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Quote of Note
"Black holes are where God divided by zero."
- Steven Wright
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2012 already?
A word of thanks as we charge into the new year
 | | Greetings from the heart of Cleveland, Ohio |
By now, the tree has gone to the recyclers, the lights are stored away and we've already settled back into the routine of everyday work. Hard to believe that 2011 went by so quickly - or that the month of January is already half-past.
Before this year goes any further, we want to take a moment to tell you how much you and your continued support of Telos, Omnia and Axia means to us. We sincerely appreciate every phone call, every email, and every piece of new gear that gets added to your audio chain. We know you've got choices, and we're grateful that you choose to be a part of the Telos Alliance family.
Here's to a great 2012! And if you're ever in Cleveland, feel free to stop by and visit. We're always happy to show off our latest goodies. (Just give us a ring first so we can get the coffee started.)
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Is your AM's audio quality "lost in translation?"
Omnia can help.
 Our US readers may have noticed, recently, a number of AM stations filing for and obtaining translators to help boost signal coverage. Maybe you've even applied for one of your own. That's thanks to the FCC's Report and Order from 2009 that allowed cross-service translation (the ability for AMs to rebroadcast on an FM frequency).
With several AM stations now receiving low-power FM translator licenses, processing such limited-coverage signals becomes critical. And of course, the audio processing required for programming to sound good on the FM band is quite a different animal than for the AM band.
 David Edwards, Assistant Chief Engineer of WETS in Johnson City, Tennessee, has been helping some of his friends install a new FM translator facility for WBEJ AM, in nearby Elizabethton. His solution to the processing problem was an Omnia ONE.
David told us, "I chose the Omnia ONE because I got great results with my previous experience in low power FM translator applications. It makes even a very low power FM translator sound right up there with the big commercial stations at a price that makes sense for a modest project."
And David isn't the only one telling us this - more and more stations are making Omnia ONE their first choice for translator processing, saying that their translators sound every bit as good (or better!) than some of the full-power stations.
Sound interesting? Click here to find an Omnia representative near you.
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Familiar faces, new places
Kirk Harnack and Christina Carroll take on new duties
 |  | | Christina Carroll | Kirk Harnack |
Big congratulations to Christina and Kirk, both of whom you're probably acquainted with from many, many years of NABs, IBCs annd SBE meetings on behalf of the Telos Alliance. Both of these familiar faces are now moving into new roles within the Telos Alliance.
Christina has been an integral part of Linear Acoustic, and as sales director has played a huge part in making Linear the leading name in multi-channel loudness management for television. Christina takes the chair of Senior Vice President of Global Sales for Telos, Omnia, Axia and Linear Acoustic,
Likewise, Kirk has been a broadcast engineer, engineering consultant, radio station owner and all-around technology maven (you may have heard his This Week in Radio Tech podcast). Kirk takes the reins as Vice President of Telos Products, where he'll be exercising his neurons by helping our R&D gurus come up with cool new product ideas.
If you'd like to take a moment to drop them a congratulatory note, they'd welcome hearing from you. You can reach Kirk by emailing kirk (at) telosalliance.com, and Christina can be found at christina (at) linearacoustic.com.
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News from the Field
Who's getting new gear?
Telos Hx1 and Hx2 Digital POTS Hybrids are taking calls daily at:
- Sajak Broadcasting's WNAV, Annapolis, Maryland
- Cox Media's KTVU-TV,
Oakland, California - Cisco Systems, Milpitas, California
Omnia.11 is liquidating, annihilating, vaporizing and otherwise giving a lot of trouble to their competitors at:
- Emmis' WRKS-FM,
New York City - Mile High's WZSR-FM,
Chicago, Illinois - Tidewater Communications'
WNOR-FM, Norfolk, Virginia
Axia iQ mixing consoles are international radio stars at:
- Radio Might, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Entertainment Network India, Mumbai, India
- Canadian Multicultural Radio, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Get the NOW! catalog
100 pages of broadcast-y goodness.
Click here to get a copy mailed to you! |
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Radio Video
Classic Radio on the Net
 | Remco Transistor Radio Kit commercial, 1956
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How many future engineers got a taste of the ol' electron with the Remco Radiocraft Transistor Radio Kit? This TV ad dates from 1956, and we're sure it fired up quite a few young imaginations... "Oh boy! We're radio engineers!" Got a favorite of your own you'd like to see featured? Drop us a note.
