Section meeting 21 February 2019, Swedish Radio, Stockholm Left to right - Ingemar Ohlson (section treasurer), Tomas Öberg (Swedish Radio), Zakarius Faust (Swedish Radio), Christoffer Björnram (Swedish Radio)
The Swedish section was invited to attend the Swedish Radio (SR) studios in Stockholm by Zakarius Faust. The evening was a chance for members to see inside the studios as well meet technicians, developers and researchers who work there.
Zakarius started the evening with an overview of Swedish Radio's mission as a public broadcaster, its reach and the range and quantity of programme material that is transmitted. In total SR reaches 6.8 million listeners per week through various channels such as FM radio, podcasts and streaming online.
Christoffer Bjornholm described his work within Team Unicorn, a development group recently tasked with creating a mobile radio station that transmits the outside broadcast over the internet using 4G technology. The kit is designed to be used by a single person, who would be the journalist, feature producer etc. It consists of a back pack with a microphone, headphones, digital audio inputs and outputs and Raspberry Pi with several 4G modems with data sim cards fitted.
There is also a portable interface based on a tablet device that allows the user to change program, mix incoming calls, music and more with the outgoing audio. A very compact and energy efficient design.
After a refreshment break Tomas Öberg took us through a project where SR is trying to standardise their approach to studio design. Up till now there have been a number of different consultants involved in the design process depending on geographical location. The aim is to create a set of criteria that result in consistent studio acoustics so that journalists, program makers and other contributors can have the same experience no matter which room they are in.
Discussions after the presentations focused on the success of the new mobile broadcasting kit. Technicians have given it a thumbs down, needs more work, due to the fact that the interace hides a lot of controls in order to make it easy to use. Younger, less technically accomplished users became more at home with it due to the touch screen aspect. Older users who were much more accustomed to hardware faders etc. were less receptive to the new concept.
