services.
Well Ahead of the Game' Calrec has made substantial bets on IP for its consoles and other products. In radio, the cornerstone is the Type R modular, expandable, IP-based mixing system that integrates networking hardware and soft panels, and ties in with the Calrec Assist remote interface for mixing in the cloud.
Calrec Type R IP-based mixing system integrates networking hardware and soft panels, ties in with the Calrec Assist for mixing in the cloud.
Focused on the Type R, says Henry Goodman, director, product development, Calrec, we've been adding new [products] that can work on the same networks, such as a new GPIO box that allows GPIs and GPOs [automation circuits for interfacing with external systems, such as playout, phone systems, codecs; for example, a video switcher that can open and close the fader associated with the mic local to a camera] over an AoIP network, as well as third-party devices. The goal is to increase connectivity to support remote production.
And that leads back to radio, he says, because radio prefigured television's embrace of such techniques as REMI long before the pandemic. The traditional radio workflow was well ahead of the game compared with television, he says, because of radio's historical reliance on external feeds and other sources. In fact, he adds, radio continues to push technology in this direction, with virtualization encouraging the move to cloud-based centralized playout servers for content and live feeds.
We provide the ability to plug into that wide-area infrastructure, via IP or through codecs or other dedicated connections, Goodman says. When [broadcast] networks have their own IP infrastructure between locations, managing a 2110 network over that is much easier. Such centralization helps radio networks achieve more-efficient workflows but, at the same time, maintain the very localized nature of radio, especially sports radio, and the advantages that brings to broadcasters.
New Products for Radio For a 100-year-old medium, radio is still pretty spry and continues to spark product development, most recently on IP-based platforms.
Wheatstone LXE programmable control surface can be scripted to execute every function of the WheatNet-IP infrastructure.
Owens notes Wheatstone's newest related product, the LXE, which he calls our most programmable control surface in either hardware or virtual form and which can be scripted to execute every function of the entire WheatNet-IP infrastructure at a facility.
This year, Lawo introduced its Radio Software Version 7.1 and the R LAY Virtual Radio Software v4.4 upgrade. Release 7.0 coincides with the release of diamond, Lawo's newest mixing console for radio on-air, production
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
01/06/2024
Busy this week catching up from the Memorial Day holiday? Our TV Tech weekly wrap-up of all our coverage of new products, services and deployments will get you ...
01/06/2024
Young Sherlock, with Guy Ritchie directing and executive producing, is a go at Prime Video. Hero Fiennes Tiffin plays Sherlock. Prime Video calls it the origin...
01/06/2024
The Los Angeles Sparks-Indiana Fever game on Friday featuring the top two WNBA draft picks, Caitlin Clark and Cameron Brink, was the most watched WNBA game on I...
01/06/2024
Lionsgate, which increased its majority stake in 3 Arts Entertainment in January, said it named Brian Weinstein co-CEO of 3 Arts....
01/06/2024
Netflix is launching four video games based on unscripted series this year. They...
01/06/2024
ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates switched from their regular programming to carry live coverage of the verdicts in the porn star hush-money trial of former Pres...
31/05/2024
A U.S. Marine fires an FIM-92 Stinger missile during a training exercise in Yuma...
31/05/2024
NEW YORK The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising h...
31/05/2024
In a new analysis of what services might make up a good bundle and what services might benefit the most from bundling, Antenna has released new data that highli...
31/05/2024
Global SVOD revenues will increase by $116.6 billion by 2031, a growth rate of 13.3% per year over the next eight years, according to a new report from MIDiA Re...
31/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The FCC Media Bureau has announced that effective August 1, 2024 the Commission's TVStudy software will incorporate the most recent U.S. Ce...
31/05/2024
NBCUniversal has announced that its FAST channel TNBC will be rebranding to NBC Comedy Vault on June 1 and that the free streaming service will officially launc...
31/05/2024
PARIS Ateme has announced that the Indonesian public broadcaster TVRI is making the transition to 4K UHD OTT streaming using Ateme technologies....
31/05/2024
The proposal had received support from James Cameron, Andy Serkis, Paul Greengrass, Richard Curtis, and Jeremy Irons
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: May 31, 2...
31/05/2024
According to multiple reports, the new bid from Skydance offers a better deal to Paramounts Class B shareholders, who were said to be unhappy with the companys ...
31/05/2024
The awards recognise women and companies who are stand-out performers, innovators and leaders in the broadcast media technology industry
By Matthew Corrigan
...
