Radio World

In its strong opposition to allowing geo-targeting on FM boosters, the National Association of Broadcasters told the FCC it is worried about “cannibalization” among radio stations as well as harm to smaller and minority-owned stations.

Radio World is excerpting public comments filed to the FCC in a series of articles. Here, we summarize the section of the NAB filing about cannibalization.

“Although GBS presents its proposal as a permissive option, even voluntary adoption by only one or two stations is likely to disrupt the advertising market for other broadcasters in the same radio market,” NAB told the commission Wednesday.

“In particular, allowing geo-targeting could thrust broadcasters into a collision that disadvantages smaller stations less equipped to absorb the costs of implementing ZoneCasting effectively or reduced ad rates. GBS’s own filings demonstrates the risks.”

It pointed to an example from GBS showing a high-powered station broadcasting from downtown Manhattan that could use boosters to create zoned coverage areas in New Jersey, Connecticut and on Long Island:

“Although GBS offers this image to illustrate the station’s opportunity to use boosters to geo-target news and information to these respective areas, the station would also be able to sell geo-targeted ads,” NAB told the FCC.

“It is easy to foresee the negative impact on smaller stations licensed to Edison, N.J., and Mount Kisco, N.Y., and other distant suburbs. Such broadcasters must already compete with nearby stations for precious ad dollars from grocery stores, car dealers and other small businesses in the local area.

“If the booster rule is amended, they could be pitched into battle against much larger, New York City-based broadcasters for this critical local business. And contrary to GBS’s claims, some broadcasters believe that any such opportunity to sell zoned ads to new customers will largely be one-way because smaller stations do not have access to the capital necessary to implement geo-targeting as effectively, or capture enough new advertising business to justify the effort.”

[Related: “GBS Gathers Support for Geo-Targeting”]

NAB also questioned the usefulness of ZoneCasting for stations in small and mid-sized markets. It said its members in these markets view ZoneCasting as a “big city play,” at best.

“It would be unusual for small and mid-sized radio markets to have multiple pockets of population sufficient to support the investment required to deploy GBS’s system. GBS points to certain radio markets that cross state borders or cover multiple economic areas where geo- targeting could possibly make sense. Again, however, most broadcasters predict that larger stations would enjoy the lion’s share of any such benefits, at the expense of smaller stations.”

NAB argues that “nearly all” radio broadcasters consider GBS’s proposal “as a lose-lose proposition in which the only winners would be the technology provider and advertisers.”

The association also disputes that geo-targeting will help minority-owned broadcasters, a benefit that has been mentioned publicly several times by Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

NAB acknowledged that public interest organizations led by MMTC have expressed support of GBS’s petition. “MMTC explained that minority station owners often entered broadcasting later than others, leading them to locate their tower sites located some distance from downtown. MMTC states that ZoneCasting would enable these broadcasters to target different programming to different audiences, and adds that such owners may also be able to entice small and minority owned businesses to purchase less expensive, zoned ads.”

NAB said it shares MMTC’s goals to help promote minority ownership of stations but says the booster rule change would likely be counter-productive.

“First, a minority broadcaster with a transmitter on the fringe of a market would already have the incentive and ability to obtain a booster so as to provide a stronger signal into the urban core of a market. Given that the FCC’s rules permit stations to deploy a booster at their convenience, we presume that any such broadcaster has already done so where the investment has been justified.”

NAB said that any incremental ad sales to small businesses from geo-targeting would not change that calculation, particularly in light of the risks and costs of implementing geo-targeting.

It noted that GBS has offered to provide vendor financing to certain FM stations, fronting the capital to design, build and operate a booster, in exchange for a share of the marginal ad revenue it generates.

NAB asked what would happen if GBS encounters financial problems and requires accelerated payment, and what would the station’s obligation be if revenues are insufficient to repay GBS or the station discontinues service.

“We understand that vendor financing has been used in other telecommunications contexts. However, to NAB’s knowledge, it would be highly unusual if not unprecedented for the FCC to alter a long-standing rule in order to approve a new broadcast technology based on the promises of a single, private company to fund its rollout.” It said the FCC should not rely on GBS’s about vendor financing plan.

“Finally, MMTC does not address the unintended consequences that ZoneCasting could impose on minority broadcasters. Just like other similarly situated, smaller radio stations, minority owned stations could face new competition from large stations in other parts of a market. There would be nothing to stop a large downtown station, with the resources to fund its own booster and effectively sell zoned ads, from building a booster near a minority-owned station and using the booster to seize ad dollars from small or minority-owned businesses in the area,” it wrote.

“Moreover, a larger station could better afford to charge very attractive prices for zoned ads to win such business. In the end, ZoneCasting could be little more than a vehicle for large stations to increase their dominance at the expense of smaller stations, including those owned by people who are members of historically underrepresented groups. Such an outcome would not serve the public interest in diverse radio service.”

[Related: “ZoneCasting Would Level the Playing Field for Radio”]

The post NAB Details Its “Cannibalization” Worry appeared first on Radio World.

The author is executive director of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. NFCB commentaries are featured regularly at www.radioworld.com.

Commercial radio stations over the last week yanked tracks by country music superstar Morgan Wallen after his use of a racist slur went viral. Cumulus has ordered an end to radio hosts circulating election conspiracy theories that fueled the Jan. 6 riot led by extremists. WSMN firing Dianna Ploss over the summer is one of many instances of stations booting hosts for racist behavior. And, the radio industry has watched as more than a dozen noncommercial licensees have grappled the last few years with accusations by former and current staff of abuse by leadership and veteran hosts.

To their credit, many stations today are trying to do the right thing by making it clear they want to be inclusive. But making things better means also being transparent about how radio stations have contributed to the condition the nation finds itself in.

