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A Jackson, Miss. native, whose career began in 2002 at Jackson State University’s WJSU Radio has been named Director of Radio for Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

Rising to the role is Java Chatman. He will oversee MPB Radio’s eight NPR member stations covering the majority of the state.

Chatman has been with MPB since 2017, when he joined as an Executive Producer.

As the co-creator of Third Coast Radio, Chatman has also spotlighted indie music and artists across the state. Furthermore, he has produced several of MPB Think Radio’s most successful shows, including The Gestalt Gardener, Creature Comforts, Fix It 101, and Deep South Dining.

Concurrently, MPB promoted Taiwo Gaynor to the group’s Director of Television.

MPB Executive Director Royal Aills said, “MPB is home to many talented, wonderful people. Their leadership will help propel MPB to a whole new level of creativity and new ideas.”

The author is founder of Ordo Digital. He will speak at the NAB Show in two sessions related to artificial intelligence, “Using AI as a Creative Content Tool” on Sunday afternoon and “AI Strategies for Sales, Marketing and Operations” on Tuesday morning.

Jon Accarrino

As artificial intelligence continues making inroads into various industries, radio broadcasters have been contemplating if and how AI voices and DJs may supplement or even replace human talent. However, a new survey of more than 800 Americans by SmithGeiger Group indicates that radio listeners value authenticity and human connection from radio personalities over AI-generated voices. The survey results were presented at the 2024 Country Radio Seminar.

A Platform of personalities

The numbers reveal radio is still very much powered by personalities. A full 86% of respondents prefer radio hosts who “feel authentic,” rather than perfectly polished. Additionally, 73% favor DJs who go beyond just introducing songs to “share stories” and insights that bring deeper meaning to the music. And 68% like on-air talent to use a casual, relatable “everyman” communication style reminiscent of speaking with a friend, rather than a distant celebrity.

“The most successful influencers are themselves — they’re real,” said Andrew Finlayson, executive vice president of digital strategies at SmithGeiger. Finlayson presented the research at CRS.

“In a world that is going to be filled with AI content, this is an opportunity for radio,” Finlayson said. “This is a chance to connect with the audience.”

Perhaps most telling is that 47%, nearly half of those surveyed, had an outright distaste for AI radio voices, rating the concept poorly, or even hating it.

Escape through connection

Interestingly, the survey also suggested most listeners don’t want radio personalities espousing their political views (12%) or discussing international news (13%). What they desire is an escape from increasing complexity, anxiety and polarization in society. A commanding 90% of the country music fans surveyed said that it’s important for a radio personality to “keep a light mood.”

As Finlayson observed, “Escape factor is a big part of what you guys can do for the audience going forward. If you sit down at the end of the day and say, ‘I help my audience escape all the worries and fears that they have in a complex and sometimes scary world,’ you’ll have done your job.”

While AI promises efficiency and utility, only human beings can empathize with listeners, understand the role radio plays in their lives, and nurture that special relationship with the audience. Based on the survey results, broadcasters need to find the right balance between human personalities who authentically engage audiences and the latest tech innovations.

AI’s future in radio

At its essence, radio has always transcended mere entertainment. Unlike streaming playlists and algorithms, voices behind the mic provide community, wisdom and authentic comfort amid life’s chaos. By boldly leveraging real human voices, stories and connections, broadcasters can foster a relationship rooted in trust. One that AI simply cannot replicate.

In a followup phone call, Finlayson added, “Artificial intelligence can imitate human qualities, but it can’t be authentic. An AI can’t remember going to a concert.”

But radio broadcasters shouldn’t ignore practical opportunities for AI either. Stations may find success using AI voices for utility work, like promos, or producing weather reports.

“Hyper-local and hyper-personalization is beyond what a human can do on a daily basis,” Finlayson said. “But AI can help scale those efforts for broadcasters.”

Though AI voices may yet find useful applications in radio, the CRS study results suggest that putting more focus on fostering human connections on the airwaves is what radio listeners truly want.

