Radio World

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Occasionally we query Workbench readers as to the most useful piece of test equipment; the cellphone camera usually wins out.

Dan Gunter is the owner and principal broadcast engineer of Alabama Broadcast Services LLC. He shares photographic proof of the immense value of a phone camera, not only for documentation purposes but as a tool in troubleshooting.

One of Dan’s client stations recently experience a mysterious trip of the 100 amp AC circuit breaker that fed the high-voltage power supply (HVPS) on a Harris HT25FM transmitter. Unfortunately Dan was out of town that day, as was his backup colleague Terry Harper.

Thus it was the station’s chief operator/assistant GM who wound up running over to the site. With instructions from Dan he reset the tripped breaker, which got the transmitter back on the air without a breaker re-trip.

Dan had experienced a similar off-air trip with another of that client’s transmitters, a problem that kept occurring sporadically. This was resolved by giving the arc gap in the HVPS some much needed attention — cleaning and re-spacing the gap per the manufacturer’s specifications.

Because that had worked earlier, Dan decided to do a “wee hours of the morning” shutdown on the trouble transmitter and check the arc gap. He found that it was at 0.3745 inches, nearly twice the recommended setting of 0.1875.

Only the camera knows what’s hiding behind these power supply components.

As pictured above, Dan noticed that the HVPS had a considerable amount of dust and debris, so he decided it was time for a thorough inspection and good vacuuming. After turning off all AC breakers and discharging the components, Dan set out to work.

Unfortunately, there are some places you simply can’t see without spending another half hour or more to remove the rear cover from the power supply, such as behind the transformer, choke and filter capacitor. Dan’s solution was to use his phone’s camera to shoot photos in the hidden crannies.

And that’s when he found the little problem seen here:

In case it isn’t clear what’s amiss, the image below offers a closer view behind the capacitor.

Dan says he doubts this was a factory-installed part.

Apparently, this rat snake had managed to crawl into the power supply through a gap at the lower left corner of an ill-fitting front cover on the cabinet. Dan suspects the critter managed to slither across a couple of wrong points in the HVPS and had a really bad day, also tripping the breaker.

Rat snake or not, Nautel’s Jeff Welton calls them all “rattle-headed copper moccasins.” And they don’t belong in transmitters.

Dan sent the assistant GM photos of his findings and work; he also put the dearly departed critter in a box, labeled it and placed it on the desk in the transmitter building, where the manager could inspect the evidence first-hand and dispose of it as he wished. (Let it not be said that Dan takes things from client sites without their approval.)

Dan visited the site a few weeks later and the box was still sitting on the desk, unopened. Imagine that!

As an engineer, you see a lot of strange things. Take pictures of these encounters to help management understand your value.

At one station where I was chief, I put a small bulletin board in the station lunchroom, and posted a “Picture of the Week.” from my site visits. Try it and see the reaction.

Shine a light on it

Like many engineers, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve required more “light” to see details like the numbers on a chip or a resistor color code.

Here is a flexible LED garage light, a replacement “bulb” that actually consists of three adjustable panels and screws into a standard light socket above my garage workbench, throwing off 6,000 Lumens!

Fig. 5 shows some of the possible configurations.

Find it at Amazon, it’s the best $36 you’ll spend.

John Bisset has spent over 50 years in broadcasting and is in his 31st year of Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance. He is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award.

Workbench thrives on your snake stories and tech tips, which count toward SBE recertification. Email johnpbisset@gmail.com. 

 

 

The post Workbench: How to Get a Peek Into Hard-to-See Places appeared first on Radio World.

Nielsen Audio issued data this week indicating that U.S. weekly radio listening is at its highest levels since the pandemic began, though not yet to pre-COVID-19 levels.

“The April 2021 PPM survey revealed new gains in radio listening across the aggregate of markets for the second month in a row,” it said in a press release. “As America continues to reopen, consumers are returning to radio in numbers not seen in over half a year.”

[Read: Nielsen Reports “Big Gains” for Radio Listening]

“Radio’s weekly reach is now at its highest levels, 121 million weekly consumers, since March 2020 when COVID-19’s impact began to take hold. Since the beginning of 2021, radio has added more than 5 million new weekly listeners.”

The company issued this graphic that shows the monthly trends, including a rise last summer and fall, followed by a decline around the holidays and “surges,” as well as a recent “rebound.”

It also said U.S. radio’s Average Quarter-Hour audience in April was back to where it was in November, though again not yet back to pre-COVID levels. “AQH audience levels have jumped 10% in the past two months as vaccinations and a gradual return to pre-pandemic routines have proliferated.”

Nielsen said that from a weekly reach perspective, the radio audience in April is 14% larger than the same month from a year ago, while for AQH the audience is 31% larger. The April listening gains were spread across times of day.

The research company also issued some observations about trends in formats.

It noted that the urban adult contemporary/R&B format recorded its highest share of listening in several years in April. It attributed this to national interest in the social justice movement including a verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin. It said April gains “may have been driven by what was happening between the songs, as much as the music cycle itself during such a milestone moment.”

Some other formats are showing expected seasonal changes. “Country radio is reporting higher shares of audience heading into the summer, following its usual seasonal pattern. Classic hits is also gaining ground, another annual occurrence. Meanwhile, the return of Major League Baseball along with other live sports is boosting the all-sports format near its fall football season levels.”

 

 

The post Nielsen Highlights Encouraging Radio Trends appeared first on Radio World.

It’s time again for the U.K. audio industry’s annual tech and engineering event — in a new interactive, virtual format.

Aimed at broadcast engineers, technologists, managers and program creators, Radio TechCon 2021 is set to take place Monday Nov. 29. Through a series of speakers and masterclasses, the one-day conference will dive into the technical challenges and opportunities facing the U.K. radio and audio industry.

“Radio TechCon is vital for ensuring that the technical industry in radio and audio is able to come together to share ideas, learn and celebrate successes during these complex times,” says Aradhna Tayal, director of TBC Media Ltd., a radio and audio event company and organizer of Radio TechCon.

David Lloyd at a previous TechCon.

This year’s conference will be a virtual one due to ongoing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, she said.

In preparation for this year’s event, the Radio TechCon team has released videos from previous TechCon events on their website, including sessions on audio acoustics, wireless technology, voice control and radio wattage power issues.

 

The post Radio TechCon to Host Virtual Convention appeared first on Radio World.

There’s a list of “the good, the bad and the ugly” when the Federal Emergency Management Agency migrated the nation’s IPAWS system to the cloud this past April.

According to IPAWS Engineering Chief Mark Lucero during a webinar on the transition, there were many reasons to move the IPAWS system from the legacy, on-premises data center into the Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud environment. The cloud offers new levels of redundancy and native tools that will help IPAWS function faster, better, stronger and cheaper, he said.

But like any migration from a standalone on-premises system to the cloud, there were bumps along the way. There were also several smart moves that FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security made. For one, Lucero said, FEMA successfully handled upfront planning, architecture design and in-depth planning with stakeholders. The cloud also gives the agency more rigorous redundancy. “We have redundancy on top of redundancy on top of redundancy,” Lucero said. “If a server goes down in flames, there are two more buildings within 100 miles that can pick up the slack and continue working as if nothing has happened.”

