Local FM Stations have predominantly owned and existed in the Mombasa city since early 2000’s with the local Swahili culture but Nyali MP, Hon. Mohammed Ali has changed the culture by investing in a modern youth-oriented radio whilst deploying a state-of-art design on the studio and technology.
Jamiro Broadcast was tasked in the entire project management process required in Designing, Building, Installing, Training and Commissioning for the radio station. A site visit was first carried out in August 2020 for the radio facility premise and Fm transmission site location search, and work later started in October 2020 after several meetings on the design process and implementation plans.
Sitting in an old ancient town-house in Bombolulu, a residential estate was converted to a complete media centre to host: 2 Studios, 12 editors’ workspaces, Offices and a Central Technical Area. The construction was executed by means of our CAD designed using Anodized aluminum frame system that was pre-cut and assembled on site along with the necessary sound proof materials and pre-manufactured acoustical elements. A 33 Meters Mast was later erected on the same house roof top to provide an STL link to Mazeras town located 30 Kms away from Mombasa town.
In order to achieve the requirements for a state-of-the art studio with a cutting-edge technology, a careful design was deployed to deliver a “Fully IP-Based’ radio setup and deployed Internet of Things (IoT) to enable smart monitoring and control of broadcast equipment and automate some tasks to increase efficiency and productivity whilst optimizing resources. The customer theme colors, which were used to represent the brand were: Red, Gold and Yellow.
Two studios with different sizes and same technology 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:
Capitol IP Broadcast Console for Studio 1 & 2 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.
INSOFT Radio:A Complete Cloud-Based Audio automation and
playout software which Decentralizes operation in a
visualized environment to producers, presenters, Traffic
and billing. Insoft radio is device agnostic Compatible
with iOS, Mac, Windows, Android. Audio integration with
console was possible using DANTE without any physical
sound cards.
Digital IP STL:Our own, Wireless, Duplex, Multichannel,
Long range IP STL system designed to transport real time
MPX with RDS or L/R signal from studio to transmitter on a
Digital Microwave. The link was deployed from the studio
in Bombolulu to Mazeras, KBC Site which is 30 Kms away
from the studio.
RFE DS 2KW FM Transmitter: A Compact 3 RU transmitter with
innovative technologies in terms of efficiency, costs and
maintenance. With the DDS- Direct Digital Synthesis
and AoIP , Our Digital Microwave Link delivered IP audio
from the studio to the transmitter without any Codecs!
RVR ACP-1 Broadband, Circular Antenna System which
provided the FM transmission with a coverage of up to
50Km radius which was sufficient to cover the entire Coast
regions including Kilifi, Diani, Kwale and Taru to the
northern part of Mombasa.
“Jamiro Broadcast was able to supply a turnkey IP-based radio workflow to Mo-Radio 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 which would later bring birth to a new TV channel”, Says Hon. Mohammed Ali.
The project was completed in December 2020 and the station went LIVE immediately after the commissioning and hand-over. Mo-Radio became the first commercial radio station in Mombasa to deploy a complete IP-Based studio infrastructure with a cloud-based audio playout and automation in Kenya with a successful integration of IoT in the FM transmission chain. IoT was integrated on the FM transmitter, STL and Studio consoles which provided a 100% automation of tasks, remote monitoring and control. With this, the producers and presenters are able to have LIVE shows from Nairobi and station technician can monitor and control the transmission chain from anywhere.
“IoT has brought forth innovative ways to integrate broadcasts systems and now the broadcasters will play an outsized role in the industrial revolution, and in turn lay the foundation for how the entire media and entertainment industry moves forward” Says Benson Nyaga, Technical Director- Jamiro Broadcast.
