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LAS VEGAS — With the NAB’s efforts to preserve AM radio access in every U.S. vehicle getting strong applause on Tuesday during association head Curtis LeGeyt‘s welcome remarks at the 2024 NAB Show, there’s a strong sense that Congress is oh-so-close to passing the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act.

On Wednesday, the head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Democratic Ranking Member shared plans for an April 30 legislative hearing that could push the effort forward in a big way.

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The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) will honor legendary actress and comedienne Carol Burnett with its Lifetime Achievement Award at the 49th Annual Gracie Awards Gala.

The event is scheduled for May 21 at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The honor recognizes a woman whose work in media honors the legacy of Gracie Allen, a pioneering force in the industry and the award’s namesake.

Additionally, recording artist Rachel Platten, known for “Fight Song,” will perform at the gala.

AWMF President Becky Brooks commented, “Carol Burnett is a true icon of television and entertainment, whose impact spans decades and resonates with audiences of all ages. Her groundbreaking work on ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ set a standard for excellence in comedy and storytelling, earning her countless awards and accolades. We are truly privileged to recognize her outstanding contributions to the industry.”

As a highly acclaimed actress, she has been honored with Emmys, Golden Globes, People’s
Choice Awards, the Horatio Alger Award, an ACE Award, the Peabody, and a Grammy. A
Kennedy Center Honoree, the recipient of the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom; was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Currently, Burnett is in “Palm Royal,” a new series for Apple TV that premiered March 20.

As a non-profit organization, AWMF is committed to developing educational programs,
charitable activities, and scholarship initiatives that directly benefit women in the media.
Through these investments, AWMF remains steadfast in its mission to cultivate growth,
empowerment, and leadership opportunities for women throughout the industry. Henry Dry Goods confirmed to create custom Gracies Gift Bag with included gifts.

Even as discussions around LGBTQIA+ visibility remain politically divisive, new data from Horowitz Research underscore that LGBTQIA+ representation in TV content drives viewing among not just American LGBTQIA+ audiences, but among Adults 18-34 overall.

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LAS VEGAS — The largest captioning company in the U.S. has approved a strategic partnership with ENCO that’s designed to provide broadcasters with greater choices for hardware encoders and cloud captioning.

The partnership with VITAC, a Verbit company, is designed to bring broadcasters a comprehensive suite of captioning tools and services, tailored to meet their specific needs and requirements. “The combination of VITAC’s decades-long experience in serving media clients with captioning solutions at the highest standards, ENCO’s cutting-edge encoder technology, and Verbit’s expertise in AI-driven speech recognition solutions will enable broadcasters to achieve unparalleled levels of accuracy, reliability, efficiency, and innovative solutions in caption encoding and delivery,” the companies said in a joint release distributed Monday. “This unique collaboration represents a significant advancement in addressing the evolving needs of broadcasters seeking versatile and efficient captioning solutions and reaffirms the companies’ shared dedication to driving innovation and excellence in captioning technology.”

ENCO President Ken Frommert commented, “We are excited to join forces with VITAC in this strategic partnership. By leveraging our respective strengths, we aim to offer broadcasters a broader range of options for caption encoding and delivery, ultimately enhancing their ability to deliver accessible content to viewers.”

S&P Global Ratings, on the second day of the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas, moved ahead with several rating actions on U.S. local TV broadcasters in 2024.

The news is not good, as the actions include two downgrades, a negative outlook revision, and just one rating affirmation.

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LAS VEGAS — Head to the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and those stopping at booth No. 4429 will be able to see for the first time at an NAB Show how a company focused on bringing advanced capabilities to traditional cloud networking environments is reinventing cloud networking through a multicasting product for broadcasters.

IEX Group Inc.’s swXtch.io will have its first presence at the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual conference and expo, and the message they are sending to the industry is that the time is ripe for broadcasters to move their live production, content delivery and playout, and media monitoring and transport workflows to the cloud.

This will see swXtch.io showcase new enhancements to its cloudSwXtch product and demonstrate how broadcasters can realize the adaptability, reliability and agility benefits of the cloud.

Specifically, live production in the cloud is a capability, as swXtch.io now supports JPEG-XS compression flows. This allows customers to move visually lossless video at very low latency into and through the cloud. As swXtch.io explains, JPEG-XS compression addresses the challenge of managing the heavy bandwidth and high costs of uncompressed video in the cloud while retaining premium broadcast-quality pictures.

