From Peru to Pittsburgh, the Outback to Oslo... more than 6000 organizations
in 44 countries rely on BSI products for their broadcasting and audio production
needs. From software to complete turnkey systems, BSI has solutions to fit
almost every broadcast vision.
BSI was founded in 1989 by former President Ron Burley. In 1991, when PC multimedia was in it's infancy, Mr. Burley developed a software version of the radio station cart machine, simply called Cart Machine. "Within three months there were more than 2000 downloads, just off CompuServe," says Burley. "It's popularity proved that there was a market for affordable digital audio products." Eventually, Cart Machine would have more than 1000 registered users. In 1994, Cart Machine morphed into WaveCart... and then the next big project was launched.
In the mid-90's, digital automation systems were expensive, complex, proprietary and hard to learn. BSI decided to build a better system. We based it on the open Microsoft Windows platform, make it entirely non-proprietary so that our users could decide their own hardware... and we wanted to make it very easy to learn and use. In 1995, BSI announced our first automation system. It was an immediate success and award winner. Three years later, BSI presented the industry with WaveStation 3.0, which set new standards for remote control, error notification, Internet connectivity and overall reliability.
In 1999, the country's second largest broadcast
group, Cumulus Media, decided to standardize on BSI products across their entire
250 stations. "We concluded that BSI WaveStation is the easiest to use,
most versatile and reliable," said Cumulus Executive Chairman Richard
Weening. That launched BSI into the digital audio major leagues. Our client list
now includes some of the largest broadcasters in the business... from the BBC & CBS to
Westwood One.
In 2001, BSI released Simian digital automation, and Skimmer audio logging (now SkimmerPlus). Simian is the next generation of automation, with features like streaming spot substitution and SkimmerPlus allows multi-channel recording in Linear and Compressed formats at the same time.
In early 2002, Ron Burley announced his retirement, and Chris Kehoe became the new Chief Operating Officer.
Today... our software and systems are used all around the world. BSI is based in Eugene, Oregon, USA and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cumulus Media (that's right... our biggest customer became our parent company). We are dedicated to developing and marketing affordable digital audio software for broadcast television & radio stations and other professional audio production environments. We are constantly working to improve our products by listening to the needs of our customers.
Surprisingly,
over the years the biggest objection to our products has often been our low
prices. Some folks just can't accept the fact that they've been paying too
much for too long. They look at our price list and say something MUST be
missing. Here's the reason why. Other digital audio systems cost
tens-of-thousands of dollars because those manufacturers need to recoup the
development cost of proprietary hardware, PC operating systems and non-standard
software. Our programs use standard hardware and the Microsoft Windows operating
system, following Windows software design rules. Therefore, our cost of development is much less than for
other manufacturers. We are leveraging the power of modern personal computers
and the Windows operating system to give you more power for much less
money.
All BSI products adhere to the Microsoft Windows wave Multimedia specification. Many software developers "cut corners" in writing their programs. These shortcuts are often the cause of PC lockups and software failures. BSI never takes shortcuts, meaning fewer worries and hassles for our customers. The look and feel of BSI software is very close to all the Microsoft Windows programs you already know, whilst being intuitive to use by radio veterans, or those new to the industry. This makes BSI products very easy to learn, use and support.
BSI software will work with standard PC parts and equipment. That means that you can use choose the hardware to fit your needs, rather than being forced to use a one-size-fits-all system. For example, if you run out of storage you can always add more hard drive space... just go to your local computer store and buy another hard drive. You can do that even if you bought the system from us. That's what we mean by "non-proprietary." You decide what you need... and when.
What also makes us different from most other digital audio companies is that the BSI development staff has years of real radio experience. Founder Ron Burley was on-the-air or in station management for almost 20 years. We know what broadcasters need in the studio and what it means to be off-the-air. It's not just theory with us.
The new building has allowed for a larger dedicated build area, where customers machines
are pre-configured and tested before despatch. Email tech support and our website forum and database (with
thousands of tips and articles) are also free at BSI. We want to be available if
there's a problem with our products. If it's
our problem, it's our job to fix it, not yours. BSI also offers more
extensive levels of paid
Tech Care Plans if you prefer.
Our customers are our partners. Thank you for
your interest in our products. We look forward to working with you.
In 2005, BSI announced a move to bigger premises
in downtown Eugene, Oregon - within walking distance of the local transit station, bus depot,
quality hotels and miles of great bicycle paths and walking trails!