Radio World Follows Up on a “Volunteer Miracle”

How do you pop up a radio station virtually overnight to fight a deadly pandemic? Ask Bill Trifero who assembled an all-volunteer army of professionals and a few companies like Backbone and Technical del Arte to chip in state-of-the-art technology. He reports how it came about in Radio World

For the past four months, it’s been our honor to work with Bill on tackling this crisis with 24/7 radio coverage. Equipped with just smartphones, laptops, and Backbone Production Suite, which includes LUCI Global, operating in the cloud, the station was up and running in a matter of a hours and days instead of weeks and months.

Multiple hosts and reporters worked simultaneously, remotely in collaborative broadcasts, without having to buy or borrow many thousands of dollars in hardware. Virtually, every function an agile radio station needs to operate, including phones and terrestrial program syndication to their participating local station, was at their disposal. This is how the cloud can work magic, and Backbone is proud to have been there to help.
Read more in Radio World

“Backbone is Changing The Way Audio Programming Is Delivered”, in The Broadcast Bridge

Our thanks to The Broadcast Bridge for reporting on the role Backbone is playing in today’s “broadcast from anywhere” world. At Backbone, we have quietly focused on building the fully virtualized radio station in our highly reliable cloud, from automation and production Backbone makes collaborative, distributed audio broadcasts easy in The Broadcast Bridgecommunications, to streaming and syndication. Recent events are now spotlighting the importance of agility and geographically distributed, collaborative broadcasts, Backbone’s core strength.

In olden times, you would need a lot of expensive hardware, plus an IT guru, to pull together a highly distributed audio broadcast. When you wanted to include multiple cohosts and roving reporters in studio quality, the IT issues could get tricky, involving port assignments and routing, not to mention the hardware management issues and equipment cost. Add phones to that, with PBXs and hybrids, and the problems compound exponentially with the complexity of the broadcast.

With Backbone in the cloud, all you need is a Mac laptop, a portable USB mixer, a couple of mics and headsets, all situated wherever you call your main studio(s). Your call screener and/or producer can be local or in another city, with a separate Mac. Then, you only need a smartphone (or tablet or laptop) for each of your remote contributors and collaborators, thanks to the free, downloadable LUCI Global app for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. All the calls and remotes are mixed in the cloud and managed by your producer, screener, or primary host.

Even though there are plenty of powerful features built into this integrated suite of services, it’s incredibly easy and intuitive to use. Please contact us when you would like to take it for a 30-day test drive.

Alt Newspaper Teams with Community Radio to Serve New England’s Second City

New England’s second largest city has its first community “media station”, a term coined by Talkers Magazine. Worcester Magazine, the city’s alternative newsweekly, has teamed with Unity Radio, a community-focused online andBackbone powers newspaper radio station low-power FM (LPFM) radio station, to create “ a joint venture unlike anything else in the Worcester media landscape”. The station’s technology, unlike traditional stations resides in “the cloud”, virtualized — without physical hardware, bricks or mortar.

The new media enterprise, which is based on all the elements of Backbone’s Production Suite™, was “soft-launched” during the city’s municipal elections November 7. The station intends to draw upon the resources of both WoMag and Unity’s non-profit parent, Pride Productions, as well as popular, local talk radio talents, like veteran morning host and news director Hank Stolz.

Backbone powers community radio

Worcester Magazine at local elections on Unity Radio, powered by Backbone

During election night, Unity Radio set up operations in Worcester City Hall awaiting ballot counts, where they interviewed candidates (using Backbone Producer™), took listener phone calls (Backbone Talk™), and aired studio-quality remotes from reporters with smartphones around the city (Backbone Co-Host™ with LUCI™ Global). The live production was streamed online (Backbone Radio™) and fed through a low-latency IP connection (Backbone Syndicate™) from the cloud to Unity’s new LPFM transmitter located several miles away.

