Broadcast engineering or radio engineering is the field of electrical engineering, and now to some extent computer engineering and information technology, which deals with radio and television broadcasting. Audio engineering and RF engineering are also essential parts of broadcast engineering, being their own subsets of electrical engineering.
 | |
| Occupation | |
|---|---|
| Names | Broadcast engineer
Broadcast design engineer |
Occupation type | profession |
| Description | |
| Competencies | Technical knowledge, Management skills, Professionalism |
Education required | see professional requirements |
Fields of employment | Radio, television, military |
Related jobs | Technologist, RF engineer, engineering technician, Technical operator |
Broadcast engineering involves both the studio and transmitter aspects (the entire airchain), as well as remote broadcasts. Every station has a broadcast engineer, though one may now serve an entire station group in a city. In small media markets the engineer may work on a contract basis for one or more stations as needed.[1]
Duties
editModern duties of a broadcast engineer include maintaining broadcast automation systems for the studio and automatic transmission systems for the transmitter plant. There are also important duties regarding radio towers, which must be maintained with proper lighting and painting. Occasionally a station's engineer must deal with complaints of RF interference, particularly after a station has made changes to its transmission facilities.[2][3]
Titles
editBroadcast engineers may have varying titles depending on their level of expertise and field specialty. Some widely used titles include:
- Broadcast design engineer
- Broadcast Integration Engineer
- Broadcast systems engineer
- Broadcast IT engineer
- Broadcast IT systems engineer
- Broadcast network engineer
- Broadcast maintenance engineer
- Broadcast technician
- Video broadcast engineer
- TV studio broadcast engineer
- Outside broadcast engineer
- Remote broadcast engineer
Qualifications
editBroadcast engineers may need to possess some or all of the following degrees, depending on the broadcast technical environment. If one of the formal qualifications is not present, a related degree or equivalent professional experience is desirable.
- Degree in electrical engineering
- Degree in electronic engineering
- Degree in telecommunications engineering
- Degree in computer engineering
- Degree in management information system
- Degree in broadcast technology
Knowledge
editBroadcast engineers are generally required to know the following areas, from conventional video broadcast systems to modern Information Technology:
- Conventional broadcast
- Audio/Video instrumentation measurement
- Baseband video – standard / high-definition
- Broadcast studio acoustics
- Television studios - broadcast video cameras and camera lenses
- Production switcher (Video mixer)
- Audio mixer
- Recording engineer
- Broadcast IT
- Video compression - DV25, MPEG, DVB or ATSC (or ISDB)
- Digital server playout technologies. - VDCP, Louth, Harris, control protocols
- Broadcast automation
- Disk storage – RAID / NAS / SAN technologies.
- Archives – Tape archives or grid storage technologies.
- Computer networking
- Operating systems – Microsoft Windows / macOS / Linux / RTOS
- Post production – video capture and non-linear editing systems (NLEs).
- RF
- RF satellite uplinking – High-powered amplifiers (HPA)
- RF communications satellite downlinking – Band detection, carrier detection and IRD tuning, etc.
- RF transmitter maintenance - IOT UHF transmitters, solid-state VHF transmitters, solid-state MF transmitters (AM radio), tube type VHF, and MF transmitters. Antennas, transmission lines, high power filters, digital modulators, towers, tower lighting systems, and backup generators.
- Health and safety
- Occupational safety and health
- Fire suppression systems like FM 200.
- Basic structural engineering
- RF hazard mitigation
Above mentioned requirements vary from station to station.
Digital engineering
editThe conversion to digital broadcasting means broadcast engineers must now be well-versed in digital television and digital radio, in addition to analogue principles. New equipment from the transmitter to the radio antenna to the receiver may be encountered by engineers new to the field. Furthermore, modern techniques place a greater demand on an engineer's expertise, such as sharing broadcast towers or radio antennas among different stations (diplexing).
Digital audio and digital video have revolutionized broadcast engineering in many respects.[4] Broadcast studios and control rooms are now already digital in large part, using non-linear editing and digital signal processing for what used to take a great deal of time or money, if it was even possible at all. Mixing consoles for both audio and video are continuing to become more digital in the 2000s, as is the computer storage used to keep digital media libraries. Effects processing and TV graphics can now be realized much more easily and professionally as well.