For an industry facing AI disruption, that insight might just give some broadcasters a much-needed edge in their markets. But finding the right balance between how AI voices can be successfully used on-air without losing the audience still remains to be seen.

Key research takeaways from the CRS/SmithGeiger study:

• 86% prefer authentic DJs over perfectly polished talent
• 73% want DJs that share personal stories about the music
• 68% prefer a casual, relatable communication style
• 47% dislike the concept of AI radio voices
• Personalities that help audiences escape complexity have lasting value

The post Research Points to the Value of Human Talent appeared first on Radio World.

Since February 2019, he has been a familiar voice on quarterly earnings calls for such publicly traded radio industry companies as Audacy Inc., and was a panelist at Forecast 2023. Now, Dan Day is moving on from B. Riley.

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The AM for Every Vehicle Act has already gained majority support of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. It is nearing a simple majority in the Senate. Did heavy lobbying from automakers including General Motors to prevent the bill from moving forward fall flat?

That’s the conclusion one can likely make after a review of automakers’ Q4 2023 lobbying efforts, which included discussions that included the prevention of a government mandate to make kHz-band radio broadcasts accessible across cars, trucks, vans and other vehicles from coast to coast.

As first reported by Streamline Publishing’s Radio Ink, GM raised its lobbying spend in the fourth quarter to $2.82 million, tying it for the tenth-highest-spending corporate lobbyer — with Google.

According to required lobbying disclosures, “S.1669/H.R. 3413, AM Radio” was listed among the policies a team of five, including some of GM’s senior lobbyists, pushed in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Honda was the second highest-spending lobbyer against the AM For Every Vehicle Act, with a quarter total of $681,520, spent toward the Senate, House, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Department of Transportation.

Ford lobbying rose slightly from $578,486 to $617,979. It listed “issues related to AM radio” as the cause for lobbying both houses of Congress as well as the FCC and the DOT.

Two manufacturers producing solely electric vehicles who were among the first to remove AM radio from their cars also contributed. Tesla used a portion of its $270,000 lobbying budget, while niche EV maker Rivian spent $40,000 in Q4.

One noteworthy disappearance: Toyota cut its AM radio lobbying altogether at the end of 2023 as support grew on Capitol Hill.

Despite the efforts of these automakers, the concentrated labor of state broadcast associations during a recent trip to Washington, D.C., to discuss policy matters with lawmakers proved very fruitful, showing the power that radio maintains.

The push to maintain AM radio in cars has even spread to state legislatures, with Kansas State Representatives overwhelmingly passing a resolution calling on federal government to pass the AM For Every Vehicle Act.

At present, the legislation is awaiting action on the Senate floor, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer yet to set a date for a formal vote.

NEW YORK — One of the largest independent “solutions providers” for converged TV advertising has reached a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of a Nasdaq-traded company known for its “machine learning” that delivers “measurable value for programmatic advertisers.”

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NEW YORK — It is a platform that began rolling out across CBS News and Stations in September and now includes CBS Media Ventures syndicated news magazines Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition.

As of today, this venture, dubbed the “Super Desk,” has a new Managing Editor. It is a woman who has been with CBS Newspath for more than 14 years, beginning in 2009 as an associate producer.

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The Director of Sales for Capitol Broadcasting Co.’s WRAL-5 and WRAZ-50 in Raleigh-Durham is returning to Sinclair Broadcast Group to take on the top leadership post at its FOX affiliate serving the capital of the Old Dominion.

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In August 2016, Townsquare Media was on a slightly different path. Its Chairman and CEO was Steven Price. “The potential expansion of Townsquare’s live offerings” was so strong that Madison Square Garden Company, owner of some of the nation’s top entertainment venues and three pro sports teams, acquired an approximately 12 percent common equity stake in the publicly traded company.

