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Orban PCn1600 Screenshot

Orban Labs announced a change in how its PCn1600 audio processing software is sold.

“For several years, Modulation Index and StreamS had an exclusive license to sell PCn1600 processing; that exclusivity ended this week,” the company stated.

President David Day said in the announcement, “All Orban dealers worldwide can now add our PCn1600 to their Orban product portfolio. … It is our understanding that Modulation Index and StreamS will continue to support their existing PCn1600 users.”

[Read: KNMJ Simply Streams With StreamS]

Orban said the PCn1600 brought the company’s audio processing technology to audio streaming operating natively on Windows PC platforms and that Orban has used variants in its XPN-AM processor and in the Linux-based Ross RSAP.

Modulation Index is headed by Greg Ogonowski; StreamS is its line of streaming encoders and other audio products. It confirmed that “due to a failure to reach a mutually satisfying agreement with Orban Labs,” it will no longer sell the Orban Optimod 1600 PCn on an exclusive basis.

“The Orban Optimod 1600 PCn has been a big part of our product offerings and we will continue to work with clients who purchase the Optimod 1600 from us and are under a support contract,” Modulation Index said in a statement. “We will also expand our support for other audio processors that are available in software form, which we believe is the future of audio processing not just for streaming but for every broadcast venue.”

 

The post Orban Reorganizes PCn1600 Sales appeared first on Radio World.

As of Wednesday it was official: The newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership and the radio/TV cross-ownership rules are off the U.S. federal rulebooks.

It was a formality; the Federal Communications Commission had already announced that the change was pending after the Supreme Court ruled in its favor in the case “Prometheus Radio Project vs. FCC” this spring.

[Read: FCC Wants More Input Before Finishing Rule Review]

But now a summary of the order has been published in the Federal Register and the FCC said the rules officially died on June 30.

The Television Joint Sales Agreement Attribution Rule also officially is eliminated; and the Local Television Ownership Rule and Local Radio Ownership Rule were reinstated, as were the eligible entity standard and certain other measures.

At the same time the commission announced deadline dates for fresh public comments about media ownership rules. Comments are due Aug. 2, and reply comments are due Aug. 30.

[Read: Further Relaxation of Ownership Rules Seems Unlikely]

As we reported earlier, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wants to update the record before the commission finalizes its 2018 Quadrennial Review proceeding. So the FCC is asking whether its media ownership rules remain “necessary in the public interest as the result of competition.”

For a full list of what the commission is asking, see the public notice. Filings should refer to MB Docket No. 18-349.

 

The post Cross-Ownership Rules Officially Are Dead appeared first on Radio World.

The FCC has quietly released a public notice confirming that its reinstated media ownership rules — legislation that the acting chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, voted against — are now effective.

The effective date? Yesterday.

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Starting tonight (7/1) at 10pm, a new entrant in the local news war that has been fiercely waging across Western New York for years will arrive.

It comes courtesy of Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is launching local news operations at its owned-and-operated FOX affiliate serving Buffalo, Niagara Falls and the Canadian province of Ontario’s most populous areas.

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MIAMI — Did you know that 82% of advertisers are looking for “direct to consumer” strategies to grow in an increasingly competitive environment? This is one of the challenges Kantar mapped out in a Media Navigator study that it has just launched.

The research endeavor sees Kantar interview 672 professionals working for advertisers in 39 different countries to understand the main challenges and trends in their data management strategy.

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TORONTO — With the TSX closed on Thursday in observance of the Canada Day holiday, the start of the second half of 2021 led financial blog Simply Wall St. to take a closer look at Corus Entertainment.

Corus is one of Canada’s biggest media companies and owns 39 radio stations and 15 broadcast television stations. Its stock price has seen a healthy 52-week rebound, with its June 30 closing price its best since May 2019.

With a 1-year price target poised to put Corus at its best stock price since the start of 2018, is the share gain “well earned”?

