Public Radio Station KPCC Gets Talking with Clear-Com Eclipse

48-Port Matrix Installed at the Station’s Brand-new Facility with Added Communication to Downtown LA Studio 

Clear-Com®, a global leader in critical voice communication systems, is pleased to announce that public radio station KPCC has installed a 48-Port Clear-Com Eclipse Median Digital Matrix Intercom System with V-Series Panels at its new, state-of-the-art radio broadcast facility in Pasadena, California. The system has enabled communications throughout the station’s 30,000-square-foot facility. Additional V-Series Panels are in place at the station’s downtown facility for uninterrupted communication between the two locations. KPCC also employs Clear-Com’s ConcertTMIntercom-over-IP communications solution for contact between its staff in the field and those in the studio.

Critical to KPCC’s production workflow was the ability for news producers and staff on the second floor of the new facility to communicate with studio employees on the lower level. The seamless integration of several V-Series intercom panels with the Eclipse Median matrix promoted high quality, easily accessible communications between the staff members on the different floors. Talent, hosts and crew members can instantly exchange important information with those on the second floor. The system has proven especially useful during each of the station’s three daily live talk shows, each run by a different production team.

The Clear-Com Eclipse Median also facilitates communications for those working from KPCC’s smaller studio facility, located in downtown Los Angeles (LA). The IP-enabled V-Series panels at the smaller space is linked to the Eclipse Median via a T1 line so that LA staff members can correspond with those working at the Pasadena complex.

“Before we moved into this building, there was a lot of anxiety over how we would communicate between the first and second floors, but that evaporated the minute we started using Clear-Com,” says Doug Johnson, Director of Broadcasting at KPCC. “We especially like the V-Series 12-button panels. We are able to access as many as eight shift pages in addition to the primary page, which includes the 12 most common connections for each show. Not only can our skilled technical engineers operate the system at its highest level, but the interface is so easy to use that even the talent can control it on a basic level. Clear-Com has simplified communications in every way, allowing our team to focus their attention on producing a perfect show rather than learning the ins-and-outs of our communications network.”

At the main complex, there are several panels in the second floor offices, including one on the desk of each of the three senior news producers. A fourth is installed in the reporter and editor newsroom. To ensure an uninterrupted workflow, the studio incorporates an Eclipse Median frame with 48 ports and a total of 20 V-Series desktop 12-button stations as well as 10 other 12-button panels and two 24-button panels. These permit easy access to various show call buttons, which can be customized for the user and the production.In addition to in-house communications, KPCC’s remote employees, dispersed throughout Southern California, can connect with other station team members using the Clear-Com Concert Intercom-over-IP communications software. In their previous setup, they had discussions over cell phones and intercoms, which was difficult to coordinate in the field. Now, the remote employees converse through the Concert interface, which requires only a laptop with an Internet connection.

“We are honored that a prestigious broadcasting organization such as KPCC chose Clear-Com to meet their specialized communication needs,” says Jaz Wray, Regional Sales Manager, Southwestern USA and Latin America, Clear-Com. “Clear-Com designed the Eclipse Median and Concert systems for situations just like these, to allow remote users to easily communicate with each other and back to the primary facility. We understand that communications must not only be clear and of high audio quality but ultimately easily accessible for busy broadcast staff members.”

Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) has managed KPCC since its acquisition in 2000. The public radio news, information and cultural affairs station is an affiliate of NPR, American Public Media and Public Radio International. SCPR manages the station on behalf of Pasadena City College, where the station once stood and which holds the license for the station’s air-time rights.