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In May 2020, Michael Stapleford was engaged in several transactions, each of which involved radio station sales.

Now, Stapleford-run Magnum Broadcasting has agreed to buy a low-power television station serving Key West, Fla. — a sign that he wishes to operate a multimedia business serving the Florida Keys.

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The 2022 Radio Mercury Awards nomination window is officially open.

Eighteen trophies will be awarded in 14 categories, and the final round judges have the option to award a Best of Show winner. All categories are eligible to compete for Best of Show. The Radio Mercury Awards will also bring back prize monies for all award winners.

In 2022, a classic Radio Mercury Awards category, “Creative Use of Sound Design,” is back on the slate and will recognize radio/audio work that utilizes sound design to creatively communicate its message. The Radio Mercury Awards is also expanding the campaign category with “Creative Radio Campaign by a Radio Station or Group,” which will award two winners to radio station-produced campaigns.

In addition, the Student-Produced Radio Commercial category has been brought back this year. Entries into this category are free for students.

The Call for Entry deadline is Wednesday, April 6. Finalists for the show will be announced in mid-May, and winners will be announced at the live Radio Mercury Awards, June 9 at Sony Hall in New York.

For more information regarding entry categories, guidelines, entry fees and deadlines, click here.

The NAB’s Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to “a broadcaster who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the American broadcasting industry.”

The 2022 recipient of the DSA: the man who led the NAB until his retirement at the end of 2021.

Former President/CEO and retired Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) will join the ranks of Jim Henson, Alan Alda, Robin Roberts, Bob Schieffer, Michael J. Fox, Mary Tyler Moore, Ronald Reagan, Edward R. Murrow, Bob Hope, Walter Cronkite and Oprah Winfrey by receiving the honor from the organization he successfully ran for 12 years.

It is the NAB’s highest honor, and he’ll receive it during the 2022 NAB Show welcome session scheduled for April 25, in Las Vegas.

During his tenure, NAB played a pivotal role on a number of significant issues affecting broadcasters. This explains the decision to award Smith with the DSA. Under his tenure, the FCC’s broadcast television spectrum incentive auction transpired, along with the preservation and modernization of the music licensing and copyright system, the ongoing transition to the NEXTGEN TV transmission standard, reviews of media ownership rules and the increased dominance of tech platforms in the advertising marketplace.

“As the head of NAB for more than a decade, Gordon was instrumental in advancing our agenda to help radio and television stations thrive,” NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “Gordon’s leadership, dedication and political acumen have enabled broadcasters to continue serving their local communities in ways no other medium can. It is an honor to present him with the Distinguished Service Award in recognition of the immense impact he has left on broadcasting in our country and around the world.”

With the release of its fourth-quarter 2021 financial results, Beasley Media Group is on a strong path toward returning to its 2019 growth initiatives. Growth across its Top Four advertising categories was strong, with significant year-over-year growth.

But, how was Automotive? Despite car and truck supply chain concerns, the dollars are up — with trends pointing to a robust third quarter.

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The first of the broadcast media industry quarterly earnings reports has arrived. And, for those in the radio business, C-Suite leaders may not be so pleased to see the Q4 2021 fiscal health report for Beasley Media Group.

While net revenue increased by 3.2%, a 66.8% decline in operating income was registered by the owner of radio stations and an Overwatch League eSports franchise. As such, Beasley’s net income declined by two cents per share from Q4 2020.

Why? Unfair comps that require a look to two years ago are in order.

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iHeartMedia Albany’s News Radio 810 and 103.1 WGY will celebrate the station’s 100th anniversary on Feb. 20.

WGY was founded by General Electric in 1922. Dame Media sold the station to Clear Channel, now iHeart, in 1999. “The Capital Region’s Breaking News, Traffic and Weather Station” will mark the occasion with a special broadcast and new podcast series.

According to a “list of firsts” on the station’s website, WGY was the first station in the state of New York; gave the first presentation of a radio drama in August 1922; was the first to broadcast at 50,000 watts (and at various times used two to four times that); aired the first World Series coverage, with WJZ; and made the first use of a condenser microphone.

