Letter From DAD…

NAB and New Products Exciting Product Introductions! By now you may have heard about Presenter, our completely new automation and playout system designed for live and live assist radio broadcasting. We introduced Presenter at the NAB Show in Las Vegas last month to rave reviews. One of the things that current DAD users told us they liked the most was that you can add Presenter to DAD, giving you the best of both worlds.  And right now, as a special thank you and incentive to DAD users, you can save 1/3 off the normal upgrade price to add Presenter to a DAD workstation!   What else have we been up to?   We’ve added support for Twitter and FriendFeed to our PADapult and RAMA in our latest release, version 9.0a, allowing your station to ‘Tweet’ as well as send RDS, HD Radio, update station web sites and more.   If you have colleagues who use a different automation system but would like to upgrade to DAD, we have good news for them as well.  This month we announced the Intelligent Conversion Engine (ICE), which makes the process of converting from a third-party system much easier and pain-free!  And due to the uncertainly many people are seeing in the automation industry (other than ENCO!), we’re offering ICE at no additional charge for stations buying new DAD or Presenter systems.   Don’t forget to join us on our Facebook group, and watch for our next newsletter next month.

One More New Product From ENCO The Button Box Grows Up! Introducing HotShot,  an instant audio playback package…with some big differences!  HotShot is a solidly built complete hardware appliance with a full screen interface.  HotShot is quick to learn, easy to use and flexible enough for any broadcast application. Let’s start with flexibility.  HotShot can be used with a mouse, touchscreen or our custom designed HotShot button pad.  HotShot has 8 banks of 84 buttons (quick access to 672 audio buttons).   It features a full screen interface, so there’s no windowing or dialog boxes to deal with and nothing between you and your buttons.  The HotShot control surface is pre-labeled with color coded letters making it easy to correlate the button you press with the audio you want.  No longer are you faced with a sea of ‌ white buttons; with HotShot, navigation is easy. The HotShot control surface is unique to ENCO Systems.  It’s a solidly built (metal case), USB device using high quality switches designed to be reliable and last a long time.  Bank buttons light up to show you which bank you are in, regardless of where you change banks from, the surface or the screen. HotShot is capable of playing as many as four streams on as many as four outputs for a total of 16 audio files playing at the same time!  Outputs are assignable by column and displayed on the screen.  Sure, you might not need that kind of capacity every time, but with HotShot, you know you’ll always be able to do anything you’re asked! HotShot supports dragging audio files directly from any folder of your PC: local drive, thumb drive, CD/DVD, portable hard drive or network drive.  HotShot even supports an autodetect mode that can preload banks with audio files found on any inserted media, giving you immediate access to a number of portable audio files just by plugging in!  HotShot supports uncompressed PCM or MPEG2/MP3 compressed stereo and mono audio files. HotShot is delivered in an attractive and space efficient 1 rack unit enclosure with 250 gb of storage, mouse and keyboard.  A monitor is not included, but HotShot supports anything with a minimum resolution of 1280×1024. HotShot is the ‘button box’ appliance that is ready for today’s control rooms, today’s audio suites and today’s broadcast trucks.  It’s the perfect combination of solid hardware and reliable software that delivers both ease of use and real value.  Take your best shot, with HotShot!