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As part of RAB’s Business Accelerated initiative, Provoke Insights, a full-service market research firm, will be rejoining the radio industry sales advocacy organization for a live presentation offering insights on today’s consumer.

The event, “Meet the New Retail Shopper,” sees Carly Fink, President of Provoke Insights, share insights into today’s retail shopper. Fink will provide guidance for broadcasters helping their clients plan their back-to-school and holiday campaigns.

“While most COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, consumers are not going back to the standard shopping routines of 2019,” the RAB says. “As brands prepare for the upcoming back-to-school and holiday seasons, it is important they understand the new buying behaviors.”

The session will take place at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific on Wednesday, July 28.

Registration for the presentation is free for RAB members. The presentation will also be available for on-demand viewing.

To register, click here.

Comscore has lured the former Sales and Client Relations head at Tunity to lead its commercial relationship with Publicis Groupe.

In doing so, Comscore is selecting an individual who brings more than 20 years of business media and sales success across local television stations, networks and advertising agencies.

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Four months ago, RBR+TVBR first shared the news that The E.W. Scripps Co. would be launching two new national TV networks, capitalizing on its position “as a full-scale national television company.”

While Scripps slightly altered the original plan, with respect to one of the digital multicast networks’ names, the debut of the two reality-based offerings came as expected on July 1.

Defy TV and TrueReal have been launched by Scripps, prompted largely by the company’s blockbuster merger with Ion Media. The channels have coverage of 92% of the U.S.

Defy TV is sticking with its original plan of action. It will cater to men ages 25-54 “with programming that celebrates fascinating and independent-minded people living life to the fullest.” Programming will include popular series such as “Swamp People” (Mondays), “Counting Cars” (Tuesdays), “American Pickers” (Wednesdays), “The Curse of Oak Island” (Thursdays), “Forged in Fire” (Fridays), “Ax Men” (Saturdays), “Alone” (Saturdays), “Dog the Bounty Hunter” (Sundays) and “Pawn Stars” (Sundays).

TrueReal was originally intended to be Doozy, targeting women aged 25-54 and tap into their ”strong interest in can’t-stop-watching, unscripted drama that’s surprising and true.”

The name is different; the programming is the same as envisioned, with off-network shows including “Storage Wars,” “Married at First Sight,” “Hoarders,” and “Little Women: LA” on the lineup.

Defy TV and TrueReal join ION, Bounce, Laff, Grit, Court TV, Court TV Mystery and Newsy, which remains on-track for its launch as a free over-the-air network on Friday, Oct. 1. This is a major shift for Newsy, which began life as a millennial-targeted OTT offering and then shifted to cable TV distribution.

NEW YORK — ViacomCBS has decided to unify the visual content-focused media company’s domestic and international businesses under what it calls “a simplified global leadership structure.”

As such, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins are each being promoted to the role of President/CEO, with global oversight for their respective brand groups.

George Cheeks also has a new, expanded role.

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A new survey from a media research firm found that radio has good reason to be optimistic about increased radio listening in the months ahead.

The Ratings Prospects Study 18 from NuVoodoo suggests that radio listening is set to increase over the next several months as more vaccinated people consider returning to the office. In its nationwide study in June 2021 of more than 3,100 respondents aged 14 to 54 years old, NuVoodoo asked participants to share details of their current work situation. The study also asked respondents to forecast what they expect their current work situation to be by the end of 2021.

[Read: Nielsen Has Good News in May Numbers]

The report found that a significant number of respondents are expecting to return to the office or jobsite by year’s end. This increase should result in an 11-point rise in out-of-home commuting by the end of 2021.

To help stations focus on this rebooting of commuting over the next several months, NuVoodoo will share in-depth results of the survey through a series of webinars beginning in mid-July.

“The return to work outside the home is great for radio,” said Leigh Jacobs, executive vice president of research for NuVoodoo Media Services. “While FM/AM streaming consumption is slightly better among those who work from home compared to those who work outside their home, total at-work radio listening is better among those who work outside the home.”

