Kearney High School Provides Students With Broadcast Experience

Kearney High School in Missouri provides students with firsthand broadcast experience through its Bulldog Broadcasting Network (BBN).

The broadcasting class allows students to cover about 25 football and basketball games aired on ESPN3 each year, along with several other games and events hosted on the school’s YouTube channel. To bolster students' experience in the classroom and on the field, the school recently upgraded its broadcast workflow with Model 371A and Model 373A Intercom Beltpacks, and a companion Model 5422 Dante Intercom Audio Engine from Studio Technologies, manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions.

"Studio Technologies' Dante communications system is so easy to use and configure that we were able to set it up from 'box-to-belt' in about 15 minutes,” said Ryan Blankenship, technology director for Kearney School District. Karen Johnson, broadcasting teacher and BBN sponsor at the school added that, "the audio quality of the communications between producer, director, and camera operators are great, much more superior than our previous solution."

According to Johnson, the school's previous comms system was unreliable and frequently presented students with bugs. Additionally, she added that the system could not be integrated to include BBN's program audio to the camera operator’s headsets, nor could it be used to provide director communications to on-air talent –without using a separate system. The school decided to purchase Studio Technologies’ intercom solutions based on a recommendation from Niles Media Group, a local reseller of broadcasting products. Over the last month, Johnson said the transition has provided significant workflow improvements.

Unlike the school's previous system, the Model 5422 intercom audio engine provides a flexible solution for creating party-line intercom circuits and other broadcast resources, such as IFB (talent cueing). The Model 5422 supports all Dante-compatible products including the range of beltpacks offered by Studio Technologies. The audio engine, along with a standard Ethernet network, is all that’s needed to support a variety of applications in fixed and mobile broadcast facilities. Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) is used by the Studio Technologies' beltpacks, allowing for simple single-cable deployment.