Advances in technology are allowing broadcast software designers to provide their users with far more flexibility and power than in the past.

This trend is exemplified by WO Aurora, described in a new white paper sponsored by WideOrbit and published in partnership with Radio World.

The paper describes this new, cloud-powered evolution of WideOrbit’s WO Automation for Radio platform. WO Aurora will also be demonstrated live from the NAB Show floor by a Las Vegas Beasley Media Group station.

WideOrbit Vice President and Managing Director William “Dub” Irvin told us that broadcasters today increasingly employ remote or distributed teams. They’re looking to reduce their real estate footprints, and those with stations in multiple markets also want scalability.

These enterprises are building hyper-efficient, streamlined air chains in which traditional studios can be replaced by local station offices equipped with simple touchscreens. Some may also wish to feed their transmitter sites directly.

According to Irvin, WO Aurora is built for this paradigm. It can be hosted in the cloud, on-premise or in a hybrid configuration.

Users can avoid upfront costs traditionally associated with automation, as well as the need to manage patches and software updates over time. And as a result, work no longer has to be done 100 times in 100 places — it can be done once, in one place, and flow to all of your stations.

The white paper explains how WO Aurora works and introduces a new browser-based component in WO Aurora called Web Studio.

Traditionally, WideOrbit radio automation has been a desktop app that needed to be installed and, for remote work, required VPN access to connect back to a radio station.

With Web Studio, WideOrbit aimed to lower those barriers. Air talent can access the software with standard login credentials in a web browser. A feature in Web Studio called Live Mic empowers air talent to broadcast live from anywhere, without separate codecs or local engineering support.

The paper emphasizes that the features in WO Aurora will be available to current users too, whether they keep their on-prem system or migrate to cloud. And the look and feel of the interface will be familiar to those users.

“We’ve gone a long way to ensure that the user experience is carried over to the web experience,” the company says.

The paper also explores security and resilience. The cloud iteration of WO Aurora is hosted securely in Amazon Web Services via HTTPS. This means, for example, that a broadcast company can employ freelance talent without having to provide each person a computer to accomodate the company VPN.

And WideOrbit offers edge solutions that allow audio to be expressed locally. In the event of dropouts or unexpected network degradation, a “Shadow Mode” can take over, playing your audio from a device at the transmitter site to assure continuity.

The white paper describes WO Aurora as a flexible, mobile, accessible platform designed for the future of radio. You can read it here.

At the NAB Show, Beasley Media Group’s 102.7 Coyote Country will use WO Aurora to broadcast live from the WideOrbit booth, C3038, in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The broadcasts will take place on April 20 and 21, from noon to 3 p.m.

Program Director and morning show host Shawn Stevens will entertain his audience using Web Studio to control the station and the Live Mic feature to broadcast live.

Beasley’s VP of Engineering Lamar Smith said, “It allows us to deliver content in ways that align with industry trends while supporting our business goals. What I appreciate most is that it integrates with our existing systems, giving us the flexibility to implement new capabilities while maintaining continuity across our markets.”

If you’re planning to attend the NAB Show, you can schedule an appointment to learn more. WideOrbit also plans an in-person presention live from the booth on Tuesday, April 21, at 10 a.m. PT. Sign up to attend the live broadcast virtually here.

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