[Read: Community Broadcaster: DJing the Generational Divide]

Commercial radio’s sordid relationship with the racial line is no secret. Take, for example, WFUV this week documenting the history of what was known as Black radio. Let’s be clear though. Black radio then was a term that defined the industry that had to emerge for Black performers who were banned by larger radio stations that played white artists. What’s now the urban format was, not too many decades ago, called Black radio. Even as late as the 1990s, radio doing a pop format marginalized or entirely avoided Black artists and art forms, such as early hip-hop. More pervasively, as Danyel Smith points out, Americans’ perceptions of “crossover” music and performances were shaped by white acceptance of Black performers.

And let’s not even get into commercial talk radio, whose most prominent name, Rush Limbaugh, unleashed the floodgates of bigoted hucksterism that still influences local call-in shows.

For all its notions of mission, noncommercial radio has plenty of its own skeletons. Consider the many stations in the 1970s to 1990s that shelved longtime broadcasts of a traditionally Black art form, jazz, in favor of super-serving affluent white audiences. In this quest, stations wrung out virtually all color from their sound; it was bad enough that Chenjerai Kumanyika called out “public radio voice” in 2015. Considering the generations-long quest to cleanse public radio of its personality and culture, is it really any surprise prestige brands like WNYC became the poster children for terrible bosses and discrimination complaints? Stations to this day still struggle to create more equitable relationships with staff of color and make inroads in Black communities.

Obviously, radio is not at fault for all that ails the country. Yet we can’t have it both ways, demanding attention for positive work, but assigning blame elsewhere when radio contributes or has contributed negatively to public life by reinforcing prejudice. Radio has historically had the greatest reach of any media. At a time when accepting responsibility is becoming more common, we have a rare opportunity to be part of tendency that clears the air at last.

Still, there’s a contingent that says radio’s failures are in the past and people need to get over it. True vision in leadership, however, means acknowledging and apologizing for how business was done before, and striving to be more honest in correcting our errors. It also means openly talking about it, and sharing with audiences the steps you’re taking now to be an organization positioned to foster an equitable future. Scores of industries now understand this is a moment to atone and spark new relationships with our listeners.

The post Community Broadcaster: Has Radio Done Enough to Fix its Racist Past? appeared first on Radio World.

Problems with station political files continue to make the list of recent Media Bureau actions at the Federal Communications Commission.

It appears that the staff there is continuing to work its way through a long list of broadcasters that failed to maintain their online political files correctly.

You’ll recall that the FCC had announced consent decrees with six major broadcast companies last July and that it subsequently rattled off a series of additional settlements.

In recent days the commission has announced fresh consent decrees with Times-Citizen Communications Inc., Powell Broadcasting Co., Zimmer Radio Inc., Bott Communications Inc., River City Radio Inc., Maquoketa Broadcasting Co. and Trending Media Inc.

All are essentially the same: The broadcast owner files for a station license renewal but the Audio Division suspends the process because the online public files aren’t kept up. The licensee acknowledges this and promises to institute steps including appointing a compliance officer, creating a compliance plan and reporting back to the commission by a later date. The commission meanwhile acknowledges that the pandemic caused a dramatic reduction in ad revenues, causing the industry significant financial stress, and drops its investigation.

Money fines aren’t involved.

The post Public File Consent Decrees Multiply appeared first on Radio World.

John Beck is iHeart’s new top guy in St. Louis. The company named the award-winning radio veteran as its market president in the gateway city.

Beck is the former senior VP at Emmis Communications, where he had oversight of several St. Louis stations.

Katy Pavelonis has been the acting market president and remains as SVP of sales.

A recipient of numerous broadcasting awards, Beck is a former president of the Missouri Broadcasters Association and now chairs its Legislative Affairs Committee; he’s also active in the National Association of Broadcasters, where he has been a board member and served on the NAB Executive Committee.

Beck launched his career at WFFM in Pittsburgh. He’ll report to Tony Coles, division president for iHeartMedia Markets Group. Coles praised Beck’s local ties and “deep roots in both the media and advertising communities.”

Send news about radio management and engineering job changes to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post iHeart Tabs John Beck for Top Job in St. Louis appeared first on Radio World.

A Mississippi station that wanted to raise power — and be a kind of test case for a proposed new FM class — won’t get that chance.

The Federal Communications Commission has turned down an application by Commander Communications Corp. for a rule waiver to upgrade its Class A station in Sharon, Miss.

Commander wanted to operate WRTM using parameters that another company, SSR Communications, has been urging the FCC to allow by creating Class C4, an intermediate FM class between existing Classes A and C3. The FCC has an open notice of inquiry on that question.

[Related: “C4 FM Proposal Stalls at FCC”]

WRTM asked to increase its effective radiated power from 4.6 kW to 9.2 kW to reach a larger audience. In addition to providing several technical arguments, Commander said approval of its application would provide the FCC with useful information about potential Class C4 facilities.

SSR Communications supported the idea as a kind of proof of concept of its idea.

But Commander needed a rule waiver because WRTM’s application didn’t satisfy minimum distance separation requirements from WNSL in Laurel, Miss. That station is owned by iHeartMedia, which opposed the request.

WRTM is a short-spaced station under rule section 73.215, which deals with contour protections for short-spaced assignments. WNSL is a fully spaced station under 73.207, which is about minimum distance separations between stations.

These rules mean that when WRTM calculates protected and interfering contour overlap, it must protect WNSL as though the latter were operating at the hypothetical maximum ERP and height above average terrain for its class rather than its actual predicted contours.

iHeart argued that such the fundamental questions at issue here should be handled through rulemaking, not through a waiver or as an interim measure.

It said that an “involuntary section 73.215 designation” is a “highly controversial aspect” of the Class C4 proposal that would preclude WNSL from later increasing power to its class maximum and that could limit its options to relocate that station. And further, if a waiver was in fact granted, iHeart said, the reduction in interference protection would essentially constitute an unsought license modification to its station.

