CHICAGO: Clear-Com said it equipped ABC O&O WLS-TV with intercoms for the broadcast of the 2011 Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. WLS-TV used two Clear-Com Tempest 900 MHz digital wireless intercoms and three HME DX200 2.4 GHz digital wireless systems to coordinate its production and broadcast with improved range in coverage and unfailing wireless connections.
Clear-Com’s Tempest 900 intercoms simplified communications for the WLS-TV team by broadening the communications range, providing a secure connection, and delivering clear audio quality. The reach and reliability offered by the Tempest900 systems allowed the event coordinators to roam and communicate along Michigan Avenue, at any given time. This wireless intercom effectively covered a three city block span, between the Michigan Avenue Bridge to the south, and Illinois Street to the north, without the issues of audio fading or connection loss for the crucial event coordination.
Tempest 900 operates in the license-free 900 MHz range and uses a patented Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) radio technology, allowing a narrow band signal that is continually changing frequencies to break through RF noise and interference.
Chicago’s Magnificent Mile 2011 Lights Festival featured over 40 floats and musical performances and the illumination of more than 1 million lights on 200 trees along Michigan Avenue. Streaming video from the Nov. 19 broadcast of the 2011 Magnificent Mile Lights Festival is available at WLS-TV’s website at abc7Chicago.com. The program will be rebroadcast throughout the holiday season by ABC7 Chicago and 72 markets nationwide.