[Read: FEMA Dials up IPAWS Playbook]

The cloud environment also offers a faster turnaround time for adding new features and functions. “In the past it would take us several months to implement a change,” Lucero said. The cloud also offers the agency a new, centralized control system. “One of the great things that we’ve done by pushing into cloud is that we’ve centralized control,” he said. “Now we have more control over more aspects of it. There’s still a lot of oversight and security requirements that DHS puts on us; however, we have [fewer physical assets] to go to if we need to fix something.”

That’s the good. But speed bumps were in there too. Lucero said the agency struggled with deadlines, with removing bugs, with network connectivity and with coordination with broadcasters when it came to testing code. “When trying to swing over 11 systems operated by cell carriers that had their own priorities, we made a projection as to how long this would take and we were way off,” Lucero said.

He said that FEMA could also do a better job of anticipating how a delay here might affect a deadline over there. That led FEMA to reschedule its go-date a few times. “The original plan was to get this done in calendar year 2020,” he said.

Then there was the ugly, Lucero said. He said there was scant guidance from FEMA on cloud implementation when the cloud conversations first began back in 2018. Another issue: at the same time that FEMA was working on its cloud transition, it was also trying to make updates to the legacy IPAWS environment. “That was kind of tough because we had some delays … and those delays directly affected our cloud migration timeline and made things difficult,” he said.

Lucero said that paperwork requirements, approvals and security evaluations put the project somewhat behind. And the transition team struggled with retooling its testing procedures. “On the government and contractor side, we need to do a better job of defining how that process is going to take place,” he said.

Lucero was speaking as part of a cloud transition webinar set up by the IPAWS Program Management Office. Information on upcoming changes — including URL upgrades, information on when the older system will be decommissioned and what broadcasters need to know next — is contained within the nearly hour-long webinar.

 

The post IPAWS Transitions to the Cloud appeared first on Radio World.

The Association of Public Radio Engineers — like most organizations — put all in-person events on hold once the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, but the group is planning a return to its networking roots soon enough.

APRE has announced plans for its PREC 2022 Conference in Las Vegas to run adjacent to the NAB Show next spring. The organization’s leadership says “having engineers rub elbows at networking events” is what APRE does best.

APRE is a nonprofit which “exists to advance preserve the mission of public radio stations through education, outreach, regulatory support and the ongoing development and preservation of best engineering practices,” according to its website, www.apre.us.

[Read: ABA Will Send 20 People to NAB Events]

Radio World spoke to Victoria St. John, president of APRE and director of operations for Vermont Public Radio, about how the group came through the pandemic, the lessons learned and its plans for the rest of 2021.

Radio World: What has APRE learned about itself during the course of the pandemic?
Victoria St. John: We wanted to keep our members involved and engaged, but it also caused us to look at what we are really about as an organization. We thought about all kinds of ways to keep membership engaged that were not in-person, but when the pandemic hit our membership was so busy. We did a few webinars, but it made more sense to not create extra busy work for them.

And we really are a networking and live event group. We prefer meeting and talking to each other in person. Our strength and our foundation is in connecting with people and sometimes that doesn’t relate to having webinars and holding Zoom meetings. We didn’t want to change who we are and what we do.

RW: Your membership had to react quickly to the pandemic?  
St. John: I’m so proud of them. Our members were just bombarded with work. Broadcast engineers were helping their co-workers work remotely and problem solving the issues involved in that. And many of them had to continue working at the radio station. They are typically people who have screwdrivers in hand and are physically doing work at the stations and transmitter sites. It’s not a job where you can do everything remotely.

Of all the people in our industry the station engineers were the ones who had to make sure everyone else could do their job remotely. That took a lot of energy and focus. They were incredibly important during that transition and keeping radio stations on the air and broadcasting important information. The pandemic created extra layers of work for broadcast engineers.

RW: Do your members get the credit they deserve?
St. John: These are the smartest and most talented people you’re talking about. And they are asked to everything from unclogging sinks to setting up towers. They are the most technically savvy people within most organizations and they deserve a lot of credit for keeping things together the past year. They were often called on to do things they never have before. This was unprecedented.

And obviously they were personally impacted by the pandemic just like everyone else; socially distancing and being required to stay away from the office in some cases. And all the time trying to protect their loved ones.

RW: With in-person events starting to come back this fall, are there plans for a PREC this year at the NAB Show in October in Las Vegas?
St. John: The door isn’t completely closed on that. We are not expecting to have a formal presence there this fall though some APRE members may be on-hand. There may be the potential for social or professional connections.

[Read: 2021 AES Show Will Co-Locate With NAB]

RW: And next year? PREC will be back for sure?
St. John: Yes, we are expecting to be there. Engineers so often work alone in the field. It’s exciting for them to get together and talk about projects and compare notes. We are expecting a full PREC experience in 2022.

RW: What issues or topics are priorities for APRE for the rest of 2021?
St. John: We are focusing on our core foundational efforts. I call it the iron side of engineering — the transmitter and the tower; the whole RF side. You have to know software obviously if you’re an engineer, but cables, fiber and networking are just as important.

We also want to examine how this pandemic changed the broadcast industry. How remote work changes what we do as broadcast engineers and how to best support our team members to that end.

RW: What else is on your mind these days?
St. John: This whole idea that broadcast radio is dead is silly. I believe that close to 90% of all radio listening is still done over the air via transmitters. So that part of the industry is still alive and needs a strong engineering team.

There is a lot of focus on the bright and shiny with multiplatform delivery and we’ll focus on that as well, but the foundation of what we do is broadcast.

 

The post APRE Seeks Return to Normalcy appeared first on Radio World.

True-crime podcasts, by the nature of the stories they tell, tend to be underscored with tense and ominous sounds. While each episode of the “Anatomy of Murder” podcast, produced by Indianapolis, Ind.-based Audiochuck, deals with dark themes and details, there is also plenty of room for light, says executive producer Sumit David.

“If you look at the color palettes of a “Star Wars” movie, they always [begin] white and bright, and as the movie progresses, it gets darker,” says David. “[We were] like, ‘That’s how we should approach the sound design of this. Let’s start not-so-true crime. Let’s not start very heavy. Let’s ease our audience into it.’”

[Read: Survey Says Podcast Demographics Continue to Diversify]

Dayton Cole, who handles all the post-production work on “Anatomy of Murder” at podcast editing service Resonate Recordings in Louisville, Ky., likens the process to building a house, with the brooding sounds serving as the basement. Once they establish that baseline, Cole attends to the “brighter, sentimental moments,” which are his favorite to highlight. “More natural sounds, strings and piano — those kind of natural elements—rather than the synthetic, electronic pulsing and droning,” he says.

Dayton Cole, handles all the post-production work on “Anatomy of Murder” using a variety of tools, including Avid Pro Tools, a Universal Audio Apollo Twin X interface, plug-ins on an adjacent screen like Waves’ WLM loudness meter, and a pair of Audeze LCD-2 open-back over-ear headphones. Photo: Leaf & Pine Photography www.leafandpine.com

David’s background as an editor on reality television programs prepared him for his role on “Anatomy of Murder,” which is also unscripted. Hosts Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi, a New York City homicide prosecutor, and Scott Weinberger, an investigative journalist, research the cases and keep a loose set of talking points for each episode, but otherwise the interviews and case discussions are fluid. The pair record on Blue Yeti USB microphones, while guests record locally on their own computers during video conferences with the hosts.

