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Steinberg has introduced its new UR24C, the latest model in its line of UR-C USB 3.0 interfaces.

The interface itself sports two balanced Neutrik combo inputs, D-PRE microphone preamps, two TRS main outputs, four RCA line outputs, MIDI in and out, and USB Type-C (USB 3.1 Gen 1 SuperSpeed) connectivity, making it compatible with PCs, Macs and iOS devices. It features 32-bit/192 kHz audio resolution, MIDI and numerous DSP effects that can reportedly be used when monitoring audio without latency.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Onboard DSP effects, e.g. REV-X reverb, Channel Strip and Guitar Amp Classics, are accessed by the unit’s dspMixFx mixer. Those looking for more effects can pore through the software bundle that comes with the UR24C; the bundle includes Cubase AI music production software; Basic FX Suite, consisting of effects and sound processing tools; native versions of the DSP effects (both VST 3 and AU compatible); and the Cubasis LE music production app for the iPad.

Intended for use by musicians, producers and DJs, the UR24C provides switchable monitor modes for headphones: DAW mode is used for producing music with a DAW, where the signal from Output 1 or Output 2 is chosen as the headphone source while allowing the user to adjust the balance of the signals from the DAW and from the UR24C’s inputs. Meanwhile, DJ mode is expected to be used for performances with DJ software and backing tracks, where the signal is split so the mono master sound is output to the right side of the headphones and the mono cue sound to the left, also letting the user adjust the balance of both signals.

Steinberg’s Senior Marketing Manager Stefan Schreiber commented: “With its build quality, first-class components and 32-bit/192 kHz resolution, the whole UR-C range of interfaces sets a very high standard. The UR24C includes all these competitive advantages, but also comes with a unique and flexible concept of monitoring that works both in the studio and on stage.”

Currently shipping and available, the UR24C runs $319.

Info: www.steinberg.net

 

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Lectrosonics has introduced its new MTCR — Miniature Time Code Recorder. Small enough to be hidden in garments, the MTCR can be placed on a subject to capture audio, synchronized with timecode, when using a wireless mic is not practical.

The MTCR, sized at 2.3 × 2.1 x 0.7 inches and weighing 2.5 oz., with battery, records in 24-bit/48 kHz digital onto a microSD card (HC type, Class 10) in the industry-standard BWAV (Broadcast Wave File) format. The unit can be jammed to external time code via the standard 5-pin Lemo connector. A headphone output jack allows for monitoring the signal input or listening to previously recorded files, but cannot be used to send live audio to another device while recording.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The input connector is a TA5M jack that accepts any mic or line level signal and provides bias voltage to power electret lavaliere microphones. The input connection and wiring are compatible with microphones prewired for use with Lectrosonics wireless transmitters with servo bias type inputs.

Setup and adjustment are made through an interface provided by the keypad and LCD. The housing is manufactured from aluminum alloy, then hard anodized. The MTCR runs for more than six hours on a single lithium AAA battery.

The MTCR, shipping now with an MSRP of $990, comes with an M152/5P low-noise omnidirectional lavalier microphone, microSD memory card, belt clip, and AAA lithium battery.

Info: www.lectrosonics.com

 

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Audio Division announces new procedures for the public to follow while staff teleworks

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Cassette tapes sales are back in fashion, with sales reportedly at their highest in more than 15 years, with annual growth outpacing even vinyl’s resurgence. To celebrate, tape manufacturer RecordingTheMasters is launching a Kickstarter campaign for a new portable cassette player, Mystik.

As all analog music formats continue to rise in popularity, cassette tapes now outpace all other formats — including vinyl — in consumer-market growth, more than quadrupling since 2011. Artists including Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Eminem, Jack White, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z and others have all released recent albums on cassette. This year’s recent Cassette Store Day saw RecordingTheMasters partner with New York-based Dala Records for a limited-edition mixtape.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

With the rise in demand for analog music cassettes, RecordingTheMasters states its new compact analog cassette tape is the first newly produced cassette on the market to offer high-quality audio in analog format. The cassette tape is manufactured using legendary chemical formulas from AGFA and BASF at the Mulann facility in Normandy, France.

RecordingTheMasters’ new Mystik portable cassette player will feature a revamped electronic board designed with former Thomson/RCA audio engineers with an emphasis on audio playback, Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity and a rechargeable battery. It will also feature a built-in microphone for quick start recording, a 3.5 mm-1/8-inch line jack for higher fidelity recording, a 3.5 mm-1/8-inch headphone jack and a transparent window showing the spinning wheels of the listener’s favorite cassette tape.

Expected to retail at $110 when brought to market, the Mystik portable cassette player is now available to a limited number of early backers for $78, bundled with a blank FOX C-60 high-quality audio cassette tape, during the Kickstarter fundraising period.

