With nearly 50,000 Scouts, Scouters and volunteers gathering together at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in the U.S., the 2010 National Scout Jamboree became the State of Virginia's 13th largest city...virtually overnight. Scouts from all over the world arrived on the Jamboree site on Monday, July 26th for the 10-day event. As they arrived, they were greeted by music, news and information provided by QBSA, 102.9 FM, The Eagle! The low-power FM was operated under a Special Temporary Authority granted by the FCC to the Boy Scouts of America for the limited duration of the event under the call sign WB4XSA.
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| Scouts gather for the opening arena show |
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| Tens of thousands of Scouts pour into the Arena |
Earlier in 2010, Comrex was contacted by the Boy Scouts to find out about improving the quality and flexibility of QBSA remote broadcasts from around the sprawling encampment. With a couple of Eagle Scouts on the Comrex staff, how could we refuse? So, armed with some ACCESS Portable codecs, we took advantage of the AT&T 3G and Wi-Fi service that was specially implemented for this event. Not only were Comrex ACCESS codecs used for daily remotes but they were also used to broadcast the live arena shows which were carried live on QBSA and streamed on the web for worldwide broadcast.
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| Ed Evans interviews Scouts preparing breakfast |
In addition to providing our own gear, other vendors were recruited to assist and were more than happy to help support this effort. Wheatstone, ENCO, Symetrix and BSW all provided equipment and supplies to help get the three studio facility on the air.
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| QBSA Morning Host Lars Lifrak |
One of the primary missions of QBSA was to give Scouts the opportunity to "DJ" their own 15-minute air shift. Scouts were given a 20-minute training course to cover the basic of radio broadcasting and then allowed to select three songs to play on the air. All Scout shows were produced in the giant QBSA Boom Box from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Its estimated that between Scout air shifts and live interviews, nearly 2000 Scouts got on the air.
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| The QBSA Staff in front of the Boom Box |
Expanding the overall reach of the station was a live web stream that was accessed from the Jamboree's home page. Listeners were tuning in from all over the globe and making requests on the QBSA Facebook page. Family and friends of Scouts posted their requests and shout outs from as far away as Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Sweden, Australia and all parts of the U.S. The station proved itself a vital link to Jamboree for parents of Scouts back at home. In just ten days, QBSA's Facebook page grew to nearly 2600 fans!
QBSA was truly at the heart of the Jamboree. The station featured live interviews with television host Mike Rowe (from Discovery's Dirty Jobs), rock band Switchfoot, and even an evening of Latin music called Latin Connection that was attended by Scouts from several Latin American nations.
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| QBSA Staffer Margaret Fletcher inteviews TV Personality Mike Rowe |
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| QBSA Latin Connection night |
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| Chris Crump interviews Scouts from Northeast Georgia Council |
The next National Scout Jamboree is scheduled for 2013 at its new permanent home, The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in West Virginia and QBSA will be there broadcasting live.
With nearly 50,000 Scouts, Scouters and volunteers gathering together at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in the U.S., the 2010 National Scout Jamboree became the State of Virginia's 13th largest city...virtually overnight. Scouts from all over the world arrived on the Jamboree site on Monday, July 26th for the 10-day event. As they arrived, they were greeted by music, news and information provided by QBSA, 102.9 FM, The Eagle! The low-power FM was operated under a Special Temporary Authority granted by the FCC to the Boy Scouts of America for the limited duration of the event under the call sign WB4XSA.
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