Being Connected A Note From Matt Walther, ENCO Technical Support In today’s times being connected is a must. Now more than ever, facilities are bridging networks together allowing access to the outside world. While many still choose to keep their automation system isolated from the Internet, more often than not, these systems are connected. With this enhanced connectivity, risks become a concern. One of the most common threats are Viruses. Viruses have become very sophisticated over the past few years and can quickly scan the entire network, find another workstation and replicate. These worms can mask themselves to look like legitimate services and a local administrator might not even know that they are infected until performance related issues arise.   These threats can perform tasks such as spamming, execute Denial of Service attacks and download additional malware, wrecking havoc on any system. Most will use the computers resources such as memory and network bandwidth for their own cause without regard for legitimate applications. Often when calling Technical Support one of the questions asked is if we can connect remotely. This means that the workstation has to be able to see the outside world. Before putting any system on-line, one should always make sure it is secure. There are many different ways to secure a network and there is simply no way one method will protect all sites. Each facility must review their own security protocols and determine which is best for their needs. One of the most common lines of defense is a good Anti-virus program that has been properly configured. In regards to running an anti-virus program on a DAD workstation, one should do so with some caution. In general one should disable complete scans as real-time scanning is fine. Disable network scanning along with firewalls and e-mail scanning. It is recommended that at a minimum, one should create an exception for the DAD, CUTS and TEMP directories. Ideally, one would focus the exceptions to .DBF and their associated .CDX files in the directories listed. WAV files can also be excluded. In regards to Virus definition updates, one can allow Automatic updates as long as it will not interfere with the overall network stability. Even if a system is ‘isolated’, give attention to the workstations that have an indirect link. A traffic workstation on the house network might have a connection to the automation network to transfer logs. In this case, the Traffic machine is a point of entry and should be protected.  Likewise, if one uses a computer with an USB drive, that computer should be protected as the jump-drive is a point of entry. Overall, the best protection is to keep a system isolated. When connectivity becomes a necessity; one should always consider using some sort of protection.

Twitter…

As stations across the planet embrace social networking sites to enhance their profile and online presence, ENCO Systems, providers of the global automation systems DAD and Presenter announce support for Twitter.

You may already be Twittering yourself, using this internet phenomenon to ‘micro blog’ throughout the day and let other users know your thoughts, actions and emotions. Now, radio stations (even those that don’t use DAD or Presenter) can automatically do the same with their playlists. Using ENCO’s RAMA or Padapult applications users can twitter their now playing information along with other text or html data, such as weather, news and useful information.

Twitter feed subscribers can receive updates on their mobile phones, other mobile devices and desktop widgets. This addition to the already powerful product suite means, that radio stations really can connect with the listener.

The use of Twitter and other similar social networking tools is set to change the face of broadcasting and information delivery, as Charles Darwin famously said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.

How do you connect with your listener? Contact ENCO Systems today on +44 (0)1243 389222 for a chat or online demo.

Little Launch gets royle seal…

Ralf Little gets grilled

Guests at the launch of the new radio facility at Peterborough Regional College’s Media and Journalism Centre based at 50 Broadway, were treated to a champagne and canapé reception recently. The outstanding state-of-the-art venue was officially opened by well known TV actor Ralf Little. Ralf has starred in The Royle Family and Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps and is a keen supporter of further education for the arts.

After the formalities Ralf talked to guests in the new digital television studio whilst students edited clips in the industry standard video and audio editing suite. During the evening students were on hand to give live demonstrations and hopefully encouraged visitors to take part in a variety of interactive displays.

At the heart of the radio suite are three state of the art studios, all installed with ENCO DAD playout systems, operating dual 19″ screens. ENCO DAD was chosen for the project for its ease of use, reliability and UK based technical support.

The new centre brings together the College’s media and journalism facilities in one easy accessible site. The £750k development includes a new digital television studio, video and audio editing suites  and extensive still photography facilities.

Educator expands to 24 workstations…

ENCO Systems Announces System Expansion at Specs Howard

ENCO announced a significant expansion of the ENCO DAD system at the Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts in Southfield, MI, including adopting ENCO’s new Presenter delivery system.

Specs Howard has been serving the broadcast education field since 1970 and has been using ENCO’s DAD system to teach students since 1999. This expansion will grow the system from three to twenty four workstations, allowing radio students to have more access than ever before to advanced radio storage and delivery technology. The school evaluated a number of systems before deciding on ENCO’s Presenter.

Eugene Novacek, President of ENCO Systems said, “Specs Howard has done an exceptional job over the years preparing students to become broadcasters as they have focused on the important skills that allow their graduates to get jobs and advance in the broadcast industry. It was very gratifying to receive this endorsement of Presenter early on from Specs Howard. Their hands-on approach and our new Presenter product will complement each other nicely.”