The company’s cloudSwXtch also offers support for uncompressed ST-2110, providing customers with more options to manage their entire live production workflows in the cloud.

Content delivery and playout are also values that swXtch.io will demonstrate at the NAB Show, in particular how lossless UDP provides additional protection for media streams across dynamic bridging (ground-to-cloud) and multi-cloud networking applications. Lossless UDP optimizes packet delivery for high-bandwidth streams with minimal latency. cloudSwXtch also offers stream protection through SMPTE ST-2022-7 hitless merge, offering network path redundancy as parallel streams move through the cloud or across multi-cloud networks.

Lastly, swXtch.io will demonstrate Network Media Open Specifications (NMOS) workflows in cloudSwXtch networks, streamlining the management and orchestration of media workflows in the cloud and ensuring they align with on-prem systems. And, swXtch.io will also highlight how its partnership with Cinnafilm makes live, broadcast-quality standards conversions and Hollywood format conversions in the cloud a reality.

Company CEO Brent Yates said, “Broadcasters can bring missing cloud features like JPEG-XS, Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and multicast in alignment with on-prem infrastructure and create a broadcast network that is deployable, monitorable, and functional across clouds, allowing them to achieve true multi-cloud diversity. Visitors to our booth will finally see seamless cloud broadcasting for real.”

cloudSwXtch is available on all major public cloud network providers (AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Marketplaces).

The NAB Show 2024 concludes on Wednesday, April 17, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

LAS VEGAS — It’s an all-in-one Linux or Windows-based product that is designed to improve speed and accuracy for captions and translations on-prem or in the cloud. And, it saw its marketplace debut at the 2024 NAB Show, courtesy of ENCO.

Introducing enCaption Sierra, the next generation of ENCO’s line of products focused on automated conversion and delivery of captions in broadcast and AV environments.

“For the first time, enCaption Sierra brings ENCO’s market-leading automated captioning technology together with an SDI captioning encoder to create an all-in-one solution for on-prem environments and containerized deployment options for cloud,” ENCO notes, adding that the enCaption Sierra can be delivered on Windows or Linux operating systems and is managed and monitored from a web browser.

Furthermore, enCaption Sierra’s GUI features a simple calendar scheduler and various configuration settings, including custom dictionaries, word models, filtering, and bilingual language options.

ENCO adds that enCaption Sierra’s ability to produce and deliver faster and more accurate captions “correlates directly with new parallel processing capabilities powered through a GPU,” as the GPU architecture “delivers unprecedented computational power to ENCO’s AI-based speech-to-text engine.”

The same improvements are present in Sierra’s integrated enTranslate module, which uses machine translation and grammatical structure analysis to deliver captions for up to 37 languages simultaneously. ENCO also adds new languages to enTranslate’s engine on a consistent basis, with three new languages added in time for Sierra’s public debut at NAB Show 2024, including a bilingual language model for Spanish-English content.

ENCO has also sharpened the listenability and responsiveness of the system with the Sierra release, improving performance in challenging audio environments. enCaption Sierra also leverages GPU processing for improved speaker change detection and the ability to recognize music, laughter, applause, and crowd noise. Sierra is an excellent listener and reliably computes fast speech, strong accents and problematic audio quality to consistently deliver clean captions.

“ENCO continues to lead the charge for captioning innovation as it pertains to helping broadcasters and MVPDs produce clean closed captions for their broadcast content with greater efficiency,” ENCO President Ken Frommert said. “The same philosophy applies to open captioning needs in AV environments to help audiences improve comprehension. Sierra also addresses the need for flexible deployment options, offering complete on-prem and cloud options that align with each broadcaster’s operational model with significant performance and cost-reducing benefits. We are excited to unleash the powerful new capabilities of Sierra to those familiar and new to the enCaption universe.”

 

ENCO will demonstrate enCaption Sierra at Booth W1743 in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center through Wednesday, April 17.

LAS VEGAS — There are so many ways to consume content. How had this impacted the business of multiplatform sports?