Read more here: “Worcester Magazine, Unity Radio announce online station

Now connect to Backbone Co-Host using LUCI Global for Android

Luci Global for AndroidOur partners at Technica del Arte have just unveiled a version of LUCI Global for Android, lending incredible mobility to your broadcasts. It is now available for download from the Google Play store.

[Read more…]

Backbone Networks on NAB Show Live 2016

April is always fun. It’s NAB time. This year our focus was on integrating “live radio production” elements, a topic we aimed at radio engineers and radio producers. While there, we announced the Backbone Production Suite, made an appearance on NAB Show Live and attended other events, including the Public Radio Engineers Conference, the RAIN Conference, BEA and other extra-curricular activities. [Read more…]

Backbone provides support for The Bottom Line

The Bottom LineFundamentally we believe that the best radio is when the station gets close to the community. That is often done by getting out of the studio to broadcast events.

Shortly we will be releasing our Backbone Talk product that provides a cloud based phone system for screening calls and placing them on the air. We will also include a couple of add-on options, a high-fidelity guest line and a digital off-air call recording feature that is integrated into Backbone Radio’s automation service.

The Omaha World-Herald and their primary internet radio show The Bottom Line with Mike’l Severe have been using the pre-release version of Backbone Talk. Like our Backbone Radio product, Backbone Talk is a phone system in the cloud. Placing certain broadcast components enables you, the broadcaster, to get closer to the action.

Radio World logoRecently Jeff Bundy, who oversees the internet radio effort at the Omaha World-Herald, wrote an article for RadioWorld about what it was like to use Backbone Radio and Backbone Talk to start up their radio station and get it on the air. Jeff said:

In the eight months we’ve been using Backbone, we have broadcast live remotes from locations in the baseball village outside the college world series and just outside Memorial Stadium for home Nebraska Cornhusker football games. We paid to have an Internet connection dropped at the locations and we were able to go live easily.

Many in the The Bottom Line audience live for these events. We’re just happy that we can enable them to do this in a very simple fashion. If you are looking at starting an internet radio station let us know how can help you with your efforts.

 

Legendary Programmer David Bernstein Named GM of TalkersRadio

We’re thrilled to learn that TalkersRadio, the new 24/7 Internet Talk Radio station being developed as an experimental “skunkworks” and farm system for talk shows, will be managed by David Bernstein. From Talkers Magazine, Wednesday July 3, 2013 edition.

Legendary Programmer David Bernstein Named General Manager of TalkersRadio.
David Bernstein
Prolific radio industry programming and management executive David Bernstein has been named general manager of TalkersRadio, the online experimental talk radio station being developed by TALKERS magazine for launch in mid-August.  Bernstein, a leading talk industry consultant and talent coach, has served as PD, OM or GM of such heritage stations as WOR, New York; WRKO, WBZ, and WAAF, Boston; WTIC, Hartford;  WPRO, Providence; and KVON, Napa/San Francisco among others as well as VP/programming of Air America.

Kevin CaseyTalkersRadio will operate as a 24/7/365 streaming station located on the TALKERS website (www.talkers.com) with links strategically situated on major aggregating portals and websites on the internet. Its primary target audience will be members of the broadcasting industry itself, serving as what TALKERS VP/executive editor Kevin Casey describes as a “laboratory or somewhat of a ‘skunkworks’ where we can experiment with talk shows that fall outside the typical and safe fare found on AM/FM radio.”  Casey continues, “It will be an industry farm system, gym and spring training camp all rolled into one where new show ideas and programming concepts can be developed in a professional setting with high standards but without the restraints of commercial, ratings or corporate pressure that currently restrict most professional operations from doing what radio MUST do to survive in the long term, and that is to take chances.  It will not only be a place to nurture new talent but a platform upon which current well-known players can work out new approaches to their craft. We are doing this as service to the talk radio industry, which, of course, is keeping with the mission of TALKERS magazine.”

