For over 30 years, “Breakfast with The Beatles” has provided an entertaining and informative Beatles-themed way to kick off Sunday mornings. When Southern California’s top-rated Beatles radio program presents special guests and musical acts on remote, they turn to an Allen & Heath ZED series mixer.
Remotely broadcast live monthly from the Kobe Steakhouse in Seal Beach, California, the show can range from a pair of host and guest inputs up to a full on-air jam session. “The ability to tap into the ZED’s high impedance direct inputs is great,” notes veteran show engineer Steve Cormier. “Having onboard reverb means that with one piece of gear I’m all set. Even with the number of live show surprises that get thrown my way, the ZED handles it and always sounds really good.”
After searching for a compact and flexible console solution for the recurring remote broadcast, he came upon the ZED60-14FX and has been using it as the central audio hub for the show for the last year. The live mixed audio from the ZED is fed into a Telos Zephyr and then back to the radio station via ISDN.
Commenting on the decision to utilize an analog console rather than going digital, Cormier said, “We certainly could have gone with a small digital option here. I’ve been doing radio work for the last 20 years and sometimes the reliable and straightforward nature of analog desks beats out digital options, though.”
Hosted by noted Beatles fanatic, disc jockey and producer Chris Carter, “Breakfast with The Beatles” began in 1976 on WIOQ in Philadelphia and found its current radio home on Los Angeles area’s commercial rock station, 95.5 KLOS, in 2006.
Allen & Heath USA Marketing Manager Jeff Hawley added, “working with a British company and being a Beatles fan and an Anglophile myself, this product application was especially cool to hear about. It is wonderful to see ZED selected for such a high profile and iconic radio broadcast and it is an honor to be the console of choice for Steve and the ‘Breakfast with the Beatles’ team.”
