IBC 2024: Telos Alliance and Super Hi-Fi Partner To Give Broadcasters More Power To Create New Live Radio Experiences
Telos Alliance and Super Hi-Fi announce a technology partnership with the goal of improving the listener experience while giving radio broadcasters time back in their day.
At the heart of this collaboration is LiveConnect, a new live-over-IP protocol that connects traditional live radio shows to cloud playout and production systems, delivering flexibility, high reliability, and built-in security. With LiveConnect, broadcasters can seamlessly go live from any studio – in any location – to any radio station – at any time. The broadcast studio is no longer confined to a single space.
“Live radio is still the most listened-to audio delivery system in the world by a wide margin,” says Zack Zalon, CEO of Super Hi-Fi. “Our company’s history with radio content and innovative streaming services, and our work with respected radio programmers and consultants, has led us to work with one of the foremost radio tech companies, Telos Alliance. Our partnership will help broadcasters take complete control over how, when, and where they broadcast, melding the experience of live radio with powerful AI-driven cloud delivery services.”
“From day one, Telos Alliance has been dedicated to innovation in the radio industry,” says Marty Sacks, EVP of Sales, Marketing and Strategy of Telos Alliance. “We’re broadcasters ourselves, and we’ve watched the changes the industry has gone through. Talent is now responsible for tasks with a high level of creative output, such as voice-tracking for multiple stations. Partnering with Super Hi-Fi lets us provide broadcasters with a truly amazing set of tools that allows them to deliver even better content to an even wider range of listeners while easing the workload of individual creators. It’s a win-win for stations and listeners.”
Leveraging the Power of AI to Make Better Radio
At the heart of the partnership is a shared commitment by both companies to use AI as a tool to help on-air talent, not replace them. “Artificial Intelligence has gotten a bad rap in radio because it’s been used to make a very connectional medium less personal,” Telos Alliance’s Sacks explains. “Broadcasters see it as a threat, and listeners are pushing back because it just feels wrong. LiveConnect is an example of how AI can be used to make radio better, for stations and for listeners.”
“LiveConnect will literally empower radio talent to deliver better shows to their listeners,” adds Super Hi-Fi’s Zalon “AI assistance will enable them to focus on the creative part of their jobs instead of the mechanical part. It’s a win-win for radio station operators, managers, and talent alike. We are incredibly excited to be bringing this to the market.”
The LiveConnect Workflow
LiveConnect is a high-fidelity audio IP link with advanced control capabilities that creates a completely seamless connection between the supported Telos Alliance family of broadcast products, such as the Axia Quasar and Altus mixing consoles, and Program Director, Super Hi-Fi’s cloud-based Radio Operating System.
Whether used in Live Broadcast mode (such as a traditional morning show) or Programmatic mode (to deliver a much-improved voice-tracked show), the melding of physical and virtual technologies creates a more flexible and efficient workflow, reduces complexity and cost, allows talent to focus on their creative strengths, and creates a more connectional experience for listeners.
Empowering Broadcasters for the Future
The LiveConnect service will be testing with select customers starting in early 2025, with wide availability to broadcasters globally soon thereafter. Find out more about the future of live radio broadcasting at www.superhifi.com/products/LiveConnect, or visit Telos Alliance in Hall 8, Stand 8.D37 at IBC 2024 in Amsterdam, September 13-16, 2024.