When broadcasters swap cart machines, turntables and audio consoles for PC-based digital playout systems, we call that Virtual Radio. At our August 16th meeting, guest speaker Michael “Catfish” Dosch, Lawo's head of virtual radio, described virtualization in greater detail by outlining the real applications in use today.  He explored how broadcasters may now reap operational benefits and monetary gains by capitalizing on I.T.’s investment in R&D and discussed virtualization's anticipated role in content creation and broadcast workflow in the future.  Michael was assisted by Bill Bennett of Lawo who was instrumental in organizing this meeting.

Topics Included:

• Virtualization: How IT technology can benefit radio operations
• The future of audio over I.P. (AoIP)
• Availability and Adoption (e.g., who’s doing what, with what, and why)
• Examples:
  • Audio Processing
  • CODECS
  • Multi-Line Phones
  • Remotes, Webcasts & Livestreams

Virtual Radio is a hot topic. A recent episode of This Week in Radio Tech (TWiRT) featured a Lawo presentation on this topic. How did they conduct their broadcast interview? Virtually, of course!

Lawo is a provider of digital mixing consoles, routing systems, video solutions and turnkey systems for the professional broadcast industry. Their equipment is utilized by TV and radio stations, production companies, and theatres. We saw some of Lawo's products during a recent meeting and tour of NPR's new facilities.

Our meeting was held at the Sirius XM facility with dinner, kindly provided by our friends at Lawo, at 6:30 PM.  The Lawo presentation began about 7:00 PM following some brief Chapter and SBE business.  A tour of the vast, impressive studio and technical facilities followed the presentation.