Technical Information
There are 3 major elements of a FM Radio Station:
Studio Facilities
Studio is the place where the content (Songs, News, Adds, Station Promos and Jingles) is made by Programming team and Radio Jockey deliver the final content to transmit. Studio facilities, typically have a On- Air Studio, Production Studio, Voice over Booth, News Studio and Central Technical Area.
The number of studios at your Radio Station will depend on a combination of the following:
A) City Category
No. of studio can be defined on the category of your city for which you have obtained a Fm Broadcast license. For E.g.
A+/ A Category | |
|---|---|
| Estimated Area Required | Apprx. 2000 sq. feet |
| On- Air Studio | 2 nos. |
| Production Studio | 2 nos. |
| Voice over | 2 nos. |
| Central Technical Area | 1 no. |
| *Transmission Area | 1 no. |
B - Category | |
|---|---|
| Estimated Area Required | Apprx. 1500 sq. feet |
| On- Air Studio | 2 nos. |
| Production Studio | 1 nos. |
| Voice over | 1 nos. |
| Central Technical Area | 1 no. |
| *Transmission Area | 1 no. |
C & D Category |
|
|---|---|
| Estimated Area Required | Apprx. 1000 sq. feet |
| On-Air Backup cum Production Studio | 1 nos. |
| Production Studio | 1 nos. |
| Voice over | 1 nos. |
| Central Technical Area | 1 no. |
| *Transmission Area | 1 no. |
* Transmission area will be as per MIB Guidelines and can be located at Prasar Bharti Premises or at Consortium Premises or as interim setup.
Note: Keep some space for future expansion, if required.
B) On- Air Hours:
No. of Studio can also be decided by the On- Air Hours like 24×7, 18×7 or 12×7 etc. But we recommend having Minimum C & D Category Setup at your station. The reason is :
- This included backup facility in case main on-air studio fails.
- This will allow doing regular maintenance without disturbing the show going on-air.
C) Multiple Frequency in a city: (Not yet allowed by MIB)
If you are planning to go for having multiple frequency in your city and planning to broadcast different Content format. PLs plan in advance about designing your studios. Which must include one On-Air and On Backup studio at least for each content format. Central Technical area and Transmission area will accordingly required more space than suggested above.
D) NEWS On-Air: (Not yet allowed by MIB)
If you think that News is important content for your station, Add space of aprx. 200 sq. feet for having News On- Air Studio & News Production Studio.
STL (Studio-Transmission Links)
STL is used for transportation of Audio feeds from your Studio to the Transmission Site. There are different options available for sending audio feeds from one location to another. For example, Audio can be transport via:
- Ethernet Connection between Studio and Transmission Site.
- A Leased Line between two sites.
- RF Link (Point to Point) or RF MPLS Link.
- ISDN Line.
Transmission Facilities
Transmission Site encompass of a Transmitter room having FM Transmitter with monitoring and scaling equipments. A Tower, holding FM Antenna and RF Cable.
MIB has defined guidelines for the transmission sites and can be located at Prasar Bharti Premises or at Consortium Premises or as interim setup.
