Under One Roof at Last in Portland

reprinted from July 3, 2013

The News Source for Radio Managers and Engineers www.radioworld.com Under One Roof at Last in Portland We talk with DOE Chris Weiss about Clear Channel’s seven-station move ◗facility trouble finding a new location.” move, and Weiss says it all came together That’s an understatement, really. After much more quickly this time. profile struggling to find a site that met all of the stations’ needs, Clear Channel ended up Space efficiencieS By Scott FyBuSh signing a lease, only to find out that its new Clear Channel’s new home is in the top landlord hadn’t closed on its purchase of two stories of a four-story building in an Some studio moves happen quickly. the building. What’s more, the new loca- office park in the Portland suburb of Tigard. Others, like the recent relocation of Clear tion turned out to be a haz-mat site, further “We negotiated the lease in January of Channel’s seven-station cluster in Portland, entangling the stations in legal battles that 2012, so it was a pretty quick turnaround Ore., are years in the making. forced Clear Channel to extend the lease on “We were supposed to make the move its existing studios in the meantime. A Wheatstone E-6 surface, RCS NexGen back in 2008,” says Chris Weiss, the clus- It took several years for the lawyers Digital software, Telos VX phone system, ter’s director of engineering, “but we had to clear the way for a second attempt at a EV mics and Blue Sky EXO2 speakers. Twenty-three Wheatstone M-2 micro- phone processors serve 46 microphones in the facility.

Globe graphic ©iStockphoto.com / Edward Gajeda of things, from saying yes, for sure we’re doing this, to getting in here with hard hats,” Weiss recalls of his busy year, which culmi- nated in mid-October with the move of the last two stations from Clear Channel’s old facility just south of downtown Portland along the Willamette River. At about 25,000 square feet, the new facility is about the same overall size as the old plant, but Weiss says the move allowed for much more efficient use of the space. Clear Channel’s old studios had been in use since 1978, when they were built for KEX(AM) and sister station KKRZ(FM). Over the years, another AM station and two more FMs were jammed into that two-story space, while two more sister FMs set up shop in an adjacent building. “We had a lot of hallways and stair- The KEX Control Room, looking into wells,” Weiss recalls of the old facility. the station talk studio. Mike Oaks is By contrast, the new facility was at the controls and host Mark Mason is in ‘the tank.’ designed from the ground up for all seven In the technical operations center, each stations at once. Studios for all the stations airchain has its own rack, with a Wheatstone are located on the third floor, where top-40 “We don’t have any studios on external IP-88AD Blade serving each primary chain KKRZ (“Z100”) looks into the lobby and its windows,” Weiss says, “which turns out to and Aura8-IPs for backup. The racks include six sisters are all lined up along an interior be a big cost savings, since we didn’t have main and backup Arbitron PPM encoding, corridor. to triple-glaze or quadruple-glaze.” AirTools profanity delay, audio server and streaming audio server. About midway down the row is a rack of Sage Alerting Systems EAS Endecs.

Copyright 2013 NewBay Media (USA), LLC. Reprinted with permission. Reprinted from Radio World WHeatStOne netWORk In addition to physical proximity, the new studios improved on the old ones in another way. Because of the changing equipment needs in 21st century radio, Weiss was able to make some of the new studios smaller than their equivalents at the old buildings.

“We’ve saved about 350 square feet Photos by Dan Trypak, Vancouver, Wash. from the studio that used to house the full- service AM station (KEX), since you don’t need two tape decks and an overbridge anymore,” Weiss says. Instead, the new studios were built on two models: each of the five FM music stations has a similar studio with four mics and a Wheatstone E-4 or E-6 control surface, Architects Luckett & while each of the two AM talk stations has Farley have worked a control room equipped with an E-6 and a with Clear Channel on talk studio with a Wheatstone SideBoard numerous studio proj- controller, as well as an adjacent produc- ects. This photo sampler tion studio that can also serve as a news or shows the bright, open sports booth. approach to the facility, Five production rooms for the clus- which occupies space on ter each use Wheatstone IP-12 consoles. two floors. The total complement of Wheatstone gear includes 13 control surfaces, 56 WheatNet- IP Blades, 23 mic processors, and numerous panels, turrets and support gear. Weiss says the choice of Wheatstone was one of the biggest decisions during the project. At the old Macadam Avenue studios, Clear Channel’s stations had used a variety of consoles. Weiss says recent expe- rience persuaded him that his new facility would use some flavor of audio over IP technology. “I’d been trying to prepare and figure out a routing system for Portland going back to 2005, figuring we’d be going into a move,” Weiss recalls. “When Clear Channel in Seattle went Wheatstone, my regional man- ager, Erik Kuhlmann, suggested I take a look at it.” He was particularly impressed with redundancies built into the WheatNet- IP system.

