Telos Zephyrs were backstage stars at the 2006 Country Music Awards in Nashville on November 6.

48 radio stations originated live from the event, all with Zephyr. Where did they find so many? From pro audio rental house extraordinaire, Silver Lake Audio. "Occasions like these are our bread and butter," says Steve Kirsch, owner of Silver Lake, "and we use Zephyr exclusively for these major events."

Bell South provided the many ISDN-BRI lines needed for the individual broadcasts, which were produced by such stations as WUSN Chicago, WXTU Philadelphia, WMZQ Washington DC, WYCD Detroit, and WKLB Boston.

The crew at Silver Lake Audio are no strangers to major events. "The biggest that we ever did was the 2000 Radio Music Awards in Las Vegas, where we had 120 stations originating simultaneously," recalled Kirsch, "every single station used Zephyr. When ISDN equipment rentals began in the early 1990s, we started with an equal number of different companies' codecs. Today, Silver Lake has over 100 Zephyrs in stock, ten times more thany any other brand."

Note to our international readers: Corn Dogs are an American gastronomic invention consisting of a hot dog wrapped in cornbread. Details, including a photo, here. Along with 'elephant ears' and 'cotton candy' (all very healthy, certainly) these are the most popular snacks at county fairs - another American innovation, where country people (and a few city-slickers) get together once a year for exhibitions and various kinds of communal fun, often involving farm animals.