Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC

The final stop of Bexel's 2008 Road Ramble brought the US leader in audio and video production equipment rentals to the nation's capital "“ and the newly opened Newseum.

The Newseum is a 250,000-square-foot museum of news that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits. It features seven levels of galleries, theaters, retail spaces and visitor services and offers a unique environment that takes museum-goers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made. It is one of the most technologically advanced museums in the world.

The Newseum ordered 100 miles of fiber-optic cable to link up-to-the-second technologies that include electronic signage and interactive kiosks, two broadcast studios, 15 theaters and a 40-by-22-foot high-definition media screen. As part of the facility infrastructure, Jim Dugan and our Bexel ASG team designed, built, and installed a seven zone distributed antenna system that covers all 250,000 square-feet of the building.

The Bexel team, Sony, Vinten, Autoscript, 3G, and Bexel tech partner Alliance Digital were given full access to the Knight Studio to demo and discuss products and services with our guests. This studio is used by ABC News for the Sunday morning George Stephanopoulos broadcast. Lectrosonics product sales and the custom antenna fabrications designed by Jim Dugan provide the RF audio and comms for ABC and other studio productions.

Situated in the middle of the interactive experiences and studios, the Master Control center integrates the technology behind the Newseum into the experience itself. Visitors can watch technicians monitoring incoming and outgoing production broadcast feeds and controlling all aspects of the day-to-day activities in the entire museum, including kiosks, galleries and theaters. Jim Updike, Walter Hassett, and Bud O'Connor from the Newseum attended our showcase as well as being generous hosts for our event. Walter and Bud have the responsibility of keeping the Newseum "on the air".

Bexel's focus at the all day event was geared toward wireless technology showcasing Dugan's RF design and highlighting 3G's HD campak and how it might be used for news production solutions.