“We’ve been using ENCO’s DAD system for ten years and it has proven to be a solid and reliable performer in a high pressure environment like ours,” noted Bob Burnham, Specs Howard’s Chief Engineer. “Having examined the current market and then having a chance to see Presenter, we were convinced that growing our ENCO system and adding Presenter to the mix made the most sense for Specs Howard students. Preparing students in a real-world environment for a long-term future in broadcasting is what we’re all about. Hands-on cutting-edge technology has always played a major role in our success as a teaching tool for the thousands of Specs grads employed in the industry. Presenter is clearly a product that is looking ahead and in total sync with how we do what we do at the school.”

The Presenter single screen interface features a panel design with integrated tools including voice tracking, hot buttons, recording, database search and display and more. Other features include cut, paste and block move of playlists elements, user tabs, backsell log and a number of new and refined user friendly tools designed for live assist and voice tracked operations. Presenter will be on display at NAB 2009 in Las Vegas, NV, April 20-23 in Booth N-7607 in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Initial Presenter information is available at the ENCO web site at www.enco.com and will be regularly updated. Presenter will begin shipping in May 2009.

About ENCO ( www.enco.com )

ENCO Systems is a leading provider of Digital Audio Delivery Systems for demanding television and radio organizations worldwide. ENCO is headquartered in Southfield, Michigan with offices in Nashville, South Carolina, India and the United Kingdom and retains distributors throughout the rest of the world.

About Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts ( www.specshoward.edu )

Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts is a recognized center for radio, television and film education located in Southfield, MI. Founded in 1970, over 12,000 students have graduated from Specs Howard over the years, filling positions in all facets of the broadcast industry. Specs Howard recently added a Graphic Design Program to its offerings and the first class will graduate in May 2009.

Presenting, Presenter…

 

Presenter from ENCO

 

ENCO Systems are proud to announce the arrival of ‘Presenter’, ENCO’s brand new radio automation product due to be launched at NAB in Las Vegas in April 2009.

 

Following intense secrecy surrounding the design and development of this landmark product, ‘Presenter’ delivers an attractive interface perfect for programmers, presenters and engineers alike.  Easy to use and operate, with a beautifully crafted front-end screen; ‘Presenter’ will redefine the audio automation market across the globe.

 

Like its predecessor ‘DAD’, ‘Presenter’ supports all forms of audio technologies including IP audio, traditional sound cards, audio router control, console interfaces, and general purpose I/O, touch screens.  This internal power is now lethally combined with a stylish and easy to use ‘front end’ to suit the needs of all types and sizes of radio stations.

 

 

Eugene Novacek, President of ENCO Systems said, “ENCO’s ‘DAD’ product has a reputation of being a highly engineered product with an unparalleled amount of power and flexibility for radio operations of all sizes.  Using our industry knowledge and incorporating client feedback ENCO has developed a product that will engage you like never before.  We believe that ‘Presenter’ is a unique combination of the most attractive automation interface with the most powerful playout technology available anywhere.”

 

 

“Presenter is designed to be used…easily”, states Don Backus, ENCO Systems VP of Sales & Marketing. “ENCO wanted to deliver both substance and style.  This is where ‘Presenter’ excels. Even in challenging economic times, ENCO anticipate significant interest as clients switch away from less powerful and reliable systems to ‘Presenter’ which really has it all.  We believe so strongly in this new product that unlike other manufacturers, ENCO will actually be increasing exhibition space at NAB this year, to accommodate increased footfall at the show, as we anticipate that initial interest will be overwhelming.”

 

 

The ‘Presenter’ single screen interface features a panel design with many user selectable tools including voice tracking, hot keys, recording, database, search and more.  Other features include cut, paste and block move of playlists elements, user tabs, backsell log and a number of new and refined user friendly tools designed for live assist and voice tracking.

 

 

‘Presenter’ will be on display at NAB 2009 in Las Vegas, held April 20-23, Booth N-7607 in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre.   Initial ‘Presenter’ information is available online at: www.encosystems.co.uk.  Presenter will be available for delivery from May 2009.

