Rural Roads radio gets Studer OnAir 1500 desk
Published: ASIA
THAILAND: Studer’s Bangkok-based distributor 101 Technology (part of the Mahajak Group) recently supplied a compact Studer OnAir 1500 production desk for the Thai Government Department of Rural Roads’ new radio station. Fitting a tight budget, the desk will be multi-functional, enabling the station to handle live broadcasts and record live sessions – while operating as a dedicated production mixer.
The Thai Government Department of Rural Roads is responsible for maintaining the roads that connect to the country’s main highways. The new radio station was set up to assist the department in responding quickly to provide information across the vast network of roads. This is initially for internal broadcasting, before it becomes a full FM/AM broadcast channel, streaming digital information for the benefit of the general public.
101 Technology reports that this is the first OnAir 1500 to be sold in the country. ‘We put all the Studer OnAir 1500 launch information up online,’ said 101 Technology’s Wiboon Lertkultanon. ‘The people involved in the radio station knew of Studer’s reputation and I was contacted immediately after they saw it on our website.
‘After initial concerns about the budget they found they could do everything they needed with the OnAir 1500 and still have funding remaining for room decoration,’ he explained. ‘The fact that the desk could double as a production mixer was a bonus since they don’t have the budget to build another production studio yet.’
Converted from a small meeting room, the studio measures 4m x 3m and can accommodate a host and two guests. ‘The idea of separating the surface from the DSP held the key to space saving,’ Mr Lertkultanon added. ‘Also the ease of the flash drive plug and play is another highlight.’
Assigned to the faders are a host and two guest mics, solid state player, CD players, automatic play out, and two off-air feeds, a telephone hybrid and production workstation (plus GPIOs). The host microphone can also send out to record in the production workstation and the mixer takes the input from the production workstation back to the studio monitor.
‘The Studer name sells itself for the ease of use, reliability and sound quality,’ he continued. ‘But its legendary quality has never come in such a compact box as this before. This, coupled with the 101 Technology support team, means that the OnAir 1500 is in safe hands.’
‘The OnAir 1500 has met all expectations, showing that it can function as a production mixer within a tight budget,’ enthused one of the radio hosts. ‘The sound remains top quality, even when playing MP3 sound files.’