Mulembe FM is the number one Luhya station speaking to the 17 sub-tribes of the Luhya community and those interested in the Luhya lifestyle. Mulembe is a Luhya word that means peace with the slogan: ‘Omwoyo Kwa Baluhya’ which simply means the heartbeat of Luhya. Owned by Royal Media Services, Mulembe Studio is established in Nairobi, with its transmission sites in Nairobi, Western, Nyanza, and Rift Valley regions of the country.
The Station was established in the mid-2000 on Analog setup which couldn’t meet the increasing demand for IP-based studio infrastructure for today with the current demand for collaborative workflow connectivity which made the upgrade inevitable. With the increasing hardware failures and unreliable operation with the old analog set-up, the operational costs were too high and called for an entire studio and STL link Upgrade.
Jamiro Broadcast was tasked with the entire studio facility installation process required in Designing, Building, Installing, Training, and Commissioning the new facility. The studio was established in a new facility to allow a fresh installation without any integrations with the old system. To leverage on the customer requirements, for a modern studio, Jamiro Broadcast proposed a 100% IP infrastructure set-up which would allow the customer to leverage on DANTE network from the mixing console to the Transmitter, located 30 km away from the city.
In order to achieve the requirements for a modern studio, a careful design was deployed to deliver a “Fully IP-Based’ radio setup with a lot of integration for remote operations which makes it very easy to control devices remotely and share information between studio and transmission sites providing remote support with complete access to every function from a PC with a LAN / WAN connection.
A complete studio with a 12-Fader IP Console and an IP Contribution Link were delivered and networked using DANTE which facilitated Studios, Newsroom, CTA, Offices, and STL Connections and communication. To achieve this set-up, the following key components were delivered:
• 12-Fader Form IP Broadcast Console from AEQ with an outstanding choice is its internal routing capability in combination with the available number of inputs: 4 selectable Mic/Line Inputs, 12 Analogue Inputs, 4 AES/EBU (AES3) Digital Stereo Inputs, 2 USB Digital Stereo Inputs for broadcast automation, 2 optional Inputs through Digital telephone Hybrids. Additional input signals were available for future expansion with an AoIP multi-channel Ethernet connector for 16 channels or a MADI multi-channel fiber-optic link for 64 input signals.
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• Venus 3 Codec from AEQ: a dual IP stereo, full-duplex audio codec system. With a single unit, it was possible to integrate the console with the transmitter with IP connectivity. Designed to transport uncompressed audio from the studio, No hardware connection for audio was required for studio “Program” DANTE from the Console provided the audio to the Codec on a leased Fiber connection link to the transmitter at Limuru, 30 Kms away from the studio.
• Jamiro Condenser Microphones C-100: Our Own Professional large-diaphragm condenser microphone with 34mm capsule designed for LIVE recordings and integration with MIKA TV arms which gives the studio a professional look and allows future integration with “Visual Radio” by having tally lights on the arms controlled by console mic faders for ON/OFF status.
• Jamiro Headphone and Mic Tool: Our Own Headphone mount and control box integrated with the underside of the desk to save worktop space with the low-profile design and contoured edges to prevent painful knee incursions. ⅛ inch jacks are provided to guests and a volume knob to control the audio levels. In addition, a Microphone Cough button is integrated for guests to MUTE their Mics when required.
“Jamiro Broadcast was able to supply a turnkey IP-based radio workflow to Mulembe FM and also ensured the ability to seamlessly scale the system for further modernizations and extensions in the future allowing Visual integration in the studio for a complete visual radio setup for future requirements. The upgrade was carried out within 2 weeks including user training and going LIVE. “With AEQ DANTE and USB features on the mixing Consoles, we no longer need to use the playout and recording hardware PCI cards” Stated Samuel Kibacia, Head of ICT- Royal Media Services.
The project was completed in October 2021 and the station switched to the new studio immediately after the commissioning and user Training. With the IP Infrastructure, the customer is able to have remote console operation and can produce live shows remotely. With this, the producers and presenters are able to have LIVE shows from any location, and station technicians can monitor and control the transmission chain from anywhere.
“Jamiro Broadcast has brought major revolution in the African Media Environment for the last 2 years since our inception. Our continued innovation on system integration has brought new efficiency and sustainable solutions which the customers can leverage to improve their production with affordable systems built in Kenya for Africa ” Says Benson Nyaga, Technical Director- Jamiro Broadcast.
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