Gray Television President and co-CEO Pat LaPlatney joined Skyview Networks President of Network Partnerships and Chief Revenue Officer Jeanne-Marie Condo; Beasley Media Group Boston VP/GM Mary Menna; and Audacy VP/Digital Business Operations Carlson Mozdiez for a meaningful conversation on the subject at an Alliance for Women in Media breakfast, held Monday morning during the 2024 NAB Show.

 

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Kathy Verseman and Sandy Biddinger were given the opportunity to acquire the license for an FM radio station serving Greensburg, Ind., in 2018. A plan to continue the Christian music found on the FM was forged, with the Salem radio Network signed on to provide programming.

Now, a potentially big change looms for listeners, and it is thanks to the purchase of this station by a local school district.

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LAS VEGAS — Super Hi-Fi and Audacy on Tuesday announced an enhanced partnership “to drive operational innovation and efficiency” across Audacy’s digital ecosystem.

The agreement will “streamline” Audacy’s digital content programming, production, and broadcasting processes while creating what the companies call “stickier listener environments” — and more opportunities for advertisers to engage with them.

The enhanced partnership launched Sunday (4/14) with a live on-air radio station branded “Audacy Innovation Radio: Live From NAB.”

The station is a temporary NAB Show offering, airing on KMXB-94.1’s HD2 signal in Las Vegas. It uses Super Hi-Fi’s suite of tools to program rotating formats across the day.

Dayparts will be hosted by some of Audacy’s best-known national talent;  all talent will use Super Hi-Fi’s just-announced Voicetrack Fusion to deliver enhanced quality and efficiency to the station.

The playout will be cloud-based, delivered directly to the transmitter via Orban’s Optimod 5950: Super Hi-Fi Edition, a technology that Super Hi-Fi debuted at NAB.

Concurrently, five Audacy HD Radio stations are transitioning to Super Hi-Fi’s Program Director Radio Operating System. This, says Audacy, enables its programmers and staff to spend less time on production and more time on building differentiating content.

The HD stations include WWBX-HD2 in Boston, WLKK-HD2 in Buffalo, KILT-HD2 in Houston, KROQ-HD2 in Los Angeles and KNRK-HD2 in Portland, Ore.

These announcements follow the recent news that all of Audacy’s 700 digital Exclusive Stations recently upgraded to support Super Hi-Fi’s HLS+ streaming technology.

— With reporting by Adam Jacobson at the Las Vegas Convention Center

As readers of the RBR+TVBR Spring 2024 Special Report have learned, Seattle-headquartered ZTransform is gaining national attention for its construction and build-out of radio and television studio and office space.

With the NAB Show in full swing, ZTransform is on the convention flow showing off its capabilities. And, it is welcoming a new SVP of Solutions and Development to help grow its business.

Taking the post is market strategist Mark Brown.

With more than 30 years’ experience in media production industries, Brown has worked on video streaming, television broadcast, and adjacent video technology projects for such companies as Warner Brothers Discovery, Yankee Entertainment & Sports Network, Madison Square Garden, DirecTV, ESPN, Viacom, Verizon, Spark Sports, Staples Arena, ABC, Disney, Sony Pictures, Hulu, Microsoft, and “major television broadcast groups.”

Brown is tasked with working closely with the senior leadership team to strategically identify and respond to new business opportunities in new sectors and regions. as well as manage pre-sales engineering, and proposal development. His responsibilities will also extend to cultivating and managing strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, vendors, and other external entities to enhance business growth potential and ensure that proposed solutions meet the evolving and dynamic needs of Ztransform customers.

Prior to joining ZTransform, Brown was Director & Principal Solutions Architect at Warner Brothers Discovery. There, he was responsible for aligning clients’ video streaming business objectives with technology solutions; designing and integrating video streaming technology solutions for high profile clientele for major entertainment and sports brands.

“Mark has built a reputation for delivering highly successful, ‘hands-on’ client-focused technology solutions to some of the world’s most high-profile M&E brands” said Ben Wolk, managing partner at ZTransform. “His knowledge spans the entire digital video media ecosystem and his ambition to fulfill customers’ commercial and creative aspirations matches ours. Mark will undoubtedly strengthen our capacity to deliver innovative systems and workflows that focus on the client experience and end user productivity. We’re privileged to have him on our team.”

