Netia, a software manufacturer for radio automation solutions, has announced that the Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency (ERTA) has gone digital with Radio-Assist 8
ERTA said it has been broadcasting daily in the 11 languages and was implementing the project to boost its transmission coverage and migrate from tape to file-based operations.
Local integrator United System Integrators (USI) has worked with ERTA to create a new workflow based around Radio-Assist 8, encompassing all stages from production to broadcast, including acquisition, sound file editing, scheduling, multicasting, and administration.
The architecture of the system will include a centralised archiving facility into which ERTA’s library of 50,000 hours of tape-based content was being digitised.
To provide continuity in case of interruption to the main system, ERTA said, it was creating a disaster recovery site with duplicated content for additional security.
The agency informed that 30 workstations, equipped with Radio-Assist 8, will offer ERTA’s production staff of 150 journalists and editors access to the full range of the system’s production tools, and to the content archive and index.
ERTA deputy director general and head of media technology, Haileab Abrha, said, “Radio-Assist 8 is at the core of our new production system, and gives us the ability to move to a very efficient and flexible way of making radio programs.
“The system fits easily into our existing broadcasting environment and the ability to use multiple languages in the interface makes it very flexible for our staff.”
USI general manager Michael Shebelle said, “Radio-Assist 8 is the ideal platform for a broadcaster like ERTA to move from analog to digital operations.
“With the access to the digitised archive that Radio-Assist 8 provides, and its range of production tools, ERTA’s staff will be able to greatly increase the quality and efficiency of their work.”