31/05/2024
NEW YORK The global body that sets technical standards for digital advertising has expanded the reach of its measurement software development kit to include Sam...
31/05/2024
The rise of digital platforms is fundamentally changing the broadcast newsroom and its investment in technology according to Jon Roberts, director of technology...
31/05/2024
In a new analysis of what services might make up a good bundle and what services might benefit the most from bundling, Antenna has released new data that highli...
31/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. Fifty state broadcasters associations, including the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, have sent a letter to Congressio...
31/05/2024
EVS has announced the appointment of Richard Katz as senior vice president of operations for the North and Latin American (NALA) region. This appointment is par...
31/05/2024
CommScope has announced that it was selected by Casa Systems, Inc. as the highest to acquire Casa's cable business assets and that the two companies have en...
31/05/2024
Robert De Niro won't be receiving the Service to America Leadership Award from the NAB Leadership Foundation after all....
31/05/2024
Viant Technology said it formed an integration with Google Cloud's BigQuery data clean rooms...
31/05/2024
The CW said it will broadcast the 2024 Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop Last year, The CW aired the game when it was called Bar...
31/05/2024
Allen Media Group said it made a deal with Amazon's Fire TV Channel that will make content from several of Allen's outlet available via Fire TV and Echo...
31/05/2024
Robert De Niro, announced as the winner of the NAB's Leadership Foundation's Service to America Leadership Award on May 28, will not get the award. The ...
31/05/2024
Comcast Technology Solutions was selected by AccuWeather to create, manage and distribute linear and over-the-top video channels....
31/05/2024
Connected TV is becoming a bigger deal for consumers and advertisers, according to a new report from TVision....
31/05/2024
By Craig Anderton
Let's get right to what this sounds like. It's not quite feedback or tape reverse, it's well, listen to what it does in this blue...
31/05/2024
31 May 2024
VEON discloses April YTD trading update at its AGM Amsterdam, 31 May 2024 07:00 CEST -
VEON April YTD 2024 Highlights
Total revenue of USD 1,278 ...
31/05/2024
31 May 2024
VEON Announces Its New Board, Names Founder Augie Fabela as Chairman Amsterdam, 31 May 2024, 16.00 CET: VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam...
31/05/2024
May 31st, 2024
TRIBECA FESTIVAL AND OPEN AI ANNOUNCE SORA SHORTS'
Five Commissioned Short Films Created Using Sora Debut at 2024 Tribeca Festival
New ...
31/05/2024
In-Venue Technology Wrap-Up: How 4K, IP, and More are Changing the Game Pres Gam...
31/05/2024
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: The host broadcast facts and figures for Real ...
31/05/2024
UEFA Europa Conference League Final 2024: Bringing the broadcast to global TV sc...
31/05/2024
Willow Offers Free 2024 ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Preview via DirecTV, Verizon, ...
31/05/2024
Women's College World Series: ESPN Brings Live Drone, Two-Point Cabled, and ...
31/05/2024
SVG College Summit Brings Video-Production Industry Together in Atlanta in the M...
31/05/2024
UEFA Champions League Final 2024: CBS Sports' UCL Today Studio Show Is Pitch...
31/05/2024
Back to All News
Master of the House' Unveils a Scandalous Tale of Power and Greed on July 18
Entertainment
31 May 2024
GlobalThailand
Link copied to ...
31/05/2024
Back to All News
JEEtu Bhaiya is Back: Kota Factory' Season 3 Arrives on Netflix June 20
Entertainment
31 May 2024
GlobalIndia
Link copied to clipboar...
31/05/2024
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
With around 9,000 employees, Ground Transportation Systems is a global leader in Rail Signaling and Train Control Systems, Telec...
31/05/2024
RT 2FM is the home of music this summer, entertaining listeners across the day and night, with the best music, chat and interviews providing the soundtrack to ...
31/05/2024
After the 2008 financial crisis and increased risk-management regulations that f...
31/05/2024
RT Supporting the Arts: What's On this June
Watch our promo: RT Supporting the Arts | What's on YouTube
This June, RT is delighted to support Lim...
30/05/2024
When to Upgrade Software or Firmware This post is from our blog and news archive. The information may be out of date. Please contact us for further information ...
Tech Focus: Sports Radio, Part 1 - Long Ahead of TV in Broadcast Technology IP, REMI, DSP have been deployed for 10 years; production development's going strong By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