Albert Shuldiner, chief of the Audio Division of the FCC Media Bureau, now has ruled against Commander, saying the request didn’t provide compelling reasons to justify a waiver.

Simply wanting to reach more potential listeners isn’t a sufficient reason for a waiver, he wrote.

Also, the FCC won’t consider a waiver based on the theory that a station cannot construct, or is unlikely to construct, maximum class facilities. Maximum class protection, he wrote, is not a waste of spectrum. “Rather, it serves the public interest by preserving interference-free service while providing flexibility for future site relocations and service improvements.”

Shuldiner’s ruling emphasized that designation under section 73.215 is voluntary. “We will not force WNSL to accept diminished protection based on Commander’s assessment of whether WNSL (or the tower owner) could or should have capitalized on previous opportunities to upgrade.”

He didn’t accept other arguments made by Commander. “Many stations seeking a similar upgrade also could claim they would not cause harm by avoiding displacing secondary service stations, changing their communities of license, causing predicted contour overlap or affecting television spectrum repacking,” he wrote.

Finally, he agreed with iHeart that creating a new class of FM station or reducing protections for stations operating below class maximums “should be the result of careful consideration of a complete rulemaking record, not implemented piecemeal through the waiver process or to allow for a ‘proof of concept’ of the Class C4 proposal.”

The post FCC Rejects a Class C4 “Test Case” appeared first on Radio World.

Three public media companies are working together to train broadcasters to develop programming for podcasts.

PRX, PBS Kids and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced a new project called the Ready to Learn Podcast Accelerator, a podcast training and development program for producers looking to create educational content for children. The program will take place virtually over 16 weeks starting in May and run through September. As part of the program, five production teams will be chosen to develop and create family-friendly audio content through a processing- and skills-development podcast program that will touch on everything from preplanning through the production process.

Creators in the program will receive 16 weeks of virtual podcast training led by PRX, a nonprofit media company, in tandem with children’s programming experts from PBS Kids. That training will include workshops, webinars and intensive sessions focusing on concept development, audience, community engagement and production values. The selected groups will also receive $10,000 in funding to assist with production and operational expenses. The deadline to apply is March 19.

The three companies are encouraging production teams with a demonstrated level of interest in children’s storytelling and education media to apply. In addition, independent production teams, public media station teams or teams from U.S.-based media organizations are encouraged to submit new podcast ideas for the children’s media landscape, especially content that centers on diverse voices and communities.

Content may be submitted in any genre, but should center on introducing children ages 4–8 to the world of work. This includes exposure to a variety of career and job options as well as development of social and emotional and executive functions.

The application submission window is open through Friday, March 19. More information can be found at the program website here.

The post Public Media Companies Rally Together on Podcast Training appeared first on Radio World.

Broadcast business software developer Wedel Software has announced that it has hired Nate Butler as director of North American sales. Wedel is based in Amsterdam.

Butler most recently was vice president of broadcast sales for ATX Network Corp., well-known for its XDS line of satellite programming receivers. Previously he was vice president of operations for satellite programming distribution service Orbital Networks. Before that he was director of iHeartMedia’s Kentucky News Network.

[Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com]

Wedel Software CEO Raoul Wedel said, “We’re delighted to welcome Nate to the team. He has incredible experience and it’s a great step to have him onboard with us.”

Butler said, “I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside Wedel Software for a couple years on various projects. I’m excited to now be a part of their team”

The post Wedel Software Hires Butler appeared first on Radio World.

The National Association of Broadcasters has come out strongly against the idea of changing the FM booster rule to allow geo-targeting. It says such a change could undermine the very business model of U.S. radio.

The NAB filed comments to the Federal Communications Commission on the proposal from GeoBroadcast Solutions.

GBS has been garnering support from various stakeholders in and outside of radio; and the company has received a friendly hearing from at least two FCC commissioners in recent months. But NAB’s strong opposition introduces an important new element to the debate.

The association says enabling geo-targeting “will depress advertising rates and revenues at a time when broadcasters already face enormous economic and competitive challenges.”

“The vast majority of broadcasters — from a wide array of perspectives — agree that permitting program origination on boosters will almost certainly drive both advertising rates and revenues down even further as advertisers push to purchase geo-targeted ads,” NAB wrote.

“The outcome is unavoidable, given the obvious business incentives for advertisers to purchase spots that cherry-pick what they view to be their most desirable customers and at a lower cost.”

Further, it could “lead to cannibalization” among stations, and it could hurt smaller stations, including minority-owned ones, in particular. This is a notable point because the possible benefits to small and minority broadcasters have been one of the big selling points for proponents of the GBS system, which has attracted support from a number of minority advocacy groups.

Further, NAB feels that revising the rule could lead to listener confusion, hurting consumer perceptions of the FM service; and it could result in unwelcome “red-lining” of certain listeners.

“While geo-targeted news and information could benefit certain parts of a market, it could also facilitate the geo-targeting of advertising away from certain parts of a radio market based on the demographics of an area. If given the opportunity, radio advertisers may simply direct their ad dollars to zoned ads aimed at their favored customers, especially since geo-targeted ads will cost less than market-wide ads. Listeners in some sections of a market, such as low-income areas, could find themselves ‘redlined’ out of certain radio advertisements.”

Although noting that some broadcasters and other organizations have officially expressed support for the idea, NAB said its own radio members “overwhelmingly and vehemently oppose amending the booster rule. … Any potential benefits of permitting geo-targeting are speculative at best and far outweighed by the far more certain, potentially seismic risks to the business model of FM radio.”

(It added that most of the filed comments in this proceeding so far are “essentially identical and submitted by one attorney who represented GBS in previous requests to modify the booster rule.”)

NAB advised the FCC that if the commission still thinks the whole idea is worthy of further consideration, more real-world testing is needed.

GeoBroadcast Solutions issued a statement Wednesday that didn’t mention NAB’s comments specifically but said that it views the current phase as “the beginning of an active debate on innovation in the radio industry.”