[Read More Stories About the History of Radio]

Anniversary events kick off Feb. 20 with a live celebration of the brand’s history beginning at 1 p.m. Hosts and news anchors, past and present, and other guests will be on hand. A retelling of the radio drama “The Wolf” will be presented live from the Kenmore Ballroom in Albany, N.Y., [preceded by a lecture from Chris Hunter from the Museum of Innovation and Science. Music by the Musicians of Ma’alwyck chamber music ensemble will also be featured.

WGY kicked off its centennial year with a new podcast series, “Wireless: 100 Years of WGY.” The podcast, which features candid interviews with many familiar WGY voices, launched Jan. 31. It is hosted by WGY News Anchor Mike Patrick with new episodes released weekly.

Program Director Jeff Wolf was quoted in the announcement saying that leading the station into its next 100 years was an honor. “We’re looking forward to highlighting our first 100 years and commemorating important events in history throughout 2022.”

John Cooper, senior vice president of programming for iHeartMedia Albany, said WGY has had an impact on his life since the early 1960s. The anniversary of service to the community is an “amazing milestone,” he said.

“WGY became a trusted source of information that helped me begin and develop my business career,” said Howard Greiner, Area President for iHeartMedia Albany. “It is very meaningful to be a part of this celebration with great people, past and present, at WGY.”

For more information about the weekly podcast and the event at the Kenmore, visit the station’s website.

The post WGY Celebrates 100 Years appeared first on Radio World.

The IBC Technical Papers Committee has extended the deadline for its 2022 call for papers.

Proposals are now due by 12 noon EST (17:00 GMT) on Feb. 16, and the 300-word synopses must be submitted online.

[Previously: “IBC2022 Conference Opens Call for Technical Papers”]

“This year the competition is high. We are looking for original, non-commercial research on solutions to real-world problems faced by the international broadcast and digital media industry,” stated the committee.

For examples of the sorts of articles being sought, the committee recommends looking at 2021 technical papers currently available via IBC Digital.

The post IBC Paper Submission Deadline Extended appeared first on Radio World.

He’s the creator of the world’s first stereophone. Now, audiophiles and broadcasting industry professionals are paying tribute to the musician, inventor and entrepreneur who in 1953 launched an electronics company originally designed as a TV rental business for hospitals.

John C. Koss, the founder and Chairman of Koss Corporation, died on December 21, 2021. He was 91 years old. News of death first became widely known last week.

Five years after launching his business, Koss, at the age of 28, teamed with business partner Martin Lange Jr., by introducing personal listening to the world.

How so? They developed the world’s first high fidelity “Stereophone.” This product, the SP/3 Stereophone, sparked the creation of the global stereo headphone industry. 

Today, Koss remains a family-run operation, with Michael J. Koss serving as Chairman/CEO. “Dad loved music and the experience of a live performance,” he said. “Like many legendary entrepreneurs, our founder channeled his passion to create a revolutionary product. Today, it’s clear that his innovation changed the way the world listens to music.” 

After introducing the SP/3 Stereophone, Koss developed the Pro/4 Series, which became a recording industry standard — and the official headphones of Air Force One. He went on to help standardize the plug and headphone jack we take for granted today.

By the 1980s, an era when the SONY Walkman dominated personal listening, John Koss pushed his company to develop “portable” headphones for on-the-go listening. The result was the Koss Porta Pro, a collapsible headphone that remains available today.

Outside of Koss Corporation, John Koss was important to Radio. In the 1970s, he purchased the original Classical WFMR-FM 96.5 in Milwaukee, saving the format in the market.  He owned the facility until 1983; today it is WKLH. The sale prompted WFMR’s call sign and format relocation to 98.3 MHz.

Citing increased advertiser demand and its desire to achieve more growth as “a streaming-first, data-driven media company,” VIZIO has added two individuals charged with key roles tied to the expansion of its direct-to-device advertising business.

Now serving as VP of Product Management is Oscar “Oz” Lang. He formerly served as the head of product for Adobe’s Advertising Cloud TV business.

Also new to VIZIO is VP of Product Engineering Ben Sullins, most recently SVP of Engineering with SpotX.

