Omega Engineering Student’s Tour Sirius/XM Radio Facilities
Last year, our tour of Sirius/XM Radio’s Washington, DC facilities provided an opportunity for Omega students to get a behind the scenes glimpse of the inner workings of the Nation’s only subscription based radio network.
Nearly a dozen current and former Omega students in the audio engineering school, attended and were able to view Sirius/XM’s Master Control Center (which was actually constructed to resemble the control room of the Starship Enterprise), and their massive CD Library, rivaled only by the Library of Congress.
In addition we received a programming and production lesson from Sirius/XM’s”90 on 9”host, Ron Russ, where it was revealed that many of their programs are being broadcast from cities outside their headquarters. Mr. Russ demonstrated how seamless the various transitions occur between the hosts (who are actually in New York City and Atlanta Georgia respectively) and Master Control (Washington, DC).
Their long cavernous halls were lined with huge portraits of music icons from the sixties to the present. We were allowed to enter one of their live sound studios where numerous, smaller bands have performed and recorded.
The room was very live, with many reflections with what appeared to be a glass diffusion wall. It also had good separation from the percussion to the band, and had a great line of sight. The studio boasted a large selection of guitar cabinets, and microphones. It was good to be able to show the students the gear and software we teach about and use in the music engineering school being used in another facility beyond our real live professional studios at Omega.
After viewing more studios we concluded our tour in their conference room where HR/Internship Coordinator Tamara Brown explained the internship application process at Sirius/XM. She did commit to pay special attention to Omega Students internship applications as well as stressed the high conversion rate of interns to full- or part-time hires.
This tour as well as others is part of Omega Studios School’s on-going program to expose our students to relevant career options.