Info: www.recordingthemasters.com

 

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Røde’s new NT-USB Mini is a compact USB microphone intended for recording directly to a computer or tablet; the new offering is intended for podcasters, musicians, streamers, gamers and others.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Built around a condenser capsule with RF shielding, the NT-USB Mini — which is 89 mm wide and 141 mm high —sports a directional cardioid pickup pattern to reduce room sound and other extraneous noise. A built-in pop filter aids reducing plosives and the mic also comes with a magnetic desk stand that attaches to an integrated 360-degree swing mount within the mic.

Besides the NT-USB Mini’s USB output, it also has an internal headphone amplifier with precision level control and switchable zero-latency monitoring via a 3.5 mm-1/8-inch headphone output, all encased in steel and reinforced nylon resin construction, finished in matte black.

It ships with a USB cable.

Info: www.rode.com

 

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In response to concerns surrounding COVID-19, as well as recommendations from health organizations, radio groups and broadcast organizations have begun to cancel and postpone events. We will update this article as we learn about changes.

Please refer to our events calendar for information about other events, and email radioworld@futurenet.com if you have any announcements of your own.

March 13: Minnesota Public Radio has canceled all events March 14 through April 24. MPR says it will offer refunds and exchanges and will contact ticketholders about changes.

The Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters has cancelled its annual convention. The association says they will announce 2021 dates for the OAB Convention.

March 12: Spanish Broadcasting System Puerto Rico says it’s cancelled upcoming concerts and special events.

March 11: The National Association of Broadcasters called off its April NAB Show plans and announced it is considering its options. Colocated events, including the SBE Ennes workshop and the Association of Public Radio Engineer’s PREC 2020 have also been cancelled.

March 9: The 2020 edition of Radiodays Europe has been indefinitely postponed, according to an emailed statement from General Manager Peter Niegel.

Also, CABSAT has been rescheduled for Oct. 26–28.

 

 

 

The post Coronavirus Cancellations Announced by Broadcasters appeared first on Radio World.

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

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has become a focal point of the nation. Travel, education, sports and public events have all been impacted by fears of the virus’ spread. And with the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic, one can guess this situation is prompting a great deal of caution.

What is a radio station to do in the midst of a coronavirus outbreak?

For many outlets, automation and federal policy changes on studios have meant business as usual continues. For many others that welcome and interact with the community, the spread of coronavirus has prompted deeper questions about safety, service and trust.

The National Federation of Community Broadcasters issued a directive this week on COVID-19 response for radio stations. We address some of the key decisions before community radio stations in particular. The biggest issues boil down to relevance, engagement and your internal base.

[Read: Community Broadcaster: Four Top Fund Drive Fumbles]

What is a community radio station without trust? How can we say we are community oriented if we are not relevant to the lives of the listeners, donors and wider region to which we broadcast? As much as we at community radio stations may worry about our canceled events and hand sanitizer supplies, these questions are the major ones, because they speak to who we are and why we do this work.

While I have written many columns on this subject, the emergence of COVID-19 should push every community radio station to be in touch with and actively involved with local first responders. Every state, county and city has an emergency preparedness team, often composed of area leadership, police, firefighters and media. These teams want broadcasters at the table. In addition, they have the most accurate and up to date information available to share with audiences.

Being connected with your station’s state and county first responders will help you cut through the misinformation and outright falsehoods that circulate on social media and elsewhere. If you are a mixed-format, news, or music station, you’ll have to decide how you distribute information with your audience. If you don’t do a lot of news, perhaps this is a time to test fly, or maybe you will want to stick with public service announcements and website updates. The choices you make will be determined by your resources and availability of support to pull it off. Be realistic with what you can do, and don’t be afraid to rely on whatever emergency response infrastructure may be available to you locally.

Last but surely not least, your station will have to take a thorough but measured approach to your obligations related to staff and volunteers. Proper care for staff and volunteers includes all the stuff we have heard about: having hygiene and cleaning protocols in place; educating volunteers about not coming in sick or if they’ve been exposed to sick people; and being able to respond if and when absences come up. However, stations will also have to contend with more complex matters like sick leave, remote delivery of programming and having a team in place to help your station address an emergency as needed. You may also have to shift culture. Community radio tends to attract people who want to help and to be there in a pinch, but safety is paramount.

For community radio stations that have eschewed automation systems, COVID-19 may impress upon you to have contingencies. The reality is people will get ill or feel unsafe to come in, and finding a live substitute DJ may prove challenging. While there are free and open source packages like Rivendell, at the moment they may be out of the question given their learning curve as well as the immediate need a station has. How you handle this at your station is a priority.

