Most SAS installations are partnerships with a furniture manufacturer and integrator teaming to produce the best installation for the client. At Air America Radio, SAS partnered with Roscor Corporation, Mt. Prospect, IL, who designed and built the custom furniture, and did the pre-wiring and on-site integration.

System design was a joint effort between SAS, Roscor, and Air America's vice president of engineering, Juan Diaz.

The Task
Three live talk radio networks... originating from Air America's New York studios or from satellite studios in various cities... with a separate local feed with local IDs and commercials to NY-affiliate WLIB.

The Solution
An SAS-based routing, mixing, and console control system.

At the center of the main control room—mission control—is the largest Rubicon manufactured, a 40-slot console with built-in telephone system control, intercom, talkback, studio-to-airchain routing, and delay control.

Four producer positions, each with SAS Turrets providing extensive talkback, monitoring, and live-to-air mic control, look on to the two adjoining talk studios.

The larger of the two talk studios has its own Rubicon as well, a 24-slot console, used when AAR is originating several different live talk shows at the same time, or when the intimacy of talent and board op in the same space is appropriate.

Live on-the-hour news is fed to all networks from an adjacent news studio.

A third control room for production utilizes a Rubicon 16-slot console.

Control, Control, Control
The AAR installation incorporates the most extensive logic switching of any SAS installation:

Any studio, or any outside broadcast coming in via ISDN, can feed any Rubicon control console.

Any Rubicon can feed any air chain, via studio-to-airchain automation switching in the console surface for ease of operation. Multiple program buses on each console enhance this capability.

Talk Radio demands delay to protect against profanity or even talent saying the "wrong thing." The AAR system utilizes a separate delay for each of the four airchains. But to give talent, producers and board ops DELAY DUMP buttons for four separate airchains is really inviting a train wreck. This is where it gets really interesting. SAS designed an extensive logic system that analyzes, for each talent position, each producer position, and each board op, which airchain is being fed, and routes delay dump control to the associated airchain delay machine, and at the same time, routes delay safe status to the LED in the associated DELAY DUMP button.

A New Network Was Added
When AAR launched a new network, SAS configured the entire system via remote internet access, adding program buses, audio I/O, programming console control buttons, and the above-mentioned delay control and status monitoring.

About Roscor
A leading provider of professional video, audio, multimedia, and computer based products and services for more than 30 years. Markets include education, corporate, video production, video post production, audio production, audio post production, presentation systems, distance education, broadcast, transmission, mobile production, and computer based multimedia.

Tech Center

Master Control

Producers and Studio

Studio Talent Host Position