CNC Medios (Chile) is committed to new remote work formulas with AEQ technology

CNC Medios, which operates in the north of Chile with headquarters in the city of Antofagasta and which includes two television channels and three radio stations (Canal95, FM Plus and FM Quiero), has always been at the forefront.

Marcelo Mendizábal, general director of CNC Medios, remembers that “a few years ago we acquired quite a few digital consoles AEQ Capitol IP hoping its digital technology would offer us a significant improvement in the audio quality of our broadcasts, and its IP technology would allow remote control that we had never been able to enjoy until now.”

In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced broadcasters to implement remote solutions, CNC already had an advantage thanks to the IP connectivity of its latest audio mixers. "But we realized we needed to reinforce our capacity to generate dynamic, quality programs, even though the obligation to telework did not make it especially easy. And that's exactly when AEQ launched its Talent portable audiocodec at the perfect time for our plans," says Mendizábal.

CNC Medios already had AEQ audiocodecs distributed in its studios such as the units Mercury about Vlevel 3, but, however, they were not ideal solutions for a journalist to operate with from home. “The new Talent offered the ideal solution: small, easy to operate, digital quality with IP connection and robust. In addition, AEQ technicians remotely helped us in the first days to discover all the options of this equipment and configure them in the most appropriate way for our specific operation,” he adds.

"Currently all our star journalists have one in their homes, and for some time now they have been connecting with the central studios thanks to them. The control surface of the Talent is very simple and with just the push of a couple of buttons our journalists, even the least experienced ones, easily enter the programs, but in addition the Pilot mobile phone app offers them the option of managing them directly from their own cell phones, and what is better, even doing interviews with distant guests who come to the team via Skype or Whatsapp. The AEQ Talents are a gem, something “So small it allows you to do so many things,” Mendizábal emphasizes.

On the other hand, the application AEQ Control Phoenix Multi It allows technical staff to monitor the status of all AEQ audiocodecs in real time and intervene if necessary to modify any configuration or solve errors. This application shows on a very intuitive screen images of all the devices that are currently on and, what is better, the exact connection status, as well as real VU meters of the audio signal that is being transmitted through them.

All AEQ audiocodecs that CNC works with have the OPUS algorithm included by default. Furthermore, Mendizábal highlights that “the free registration on their SIP server has been great for us because it prevents us from having to complicate the deployment of the pieces by setting up one of our own.”

“En conjunto las mesas digitales Capitol con su opción de control remoto Virtual Capitol, así como los audiocodecs AEQ Talent, Venus y Mercury con su software Control Phoenix nos han permitido seguir al aire durante todos estos meses tan complicados de la pandemia COVID-19, estar cerca de nuestros oyentes y hasta mejorar nuestras cifras de audiencia. Estamos realmente contentos de la apuesta que hicimos en su día por la tecnología AEQ”, concluye en director general de CNC Medios.