BBC World Service uses ACCESS for Commonwealth Games

According to the Jeff Brown from the BBC's World Service, having a Comrex ACCESS at the recent Commonweath Games, in Delhi, India was a great asset.  Jeff sent us these photos and comments:

 "First transmission for BBC World Service's Sports World at The Commonwealth Games, Delhi. Poolside at the Lalit. BGAN [had some technical difficulties with the ISDN service] before we went on air so we did 40 minutes on the Comrex with a Tata Photon 3G stick Worked a treat and saved the transmission!"

 

"The Comrex ACCESS (attached to 3G) is set up as the backup here. When it works, the BGAN is OK, but we've had a few instances here of it dropping off, so 3G is the next option. We're using Comrex's to report from venues where there are no ISDN's available and they are getting the thumbs up from our reporters..."

"This is BBC World Service's Sports News reporter, Alex Capstick, reporting live from outside the JN stadium, prior to to the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games." 

You can connect to the World Service's Sports World page at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sport/2009/03/000000_sportsworld.shtml

Radio New Zealand uses ARC for "Grab and Go" Reporting

Radio New Zealand, the country's public broadcaster, has been putting the Comrex ACCESS Reporter Codec, or ARC, through its paces as it has been giving it a trial run using some recently acquired Motorola Milestone Android-based smartphones.  ARC had been used successfully in a couple of big stories recently... the aftermath of an earthquake and snow storm.

Here is a sample of one of the broadcasts using ARC:

http://www.comrex.com/downloads/audio/pool-19800101-1200-ARC_1-128.mp3

Radio New Zealand's web site can be found at: http://www.radionz.co.nz

98.1 WOGL/Philly puts ACCESS to work for Children's Hospital

Longtime Comrex user and our good friend Tom MacDonald sent us this email this morning.  What a GREAT way to start off a work week!

 "I was doing a telethon for Children's Hospital in Philadelphia for WOGL-FM using ISDN when we heard the story of a 14 year-old boy who was finally going to get a heart transplant. The producer on the scene wanted to go outside the operating room to talk to the parents. The first thing suggested was to pull out a cell phone. I wanted audio quality, so I suggested the ACCESS, since the hospital had an open WI-FI system available everywhere. A quick check of the battery, grab a microphone and run to the operating room with the talent. The unit connected seamlessly and worked without a dropout as we found out the young boy's new heart was beating. We were there to tell the story, and it was crystal clear thanks to Comrex and the AAC-ELD setting. The producer was amazed, I was happy, but I knew all the time with the portability and battery power of the Comrex ACCESS we were going to get the job done. It was amazing, using the hospital Wi-Fi...the producer called it a game-changer for this type of remote...next year they want to go to the different wards of the hospital and interview children who can't come to our remote in the lobby."

Tom MacDonald

TRM Corp.

The 98.1 WOGL Loves Our Kids Radiothon raised $475,030 this past weekend for The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  You can read, see and hear more at: http://wogl.radio.com/98-1-wogl-loves-our-kids-radiothon/     

Also at: http://giving.chop.edu/site/PageServer

Up, Up and Away...with ACCESS!

Here at Comrex, one of our favorite "off the clock" pastimes is "Facebook stalking." We've checked with our attorney's and have learned that its perfectly legal.  Anyway, an unnamed Comrex FB stalker...er...person stumbled across this lovely photo:

We weren't exactly sure what was going on in this photo.  Perhaps a nice Remote Gift Basket?  But wait!  It appears that there are trees in the background...several hundred feet below.

Well, naturally we needed to find out more.  After a bit of digging around, we sent a note to the owner of the Facebook page and received the following:

Please hang on tightly via the handy neoprene strap!

Dear Comrex,

I'm the news person at 610 WTVN who loves it when engineering lets me play with our toys, so I was quite blown away by your request and am VERY happy to help you. The Access is a fantastic piece of equipment.

The Giant Eagle is full of hot air.

We were invited to ride-along in a hot air balloon to help promote the Grove City Balloons and Tunes Festival near Columbus. When I got the assignment Thursday afternoon I ran straight to our engineering department and asked about doing a live shot from 2,000 feet up. It didn't take long for them to develop a plan and the first place they looked was the shelf with our Comrex Access on it. We'd tested it in the field a couple of times in the news department. The most recent use was a visit to a Columbus family's backyard by President Obama a couple of weeks ago. Our biggest concern was how the cell coverage would be in the air. We got up to about 2,500 feet and even over a rural area of Franklin County, Ohio we had decent cell service from AT&T. We had some droppouts, which we expected, but the unit did a great job, also as we expected. Thanks so much for making a GREAT product like the Comrex Access - so easy even a news person can use it!

Just a little corny.

I called our Chief Engineer, Greg Savoldi, to tell him about your request. He expects a new portable unit in exchange for the photos ;)

matt bruning

newstalk 610 wtvn
news reporter/anchor

Matt, thank you very much for the letter and the great photos!!  Greg, you're an old buddy of ours and we really like you.  But, come on!  We might be able to scrounge up a very nice ARC t-shirt for you and Matt.