Raycom Media Installs Volicon Systems at 30 U.S. Stations

Raycom Media has completed the installation of Volicon Observer systems at 30 Raycom-owned stations throughout the United States. Raycom, an employee-owned station group in Montgomery, Ala., also has purchased a Volicon Observer Central Monitoring system to enable monitoring of all of its stations through a single Web-based interface.

The Raycom stations use the centralized monitoring configuration to evaluate broadcast elements ranging from on-air talent to corporate image and use of graphics. Based on a proprietary streaming video engine and player, the Observer allows a large number of users simultaneous access to multiple channels of live and archived content from their desktop using a Microsoft Internet Explorer Web interface. The Volicon Observer Central allows corporate officers and outside consultants to view all stations.

Individual Raycom stations use the Observer systems as an FCC-approved source of programming backup and proof for any compliance or advertiser inquiries. The system generates alerts for technical problems and targeted closed-caption keywords, exports video clips, and archives the station's broadcast. The system archives can access content instantly for up to a year via hardware RAID-5 storage. Volicon's Observer also allows stations to record their competitors in the market and compare their performance.

"Observer gives us powerful new tools for improving our business at both the group and station level," said Dave Folsom, vice president of technology at Raycom. "The Observer solution has been a perfect fit for us, both in function and budget."