An equipment breakdown prevents the LIVE real-time broadcast of Orange Council meetings. The city will continue to broadcast the full tapes of the meetings on Channel 35 and will continue to post the full tapes on the city’s website. The city is working to correct the problem as fast as possible.

Technical problems prevented the live broadcast of the February 7th council meeting and continue to prevent the broadcast of tonight’s meeting on February 21st. Over the past two weeks, Mr. Campanella Godfrey, who operates Channel 35, has been working to find a solution to the problem and is bringing in technical consultants to assess the problems and come up with a solution.

Until the problem is fixed, Orange will broadcast the full tape of each council meeting on Channel 35 and also post the tapes on the city website.

The city apologizes for the inconvenience caused by these problems and urges residents to inform themselves by watching the Channel 35 broadcasts or by viewing the tapes on the city’s website. The tapes can be found online at http://www.ci.orange.nj.us/agendas_main.html.

The Technical Issues
The audio portion of the council broadcast originates in stereo sound comprising the output of two separate microphone systems for which multiple microphones are needed to produce an audible record of the meetings. However, due to broadcast limitations, both the live broadcast and rebroadcast of the sound are monaural.

The city’s DBX 166XL Compressor Limited/Gain combines the two stereo channels into mono sound in real time for live broadcast. However the unit is now broken and no longer switches from stereo to mono as programmed. The DBX Compressor 166Xl is outdated and discontinued. It must be replaced with a DBX 166SX-Compressor/Limited /Gate. A volumax control is also necessary to mix and equalize the broadcast audio. The city must bring in an outside consultant to determine and price the correct volumax control unit. An inspection of the system is scheduled for this week. Orange’s longstanding video technician, Tony Monica, is no longer available due to health problems.

Adding to the problem is the failure of the Community Bulletin Board equipment for Channel 35. The equipment must be moved from Orange High School to the TV-35 Studio in order to operate reliably.
Also contributing to the audio problem are difficulties with the audio system within the council chambers. That system is controlled by the clerk’s office. There will be costs associated with putting the live broadcast facilities back in operation. After an assessment, the council will be informed of the amount of money needed.