TWiRT 751 - Radio News Legend Talks Tech - with Bob Hardt

On this episode of This Week in Radio Tech, we welcome a true legend of the newsroom—Bob Hardt. From his early days at WXYZ to anchoring at WABC and ultimately rising to the top at ABC Radio News in New York City, Bob shares a career shaped by storytelling, breaking news, and the evolving tools of the trade. Host Kirk Harnack dives into how technology changed the game—from cart machines to digital editors—and how those shifts made newsgathering faster, sharper, and more agile. If you’ve ever wondered how great radio news gets made, or how the newsroom adapted from analog chaos to digital speed, this conversation with Bob Hardt is one you won’t want to miss.

Show Notes:
WABC News: Bob Hardt - January 22 1979 - Air Check
Bob Hardt's Wild Ride: From ABC News to Palm Springs Paradise - Big Conversations, Little Bar

Guest:
Bob Hardt - ABC Radio News Anchor / Reporter (Retired)

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, South Seas, & Akamai Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 751 - Radio News Legend Talks Tech - with Bob Hardt

TWiRT 750 - Today's Broadcast Innovation with Tyler & Grant

Seven hundred and fifty episodes of TWiRT!  Wow!  It’s my honor today to welcome two innovative broadcast engineers and businessmen - and business partners with Telos Alliance - Tyler Everitt and Grant Biebrick.  We’re learning about the practical equipment and systems that their company, Pippin Technical Service (PTS) brings to Canadian broadcasters. Tyler and Grant reveal the innovative networked devices and systems that PTS has developed and installed at hundreds of facilities in Canada. 

Show Notes:
PTSBeacon is essentially an IoT (Internet of Things) device for your Livewire network.
PTSAurora controls complex lighting indications on modern mic arms - and more.
Born of necessity and tradition, PTSPKR is perfect for broadcast audio monitoring.
PTSxR1 is incredibly versatile, and exactly the compute platform that broadcasters need.

Guests:
Tyler Everitt - President/CEO at Pippin Technical Service
Grant Biebrick - Sales & Marketing Specialist at Pippin Technical Service

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, South Seas, & Akamai Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 750 - Today's Broadcast Innovation with Tyler & Grant

TWiRT 749 - 5-Studio Upgrade at WJOU-FM

Oakwood University, located in Huntsville, Alabama, is renowned for its significant contributions to gospel and Christian music, particularly through its alumni who have achieved fame in these genres. Groups like Take 6 and soloists such as Brian McNight are alumni of Oakwood, along with many, many more. Oakwood is also home to WJOU-FM, and we all know that university-owned radio stations often go a couple decades between serious studio upgrades. WJOU is overdue for new equipment, and not just for the sake of newness.  Indeed, the station’s leadership staff recognizes the need for more diverse music and talk programming, but one signal isn’t enough. So, WJOU-FM is remodeling and building new studios to accommodate four different formats, and finishing an HD Radio transmission system to accommodate them.  Good leadership and big upgrades go hand-in-hand, so on this episode we’re meeting with Dawna Baker and Dammeon Malone from WJOU, and with broadcast system integrator, Josh Bohn and field engineer Mike Hutchens from MaxxKonnect.  Together they’re give us a worthy overview of this major upgrade process from the perspectives of management, operations, and engineering. 

Show Notes:
WJOU-FM’s web site
Dawna Baker is the Morning Joy host on WJOU
Technical info on WJOU-FM from Radio-Locator
MaxxKonnect Technical Services

Guests:
Dawna Baker - General Manager at WJOU-FM
Dammeon Malone - Asst. GM and Program Director at WJOU-FM
Josh Bohn - President/CEO at MaxxKonnect Group
Mike Hutchens - Director of Technical Services at MaxxKonnect Group

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, South Seas, & Akamai Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 749 - 5-Studio Upgrade at WJOU-FM

TWiRT 748 - Cart Machines: The Rest of the Story with Andy Rector

The Story of the Broadcast Cart Machine is fascinating, especially to those of us who used them on-air, or installed and repaired them as engineers.  Andy Rector, who was heavily involved in the business of broadcast cart machines, joins us for Part 2 of our exploration into this history.  We’ll go through the 1970s and 1980s, as new broadcast cart machines were developed and deployed. We’ll follow this story arc right up to the late 1990s, when Andy says was really the end of that cart machine era.  

Show Notes:
An Afternoon with John “Jack” Mullin - A video by the Audio Engineering Society

Guest:
Andy Rector - Broadcast Equipment Historian

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, South Seas, & Akamai Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 748 - Cart Machines: The Rest of the Story with Andy Rector

TWiRT 747 - How We Got the Cart Machine with Andy Rector

Most of us in radio engineering have worked with broadcast cart machines. While it’s been a good 25 or 30 years since we’ve had them in our studios, we’ll never forget the pleasure - and occasional pain - of using them and maintaining them.  But how did cart machines come to be? Were they always like the ones we grew up with in the 70s and 80s? Or did the development come with fits and starts?  Andy Rector worked with broadcast carts nearly from the very beginning of their existence.  He’s been interviewed many times and provided historical presentations to SBE groups, AES sections, and others. We’re delighted to have Andy Rector join us on this TWiRT episode to look at the early days of broadcast cart machines and the early technologies employed.  

Show Notes:
These Were the Carts of Our Lives - Radio World article

Guest:
Andy Rector - Broadcast Equipment Historian

Hosts:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum Media
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, South Seas, & Akamai Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output. 

Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 747 - How We Got the Cart Machine with Andy Rector