WheatNews April 2023 - Volume 14, Number 4

WHEAT:NEWS April 2023 Volume 14, Number 4

BONNEVILLE ON BEING YOUR OWN SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR

BONNEVILLE ON BEING YOUR OWN SYSTEMS INTEGRATOR

Bonneville and Wheatstone share something in common besides consoles and a love of the broadcast industry.

We both practice vertical integration, the short meaning of which is to own every critical piece of your organization rather than contracting it out to other companies.

In other words, if we can do it ourselves, we will.

For Wheatstone, this means machining our own chassis along with a million other parts and details under one manufacturing roof in New Bern, N.C.

For Bonneville, it means becoming their own systems integrator for its most ambitious studio project yet.

Instead of contracting out to a systems integrator, the group put ownership and control of the project in the hands of regional and market CEs and then combined their collective skills for standardizing studios across the entire group.

Its Salt Lake City location was the first market to go all in with WheatNet-IP in 2018, with Bonneville Regional Director of Technology Aaron Farnham leading the project under the guidance of Senior VP of Engineering Scott Jones. Then came Denver, San Francisco, Sacramento, Seattle, and finally Phoenix, affecting all 22 stations in six markets.

They dealt with all the usual bumps along the way, plus a few new ones − like, a pandemic. Bonneville’s recent CBS/Entercom merger acquisition also added more logistics, and more stations, to the project. Two of the six locations required drastic downsizing, one required a move to an entirely new facility, and all six locations went through a major overhaul as they converted from a hodge-podge of studio consoles, automation and routing systems to RCS Zetta automation and WheatNet-IP networking (with L-8s, DMXs and LXE consoles/touchscreen interfaces and networked-in talent stations).

As an interesting aside, Wheatstone’s DIY approach to manufacturing was one of the reasons why Bonneville standardized on WheatNet-IP audio networking and consoles across all six markets. “We couldn’t have foreseen COVID happening or the supply chain issues that followed, but back then that was one of the deciding factors to go with Wheatstone. We liked the idea that Wheatstone manufactured everything in-house and we liked that scalability…we knew it could probably affect how we scale on a project like this,” said Farnham.

In fact, he added, “Wheatstone was the only manufacturer at one point still producing products. I waited nine months for a shipment from one vendor, but when I called Jay (Tyler) and said, ‘I need three consoles and a handful of Blades,’ they had it here in no time.” 

The engineering team officially wrapped up the corporate-wide project earlier this year but the benefits of being their own systems integrator are ongoing. 

“By building that knowledge base within Bonneville, we’ve been able to share ideas and share resources as one engineering team. This also gives market engineers ownership of their facilities.  That was one of the big motivations for keeping integration in-house,” said Jason Ornellas, Regional Director of Technology for Bonneville International.  

Both Ornellas and Farnham are quick to point out that not every broadcast group can or should be their own systems integrator, just like not every manufacturer has the collective resources to manufacture products under one roof. “There are some really good integrators out there. But for us, with our corporate culture evolving away from silos to being one big team, we wanted to get that sense of ownership. We wanted to grow our engineering team so we could make changes ourselves when we needed to, without having to call in an integrator later,” commented Ornellas.

All of which will help Bonneville adapt in the future but came with a huge learning curve up front. Check back here as we follow how that curve played out as six market CEs and two regional engineers, under the leadership of their corporate engineer, renovated more than a hundred studios for 22 stations in six Top 25 markets over a four-and-a-half year time frame.

Planning a studio project? Download our new ebook Studio Project Planning Guide for tips on design and project flow.

THE LOYAL LISTENER TEST

The Loyal Listener Test

You can’t just willy-nilly change out the audio processor for a beloved station like Z99.9 in the Cayman Islands. Z99.9 has a fiercely loyal listener base and that also means you can’t pass up an audio processor like MP-532, either. 

Islanders here had grown up with the heritage CHR, the first commercial station on the air in the Cayman Islands more than 30 years ago, which explains why Compass Media Operations Manager Mark Lee proceeded very cautiously. 

He started with the MP-532’s CHR preset and quickly noted the clarity on the high end. “It is so much brighter than anything we’ve had before, especially on the high frequencies. It’s just much cleaner up there,” he commented. He then began tweaking using the processor’s bass tools, starting with rolling back the clipper a bit. Getting that balance right− a deep, impactful bass and detailed highs − is the test of any audio processor. 

