Local, Loud and Proud 2021 UK Jingles from ReelWorld
An emphatic follow up to 2020’s ReelWorld re-brand of the Local BBC Radio network of stations across England and the Channel Islands. This 5 theme update includes new jingles plus a sports theme. Hear more jingles from ReelWorld at www.reelworld.com
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Digital Tech Arrives for Bahrain Radio
The buildings with seven radio stations, built for Bahrain Radio in 1980, had been ripe for renovation for some time. With the latest turnkey project worth USD 6.5 million – the first phase of the renovation – Bahrain Radio ventured into the digital world. The entire facility was modernized, from the nine radio studios and control rooms to the main control room (HSR) and the central equipment room (ZGR). The furniture, the technical equipment, automation systems, the radio library and the acoustics were all taken into account.
Through the use of digital solutions in all areas of the system, the radio area of the Ministry of Information (MIA) in Bahrain was essentially removed from an analog environment. Dubai-based systems integrator GloCom was tasked with carrying out this modernization during the 2020 shutdown – and he did it without interrupting any ongoing program. In addition, the radio library was digitized during this time. While the main center of the project was in Isa Town, similar renovations were taking place in various other locations.
“Bahrain Radio is one of many projects that the MIA has completed in the past few months, with more to come this year and next. Much of this renovation was carried out thanks to the support of Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain, ”says Eng Abdulla Ahmed Abalooshi, Deputy Undersecretary for Technical Affairs at the MIA.
“Our radio station and studios were built in 1980. They were really out of date and we kept having downtimes because support was no longer possible. All of our FM and AM transmitters are produced in these studios and managed from our main control room; our radio channels are also available via satellite and OTT. With this project we have put all of our radio technology on a digital platform and added some elements that make life easier for our production team in our radio department, ”he explains.
The heart of the setup is a Lawo-based MADI architecture that covers all seven on-air studios and enables them to be operated as self-propelled control rooms.
These on-air studios can also be connected to two of the production studios for music or radio plays. A third production studio was redesigned for mix mastering. All seven studios are designed so that any FM station can log in and go live from any control room.
The HSR, the heart of the transmitter, has an automation system comprising 15 FM stations with full redundancy. This enables the department to expand in the future and add another six FM stations. It also includes four 80 ” LED walls, a brand new Lawo VisTool for audio monitoring and a Lawo VSM monitoring solution. Much of the project involved replacing an old Dalet system with the latest radio automation system from RCS.
The studios are connected to the HSR via fiber optics (MADI) with physical AES / ANA cables for redundancy. The ZGR was also equipped with a central audio router (MADI) from Lawo.
“GloCom performed a carefully planned design, phased shutdown, on-air migration, execution and training despite the challenges of Covd-19,” noted Zahid Mirza, President & Chairman of GloCom Ltd. “We carried out a complete refurbishment of each of the radio studios, followed by detailed acoustic measurements and the installation of new technical furniture, new devices and then their configuration and commissioning.”
“This project was awarded to us in October 2019, but Covd-19 created major challenges in terms of transportation, permits for on-site work and so on – but we worked closely with the customer and our logistics team to get around this. […] There were also technical and operational complexities that GloCom had to deal with. The channels were on the air. It was quite a challenge to replace one studio system with the new one and to ensure that the team was happy with the new work environment and technology, as well as removing the many spaghetti cables. ”Despite these obstacles, the project was completed on schedule in October 2020 . For GloCom, one of the biggest challenges was managing the Quran station workflow. “With our highly qualified engineers and with the support of the MIA team, we managed to do this without an operator. With the successful integration of the RCS automation and Lawo, all stations played the Azan (Muslim call to prayer) on time for a calendar year, without any delay. “
