Sending GPI/O triggers over satellite for automated local commercial spot playout

[Sean]

Hello All!

I'm new to this radio discussion forum, but have read many helpful resolutions given to people needing help, so I decided to jump on board and ask for some myself. At my place of work, BYU Broadcasting, located on the BYU University Campus, I oversee 3 radio stations in the Salt Lake City, Utah market. KBYU-FM 89.1 HD1, BYU Radio HD2, KUMT-FM 107.9. We also air A LOT of sports programming, and have a number of growing affiliate stations that are taking our sports programming via satellite (G-17) and also webstream.

Many of the affiliate stations have asked me if we could provide what used to be called "Cue Tones" be now are (from what I have read) more of like serial data embedded in the audio stream, or relay triggers (GPI/O maybe) that cause contact closures on the satellite receivers, to trigger the local automation to play out the local spots to air. I would like to implement this in our facility, but can't seem to get the answers I need to what gear is needed to interface with our automated system (Wide Orbit Automation). I know that Westwood One, SkyNet, IMG and others do this sort of thing, but they have a complete system (XDS I think) that included this ability built into the automation.

Does anyone know or have an idea what would be required or what equipment would be needed to accomplish this ability with our current Wide Orbit system? I talked to WO and they don't provide any way to embed or send relay data over satellite or the web for that matter. Any help, thoughts, experience, ideas, etc would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!
Sean

 

[PTBoardOp94]

WideOrbit does not have the ability to send closures to affiliates, but it does (probably, I'm not familair with WO) have the ability to send TCP/IP or serial packets to other devices which can. For example, Broadcast Tools sells a Serial Remote Control, which will generate relays from a serial string originating from your automation.

Supposing the Broadcast Tools SRC is your solution to getting closure outputs from your automation, you still have to get them to your affiliates.

Your web stream almost definitely does not include a side-channel for closures, and your satellite probably does not either. So that means you will need to use sub-audible tones (25/35Hz is most common). For that purpose, CircuitWerkes has you covered with a product that will generate a 25/35 tone based on a relay input, and overlay it on your audio, as well as a product that will decode 25/35 tones and generate closures for your affiliates to connect to their automation.

Be warned: the stream or the satellite audio CODEC may strip out your 25/35 tones. Test the behavior before jumping in!

 

[Sean]

Thanks PT!

I would assume that all the affiliates would need to have the receiving box to decode the tones in this scenario. I was hoping that the affiliates would not have to add another piece of gear to the mix, but sometimes it just has to be done. So, having a side channel on a satellite transponder, how does that work? Are some sat birds configured with a side channel included in the transponder's bandwidth? Or based on the subcarrier bandwidth used, basically create a Multi-Channel Sub-Carrier, and use an additional channel just for the Contact Closure data information?

Sean

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I'm not privy to the exact implementation on the various satellite receivers, but you have the general idea. Some of the systems also provide song/artist info for RDS purposes for music programs like Alice Cooper Nights.


Your affiliates have to have some equipment. If your Galaxy-15 receiver is equipped for generating closures, you can probably use that in cooperation with your uplink provider. But I'm guessing if it were, you would already know. And that doesn't help your affiliates who are using the web stream.

 

[bigdonho]

There are several ways of accomplishing this. First, assume you only need three closures 1) Local Break, 2) Station ID and 3) End of Broadcast. Both the Barix 500 and Comrex BricLink (as well as the Comrex Rack) provide for sending and receiving as many as four closures. On the transmit end you could set up the console so that it sends the closures just as it would remote starts. On the receive end the closures would be received just as normal starts by the automation system.

Stream Guys provide a service where the closures are passed along. Most satellite providers can pass the closures along to the receivers as part of the normal data stream.

BTW: Both Barix and Comrex units are capable of sending a single data stream to multiple receivers. So, if you have 10 or fewer affiliates, they could just connect to your originating box and have the closures available.

Cue tones (25 Hz/20 Hz) only provide you with two closures and the harmonics tend to be audible.

 

[Grounded Grid]

I have some direct experience with this, as applied at a local network we built for Spanish language broadcasts of 3 major sporting teams in Seattle.

Some factors I had to deal with:

1. Our stations and network affiliates would not purchase satellite receivers; nor would our owners buy the equipment for them.
2. Our owners would not see any benefit in buying satellite time for a small network.
3. For purposes of considering our differences, we used Simian automation throughout the network. Dry contacts out of the system were easy to acquire. However, this type of network acts like a normal program syndication, so any automation that's built for sat programming should work fine.

Mainly because of cost, all settled on Barix equipment. We used the "Exstreamer 500" for network origination (because they can encode contact closures and have balanced inputs). Your station affiliates will also need a "500" as this model has the dry contacts needed to trigger the affiliate automations. I used Aphex Compellors ahead of the Barix encoders.

The affiliate Barix boxes can be repurposed, if the station(s) move on to other programming down the road. The equipment is not necessarily exclusive to your network.

I rejected 25/35 tones because the decoders can be sensitive to levels outside their operating windows. Not every endpoint will use the tone filters that are built into most of the decoders and miscues are not unheard of. A minor point for "BigDonHo", btw... 25/35 does offer 3 closures; 25, 35, and the 25/35 combo. Still, I don't care much for it, any more than I would use touch tones or single-tone combination gear. None of it is necessary with the AOIP equipment

If any of your games are "walk away automated", you should put everything you can think of into ensuring all of your expected cues are fired and no unexpected ones make it through. By using the Barix method, encoder, board and network levels are not a factor in cue reliability.

With the last part above in mind, I elected to automate all of the cues, taking that critical function out of the hands of the board operators. I added the cues ahead of the commercial clusters in the automation program log. I also used the automation for the station ID cues and audio content. Through your automation, pull off 3 contact closures you can wire to the relay inputs of your Barix encoder ("Commercial Break", "Station ID", "End-Of-Game". I needed a one or two second delay between hitting "next" (spacebar, or whatever) and the start of the commercial content, to allow for cue processing from end-to-end. That was an added line item on the program log.

Automating your breaks helps ensure your commercial windows are consistent... something the stations at the other end will appreciate.

Hope this helps with some ideas for you.