 

 

Keep checking back for some sneak previews of what presenter looks like right here on the ENCO Blog and at our Facebook group

 

 

For enquiries relating to this Press Release, please call Becky Lodge, Sales Director on

01243 389222 or e-mail: sales@encosystems.co.uk

Charlton Science College

Charlton Science College, Bespoke ENCO School Broadcast Studio

 

Charlton Science College have taken delivery and installation of a bespoke ENCO School Broadcast studio solution, including the world leading ENCO DAD playout system, Shure microphones and auxilary plug-in points for ipods.

Unlike most school installations you may have seen, this studio was designed for schools from the ground up. “We could have used a simple school desk” says Grant Francis Projects Director for ENCO Systems, “but we designed and built real technical furniture for the same price as your average office desk. Woodwork you can buy off the shelf just isn’t strong enough or designed for the job. Combine this with broadcast equipment and you have a really great resource for the school”.

Within minutes of the studio being completed, Charlton Science College began broadcasting their own internal radio station that will eventually be available online through the schools’ website and on www.schoolbroadcast.co.uk

The radio station will be used to teach all aspects of radio, present break-time shows and offer teaching staff a valuable resource to enable interactive revision sessions.

For more information about broadcasting in schools, click here.

Tower Hamlets School goes media mad

Hello and welcome to our latest update.

ENCO “School Broadcast” were invited to attend an E-Learning day at a school in Tower Hamlets. 11 Year 12 students took part in a radio workshop where they had to prepare and launch their own radio station in a day. The team of students were responsible for the entire output of the station with a launch deadline of 2:20pm. After preparing news, jingles, playlists and interviews Major Sparks Radio went live at 2:19pm for the very first broadcast to the entire school.

Grant Francis, Projects Director for ENCO Systems said, “I am so impressed with the students at the school, they managed to do in a single day, what would usually take a couple of school terms. This was the first time any of these students had used a full broadcast studio, so to get to grips with the studio, equipment and software so quickly was amazing. Listen for yourself, they were great! Just imagine what a full time radio station would sound like with this team behind it!

To see a short video of the day, click here.

You can hear the show, made by the students by clicking here.

[March 2009] Letter From DAD…

Hello and welcome to the latest of our blogs. As you know, we are an international company with our head office in Michigan USA. Every month we release a “Letter from DAD” so here for your perusal is our March 2009 edition.

 

Welcome! 26 Years and Going Strong! Thank you for looking over this new format Letter From DAD. We plan to publish a new newsletter every month, keeping you up to date on what we’re doing and how it could impact you. 2009 marks ENCO’s 26th year in business, and our 19th year serving the broadcast community with world class audio automation and delivery. We’ve got some great things happening for 2009, with the first getting under way in April at NAB Show 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. With two exciting all-new products being rolled out at NAB this year, we are increasing our presence by 25%! If you’ll be making it to Las Vegas for NAB, come visit us in the North Hall of the LVCC in booth N-7607. If you can’t make it to Vegas, we’ll keep you up to date via this newsletter as well as through the ENCO User Forum, which you can sign up for at forum.enco.com. You’ll find our forum is a great community of DAD users with questions, answers, ideas and suggestions for all to share. We’ve also created a group on Facebook,  to give us another way to keep in contact with you. In all cases, we try to keep the noise and hype level to a minimum and concentrate on the things you’ll be most interested in.

Cool DAD Utilities Benefit Even More From DAD Sometimes we all get caught up in the day to day focus on running DAD and making sure the primary job of reliably playing your audio is handled that we forget that there are a number of productivity tools available for your DAD system that can do specialized tasks while working closely with your current DAD system. By now most stations know about our DropBox utility.  It’s a great way to get audio inserted directly into your DAD system, from production or from a directory of transferred files.  What you might not know is that while DropBox is delivered with the ability to watch one folder or location and do one type of file conversion, you can add additional locations and conversion types to the same copy of DropBox for a small fee.  That way you can use the same DropBox to transfer from a number of directories and convert MP3 files and MP2 files to WAV for your library.  This makes administrating DropBox a snap and allows dedicating one DropBox machine to doing your ‘heavy lifting’ instead of spreading around a number of DropBox applications. Another great utility is WebLib.  WebLib takes your DAD library and publishes it (or part of it, based on Groups you allow) to the web.  Typically password protected, WebLib allows you to share audio between sites and audition it using a media player in MP3 form, then allowing download of full uncompressed WAV format for production purposes.  It’s not something that everyone needs, but if you have multiple production sites or producers and would like to make sharing your audio production assets painless, then WebLib is for you.  While WebLib runs on a Windows 2003 or better server, files can be accessed on many browsers across platforms including Windows and Mac OSX.

