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Customized advice for Clock radio

Can you tell us a little more about Clock Radio?

Klokradio started in 1990 as the local broadcaster of Nieuw-Lekkerland in the Alblasserwaard. In the beginning, frequency and transmitter and therefore also airtime were shared with the local broadcaster of Alblasserdam. When the latter ceased to exist, Klokradio also became LO of Alblasserdam and eventually (thanks to various municipal redistricting) the local media institution of Molenlanden and Alblasserdam.

So by now, Klokradio is actually a regional broadcaster, even though it is not officially allowed to be called that. Old-fashioned with just radio and website, but that has ensured over time that it is a financially enormously healthy broadcaster.

What are the highlights of Clock Radio for you?

A highlight for Klokradio, of course, was being allowed to “celebrate” its 30th anniversary in December 2020. In quotes because really celebrating was out of the question thanks to corona. In addition (if we let our gaze go past those thirty years ) the introduction of automation with the then PCRadio. Twenty-four hours a day on the air thanks to the software (of the time) CBT!

It took some doing, because as it turned out, Klokradio was just about the only station using WindowsNT as its operating system. But thanks to the efforts of the guys at Broadcast Partners, it all worked out.

And of course the most recent highlight was the purchase of the new Lawo Crystal mixing console, along with several Aeron Studio licenses. After several D&R tables had done the job over the years it was now time for a digital table and the Lawo Crystal was chosen, especially given its solidity and virtually unlimited possibilities.

What are your plans (if any) in the future?

Because quite a few programs are recorded in advance at Klokradio, the studio time for them in the evening is quite limited. Our desire is therefore to be able to set up our “studio 2” identically to the main studio, so that we can both broadcast live and record in two studio spaces simultaneously. Or, for example, during maintenance just to be able to use the other studio live. So that’s going to take some saving….

How did you end up with Broadcast Partners? And what have you recently updated about your studio?

Broadcast Partners was the most logical choice for us when it came to purchasing professional (broadcast) equipment. That was the case in 1990 and it has not changed in all these years as far as we are concerned. Especially the good guidance in making – usually expensive – choices – is worth gold to us. Also with the recent choice of a new digital mixing console and telephony solution, Bart from Broadcast Partners was again there for us with his honest advice. In the end, the Lawo Crystal mixing console and the AVT Magic TH6 talk show system were chosen for telephony (with the connections between Lawo, AerOn and the AVT system all being on an Audio over IP (AoIP) basis). The latter was also an important choice, especially since Klokradio has had a well-listened to sports program all these years, sometimes covering six games live.

I heard that two technicians from the broadcaster programmed everything themselves to the desired workflow of the broadcaster, can you tell us a bit more about this?

Setting up a digital mixing console, such as the Lawo Crystal, is certainly not a job you do on a lost Saturday afternoon. Still, two of Klokradio’s technical men, Kees Kok and Kees van der Rest, chose to do that setup all by themselves. Especially since there is a wide variety of programs and programmers: vinyl is still played, CDs are used, tablets and smartphones are deployed, and church services are played via YouTube.

The Klokradio Technical Team also felt that the new situation should not deviate too much from what the – mostly older – programmers were used to. So it was quite a challenge to set up the Lawo completely “custom made” for Klokradio, including the VisTool screens, on which the programmers can display everything on the monitors.

An additional advantage is of course that this way you really get to know all the ins and outs of such a table. If, for example, something needs to be adjusted in the future, it is a piece of cake for Kees and Kees.

Broadcast Partners