To his credit, the steady stream of live shows, news and music never stopped at Chicago Public Media’s WBEZ 91.5, not for teardown, not for new walls, not for wiring or assembling or networking, and certainly not for hoisting equipment and materials from the second-story dock off Navy Pier and into a third-story window. The staff worked through it all, as did technology partners with Inrush Broadcast Services, SCMS and our team at Wheatstone. 

Throughout the next year, the studio core footprint was stripped down to the studs and studios were right-sized for purpose and function. Better sight lines between studios, greater usability of each studio, and a standard studio footprint that flowed from one workspace to the next were the primary goals. It involved moving walls, ripping out layers of wiring infrastructure, and designing a modern WheatNet IP audio networked studio facility from the ground up—literally! 

In order to bring Wheatstone gear and construction material from the second-story dock up to the third floor, WBEZ’s general contractor Skender built a temporary platform and used a lull to hoist pallets from the dock and up through a large opening created by removing several windows. “I think it worked better than a freight elevator,” commented Wright. 

Meanwhile, staff worked out of temporary studios. Using parts and pieces, the WBEZ engineering team built a studio downstairs on the first floor where they were able to move the main talk studio. WBEZ also had edit booths on the fourth floor, one of which they rebuilt into a WheatNet IP anchor booth. “We had our entire broadcast operation separated over three floors. We had master control on the third floor, our talk studio on the first floor and our anchor studio on the fourth floor,” explained Wright, adding that without sight lines the staff used Google Meet as a temporary fix. 

 “It was challenging, but it allowed demolition and construction to begin without interference or noise affecting our ability to broadcast,” he said. 

The plan called for eight LXE console surfaces in main on-air rooms and master control; four L Series console surfaces in production rooms; 42 talent stations for talk positions throughout; and 63 I/O Blades with hundreds of channels of GPI/O and more than 1,000 crosspoints connecting all 12 studios and dozens of workflows. (We’ll tell you more about our working plan for WBEZ in the next issue of Wheat News.)

WBEZ cut over to the main WheatNet IP studio in December 2023 and went live with the remaining 11 studios over the next month, capping off almost two years of planning and preparation.