Concurrent with their arrival, VIZIO has opened a “Tech Innovation center” in Denver. It is home to 140 of VIZIO’s engineering and tech specialists focused on the innovation of VIZIO’s software, ad products, and entertainment ecosystem.

“Since our IPO last year, we have been heavily investing in engineering and software to scale our Platform+ operations and build out our in-house ad tech team,” said David Rudnick, Senior Vice President of Product Engineering at VIZIO. “This investment will not only provide unique opportunities and measurable outcomes for advertisers, but it also helps us drive better consumer experiences.”

He continued, “Consumers are rapidly shifting to the Smart TV experience, and because we own the hardware, software, and data, we are able to innovate in ways that others can’t. With continued momentum on the Platform+ side of our business, which is a function of better personalization and engagement on SmartCast, we are driving interest with brands, advertisers and content partners to work with VIZIO.”

VIZIO Ads’ direct-to-device offering has doubled the number of participating unique brands and tripled its average revenue per advertiser in the last year. Additionally, VIZIO Ads’ 2022 upfront commitments exceeded $100 million, a fourfold increase over 2021, including enterprise-level buys from six major agency holding companies and encompassing a number of top advertising categories in traditional TV such as automotive, insurance and retail.

LED video processing products manufacturer Brompton Technology has moved forward with the beta release of its Tessera v3.3 software features, a move designed to optimize the performance of LED panels to further streamline professional workflows.

New features include Operating Modes, and Per-Batch PureTone.

Additionally, the Tessera SX40 and S8 now have a preset to support the ACES AP1 color space, as used by ACEScg.

Lastly, in collaboration with Mo-Sys, Brompton has added support for the company’s StarTracker camera tracking system when using panels fitted with the Tessera R2 or Brompton’s new Tessera R2+ and an SX40 or S8 processor with Frame Remapping.

The new Tessera R2+ receiver card has the same SO-DIMM form-factor as the R2. R2+ is backwards-compatible with all existing R2-based panel designs, but brings additional data pins and capability to support new LED drivers.

Operating Modes enables a single panel type to have multiple Operating Modes, each with a slightly different configuration for the panel. Different Operating Modes can therefore prioritize different aspects of visual performance, such as maximum frame rate, low brightness performance, bit depth or effective refresh rate, among others.

Additional Operating Modes can be created by Brompton engineers working closely with the panel manufacturers. Once activated, users can switch panels between Operating Modes via the processor, depending on the requirement of each event or project.

In the new Tessera v3.3 software PureTone has been extended to allow each individual batch of panels to be measured separately to generate a PureTone profile specific to that batch. To create a profile, a PureTone profiling kit is required, which incorporates a sensitive colorimeter. A single LED panel is measured within a dark room to generate the profile, which can then be used with all the panels in that particular batch.

Meanwhile, the Tessera SX40 and S8 now have a preset to support the ACES AP1 primaries, used by the ACEScg color space that is increasingly the choice of CG artists. This avoids the need for a color space conversion in the source device.

ACES AP1 will be automatically recognized by the processor when received over HDMI 2.0, or alternatively, may be manually selected on the processor. The user can also reference the ACES AP1 color gamut within Brompton’s dynamic calibration tools.

 

Nominations are now being accepted for the Radio World “Best in Market” and “Best of Show” Awards for spring 2022.

“All signs point to the NAB Show returning to an in-person format this year,” said Editor in Chief Paul McLane. “None of us knows exactly what the new normal in convention-going will be like, of course, but it will be so good to see old friends and make new connections again. Meanwhile companies that don’t plan to exhibit can participate in the award program through the Best in Market option.”

The “Best of Show” awards, from Radio World and other brands at its parent company Future, are chosen from companies that exhibit at the NAB Show in April and that submit nominations. The “Best in Market” is open to any company.

Participating brands include Radio World, Mix, TVTech, B+C, Sound & Video Contractor, NextTV and TVBEurope. Each publication announces its own winners’ list.

All nominees and winners will be featured in a post-convention Program Guide distributed to our readers. (Here’s a look at last year’s guide.)

The nomination page includes answers to frequently asked questions. Deadline for entering is April 8.

 

 

 

The post Nominations Open for Best of Show/Best in Market appeared first on Radio World.