With the broadcast industry's shift to IP-based production and content delivery technology not only the production technology and workflows are changing, but also the requirements for broadcast engineers, which now include IT and IP-networking know-how.[5]
Other devices used in broadcast engineering are telephone hybrids, broadcast delays, and dead air alarms. See the Glossary of electrical and electronics engineering for further explanations.
Organizations
editBrazil
edit- SET – Sociedade Brasileira de Engenharia de Televis?o e Telecomunica??es, Brazilian Society of Television and Telecommunications Engineering, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Canada
edit- Central Canada Broadcast Engineers (CCBE), Paris, Ontario, Canada[6]
- Western Association of Broadcast Engineers (WABE), Calgary, Alberta, Canada [7]
- IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) – Ottawa Section, Canada [8]
Germany
editBelgium
editStudiotech, audiovisual engineering company specialized on broadcast equipements, Brussels.
India
editIran
editJapan
edit- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - Japan Council
Mexico
edit- Asociación Mexicana de Ingenieros y Técnicos en Radiodifusión A.C. (AMITRA), Delegación Benito Juárez, Mexico
China
edit- China Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, China[12]
- IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) – Beijing Section, China[13]
- IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) – Shanghai Section, China
China – Hong Kong
edit- Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers-(Hong Kong) Section, 電影電視工程師協會香港分會 Hong Kong[14]
- Society of Broadcast Engineers Hong Kong Chapter, 廣播工程師協會香港分會 Hong Kong[15]
- Hong Kong Televisioners Association (HKTVA), 香港電視專業人員協會 Hong Kong[16]
Philippines
edit- Society of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians of the Philippines, Inc. (SBETP), Quezon City, Philippines
Republic of China – Taiwan
edit- IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) – Taipei Section
South Africa
edit- The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC),[17] Auckland Park, Johannesburg, South Africa,
South Korea
edit- Korean Broadcast Engineers & Technicians Association (KOBETA), Seoul, South Korea (ROK)
Turkey
edit- Chamber of Electrical Engineers (EMO)[18] (Joint chamber of electrical, electronics and biomedical engineers)
United States
editIn the United States, many broadcast engineers belong to the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE).[19] Some may also belong to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE),[20] or to organizations of related fields, such as the Audio Engineering Society or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) [21] - IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS).
For public radio, the Association of Public Radio Engineers was created in late May 2006.[22]
Uruguay
edit- ANDEBU – Asociación Nacional de Broadcasters Uruguayos, Montevideo, Uruguay
Notable publications
edit- Broadcast Beat
- Radio (formerly BE Radio)
- Radio World
- TV Technology
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ "about.com - Broadcast Technician or Sound Engineering Technician: Career Information". Careerplanning.about.com. 2025-08-06. Archived from the original on 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics - Broadcast and Sound Engineering Technicians and Radio Operators". Bls.gov. 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "Transmission Engineer - TV". skillset. 2025-08-06. Archived from the original on 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ Interactive TV Web. Broadcast Engineering Basics Archived May 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Tony, Orme (15 July 2016). "Understanding IP Networks". thebroadcastbridge.com. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ^ "Central Canada Broadcast Engineers (CCBE)". Ccbe.ca. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "WABE - The Western Association of Broadcast Engineers". Wabe.ca. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "IEEE Broadcast Technology Society". Ieee.org. Archived from the original on July 7, 2008. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "FKTG – Fernseh- und Kinotechnische Gesellschaft e.V. (Germany)". Fktg.de. Archived from the original on 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "BES - Broadcast Engineering Society (India)". Besindia.com. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "IRIBU - Iran Broadcasting University (Iran)". IRIBU.ir. Archived from the original on 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ China Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, China(CSMPTE)
- ^ IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) - Beijing Section ) Archived October 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers-(Hong Kong) Section (SMPTE-HKG)". Smpte.org.hk. Archived from the original on 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "Society of Broadcast Engineers Hong Kong Chapter(SBE HK Chapter)". Sbe.org.hk. Archived from the original on 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "Hong Kong Televisioners Association (HKTVA), Hong Kong". HKTVA. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "SABC – Official Website – South African Broadcasting Corporation".
- ^ "Ho? Geldiniz". EMO. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "Society of Broadcast Engineers". Sbe.org. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers". Smpte.org. Archived from the original on 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers". Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Archived from the original on 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
- ^ Association of Public Radio Engineers home page