It quoted GBS spokesman Robert Udowitz saying, “Some parties oppose new technologies and innovation, and that is a familiar story for those who have watched broadcast media evolve over the decades. However, a broad range of large and small stations and broadcast groups, the advertising community, and minority coalitions, have indicated their desire to embrace innovation and the future by using broadcast airwaves for a more personal and localized experience.”

Radio World will provide a sampling of other filed comments in subsequent reporting. Initial comments were due today; reply comments are due March 12.

[Related: “GBS Will Test Geo-Targeting in San Jose”]

The post NAB “Strongly Opposes” Geo-Targeting Proposal appeared first on Radio World.

RF manufacturer Nautel has acquired Digidia, a digital radio technology firm based in France, saying the move adds significant DAB+, DRM and synchronous FM technology to its offerings.

Terms were not stated in the announcement.

Nautel plans to continue to operate the two businesses as separate entities.

Nautel highlighted Digidia’s expertise in high-power electronics design and digital signal processing, saying it has “rare design knowledge” in DAB+ and DRM.

Digidia also has been involved in specialized projects such as a highway system in central France using synchronous FM on 107.7 MHz with TDF, a DAB tunnel project in Hong Kong and projects to provide radio reception in various European mountain tunnels.

Digidia was founded in 2005 and is a member of the WorldDAB Consortium. Its product line includes specialized digital radio gear such as multiplexers, content servers, modulators and IP gateways. Nautel said Digidia products are used in some 300 digital radio deployments.

Nautel is headquartered in Nova Scotia, Canada, and with a significant facility in Maine.

“Digidia will continue as a separate entity, serving its customers out of its fully integrated design and manufacturing facility in Rennes, France,” Nautel announced. “Former shareholders Hermann Zensen, Manuel Billot and Damien Bernard will remain as executives for the two companies.”

The announcement was made by Nautel President/CEO Kevin Rodgers and Digidia Sales Manager Hermann Zensen. Rodgers said with this acquisition, Nautel “is underlining its commitment to all major digital radio transmission standards.”

The post Nautel Acquires Digital Tech Firm Digidia appeared first on Radio World.

Bryan Waters is chief engineer at Cumulus Media Atlanta. After 25 years in broadcast radio, including 13 years in engineering, he says, “I learn something new every day.”

This article appeared in Radio World’s “Trends in Codecs and STLs for 2020” ebook

Radio World: How are design and performance of codecs for radio changing?
Bryan Waters: One of the more important trends I am seeing lately with codecs would really be on the STL side. You see more MPX codecs hitting the market, giving more flexibility to broadcasters who want their gear at the studios where it is accessible, but still want the sound of the composite output at the transmitter.

With most units giving built-in failover and/or multiple network interfaces, one piece of gear at a site can get you everything you need.

RW: How are these technologies being deployed to address problems in new ways?
Waters: Codecs have opened up the world for those “hard-to-reach sites,” the situations where you’d never get a STL shot but you’ve got internet.

With Atlanta’s ever-growing metro, a traditional 950 MHz link is not always possible. We deal with it by running GatesAir IPLink MPXp units as our primary STL system, using a mix of composite and AES running over fiber between five sites. With the web GUI, we are able to monitor everything from studio to transmitter site.

RW: What about broadcasting from home?
Waters: Codecs have kept the industry alive during our days of COVID-19 quarantine. From the standard Comrex and Tieline “remote gear” to online sites like CleanFeed.net, we’ve had to find ways to bring co-hosts together virtually, enabling them to still interact with the audience, without it sounding like a train wreck. Though occasionally …

[Check Out More of Radio World’s Ebooks Here]

RW: How powerful can codecs get?
Waters: I think the only limitation is our imagination. Where there is a need, there will always be a person building something bigger, better and stronger.

RW: What functions and features are being offered on new models that engineers who haven’t bought a codec or STL in a while should know about?
Waters: I don’t know if there is a function or feature that would stand out to me, as much as the stability of IP codec units now.

Eight to 10 years ago, an IP codec seemed like a good alternative for remote broadcasts; but the stability, along with a basic lack of network infrastructure, made it a less-than-optimal choice for STL. Today, whether the pipe is big or small, you have available options to get your audio delivered and sounding good.

The post Codecs Open Up “Hard-to-Reach” Sites appeared first on Radio World.

What will radio’s future air chain look like? A newly announced session of the Pro Audio & Radio Tech Summit on April 1 will explore that question.

“Building the Virtual Air Chain,” sponsored by RCS, will include panelists Roz Clark, who is senior director, radio engineering for Cox Media and chair of the Next Generation Architecture working group of the NAB Radio Technology Committee, and Alan Jurison, senior operations engineer, iHeartMedia Centralized Technical Operations and the chair of the Metadata Usage Working Group within the National Radio Systems Committee.

“Radio is adopting new technologies and practices from the information technology industry for its own success,” said Radio World Editor in Chief Paul McLane, who will moderate the discussion. “What will the infrastructure of the future look like — and will we even have one? How far will the industry go toward a ‘virtual air chain’?”

The summit, announced last week, is a free one-day virtual trade show where radio and pro audio professionals can learn about new products and technology and network with colleagues and manufacturers. Organizers reported strong initial registration after the announcement.

It is produced jointly by Mix magazine, Pro Sound News and Radio World.

The summit will feature a virtual exhibition floor, live chat and a separate track of presentations showcasing technologies and trends in pro audio.

The radio keynote session “Hybrid Radio & Android Automotive” will provide a look at two technology topics that affect how radio stations are heard in the car.

Registration for the event is open.

The post RW Tech Session to Explore Virtualization appeared first on Radio World.

Lots of folks sing in the shower. I happen not to — even the water would boo — but I bring it up because that’s where I do a lot of creative thinking.