Despite the wave of universities closing up, most college and community radio stations are doing their best to stay open. If your station has not been seriously impacted by COVID-19, today is the day to act.

The post Community Broadcaster: COVID-19 Concerns appeared first on Radio World.

One in a series of articles reporting on what the radio industry is telling the FCC about all-digital on the AM band.

Hubbard Radio has been test driving all-digital AM broadcasting on its WWFD(AM) just outside Washington, D.C., since July 2018. According to the broadcaster, the ride has been mostly a smooth one.

The company told the FCC it is fully supportive of a proposal to permit AM licensees — on a voluntary individual basis  — to operate in an all-digital format 24/7.

Hubbard says the MA3 signal of WWFD, which operates in full-time all-digital under special temporary authority from the FCC, has proven to be much more robust than the hybrid mode of HD AM broadcasting, and with improved signal coverage. The company says it has received positive feedback from listeners about the fidelity and reliability of their all-digital signal.

“In Hubbard’s experience, the data conclusively confirm that all-digital MA3 operation provides an improved, consistently high-quality listener experience, in terms of audio fidelity and signal robustness,” according to the group’s filing.

[Hear directly from Hubbard’s Joel Oxley in the recent RW webinar “Digital Sunrise for AM.”]

The station, which broadcasts at 820 kHz and is licensed to Frederick, Md., has seen ratings gains since launching the all-digital signal, according to Hubbard.

“WWFD broadcasts an adult album alternative music format. The station had no ratings in its home market of Frederick, Md., for the five years it was an analog station with that format, but now that it is operating in MA3, the station is ranked by Nielsen in the market,” it wrote.

Hubbard is using the MA3 technology to transmit auxiliary data and metadata to listeners of WWFD, it says. “The secondary and tertiary carriers of WWFD can provide stereo audio information, data services such as station logo, album artwork, and other artist experience information, as well as multicast channels.”

[Read: NPR Supports All-Digital on AM, With Caveats]

In addition, earlier reliability issues with the secondary and tertiary carriers on WWFD have since been resolved, Hubbard said. The station fixed the issues by “installing a replacement transmitter, a Nautel NX5, with a pulse duration modulator that runs at a sufficiently high rate to pass the secondary and tertiary carriers, allowing the full MA3 waveform to be transmitted.”

Hubbard says their solutions to the issue will be documented in detail in a forthcoming technical paper.

WWFD in December tested an HD2 multicast channel, according to Hubbard, transmitting musical track data and a station logo image as well. Future versions of enhanced EAS alerting will use the secondary and tertiary carriers to supplement the data transmitted on the Primary IBOC Data Service Logical Channel (“PIDS”) carriers.

“Hubbard believes that these continued improvements in the MA3 delivery system will mitigate any concerns about secondary and tertiary carrier issues, and that these technologies will continue to be expanded to better serve listeners,” it stated.

[Related: NPR Supports All-Digital on AM, With Caveats]

Hubbard also believes all-digital AM technology will help WWFD compete in the dashboard of the connected car.

It commented: “Trends in vehicle entertainment system receiver designs are converging on ‘tuning by visual metadata,’ where listeners select an audio program by pressing a thumbnail image of the desired program. MA3 allows AM broadcasters to have both aural and visual parity with other broadcast services in the automobile dashboard.”

In conclusion, Hubbard told the FCC the MA3 mode of HD Radio provides “far more manageable solutions” to any unintended interference with neighboring analog AM stations in the band when compared to the MA1 mode. In fact, WWFD “has never received any interference complaints from co-channel or adjacent channel stations,” it reported.

 

The post Hubbard Radio Backs Push for All-Digital Option on AM appeared first on Radio World.

People enter the Federal Communications Commission building in Washington. 

The FCC is shuttering its doors to visitors, effective immediately, as a response to the coronavirus, which was officially labeled a global pandemic by the World Health Organization.

The FCC said that for the foreseeable future, no visitors will be allowed into its facilities, with the exception of those receiving special permission from the Office of Managing Director. However, the FCC said that such permission will be restricted unless there is a clear operational necessity.

FCC employees have also been instructed to telework unless they cannot otherwise accomplish their work.

It will remain business as usual, however, as the commission plans to conduct its regular and ongoing work. It encourages those with business before the FCC to schedule necessary meetings by teleconference.

Consulting with the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, the Office of Managing Director and Office of General Counsel, the FCC will monitor developments regarding the coronavirus and implement new or ease precautions should circumstances change.

The post FCC Bars Visitors from Facilities Due to Coronavirus appeared first on Radio World.

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MB cancelled Forfeiture Order issued to Carolina Radio Group, Inc

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