So in what ways can a radio network's engineering team help?

Primary task is to optimize the capex for implementing new studios, inter-connecting studios to transmission sites and, finally, the transmission chain itself.

Studios. Need for easy-to-implement studio and transmitter solutions that can be remotely managed through modern IT-based infrastructures. The legacy studio audio technologies are inherently cumbersome to implement, needing a high level of skilled manpower just to get even the cabling right, are not really designed for remote management and troubleshooting, and tend to be costlier (consider the cost and time involved in laying 30 audio cables from studio console to equipment room). The way forward seems to be Ethernet-based networked studio systems which can carry a large number of audio channels in a single cable. Of course this needs re-orientation of audio engineers to think like IT engineers but the advantages are overwhelming, and audio engineers are well advised to take that plunge. Such a system also avoids the need for large audio routers.

STLs. Studio-transmitter links have to be migrated to IP-based systems rather than legacy E1-based analog audio systems. This gives advantage of monitoring and manageability. Engineering can also look at upcoming high bandwidth cellular mobile technologies like 3G as a backup option in place of the traditional ISDN lines. The same technology can also be effectively used to outside broadcasting solutions.

Transmission Chains. Engineering needs to make better utilization and improve upon the features of present setups, and can also look at managed infrastructure like American radio networks which are operated and monitored remotely. Engineering also needs to look at power sapping devices, transmitters; and air conditioners and devise meant to optimize power consumption since this is the single largest cost of running an FM transmitting station. Multi-purpose devices that combine the functions of exciter, audio processor, RDS encoder, and remote monitoring can reduce the equipment footprint and help in drastically reducing power consumption, besides obviously being cheaper to buy than a number of disparate boxes.

Data sharing between stations using unified content management systems. This is the one area where everyone seems to fall short, and an area where the cost of producing content can be brought down drastically. A fine example of content sharing is the news feeds relayed from New Delhi by all AIR stations. Private FM networks need to create and nurture content syndication and sharing networks like National Public Radio (US) or Clear Channel's internal content sharing and management system, or the European Broadcasting Union system. Such syndicated content can even be outsourced to third-party broadcasters. Open source technologies like Linux/ PHP/ MySQL can reduce the cost of operation.

Training and certifications is one area which is really lacking in the country's FM radio industry. AIR and Prasar Bharati conducts training programs. These programs include technicians and engineers from the private FM radio networks but these programs need to be conducted more frequently. Trained engineers and technicians can better run their young stations.