There’s something about the steam and sound that allows my mind to drift. Wherever your happy place, plan on spending some quality time there because it seems that this pandemic isn’t leaving anytime soon.

To retain and even grow your audience during this time when lifestyle patterns and priorities are in flux, you’ve got to be in a good frame of mind.

I’d like to lay out what I believe to be a path toward engaging your audience. While I can’t solve this specifically for you, I’m hopeful that these thoughts will jumpstart your creativity during that proverbial time in the shower.

1 — What are musicians doing these days?

Many are writing, producing and recording, recording, recording.

A local duo that I follow in DC called MLEMON has done four full albums since last March. They are not alone in their creative output. There are artists in your back yard doing the same.

While the barrier to releasing new materials has never been lower, the ability to reach a big audience is especially challenging with shuttered venues everywhere. Radio to the rescue!

As a role model for this potential promotion, take a peek at NPR’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts. Instead of performing on-site at the Tiny Desk, the norm for over a decade, musicians are recording at home.

NPR also conducted its annual Tiny Desk Contest this pandemic year, capturing over 6,000 entries. You can read the rules for yourself, but I’d like to point out that one fun requirement is that every video include a desk. There’s even a sponsor, State Farm.

Leading up to the winner, NPR featured many of the entries on-air and then followed up by making their winner a featured guest on “All Things Considered.”

Could you pull this off? Yes! This can be done locally and during the pandemic. It has the potential to create huge buzz in your social media, your local press, and TV newscasts.

2 — Next stop: Fashion.

We may be stuck at home, but most of us still gotta get dressed.

This headline from inStyle caught my eye: “How Will Kim Kardashian Dress Without Kanye West Controlling Her Closet?”

No matter what your format — it could even be talk or news — there are many listeners who are interested in or at least curious about this subject.

Also, fashion is something that can be done from home. Create a fashion contest with best-of categories, some of which could be pandemic-specific: masks, lightweight gloves, indoor shoes.

And where would we be in 2021 without Best Unmatched Top and Bottom for Zoom Calls?

Post pictures and videos on your social channels and/or website. Have judges and a Listeners’ Choice award. Could you find a local clothing store as a sponsor? Of course you can.

3 — It seems that animals are endemic to the pandemic.

If you’re not on a lot of Zoom calls, let me share that nearly every call I’m on features a pet’s enthusiastic greeting. While it’s usually dogs and cats, I have also met a talking bird named Buddy and the occasional fish or reptile. Do they distract on the calls? Yes, they do, and man, do people love that distraction.

Adopting or fostering shelter dogs and cats are a huge thing right now as people need companionship and many are isolated. You can easily become part of promoting pet adoption through this process already in place in your community.

You could bring back David Letterman’s timeless “Stupid Pet Tricks.” Of course, you could also do contesting around this one with winners for the best bark or mellowest meow. You could have awards for the prettiest and, yes, the ugliest. Ugly pets can most certainly be adorable just because they’re so strange-looking.

4 — Couples therapy!

What happens when those in committed relationships can’t escape each other because they’re trapped in the same apartment or house, month after month? The time has never been better for a late night call-in therapist who specializes in Just A Little Too Much Togetherness.

This has all the elements that make for compelling radio: comedy, tears, marriage, divorce and more. Don’t have a host? Hold live on-air auditions with therapists in your city and then have listeners vote on the winning host. Of course, they will be doing their show from home. It may even help the show if their spouse, kids or pets would interrupt the live broadcast once in a while!

Mark Lapidus is a veteran media and marketing executive. Email him at marklapidus1@gmail.com.

The post Engage With Listeners Stuck at Home appeared first on Radio World.

Our recent ebook “Console Tech 2021” explores how the physical and virtual surfaces that radio stations and online audio creators use are evolving.

Johan Boqvist is senior product manager, radio on-air at Lawo.

Radio World: Name a specific feature or option of your surface or GUI that you wish to highlight.

Johan Boqvist: Modern radio consoles are no longer standalone physical devices, but are steadily becoming a combination of physical and on-screen interfaces that complement and mirror each other. Lawo has led the way in this area with a software GUI called VisTool, which comes with every Lawo radio mixer, runs on Windows PCs and supports touchscreen controls. 

Lawo was one of the first companies to augment physical controls with virtual controls, which makes VisTool the most mature console GUI on the market.

RW: What makes it notable?

Boqvist: While every Lawo console comes with a basic version of VisTool, there’s an Unlimited version that allows users to completely customize the look, feel and layout of the control GUI with their own

layouts and graphics.

They can literally build a virtual console with it, complete with on-screen, touch-sensitive faders, rotary controls, meters, pushbuttons and more. VisTool can even integrate controls for studio peripherals, including playout systems, phones, codecs, video feeds and social media platforms, etc.

[Related: “How to Choose Your Next Radio Console”]

What makes this notable is that broadcasters have begun to use VisTool not only to control their consoles, but their entire studios. They’re building remote-control solutions with it, where a remote operator connected via IP has complete access to all studio equipment and can run it as if they were physically present in the studio. 

In these days of social distancing, this has proven to be a very in-demand solution, both for stations seeking to be prepared for emergency operation, and for remote talent working from home studios or other locations.

RW: What are other notable features available now in surfaces that may not have been a few years ago?

Boqvist: We’re seeing more and more automation features appearing in radio consoles.

Lawo has pioneered this, with things like AutoMix automatic group mixing and Autogain mic gain features, and also with the ability to set, save and recall settings, customized to individual talent, through the use of snapshots and motorized faders. Built-in touch-sensitive GUIs beginning to appear in radio consoles as well, a feature that was previously available only in large live-sound audio consoles like Lawo’s mc2 series.

RW: For someone who hasn’t bought a console recently, describe the level of “customization” available.

