“Little Station that Could” Makes Maximum Use of Playout Servers to Offer Three Commercial Channels within Cost-Effective Operation

September 3, 2024 – For over 50 years, NBC affiliate WJFW in Rhinelander, Wisconsin has been the “little station that could.”¹ Two years after its original transmission tower went live in 1966, a plane tragically crashed into the tower, killing the plane’s occupants and destroying the tower and the station beneath it. The station came back on the air a year later with a new tower and the first “color only” television transmitter in the country. With a limited budget and a significant live and recorded programming schedule, WJFW always finds a way to provide up-to-the-minute news, local features, syndicated programming, and regional event coverage to the Northern Wisconsin viewing area.

To expand its channel offerings while maintaining its current workflow, WJFW added a third PlayBox Neo AirBox Neo-20 server for playout of COZI-TV, which airs classic television shows from the 1950’s through the 2000’s. One AirBox Neo-20 server handles playout of the main 12.1 channel and its entire on-air presence while a second server provides playout for Antenna TV – another classic television channel. WJFW uses its PlayBox Neo system for program and commercial playout, as well as live pass through streaming and graphic overlays for all three channels. All three servers interface easily with the station’s existing Wide Orbit trafficking system. While WJFW has six channels, three are strictly re-transmitted pass through without commercial insertions.

“As an over-the-air broadcaster, we have the ability to fit more channels into our broadcast stream,” said Marty Mangerson, Technical Director, WJFW. “We needed a new playback server for our third commercial station, and we’ve had such solid service with our current servers that we immediately went back to PlayBox Neo. Also, the price tag was well within our budget.”

WJFW was an early adopter in 2012 of PlayBox Neo’s HD automation and playout technology. “They could do HD playout before anyone else, which is another reason we turned to our friends at PlayBox Neo.”  

Because the PlayBox Neo system has performed solidly throughout the years at WJFW, Mangerson prefers to maintain the same workflow. “I have the flexibility of changing commercials at the drop of a hat and customizing playlists at any point in the day. And we’ve had no issues with our PlayBox Neo servers.”

Throughout the past several years, Mangerson points to the company’s increased technical support in the U.S. as another reason for his continued allegiance. “Sadek Labib [U.S. Support Engineer] is an incredible resource,” said Mangerson. “He’s very accessible, easy to talk to, and explains everything to me in a very understandable way. He’s a pleasure to deal with. We receive immediate attention if we need to speak with him.”

“Broadcasters need flexibility and the ability to expand their programming,” said Van Duke, Director of U.S. Operations, PlayBox Neo. “But they want to do so in a budget-conscious way that doesn’t interrupt their workflow. That’s exactly how WJFW is implementing our AirBox Neo-20 servers. We couldn’t be happier with our over ten-year relationship with them!”

PlayBox Neo solutions are based on modular products and services which can be easily customized to provide the exact capability needed for any scale of channel playout management – from ingest and scheduling right through to transmission. At the heart of the PlayBox Neo line up is AirBox Neo-20, a universal playout and IP streaming solution.

For more information on PlayBox Neo, please visit PlayBox Neo at www.playboxneo.com