Did the MP-532 FM/AM/HD multiprocessor pass the Z99.9 listener test? 

Not only did it pass the Z99.9 listener test, it passed the operations manager test; the MP-532 is now being used on other Compass Media stations. “For heavy baseline urban and R&B, it definitely copes with the low end much better than the processor we had before. And, of course, it’s just cleaner on the high end,” said Lee, who also manages operations for Compass Media’s Gold 94.9, Island FM 98.9 and Rooster 101.9. 

“It’s the best processor I’ve laid my hands on,” he said.  

JOHN DAVIS TALKS CLOUD @ BEIT CONFERENCE

John Davis Talks Cloud @ BEIT Conference

Starts at 2:10 pm, Sunday

Being able to quickly spin up or down studio resources for show production, sportscasting, and program distribution is just one key benefit of new cloud and server implementations. Our John Davis goes over key considerations for getting the most of cloud now, including local server versus cloud provider, and covers mixing, processing and streaming from anywhere and on any platform, plus latency and other issues directly affecting broadcasters as they make the transition to cloud or server operations. Be there: Sunday, West Hall in W216-W218, starting at 2:10 pm.

WHERE SCRIPTERS MEET

Where Scripters Meet

Are you a Screenbuilder or Consolebuilder user? Register and log onto our Scripters Forum. This is the meeting place for anyone developing new screens and workflows for our WheatNet-IP audio network. Share scripts, screen shots and ideas with others also developing virtual news desks, control panels, and signal monitors. You’ll find documents, starter scripts and a whole knowledge base available to you for making customized screens.

THE FACTORY, THE TOWN, THE WHEATY TOUR

 

This video tour of our town and factory, shot a while back when our Swiss distributors were in town, captures where we live and work. Enjoy.

NAB, BOOTH W3000. LIONS AND CLOUDS BE HERE.

NAB, Booth W3000. Lions and Clouds Be Here.

Be prepared to be amazed. 

In just a few days, we’ll once again set up WNIP in the Las Vegas Convention Center with all the works to give you a chance to experience for yourself what a WheatNet-IP facility can do. Along with all the amazing things you already know about, you’ll get to experience new developments in cloud, composite FM MPX, and audio processing. Here’s what’s happening in booth W3000 in the West Hall and on our social channels during NAB 2023. 

You’ll get to “touch the cloud” with our Radio.Cloud-capable console surfaces and experience what it’s like to produce a live show in the cloud from a studio or glass surface. You’ll also get to experience what it’s like to spin up or down mixing, streaming and audio processing instances. We’ll be demonstrating a cloud version of Layers Stream running on AWS as the first practical use of cloud data centers for broadcast applications… plus we’ll show you a new way to do composite FM MPX for today’s high-speed data links that solves an important piece of the “audio processing in a cloud” puzzle.

Also new in the Audioarts “studio,” the Audioarts Voice1 to bring out that larger-than-life broadcast voice and the mighty Lion FM/HD audio processor with the algorithm prowess to deliver the best on-air quality, even from highly compressed source material.

 
New in Vox Pro

 

VoxPro will also be hanging around the booth, and you’ll be surprised what we’ve done with our little audio recorder/editor this year! 

Head over to Wheatstone booth W3000, West Hall, for a look, listen and feel. Or for those of you at home, tune into our social media channels to experience what’s new at NAB.

 twitter

 facebook

 instagram

 linkedin

 youtube

LAYERS STREAM RUNNING ON AWS

Layers Stream Running on AWS

The above is Layers Stream running on AWS.  This is the first practical use of cloud for broadcast applications and demonstrates stream provisioning, audio processing, and metadata support. Shown are streaming instances running in a cloud data center that can be brought up rapidly and torn down rapidly, all controlled through a browser-like user interface.

Layers Stream is part of the Wheatstone Layers Software Suite, which also has software modules for running instances of FM/HD processing and mixing in cloud data centers such as AWS or on-premise servers. 

This particular module, Layers Stream, includes audio processing designed specifically for streaming applications and Lua transformation filters to convert metadata input from any automation system into any required output format, including Triton Digital, for transmission to a CDN server.