Before the audio files make it to Cole as an .OMF (Open Media Framework Interchange), an open-source format that allows him to import David’s Adobe Premiere files into Pro Tools, David edits the interviews and compiles related archival audio collected from law enforcement sources.

“I try and make it so that the story is all laid out, that all the bites, whether they be from Scott, Anna-Sigga, from the guests, or from archival material, are all put together in one big sequence, divided up into the four acts,” says David. “From there, it’s handed off to Dayton so he can do his magic of adding the sound design, pacing [and] music.”

Anatomy of Murder executive producer Sumit David

David provides some creative direction, but after working together on dozens of episodes of the podcast, the pair have a largely unspoken workflow. Cole approaches each episode as a listener would, forming an outsider’s perspective on the structure and recordings David sends him. “I create blank tracks — little ‘slugs’ I call them — so I can just say, ‘This is kind of the emotion I want in this section,’” says Cole.

[Read: Maps Identify Top-Earning Podcasts by Country]

Many of the sounds Cole weaves into the podcast’s aural environment come from sound libraries, although he often manipulates the stems through processors like iZotope Rx to meet his needs. The main concern is to keep the music from distracting listeners away from the dialogue, so it is impactful but not overpowering. On an episode where he didn’t have access to stem tracks, he improvised to keep the bass and kick drums from overpowering the other instruments.

Anatomy of Murder’s hosts Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi, an NYC homicide prosecutor, and Scott Weinberger, an investigative journalist.

“I liked what all the other elements were doing,” so “I used the Elysia Alpha Compressor to be able to help the mids come back, and then open up the sides,” he says. “And, I was able to kind of blend that underneath so it wasn’t hitting you in the face so much.”

Transparency is key at the end of the day. Cole prefers to remain in the background and work without being detected. “My job is, don’t be noticed, but be impactful,” he says. “If people are in the story and they’re digging it and they don’t notice all the sound changes, that’s when I know I’ve done my job.”

 

The post True Crime Sound Design on “Anatomy of Murder” appeared first on Radio World.

Nassau Community College President Dr. Jermaine F. Williams, third from left, and Station Director Shawn Novatt, near center in suit, are shown with WHPC students and volunteers in 2019.

The author of this commentary is director of WHPC, Nassau Community College, Garden City (Long Island), New York.

WHPC 90.3 FM, the Voice of Nassau Community College, was named by the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System as the 2021 Abraham & Borst Best Overall College Radio Station and 2021 Best Community College Radio Station in the Nation.

As director of the station, I was asked by Radio World to comment on what makes for “college radio relevant in 2021,” especially given how younger people consume media.

I like to think that to be a successful college radio station today, you need to focus on one thing: the people you have volunteering their time to help make your station successful, which helps lead them on their own path to success.

Unless you are lucky enough to have a small budget to pay student managers (which I am aware happens at some college stations), the vast majority (if not everyone) is working for free — and sometimes, you get what you pay for.

This is why you need to make joining the college station competitive and worth their time investment once they successfully join in.

WHPC has over 50 extremely talented, wonderful “Community Volunteers” to help make the station sound great — but all of them, along with my staff of six part-time professionals, know that the focus of our station is our educational mission: WHPC exists to provide professional broadcast training to qualified Nassau Community College students.

Let’s dissect two points in that statement:

Professional broadcast training. It’s important not to just welcome someone who expresses interest in joining the station, throw them in a studio and let them play around.

At my two-year community college, my training program to be an on-air host lasts, on average, three to four hour-long sessions in studio, one-on-one, with me, learning how to use our equipment, learning the proper way to speak into a microphone and deciding what to talk about. The students get better and better over time.

Bottom line: Don’t just throw students on air and expect other students to do the training. You won’t get that professional sound you are looking for, and they won’t get the training they are looking for.

Qualified students. Don’t fall into the “warm bodies” trap and hire everyone who walks through the station’s main door. Have them fill out an application, interview those who take the time to completely fill it out, and be sure to ask them what their career goals are.

Don’t only accept communications majors (but give them a little preferential treatment), as you need people of all backgrounds and interests to make the station operate successfully. The students will also appreciate the interview experience for future job applications.

Be honest with everyone up front: Not everyone who applies gets the opportunity to join the station. Decide how many people you have space for and pick the students whom you feel will be best suited to fit in to your current schedule and who have the most potential to grow both at the station and in their own careers. It’s exciting to me how much interest there is.

While younger people are consuming more of their music and information online, they still know that radio works, and more of them listen than you think!

The people are what make your college station successful. I am thankful to my staff, volunteers and all the students who have stepped through the doors at WHPC over the past 49 years, even though I have only been here about five of them myself.

Without them, WHPC would not be the proud success I am proud to say it is.

Shawn Novatt has worked at stations including WBLI(FM) and WKJY(FM), both on Long Island, and WOR(AM) in New York. He graduated in 2000 with a BA in Audio/Radio from Hofstra University, where he volunteered as a student at WRHU(FM) in Hempstead, N.Y. His start in radio came at his high school station, WPOB(FM) in Plainview, N.Y.

The post Does College Radio Matter to College Students? appeared first on Radio World.

The Bloomberg radio and audio operation looks to be prospering these days.

Radio program syndicator Key Networks has announced that Bloomberg Radio has “hit a major benchmark in affiliate growth, with over 400 stations now carrying its business and consumer news programming.” That, according to Key, is a 25% growth rate since last October.

[Read: How Bloomberg Radio Put Remote Mixing Into Action]

Bloomberg Radio features news reports for stations along with specialty, targeted content such as “Bloomberg Money Minutes,” “Black Business Report,” “Green Business Report,” “Bloomberg Business of Sports,” and “The Luxury Report.”

In other Bloomberg news, Bloomberg Media has announced a multiyear agreement to co-produce and distribute more than a dozen new original podcasts. Also, iHeartMedia will distribute Bloomberg Media’s current slate of over 20 podcasts through its iHeartPodcast Network.

 

The post Bloomberg Makes Audio Moves appeared first on Radio World.

How do you celebrate completing your master’s degree in organization development?

By posing with an FM combiner, of course!

This pic of Rob Bertrand, senior director of technology for WAMU(FM) in Washington, encompasses not one but two ambitious projects. “For me this photo symbolizes a major turning point in my personal journey as an engineer, a leader and as a person.”

I spotted the pic on social media so I asked him about it.

When Bertrand joined WAMU five years ago, he says, he figured he might pursue an MBA at American University, which owns the big public radio station. But after discussing it with a colleague in the IT department, he opted for an MSOD, Master of Science in Organization Development.

“She told me how many tech folks she knew who had gone through this renowned program at AU and found it to be transformational in how they led technical change in their organizations,” he told me in an email.

That program aims to help professionals turn into leaders. “Over the course of the two years, I met many engineers and former engineers who had grown frustrated with their technical feats not taking deeper root within their organizations. They (and I) found that the greatest challenge in a successful technical implementation was not just getting the technology right, which of course is essential; the real challenge was leading a change process within the organization that was actually embraced by people.”

Bertrand said the MSOD program “will forever inform who I am as an engineer and as a leader.”

That’s one accomplishment, but juggling it while bringing to fruition a complex master antenna project in his first few years at AU was the second.

