Recent Successes:
Eagle Radio
Eagle Radio and its sister station County Sound 1566AM are UKRD's home counties stations based in studios in Guildford, Surrey. The stations had been on air from the premises since 1996 and by 2009 the studios were badly in need of refurbishment. Having considered all the practical options, the station opted for Telos Systems' Axia digital desks.
The Axia digital system shares and distributes audio from all the station sources - from microphones and studio CD players through to off-air monitors and satellite downlinks - across a high speed IP network. This means that everything is available everywhere, and eliminates the need for a lot of the traditional racks room equipment, such as distribution amplifiers, audio routers etc - making the whole installation more elegant and ultimately simpler to implement.
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Able Radio
Able Radio is an innovative community-of-interest internet radio station providing programmes for - and often by - people with disabilities. After a period of trial broadcasts, in March 2009 Able Radio appointed Radio Studio Services to install studio facilities for them at their base in Pontypool, South Wales.
Able Radio already had one Sonifex S2 mixing desk, so we specified and supplied a second larger S2 for their main on-air studio - where they often broadcast discussions with three or four voices involved - and upgraded the original desk for Studio 2. We also installed a Myriad playout system, along with monitoring and talkback facilities in both studios and the adjacent production office.
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TalkSport
UK national broadcaster TalkSport - owned by UTV Radio - operates from studios on London's South Bank. The main facilities - which include two main studio suites and multiple external programme links - are based around a complex Klotz Digital installation. However, the station decided that an all-analogue studio would be a valuable addition to provide extra off-air production facilities as well as an independent reserve on-air facility.
Radio Studio Services was appointed late in 2008 to install the new Studio 5 into a space most recently used for storage. Working with Advanced Studio Projects - who carried out acoustic construction and treatment - we installed a 25-module split frame Sonifex S2 desk. External equipment included six Glensound ISDN codecs - vital for live sport programmes - Denon CD players, Focusrite mic processing, Audio Technica mics and interfaces to the main playout and digital audio installations.
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Touch Radio Midlands Studio Centre
Touch Radio runs a group of small FM radio stations in Warwickshire and the surrounding counties. Having won an additional licence for the Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth area, the group decided to establish a studio hub for the new station and three adjacent stations, moving them out of premises which were in need of updating - and offering greater efficiency in management, news and sales for the stations. Radio Studio Services was appointed at the beginning of the process to assist in the selection of suitable premises, contribute to the design of the new facilities, install the new studios and associated technical facilities - and ultimately to relocate the three existing stations into the new building with no break in service.
The studio complex is located in a stand-alone building on a small business park in the Warwickshire countryside.
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Exeter FM
Exeter FM launched on 18th February 2008 as part of the London Media Company portfolio of FM local radio stations. Having installed studios for LMC's Palm FM in Torquay in the summer of 2006, Radio Studio Services was called in as soon as the Exeter licence had been awarded to work on the plans for the new station. During this process we were able to advise on the choice of building and its subsequent layout, co-ordinate with third party service providers such as arqiva, BT and Sky News, as well as plan the detailed technical fitout of the studios.
Exeter FM has a single on-air studio, which uses a Sonifex S2 mixer in split configuration, and a small news booth which can act as back-up for the main on-air studio during any breakdown or planned maintenance.
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KCFM 99.8
Serving Humberside and East Yorkshire, KCFM 99.8 is one of the last new full-service local radio FM licences.
Radio Studio Services was called in early in the planning stages of the station, and we took on the design and delivery of four studios and a racks room together with the associated technical facilities to get the station on the air, in studio accommodation designed by Corn Tarrant Partnership and constructed by specialist contractor SpaceTailors.
Working with Programme Consultant Tim Jibson we devised a scheme for the studios to enable the station to fulfil its heavy commitment to speech within a traditional ILR music format.
The on-air studios use Alice Air 2000 mixers, Tannoy monitor speakers, Myriad playout systems, and Audio Technica and Beyer mics. In the news studio we fitted a small Sonifex S2 mixer. Unusually for a small independent station, KCFM has an in-house commercial production department, and in its studio we installed a Yamaha 01V96 digital console together with Protools editing facilities.
In the racks room there are two Prontonet ISDN and IP codecs, serving all four studios and controlled over the LAN, and a GPS-controlled master clock system, in addition to the usual facilities found in most local radio stations.
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Belfast's Citybeat 96.7FM
CN Radio's flagship station in Belfast was located in run-down premises with worn-out technical facilities, and the group decided to relocate it into a new building with up-to-date studios in 2006.
Radio Studio Services took responsibility for technical planning for the new building, project
management of the facilities and subsequently the installation of two on-air studios, a newsbooth and a commercial production studio. Radio Studio Services organised FM and DAB STL relocation, new IRN and Sky reception
facilities, new telecomms provision with Broadcast Bionics’ PhoneBox2/IP Office systems
throughout the new building, and the installation of the latest generation of Master Control
and Burli playout systems from RCS.
Mixing desks for the new on-air studios came from Alice — Air 2000s in split configuration
— in bespoke woodwork from ASP —and the news booth and com prod facility reused
Clyde Eclipse mixers refurbished from the old Citybeat studios. CD players by Denon,
mics by Audio Technica and Beyer Dynamic, and Tannoy Reveal monitors complete the
studio line-up. The newsroom has three audio workstations where journalists can record
and edit from ISDN and phones, TV and FM receivers and studio outputs.
The on-air service was moved into the new studios with no break in service - live programmes and news bulletins were maintained throughout the move.
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Coulsdon College
Coulsdon College approached Radio Studio Services early in 2005 - they
were launching a BTech course later in the year but had no studio
facilities available.
We identified a suitable store-cupboard which could become a small studio,
and in it we installed a compact facility, comprising Sonifex S2 desk,
PSquared Myriad playout computer, AT and Beyer mics, twin CD player,
Tascam minidisc, multi-channel headphone distribution - so that groups of
students can listen-in to what’s being done on the desk - etc.
The course got off to a great start—and now the College are planning networked
campus-wide programmes and regular month-long FM RSLs.
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