We are located in Chesterfield, a market town on the edge of the Peak District National Park in central England. Microphones are Shure SM7Bs, mixer is from Netherlands manufacturer D&R. Music and programming is produced and scheduled from here and uploaded to our data centre in Moscow (see below).
Like most stations, we use a combination of audio mixers and software editors to compile and edit the music and spots, which is all played out by a highly-recommended New Zealand software programme called Station Playlist. The final mix is sent from our playout server in Moscow through a broadcast processor to our streaming server in the Netherlands. The pictures above and below show how our studios look now.
Unlike our earlier station, LBC Music Radio (see below), there are no transmitters any more, but below is the impressively swish set-up at our Moscow data centre which houses our broadcasting playout and streaming software.
Until a few years ago, we also had a dedicated live recording studio, equipped by our chum and long-time collaborator, Guy Morris. Sadly, the fiasco of the Covid Wars put paid to that, but we'd like to think it could be revived in the future. Here's what it looked like...
In common with other media operations, our equipment has changed over the years from racks of bulky hardware to a largely computer-based set-up. Below is how it all looked when 2XS was launched from The Workstation in Sheffield in 2002...
Next is a photo of the 1980s studios of our predecessor, the mountain-top Swiss/Italian 'border-blaster' station, LBC Music Radio 95.7. Not a computer in sight!
Below is another shot of LBC Music Radio 95.7. This was the second studio which housed the newsroom, record library, and transmitter controls. Our popular Italian newsreader was Manuela del Zoppo.
The final image is of the LBC Music Radio 95.7 antenna array, in the days when we did have transmitters! It was all erected within 24 hours by our colleagues in Milan and was located on an Italian mountainside overlooking the Swiss city of Lugano. We were even the subject of a series of features in the UK newpaper, The Guardian.
