Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on products that support remotes and sports broadcasting.
Chris Leonard has served as president and general manager of Hawaii’s New West Broadcasting since 1996. The company operates six signals on the Big Island, airing three primary station brands serving a population of approximately 200,000. The stations, Leonard said, specialize in a live and local focus. “We do over 100 off-premise events per year,” he said.
Relying on Tieline to feed their signals to transmitter sites are 94.7 KWXX(FM) in Hilo, simulcast on 101.5 KAOY(FM) in Kealakeukua; 97.1 KNWB(FM) in Hilo, simulcast on 93.1 KMWB(FM) in Captain Cook; and 670 KPUA(AM) in Hilo with its 98.5 FM translator.
“One of my first Tieline codecs was a Genie STL we won in a competition at the NAB Show,” Leonard recalled.
He followed that up with a ViA remote codec to enhance New West’s remote broadcast capabilities.
Today, Leonard employs Tieline Bridge-ITs, Gateways and the Report-IT app. He also recently set up an MPX STL link.
For remote broadcasts, including retail and community settings, the Tieline ViA is New West’s backbone. Leonard said he has also used the codec for sports play-by-play. “The ViA can connect to all of our stations and any studio we want.”
He installed a dual SIM internal module in the ViA, utilizing Verizon and AT&T LTE cards for redundancy. Leonard reports this setup has worked well in more remote portions of the island when paired with a Starlink Mini.
A Gateway 8 codec in Hilo and Gateway 4 codec in Kona replaced legacy T1/ISDN codecs to connect the stations over IP. Leonard said the feeds have provided reliable connectivity and superior audio quality. Being able to choose compression options was helpful when bandwidth was limited.
Tieline’s Cloud Codec Controller software allows New West to keep an eye on its gear to ensure it is running smoothly. Leonard monitors and configures MPX codecs, Gateways, the ViA and even Report-IT users.
During COVID-19, the company used Report-IT to perform client voiceover sessions remotely.
“We are a relatively small company on the most remote landmass in the world, but Tieline treats us like a giant,” Leonard said.
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