ScubaRadio and Comrex ACCESS: Adventures Underwater

18 years ago, Greg Holt was the manager of a sports radio station in Orlando when he stumbled across a novel idea for a radio program.

“[I was talking to my boss], and he said ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could dive for free?’ So I thought, let’s do a dive show.”

Since its creation, ScubaRadio has grown into a nationally syndicated program. Comprised of conversations with divers on location, remotes from beaches in places like Fiji and the Maldives, and characterized by an irreverent rock radio style, ScubaRadio brings the experience of diving to a wide audience. The show targets everyone from seasoned divers to regular folks looking for a reprieve from daily life.

“ScubaRadio is designed to promote the activity of diving. It’s not targeted at divers only - we want to show people who listen to sports and news-talk radio across the country that there’s a whole new world under water,” said Greg.

“It’s all about promoting the Jimmy Buffet lifestyle. A certain type of personality is attracted to adventure, and it’s that adventurous soul that all of us can relate to. With our adventures, we try to entertain first, and maybe educate folks along the way, specifically with regards to environmental conservation.”

On ScubaRadio and his other two shows, Just Plane Radio and World of Boating, Greg (who had no diving experience when ScubaRadio was created) will frequently jump into new and exciting situations that he has never experienced. With a cavalier attitude, he will toss out anecdotes in casual conversation about spending days in the open ocean, or swimming with great white sharks. The goal of his program is to make activities like diving, boating, or piloting accessible to anyone in his audience.

“I’m not exactly an Evil Knievel kind of guy,” Greg says. “I’m an ordinary guy who happens to be put in these situations. My goal is to show people that hey, if this idiot can do this, anyone can do it.”

And the activities he describes are nothing if not appealing. Using the power of remotes, Greg is an expert at transporting listeners to the beaches he’s trodding. “What I find is that people can paint a much more vivid picture in their mind with radio than they can when you give them images. Whatever we happen to be involved in, the feedback I get from listeners is often more colorful than it actually was in real life. And I love that! I love playing that element, it allows you to be very flexible with sound – at times, we’re just four dudes in a ten by ten box, but the stories still come alive.”

To make the remote magic happen (and to keep his show on budget), Greg turns to Comrex ACCESS. “Obviously, a big aspect of ScubaRadio is travel. So I do remotes all the time – in a busy year, I’m on the road for 4 months out of the year. We started using the ACCESS a couple years ago, and it’s become a standard,” said Greg. “It used to be you couldn’t do this stuff without spending thousands of dollars. So this is opening up our revenue streams, plus it makes our show sound better.”

Using WebRTC in conjunction with ACCESS has also made Greg’s remotes easier.  WebRTC is a new feature built into modern browsers (think Chrome and Firefox) that allows real-time communication right from the browser, with no software to install. With WebRTC, Comrex ACCESS, BRIC-Link, and STAC VIP can accept calls from anyone using these browsers on the internet, and send low delay, high fidelity audio each way using the Opus audio algorithm.

“[Tech support at Comrex] was working with me last week to begin using WebRTC, and using some of that technology – it’s a major, major game changer. Incorporating it into the ACCESS is mind-boggling because I can make my contributors sound like they’re in the studio with me, and it really isn’t costing us any money.”

“It’s opening up some really amazing opportunities for us.”

About ScubaRadio

ScubaRadio is a nationally syndicated diving program that has been on the air for 18 years. Painting pictures of the underwater world, ScubaRadio features both stories from professional divers and educational information about diving and conservation. More information (including ScubaRadio broadcasts) can be found here: www.ScubaRadio.com.

About Comrex

Founded in 1961, Comrex has been on the cutting-edge of remote broadcasting technology for over 50 years. Comrex designs technology that fulfills a universal need – to carry high quality audio into the studio from anywhere, at any time, with only a moment’s notice. With innovative and creative products like the Comrex ACCESS and Comrex LiveShot, Comrex enables broadcasters to bring truly daring remotes to life. For more information, visit www.comrex.com.