Boqvist: All Lawo radio products are customizable to meet every customer’s unique requirements and workflows. This means console configurations from two to 60 faders, with IP and/or baseband audio interfaces, redundant and non-redundant DSP cores, power distribution, network interfaces and protocols, and a number of DSP licenses and software add-ons to choose from, depending on the application.

The behavior, logic, functions and labels in the console and virtual extension are fully user configurable with the help of intuitive, use-to-use graphical editors and software. 

But if the customer doesn’t require custom configuration, Lawo radio consoles can be delivered with a standard configuration and pre-configured plug-and-play applications.

These standard configurations are frequently updated by our configuration experts based on user feedback and market requirements, to meet the requirements for the majority of radio installations. These standard configurations can also be used as baselines for Lawo’s engineering team to use when collaborating with clients to develop custom solutions.

RW: How many surfaces can an “engine” accommodate?

Boqvist: Great question! But there’s no set answer for every engine and every manufacturer; it depends upon the hardware used. Obviously, hardware with greater power and resources is better.

In Lawo’s case, we have been receiving more and more requests for shared and distributed DSP resources, and for good reason — this approach not only saves money, rack space and power (an environmentally friendly alternative), it makes possible many new options for sharing audio and logic between “logical consoles” and studios without external connections. Our solution is Power Core MAX, a license option for our Power Core DSP mixing engine, which is a 1RU device that’s one of the most powerful DSP devices ever made for broadcast. 

MAX is short for “Multiple Access,” and this license enables the Power Core device to host up to four consoles, either physical, virtual or any combination of the two. The current generation of hardware supports up to 60 faders and 96 parallel DSP channels. That’s more audio resources than a typical single radio application requires, but ideal for sharing those resources among multiple smaller control interfaces. 

Our clients tell us this is a perfect option for multiple consoles in a single studio, or for co-located studios in close proximity, since physical I/O can also be easily shared as well as control. 

Other applications are virtual remote studios with a shared core and DSP engine deployed in a datacenter, with audio connectivity over Ravenna/AES67. Power Core units already in the field can be easily upgraded to MAX functionality with a simple license upgrade.

RW: How will the role of physical surfaces change in the next five years?

Boqvist: Like the rest of the industry, Lawo clearly sees a trend towards more and more virtual consoles and interfaces. As pioneers in virtualization, first with the development of our VisTool graphical control interface, and then with our RƎLAY virtual mixing and routing software, we support this trend and have plenty of experience, having helped customers around the world to deploying virtual user interfaces for production and live broadcasting.

At the same time, customers still want modular physical consoles, very often in combination with virtual interfaces. While we believe that a virtual interface can’t completely replace a physical surface in every application, we think that modular and hybrid console combinations, with open APIs for software integration, are the future. 

This enables flexible deployments and solutions designed for a common and unified workflow across a number of different application scenarios. Lawo Product Management and R&D are working with our UX team and with our clients to develop some exciting products in this vein, which are scheduled for next year, with interfaces that bring modern design and consistent workflow patterns together to unify the overall user experience — whether clients choose physical consoles, virtual consoles or a mixture of both.

The post Console GUIs Get More Powerful appeared first on Radio World.

From our Who’s Buying What page: antenna maker Dielectric said consultant Hal Kneller specified DCR-T antennas for FM translators for AM stations WSRQ(AM) in Sarasota, Fla., and WMDD in Fajardo, P.R.

“WSRQ’s translator for 106.9 FM (W295BH) is part of a blended SFN and simulcasting network that synchronizes programming across four stations in the Sarasota/Bradenton market,” the company stated.

[Related: “Hybrid Synchronization in the Sunshine State”]

“In an effort to improve coverage the 250 W translator, previously located in Bradenton, was moved to Sarasota following FCC approval. While the move would establish a stronger signal with better building penetration, the existing ‘budget antenna’ had suffered recent water damage and would not suit the signal’s new directional pattern,” Dielectric wrote in a project summary.

“Kneller kept the station on the air with a backup system while the one-bay DCR-T antenna was installed on its new tower, which he described as ‘very busy and loaded.’ The compact DCR-T design was top-mounted on the 475-foot tower, using a tower pipe initially intended for cellular antennas. The top-mounted position, combined with the directional pattern designed for the translator, has substantially improved the translator’s effectiveness in the all-important Sarasota area.”

Kneller is using two Dielectric FM filters for the Sarasota transmitter building, with one feeding 106.9 MHz and the other feeding a system on 99.1 FM.

The WMDD system in Puerto Rico simulcasts the main AM signal on 106.5 MHz. The translator is 30 miles outside of San Juan; the translator is on the AM station’s 400-foot tower.

Send news for Who’s Buying What to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Kneller Chooses Dielectric DCT-Ts appeared first on Radio World.

Xperi has officially announced the renaming of its DTS Connected Radio hybrid radio platform as DTS AutoStage.

Radio World recently reported the change after the company did a “soft rollout” of the new name during the online CES show in January.

[Related: “Summit to Explore Hybrid Radio, Android Automotive”]

In a press release the company expanded on the reasons. Xperi said the move reflects “the broad application of the platform within automotive infotainment systems.”

DTS AutoStage recently launched in the Daimler MBUX infotainment system, so it is showing up in vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Xperi said the platform also won a 2021 Business Intelligence Group (BIG) Innovation Award.

“The rebrand to DTS AutoStage was in part driven by the opportunities resulting from Xperi’s merger with TiVo in June 2020, which enabled the integration of TiVo’s world-class music metadata and personalized content discovery engine,” according to a press release.

It said the branding represents the entertainment “stages” the platform offers as well as how it can “amplify those stages as in-cabin technology continues to evolve.”

Recently announced features include lyrics, content metadata and personalization capabilities.

Xperi said its partners now include Entercom, Beasley, Cox Radio, Bauer Media and Global Radio, as well as regional platforms FM World, Quu Interactive, Radio.com and RadioApp.

