Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are testimonials intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on automation, traffic, billing and scheduling.
For many broadcasters, radio automation is about keeping stations on the air. For WLOH Radio Company in Ohio, automation is equally about helping a small staff accomplish the work of a much larger operation while preserving the local programming that defines its stations.
The company has relied on ENCO’s DAD radio automation platform since purchasing WLOH in Lancaster more than two decades ago. As the company expanded through acquisitions (including WLGN in Logan and additional Ohio stations), its DAD ecosystem grew alongside it, connecting multiple studio locations through a secure VPN and creating a unified production environment.
“Whether I’m in Lancaster or Logan, I need access to the same assets so I can produce programming for any station,” said Mark Bohach, owner of WLOH Radio Company.
“It shouldn’t matter which studio we’re sitting in. ENCO built a customized system that synchronizes everything seamlessly.”
That connectivity supports an operation covering roughly a dozen Ohio counties while allowing staff to share resources efficiently across multiple stations.
Automation also simplifies daily workflows.
Bohach uses DAD to generate music logs a full week in advance, while commercial playlists are updated daily allowing for last-minute sales orders. The system allows multiple playlists to interact seamlessly, giving announcers more time to focus on programming rather than administrative tasks.
Several DAD utilities have become indispensable. Dropbox automatically ingests hundreds of files each day, including news, weather and farm reports, while PADapult distributes metadata to station streams, RDS systems and wall displays.
Ensemble creates weekly music schedules, and ListServer keeps playlists synchronized across studios, allowing talent to make last-minute programming changes without disrupting live operations.
“We’re squeezing maximum efficiency out of our staff,” Bohach said. “Without ENCO doing all of this automatically, I’d probably need at least two more employees just to handle manual operational work. Instead, we can put those resources into serving our listeners.”
Bohach has also developed custom commands within DAD to automate precise on-air functions, demonstrating the platform’s flexibility. He credits ENCO’s engineering team for supporting those innovations over their lengthy partnership. He said ENCO “gives us the tools and help us make them do exactly what we need.”
Info: www.enco.com
