Broadcast Electronics (BE) is a manufacturer of AM and FM

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

s, Marti Electronics STL and RPU equipment, developer of the AudioVAULT radio automation system and parent company to Commotion - a social media company for radio. Founded in 1959 in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

, BE initially manufactured endless loop cartridge "

cart A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

" machines. Through the years, BE also manufactured

turntables A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, audio consoles, and program automation equipment which was the precursor to today’s automation systems for radio stations. In 1977, BE relocated to

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

and it was there that BE began designing and manufacturing FM and AM

s. Initially the offering was for tube transmitters but their line also expanded to solid state broadcast transmitters. The AudioVAULT automation system was one of the first

digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, sa ...

storage and

playout In broadcasting, channel playout is the generation of the source signal of a radio or television channel produced by a broadcaster, coupled with the transmission of this signal for primary distribution or direct-to-audience distribution via any ...

solutions for radio. AudioVAULT compensated for the slow PC processing speeds at the time by manufacturing their own

sound card A sound card (also known as an audio card) is an internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under the control of computer programs. The term ''sound card'' is also applied to external audio i ...

s and using off-bus technology. Today, AudioVAUL is in its 4th generation architecture since the time the technology was known as a "

" machine replacement product. In 1994, BE acquired

MARTI Electronics Marti Electronics, a division of BE, manufactures RF Remote Pick-Up equipment for the broadcast industry. Marti has been supplying such hardware since 1960 with few competitors in its very vertical market. Because this equipment was so ubiquitous ...

. Today, Marti Electronics equipment is also manufactured in Quincy, Illinois. BE is the largest radio only equipment manufacturer in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In December 2017, BE was acquired by Italian manufacturer Elenos.

Footnotes

Manufacturing companies based in Illinois Electronics companies established in 1959 Manufacturing companies established in 1959 1959 establishments in Maryland 1994 mergers and acquisitions 2017 mergers and acquisitions Quincy, Illinois {{business-stub