Now, MSG National Properties LLC is shedding a big chunk of its stake in Townsquare, thanks to a repurchasing agreement executed by the owner of local radio stations in mid-sized and small-sized markets as well as a digital marketing solutions company and a digital advertising network.

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A new broadcast affiliate distribution agreement has been signed that will bring a Sinclair Broadcast Group digital multicast network known for its lineup of police procedural series to ABC Owned Television Stations across the U.S.

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The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten TV report is out, and with “March Madness” nearing its conclusion, at least on the parquet floor, one automotive brand fueled itself to the top of the list as it comes to spot plays last week.

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Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on transmitters.

Radio Kerry is deeply embedded in the Irish broadcasting scene as a full-service, commercial radio station. Nestled in the picturesque County Kerry, the station caters to the diverse needs of its audience in southwest Ireland.

Engineering & IT Manager Trevor Galvin said the station’s older transmitters had been experiencing persistent issues with power supply failures and other problems. Radio Kerry decided to install new equipment and ultimately chose Ecreso FM AiO Series from WorldCast Systems, purchased through their local distributor, Radio Services.

Galvin said the choice was made based on the overall efficiency, build quality and user-friendly interface. Also attractive were the hot-swappable power supplies and fan and the transmitter’s web interface, SNMP and logging, solidified the decision. Radio Kerry also was familiar with WorldCast from using APT IP codecs and Audemat RDS encoders.

Trevor Galvin

Radio Kerry’s commitment to operational cost efficiency led it to activate built-in software features like SmartFM, saving power costs and contributing to the station’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Galvin said the transmitters each took about an hour to configure and install, after bench testing. “We have seen energy consumption drop significantly at each site since installing the AiO.”

Info: www.worldcastsystems.com/en/

Interested in new products? Check out the free Spring Product Preview 2024 ebook.

The post Radio Kerry Finds Success With WorldCast appeared first on Radio World.

Wheatstone Layers user interface

At the NAB Show, Wheatstone will highlight the addition of Reliable Internet Stream Transport protocol to its AoIP technology. It also will show Layers software running on Amazon Web Services’ Global Accelerator.

Calling it “the Infinite Studio,” the company will highlight the combination of AoIP cloud and connectivity, to share media, workflows and resources across distances.

Wheatstone makes the WheatNet IP audio network of AoIP elements, and has expanded in recent years to the cloud and server realm with its Layers Software Suite, which includes mixing, streaming and FM software hosted on a local server or running on cloud data centers. 

At NAB it will discuss the benefits of Reliable Internet Stream Transport. “RIST connectivity provides the error correction necessary for real-time media delivery across any IP link,” it stated.

[“What’s RIST and Why Do You Need It?”]

And it will run Layers on AWS Global Accelerator, Amazon’s private network for media that offers high availability and security features suitable for 24/7 broadcasting. It also will show the SystemLink MPX over IP transporter.

On the studio side, Wheatstone will introduce the Lyric and the Verse consoles. These digital surfaces are “designed for Audioarts budgets but built to Wheatstone top-line console standards.”

Audioarts Lyric

The Lyric DML 12 and Verse DML 8 provide USB direct-to-fader inputs. The DML 12 includes Bluetooth. A Wheatnet IP app is available optionally for direct digital out put to a WheatNet network.

Features include three stereo program busses, AES3 inputs via RJ45, mic preamp(s) and built-in cue speaker.

NAB Show Booth: W1731

[Read about 50+ new products in the latest Radio World ebook.]

The post Wheatstone to Feature the “Infinite Studio” appeared first on Radio World.

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Telos Alliance is expanding the Omnia Forza line of software processors.

The new Forza FM, coming in May, will be delivered as a container that can run on an on-premises COTS server or on a cloud-hosted platform such as AWS.

The original Omnia Forza product for HD, DAB and streaming audio launched last year and is now branded as Forza HDS.

“Forza FM maintains the same five-band architecture, but its wideband and multiband processing stages have been optimized to meet the unique demands of FM radio,” Omnia said in its announcement.

