For the 27th consecutive year, Broadcast Technical Services' founder, CEO and president Bill McKee, will be serving as de facto chief engineer of television facilities for the 2019 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo , held from February 25 through March 17 at NRG Park. This year, to make sure that audio sources are precisely fed to both front-of-house and the television production facility, McKee will rely on the Clear-Com ProGrid Audio Network Solution.
Taking place over the course of three weeks, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the world's largest livestock show and rodeo, and encompasses a wide variety of events, including concerts, a carnival, a barbecue contest, and a variety of special events.
For the 2018 Rodeo, Clear-Com provided a ProGrid system for testing, and Rodeo management was so impressed that they purchased a system for this year's event, said McKee. We use a total of three 16-channel
PG16-AUDIO ProGrid I/O boxes, two transmits (32 Channels) and one receive (16 Channels) in the announce booth and the opposite setup in the South Communication room - where the audio signals are split for front-of-house and the TV mix - all tied together with redundant duplex single-mode fiber.
We run 32 channels 1,500 feet between the announce booth and the south communication room and then 3,000 feet from the south comm to the Rodeo TV studio, explains McKee. While we're mostly using line level, the ProGrid software allows us to enable phantom power for the mics if we need it. And the software is great: we can label all our inputs, monitor inbound audio and since everything is paired together, we can see the secondary receive site. That way we can change the input or output gain on the fly. We can also remote network into the system and take control from the TV studio across the street, so if an input is clipping or overdriving, we can remotely adjust it instead of having to make on-site changes.
This is a complicated show, said McKee. There are lots of events, not just the rodeo, which is just a part of the bigger event. We've got 20-plus cameras for the rodeo, but 32 total cameras for all the events, including the concerts. We needed a solution that could deal with the variety of audio boards being used, as the TV mix board is very different from the concert board or front of house mix. ProGrid gives us the control and monitoring confidence that this event demands.
Although McKee is using ProGrid for analog mic and line level audio signals, the platform can transport, route and convert them to and from MADI, AES/EBU and four-wire intercom - independent of manufacturer or brand - as well as proprietary interfaces such as Yamaha YGDAI cards quickly, cost-effectively and easily over a fiber.
ProGrid offers mission-critical redundancy, robustness and reliability for small to very large infrastructural requirement for installed as well as portable applications, scaling up to 192 units - with an industry-leading low latency of only 41.6 microseconds. Adding BroaMan allows the addition of uncompressed SDI video transmission to any ProGrid system.
We're really glad we got that demo last year, added McKee. The ability to monitor and adjust analog signal gain without converting from digital is really nice, especially with a show that is constantly growing and improving every year. And ProGrid really makes that easier.
Categorised in:
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...
08/09/2026
J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026
Search
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers
Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...
08/09/2026
Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026
Trailer releas...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Jamie Demetriou and Amelia Dimoldenberg to host next t...
08/09/2026
Wuppertal September 8, 2026
Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...
For the 27th consecutive year, Broadcast Technical Services' founder, CEO and president Bill McKee, will be serving as de facto chief engineer of television facilities for the 2019 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo , held from February 25 through March 17 at NRG Park. This year, to make sure that audio sources are precisely fed to both front-of-house and the television production facility, McKee will rely on the Clear-Com ProGrid Audio Network Solution.