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Studio update in a hurry? No problem
Axia helps Merlin Media flip formats fast in Chicago
 | | Axia audio and Router Selector nodes with Telos Hx1 hybrid, in the turret at WWWN |
Radio folks know that format changes usually mean equipment changes as well. Especially when you're going from music to talk - that's a real game-changer. When Merlin Media recently acquired Chicago's WWWN from Emmis, they decided to make the flip - but on a very short timetable: Merlin wanted the studios finished in one month to put their new format on the air.
The studios, housed in the Chicago Merchandise Mart (storied home of NBC Radio's network operations center for decades), were completed on time thanks to the use of Axia AoIP networking gear. Since we first introduced IP-Audio, we've told people how Axia routing networks can work alongside existing studio equipment - consoles, playout systems, et cetera. That's just what Merlin did in Chicago. Radio magazine's Chriss Scherer, writing in the November issue, notes that "The [Axia] digital routing system allowed new flexibility for the station. Inherent to most modern routing systems, the station can create dynamic mix minuses and split headphone feeds automatically. The Livewire system also positions the stations for future upgrades as needed, including adding mixing surfaces."
You can read the whole article online at http://tinyurl.com/merlinchicago .
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Good audio starts a the source
 A station's audio processing settings are usually closely guarded. On the secrecy scale, they rate somewhere between the formula for Coca-Cola and the nuclear arsenal launch codes; engineers in every market - big or small - take this stuff pretty seriously. After all, when coupled with the right programming, a cleaner sound with a bit more presence could very well mean the difference between a legendary TSL and an AQH shorter than Miley Cyrus' hemline (a lot of happy Omnia.11 users will attest to that).
But it's no secret that there are a few things to you do to your source material and airchain to ensure your audio processing is doing its best for you. Omnia's Denny Sanders has posted a great piece on the Telos Alliance Tech Blog detailing five things you can do to up your audio's ante, from ensuring in-phase source material to eliminating errant RF. Read about these 5 things here - and be sure to add our Tech Blog to your RSS reader, too. |
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Tech Tip of the Month
Using a POTS phone system with VoIP Lines
 Tim Schultz writes "A station I am doing work for just ordered an Nx6 POTS system; they also want to save some money by using a VoIP provider instead of paying the telephone company for POTS lines. I plan to purchase a multi-line (probably an 8-station) VoIP terminal adapter to convert the VoIP back into analog (FXS) lines. I'm guessing not all terminal adapters are not created equal as far as audio quality is concerned. Are there some that you can recommend, or perhaps warn me to stay away from?"
Indeed we can, Tim. Our David Jablonski responds: "You may know that for our VX broadcast VoIP system, we recommend that customers use Patton Gateways - (see http://www.telos-systems.com/vx/). For VX, gateways can take a POTS line and convert it to SIP for the VX to use. But gateways work in both directions -- POTS to VoIP, and VoIP to POTS. For your application, we recommend that you consider Patton's 411x series devices. The Patton 4118/JS/EUI would convert SIP to analog and connect to FXS ports (ports to which an analog phone or fax would be connected). Connect this to your Nx6 system, and you're ready to rock."
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Tech Updates
New manuals, app notes and software for your downloading pleasure
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Discrepancy Sheet
 Happy Birthday to the Xbox's great, great, great,
great, great granddaddy
It was in 1962 that students Steve Russell, Martin Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen invented Spacewar!, the very first graphical computer game, programmed on a DEC PDP-1 in the Computer Science Department at MIT. This, combined with the march of component miniaturization and a logarithmic increase in computing power, led directly to Nolan Bushnell's introduction in 1971 of the first arcade computer game, Computer Space (seen at right). Check out the whole story at Technologizer - and if you really want to waste some time, you and a friend can still play the original Spacewar! code, running on a Java PDP-1 emulator. Just remember to compensate for the gravity well.
Until next time, stay well!
Clark Novak
with Denny Sanders & Angi Roberson
for Axia, Telos & Omnia
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About Us
eNews is published around the first of each month. Looking for a link or a story from a back issue? Click here.
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