RAMA and PADapult Delivering and Repurposing Your Data What does the future have in store for radio?  Nobody knows for sure, but what I think we can all agree on is that it will have components of traditional analog broadcasting, HD Radio and webcasting.  You may already know that DAD is capable of running as many as 16 different streams from a single workstation (depending on sound card, of course), but you might not be aware that we have a suite of datacasting solutions that are designed to meet the needs of today and your needs tomorrow. PADapult is a software solution that takes the ‘now playing’ information from your automation system and automatically formats the data for up to 10 different locations.  Whether it’s RDS, your web stream, an interactive billboard or sign or the HD Radio PSD protocol, PADapult parses and formats the data and sends it directly to the desired location.  PADapult also is able to send iTunes tagging information for HD Radio to give your station another revenue opportunity. Included with PADapult is PADLive!, for live interactive messaging for promotion, weather or news bulletins.  PADLive! can override normal data or interleave with normal data because it features several levels of priority. Also part of PADapult is scheduled messagecasting, allowing your station to monetize your streams with commercial or promotional scheduled messages that alternate with your normal ‘now playing’ data. RAMA gives you everything that PADapult does and more, in a new 1 RU unit or a super quiet solid state appliance.  RAMA is remotely accessible, so you can log into it from anywhere for quick easy access for making changes to the system from anywhere. Data can enhance the listening experience and create additional bonds between your station and the listener, and PADapult and RAMA make that job easier.  Learn more about RAMA and PADapult on our web site at www.enco.com and see our specials for this month.

Grant’s top tips for education…

Hello, Grant Francis here, Projects Director at ENCO. As an experienced broadcaster with a career spanning both local, regional and national radio it’s my turn to write this update so, here we go;

Grant’s ‘Top Tips’ for Radio in Education!

1. Use the right kit – Don’t compromise on quality.

If you are going to use radio as an educational tool, you must use the equipment you would find in a “real life” radio/TV station. There is absolutely no point using basic, domestic equipment to teach radio at any educational level. Firstly, it may not perform with the rigorous use that it will have in class and as we all know; cheap is cheap for a reason.

Things that are cheap won’t last the distance, they just dont offer value for money in education. You need to teach on equipment pupils/students might use if/when they progress their career into the vast world of broadcasting. That way, they are prepared and armed with transferable business skills when the time comes.

 

2. Software – Buy the best for your budget.here

The software you choose should be of a standard found in radio stations world wide. ENCO DAD for example is the choice of broadcasters including CNN and CNBC – why do they choose ENCO? For the unrivalled customer and software support. It’s very, VERY good and easy to operate. Based on Windows drag and drop technology it forms the ‘engine room’ of any radio station.

Beware the provider that dazzles you with spending large amounts of your budget on pretty desks and woodwork and those that make unsubstantiated claims about who they supply to. Ask for client testimonials (commercial and educational) and their telephone numbers and talk to them direct… Any company that is happy for you to talk directly to their clients, without them being there are sure to be great, open, honest and trustworthy partners.

Try to avoid licences on software where you can, they often tie you into hidden additional costs and time in having to renew licence keys, with ENCO DAD, you own it, outright, forever.

The software is what matters for your solution and this is what should stand up to scrutiny. A good provider will offer support and client telephone numbers ‘up front’ for your peace of mind. For ENCO testimonials see some of our past blogs for more information, alternativly you can click

 

3. Support – UK Based Software Support from ENCO.

Ensure that you work with providers that not only support your hardware and software solutions, but your educational targets, training requirements and personal requirements too. ENCO for example can assist or even write your radio and TV lesson plans, helping you integrate the use of broadcast into your every day curriculum.