Building WitH HeadlampS The studios all use ElectroVoice RE20 and RE27 mics, a choice driven by the ability to move some mics over from the old studios. Beyond the mics, everything was new, including Studio Technology furniture, Blue Sky EXO2 speakers, RCS NexGen Digital automation and a Telos VX phone system.

Copyright 2013 NewBay Media (USA), LLC. Reprinted with permission. Reprinted from Radio World The Sky Lounge is a multipurpose conference room and performance space with panoramic views. It is supported by a Crestron control system for projector, screen and source control, plus a small PA system with Presonus Photo by Dan Trypak, Vancouver, Wash. 24.4.2 mixer system for live bands. Direct channel outputs on the Presonus Weiss says the phone system turned out to are used for ‘broadcast-friendly’ mixes to air. An LED lighting system, be one of the learning experiences from the NewTek Tricaster video system and Sony HD cameras round out the multi- move; each VX Engine can handle 30 audio media presence. streams at once (caller audio, mix-minus back to the caller and/or music on hold), In addition to a homebrew Asterisk- Macadam Avenue out to the AM site and which proved to be not quite enough for based phone system and common EAS gear then hopped to the FMs from there; eventu- seven stations running at full tilt, especially for the entire cluster, the tech core houses ally, he’s hoping to get dark fiber all the when KEX moved over with its news people. individual racks for each station’s NexGen way out to the AM site. Adding a second engine so that the AM systems and Wheatstone equipment. “When you start passing this stuff along stations could have their own system solved other people’s networks, you lose the abil- the challenge, and Weiss says it has proved Backups ity to do multicasting … and you introduce to be a worthy replacement for the Telos Redundancies at the new facility extend latencies you don’t have any control over,” 2101s at the old facility. to the transmission architecture. Each of the he says. The furniture involved another construc- seven stations has two Wheatstone Blade IP Whether it’s dark or not, Weiss says tion adventure. When the building contrac- access units, a main and a backup. While the he’s sold on the use of fiber for his studio- tor failed to deliver power to the studios on main Blade usually feeds a fiber distribution transmitter links. schedule, Weiss says Vince Fiola’s Studio system, the backup Blade automatically “We had already been going down that Technology crew went to work anyway. connects to the backup microwave system, road,” he says of the last few years at the “His guys ended up having to install all the ensuring continuity even if the entire system old studios. Fiber serving both FM sites suf- furniture with no power in the studio. They breaks down. fered only two outages in nearly a decade; did it with headlamps and those portable In normal operation, Clear Channel’s by contrast, he says the T1 that’s fed by construction lights,” Weiss says, but it got new system routes Wheatstone’s audio- copper to his AM site had already suffered finished on time. over-IP over fiber all the way from the five outages before 2013 was even half Architects Luckett & Farley, who have studios in Tigard to the two hilltop trans- over. worked with Clear Channel on numerous mitter sites that serve the five FM stations. studio projects in recent years, placed the From there, for now, a backup path then Building a template stations’ tech core on the fourth floor, which goes by microwave to the site southeast of The move from Macadam Avenue to also houses a conference room that doubles Portland, where the two AM stations, KEX Clear Channel’s new home was complet- as a live performance studio and a large and KPOJ, are located. That reverses the old ed over the course of several weeks in walk-out patio space. microwave architecture, which went from September and October 2012, with two

Copyright 2013 NewBay Media (USA), LLC. Reprinted with permission. Reprinted from Radio World stations moving each week. Weiss says the five FMs, KKCW CR - Rm 321 KLTH CR - Rm 326 KFBW CR - Rm 329 KXJM CR - Rm 337 KKRZ CR - Rm 354 KPOJwhich CR were AM first 2 - toRm move, 339 went smoothly, with things KEX CR AM 1 - Rm 344 getting more complicated at the end of the move when KEX and KPOJ and their larger staffs relocated.GP-16-P-IP GP-16-P-IP E6-20 But after more than 34 years at Macadam Avenue, E6-20 Clear Channel cleared out with two weeks left(In onturret) the (In turret) lease and some help from out of town, as Milwaukee- based engineerIP-88e Steve George worked with Kuhlmann IP-88e E4-20/16 E4-16 E4-16 E4-16 E6-20 to dismantle the old studios and put usable gear in Studio I/O IP-88a Studio I/O IP-88a & Logic & Logic IP-88e IP-88e IP-88e IP-88e IP-88e storage to be shipped eventually to other Clear Channel markets. Studio I/O Studio I/O Studio I/O Studio I/O Studio I/O & Logic IP-88a & Logic IP-88a & Logic IP-88a & Logic IP-88a & Logic IP-88a For a company as large as Clear Channel, Weiss says the process of working with other engineers on a big move is essential. Earlier in 2012, Weiss spent a weekNexGen at Clear Channel’s Sacramento cluster assisting NexGen with — and learning from — a similar move. NexGen NexGen NexGen NexGen NexGen “Your typicalOp PC market engineer might do this once Op PC in a lifetime,” Weiss says, “but what did we learn as a

