Archives for August 1996

Syracuse, NY. C-Span recently took delivery of its first Wheatstone console, the SP-8 television audio console. The new console will be used in C-Span’s Studio Control Room #2, which is currently under construction and scheduled to be on-air by October of this year.

The SP-8 offers the mix/minus capability necessary for C-Span programming with multiple live shots, remotes, and call-ins. “The SP-8 is the only console we found within our price range that had all the flexibility, user friendliness and features we were looking for,” said Dave Roycraft, C-Span Manager of Corporate Engineering. “Our operators are anxious to being working with it.

“We needed a console that operators could learn easily, but also a console that had all of the features we need for our live productions,” Roycraft continued. “Other consoles that provided the same flexibility in terms of features were much more complicated than the SP-8 to operate.”

Roycraft said the network was looking for a console as easy to operate as the old console in C-Span’s Studio Control Room #1, but in a newer and more feature-rich model. “The console in Studio Control Room #1 is our daily workhorse,” said Roycraft. “We receive a lot of call-ins through that room. We anticipate that the SP-8 will become our new workhorse.”

Roycraft also stated that another factor in Wheatstone’s favor was the overwhelmingly positive review the company received from other broadcasters. “Everyone that had first-hand experience with Wheatstone consoles said, ‘They work great and never break.’ They have an excellent reputation.”

The SP-8 console incorporates many of the features of Wheatstone’s higher-end audio consoles in a lower cost model. Technology available in Wheatstone’s high-end TV-600 audio control console, such as an eight-input per channel overbridge, a complete switch selectable internal logic structure, mix-minus capability, and group muting are all available on the SP-8.