You can read all about that project in our earlier article, but suffice it to say that the planning, design and construction work of that job fully overlapped his degree work.

“I was able to use what I was learning in the classroom throughout that project. In the end, it was those skills and not my technical background that made it possible to complete this enormously complex project within the boundaries of a university operation, on a tower surrounded by a university campus in an affluent enclave of our nation’s capital.”

Bertrand had envisioned being able to receive his diploma and then take a photo with the combiner. “It was my way of making sense of doing these two things simultaneously. And then COVID happened.” When AU finally held a belated ceremony, he finally got to take his photo.

Congrats, Rob, from those of us who celebrate lifelong learning.

 

The post Bertrand Combines Tech With Leadership appeared first on Radio World.

The latest call sign actions report is out.

The Federal Communications Commission issues these regularly. In addition to helping managers keep an eye on the competition, the periodic summaries of recent call sign changes are fun for us radio geeks who love to share the history of various letter combinations and station names.

Just a sampling from the latest report: Audacy (formerly Entercom) changed the calls for FM station KAMP in Los Angeles to KNOU. According to RadioInsight.com, the station recently rebranded from CHR-formatted “Amp 97.1” to “97.1 Now, LA’s Party Station.”

Lakefront Communications in Milwaukee turned AM station WJYI into WJOI. The station has an interesting call sign history, and its Wikipedia listing indicates that the WJYI call letters and those of co-owned WJOI in Norfolk, Virginia, swapped last month.

And low-power FMs aren’t left out of the action. In Lufkin, Texas, V.E. Leach Ministries renames KEOE as KOWJ.

Read the latest report.

 

The post Here Are the Latest Call Sign Changes appeared first on Radio World.

Getty Images/Magic Torch

Radio broadcast engineering was easy when I started full-time back in the 1960s. Everything was analog, and audio transformers were real problem-solvers when it came to hum from ground loops.

Then came active balanced circuits, which did not have audio artifacts created by iron-core audio transformers. That change cleaned up audio a bit, but it was all still analog. There was no such thing as digital anything back then!

The big problems in that era were cartridge tape machines that needed constant maintenance to keep the tape heads clean. Tape head alignment was important to keep high-frequency audio response as good as the mechanics could allow for moving magnetic tape through a machine. Advances on how to do that were the stuff of NAB presentations, with each manufacturer trying to outdo the others.

Reel-to-reel tape machines had similar problems. It was analog technology. All of that went by the wayside when storing audio moved over to digital in the 1980s.

Now we are converting analog studios with digital audio storage into fully digital studios. Stations have one by one converted and haven’t looked back.

I asked a couple of my industry colleagues to share their reflections about “A” and “D.”

“Just mouse clicks” Jim Offerdahl

Contract engineer Jim Offerdahl of Offerdahl Broadcast Service in Fosston, Minn., told me, “I grew up in a world with analog telephones, radios and televisions. My earliest experiences in radio broadcast facilities were analog. As time marched on, more and more equipment became digital. First it was satellite receivers, then audio storage.”

Offerdahl says there are many analog-only facilities still being used, and he’ll continue to maintain them as long as they are serving their users.

“New facilities today are a mix of analog and digital. A client that is only adding a small studio for production or is replacing an analog console usually remains analog. A client that is doing a total redo from top to bottom will likely build an all-digital facility.”

He remembers working with wiring earlier in his career. “Cables were either cloth- or lead-wrapped. I recently rebuilt a transmitter facility that was constructed in the 1930s. The original wiring was a mix of both. Wire lacing was an art back then using waxed string.”

[“The Real World of AoIP,” a Radio World ebook]

When Offerdahl entered the business a couple of decades ago, the standard was to terminate wires in each studio on either terminal strips or punch blocks. “I rebuilt several facilities that were all-analog using punch blocks with cross connects,” he recalls.

“Then in the late 2000s, I helped complete a build utilizing an AES3 audio distribution system that was a hybrid analog/digital facility. That told me digital audio distribution was the next big thing.”

As the years progressed, he constructed more digital facilities.

“Recently I embraced the StudioHub standard of wiring using Cat-5 cables and StudioHub adapters. I now wonder why I was not doing that earlier.

“Even more recently I constructed some new all-digital facilities using Livewire AoIP architecture. No more punch blocks, just patch panels with Keystone jacks. No more cross connects, just mouse clicks.”

Offerdahl suspects that for as long as he is in the industry there will still be analog work to do. “But more and more of it is moving to the digital world.”

“I think it is obvious”

Doug Thompson is a contract engineer with Intellitech Engineering Services in Osceola, Wis.

“If I were asked to build an analog studio today, I would have to recommend the client reconsider that decision,” he said.

“Analog certainly presents some apparent advantages over digital, especially if the client is familiar and comfortable with analog equipment. They may have a station that uses many types of analog equipment (consoles, switchers, distribution amplifiers and such) and may not want to change what they have invested many hours in learning how to operate and maintain.

Doug Thompson

“But if they would stop and consider how much of their plant is already ‘digital,’ it may actually surprise them. The satellite receiver, possibly their STL link, their telephone system, then certainly the internet and automation systems are all digital now.”

He notes that digital systems are efficient to install and operate, and can offer greater flexibility.

“I installed an analog system into two studios a few years ago. The client wanted to re-use their consoles, distribution amplifiers and switchers. It made sense to them not to buy new equipment to replace what they already had that was still serviceable,” he said.

“Well, it took me about three weeks to lay out, design the wiring charts, install and wire the many equipment connectors, work the RF out of the system — there was a co-located AM transmitter — and test everything. I even had the help of another engineer for a week of that time.”

The system worked well and sounded good afterward, he said; the client was happy with the result.

“A few weeks later they asked if I could add some inputs to the automation system. I did so, which required modifying the wiring charts, pulling a few more pairs of wire, adding connectors and setting the levels. It all worked fine and only took me about eight hours of work. A few weeks later they wanted me to add another satellite receiver. Same process and it took maybe 6 hours this time.”

Two months later, Thompson was hired by another station to replace a talk studio by installing a digital IP-based system.

“Another engineer and I began at 5 p.m. on Friday tearing out the furniture, carpet and wall covering. New carpet and furniture were installed. We wired the IP-based console and peripheral equipment including microphones with arms, headphone amplifiers, PCs and installed an IP-based phone system.”

They had the system operating by 3 p.m. on Sunday by working 10-hour days.

“We did take a few hours beforehand to prep the digital system software. The project worked. Later, when asked to add another source to a console, it took about 15 minutes via the PC-based tools provided by the manufacturer of the system.”

He notes that the digital option cost more up front. “But the labor costs for the installation and ongoing changes, which always happen, were far less than the analog.”

Also, some changes and upgrades can be done on a digital system from off-site, which came in handy during recent COVID shutdowns.

“I think it is obvious why I would recommend a digital system over analog today,” Thompsons aid. “It is less costly overall, as well as being easier to maintain and upgrade.

“Digital is very flexible because there are far more features for the operators that are usually built right into the base product. It can be operated remotely for voice tracking from home, allows single operator broadcasting from sporting events or remotes and integrates well with other related systems such as automation, phones and the internet.”