Hybrid radio systems combine over-the-air reception with an internet connection that delivers metadata and can allow “service following” in which a receiver switches automatically to a station’s stream when the car is out of the range of the broadcast signal.

The post Xperi Spotlights DTS AutoStage appeared first on Radio World.

UNESCO had set up a resource page for radio stations enhancing its World Radio Day, Feb. 13.

Available are videos, suggested supplemental activities for stations along with advertising materials. All the materials are copyright-free.

[Read: WRHU to Go Worldwide on February 12–14]

UNESCO has declared the 2021 World Radio Day theme to be “Evolution, Innovation, Connection.”

It also the 10th anniversary of WRD. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azouley issued a statement: “More than ever, we need this universal humanist medium, vector of freedom. Without radio, the right to information and freedom of expression and, with them, fundamental freedoms would be weakened, as would cultural diversity, since community radio stations are the voices of the voiceless.”

The post World Radio Day Resource Page Available appeared first on Radio World.

The author is chairman of Digital Radio Mondiale.

Radio is more than 110 years old; the World Radio Day, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly as an international day in 2012, will be 10 years old on Feb. 13 (while the life-changing pandemic is only one though it feels like a hundred).

While we read about the excellent results of Spotify in Q4, the spread of podcasting, are we celebrating or commemorating radio? It all depends on whether we look back at the past or try to reinvent radio for the current times and the future.

[Read: WRHU to Go Worldwide on February 12–14]

The international, not-for-profit DRM Consortium feels totally in tune with the three 2021 WRD themes: evolution, innovation and connection. They are wide and lofty enough so that any new technology or platform could subscribe to them. But we are demonstrating practically how radio can evolve and invent what is needed now.

The compression delivered in digital enables up to three audio DRM programs and one data channel on one AM or FM current analog frequency. DRM has been mainly tested, and rolled out for its excellent audio qualities, even in the less forgiving shortwave and medium-wave analog bands DRM delivers combined information like audio and data (i.e., text, pictures, maps etc.) that can enable vital services like the Emergency Warning Functionality to be received on digital radio sets.

It is the pandemic that has forced us to look at the DRM audio and data combination in another context, as an innovative learning platform for all. We looked more closely at the data carriage channel. Data means files, and files represent anything from pop song titles and singers’ pictures to stock market prices or maps and the RSS feeds made available through the universal medium of radio. At least this was the kind of illustration we used to give before 2019. In 2020 we realised that this unique combination of audio and multimedia services, available on a standard digital radio set delivered via terrestrial broadcasts (i.e., one to many, and as many as needed), can offer a real solution for distance learning where the internet is patchy, non-existent or the modern gadgets are rare and unaffordable.

For most, e-learning means nowadays something done via the internet. But internet penetration varies between about 95% in the United States (where 73% own a personal computer), to slightly above 50% in Asia and under 40% in Africa. And this has created yet another information and education gap, as amply documented elsewhere.

Can DRM Be the New Teacher?

DRM can deliver typical classroom education, as well as lessons for personal self-study. Instead of giving the same FM content, or similar, on one of the two extra digital channels, a broadcaster might choose to use one of the available DRM digital channels to broadcast lectures or lessons at certain times of the day. In parallel, complementary lesson notes, full textbooks including graphics and formulas, illustrative images, quizzes etc. can be displayed and cached after being loaded and made available through the Journaline application. As the data is repeated on carousel, they can also be used as notes to the lesson to be referenced during the class or be accessed for self-study at any time and as many times as needed afterwards. The Journaline application helps with the structuring of the information by language, class level, subject, and chapters, for easy navigation by students and teachers, too. The idea has certainly got a lot of attention in India and some African countries.

DRM School Demo

If a DRM receiver is not available or too expensive for individual students, DRM radio sets that are optimized for the radio schooling use-case may provide a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot feature, allowing anybody nearby to access the full DRM audio and textbook content. This means a single DRM receiver can be used for communities, households, or classrooms, still giving every student or user full control over navigating the content at their own pace.

Digital Radio Distance Education

In this instance the digital receiver functions as a “mini-station” that feeds cheap Wi-Fi devices or a larger screen placed in a community center where, if allowed, many students can enjoy informative, modern lectures.

DRM digital radio cannot mirror the richness of internet when this is available, affordable and working. DRM or digital radio e-learning is a more compact offer. It needs a highly structured presentation of the essential content with only the key notes, images and notes available. The information is presented in a logical and structured way. Maybe this is the essence of good and intelligent teaching and learning. Synchronization of audio and visual material broadcast terrestrially is a challenge and has its own limitations, so less is more as quality always trumps quantity.

On Feb. 13, the World Radio Day, we are highlighting DRM as a distance learning platform by launching our education DRM ebook, DRM for Education.

Being a “one-to-many” platform, digital radio can deliver audio and text over vast areas and, therefore, to all the schools and students in villages far away or in busy cities, with the same content and quality and without any discrimination.

On Feb. 13 we are also launching in parallel with our ebook, DRM Delivers Education for All Initiative, which is a project you may want to learn about, get involved in, support and implement. If so, please contact us at projectoffice@drm.org.

World Radio Day is a celebration. And what better way to support evolution, use innovation, and enhance connection than through DRM, a sure way to bring a 100-year-old friend to the new generation in the guise of a knowledgeable and encouraging teacher!

The post World Radio Day – A Commemoration or a Celebration? appeared first on Radio World.

iHeartRadio has launched a big 3D audio effort and announced a “strategic expansion into binaural podcasting.”

It promises to put listeners “into the middle of an audio soundscape, immersing them in the story like never before.”

It released this audio sample to promote it. “Put your headphones on,” it states.

The company plans to introduce a slate of podcasts using this technique.

“Binaural, or 3D audio, creates a sense of movement, location and triggers other senses,” the company wrote in its announcement, “enhancing listening experiences and providing a new way for people to hear high quality, surround sound, immersive content, and reproducing real-life experiences, much like virtual reality has done for video, right in their own homes.”

