Macquarie Media Limited Contract PAT To Rebuild with LAWO Technology

July 2016 – Professional Audio & Television Pty Ltd (PAT), one of Australia’s leading Broadcast suppliers, announced today that they have supplied, configured and commissioned a large LAWO & VSM system for the rebuild of one of Australia’s most iconic radio stations – 2GB. Phase two of the project will see LAWO and VSM technology being brought online to replace ageing infrastructure for 2UE and 2CH.

After a thorough evaluation process, which included most of the leading broadcast manufacturers in the world, the decision was made by Macquarie Media Limited (MML) to purchase a LAWO solution for all On-Air studios, News Booths, Newsroom, Transfer Booths, and MCRs for their newly built Pyrmont facility. The new MML facility will house 2GB, 2UE and 2CH under one roof, and is set to be one of the most technologically advanced radio systems in the country. MML required a total rebuild of 11 services – including the primary services 2GB, 2UE and 2CH. Additionally, all primary services needed to feature fully redundant transmission paths that were independent to the LAWO NOVA73 redundancy.

The new MML system was deployed with a VSM control system for the overall core control – a proven solution that has already been highly successful for the control of LAWO NOVA73 Core routers at SBS in Sydney and Melbourne. MML opted for 16 fader LAWO sapphire consoles for 7 On-Air studios, while the News and Transfer booths are equipped with LAWO 8 fader crystal consoles. The Newsroom will soon be upgraded with LAWO VisTools touch screen terminals, which will include virtual faders and customised user interfaces for workflow optimisation. 3 LAWO compact frames and a LAWO NOVA17 will be the I/O backbone for the newsroom, combining virtual user terminals with more traditional I/O hardware.

In the MCR, Macquarie Media Limited chose a fully redundant LAWO NOVA73 Star2 topology, offering two redundant LAWO NOVA73 Core routers, controlled by a very powerful and extremely flexible VSM system. System flexibility was achieved by virtualising DSP resources on the LAWO Nova17 frames in MCR acting as both DSP resources and breakout I/O via VSM. VSM also provides system wide alarms, tallies, metering and the management of apology rules in case of a signal path failure. Macquarie Media Limited and PAT aimed for maximum flexibility in the system design, while still maintaining user friendliness through a decentralised redundant approach. VSM was the obvious choice to provide hardware and software interfaces in order to achieve maximum workflow efficiency.

With a large focus on outside broadcast content, Macquarie Media Limited required an OB system that was built beyond the traditional limitations of fixed systems. Professional Audio & Television developed an advanced OB system, which was tailored for each individual codec to be permanently connected to an OB line while remaining within the same DSP footprint. This saw the system increase from 16 virtual OB lines to 68 physical OB lines, whilst still offering all the standard features that are expected, including system wide labelling, DSP, Talkback and metering of presets.

Instead of an external Intercom system, MML decided to use a native Lawo Intercom solution. With the levels of redundancy available in the system, it became quite apparent that LAWO’s VSM Intercom system was the perfect choice, using the LAWO NOVA73 Core routers for crosspoint control of the intercom with user control being based on VSM software and hardware panels.

Patrick Salloch, Managing Director of Professional Audio & Television, explained, “MML decided on LAWO’s Star2 Topology at the heart of their new system due to the extremely redundant design, which offers maximum security for their technology investment. 2GB, 2CH and 2UE not only have an extremely large audience base in Sydney, but with many of their programs syndicated nationally, a fully redundant core infrastructure was imperative to ensure maximum up-time, while also providing the possibility to take an entire LAWO NOVA73 router off-line during maintenance or upgrade work.”

LAWO Sales Director – APAC, Philipp Hey, added, “It is fantastic to see that MML has chosen LAWO technology for this high profile project. More and more Australian Broadcasters are relying on LAWO technology, when redundancy, quality, and flexibility is needed.”

Macquarie Media Limited’s Director of Broadcast Systems – Aaron Alphonso noted “We are pleased with the LAWO and VSM system and the delivery of the initial phase of this project. Close cooperation between MML, PAT and LAWO has delivered a solution with solid broadcast capability, redundancy and versatility, which will serve our business well for years to come. PAT’s and LAWO’s engineering staff were reliable, accommodating and able to react quickly given their high level of system knowledge, which made a complex change in technology a straightforward exercise.”

Throughout the coming weeks 2UE and 2CH will transition to the new LAWO system.