From the Who’s Buying What page: ENCO said its DAD automated playout system is being used to run the onboard radio station on the new Carnival Corp. vessel Iona.
The big ship sailed from Southampton, England, on its first voyage in August. The 1,130-foot-line vessel is driven with liquefied natural gas and has 17 guest decks. And it can carry a pretty good sized radio audience — it accommodates up to 5,200 guests and 1,800 crew. It is operated by Carnival’s P&O Cruises subsidiary.
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The ENCO system is used for the Cruise Radio service on the ship. Useful Media Company out of the U.K. provides the radio equipment and automated programming. Music scheduling is through ENCO DAD’s Ensemble music scheduling system; other elements such as on-ship promotions use rotating cuts. New content is sent to onboard operators on disc once a month.
“Cruise Radio is the only ‘as-live’ radio service at sea, and is unique to each of the P&O Cruises ships,” ENCO wrote in a press release. “Played over video from the bow camera and streamed to every cabin on each ship, Cruise Radio combines music with radio elements including imaging, jingles and bespoke commercial packages advertising onboard services, shows and activities.”
The service also provides documentary music programming, historical retrospectives and ship information.
Useful Media also runs Cunard Radio aboard the Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth, owned by Cunard Line.
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