The announcement was made by Conal Byrne, president of the iHeartPodcast Network. Byrne was quoted describing the technology as “virtual reality for the ears,” a more immersive way of listening.

It said its binaural audio series “13 Days of Halloween,” produced with Blumhouse Television, drew 2.8 million listeners and that it will expand te franchise to other holidays.

“The new iHeart 3D Audio slate will also include the upcoming podcast ‘The Mantawauk Caves,’ a co-production with Blumhouse Television, as well as a series of bonus 3D episodes across the year for hit shows like ‘The Ron Burgundy Podcast,’” it stated.

A company spokeswoman wrote in the announcement, “The tech has been wildly underused in podcasting, and the move makes iHeart the first company to carve out a substantial stake in the space.”

The post iHeart Hails “Virtual Reality for the Ears” appeared first on Radio World.

Tuesdays are for transmission at Nautel.

Well, every day is probably for transmission at Nautel; but Tuesdays are when the RF manufacturer runs its series of online roundtables about transmission topics.

Jeff Welton hosts and brings in various guests.

Discussions in February are covering site maintenance, SNMP and IT security. Past topics have included minimizing costs; grounding and lightning protection; and site monitoring. Webinars are archived on the Nautel site.

Attendance qualifies for a half credit for SBE certification. Details are on the company website.

The post Nautel Explores SNMP, IT Security appeared first on Radio World.

Tom Lawler is a contract studio/RF engineer who builds and maintains analog and AoIP radio and home studios for broadcast; his full-time job is in field technical services for RCS. We spoke to him for the Radio World ebook “Trends in Audio Processing for Radio.”

Radio World: Tom, what do you see as the most important trend in the design and use of processors?

Tom Lawler: With the development by leaps and bounds in flexibility — between insert patch points for ratings watermarking, multimode boxes, as well as being able to do MPX over AES or AoIP — modern processors have become virtual Swiss Army knives. Not to mention that devices like StreamBlade from Wheatstone or software processors like StereoTool let your online presence have just as much punch as the OTA signal. 

It wasn’t that many years ago where the only option was to try and adapt an FM box or use a PCI card that couldn’t be easily updated.

RW: What should readers know about the differences in processing needs for analog over the air, digital OTA, podcasts and streaming?

Lawler: Every medium requires a different approach, but they all require you to have as clean a source material as possible. 

With analog OTA you can get away with clipping/limiting to achieve loudness without introducing fatiguing artifacts — but that approach won’t work with digital OTA as artifacts will cause issues with the bit-reduced codec. For podcasting, use a gentle multiband to smooth over transitions between segments/presenters — resist the urge to treat it like FM! 

Streaming can be treated like FM, but make sure to use lookahead limiting instead of clipping — also, make sure everything is in-phase for when it’s folded down to mono on a smart speaker.

RW: How will the concepts of the cloud, virtualization and software as a service affect the processing marketplace? 

Lawler: I hope that it will lead to greater flexibility, redundancy and better quality. Imagine no STL issues to contend with (as long as your ISPs are up), and you now have the ability to make upgrades with the click of a mouse rather than having to physically rack up gear.

This is a great opportunity for users as well as vendors alike — users gain as much flexibility as they are willing to pay for, and vendors can have a reliable subscription income stream. Plus, there is no single point of failure like in a traditional plant.

RW: The pandemic is changing thinking about the need for big buildings and studios to make good radio. What does this mean for processing? 

Lawler: I think COVID-19 will accelerate moving to flexible software/cloud solutions for processing — and it will be more important than ever with the myriad of sources and level differences. 

Given that more and more talent is working remotely from home rather than at the studio it will be a challenge to keep everything sounding consistent from source to source. Not every home studio has mic processing, and many automation systems do not handle ducking gracefully. 

Adding processing in the cloud will be necessary to keep the audio consistent — more so now than before. This also means less in the racks to power and cool if done right.

RW: How is consumer behavior changing; for instance are younger consumers moving toward greater fidelity? 

Lawler: Things have come full circle almost. In the 1950s and ’60s you had a 3-inch mono speaker that went hand-in-hand with the explosion of top 40 radio. And now, we have smart speakers that are about the same size fueling another revolution in how audio entertainment is consumed. Apple and their just released new iPod touting greater fidelity, and the ability to pair them and create stereo, similar to other smart speakers. 

If this is how your audience consumes the station/stream/podcast, make sure to give them a download or on-demand stream that is easy to listen to no matter the environment. Make the most of the 3-inch speaker without sounding smashed. Do your content creators have access to the tools to process voice without making it sound unnatural? That is the trick with modern listening — making it pleasing while taking into account less than perfect conditions.

RW: In 2014 we did a story asking if processors had become as powerful as they could get. In 2020, where might further dramatic improvements come from?

Lawler: Never underestimate the ability to go further. My grandfather once believed that Cadillac would go no further than a dual points ignition setup — now look at what can be done with engine management! 

Tools like the limitless clipper in Wheatstone’s X5 or being able to generate a perfect composite FM signal from a 192 kHz PC soundcard with StereoTool. Six years ago everyone was asking what was next after the big three (Orban, Omnia, Wheatstone) took FM to as loud as could be asked — and all went in the direction of how to put the quality back in with such hyperprocessed source material from record producers. I can’t wait to see what the next six years bring!  

RW: What else should we know about processing for radio?

Lawler: Look at your entire audio path — from the quality of the files you are playing (WAV vs MP2/MP3), the STL, the exciter/transmitter, and even the antenna. Any one of those could be the reason you cannot achieve the sound you are looking for. And as the old saying goes “Garbage in, garbage out.”

Read what other thought leaders have to say in the ebook “Trends in Audio Processing for Radio.” Read it here.

The post Lawler: Listening Has Come Almost Full Circle appeared first on Radio World.