Live From Anywhere
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In the late 1980's I gave a speech at the annual public radio conference, entitled "Live from anywhere, it can be done". While it was true in the eighties and before, in the nineties, with the increased availability of digital communications, live broadcasting from anywhere on the globe is imminently more practical.
In the "old" days we had to jump through hoops to link up cross continent and beyond. The hoops included setting up complex satellite links at incredible cost. Today we order an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) connection, a kind of computer phone line, at the remote location, bring a nifty black box called a "codec" which converts the sound of our broadcast to 1's and 0's, hook it up to the ISDN line and start the broadcast. All at a fraction of the cost of a satellite link. And while there are still problems to work out such as incompatibility of different phone companies' equipment, live from anywhere is possible, even for broadcasting operations with modest budgets.
The week of broadcasting MARKETPLACE is presenting June 2-6, 1997 from Berlin, Germany is accomplished by, among other details, use of ISDN lines. The signal is converted to 1's and 0's using the codec at our host station Berliner Rundfunk, sent over the digital phone lines and converted back from 1's and 0's to sound in the MARKETPLACE studios in Los Angeles. From there the Berlin signal is "mixed" with other elements such as music and sent out via satellite to hundreds of public radio stations around the U.S. and affiliates in a number of countries overseas.
It is a two-way system, so the host in Berlin will be able to hear the producers in Los Angeles, loud and clear.
Scott Yankus, technical director