The FCC clearly has been giving a lot of thought to the state of the Emergency Alert System.

The commission spent much of 2021 reviewing EAS for ways to tweak it, as mandated by Congress; and it has taken some steps, such as requiring State Emergency Communications Committees to meet at least annually and to submit plans for FCC approval. It is exploring other ideas such as internet alerting, as we’ve reported.

Another Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, opened at the FCC’s December meeting, deals mainly with video accessibility but has some radio implications. And a companion Notice of Inquiry asks about further changes that could affect EAS and radio much more broadly.

Better crawls
The EAS system consists of both the legacy broadcast infrastructure as well as an internet-based Common Alerting Protocol structure, which has better visual messaging capabilities.

In its NPRM, the FCC proposes first to clarify the visual crawl for legacy-based nationwide EAS tests — like the National Periodic test last August — by requiring TV stations and other video service EAS participants to use scripted text as opposed to constructing the visual crawl from the header code.

The crawl text would be “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency covering the United States from [time] to [time]. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.”

In its notice the FCC asks a series of questions about that proposal, including whether for reasons of consistency it should also apply to CAP-based nationwide EAS tests, or whether doing so would limit the flexibility of CAP alerts.

The commission then also proposes to change the terminology for the nationwide test event code or NPT from “National Periodic Test” to “Nationwide Test of the Emergency Alert System.” The NPT code itself would stay the same but the name seen by the public would be clearer.

The commission pointed out that FEMA separately has recommended a change in terminology for the PEP originator code from “Primary Entry Point system” to “National Authority.”

[Related: The FCC Studies Internet EAS Alerting]

If both of these changes were adopted, the FCC said, the minimum required information in a CAP-based nationwide test visual crawl would change from “The Primary Entry Point system has issued a National Periodic Test for the United States beginning at [time] and ending at [time]” to “The National Authority has issued a Nationwide Test of the Emergency Alert System for the United States beginning at [time] and ending at [time].”

It wants to know, among other things, if these changes will make the visual message for CAP-based nationwide EAS tests more understandable and informative, or if other language would be clearer.

Polling IPAWS
All of the above is aimed at video service providers but sets the stage for consideration of additional changes with more relevance to radio.

The second major proposed step in the NPRM is to require EAS participants, including radio stations, to “poll” IPAWS, the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System when they receive a legacy-based state or local area EAS alert, to confirm whether there was a CAP version available, and to process that alert instead. National Weather Service alerts would be included in this requirement. (NWS alerts are not currently sent on the IPAWS EAS feed.)

The goal is to promote the use of CAP and its capacity to provide matching visual and audio messages.

The FCC noted that EAS participants typically receive legacy and CAP versions of an alert at different times, and the rules don’t specify which version gets delivered. The rules do allow participants to check for CAP versions of state and local legacy EAS alerts but they don’t require it. Unless a station has programmed its equipment to check for a CAP version when it gets a legacy version, the equipment will process whichever is received first.

But CAP allows alert originators to relay enhanced text that can transcribe full audio messages, allowing visual messages that can match longer audio messages. And the FCC believes that any encouragement of the use of CAP versions is beneficial, because those alerts have more information, potentially including visual and audio messages that match.

The commission asks for feedback on that proposal, including whether it could be achieved via a software update and whether there are other ways to facilitate the use of CAP by alert originators with enhanced text that transcribes the verbiage in the audio message.

The FCC isn’t proposing to extend this proposed CAP prioritization mandate to nationwide EAS tests, which often are used to test performance in distributing a presidential EAN message under circumstances where only legacy EAS is available. But it did ask for comment on whether it should do so.

It also asks whether EAS participants should be allowed some minimum timeframe when polling IPAWS before determining that no CAP version is available. And it asked if its CAP prioritization proposal should include required monthly and weekly tests.

Longer view
Along with the NPRM proposals described above, the FCC issued a notice of inquiry, asking for comment on more steps that could improve the accessibility and utility of EAS. The commission uses NOIs as a way to create a dialogue about longer-term questions and possibilities that are not immediately on the table.

Again, much of the NOI’s discussion was about video yet it overlaps with radio interests.

