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WVIA-FM Picks Telos for AoIP Upgrade

NPR affiliate uses Quasar console for an uncomplicated user experience

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 consoles and control surfaces.


The author is chief engineer of WVIA-FM in Pittston, Pa.

In 2023, we started the process of looking for a replacement for our radio infrastructure, moving away from our 18-year-old audio routing console system and modernizing to audio over IP.

We did detailed research on the different variations of audio over IP and the manufacturers who make the equipment, and we ended up deciding to build a Livewire AoIP network due to its ease of functionality and because the gear we had acquired was already Livewire-ready. This meant that we were now focused on choosing an Axia mixing console.

Mark Ruddy in the studio.

WVIA Radio is a public radio station affiliated with NPR that serves northeastern and central Pennsylvania through five transmitters and 10 translators. In addition to having local news hosts, we air blocks of classical and contemporary programming with operators in the studio. Although there are some great virtual consoles on the market today, we needed to stick with a traditional broadcast console. 

There were a few requirements for a new console: It had to be operator-friendly; it needed to be integrated as much as possible with WideOrbit Automation for Radio; and it needed to look impressive, because our radio studio is on the station tour route. Through input from Telos Alliance and current customers, WideOrbit and other radio engineers in our market, I realized that the Axia Quasar was going to provide everything that we needed.

Quasar goes into a lot of detail with settings and parameters, and it is very flexible from an engineering and configuration standpoint. But what the normal day-to-day operator experiences is a result of those settings and the console is not at all complicated. They can host their show with a sense of familiarity and the Quasar can be set up so that it’s difficult to accidentally change critical settings. 

Finally, I am impressed with the Axia Quasar Engine that is needed for the console. In addition to the various console audio outputs, we are utilizing several of the Quasar’s built-in virtual mixers (or V-Mix) to be able to control feeds for different air paths and our HD Radio subchannels. 

Even though it is new to us, Quasar is doing a heavy lift, and I believe it will serve our station well for many years to come.

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