02/04/2023
This radio station had been put together years ago and was cobbed together with band store gear. I replaced the EAS system and audio processing gear since they had no processing and an out of date EAS box.
The rest of the studio was covered over with clumps and piles of excess wire and noting worked very well. The "band mixer" was installed by a previous engineer as well as all of the other riggery.
I convinced them to update to real broadcast gear and they agreed. I tried to get them to find a second-hand AudioArts R60 since all of the parts (including the face plates) are still in stock.
They opted instead to buy an Arrakis ARC 10. I'm not a fan of Arrakis but compared to the $185.00 Allen & Heath band mixer, it waa a definite upgrade.
They bought the one with the balanced RJ45 audio inputs, even though ALL of their gear is unbalanced RCA. I had to adapt it to balanced audio and make up the cables for the board.
The project would have taken only a few days but after being off the air for a few hours, they wanted me to rig it up so that their automation computer was on the air.
I ran the computer into the EAS, then the audio processor and out to the transmitter. Meanwhile, I started pulling wiring knots and nests. I suggested they replace their tabletops because they were pretty bad.
After a couple of days they got it done and called me to come and finish the build. They told me that they needed the studio to be built and fully functional by the following day.
I would have liked to have at least another day to do it to a "higher standard" and to be able to take care of the "finishing work" but they needed it and wanted it done right now. So here it is.
No, that's not me in the last pic. Its the station manager. Haahaa!