Sure, he said, the users must learn a new system; but the consoles look and work a lot like the old analog consoles, plus they offer many nice features to make things simpler for the user. “In addition, digital systems are much easier to maintain and expand, certainly from my perspective.”

Thompson said he doesn’t expect to build any more analog studios in the future — unless, he said, he decides to volunteer at a broadcasting museum.

Mark Persons, WØMH, is a Life Member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, and one of only 10 people to receive its John H. Battison Award for Lifetime Achievement.

What do you see as the major benefits of “working with digital”? Write to radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

The post Analog Veterans in the Digital World appeared first on Radio World.

Here’s a fun pic to start your Tuesday.

This dizzying view shows a two-bay ERI 1180 Series master FM antenna in Detroit. This antenna is the primary for Cumulus station WDVD, a 20 kW station on 96.3 MHz, owned by Cumulus, and WYCD, a 17.5 kW station on 99.5 MHz, owned by Audacy, the former Entercom.

The antenna and combiner also provide auxiliary facilities for Cumulus station WDRQ.

“This was taken by the ERI crew that installed the antenna and transmission line run,” ERI’s Bill Harland tells Radio World after we saw it being shared on social media.

“The system included the antenna, a run of 4-1/16-inch MACXLine and an FM channel combiner. The photo was taken at the completion of the antenna installation in 2019.”

The antenna is at 240 meters or 787 feet HAAT, according to the handy site fccinfo.com.

Radio World loves pix of new or interesting technical facilities. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post Look Down, Look Down, Detroit Is at Your Feet appeared first on Radio World.

The Bosch Group’s Building Technologies division has announced the appointment of Ramesh Jayaraman to senior vice president and general manager  for business unit communications. To Radio World readers that means he takes over communications for Electro-Voice products.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

Before Bosch, Jayaraman vice president and general manager, Asia-Pacific for Harman Professional Solutions. In addition, holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering and an MBA from the University of Illinois.

Jayaraman will be based in Burnsville, Minn.

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post Jayaraman Takes Over Comms for Electro-Voice appeared first on Radio World.

This is in response to Michelle Bradley’s commentary, “Even More to All-Digital AM.” Ms. Bradley’s observations are right on the money.

The problem is not knowing the end game for the AM revitalization initiative. If Chairman Pai inferred that FM translators are part of a transition or “bridge” as he said to a Kansas Association of Broadcasters gathering in 2016 and not permanent, then when do AM broadcasters flash cut to digital and turn their translator licenses in? What is the sunset date for analog AM?

Michi made the point that, “The automotive and radio receiver industry needs to make HD Radio, standard equipment, not a ‘luxury option’ like with some manufacturers.” So, when is the FCC going to step in and mandate HD Radio in all cars? It’s the only way this will happen.

I totally agree when she indicated that moving a translator 250 miles is only going to harm the opportunity for more, new LPFM stations. Repurposing low VHF for other uses is an idea whose time has come. The majority of TV broadcasters don’t want the band. Existing Channel 6 TV stations can either keep their channel or change it but the FCC should not license any more TV stations on Channel 6, particularly to LDTV (or give it away free as white space to parasites like Microsoft). Let AM broadcasters migrate to the expanded FM band (formerly Channel 6) if they don’t want to stay on AM, forego their translators and open the channels up to LPFM.

The truth is that the AM revitalization initiative was an Ajit Pai pet project. I don’t think the Democrats are onboard with giving more translators to AM broadcasters or in letting these broadcasters keep their translators indefinitely. In fact, the AM revitalization initiative might look entirely different once Jessica Rosenworcel is made permanent chairman and another Democrat-appointed commissioner is installed. That may be a good thing for the future of FM broadcasting.

Daniel Brown
Owner, Zebra Radio (Part 15), 1610 AM
Retired TV station owner

Radio World invites industry-oriented commentaries and responses. Send to Radio World.

The post Letter: AM Digital – What Is the End Game? appeared first on Radio World.

Groups representing broadcasters and internet streaming companies are expressing reservations about how delivering EAS alerts through the internet would work and say the complexities of accomplishing the feat would be exceptional.

The FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry earlier this year to explore the feasibility of delivering EAS via the internet and how to leverage the capabilities of the internet to enhance alerting by radio and television broadcasters and cable systems. A review of comments from several groups indicates the complex nature of coordinating multiple technologies to offer advanced alerting in the United States.

The National Association of Broadcasters says “certain technical challenges and open policy questions make it extremely burdensome, and likely infeasible, to update the EAS system to enable alerts to consumers provided through the internet, including streaming services.”

[Read: FCC Will Explore EAS on the Internet]

NAB concludes “pure-play online content streamers are not well-positioned to participate in the existing EAS ecosystem for live streaming feeds or on-demand content.” The trade association adds that radio and TV broadcasters currently are very limited in their ability to offer any real enhancements to online alerts, according to NAB.

“We understand that the only online audio outlets that may retransmit EAS messages are websites and apps while simulcasting radio stations. Broadcasters may do so on their own website or through audio apps like TuneIn or digital media players like Roku TV,” NAB wrote in its comments.

NAB notes that “as a general matter, the streaming feeds at the broadcast station are originated upstream of the EAS encoder/decoder in the programming chain, meaning that an EAS alert is typically relayed only if it occurs while a station’s own programming is broadcast on-air.

“However, if an alert occurs during a commercial break in the on-air programming, when different content is inserted into the online stream, then the EAS alert is not usually retransmitted to the listener or viewer,” NAB commented.

The trade association urges the commission to report to Congress that EAS should not be extended to internet-based services at this time.

The Digital Media Association (DiMA) believes it may be it may be technically feasible to complete some, but not all, steps required for end-to-end transmission of EAS alerts through the internet, specifically, via the music pure-play streaming services offered by DiMA member companies.

“While receiving and processing EAS alerts may be technically possible, however, the national and global nature of these streaming services, which operate as apps on hardware devices or through websites relying on networks these services have no control over to transmit data, makes monitoring for, retransmitting, and delivering EAS alerts to end users infeasible, if not impossible,” DiMA wrote in comments filed with the FCC.

DiMA continues: “Further, for practical and technical reasons, doing so would not advance the purpose of the EAS. Music streaming services do not collect granular location data and, therefore, would not be able accurately target emergency messages to the relevant recipients. Rather than increasing the reach of EAS, streaming services’ involvement will duplicate and possibly interfere with activities of existing participants.”

The FCC in its notice of inquiry noted the apparent challenges of using the internet for EAS alerting, including the large geographic service areas of streaming services and how those companies would monitor alerts from state, territorial and local governments for EAS alerts in Common Alerting Protocol.

Digital Content Next told the FCC the group believes extending the EAS obligations to streaming services would be very complicated from a technical perspective given the number of devices and services where content is viewed or heard.

“For example, consumers can receive content from streaming services on a wide variety of phones, tablets, laptops and televisions. Each of these devices may utilize different kinds of software. Also, software is frequently updated by the device manufacturer, which results in additional diversification of devices,” Digital Content Next commented.

The group, which represents a wide-array of internet publishing brands, said ensuring that emergency alerts can be delivered, viewed and heard properly on the myriad combination of devices, software versions and platforms would be immensely complex. “In order to monitor for and deliver EAS messages, streaming services would need to make different adjustments for each kind of device, software and platform,” Digital Content Next wrote.