It features the Silvio clipper used in Omnia.11 and includes processing for HD-1 with a built-in diversity delay. Its FM stereo generator will feed both µMPX and linear MPX over IP outputs.

Forza FM uses the same single-page HTML5 UI introduced with Forza HDS. It uses smart controls to adjust multiple parameters with one control, which makes operation easier by less-experienced users.

Info: https://telosalliance.com/forza.

[Read about 50+ new products in the Radio World Spring Product Preview 2024.]

The post Omnia Introduces FM Version of Forza appeared first on Radio World.

Our friends Jeff and Joe Geerling are at it again, posting another in their series of entertaining videos that explore technical concepts at radio stations.

Watch the three-minute video below. Jeff has also blogged about it at www.jeffgeerling.com.

[Read our profile of the Geerlings published last year.]

The post Geerlings Make a Hot Dog Talk … With RF appeared first on Radio World.

By Brian Galante
Special to RBR+TVBR

NASHVILLE — TNDV founder Nic Dugger has been seeking ways to inject the dramatic look that digital cinema cameras produce into his live television and event productions for years. Despite some creative workarounds that generated that tell-tale look and feel, technology limitations made the efforts fall short of achieving the desired goal in all its glory.

That has now changed, thanks to broadcast production technology from two big players.

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By Brian Galante
Special to RBR+TVBR

Hitachi Kokusai will highlight a new live production package at NAB Show 2024 that bundles its Z-HD6500 HD camera with its CU-HD550 camera control unit.

Supporting multiple HD formats to 1080p, the Z-HD6500 camera’s design seeks to reduce the system complexity for content creators while incorporating the latest technical innovations from Hitachi.

Its visual quality is enhanced through three 2/3-inch CMOS image sensors with a global shutter to enable the capture of BT.2020 color gamut compliant video. The global shutter technology reduces unwelcome artifacts such as banding and flicker that may occur when capturing video in broadcast studios with LED lighting and large LED displays.

The Z-HD6500 boasts F10 sensitivity of 59.94 frames per second (fps), and therefore enables high-quality acquisition in reduced lighting, while a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 62dB for images exists.

“The camera’s sleek, advanced design enables superior color reproduction, while its HD workflow enables seamless multi-format productions and supports both High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Standard Dynamic Range (SDR),” the company says.

Hitachi Kokusai’s CU-HD550 camera control unit was re-developed as a companion for the Z-HD6500. The CU-HD550 can output HDR or SDR and provides camera operators with two return video feeds for live monitoring. The CU-HD550 displays that feed on the Z-HD6500’s viewfinder, which is enabled through the CCU’s built-in cross-converter and frame synchronizer.

“Our longtime customers consistently return to Hitachi cameras because of the price-to-performance ratio and the strong technical support that they receive both through Hitachi Kokusai and our channel partners,” said Kenneth Cyr, National Sales Manager at Hitachi Kokusai. “We are excited to offer our customers an exceptional camera solution for varied live production environments that offers consistently flawless performance, vibrant and lifelike colors, and remote control capabilities that allow camera operators to concentrate on framing professional shots.”

The Z-HD6500 and CU-HD550 will be on display form April 14-17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Hitachi Kokusai exhibits at Booth C4516.

The vMVPD access to Major League Baseball has just expanded — just in time for the start of the 2024 season.

MLB Network has been added to the “core channel lineup” for Hulu + Live TV.

With this addition, Hulu + Live TV is offering boasts similar to those from Fubo that it is a top destination for baseball fans.

Thanks to the presence of MLB Network, Hulu + Live TV will have more than 100 nationally broadcast MLB games. Hulu says it can go further thanks to RSN agreements.

Nevertheless, having both Fubo and Hulu + Live TV in the mix for MLB Network shows that having a traditional MVPD — or direct broadcast satellite providers Dish and DirecTV — is no longer necessary if you’re a fan of Major League Baseball.