Michael HarrisonOn announcing the appointment, TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison states, “The acquisition of the full time services of David Bernstein is a major coup for us – one that we have been working on for almost a year, while he’s been finishing up a number of projects for which he was responsible as president of Bernstein Talent.  I have known David for almost 25 years and consider him to be one of the most intelligent, creative, versatile and talent-friendly radio managers I have ever met.  He is a man of vision and integrity.  All of us at TALKERS are absolutely delighted!” Bernstein states, “This is a radio ‘dream job’ and I am enthusiastic beyond words about the challenge ahead whereby I can hopefully be part of an initiative that will ‘make a difference’ in the radio business.”  His responsibilities in the new position include scouting, recruiting and developing talent for TalkersRadio as well as advising its day-to-day operations and entering into strategic partnerships with other broadcasting operations.  He states, “We will be developing Talkers magazine logoTalkersRadio as a showcase and workshop for new programs to play ‘out of town’ so to speak in front of listening audiences before they open on the big stages of the business.  TalkersRadio will give some suddenly-terminated hosts the opportunity to do farewell shows for their listeners and ‘bridge shows’ to carry them to their next gig. It will be a place for ‘orphan shows’ that don’t quite fit existing AM/FM formats to get an airing and see if they have traction.  We will give some existing high-profile talent the opportunity to do programs about subjects that they are not ‘known’ for doing within their present situations.  For example we are in discussions with a major political news/talk personality who has always had the desire to do a show about metaphysics and parapsychology – stay tuned, it will be mega-cool.”

In addition to his responsibilities with TalkersRadio, Bernstein will advise operations of its sister platform PodJockey (“a boutique for outstanding podcasts”) and assume a seat on Backbone Logothe TALKERS editorial board.  He can be contacted at david@talkers.com. TalkersRadio will utilize the groundbreaking software developed by its technical partners Backbone Networks of Westborough, Massachusetts, revolutionizing the convenience and accessibility of remote spoken word internet broadcasting.  

Backbone visits Innovation Nights to show off Talk Radio

After showing off our integrated phone system, announcing TalkersRadio at the TALKERS New York event and working with TalkersRadio at Radio Day at the UN we returned home to participate in a local high tech happening, Innovation Nights – Boston.

Mass Innovation Nights logoInnovation Nights – Boston is the home of the original Innovation Nights events. It all started in April 2009 as Mass Innovation Nights (MIN) with a website and a monthly event designed to help local innovators increase the buzz around new products and companies.

Every month ten companies bring new products to the event and the social media community turns out to blog, tweet, post pictures and video, add product mentions to LinkedIn and Facebook statuses, and otherwise help spread the word. In the last two years, the events have helped to:

  • Launch more than 500 products
  • Connect dozens of job seekers and hiring managers
  • Profile dozens of local experts
  • Launch a wave of Innovation Nights events around the world (coming soon)

Held once a month (usually the second Wednesday of the month, registration and networking at 6:00 p.m.), presentations start showing at 7:00 p.m., the live events allow companies to show off Massachusetts-based innovation.

While at Innovation Nights I gave a sneak preview of our new integrated phone service that works with Backbone Radio.  Similar to Backbone Radio’s automation, the phone system will be in the cloud.  Now your phone system can go on the road with you along with your automation so you can operate your station anywhere. Chris Day, the Director of Broadcast and Digital Media at Major League Lacrosse recently wrote an article for RadioWorld Magazine about what they were able to do last year with the Backbone Radio service.  They found that what Backbone provides, compared to a traditional broadcast set up, saved them quite a bit of money and made broadcasting very simple.

Thanks to Innovation Nights – Boston for providing the opportunity to show a different audience our new Internet radio phone service.  The connections we made their with the local innovation community are invaluable.  Now we will be working to help our customers launch Talk Radio programs as part of their broadcasts!

TalkersRadio Gets Heard With Backbone Radio

This week we are proud to present a guest post from Michael Grotticelli, Online Editor of Broadcast Engineering, regarding The TALKERS New York 2013 event last week #TalkersNY2013.

