From time immemorial, humans have looked for signs to help them decide on a course of action. Find a four-leaf clover in your lawn? Go buy a few Powerball tickets. Smoke spewing from the top of Mount Vesuvius? Catch the first bus out of Pompeii.

Just drive down an interstate highway for a few hours, and we think you'll agree that signs are everywhere. Here are three important signs that it's time to upgrade your studio.

Sign #1: You Don’t Have Audio Over IP (AoIP)

A station with AoIP will be fully integrated, with all the equipment “talking” to each other, including codecs, mixing boards, STL links, telephone hybrids, audio processors, intercoms, monitors and more. A single multicast network can instantly make thousands of independent audio channels available everywhere in your facility. AoIP gives you amazing flexibility for your broadcast setup.

Telos/Axia and Wheatstone are two companies that design and manufacture top-notch broadcast equipment for AoIP networking. BSW carries pretty much all their gear and can get it to you quickly and efficiently.

Even better, BSW has partnered with Inrush Broadcast Services, a national leader in media technology integration, to install your new broadcast equipment and seamlessly merge it into your current layout, creating a state-of-the-art network that not only makes your station run smoothly and efficiently but also enables you to add loads of new listeners to your broadcasts through social media, internet streaming, podcasts and more.

Contact a friendly, knowledgeable BSW GearHead to make your AoIP dreams come true.

Sign #2: You’re Not Happy With Your Broadcast Coverage

Let's leave the internet and its series of tubes for a moment and talk about old-school, over-the-air, radio wave broadcasting. It's a no-brainer that extending your coverage area means more potential listeners and more potential advertising revenue. Here are a few broadcast equipment options you can try to extend your station's influence.

AM Station:

If you operate an AM station, advances in broadcast equipment technology can not only extend your range but also improve your overall sound quality.

Modulation-Dependent Carrier Level (MDCL) control technology, featured for instance in Nautel's NX Series AM transmitters, not only significantly reduces power consumption (saving you a ton of energy bill expense), but when used in conjunction with an Orban AM audio processor, will increase your coverage area AND enhance your audio quality. After extensive field testing by Nautel and Orban, Orban VP Mike Pappas reported, “...coverage area actually increased, and listeners reported improvement in audio quality as well as signal strength. Users can save enough money on power to pay for their transmitter and processor investment in just a few years.” Good deal!

FM Station:

While MDCL doesn't apply to FM currently, there are other ways to expand your coverage. One easy fix is to invest in a more powerful transmitter. Another more involved solution is to get an antenna with a higher gain. If you only want to increase your coverage in one direction, you'll need one. If you need to enhance coverage in all directions, you'll need splitters and several high-gain antennas to point in different directions. The easiest way to go (if possible) is to raise the height of your current antenna.

BSW carries the broadcast equipment you need to increase your coverage. Contact one of our warm, welcoming BSW GearHeads to get the ball rolling!

Sign #3: You Don’t Have Video Capabilities

In today's social media-driven world, video is a must for any size station.

BSW's exclusive partner, HDVMixer, has everything you need to automate your video production using AI-based technology effortlessly. You can stream live and record in HD or 4K, with one-click live access to all major social media platforms simultaneously. And adding remote guests to your broadcast is a piece of cake.

Live video with on-screen overlay messages provides up to five times the audience engagement of conventional audio broadcasts. HDVMixer users report equally impressive increases in their digital advertising revenue. As one happy broadcaster put it, "It's basically a license to print money."

Speaking of AoIP, HDVMixer seamlessly integrates with Wheatstone's WheatNet-IP and Telos/Axia Livewire/AES67 AoIP studios. You just can't beat it.

You know the drill. Contact an experienced, handsome BSW GearHead and add HDVMixer to your broadcast equipment arsenal.

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