This summer brought a first for WPR–A live broadcast and recording from a music festival.  In honor of the 30th anniversary of our Bluegrass show we did the show live from the Big Horn Mountain Festival.  It was quite the undertaking but thanks to new technology we were able to pull it off without a hitch.  I’m sure this will be the first of many such broadcasts.

A banner promoting WPR is prominently featured next to the stage

This was my post for the broadcast…I was the tech director and managed the overall feed back to the studios.  A small mixer provides a feed to a pair of audio codecs to send broadcast audio and talkback to the studios over a DSL line.  We have a continuous two way path for talkback purposes in addition to the primary stereo audio channel for the broadcast.

WPR engineer Ben Slater manages the mix from the stage.  He has a direct split of all microphones on stage (up to 16).  Having a mix independent of the local sound company providing PA for the festival is very important.  The sound mix required for a broadcast is completely different from a typical “live” mix.  He is simultaneously recording each of these microphones for further production after the live broadcast.

Tom Wilhelm (front) hosts the Ranch Breakfast Show from the Big Horn Mountain Festival

One of the local acts performs a tune

It started to rain pretty heavily during the broadcast which forced a temporary halt to the festival…Fortunately we were sheltered under a pavilion.  When the rain stopped this beautiful double rainbow appeared.

We pulled it off.  Ben, Grady (our program director) and me.