In addition, streaming services “generally lack local network architecture and are not geographically proximate to their customers,” and “streaming providers would have to reconfigure their technology to have the capability to properly deliver geo-targeted local emergency alerts,” the trade association said, whose members include Disney, Bloomberg and ESPN.

The FCC is looking at ways to modernize EAS infrastructure after a mandate from Congress to broaden the capabilities of EAS and WEA [Wireless Emergency Alerts] in the United States and improve reliability to prevent false alerts.

Reply comments to the notice of inquiry on the feasibility of updating EAS or to improve alerts through the internet are due June 14.

 

The post FCC Collects Feedback on Using Internet for EAS Alerts appeared first on Radio World.

Logos of Bonneville’s Denver stations

Add Bonneville International to the list of U.S. radio companies that have agreed to consent decrees involving their online political files.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau said it reached agreement with Bonneville International Corp. to resolve “the matter of … [Bonneville’s] public file derelictions.”

[Read: The FCC Can See Your Public File]

This follows the template that the FCC has taken with numerous other broadcast groups large and small, in which the companies have promised to implement compliance plans and follow the rules in future.

As Radio World recently reported, the commission as of early May had adopted about 135 of these consent decrees, covering approximately 2,100 stations, including those of major companies like iHeartMedia, Audacy, Beasley, Alpha Media and Salem.

As with those other large groups, Bonneville has agreed that the general terms of the compliance plan will apply to all of the commercial stations it owns. Bonneville owns 22 radio stations in six western U.S. markets

In addition, its four Denver-area stations whose license renewal applications prompted this review must file compliance reports later this year before the next general election.

 

The post Bonneville Joins FCC Consent Decree List appeared first on Radio World.

Here are several of the recent letters to the editor published by our Opinion section.

Show Some Trust

Getty Images/Olivier Le Moal

Dear Editor:

Kudos to Chris Imlay’s commentary in the Feb. 3 issue, “The Integrity & Ethics of Broadcast Engineers.”

His letter seems apropos given the description of the case. Shouldn’t the FCC itself have made measurements?

Might I add a note to the FCC: If you insist on concluding all broadcast engineer interference investigations are inherently biased, why did you scale back the FCC field offices?

It sounds like the commission wants to have it both ways: no engineering presence but rejecting consulting engineers’ findings.

Rolf Taylor, Rocket Engineering and Consulting

 

A Mic Under Fire

Re the article “In Appreciation of the EV635A” in the Feb. 3 issue:

My appreciation for the 635A was on Feb. 12, 1974. A Delaware & Hudson freight train that had left Binghamton, N.Y. earlier that afternoon derailed four miles north of Oneonta. It had been traveling at 32 mph when the brakes were applied. Eight bulk propane tank cars were involved in the derailment.

I ran into my station in town, grabbed an EV635A to which I had added a coiled cord and cassette tape deck, and bolted to the site.

Shortly after 4 p.m., a propane car buried underneath the others blew. I was doing a take when the force of the explosion threw me into the air, dislodging the 635 from the cassette deck.

A photo of the train wreck, post-explosion.

My clothes were burned and I was semi-conscious. The tape deck rolled until the cassette ran out.

The EV? It stayed wrapped around my arm, its coil burned into my coat. It was unharmed, if a bit soot covered!

A copy of the tape exists today and is still somewhat chilling to hear.

Timothy Braddock, Oneonta, N.Y.

 

AM Is No Albatross

I’m sure many of us have witnessed the practice of branding an FM translator as “Big 93 FM” or some such while pretending the supporting AM signal does not exist.

Ponder this: Your FM translator has a serious failure and you are off for three days (or longer, if you have an overseas sourced transmitter or an antenna failure in winter).

If you had continued to mention your AM frequency, at least your more alert listeners would know they could still find you on AM. The opportunity to promote the AM as having a wider listening area is another value-added tool.

Adding “… and on 1090 AM” costs nothing.

The goal of AM revitalization is to strengthen and invigorate AM, but it appears that just the opposite is happening as owners actually discourage AM listenership by pretending it is an albatross.

I don’t know who is feeding you this bad advice, but please stop listening to it.

Bob Hawkins, Contract Engineer, Edinburgh, Ind.

Submit Letters to the Editor at radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post Letters: Ethics, AM Albatross, EV635 appeared first on Radio World.

Cadence George works in the booth at KPFG(FM) “The Pulse” at East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa, Ariz.

If commercial radio is the major leagues, non-commercial high school stations represent the youngest of our farm teams.

Each year the John Drury Awards recognize the best of these. WLTL(FM) in Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Ill., was recently chosen as best high school station in the nation.

Additional awards during the December ceremony went to other high school broadcasters for best news feature story, best specialty music program and best website, among other honors.

Zach DeWitz

Zach DeWitz, general manager of WONC(FM) at North Central College in Naperville, Ill., is in charge of the awards.

“When I was a junior attending this school and working here at WONC John Madormo, our then-GM started these awards, and he named them after John Drury, a famed broadcaster who was on the air for decades in Chicagoland,” said DeWitz.

“My wife teaches high school and tells me that so many radio courses have been cut in these hard times, but it’s great to still see so many students dedicated to learning this craft, learning how to be good broadcasters.”

“Doing every job”

The Drury competition receives 200 to 300 entries across its various categories each year, mostly from high schools in the Midwest, though some come from as far away as California. DeWitz wants to reach more schools across the country in the future.

Awards are given in wide-ranging categories like talk programs, sports play-by-play, documentaries and social media. Thanks to the work of Nathan Ronchetti, awards coordinator and assistant to DeWitz, who designed its website, entries are now submitted each fall via www.johndruryawards.com, where airchecks and other content can be uploaded.

“In the pre-COVID days we would invite entrants to visit us here at the college for the ceremony, to tour our station and receive their trophies in person, and we hope to get back to that after the current health crisis,” said DeWitz. “For now it’s done virtually and we mail the awards out.”

DeWitz believes that young people are still very much interested in radio, if perhaps not in the same way as in years past.

“There are more media for them to investigate,” he said. “Students want to learn podcasting, making videos and everything else, and many are interested in radio as a hobby rather than a career. I definitely see that as a trend.

“Some of the students have what it takes to make it in professional radio, but for now they just want to experience a little of everything. Doing every job, as I did when I worked on the air at WONC, is the best way to prepare yourself and provide what employers want. They want one person who can do the job of more than one person.”

Interest in news

Chris Thomas is general manager and faculty advisor at the latest recipient of the top prize, WLTL. Like DeWitz, Thomas worked for his station on the air before reaching his current position.

“High school stations are not that common, especially FCC-licensed stations,” he said. “More and more schools are adding streaming operations, which is great, and some were even able to grab an LPFM license, but overall it’s a small percentage of stations out there. I don’t have a precise number, but we were able to find about 180 high school stations including FM, AM, LPFM and online, that are student-run.”

How does one go about funding this type of station? Thomas gets some money from his administration but also holds an annual on-air pledge drive.

Production work at WLTL(FM) in La Grange, Ill.

“The school is generous enough to ensure we have what we need in personnel, studio space and basic equipment,” he said. “But our fundraiser allows us to give the students what they will see elsewhere when they leave WLTL. For example, we purchased Axia iQ control boards, Comrex Access units and other equipment such as laptops, Electro-Voice RE20 microphones, Zoom H4n handheld recorders and Shure SM57 microphones. On average we’ll pull in about $25,000 from community members and businesses.”