companyProducer inPC this process? If we can come up with solu- Producer PC Net PC Net PC Net PC Net PC Net PC tions that could work for 75 percent of the company, Cisco Cisco KPOJ PGM we can build templates on those, and create2960G8 standards KEX PGM 2960G8 VOX PRO VOX PRO VOX PRO VOX PRO VOX PRO Back Up around which we(7) can build local options.” Back Up (5) GP-16-P-IP Scott Fybush wrote about radio as “emergency KKCW PGM KLTH PGM KFBW PGM KXJM PGM KKRZ PGM infrastructure” in the May 22 issue. Back Up (In turret) Back Up Back Up Back Up Back Up Cisco Cisco 2960G8 2960G8 KPOJ Talk - Rm 340 (8) KEX Talk - Rm 346 (6) Closeup of a (13) (12) (11) (10) (9) WheatNet-IP Cisco Cisco Cisco Cisco Cisco 2960G8 2960G8 2960G8 2960G8 2960G8 flow chart for Co-Host PC Clear Channel Co-Host PC Portland. This Host PC Host PC IP-88a isolation shows IP-88a gear for a studio serving KEX(AM).

Sideboard 8 Sideboard 8

IP-88ad XYE-R-IP ASERV's KKCW #1 IP-88VE PGM KKCW KKCW #2 Prod Sml #1 -Rm 320 Prod Sml #3 -Rm 322 KKCW News 1 -Rm 319 IP-88ad x7 KKRZ #1 IP-88VE PGM KKRZ Prod LRG #1 -Rm 325 KKRZ #2 IP-88ad UTL PC x2 KFBW #1 IP-88VE PGM KFBW KFBW #2 DDR x2 IP-88ad IP-12 IP-12 IP-12 KLTH #1 PGM KLTH E6-12 Profiler IP-88VE IP-88cb IP-88cb IP-88cb IP-88e x2 KLTH #2 IP-88ad

IP-88a KXJM #1 IP-88VE PGM KXJM KXJM #2 NEWS Room - Rm 317 (1) Cisco WS-C3750G-24 x4 (Using Stackwise Technology) Reprinted from Radio World NexGen NexGen NexGen NexGen Copyright 2013 NewBay Media (USA), LLC. Reprinted with permission. (Redundant Power Supplies) Desk 1 Desk 2 (2) PC 1 x18 PC 1 PC 1 PC 1 Rack Room / TOC (3) Navigator PC PC 2 (14) (16) (18) News PC1 News PC2 4 Fader Sideboard 4 Fader Sideboard Eng Rack - Rm 379 (4) Cisco Cisco Cisco (20) Cisco IP-88a 2960G8 2960G8 2960G8 2960G8 Desk 3 Desk 3 IP-88ad KEX #1 IP-88ad (21) IP-88VE PGM KEX (15) (17) (19) KEX #2 News PC3 News PC4 XYE-R-IP IP-88ad 4 Fader Sideboard 4 Fader Sideboard KPOJ #1 IP-88m PC 2 IP-88VE PGM KPOJ IP-88ad KPOJ #2 PC 1 Cisco Sylvan PC 1 2960G24 IP-88a PC 1 PC 1 IP-88ad Mon #1a Skyline NexGen IP-88a IP-88a NexGen (22) IP-88d Mon #2 IP-88a IP-88a NexGen NexGen Skyline Desk 5 Desk 6 IP-88a IP-88cb IP-88cb IP-88e SAT #1a Green Room - Rm 343 IP-88a IP-88m SAT #1b News PC5 News PC6 IP-88a SAT #1c 4 Fader Sideboard 4 Fader Sideboard 8 Fader Sideboard IP-88ad IP-88a Perfomance - Rm 409 Tel #1a IP-88a Performance IP-12 IP-12 VO - Rm 327 IP-88a 4 Fader Sideboard Tel #1b E6-12 IP-88a Tel #2 Prod LRG #2 - Rm 328 Prod Sml #2 - Rm 338 KEX News 2 - Rm 345 Perf PC D a te : R e vis ion : P roje c t; Chris Weiss .5.1 Initial Proposal 600 Industiral Dr. Legend 1/26/2012 Clear Channel, Portland D ra w n b y: * Note: Images may not represent excat items quoted New Bern, NC 1 Gig Ethernet CAT5e DP 4949 SW Macadam Fiber Link ** Note: Ethernet Switch(s) & topology are a recommandations only Portland, OR 97239 28562 Analog or Digital Audio WheatNet IP System Phone:503-323-6635 Ph. 252-638-7000 Control (GPIO) D W G # R e fe re n c e ; Portland, OR DP-12612-A * Drawing is sample only. Configuration and network design may change per end users final configuration.