Brown started off as a systems engineer at SAIC in 1986 and worked his way up the career ladder at companies such as Tektronics and Sony Systems Integration Center (SIC), and later became CTO & Executive Vice President of SignaSys, Inc. More recently, Brown secured executive leadership roles, including Director & Corporate Principal at Ascent Media, Director of Solutions Architecture & Professional Services at Verizon Digital Media Services and as Chief Strategy Officer of Technology & Business development at MPS Broadband.

“ZTransform has an unwavering commitment to its customers; resolving challenges and presenting opportunities with incredibly well-thought-out technology,” said Brown. “The company’s positive attitude, team spirit and its personable people are what’s making the business thrive. I’m looking forward to helping develop strategies and providing tactical market guidance to roll out new initiatives that will continue its momentum into untapped sectors and regions.”

 

LAS VEGAS — Two companies considered to be innovators in real-time broadcast monitoring and control solutions providers have merged, forming what they believe will be a formidable and strategic alliance that makes it debut at the 2024 NAB Show.

Introducing Leeward Software, formed from the merger of MNC Software and SuiteLife Systems. It can be found in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall, in booth #W2367.

The company’s product line includes Axess, Mosaic, and Tessera software and GPX Pro hardware.

The merger is described as “a natural succession to a long-standing partnership,” as the two companies have successfully collaborated on numerous projects since 2022. “Leeward Software is the culmination of a shared vision and a powerhouse poised to transform how broadcasters, telecommunication network providers, production facilities, studios, and media technology companies monitor and control the functional health of their complex networks, infrastructure, buildings, and systems.”

By harnessing the combined expertise and resources of MNC Software and SuiteLife
Systems, the company says it can offer a more comprehensive suite of network management, monitoring, and control solutions that address a wider range of needs and applications. “This merger unlocks synergies that will bring greater value to customers, employees, and partners,” the company says. “Whether organizations require system monitoring in extreme and remote locations, a broadcast studio environment, or cloud and cloud-hybrid distribution, customers can now access a broader range of solutions and services to address monitoring and control challenges and optimize their workflows.”

 

Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio Inc., the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of female leadership in radio broadcasting, has revealed who has been select as the recipient of its inaugural “Impact Award.”

The honor goes to the retiring President/CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau.

The “prestigious new accolade” is going in 2024 to Erica Farber, who is being saluted for being a woman “who has effected positive change on multiple fronts.”

MIW calls the Impact Award winner a “true champion of service, this individual actively engages with impactful organizations, generously contributing their time, wisdom, network, and resources. They are deeply involved, consistently doing the work necessary to drive meaningful change.”

Farber has led the RAB for 12 years. Before that, she spent 15 years at the former trade publication Radio & Records, serving in the roles of President, Publisher and CEO. Earlier in her career, EVP/Radio Development Director at Interep. She also held executive-level roles at RKO Radio stations, and was VP/GM of WXLO “99X” in New York at a time when Jay Thomas was its morning host, in the mid-1970s.

Farber in 2021 was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame, and is a founding member of the MIWs.

With the Impact Award going to Farber in 2024, all subsequent honorees will be bestowed with “The Erica Farber Impact Award.”

MIW Board President Ruth Presslaff commented, “What more can be said about Erica that hasn’t yet been said? She is a strategic thinker and true trendsetter who gives generously of her time and wisdom. MIW is a better organization because of her. The industry has been enriched in countless ways because of her. What an impact this woman has made!”

Farber said, “Being recognized by such influential women in the industry is incredibly meaningful and humbling to me. I owe immense gratitude to the mentors and inspirational women who have supported and uplifted me along the way. They are the foundation of my success. My heartfelt thanks go to Ruth and the MIW Board, and to all of you who share my passion for radio and the impactful work we are privileged to do every day.”

The fate of WADL-38 in Detroit, which has until June to complete its pending sale to Mission Broadcasting by privately held Adell Broadcasting Corp., continues to look grim for seller Kevin Adell.

The FCC has yet to give its regulatory approval to the $75 million sale of the MyNetwork TV station, announced in May 2023. Now, one of WADL’s minority shareholders is planning a rally to try to sway Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel from making an affirmative decision on the station’s sale.