The FCC points out that EAS is an audio-based system and that the legacy portion of the infrastructure was not designed with visual display of text in mind.

In legacy-based alerts, originators currently can generate an audio message that verbalizes the header code elements used to generate the visual message, so that the visual and audio messages match. But this approach may leave unused some of the two-minute allotment for the audio message. That extra time could be used to convey important information. But fully using the two minutes could mean that the visual information will not match the audio portion of the alert.

[Related: Carriers Report Success in National WEA Test]

So in the NOI, the commission asks whether legacy EAS should be modified to enable the distribution of enough text to transcribe the entirety of a two-minute audio message. This raises a technical question.

It notes that the legacy EAS uses AFSK modulation to convert data into audible tones, a process considered cumbersome. Using it to relay sufficient text to match the verbiage in a two-minute audio message theoretically would result in a tone that is roughly 30 seconds in length.

EAS participants have feared that longer alert tones could send listeners searching for the “off” button, or perhaps moving over to streaming providers, where there are no alerts (at least at present).

So the FCC asks: Would the public — not to mention radio and TV stations and other EAS participants — tolerate such a tone? Is there a better compression or modulation scheme that would deliver the necessary information, functioning across all EAS participant services and delivering live audio and maybe video? Is there a role for digital transmission standards such as ATSC 3.0 or HD Radio to improve EAS capabilities?

And last, the commission really goes broad.

It asks: Rather than focusing on ways to modify legacy EAS to relay text or CAP, would it make sense to use legacy EAS only for the Emergency Action Notification (EAN) and NPT, but require use of CAP for all other alerts?

And if legacy EAS can’t be reasonably modified to allow alert originators to distribute text to transcribe a two-minute audio message, should the legacy EAS architecture be redesigned altogether?

The commission noted that in 2012, when it adopted CAP EAS rules, it kept the legacy EAS because of its resiliency in the face of a national emergency and because there was no fully CAP-centric system in place to replace it. It now asks whether those factors “remain as true and relevant today,” and whether EAS could be redesigned to keep the resiliency and automation of legacy EAS but with the functionalities of CAP.

First thoughts
We asked some EAS observers for reaction to all of the above.

Harold Price, president of manufacturer Sage Alerting Systems, said requiring stations to poll the IPAWS server as described in the NPRM is an “automatic seek-and-fetch of the CAP message when the broadcast EAS version is received first.” He said it raises the possibility of delays, including timeouts of alerts and message duplication errors.

“It is possible the legacy message will be generated and transmitted via a state relay system before it is sent to or processed by IPAWS.”

However, he continued, the requirement could result in better audio quality.

On the question of whether the legacy EAS might be redesigned to enable distribution of text sufficient to transcribe a two-minute audio message, Price and some others expressed doubt.

“There is little chance of improving EAS by stuffing long multilingual text strings down a 65-character-per-second pipe,” he said.

Ed Czarnecki, vice president of global and government affairs for manufacturer Digital Alerting Systems, said, “The existing protocol enables us to create that short standard EAS message. The question is whether and how EAS can support more text. I think it’s safe to say that nobody desires a solution that results in overly long tone bursts over the airwaves to carry all that text.”

Czarnecki noted the proposed change of the PEP originator code to “National Authority” instead of “Primary Entry Point.”

“A software update for all EAS devices could handle this. If adopted, I’d hope that this proposal will provide enough time to allow for such a change to be slid into a minor software update.”

Czarnecki said the NPRM asks several questions that may pose issues for the radio industry. “For example, they ask whether it makes sense to only use legacy EAS for the EAN and NPT and rely on internet CAP for all other alerts, which could signal a less relevant position for radio broadcasting in general.”

He also noted that the FCC didn’t exempt radio stations from the proposal that EAS participants poll IPAWS.

“I think there is some good logic behind this. One benefit would be giving radio stations with access to first-generation CAP audio, when available, compared to second- or even third-generation audio from a conventional EAS message,” he said.

“Another indirect benefit for radio stations with newsrooms is that the expanded CAP text may also provide more detail and a fuller ‘story’ than conventional EAS messages.”

He said the company’s DASDEC equipment already has the capability, which it calls Triggered Cap Polling.

