Sennheiser Covers Rockefeller Center

NEW YORK,New York City (December 17, 2002)--It's not often that New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, Santa Claus, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Jerry Speyer (co-owner of Rockefeller Center) are seen together, but just three weeks before Christmas, the unlikely group participated in the 70th tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan. The event featured nearly two hours of televised entertainment, including performances by Barry Manilow, Sheryl Crow and Michelle Branch.

Wireless expert Kevin Sanford of Wireless First, took on the RF duties for the event, and stated, "I provided 18 Sennheiser combos, meaning lavaliers and handheld microphones. I had 18 Sennheiser personal monitor systems, also, and nine RFPLs, plus four IFBs."

Prior to the four-day setup, Sanford relates, "Things that we thought wouldn't get in the way of each other, did. Suddenly I'm speaking to the Carson Daly Show on the sixth floor of the building next door to us. It never ceases to amaze me how frequencies make it to where they go!"

Musical guests performed throughout the plaza, where three stages were constructed, one on 50th Street, one by the famed ice skating rink and another in the garden area between 49th and 50th Streets, close by Fifth Avenue. To ensure coverage from one end of the plaza to the other, Sanford included eight Sennheiser SK 250 high-power, long-range pocket transmitters in the RF equipment complement.

"The hosts had to work everywhere, which is the reason I used SK 250s on them," Sanford explains. "They had a handheld and a lav, so I had them both wired up with Sennheiser SKM 5000 handheld transmitters and an SK 250. We double-miked them because they'd interview people and continue talking. I had to make sure that no matter where they were everything worked fine. "Then my antenna systems were tweaked pretty tight with all my filtering to prevent RF interference. Once we got to show time it was fine--just a little bit of antenna spinning when the presenters would go to an area where I didn't expect them to be." Apart from those who performed on the 50th Street stage, such as Crow and Branch, most artists also used Sennheiser handheld RF microphones. "I used my standard Sennheiser capsules, which are modified," notes Sanford. "Barry Manilow used it, Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child, Brian Setzer, Daniel Bettingfield, Dan Gardner, the Today Show contest winner, and some of the others."