[cr-india] Radio Station-in-a-box debuts at Comdex

[Alokesh Gupta]

Radio Station-in-a-box debuts at Comdex
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By Ron Wilson
EE Times
November 21, 2003 (5:23 p.m. ET)  
MILL VALLEY, Calif. — In a modest announcement at Comdex in Las Vegas this week WorldVibrations pulled back the curtains on its WorldVibrations Radio Station-in-a-Box. The $2,495 low-profile, single-width rackable package promises to deliver just about everything a fledgling broadcaster would need to bring together content, sequence and automate it, and connect it to a means of delivery.
The package is the result of an entrepreneurial media personality whose ideas about public-access radio were forged in the try-anything San Francisco scene of the 1970s. The entrepreneur's idea was to make a more accessible broadcast platform for public-service organizations, neighborhood activity groups and developing-world communities. 

"I really look at this as a way to democratize broadcasting, to build communities," said Russell Johnson, founder and president of WorldVibrations (Mill Valley). 

Johnson, whose voice still carries the richness of professional on-the-air talent, explained that he had his start in radio and TV in the burgeoning 1970s San Francisco market. "We saw what was possible when people get involved in broadcasting," he said. "But then we had to watch the growing commercialization of the media, until we were reading things on the air that were frankly embarrassing." 

The experience drove Johnson away from the public media and into the business of providing content to the travel industry. But it left him with a lingering question: What could be done to bring control of content back to people? As time went by, Johnson realized that this was not just about marginalized neighborhoods; social organizations, public events and corporations could all benefit from access to high-quality, small-audience broadcasting. 

His world view is shaped in part by the extensive globe-trotting he and his wife have done, as the pictures that line the walls of their hillside home attest. The house peers out through redwood trees to an expansive view of San Francisco Bay-an area known for its natural beauty but also as a crucible of new ideas, home to members of the Grateful Dead, writers, movie directors and architects. 

In the past few years, Johnson, sitting in his home office crammed with electronics, began to see the outlines of an answer. The emergence of Internet broadcasting and of inexpensive, easy-to-operate 10-watt transmitters created access to the audience. And, Johnson believed, the growing power of the personal computer as an editing and recording device might just provide the missing link. 

Working with PC power player Via Technologies Inc. (Taipei, Taiwan), Johnson set about creating a turnkey hardware-and-software platform that could amass and automate content for a small radio station. Via's compact M-Series main board and Envy-24 digital audio controller provided the core of the system. Inputs for digital and analog audio, plus balanced, phantom-power microphone inputs, enabled the system to connect to conventional content sources, studio mixing boards and studio-quality microphones. 

Software was created under contract to provide the storage, processing, mixing and streaming capabilities. The system can operate in a number of modes, ranging from fully automated, in which the system follows a predefined playlist, to fully manual, in which an operator can switch among music, prerecorded content and live studio or phone input in real-time. 

Flexible output 

Output flexibility gives the Radio Station-in-a-Box its wide range of possible applications. Digital and analog outputs can drive a conventional radio transmitter for licensed broadcast applications, or even a public-address amplifier in, for example, a shopping mall. Network connectivity permits the box to support up to about 20 streams, for streaming audio onto the Internet or for connection to a streams-oriented server or Internet service provider. There is even a serial output for controlling relays to run on-the-air signs and older, relay-actuated tape decks. 

Johnson considers the box an enabler for all manner of groups that have content to share and need to reach a modest audience. Many of those will use the Web as their medium. A high school, for example, might put its football games on the Web for the neighborhood and alums. A city council could Webcast its meetings, or a corporation could provide a mix of entertainment and company information across a number of its installations. 

Another world opens up if the box is attached to a radio transmitter, Johnson said. 

In the United States, applications are pretty much limited to school or college stations with existing licenses, since the Federal Communications Commission has made the licensing process all but impossible. But in the developing world, things are different: Governments and local communities alike are trying to reach out with their messages but lack infrastructure. 

Johnson envisions a network of community radio stations, each with local content and the ability to stream network content as well. "Think of villages in India," Johnson said. "To set up a radio station, you unpack the equipment, tie the end of your antenna to a shoe and throw it over the highest branch you can find." In fact, Johnson said, Via and WorldVibrations are exploring the market in India. Universities in Iraq already have shown interest in the box, he added. 

The WorldVibrations Radio Station will be available in January. Perhaps it's more like content automation in a box-but it's a potentially major step in the democratization of broadcasting. 

— Additional reporting by Brian Fuller

(From www.eetimes.com )
 
Regds,
Alokesh Gupta
New Delhi, India.