BSI - About Us!

From Peru to Pittsburgh, the Outback to Oslo... more than 6000 organizations in 44 countries rely on BSI products for their radio automation software, broadcasting and audio production needs. From simple software programs to complete turnkey systems, BSI has solutions to fit almost every broadcast vision.

BSI was founded in 1989 by former President Ron Burley. In 1991, when PC multimedia was in it's infancy, Mr. Burley developed a software version of the radio station cart machine, simply called Cart Machine. "Within three months there were more than 2000 downloads, just off CompuServe," says Burley. "It's popularity proved that there was a market for affordable digital audio products." Eventually, Cart Machine would have more than 1000 registered users. In 1994, Cart Machine morphed into WaveCart... and then the next big project was launched.

In the mid-90's, digital automation systems were expensive, complex, proprietary and hard to learn.  BSI decided to build a better system. We based it on the open Microsoft Windows platform, make it entirely non-proprietary so that our users could decide their own hardware... and we wanted to make it very easy to learn and use.  In 1995, BSI announced our first automation system. It was an immediate success and award winner. Three years later, BSI presented the industry with WaveStation 3.0, which set new standards for remote control, error notification, Internet connectivity and overall reliability.

In 1999, the country's second largest broadcast group, Cumulus Media, decided to standardize on BSI products across their entire 250 stations. "We concluded that BSI WaveStation is the easiest to use, most versatile and reliable," said Cumulus Executive Chairman Richard Weening. That launched BSI into the digital audio major leagues. Our client list now includes some of the largest broadcasters in the business... from the BBC & CBS to Westwood One.

In 2001, BSI released Simian radio automation software and Skimmer audio logging (now SkimmerPlus). Simian is the next generation of automation, with features like streaming spot substitution and SkimmerPlus allows multi-channel recording in Linear and Compressed formats at the same time.

In early 2002, Ron Burley announced his retirement, and Chris Kehoe became the new Chief Operating Officer.

Today... our software and systems are used all around the world. BSI is based in Eugene, Oregon, USA and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cumulus Media (that's right... our biggest customer became our parent company).  We are dedicated to developing and marketing affordable digital audio software for broadcast television & radio stations and other professional audio production environments. We are constantly working to improve our products by listening to the needs of our customers.

Surprisingly, over the years the biggest objection to our products has often been our low prices.  Some folks just can't accept the fact that they've been paying too much for too long. They look at our price list and say something MUST be missing.  Here's the reason why.  Other digital audio systems cost tens-of-thousands of dollars because those manufacturers need to recoup the development cost of proprietary hardware, PC operating systems and non-standard software. Our programs use standard hardware and the Microsoft Windows operating system, following Windows software design rules. Therefore, our cost of development is much less than for other manufacturers. We are leveraging the power of modern personal computers and the Windows operating system to give you more power for much less money.

All BSI products adhere to the Microsoft Windows wave Multimedia specification. Many software developers "cut corners" in writing their programs. These shortcuts are often the cause of PC lockups and software failures. BSI never takes shortcuts, meaning fewer worries and hassles for our customers. The look and feel of BSI software is very close to all the Microsoft Windows programs you already know, whilst being intuitive to use by radio veterans, or those new to the industry. This makes BSI products very easy to learn, use and support.

BSI software will work with standard PC parts and equipment. That means that you can use choose the hardware to fit your needs, rather than being forced to use a one-size-fits-all system. For example, if you run out of storage you can always add more hard drive space... just go to your local computer store and buy another hard drive. You can do that even if you bought the system from us. That's what we mean by "non-proprietary." You decide what you need... and when.

What also makes us different from most other digital audio companies is that the BSI development staff has years of real radio experience. Founder Ron Burley was on-the-air or in station management for almost 20 years. We know what broadcasters need in the studio and what it means to be off-the-air. It's not just theory with us.

In 2005, BSI announced a move to bigger premises in downtown Eugene, Oregon - within walking distance of the local transit station, bus depot, quality hotels and miles of great bicycle paths and walking trails!

In 2011 it was time for BSI to grow even more. We moved into a 5000 sq ft facility in Springfield Oregon. This location is home to the BSI sales offices as well as our technical support call center, assembly factory and training center.

The new building has allowed for a larger dedicated build area, where customers machines are pre-configured and tested before despatch.

Our website forum and database (with thousands of tips and articles) are free at BSI. BSI also offers more extensive levels of paid Tech Care Plans if you require business-hour, or 24X7 phone support.

Our customers are our partners. Thank you for your interest in our products. We look forward to working with you.