Talkers magazine logoBackbone Networks Corporation, the company that is leveraging the latest in Internet streaming radio delivery for all types of professional and college-level applications, was the talk of the town at the recent “Talkers New York 2013” conference on June 6.

The radio industry’s preeminent trade publication, worked with Backbone Networks to stream the conference live at www.talkers.com and officially launch a new 24/7/365 streaming spoken-word Internet radio station called “TalkersRadio.”

We caught up with Michael Harrison at the Talkers New York 2013 conference, where—through a series of keynote speeches and panel discussions—many of the biggest names in talk radio shared their views on the new era of radio.

He evaluated his experience working with Backbone Networks.

“Talkers” publisher Michael Harrison said the Backbone platform represented the perfect conduit for his readers and the industry at large. Among a host of programming, Harrison said the new channel provides a platform for “bridge shows” – those channels that have terminated AM/FM talk show hosts can do a series of final shows to say goodbye to their listeners and/or announce their upcoming plans within a radio show context; and “orphan” programs that do not conveniently fit into prevailing AM/FM station format categories.

All of these types of programs and more are fully supported by the Backbone network and its full-service technology that gets users on the radio within seconds from anywhere in the world that offers broadband online access.

“Our relationship with Talkers is a perfect example of how we provide the required infrastructure and production tools to create programming and get it out to listeners while you concentrate on the creative and promotional side of the business,” said Richard Cerny, president and co-founder of Backbone Networks, in Westboro, Mass. “The radio industry is changing in so many ways, but at the end of the day it’s all about going where the listener is and supplying them with compelling programs.”

To this end, Backbone Networks has developed a platform that straddles both over-the-air and Internet delivery, making getting up and running fast and easy. Cerny said that by “doing all the dirty work” and taking all of the guessing work involved with getting a station up and running, Backbone Networks can make a significant impact of the future of radio.

And indeed, Cerny might be on to something: Many are calling the Backbone cloud-based platform the easiest, most affordable way to start and operate a world-class, professional Internet radio station. All you need is a Mac and a mic. Backbone takes care of everything else.

TalkersRadio has been in development for the past year and a half and is a joint project between TALKERS’s parent company Talk Media, Inc. and Backbone Networks. It will feature a scalable radio platform that makes it extremely convenient and affordable for talk show hosts to do a fully produced program – with live callers and guests – from an amazingly simple technical remote and portable set up.

Backbone Networks also operates and hosts the largest network of college and high school noncommercial educational (NCE) radio stations, as well as public radio, commercial and sports radio stations.

Our thanks to Mike Grotticelli for this guest post.

If you want your talk show on the Internet’s first world-class Talk Network, contact Talkers.com.

If you want to start and your own 24/7 professional radio station, with live on-air from anywhere production, automation in the cloud, and radio streaming worldwide, give Backbone Networks a call and see what the future of radio looks (and sounds) like.

Major League Lacrosse — Broadcasting via Internet Radio

Radio World logoEvery week last season Major League Lacrosse broadcast at least one game live. Initially starting with the ESPN feed of the game of the week, transitioning to their own broadcasters and then to taking live calls before games and during half time. And Backbone was with them every step of the way and for that opportunity we are grateful! In traditional broadcast media doing a live remote (or outside broadcast) is very expensive. There are lots of moving parts and pieces to coordinate. The set up and tear down alone is quite time consuming. With Backbone’s help, Major League Lacrosse took steps to simplify what they needed to do to get their broadcasts on the air.

MLL Championship at Harvard StadiumAfter talking to traditional broadcasters and getting quotes on what it would take do these remotes the old way they turned to Backbone. We showed them how “With a Mac and a Mic” (and an Internet connection) they would be able to take their show on the road from week to week and run a very high quality broadcast. This week they told their story to Radio World Magazine in the streaming edition.  It is a great read and even mentions things we have in the works . . . but not announced.  Stay tuned for more about what we have been up to.