“Another use case for the FCC’s proposal comes to mind: multilingual,” he said. “If a multilingual CAP message is available, the use of Triggered CAP Polling would prompt a station to seek out that CAP message and use its contents instead. That content could include optional additional languages, in the case of a Spanish radio broadcaster, or any other provided language.”

Czarnecki does not agree with the idea to use legacy EAS only for the Emergency Action Notification (EAN) and NPT and require use of CAP for all other alerts.

“We’ve noted many times, including in our own filings with the FCC, that legacy EAS provides a resilient backup system when CAP over internet is unavailable for any reason.”

He cautions, “The reliability of our public warning architecture could be dangerously compromised if the FCC allows CAP-only monitoring without radio-based EAS at least as a backup.”

He said EAS manufacturers also have reservations about the FCC’s question about whether the legacy EAS architecture should be redesigned altogether.

“Triggered CAP Polling adequately addresses this question. The full text can be contained in a CAP message. If EAS is received first, that triggers the EAS device to poll IPAWS for CAP, and uses that message instead. If CAP or the internet is not available in an extreme situation, then at least the basic EAS message can be issued.”

Manufacturers believe there may be ways that EAS can be improved without a costly architecture redesign. However, the feeling is that discussion within industry might be more appropriate at this stage.

Czarnecki said, “The questions posed in the NOI are appreciated in that they are far-reaching. We’re hoping to confer with other EAS manufacturers about various technical issues that these questions raise.”

Read the full proposal at https://tinyurl.com/rw-eas-4. File comments to the FCC at www.fcc.gov/ecfs/. To read others, enter 15-94 in the “Specify Proceeding” field.

Comment deadlines had not been set as of mid-January.

The post FCC Raises Broader Questions About EAS appeared first on Radio World.

This document amends the FM Table of Allotments, of the Commission's rules, by removing certain vacant FM allotment channels that were auctioned through our FM competitive bidding process or undergone FM noncommercial filing window, and are no longer considered vacant FM allotments. The FM allotments are currently authorized licensed stations. FM assignments for authorized stations and reserved facilities will be reflected solely in Media Bureau's Licensing Management System (LMS). These FM allotment channels have previously undergone notice and comment rulemaking. This action constitutes an editorial change in the FM Table of Allotments. Therefore, we find for good cause that further notice and comment are unnecessary.

Orders $1,000 forfeiture for late filing

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WorldCast Systems, the supplier of advanced broadcast products, is pleased to announce “the further evolution” of its APTmpX product, a “non-destructive” MPX/composite compression algorithm.

Despite the advent of the internet and digital broadcasting standards, FM remains the world’s most popular transmission format and a central technology in radio broadcasters’ efforts to maximize their reach and audience. As a result, new technologies have had to be created to enable an FM-centric workflow to also work for internet delivery.

The initial version of APTmpX, launched in October 2020, offered FM broadcasters access to high quality signal compression for the resulting centralized FM MPX/Composite transmission, solving the difficulty of maintaining both a high quality and a cost-effective transmission.

This provided a solution in the <900kbps region. The latest release of APTmpX takes this even further. Following optimization by Worldcast engineers, three new versions are available that offer new levels of compression at 600, 400 or 300kbps network bandwidth. This means the composite signal can now directly be transported with non-destructive compression from 600kbps down to 300kbps.

The use of APTmpX confers several advantages. Since the majority of composite equipment at transmitter sites is eliminated with a centrally generated MPX/composite signal, besides the obvious network savings, several broadcasters have already managed to save hardware costs with APTmpX. Furthermore, the company says, APTmpX combines signal fidelity with the best latency performance and makes it easier than ever to guarantee a consistent sonic signature across the transmitter network.

“Thanks to its low complexity and easy integration, APTmpX has already proven itself as the ultimate solution to enable a 100% digital transmission chain, bridging the transition from digital studios to digital transmitters,” said Gregory Mercier, Director of Product Marketing at WorldCast Systems. “With these new versions, we bring its power to a whole new section of the market, allowing broadcasters in areas of poor bandwidth penetration to deliver stunning audio quality to their audiences no matter what they are listening on.”