NETIA has announced that it has worked with Bel RTL, a private French-language radio broadcaster serving Belgium, to integrate its existing Radio-Assist suite of digital audio software with the broadcaster’s Annova OpenMedia newsroom control system.
The integration of these two key systems significantly streamlines Bel RTL operations by allowing staff to work not only with news scripts and stories, but also with audio and editing tools, all within a single environment.
“NETIA’s integration of Radio-Assist with OpenMedia has allowed us to join two separate areas of our broadcast operations into one for much greater overall efficiency,” said Dominique Romain, radio broadcast IT manager at Bel RTL.
“By simplifying and speeding up our workflow, this integration gives our journalists more time to focus on creating content rather than technical tasks and gives our station a competitive edge by enabling more timely delivery of news.”
The Radio-Assist 8 range of digital audio software programs covers the entire operation of a radio station, addressing acquisition, sound file editing, commercial and music production, scheduling, multicasting, data security, and administration.
OpenMedia enables functions such as searching agency wires, scheduling broadcasts, managing video and audio clips, and writing and distributing news stories.
Working closely with Bel RTL, NETIA leveraged the two systems’ MOS compatibility to enable users working in OpenMedia to access Radio-Assist functionality and stored audio without switching between programs.
With Radio-Assist database access, users working in OpenMedia can retrieve and listen to audio, and then edit it with NETIA’s Snippet tool or simply drag and drop the selected audio into the OpenMedia environment for editing.
Users can save the results of this work in the Radio-Assist database, save a new rundown, and export that rundown to the Radio-Assist scheduling system for broadcast. Journalists at Bel RTL can do all of this in just one window.
Newly established communications between the two systems maintain links between key elements — schedules, scripts, and media — for even greater streamlining of production and playout.
“NETIA is known for providing solutions tailored to the needs of specific customers,” said Mus Rezzoug, product director at NETIA.
“The integration we’ve undertaken at Bel RTL demonstrates this commitment, as well as the versatility and interoperability of our Radio-Assist software suite.”