Thomas, like DeWitz, sees radio interests shifting in young people.

“Podcasting and creating online content are huge areas right now,” said Thomas. “The students are also interested in audio production and we’re happy to help them.

“The other thing I see is more interest in news, especially in light of what has been happening over the last few years. I see more students interested in how news works, which is encouraging.”

Thomas does not agree with the oft-expressed opinion that radio is dying.

“Anyone who feels that way is invited to tune in to not only WLTL, but any high school or college station and hear what today’s students are doing with the medium. It may not be the radio we grew up on, because how we create content will continue to evolve and adapt. It’s a blessing to be part of it and watch the next generation of broadcasters.”

A little of this, a little of that

Dave Juday is a radio/audio production instructor at East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa, Ariz. The student station at this Career and Technical Education high school is KPNG(FM), “The Pulse.”

“Our students are juniors and seniors who spend half their day with us and the other half tackling regular high school core classes,” he said.

“Our station is 15,000 watts and covers most of the Phoenix metro area, and we have a state-of-the-art digital recording studio here. While the students are with us, they are trained in commercial, promo, PSA and show production as well as music creation. The course also covers broadcast journalism, sports play-by-play and even engineering for live events.”

Evan Dean, Josh Simon, Spencer Cihak and Zach Larson of KPNG(FM) at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Juday said that many of his students are not necessarily interested in being on the air.

“Because our program covers so many aspects of radio and broadcast production the students have a lot of opportunities within ‘The Pulse.’ We have had several students go on to work in promotions, production and on-air positions in the Phoenix market, and we had one student who is the broadcasting and media content coordinator for the Oakland Athletics baseball team,” he said.

“The more versatile our students are, the more employable they are when they leave us. It’s possible that their first job in radio won’t be exactly what they were looking for, but chances are it could eventually lead to a position they are passionate about.”

A longtime RW contributor, author Ken Deutsch says he was a college radio disc jockey in the late 1960s when words like “far out” and “groovy” were uttered in earnest. 

Nominations for the 2021 John Drury Awards are open until May 31. Each radio station must be affiliated with an academic high school and be licensed as an AM or FM facility, registered as a carrier current station by the FCC or be heard online. Visit johndruryawards.com.

The post Drury Awards Celebrate High School Radio appeared first on Radio World.

The complicated process of repacking C-band earth stations is underway in the United States, and radio broadcasters with receive dishes are managing the logistics and timing of their moves to mitigate possible interference.

As the country shifts C-band spectrum as part of a move toward national expansion of 5G, some satellite industry experts said a sense of urgency is developing and they urged broadcasters to order bandpass filters quickly to minimize disruptions.

C-band refers to frequencies in the 3.7 GHz to 4.2 GHz range. The spectrum has been used extensively for satellite downlinks, but those services are being repacked to the upper portion (4.0–4.2 GHz) of the band.

Observers say that if earth station licensees do not add the necessary filters — and replace small dishes where necessary — by the end of this year, 5G interference to satellite reception could start to be an issue in larger cities

That’s because Phase 1 of the satellite repack involves clearing satellite programming out of the lower 100 MHz of the band, 3.7–3.8 GHz, throughout 2021. After Dec. 5 of this year, 5G cellular transmitters will start to come online in that slice of spectrum in the most populous parts of the country. Satellite downlinks that aren’t equipped with appropriate filters could see their reception wiped out.

Phase 2 involves clearing satellite programming out of the lower 300 MHz of the band (3.7–4.0 GHz) throughout 2022 and 2023; and again 5G cellular transmitters will then turn on in that spectrum.

Planned structure of the band after the migration, from the website of the Relocation Payment Clearinghouse at https://cbandrpc.com/.

“Most radio stations can go straight to installing Phase 2 filters now, and at that point they will be done with the repack,” said John Joslin, director of sales and marketing at satellite hardware supplier Dawnco.

“The reason they can act now is that popular programs from Westwood One, Premiere, Learfield, NPR and Skyview are already above 4000 MHz and are within the bandpass of the Phase 2 filters. Stations should install the Phase 2 filter after the repack moves their programing above 4000 MHz, and thereby protect their downlinks from the coming 5G cellular interference.”

He said stations must also replace any mesh dishes as well as dishes with a diameter of less than 3.7 meters.

“The new Phase2 filters have significant attenuation, which will reduce EbNo numbers on satellite receivers,” he said. “Make an assessment to see if all of your sat antennas have 2 to 3 dB of signal quality margin, and replace those that do not with a larger dish.”

Taking their lumps

The FCC proceeding for C-band reallocation includes monies to reimburse earth station licensees for expenses to reconfigure earth stations to receive programming from the upper portion of the band. That could include modification and reconfiguration of dishes or possible relocation to prevent interference from new 5G cellular operating below 3980 MHz after December 2021 and below 4000 MHz after December 2023.

Approximately 1,500 earth station operators, some with multiple licenses, took the “lump sum” election, according the latest data from the FCC. Those licensees that did not accept that option can work with their satellite provider or recoup justifiable filter, dish and labor expenses direct from the Relocation Payment Clearinghouse, for expenses associated with the transition or relocation.

As of the end of April, the clearinghouse was expected soon to begin accepting applications for reimbursement on its website for registered downlink sites that did not file for the lump sum payment. One source indicated that would happen in mid-May, but FCC officials declined to comment on that.

The commission spokesperson said the clearinghouse has been working to set the procedures for processing reimbursement claims and for sending payments to entities that made lump sum elections.

“More details on this front will be announced as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said in April.

The clearinghouse is administered by accounting firm CohnReznick and law firm Squire Patton Boggs LLP. The FCC worked with RKF Engineering Solutions to develop its spectrum transition cost catalog, which sets reimbursement values for the work and hardware involved.

Across all users, including the radio industry, there are approximately 20,000 registered earth stations in the contiguous U.S. that are classified as incumbents for purposes of the C-band transition, according to the commission.

Satellite operators including SES and Intelsat have separate transition plans for their earth station customers. Those operators and others are eligible for billions of dollars in accelerated relocation incentive payments from the FCC to quickly move services to different frequencies.

[“SES Offers Some Answers to Radio’s C Band Questions,” Oct. 2020]

An SES spokesperson said about 40% of all of its earth station customers will be affected by the Phase 1 deadline in December.

Hardware concerns

One infrastructure insider told Radio World he anticipates there will be a bandpass filter shortage for earth station operators this year as the lump sum payments begin to arrive and orders for filters begin to flow.

“The two filter factories in the United States combined produce only 200 to 300 filters per week, and a last-minute burst of demand from hundreds of stations will cause high prices and long lead times,” the observer said.

“Large-market sites will stress when they are stuck in line waiting for their filter to arrive knowing that the interference begins in December. These new 5G services will cause interference for earth station operators who are not prepared.”

Radio broadcasters with downlink sites in major markets should begin planning for the transition if they haven’t already started, several experts said.

Public radio leases one C-band transponder on Intelsat’s Galaxy 16 satellite. National Public Radio was already working with satellite bandwidth provider Intelsat to designate a new transponder above 4 GHz for downlinks even before the repack process began, according to Michael Beach, vice president of distribution for NPR.

