FM 89.7

Hear The Music !

Answers To The Most
Frequently Asked Questions
for our 2011 Belardo Lights Display

• In 2011, the display will feature 95,000 lights total
• Planning, designing, and building the display is a year-round activity on the weekends and in the evenings starting in January right after Christmas
• Once the display design is conceived, songs are chosen and edited, and display elements are built. Programming or sequencing the display music takes about 3-4 months
• Display setup for 2011 will take 2 weeks full time in November just before Thanksgiving
• Teardown will take about a week right after Christmas, and then some time to organize and put away
• We do this as a Labor of Love for our boys and a gift to the community;
  we're hoping to make lifetime memories for everyone
• If the lights were all on at the same time, it would take about 70 amps to power them (or almost 8,500 watts). This is less than half as much as previous years since we've converted to mostly LED lights.
• Continuing from last year, we've added thousands of high quality LED lights for their non-fading brilliant color and energy-saving features
• We use specialized electronic controllers and software from Light-o-Rama to animate the lights and decorations
• The music used in the display is synchronized with the lights using over 750 separate channels and wires
• The display music is broadcast on a low powered FM transmitter from the garage on 89.7. The signal goes a couple of blocks so people can listen in their cars when viewing the display.
• For every minute of music in the display, it takes anywhere from 6-10 hours to program the lights, depending on the complexity of the music
• The display uses about 9 miles of wire to connect the lights and decorations to the controllers
• Much of the display decorations are home-made, such as the Belardo Spiral Tree, the Coroplast LED Christmas trees, the "Belardo Fireworks" lights, the redesigned "Minitrees", the "Singing Reindeer", the "Leaping Lights", the "Talking Heads", the "Dancing Stephen", the "RGB MegaBalls", and our "RGB Coroplast Stars" !
• Santa Claus in the window is a rear-projected DVD program that is set to repeat all evening. He looks very real, doesn't he? Santa generates the most questions from our visitors.
• Please write us a comment, note, or suggestion in the guestbook, located in front of the display by the mailbox, and be sure to pickup a handout as well to learn more about the display
• Thanks for making Belardo Lights part of your Holiday Tradition, and helping us "Dream Big!"...