City of Tallahassee
The Smith Williams Broadcast Center is one of the City's key public facilities, used by governing bodies and community members for board meetings, public hearings, and official presentations.
- Client
- City of Tallahassee
- Location
- Tallahassee, FL
- Industry
- Government
- Scope
- Broadcast Center
- Completed
- 2019
Project overview
Modernizing Government AV Infrastructure at Scale
The City of Tallahassee undertook a large-scale audiovisual upgrade across multiple government buildings in the state capital. As a public entity serving both staff and residents, the City needed AV infrastructure that could support productive internal meetings, remote work, and full public-facing broadcast operations.
Crunchy Tech was engaged to design and build the complete solution, with particular focus on the Smith Williams Broadcast Center, a public-facing space used by governing bodies and community members alike. That room demanded a high standard of reliability, everyday ease of use, and compliance with current safety and accessibility regulations, and it had to serve the City for years to come.
Project challenges
Replacing Antiquated Systems Across a Complex Government Environment
The project brought together technical, logistical, and regulatory challenges in a single engagement:
Spanning multiple rooms, broadcast infrastructure, and public spaces, the work required careful planning and tight coordination across every phase of design and installation.
Understanding the client's needs
A Future-Ready Platform for Government Operations and Public Engagement
The City's priorities were clear: replace aging, unreliable equipment with a modern system that staff could actually use, one that raised productivity and took the friction out of daily meetings. Employees needed to walk in, plug in, and present or conference without long setup times or technical hurdles.
The broadcast center carried the highest bar. It had to host public meetings, support remote participation through common conferencing platforms, run live broadcasts, and let external crews integrate their gear, often within the same day. The system needed to adapt to each of those scenarios and stay simple to operate.
Crunchy Tech worked closely with city stakeholders to define these requirements up front, then designed an architecture that balanced technical capability with operational simplicity, so the investment would hold its value rather than become a maintenance burden.
Technical solutions
One platform, integrated subsystems
| Technology partner | Components | Role in project |
|---|---|---|
| Video Conferencing Core | Cisco Codec Pro, Cisco Touch 10 GUI | Unified conferencing for all user types |
| Display System | (6) 75" large-format monitors distributed throughout the space | Created 360-degree viewing for participants, remote attendees, and broadcast audiences |
| Camera & Extension | Cisco P60 camera, Vaddio OneLINK baluns | Full-room coverage and remote viewing for broadcasts and virtual meetings |
| AV Distribution | Crestron Digital Media amplifiers, HDMI/VGA wall plates, USB wall plates | Overcame Codec Pro HDMI output limits; allowed BYOD and laptop content ingestion |
| Audio System | Shure Micro Flex 12-channel wireless mic system with voice-lift, Crestron in-ceiling speakers (x8), Crestron multi-zone amplifier | Delivered clear speech reinforcement for in-room participants and remote attendees |
| Audio Routing & DSP | QSC Q-SYS Core 110f | Managed all audio routing across analog and Dante signal paths |
| Control Platform | Crestron 4-Series processor, Cisco Touch 10 interface | Unified all AV systems into a single, staff-operable control interface |
| Broadcast Integration | External broadcast team input points integrated into system architecture | Allowed third-party broadcast teams to connect equipment at any time without disruption |
Implementation methodology
Coordinated Design-Build Execution
The installation was executed through Crunchy Tech's integrated design-build methodology, which brings AV engineers, system designers, network administrators, and installation teams into the project from the earliest stages. That approach surfaces the hard problems, such as the Cisco Codec Pro's three-output HDMI limit, during design rather than during installation.
For the City of Tallahassee, that meant engineering custom distribution pathways with Crestron digital media amplifiers before a single device went in. Wall-plate locations were mapped to support standard laptop connectivity and the Cisco USB sync feature, so any conferencing platform could use the in-room peripherals without extra steps.
Key Technology Partners
- Cisco: Codec Pro video conferencing system and P60 PTZ camera providing the conferencing and broadcast core of the installation, paired with the Touch 10 touchpanel interface.
- Crestron: Digital media distribution amplifiers, HDMI/VGA and USB wall plates, in-ceiling speakers, multi-zone amplifier, and 4-Series control processor delivering the distribution, control, and audio backbone.
- QSC: Q-SYS Core 110f DSP managing all audio routing across analog and Dante pathways for broadcast-quality audio performance.
- Shure: Micro Flex 12-channel wireless microphone system with voice-lift capability for clear audio capture from board members, presenters, and remote participants.
- Vaddio: OneLINK HDBT baluns extending the Cisco camera signal for full-room coverage without signal degradation.
Display, Audio, Conferencing, and Control Integration
To deliver a modernized, broadcast-capable government AV environment, Crunchy Tech built a multi-layered system that combined enterprise video conferencing, large-format displays, professional audio, and centralized control around proven partner technology.
Each component operates as part of a single platform. The Cisco Codec Pro serves as the conferencing core, while Crestron digital media amplifiers solve the HDMI limitation by extending content across all six monitors. The QSC Q-SYS Core 110f manages audio routing across analog and Dante paths, holding clear audio for in-room attendees, remote participants, and broadcast audiences at the same time. The Crestron 4-Series processor ties it together, with the Cisco Touch 10 giving staff a single control interface.
Results & impact
A Fully Functional, Future-Ready Broadcast Center
The City of Tallahassee now operates a fully modernized broadcast center and upgraded meeting infrastructure that meets current safety standards and covers every use case the City requires. The Smith Williams Broadcast Center hosts public meetings, supports hybrid government sessions, streams live broadcasts, and accommodates external broadcast teams, all from a single AV platform.
> "This just made everything easy to use and reliable. Instead of spending all the extra time setting up for a meeting they can plug in and go." — City of Tallahassee Staff
Government staff reported a 40% improvement in operational efficiency and ease of use over the previous system, and a 20% reduction in meeting setup time. That reclaimed time translates directly into more productive government working hours and less administrative friction around every meeting and broadcast event.
The broadcast center was one of several room upgrades completed for the City under this engagement, each delivering the same reliability and ease of use that define Crunchy Tech's government AV work.
Project Metrics
- 40% increase in efficiency and ease-of-use
- 20% reduction in time spent setting up for meetings
Finishing the project
Government-Grade AV the City Can Rely On
The City of Tallahassee project demonstrates Crunchy Tech's ability to deliver large-scale, government-grade AV that balances real technical complexity with everyday ease of use. Enterprise video conferencing, professional broadcast infrastructure, distributed audio, and centralized control came together as one platform the City can rely on for years to come.
Planning an AV upgrade for a government facility or broadcast operation? Schedule a discovery call with Crunchy Tech to map the right approach for your rooms.
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