PWS Marks 30 Years of Wireless Audio Solutions

Orlando, FL (December 17, 2024)—Professional Wireless Systems, which has been delivering RF support and solutions since 1994, including every Super Bowl Halftime Show since 1997, award shows, music festivals, corporate events and major league sports, is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

In the 1980s and 1990s, wireless microphone use experienced tremendous growth in the United States. At that time, PWS founder James Stoffo worked as a field engineer for Vega Wireless, a large manufacturer of high-end wireless microphones and communications systems. Part of Stoffo’s role was to travel and assist larger professional wireless users with engineering antenna systems and coordinating radio frequencies. “It quickly became clear that Orlando was a high traffic area for wireless use but lacked qualified service companies,” Stoffo says. “This was the perfect opportunity to create a small business with no financial capital. The product at that time was intellectual capital.”

One of the earliest projects that PWS was involved with was at Orlando’s largest theme park. “It was growing rapidly in the 1990s and was the greatest single user of wireless microphones and communications systems in the country, by far. As the park added multiple stage shows, they required assistance with frequency coordination throughout the grounds,” Stoffo shares.

“In addition, Orlando was selected as one of the American cities to host the World Cup in 1994, which presented a global opportunity for PWS. I approached FIFA, which is the governing body for international soccer and was given authority as the overall RF Coordinator for all the games in every one of the cities in the United States. This put PWS on the map as the wireless microphone system authority nationwide.”

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PWS began manufacturing its own products in 1997. Super Bowl XXXI was a catalyst event for the growth of the company. “The Super Bowl required custom products to maximize the chances for success,” Stoffo says. “PWS’s first custom product was a hand-built wireless in-ear monitor combiner using four 800 mW RF amplifiers and combining them onto one RF output. This enabled the performers to receive their first generation in-ear audio cleanly.”

According to Jim Van Winkle, general manager, PWS, “One of the greatest product contributions that PWS has made to the RF community is the Helical Antenna, developed in 1946 by Dr. John Kraus. The company began using and manufacturing the Helical Antenna in the 1990s, and it is now widely used by nearly every music act, major event and television broadcaster.”

In 2002, PWS was acquired by Masque Sound, a provider of sound reinforcement and installations for Broadway’s greatest productions. The acquisition brought two like-minded entities together with respect to wireless operations and service.

Another noteworthy milestone for PWS was when both Stoffo and Geoff Shearing, President of Masque Sound, as well as many others in the production industry were heavily involved in the FCC Spectrum Reallocation, which made a major impact within the wireless production field. Due in part to those meetings, the wireless community maintained a significant portion of radio spectrum for wireless microphone use.