How can you use radio to teach Shakespeare? Call us for a chat on: 01243 389222 and we can tell you how.

 

4. Keep it simple – Our advice is free, you can trust us.

There is no point running before you can walk… or thinking of being Radio 1 before you are an internet broadcaster.

Use the power of your software to make your station sound as slick and engaging as possible. Use the expertise of your equipment providers to help you choose jingles, select music and programme your stations output. We are here to help you in every aspect.

Don’t rush a buying decision (Act in haste – repent at leisure!), radio in our extensive experience cannot be sold as a package. Beware again the provider that offers this as an option. Your solution should be as unique as you are and designed to fit your needs, when you buy a package, you could be paying for items that you will never use and that simply is a waste of your budget that could be better used elsewhere.

As an example of our “design services” for want of a better phrase, check out the Media Play Van we built for the Bournemouth YMCA: www.vimeo.com/channels/enco

 

5. Ongoing Training and Support

Ever bought something, felt that the sales person was your best friend at the time only to go home and suffer buyer’s remorse?

We won’t leave you alone, we will be with you, every step of the way.

Don’t leave yourself open to buying a solution from a provider that can’t provide certified training, excellent after care and technical support for the software. ENCO provide on site training, virtual online training and office hours UK based technical support. If you are unsure, we provide class based ‘taster’ days, led by broadcast professionals (not trainers) where you can ‘go live’ and record your output to keep, for information on a taster day,visit our School broadcast website and get in touch. Why use a trainer when you can have an experienced DJ/Producer with current industry experience?

ENCO provide training and support to suit you, that’s now and in the future.  Learn more at:www.encosystems.co.uk

 

6. Lastly….HAVE FUN.

Radio and broadcasting is about having fun – by having fun with your station, you learn without even realising it. ENCO like to have fun, everyone in our factory is from a broadcasting or creative background.

To discuss any of the above points, you can call me in the office on 01243 389222 or check out our website: www.encosystems.co.uk, we are always here and happy to help make you life easier.

 

ENCO Engages in E-Learning in Tower Hamlets

Janet Chapman Assistant Headteacher of Central Foundation Girls’ School in Harley Grove, London, has organised an E-Learning Day on Thursday 5th March 2009.

Not an extraordinary event in itself, until the realisation that this is a day in school with a difference! Having approached ENCO Systems Ltd who were exhibiting at BETT 2009, Janet enquired as to whether ENCO would be able to assist with the provision of a portable radio station to bring to the school. This was to assist in engaging the students by using radio, so that they could experience first hand professional industry standard equipment, which would enable them to produce their own radio show.

What Janet did not expect (but was pleasantly surprised by!) was the loan of a fully mobile media play van from ENCO and Bournemouth YMCA. In 2008, ENCO helped the YMCA, by building a fully mobile radio, TV/Animation studio on four wheels; that travels far and wide to meet its educational remit for the funding received from the Big Lottery Fund.

Andy Homer, Youth Worker at the YMCA takes up the story: “We worked very closely with ENCO to build a van that would be ideal for engaging kids in our local community. We are delighted to share our knowledge and experience with Janet and all the teaching staff at the school, to see how ICT and especially broadcast can help teachers meet the needs of the curriculum across all areas.” Andy concludes “The Media Play Van (aka The Media Machine), is able to access rural and inner city areas where otherwise kids may not have access to broadcast equipment that is used by professional radio and TV stations alike. ENCO have provided us with a means of engaging and supporting the next generation of media stars and making learning fun for both teachers and pupils!”
The E-Learning Day will be held at the school on Thursday 5th March 9am-3.20pm, for more information contact Becky Lodge at ENCO Systems on 01243 389222. Or lea ve us a messgae here on wordpress ENCO Systems is the home of the award winning DAD software for radio and live TV audio broadcast. With 8,000 systems globally ENCO are industry leaders in audio software solutions for schools, education and commercial partners.