Somewhere...Beyond the Sea!

San Diego, CA -- As the immortal Bobby Darrin crooned away in the background, listener's of The Keith DeGreen Show on Clear Channel's KFYI/Phoenix were witness to a little bit of history with the commencement of DeGreen's departure for a voyage around the world. DeGreen, who broadcasts his show each Sunday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., shoved off while live on the air via his Comrex ACCESS codec.

His global voyage began on April 1st aboard his new 55' Nordhavn Motoryacht outfitted with all of the latest bells & whistles including an ACCESS Rackmount Stereo BRIC IP Codec. Getting IP connectivity on the open seas is no small feat. So, for this, DeGreen and his crew turned to KVH and their Inmarsat Fleet 77 domed transmitter/receiver with gyroscopic tracking which provides this IP-over-satellite connection.



The Global Adventure with domed satellite transceivers

Prior to the April 1st launch, DeGreen and his crew put ACCESS through it's paces to insure it would provide a solid transmission medium for his broadcasts aboard his boat, The Global Adventure. Shortly before departing, Keith wrote us with the following update:

"On Sunday February 15, 2007 we were the first -- using our Comrex Access rack-mount unit and a broadcast studio we built in the pilot house of our ship -- to broadcast a regularly-scheduled radio show from a private ship at sea. The program, Keith DeGreen's Global Adventure Finance Show, was heard on NewsTalk 550, KFYI, Arizona's largest talk radio station during its regular time from 8--11 AM AZ time. At the time, our ship, The Global Adventure, was about 12 miles southwest of San Diego, in Mexican waters.
After each broadcast, the radio show is promptly posted to our website at www.theglobaladventure.com. We also post new photos, videos of our journey, plus commentary, on the website daily. Our stated mission is to explore the politics, culture, economy and investment opportunities at ports of call around the world -- and to provide no-nonsense investment advice on our show and website.

On Sunday, March 18, 2007, we again broadcast the entire show while at sea -- this time from about 20 miles due west of San Diego. The Comrex access unit performed flawlessly both times. However, an automatic shut-down program within our KVH 77 SAT-COM antenna took us off the air briefly on a couple of occassions. When that occured a pre-recorded evergreen show at the station kicked in. We are working with KVH to override that shutdown function in order to facilitate uninterrupted use of the KVH unit for up to three hours at a time, and we're confident that this will not occur again.

On April 1, 2007, we will shove off from San Diego on the first leg of our open-ended journey. We will broadcast from approximately 1200 miles out to sea on Sunday April 8 -- a little more than half way to Hawaii. We will make landfall at Honolulu on the 11th or 12th of April, and on Sunday, April 15 we will broadcast live from the Hawaii Yacht Club in Honolulu.

We plan many other exciting broadcasts from at sea, and from interesting ports of call. Our itinerary just between now and the end of the year includes stops at The Marshall Islands, Micronesia, The Philippines, Taiwan, several ports in China including Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei, and Singapore. After the first of the year we plan to visit India, Sri Lanka, The Maldives, Dubai, Yemen, and to enter the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal by April 1, 2008. We will interview business leaders and officials at each port of call, and will be constantly taking photos and videos, writing commentary, and having fun -- and it will all be online at www.theglobaladventure.com."

Well, Keith....Bon Voyage! It sounds like an exciting adventure! We're thrilled to be a part of it!

Zakk Wylde Concert - Ozzie Osbornes guitarist plays for WAAF at a Listener's workplace!

Contests are getting cooler than ever! WAAF in Boston has lately been promoting concerts in a lucky listener's "lunch room". It was through such a promotion that Zakk Wylde, guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne, ended up playing in a most unusual venue, Brideau's Machine Shop in Leominster. WAAF jock, Mistress Carrie who was originally from Leominster, is seen here interviewing Zakk.

These concerts must be delivered on very short notice, since the event is likely to happen very shortly after the end of the contest. And obviously prior to the end of the contest, the venue is unknown! So at Brideau's Machine Shop, DSL was available, but little else to deliver the remote. This could prevent a challenge to the engineering staff. But not for WAAF engineer Eric Fitch and the team from Minuteman Communications. For this remote, the Comrex ACCESS on IP was the obvious choice.

The remote went off without a hitch and sounded great! Stereo high fidelity sound was easily delivered, thanks to the ACCESS.

Toys for Tots - Remote on the Move

'Tis the season (where have I heard that before?) Anyway, Frank Kelley from WBOQ sent me this fabulous story with pictures. What a great remote, Frank!!

"A 15 hour day started at 3am, getting ready for our annual Toys for Tots toy drive. 1 announcer, 1 engineer, 4 interns 1 promotions person, a state senator started a caravan to the Capital Diner in Lynn, MA for the first of many remotes to held on the same day. (They forgot to feed the engineer!) It turned out to be a a nice day and the Coast Guard even came by with a boat to haul away all the toys. We were using a Matrix with a GSM module. I was amazed that there is still a network here on the Northshore! It functioned with no problems at all. After the diner stop, our caravan of a jeep, an RV (holding the Senator) a Coast Guard safe boat and Santa Clause rolled to a plumbing supply house where we were serenaded by a high school choral group. We aired that live as well. We then went an Ice cream stand that even Santa Clause liked! I was afraid that we may lose the network for the Matrix, as we were travelling every back road that is there, but like a trooper, the Matrix held up! Our third stop was a great seafood shack where Engineer Grumpy was finally fed! We stopped in Ipswich to collect the toys from the local bank, where I made the stop at the wrong bank! I ate more cookies than anyone at the health club where our next stop was. Here we had a few minutes of interference with the the GSM Matrix, but it quickly recovered. We were travelling to Rockport, MA when it was getting dark and the police were waiting for us to give us an escort (lights and siren) into downtown to the greatest candystore you could ever hope for! Our last stop was Downtown Glouster, MA where we actully stopped traffic with Santa Clause riding the Coast Guard safe boat. All our vehicles that day 2 jeeps, 2 boats, an RV and a SUV were full to capicity with toys. Thanks to the portability of the Matrix, we were on the air from each location with a minimum of setup time and hassle. I will always use a Matrix whenever and wherever I can"

Frank Kelley - engineering WBOQ
www.wboq.com

Car Dealerships at Christmas. ACCESS Delivers.

What better time for a remote than December? What better place than a car dealership? ACCESS on IP makes it easy. When WAAF recently did a Toys for Tots drive at Boch Toyota, they chose ACCESS on IP to deliver the remote.

The remote went without a hitch. As the broadcast was delivered on an existing IP link, there were no charges for phone lines or connections.



Personally, I think the reindeer was a bit scary, but I think that's just me!






Just kidding. The reindeer adds a lot to the remote. Really. Mean it. :)