Going digital

After a few months of construction, tweaking (and some twerking) and training we officially launch the Bush Radio Digital Broadcast studio today 1 May 2015 in honour of all the workers who have sacrificed for our democracy and helped to open the airwaves in South Africa.

The studio was constructed by the team from Buck Broadcast and funded through a grant from the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA).

The new digital studio will help Bush Radio to continue to be the leading incubator of young radio talent on the continent while providing listeners with the best quality sound possible.

Getting our signal to you – A visit to Sentech

As part of Bush Radio regular staff development sessions we thought we’d learn a little bit more about how our signal gets to our listeners and meet some of the people involved in the process.

On Wednesday we visited Sentech, which Bush Radio uses to distribute its FM signal (89.5) to listeners.

Frank Creese – Manager: Cape Town Operations

Frank Creese who is the Manager of Cape Town Operations for Sentech gave us a presentation about Sentech and its services and also conducted a tour of their facilities.

Some facts about Sentech: it has 220 transmitting stations, 742 radio transmitters, 627 television transmitters and 550 staff members at its 16 centres nationally.

Ernst Heydenrych, Senior Technician explaining the finer points of transmission and compression to Sinethemba, Isherene and Lusanda

Bush Radio is currently considering upgrading the old Telkom copper wire connection which send our signal from the studio in Salt River to Sentech and Creese shared some clarity on why fibre optic is the way to go to get improved audio quality to the transmitter.

Gary Urion, Supervisor Transmission Centre Western Region (centre) with Sinethemba, Freedom and Victor

Our staff were amazed when we were taken into the Sentech’s operations centre where the main broadcasting (TV and Radio) signals are monitored 24/7, 365 days a year.

View from transmitter site in Tygerberg

We then went to the Sentech’s transmitter site in Tygerberg where many of the community and commercial radio stations transmitters are located. A highlight was also seeing the new digital television transmitter.

Related: In your ear and in your brain – worldwide