Episodios

  • TWiRT Ep. 754 - Broadcast Engineering Degree at UW-Oshkosh

    TWiRT Ep. 754 - Broadcast Engineering Degree at UW-Oshkosh
    Jun 27 2025
    The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is launching a rare program to train students in broadcast engineering. The emphasis followed years of planning and consultation within the RTF department and the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. William Kerkhof and Andrew Smock join Chris Tarr and Kirk Harnack to reveal the motivations and planning going into this new program. And we get an introduction to some of the courses and emphases available through this degree program.
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    1 h y 13 m
  • TWiRT Ep. 753 - Armstrong FM at Alpine

    TWiRT Ep. 753 - Armstrong FM at Alpine
    Jun 20 2025
    Join us for a special on-location episode of This Week in Radio Tech, recorded at the historic Armstrong Tower in Alpine, New Jersey—the birthplace of wideband FM broadcasting. We’re joined by electronics designer and radio historian Steve Hemphill, along with Chuck Sackermann, whose company owns and oversees this iconic site. Together, we explore the groundbreaking legacy of Edwin H. Armstrong and the enduring impact of his tower and technology. Tim Braddock also joins us with comments about the famous Alford Antenna, in service for over 50 years on the Empire State Building.Don’t miss this fascinating journey through radio history, innovation, and preservation!
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    1 h y 13 m
  • TWiRT Ep. 752 - Niches and Needs - with Catfish and Corny

    TWiRT Ep. 752 - Niches and Needs - with Catfish and Corny
    Jun 13 2025
    The spark, motivation, and process for invention is absolutely fascinating! This week we got lucky and found two gentlemen who epitomize the spirit of invention. They often do this by asking, “What is it that we’re really trying to do here?” Sometimes the answer results in new approaches to the problem or task. Mike “Catfish” Dosch and Cornelius Gould are working on some projects at Angry Audio. This provided a perfect opportunity to interview them together and discuss the inventor’s process.
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    1 h y 12 m
  • TWiRT Ep. 751 - Radio News Legend Talks Tech - with Bob Hardt

    TWiRT Ep. 751 - Radio News Legend Talks Tech - with Bob Hardt
    Jun 6 2025
    On this episode of This Week in Radio Tech, we welcome a true legend of the newsroom—Bob Hardt. From his early days at WXYZ to anchoring at WABC and ultimately rising to the top at ABC Radio News in New York City, Bob shares a career shaped by storytelling, breaking news, and the evolving tools of the trade. Host Kirk Harnack dives into how technology changed the game—from cart machines to digital editors—and how those shifts made newsgathering faster, sharper, and more agile. If you’ve ever wondered how great radio news gets made, or how the newsroom adapted from analog chaos to digital speed, this conversation with Bob Hardt is one you won’t want to miss.
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    1 h y 13 m
  • TWiRT Ep. 750 - Today's Broadcast Innovation with Tyler & Grant

    TWiRT Ep. 750 - Today's Broadcast Innovation with Tyler & Grant
    May 30 2025
    Seven hundred and fifty episodes of TWiRT! Wow! It’s my honor today to welcome two innovative broadcast engineers and businessmen - and business partners with Telos Alliance - Tyler Everitt and Grant Biebrick. We’re learning about the practical equipment and systems that their company, Pippin Technical Service (PTS) brings to Canadian broadcasters. Tyler and Grant reveal the innovative networked devices and systems that PTS has developed and installed at hundreds of facilities in Canada.
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    1 h y 14 m
  • TWiRT Ep. 749 - 5-Studio Upgrade at WJOU-FM

    TWiRT Ep. 749 - 5-Studio Upgrade at WJOU-FM
    May 23 2025
    Oakwood University, located in Huntsville, Alabama, is renowned for its significant contributions to gospel and Christian music, particularly through its alumni who have achieved fame in these genres. Groups like Take 6 and soloists such as Brian McNight are alumni of Oakwood, along with many, many more. Oakwood is also home to WJOU-FM, and we all know that university-owned radio stations often go a couple decades between serious studio upgrades. WJOU is overdue for new equipment, and not just for the sake of newness. Indeed, the station’s leadership staff recognizes the need for more diverse music and talk programming, but one signal isn’t enough. So, WJOU-FM is remodeling and building new studios to accommodate four different formats, and finishing an HD Radio transmission system to accommodate them. Good leadership and big upgrades go hand-in-hand, so on this episode we’re meeting with Dawna Baker and Dammeon Malone from WJOU, and with broadcast system integrator, Josh Bohn and field engineer Mike Hutchens from MaxxKonnect. Together they’re give us a worthy overview of this major upgrade process from the perspectives of management, operations, and engineering.
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    1 h y 11 m
  • TWiRT Ep. 748 - Cart Machines: The Rest of the Story with Andy Rector

    TWiRT Ep. 748 - Cart Machines: The Rest of the Story with Andy Rector
    May 16 2025
    The Story of the Broadcast Cart Machine is fascinating, especially to those of us who used them on-air, or installed and repaired them as engineers. Andy Rector, who was heavily involved in the business of broadcast cart machines, joins us for Part 2 of our exploration into this history. We’ll go through the 1970s and 1980s, as new broadcast cart machines were developed and deployed. We’ll follow this story arc right up to the late 1990s, when Andy says was really the end of that cart machine era.
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    1 h y 7 m
  • TWiRT Ep. 747 - How We Got the Cart Machine with Andy Rector

    TWiRT Ep. 747 - How We Got the Cart Machine with Andy Rector
    May 9 2025
    Most of us in radio engineering have worked with broadcast cart machines. While it’s been a good 25 or 30 years since we’ve had them in our studios, we’ll never forget the pleasure - and occasional pain - of using them and maintaining them. But how did cart machines come to be? Were they always like the ones we grew up with in the 70s and 80s? Or did the development come with fits and starts? Andy Rector worked with broadcast carts nearly from the very beginning of their existence. He’s been interviewed many times and provided historical presentations to SBE groups, AES sections, and others. We’re delighted to have Andy Rector join us on this TWiRT episode to look at the early days of broadcast cart machines and the early technologies employed.
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    1 h y 6 m