by Caroline Gabsewics
Staff Writer
A lot of changes are taking place at PRC Digital Media and one includes expanding into the world of radio broadcasting.
“I have been in TV all of my life,” said Ray Hays, president of PRC Digital. “I never expected to do radio broadcasting. But this gives us a chance to expand our capabilities and move into a new part of the business.”
The Riverside Avenue company does film and video production, interactive media, DVD/CD-ROM/Web media as well as animation and effects.
But hitting the air waves, isn’t the only new addition to PRC Digital. Hays said they are currently in the process of upgrading their equipment to support High Definition. On Nov. 15, PRC Digital added a fiberoptic line so interviews or stories can be done in advance or live and PRC Digital can feed them to any news organization in the country. Hays said they already did work for both ABC and ESPN.
“We have a couple of new lines of business,” he said. “It makes us the primary point of contact in north Florida for news organizations.”
Hays said it feels like everything is being done so fast and in reality ... it is. In just three weeks, PRC Digital had to find the radio broadcasting equipment and have it shipped to Jacksonville from a number of locations, all with enough time to set it up.
PRC Digital wasn’t planning to add radio broadcasting capabilities until “Troop Talk,” a radio talk show about U.S. troops overseas, wanted to expand to a national audience and was looking for a new home.
“Troop Talk” came to PRC Digital and asked if they had radio broadcasting capabilities. At the time they didn’t, but PRC Digital decided to take the challenge and agreed to have the space ready in three weeks.
“We were here until 12:30 a.m. that Saturday night and we had to go live the next morning,” said Hays. “It was tough, but the folks here did a fabulous job.”
“Troop Talk — Voice of the Troops” can be heard locally every Sunday from 8-10 a.m. on AM-1320. The show is part of the Hero Radio Network. PRC Digital is simply providing them with the facilities and the network controls the content. Two local talk radio programs — “The David Allen Show” and “The Bill Haft Show” — also can be heard on AM-1320.
“Troop Talk” is nationally syndicated. Depending on time zones, markets can choose if they want two hours of the show or four hours. “Troop Talk” can be heard in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Captain Trip Bellard is the host of “Troop Talk” and his co-host is Leah Lett. Rick Senninger is the executive producer.