This story is excerpted from the ebook “Everything as a Service.”
“Besides the DJ’s microphone, a laptop and the transmitter, everything else runs in a cloud-native infrastructure.”
That’s how Christian Brenner describes Radio.Cloud. “All the user needs is a web browser, a username and a password. Radio.Cloud provides the software platform, updates, infrastructure, backup and 24/7 service, packaged together in a SaaS model with a monthly subscription.”
Brenner, its CEO and founder, said “Radio.Cloud offers the complete chain to operate single radio stations or radio networks with hundreds of affiliates.”
He describes himself as a serial entrepreneur who has been at it since 1992, launching technology companies to serve media industries. Before focusing on radio, he built a TV SaaS company called SmartCast and sold it to SES.
At first glance, he said, the SaaS model for a complete radio operation may look more costly than buying software.
“But Radio.Cloud is much more than that. Our clients save tremendous costs in both cap-ex — hardware and setup — as well as op-ex — service, maintenance, electricity, replacements. Another big factor is that Radio.Cloud not only operates in the cloud, but we reinvented the entire workflow of radio networking. Our clients save cost by eliminating many manual workflows that are well known from legacy radio automation systems.”
He said this approach allows Radio.Cloud to provide approximately 80 different features for a radio operation. One of the newest options is Live Cloud Studio, which won a Radio World “Best of Show” Award at this year’s NAB Show.
“Using only a web browser, we provide a complete radio board with up to six microphones, two virtual phone hybrids and an entire playout including hot keys. Another function you can do right in the browser is add remote DJs with just an email invitation. We’re also able to connect to professional studio hardware like Wheatstone and Telos, or semi-professional low-priced MIDI hardware.”
Many legacy radio automation suppliers, he said, are taking their Windows machines and moving them to a cloud.
However, “It’s a ‘lift and shift’ operation. All the powerful cloud infrastructure offerings like serverless technology can’t be used. We see this lift-and-shift approach as a way to say ‘We also do cloud’ even though it doesn’t solve a problem for the industry.”
With a cloud-native approach, he said, Radio.Cloud takes full advantage of many powerful cloud functions to improve the user experience.
What about the issue of latency?
“Only while using our Live Cloud Studio do we need to address the latency topic,” he replied. “We run the infrastructure as close as possible to the client, for example U.S. east and west coasts. Things like playout reaction time and communication with other DJs are below 150 ms, which is not audible.”
The exception is when a DJ wants to hear his or her signal in the headset. In that case, the mix for the DJs is created on-site using a small remote-controllable device that is in sync with the cloud.
“It’s important to note that Radio.Cloud operates perfectly with existing studio hardware,” Brenner continued. “On the other hand, we have clients who don’t have studios at all anymore. The DJs work from home and Radio.Cloud hands over the signal directly at the transmitter site. This is technically doable and a good option for a low-cost operation. Radio.Cloud also interacts with professional radio boards.”
For reliability, the system uses the Amazon Web Services global infrastructure, taking advantage of locations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. In the rare case of an AWS issue, this ensures the ability to switch a station to a different location with no delay, for example rolling a stream over from U.S. East to U.S. West, or from one of the U.S. locations to Frankfurt.
“In each region there are multiple layers of safeguards, things like storage getting mirrored three times. The durability of our data storage and databases is 16 nines — that’s 99.99999999999999%.”
The company also provides an Edge Gateway, a small box for use on-premises that “stores forward” content and logs and can keep playing even without internet; the device is included in the SaaS monthly rate.
As subscribers to a service-based product, Radio.Cloud users receive free new features weekly. “Operating Radio.Cloud is very easy for the user,” Brenner said. “Everything can be configured in a friendly web-based interface.
“Our clients don’t need to deal with setting up the cloud infrastructure, as this is part of the SaaS model. Users don’t even need an AWS login, since this is handled by us.”
