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 codecs and STLs.
JVC Broadcasting owner John Caracciolo joined the rare ranks of “broadcast engineers turned owners” upon launching his Long Island-based multimedia company in 2009. The group has since expanded to 16 radio stations, and Caracciolo has retained his engineering sensibilities along the way.
“I have always believed that engineering is the backbone of the radio station,” he said. “You can have the best salespeople and promotion department, but that doesn’t matter if you’re not on the air. That means investing in your foundation with the right technology.”
Along with five Long Island FM stations, JVC Broadcasting owns and operates 11 stations in Florida. That includes a recently purchased cluster of four stations in the Fort Walton Beach area on the panhandle.
“The existing technology purchase was well-maintained but outdated,” said Caracciolo. “We replaced the 10-bay master antenna and added GatesAir transmitters for all four stations.”
Caracciolo also turned to GatesAir to replace the STL system.
“This is a very weather-critical region with heavy storms and hurricane threats. We wanted something that was robust and had redundancy, which our previous system lacked.”
Specifically, Caracciolo wanted to run an IP transport link over his fiber connection in parallel with a fixed 950 MHz link. GatesAir offered both through its Intraplex networking line, with added benefits thanks to recent technology innovations.
“We installed the new Intraplex IPL-100n codecs in the studio for the fiber, with built-in IP Connect software to marry program associated data with the audio,” he said.
“We send four composite FM program signals and one HD Radio feed from the studio in full redundancy with an Intraplex HDLink 950 STL system. GatesAir’s Dynamic Stream Splicing is activated across both links, and they borrow packets from each other as the signals move in parallel. If one slips, the listener never knows.”
Caracciolo is particularly pleased about the receive side, where GatesAir’s Intraplex IPL-100e transmitter modules accept the signals from inside his new Flexiva FAX transmitters.
“Those modules slim down the infrastructure at the transmitter site while also reducing the costs of separate codecs,” he said. “That includes the monthly costs of four static IP addresses. Meanwhile, the 100n and 100e both build in high-quality audio processing technology and carry our diversity delay application to synchronize FM and HD signals. Between performance, cost and redundancy, we have total peace of mind.”
