More than 2,500 individual events comprised the 34th Evangelischer Kirchentag (Protestant church convention) that took place from May 1 to May 5 in Hamburg. The closing service attracted around 130,000 faithful, as well as considerable interest from the media.
The Kirchentag's biblical motto As Much as You Need' could well have been applied to the technical infrastructure that was set up in the press center serving the event. Reporters from around 40 radio stations were present, and all needed access the events feeds at all times. On the technical side, Lawo played a significant part in providing the infrastructure and ensuring that everything ran smoothly.
The 400m press center, with the set-up managed by local public broadcaster NDR (North German broadcaster), provided the various ARD stations (Germany's public broadcasters) with separate cubicles for their editorial staff. In addition to these workplaces, there were two self-op studios, three studios with sound engineers and one central control room. Outside, in front of the building, several radio stations had also positioned OB trucks that needed access to the audio feeds.
The OB vehicles were linked via fiber-optic cables that were configured as three Virtual LANs (VLANs). The first connected the OB vans with the internal ARD network, the second established a general Internet connection, and the third was used for RAVENNA streams to feed audio to the OB vans. To be on the safe side, QoS (Quality of Service) was assigned to the network to guarantee sufficient bandwidth but, as it turned out, the network requirements were sufficiently low that there were no problems.
The journalists in the OB vans also had their own monitor boxes, an Axia xNode that could receive eight channels and connect to the RAVENNA stream, and a Lawo KS-16 connected via Ethernet to select the required audio signals. The KS-16 controlled a Lawo crystal console in the master control room, which then supplied a selection of eight channels via the RAVENNA network.
Part of the appeal of using RAVENNA was that it is a non-proprietary technology based on Ethernet: Because of the Layer-3 technology, we were able to use existing network structures. We wouldn't have gained anything by laboriously installing new cabling the use of the existing structure meant that we were able to reduce the effort significantly, explains Sascha Schwoll, responsible for outside broadcast at German public broadcaster SWR and part of the ARD-team that planned and implemented the technical setup at the Kirchentag .
A total of nine Lawo crystal consoles were used: two with four faders in the self-op studios, three with eight faders in the studios, and one with 12 faders in the central control room. Additionally, there were three crystal base units without control panels, used solely to switch signals. The central audio administration was managed by a Lawo Nova29 router and VisTool touchscreen software. Up to 12 events were simultaneously transmitted to the press center plus additional streams with news, meaning that 16 signals had to be available to the journalists in the cubicles and OB vans, who had to be able to access any of the signals as required.
Prominent Interview Partners
Broadcasters at the event were able to book time slots in the two self-op studios, for example to record interviews and send them to their stations via file transfer, or to conduct a live interview. There were several prominent interview partners in Hamburg that were provided with headsets by the sound engineers or editorial staff in the self-op studios, and then connected e.g. with the broadcaster WDR in Cologne/Germany. The WDR then would either broadcast the interview live, or record it for later transmission.
In their workplaces, journalists also had small monitor speakers and a Lawo KS-16 module allowing to select the audio signal they required. To make this audio setup manageable, the editorial workplaces were combined in groups of five-to-six cubicles, which were each fed audio from a crystal base unit. These base units received their signals from the Nova29 router installed in the master control room.
Outlook
In the future, RAVENNA could be the right solution for handling this kind of tasks even more efficiently: It is planned that the editorial journalists simply select the RAVENNA streams they need to listen to on their laptops. And besides supplying individual journalists with audio streams, I'm thinking about setting up an ARD-wide multicast that, in the future, would contribute the signals across all connected stations, continues Schwoll.
The next installation will be at the Frankfurt Book Fair ( Buchmesse ), in October, where Lawo sapphire consoles will be used and with their motor faders and touch screens providing further benefits. Also, laptops will be networked via RAVENNA streams. This was one of the reasons for the use of Lawo solutions. Because Lawo is so widely used at all the big events, it makes a lot of sense for us to work with them also on smaller radio broadcast events. The only difference is that the number of available channels is not of highest priority. Much more important to us in this context is to be able to use existing network structures with RAVENNA, Sascha Schwoll closes.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
More than 2,500 individual events comprised the 34th Evangelischer Kirchentag (Protestant church convention) that took place from May 1 to May 5 in Hamburg. The closing service attracted around 130,000 faithful, as well as considerable interest from the media.