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Hitachi Kokusai comes to NAB Show 2024 with a new Media over IP solution that moves uncompressed SDI video signals onto SMPTE ST 2110 networks through a new interface kit. Developed by Hitachi Kokusai, the new CU7K-MoIP ST 2110 interface kit establishes an ST 2110 studio production workflow for customers that moves camera signals directly onto on-prem IP networks or into the cloud without compressing signals and affecting picture quality. Hitachi Kokusai will demonstrate the workflow in its NAB booth (C4516) from Sunday through Wednesday in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Hitachi Kokusai’s CU7K-MoIP interface solution is a software-defined System on Chip (SoC) that performs advanced processing functions to prepare SDI signals (up to 12G) for IP transport. The dual-port, 25GbE solution can move one 4K or up to four HD uncompressed signals onto ST 2110 IP or cloud networks, with ST 2022-7 hitless merge functionality to provide network path redundancy. The ST 2022-7 specification supports the carriage of redundant streams across IP and cloud networks that borrow lost packets from each other for stream reassembly as they move through the network.

The CU7K-MoIP is added to Hitachi camera control units to receive and process the streams for translation to uncompressed ST 2110 networks, with Precision Time Protocol (PTP) support built into the SoC to ensure proper synchronization of video, audio and data. The CU7K-MoIP is compatible with all current-generation Hitachi 4K and HD cameras, include the SK-UHD-7000 Series of 4K/UHD cameras and the Z-HD6500 multi-format HD camera.

“The CU7K-MoIP interface kit is an ideal solution for broadcasters and content creators seeking an ST 2110 studio production workflow that considers the challenges of navigating a hybrid SDI and IP landscape,” said Sean Moran, COO, Hitachi Kokusai. “We are excited to show our customers how we can help them natively manage high-bandwidth signal flows out of the camera for on-prem, off-prem and cloud environments, improving production efficiency and resource utilization while maintaining pristine image quality.”

— Reporting by Brian Galante

MultiDyne Fiber Optic Solutions has introduced the second generation of its SilverBULLET series, unveiled at NAB Show in Las Vegas. The newest version of the patented, miniature fiber-optic link and signal conversion solution is an evolution from the first generation, with new benefits including agnostic signal support from 5Mbps to 12Gbps.

MultiDyne exhibits at Booth C7107 in the Las Vegas Convention Center through Wednesday.

MultiDyne’s SilverBULLET transmitters and receivers are built for a variety of purposes, from 24/7 broadcast applications to specialty use cases where small footprint and a ruggedized form factor are key design requirements. They are also highly portable, making them equally useful for last-minute SDI video feeds to AES and MADI audio feeds. SilverBULLETs are also last-minute problem solvers that can repair a failed connection or address an unexpected transport requirement. Each device is encased in machined aluminum for optimal durability, which also makes them ideal for critical situations.

The SilverBULLET is 12G-capable for high-bandwidth, single-link transport to and from any video source. Built-in cable equalization and re-clocking optimizes signal integrity across all short- and long-distance transport, reducing the presence of existing jitter from input signals. The SilverBULLET supports all SDI rates down to 5Mbps, making them a flexible tool for courtesy feeds, confidence monitoring, distance learning, and other broadcast and commercial AV applications.

The updated SilverBULLET can equalize up to 75m of coax at 12G and 200m at 3G, and has an integrated optical power meter on receiver units. Power input is wide-ranging, spanning from to 5-16VDC so that they can be powered from simple USB power sources including cameras and monitors. Options include USB-A and USB-C to miniXLR 4pin power adapter cables, and full-size and HDBNC patch cables. The new SilverBULLETs can also operate in high-temperature and high-humidity environments.

MultiDyne CEO Frank Jachetta adds that later this year the SilverBULLET will be available with a special tray capable of housing multiple transmitting and receiving units with redundant power. “This makes SilverBULLET an ideal solution for fixed broadcast and production studio requirements, along with its portable applications in sports production, remote camera links, pre-fibered venues and interconnects for mobile production trucks,” he said.

— Reporting by Brian Galante

DNAV, a full-service systems integrator, consultant, and manufacturer’s representative of leading broadcast, AV, lighting, and display equipment, created a microphone-to-antenna experience featuring its broadcast radio technology partners at the 2024 NAB Show.

DNAV took down the curtain down between two adjacent partner booths – Sierra Automated Systems (SAS) at West Hall booth No. 3855, and American Amplifier Technologies at West Hall booth No. 3859.

