Live production provider CP Communications is regularly deploying the Pliant Technologies CrewCom intercom platform for events that include the New York City Marathon, Super Bowl, NBA Finals, MLB All-Star Game and World Series, Westminster Dog Show and several others.
“One of the benefits of using CrewCom is it’s scalability — it can be a very simple intercom solution or we can ramp it up to be a very large-scale deployment, with the ability to sync and coordinate with multiple systems,” says Brian Ready, systems engineer, CP Communications. “For CP Communications, the typical users of CrewCom run the gamut of production, from stage managers to audio technicians to lighting. The gear is being used daily and over the long term it is robust and reliable. Our customers find it to be very easy to use, especially with its one-to-one relationship between the talk and listen buttons. There is no need to scroll through menus to get to what you need.”
Ready adds, “We like that CrewCom operates in the 900 MHz range since the usable frequency spectrum is a commodity, but with the 900 band, for the most part, it’s usable nearly everywhere. The ability to also use 2.4GHz really helps for those venues operating in the 900 MHz band.”
For the NYC Marathon, a CrewCom system was deployed for 18 users at the start and an additional 18 users at the finish line for communications to and from technicians working in their respective locations. The finish line was set up in a traditional production scenario, with a booth communications kit that was interfaced to the CrewCom system and then brought back to the production truck. The starting line was more intricate in that all aspects of the production, including cameras and audio, were brought back via fiber optics or IP to the finish line – with the show being produced from the finish line. This also included all the content captured from the smart cars that were located throughout the marathon route. CP Communications managed both the domestic broadcast as well as the international feed.
This year, CP Communications also took on the NBA Finals with the help of CrewCom. A variety of the brand’s products were deployed for this event, including 20 conferences of wireless PL (Party Line), three program feeds into the system, 40 radio packs [RPs], 14 radio transceivers (RTs) and three control units [CUs].
And, the production provider relied on CrewCom for the 2023 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, deploying two CU’s, 24 radio packs and 14 antennas throughout the venue. “The ability to configure the system offline with its CrewWare software and then export that drawing as a PDF for an onsite tech, really saves on time and potential set up errors,” Ready says. “I also really like the telemetry that is offered through the software; you can see how good your connectivity is to and from an RT.”
“We value the collaborative partnership that we have with CP Communications and always look forward to working with them to streamline and maximize the coms aspect of the events that they are involved with,” says Gary Rosen, vice president of global sales for Pliant Technologies. “We are grateful for their support and continuing to work together throughout 2023.”
