LUGANO, Switzerland — RSI Rete Tre is the third Italian-language radio station from Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana (RSI), based in Lugano, Switzerland. Set up in 1988, it is aimed at younger viewers, broadcasting solely in Italian and featuring popular and alternative music. With its 25th anniversary approaching, the studio decided it was a perfect time to overhaul and upgrade its main studio and specified a HARMAN Studer OnAir 3000 digital broadcast console.

Although they had considered other options, the OnAir 3000 became their de facto choice to add to their many other Studer desks. It was supplied by Studer’s Swiss distributor, Dr. W.A. Guenther and is configured with 18 faders, multiple CAB system support, DJ and editorial monitoring, along with two master bus, recording bus, four aux bus and 16 N1 (mix-minus) bus.

The station’s principal criteria were ease of use, since their DJs need to manage multiple tasks when on air (such as computers and phone calls)—and integration with the existing Studer DigiMedia playout system.

Marco Strigl, Rete Tre’s Technical Support, said, “We already have several mixers from Studer, including OnAir 5000, OnAir 1000, OnAir 1500, OnAir 2500, Vista 7 and Vista 8, and past experience has shown us that they are very reliable—particularly the OnAir 3000.�

I/O on the desk include eight Mic/Line Inputs; eight Line Inputs; 24 AES/EBU Inputs; 64 MADI Optical Inputs; 16 ADAT Optical Inputs (for monitoring), eight Line Outputs; 24 AES/EBU Outputs; 64 MADI Optical Outputs; and 16 ADAT Optical Outputs (for monitoring).

“The Studer platform offers a very easy-to-understand user Interface, and for me the whole Configuration Tool is very flexible and powerful,� Strigl continued. “The fact that our DJs and technicians already know the philosophy behind these mixers makes it very easy to specify Studer products.�

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.4 billion for the twelve months ending June 30, 2012.