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Inside A Radio Station - A Virtual Tour

By Corey Deitz, About.com

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Console or Board

Closeup of a radio console featuring a multitude of separate audio channels

Closeup of a radio console featuring a multitude of separate audio channels

Photo Credit: © Corey Deitz
This is where all the sound sources are mixed before being sent to the transmitter. Each slider, sometimes knowns as a "pot" on older boards, controls the volume of one sound source: microphone, CD player, digital recorder, network feed, etc. Each slider channel has an on/off switch at the bottom and various switches at the top which can divert to more than one destination.

A VU meter, such as the square box-like area toward the top of the console with the two green horizontal lines (center top), shows the operator the level of sound output. The top horizontal line is the left channel and the bottom line is the right channel.

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