“Most of that work has been completed, which means some network infrastructure has already been updated in the past two years,” he said. “All the new PRSS receivers are now in place at every interconnected public radio station and the PRSS migration to new C-band frequencies is complete.”

Meanwhile, earth station filter installation is underway at many public radio stations across the country, Beach said. Each public station within the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS) owns its own downlink equipment, according to NPR.

“This means that if they had a registered antenna on the FCC approved list, they were eligible to have Intelsat complete their filter installation, or opt out and receive the onetime payment from the FCC. Many of these stations told us that they have purchased a filter and installed it, had Intelsat install it for them, or have set up an appointment to have the work done,” Beach said.

Based on information from Intelsat, roughly 55% of eligible PRSS earth stations opted for Intelsat to install filters for them, and 45% selected the one-time lump sum payment option and will install the filters themselves, Beach said.

So far no repointing of antennas has been required of any public radio station since the PRSS remains on the same satellite using a transponder on the same polarity as its old signal, he said.

Networks prepare

Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, does not expect to have its operations disrupted by the C-band repack, according to Jeff Littlejohn, EVP of engineering for iHeartMedia. Premiere Networks operates in the portion of C-band spectrum that is not affected.

iHeartMedia radio stations, Littlejohn said, have a project underway to install filtering on all C-band dishes used by the broadcaster. “We expect the project to be completed in Q3 of this year,” he said.

iHeartMedia, the largest radio group in the United States, accepted the FCC’s lump sum option as reimbursement for expenses connected to reconfiguring its network of receive earth stations. It holds approximately 175 such licenses, according to the company.

Westwood One, which is owned by Cumulus Media, has worked for two years with the satellite providers to ensure a seamless change, according to Eric Wiler, senior VP of network technology and operations.

“Westwood One was already located above the 4000 MHz cutoff, so our transponders were always compatible with the new frequency allocation for satellite,” Wiler said.

“Overall, if an earth station is using a 3.8 meter (2 degree compliant) dish, with a current LNB, the Phase 2 (Blue) filters should mitigate the impact of 5G in most situations.”

Wiler said his biggest concern is with downlinks in the top 46 Partial Economic Areas that do not install new filters to shield from 5G interference by this December.

“While not every area will be saturated with 5G immediately in the first few days, ensuring filters are in place is the best proactive response stations may take,” he said.

“The C-Band Alliance did a lot of testing, including live-range testing, of these filer designs, demonstrating the effectiveness and preventing 5G signals from saturating the LNBs on earth stations.

“Westwood One is working with our Cumulus radio stations to install filters in advance of the December deadlines. Rather than focusing on only the top 46 PEAs, we’re filtering all our downlinks with the Phase 2 (blue) filters, as the major networks on SES-11 have already transitioned to our permanent frequencies.”

Unregistered users

There is still concern among some observers that a substantial number of small rural radio and television stations and private networks that rely on C-band programming may not have submitted registration filings for their downlink sites with the FCC and therefore are ineligible for compensation.

“We estimate that 20% of our broadcast and cable downlink customers did not register their dishes back in 2017 and 2018,” said Joslin of Dawnco.

“They didn’t hear about the registration drive, or they didn’t think it was important enough to pay the filing fee. Some stations may have to spend $5,000 to $15,000 to replace their dish if their old dish is susceptible to interference after the repack.”

The FCC has said there will not be another opportunity for earth station registration.

“As detailed in the C-band Report and Order, to qualify for cost reimbursement, an earth station must have met all relevant criteria to be considered incumbent for purposes of the C-band transition, including registration,” according to a commission spokesperson.

The redistribution of coveted C-band spectrum for next-gen 5G services has proven valuable for the United States. The FCC earlier this year announced final bid totals in Auction 107 of the C-band yielding nearly $81 billion. Cellco Partnership (Verizon) alone bid over $45 billion for approximately 3,500 licenses, according to FCC data. An AT&T led consortium paid over $23 billion for around 1,600 spectrum licenses.

It was the FCC’s most lucrative spectrum auction ever.

[Read more of Radio World’s recent C Band migration coverage.]

The post C-Band Migration Underway for Dish Users appeared first on Radio World.

A missed deadline led the Federal Communications Commission to issue a monetary forfeiture for $1,500 to the licensee of an FM translator station — despite the licensee’s protestations that the Media Bureau had overstepped its bounds.

The FCC rules require that station license renewal applications be filed no later than the first day of the fourth month prior to the expiration of the license. For FM translator W275CC in Macon, Ga., the application for renewal should have been filed by Dec. 2, 2019, prior to the expiration date of April 1, 2020. The licensee, LLF Holdings, filed the application on March 17 and provided no explanation for its untimely filing, the Media Bureau said in its forfeiture order.

Violations like these have a base forfeiture of $3,000. But the Media Bureau reduced the proposed forfeiture in this case to $1,500 because the station is one that provides a secondary service. The bureau gave the licensee 30 days to either pay the full amount of the forfeiture or submit a written statement seeking reduction or cancellation.

[Read: Another Translator, Another Fine]

Soon after, LLF Holdings responded to the bureau to admit that while it did not file its renewal application on time, it had had several points of contention with the Media Bureau’s decision. The first, LLF said, was that the bureau erred in not granting its renewal application at the same time it issued the Notice of Apparent Liability.

Secondly, LLF said that the proposed forfeiture should simply be cancelled outright. Specifically, the licensee argued that section 504(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 actually bars the commission from “making the payment of a civil forfeiture a condition precedent to the grant of an application.” LLF went on to say that civil forfeitures are only recoverable in new proceedings brought in federal district court.

LLF had a few other concerns: one, that FCC rules and its forfeiture policy statement do not include a forfeiture provision for late-filed renewal applications. Secondly, LLF said the bureau did not put it on notice about the potential forfeiture, which the licensee claims is in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act. And finally, LLF argued that the commission has treated other licensees differently, like when it granted late-filed renewal applications for translator stations in Georgia and Alabama without imposing a fine.

But the Media Bureau rejected all of LLF’s arguments. It said that sending out the Notice of Apparently Liability was part of the renewal process and that withholding the grant of the renewal until a forfeiture is paid is consistent with statute and case law. The Communications Act gives the commission the authority to impose a forfeiture against any licensee that fails to comply with its rules, the bureau said. “The commission expects, and it is each licensee’s obligation, to know and comply with all of the commission’s rules.” Moreover, the bureau said it has a long made it clear that failure to file a timely renewal application is grounds for the issuance for a monetary forfeiture.

As to LLF’s other arguments, the bureau said no case law was provided to show that the bureau is precluded from withholding a renewal application pending payment of a forfeiture issued in the same proceeding involving that application.

When it comes to the FCC not imposing a fee on other late filed application, the bureau reminded LLF that the bureau gives licensees a 30-day grace period in which to file renewal applications following the filing deadline without imposing a monetary forfeiture. The Georgia and Alabama stations cited by LLF filed their applications within 30 days of the filing deadline. LLF did not file its renewal application until March 17, 2020, the bureau said, well over three months past the filing deadline and outside the 30-day grace period.

As a result the Media Bureau found that LLF is still liable for a monetary forfeiture of $1,500.

 

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