Layers modules can be used for remote or REMI applications between studios and cloud data centers or for extending studio failover redundancy across multiple cloud data centers. In addition to mixing, streaming and FM audio processing modules, Layers includes Glass virtual mixers for the laptop, tablet or touchscreen with routing, logic, automixing and full native IP audio integration with major automation systems.

It’s all happening in the cloud and at our booth, W3000, during NAB 2023.

TRITON ON BOARD

WHEAT AT NAB, WEST HALL (W3000)

Wheatstone’s streaming appliances and Layers cloud streaming software are now available with Triton Digital’s streaming protocol.

Triton Digital developed its MRV2 (Media Relay version 2) as a proprietary streaming transport protocol between the station’s master control room and the CDN to achieve the most accurate ad stitching and to ensure a high-quality listening experience.

Adding MRV2 to Wheatstone streaming appliances and Layers software provides seamless integration between the studio AoIP system and content delivery, plus offers new streaming revenue opportunities for Wheatstone’s large installed base of customers around the world.

 Affected are WheatNet-IP streaming appliances Wheatstream and Streamblade as well as Wheatstone’s new Layers Stream software, which is part of the Wheatstone Layers Software Suite for mixing, streaming and FM/HD processing instances in house on a server or off-site at an AWS or other cloud data center.

We hope you'll come along with us at Club Wheat by clicking on the SUBSCRIBE button below to begin receiving Wheat News in your email inbox every month.

The Wheatstone online store is now open! You can purchase demo units, spare cards, subassemblies, modules and other discontinued or out-of-production components for Wheatstone, Audioarts, and VoxPro products online, or call Wheatstone customer support at 252-638-7000 or contact the Wheatstone technical support team online as usual. 

The store is another convenience at wheatstone.com, where you can access product manuals, white papers and tutorials as well as technical and discussion forums such as our AoIP Scripters Forum

Compare All of Wheatstone's Remote Solutions

REMIXWe've got remote solutions for virtually every networkable console we've built in the last 20 years or so. For basic volume, on/off, bus assign, logic, it's as easy as running an app either locally with a good VPN, or back at the studio, using a remote-access app such as Teambuilder to run.

Remote Solutions Video Demonstrations

Jay Tyler recently completed a series of videos demonstrating the various solutions Wheatstone offers for remote broadcasting.

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Click for a Comparison Chart of All Wheatstone Remote Software Solutions

STUDIO PROJECT PLANNING GUIDEStudio Project Planning Guide
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR MAKING YOUR STUDIO PROJECT A SUCCESS

This free eBook brings you expert tips, smart studio trends, surprising uses for AoIP Blades, 6 common studio gotchas, how to be aware of little expenses, and bonus content.

MAKING SENSE OF THE VIRTUAL STUDIO COVERMaking Sense of the Virtual Studio
SMART STRATEGIES AND VIRTUAL TOOLS FOR ADAPTING TO CHANGE

Curious about how the modern studio has evolved in an IP world? Virtualization of the studio is WAY more than tossing a control surface on a touch screen. With today's tools, you can virtualize control over almost ANYTHING you want to do with your audio network. This free e-book illustrates what real-world engineers and radio studios are doing. Pretty amazing stuff.

AdvancingAOIP E BookCoverAdvancing AOIP for Broadcast
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF EMERGING STANDARDS SUCH AS AES67 VIA AUDIO OVER IP TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR BROADCAST FACILITY

Putting together a new studio? Updating an existing studio? This collection of articles, white papers, and brand new material can help you get the most out of your venture. Best of all, it's FREE to download!

IP TV EBOOK COVER

IP Audio for TV Production and Beyond

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MANAGING MORE CHANNELS, MORE MIXES, AND MORE REMOTE VENUES

For this FREE e-book download, we've put together this e-book with fresh info and some of the articles that we've authored for our website, white papers, and news that dives into some of the cool stuff you can do with a modern AoIP network like Wheatstone's WheatNet-IP. 

Got feedback or questions? Click my name below to send us an e-mail. You can also use the links at the top or bottom of the page to follow us on popular social networking sites and the tabs will take you to our most often visited pages.

-- Uncle Wheat, Editor

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