Together, products are being offered that present a conceptual springboard for new radio facility designs and existing system upgrades.

DNAV also has a presence on the Orban booth (W3443), representing the company’s latest audio processing solutions.

“Our main goal at NAB is to demonstrate the power of DNAV as an inclusive vendor that isn’t limited by the belief that radio systems need to follow a certain blueprint,” said Daniel Hyatt, a DNAV Principal. “We will demonstrate new hardware systems as well as virtualized software solutions that emulate the hardware, and make connections for our visitors across in-studio, remote and cloud-based solution examples. There will be a little bit of everything on the combined stand and tied together with examples of the physical and virtual services we offer to the radio broadcaster.”

One way that DNAV will make connections across these different elements is through SAS Global Connect Software, which offers a complete command and control structure for SAS and third-party broadcast devices living on local and wide-area networks. It acts as a software-based NOC for broadcasters to centrally manage entire network operations and can interface with all components in a broadcast infrastructure from microphones to antennas. DNAV will preview a new virtualized SAS on-air console shipping later this year with connectivity to the Global Connect structure, with the ability to remotely manage and control a live broadcast.

DNAV Co-Principal Nick Straka adds that DNAV will preview several virtualized toolsets built into the new console, including an intercom system and touch panels. PlayoutONE automation will also be highlighted on the booth, working in conjunction with SAS Global Connect in its cloud-based software structure. “We are sending a clear message that we embrace the physical and the cloud domain, and there are plenty of opportunities to embrace both in ways that effectively define a solution that works for every broadcaster.”

— reporting by Brian Galante

ENCO Systems, Benztown, Compass Media Networks, and vCreative have entered into apartnership to bring SPECai, an AI spec ad service, to vCreative’s customers by integrating SPECai into its suite of creative workflow platforms for broadcasters.

For stations affiliated with both vCreative and SPECai, the integration streamlines the process of requesting a spec spot.

Consumers can benefit from the integration by selecting the SPECai option from within the vPPO or vProMedia order form to create spec spots to present to their clients.

Mary DelGrande, Chief Executive Officer of vCreative, commented, “AI is not just an add-on, but is becoming a core component that drives efficiency, creativity, and decision-making in all aspects of business. We recognized the need for a more robust AI tool in our suite of creative workflow products, so by integrating SPECai into our platforms, we are not just streamlining operations; we are reimagining what’s possible for our clients. This partnership is a testament to our commitment to innovation that offers our users smarter, faster, and more intuitive tools that adapt to their evolving needs.”

Ken Frommert, President of ENCO Systems, added, “AI development has accelerated at a swift pace since we first previewed SPECai late last year. We anticipate a strong adoption rate in the coming months as customers grow familiar with the technology. Partnering with forward-thinking companies like vCreative is an essential part of our business development strategy for SPECai, and we are thrilled to become a key contributor to the creative production process within vPPO and vProMedia. We share vCreative’s philosophy of enabling more efficient workflows for customers, and we look forward to our collaborations moving forward.”

ENCO, Benztown and Compass Media Networks will be giving SPECai demos at the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas at the ENCO booth, W1743 in the West Hall. To schedule a SPECai demo in advance of the NAB Show, email Masa Patterson at: mp@benztown.com or Nancy Abramson at: nabramson@compassmedianetworks.com.

Futuri is showing off enhancements to its Futuri AudioAI platform across the NAB Show. These innovations, the company says, “represent a significant leap forward in integrating AI with live broadcast programming, podcasts, and audience interaction.”

At the forefront of these advancements is the introduction of real-time AI with CoHostAI, which creates a collaboration between human hosts and AI personalities during live broadcasts. This enables hosts to engage in natural, dynamic conversations with AI
counterparts.

Futuri also announced new CallerAI technology, where listeners can “call in” and talk directly with AI.

Conversations are recorded with permission of listeners, and may be used on the air.

As Futuri sees it, this level of interaction and connection between listeners and AI opens up new possibilities for audience engagement and creates unique on-air content and audience experiences.

Futuri CEO Daniel Anstandig expressed excitement about the potential impact of these latest AI technologies on the broadcast and media industry. “Our mission is to empower broadcasters and creators to grow audience and revenue by creating compelling, interactive content that captivates audiences and fosters lasting connections,” he said.