Qatar Radio - Renewal of Central Technology in the Radio Main Control Room

In April 2015, Studio Hamburg MCI was commissioned by Qatar Radio to renew the radio main control room. Qatar Radio operates eight radio channels in Doha, including programs in Quran, English, Arabic 1, Arabic 2, French, Urdu, and Rayyan.

The central transmission and monitoring routers were replaced seamlessly during ongoing broadcasting operations. The core elements of the control room—such as patch panels, converters, distributors, silence detectors, and audio-over-IP connections—were implemented in the newly installed racks and operator desks.

Recording of broadcasts, including time stamps, is now handled centrally for all programs with a new IT-based system. A central configuration panel with display enables switching of connections and silence detectors. The configuration PCs document all switching states via log files.

MCI completed the project within just three months in summer 2015. The entire system was fully pre-assembled and tested in Hamburg.

Installation, integration into the in-house IT system, and comprehensive training were carried out during the trial operation phase in Doha.
After a familiarization period, the system was finally accepted and switched to on-air operation in October 2015.