Raycom Sports updates its flagship mobile unit with a Calrec Argo S console

Adapting to the demand for OTA (over the air), OTT, FAST and social networks, Raycom Sports (North Carolina) updates its flagship HD1 unit with a console Calrec Argo S with 60 faders and a pair of redundant ImPulse1 DSP cores.

The update, carried out by the systems integrator Diversified, replaces a Calrec Omega that has been in constant use since the mobile was built in 2011, and is designed to meet the changing demands of Raycom's extensive customer list, which includes the CW Network's ACC college football and basketball broadcasts and PWHL broadcasts.

Raycom Sports, a member of the Gray Media group of companies since 2018, will use the Argo S to produce professional hockey, college football and college basketball content. It will also be used as part of the Raycom Sports group at larger events such as the Kentucky Derby and with broadcast clients such as ESPN and Fox.

With a growing need to deliver live content across digital channels in addition to its traditional television customers, Raycom says rights holders are looking to develop even deeper fan engagement across FAST channels, OTT and OTA platforms, and the company has turned to Calrec to manage the growing demand across its channel count. Additionally, Raycom offers content archiving solutions for multiple clients. Additional audio channels and mapping capabilities enhance the archiving objectives of Raycom partners.

Bill Stafford, vice president of Engineering and Technology Operations at Raycom, notes that "our customers' needs have changed over the years. Each league has specific requirements, and we serve the needs of all our partners in terms of international channels, OTT, FAST and league archiving. There are More effects microphones and more sources than ever, y nuestros clientes quieren más canales de salida y más canales integrados. Esos programas a menudo se manipulan o editan; los programas modernos quieren una salida 5.1 pero con múltiples stems adicionales de audio, como solo locutores, una mezcla internacional o una mezcla con música comercial que se pueda usar en cualquier lugar”.

“Les gusta tener todas las señales de audio disponibles para tener más opciones cuando reeditan el programa, y un partido puede tener ahora cuatro o cinco salidas diferentes desde el camión. Necesitábamos algo que fuera estándar en la industria con la potencia necesaria para hacerlo todo, y Argo da a nuestros operadores la libertad de hacer mucho más”, añade.

“Todo se está pasando a IP, te da mucha flexibilidad para hacer más cosas con la cantidad de recursos que tienes”, señala Stafford. “Quizás no sea la forma más fácil de hacer las cosas solo en un partido de béisbol normal, por ejemplo, pero si quieres hacer cosas que no sean una sola transmisión de un partido de béisbol, es importante. Y, de nuevo, ahora hay muchas más transmisiones entrando y saliendo de los camiones de producción que antes, hay que hablar con la liga, hay que hablar con los árbitros y hay que hablar con el lugar”.

Encouraging fan participation is also a priority for Raycom Sports. “We will collect 8 or 16 channels of audio in our show recordings and our social and digital teams will remix them to allow clients to tell a different story in their social posts,” Stafford says. "We also have a couple of FAST channels, so on our Origin Sports Network, ACC Digital Network and Big 12 Networks we take this content and broadcast a cut or a summary. We want different audio for all of these channels.

"Where Argo really helps is isolating audio tracks; the background music is tagged by YouTube and isolated channels mean we don't suffer those issues. While that's not a function of the board, its channel count and flexibility gives us the ability to do that."

The regional sales director of Calrec, Rob Lewis comments that “operating in a red trunk AoIP “It gives its operators and engineers the power to manage more audio workflows today and gives Raycom the ability to keep up with industry standard best practices in the future.”