CJRT FM and ATA Audio at the Barbados Jazz Festival

ATA Audio - February 2004

CJRT FM and ATA Audio at the Barbados Jazz Festival

Toronto, Ontario Canada- CJRT is a unique station because it is the only JAZZ station in major markets in Canada. We had a remote in Barbados lined up in early January to broadcast the Barbados Jazz Festival. After looking at several codecs available on the market, I decided to go with the Scoop E-Z from ATA Audio because of the size and flexibility of the unit. Alvin Sookoo at ATA sent me a Scoop E-Z (portable) and Scoop Studio (rack unit) to use for the remote. When I received the units I wanted to make sure they worked properly on our ISDN lines in the studio. Being that ATA Audio had ISDN test lines for me to dial into I was able to test our lines right away. I had a problem at first, but ATA Audio’s technical support staff was able to troubleshoot the problem on one of my ISDN lines. Now the station was taken care of, it was off to Barbados. Our announcer, Bill King, was able to carry the Scoop E-Z on board the airplane because of the physical size (4 lbs) which made things less of a hassle. The remote was being held at the Casurina Hotel near St. Lawrence Gap. The set-up was simple. The hotel already had ISDN lines installed so we immediately tested the Scoop E-Z on the lines by dialing the Studio unit in Canada and got connected with no problems. The Scoop was put to air in 5 minutes time. We decided to do the broadcast in G.722 because of the minimal delay. Bill King the announcer, did live interviews with the performing artists and also with winners of the contest for the Jazz Festival. We also played CD’s artist brought with them live on the air. Being that the Scoop E-Z has two mic inputs and two headphone jacks, it was adequate to accomplish our job. The ISDN worked flawlessly and the quality was excellent for the announcer and guest. Total broadcast time was about 4 hours during which we did not experience a problem. The Scoop E-Z also had the ability to do a POTS and GSM call in case the ISDN failed. But we did not get a chance to use either because there was no need. Because of the size, portability and flexibility of the unit, I would highly recommend it for anyone using it in any situation, whether outside this country or the arena across town.