As a result, NuVoodoo is encouraging stations to focus their marketing message of the return to commuting and work, said Mike O’Connor, executive vice president of marketing for NuVoodoo Media Services. “We’re calling our webinar series ‘Reboot the Commute’ because that’s where we see the growth opportunity for our clients.”

Topics during the webinar with include how radio is faring against digital competition, what actually causes listeners to switch or listen more, and where radio stands in the hierarchy of listening choices available via touch-screen car audio-systems. Those webinars are scheduled for July 21 at 1 p.m., July 27 at noon, July 29 at 2 p.m. and August 4 at 3 p.m. All times are Eastern.

Registration for the webinar sessions can be made nuvoodoo.com/webinars.

 

The post Radio Can Expect to See Rebound by Year’s End, Survey Says appeared first on Radio World.

Envy Gaming, the Texas-based esports and entertainment company that in March saw Gray Television invest $28.5 million in its Series C fundraising round, has added two directors and filled one empty seat on its board of directors.

Two of the new directors represent Gray.

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The Society of Broadcast Engineers said its latest recruitment drive added 47 individual members and two sustaining members to the association.

This year’s campaign ran March through May, with the theme “Add Power to Your Profession.” Current members were incentivized to help drive recruitment with prize donations from sustaining member companies and a discount on membership dues for each new member they bring in.

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

SBE membership now stands at approximately 4,500 people.

The grand prize for the membership drive is a trip to the SBE National Meeting this fall, or a cash prize option. The winner of that was Cris Alexander, CPBE, AMD, DRB, of Crawford Broadcasting, who is also tech editor of Radio World Engineering Extra.

Prizes were donated by Blackmagic Design, Comark, Davicom/Comlab, Dielectric, Heartland Video Systems, LBA, Orban, Shively Labs, Telos Alliance and Tieline.

 

The post SBE Drive Nets New Members appeared first on Radio World.

 

Manitoulin Broadcasting Corp. electrical room

Electricity is the lifeblood of any radio station. Without power, everything from the office lights to the digital audio systems to the transmitters would cease to run after the generators ran out of fuel. There is no radio without power.

Craig Timmermans is the CEO and owner of Manitoulin Broadcasting Corp., which operates Great Lakes Country 103 FM CHAW(FM) and Hits100 CFRM(FM) in the aptly named community of Little Current, situated on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada.

Timmermans knows all about sky-high electricity bills. That is why his company has made renewable energy investments that slashed their transmitter electrical bills by 80 percent and took their studio/office complex completely off the grid.

“I am very, very happy with this system,” said Timmermans. “I can’t believe that I’m getting all of this energy from the sun and wind to power my stations. Best of all, Mother Nature doesn’t charge me a delivery fee.”

Transmitters first KT and Craig Timmermans.

Timmermans’ venture into radio broadcasting began in 2001, when he was given permission to open CFRM — at a whopping 1.4 watts. Over the next six years he was able to move up incrementally to 27,500 watts, vastly increasing CFRM’s reach from local to regional coverage.

Unfortunately, what also changed was Timmermans’ electricity bill.

“The first one I received from Hydro One was for about $6,000 for two months,” he told RW. “I almost had a heart attack.”

Fortunately, Timmermans is an electrical engineer who knows all about renewable energy. So after his heart settled back to normal, Timmermans decided to slash his transmitter costs by going green.

In 2009, Timmermans took action.  “Since we’re on a mountaintop, it only made sense to install a micro wind turbine to take advantage of the air moving around up there,” he said. “So we did. Now instead of buying $3,000/month of power from Hydro One, we were buying less than $1,200 per month.” This was at Manitoulin Radio’s original rented 300-foot tower site.

Wind turbine.

In 2016, Timmermans added CHAW, Country 103, a 50,000 watt commercial station, to the portfolio. Two years later he bought and erected a new 450-foot tower and transmission site on his property on McLean’s Mountain outside Little Current.

“With both the 50,000-watt transmitter for the country station and 27,500 watt transmitter for the hits station, our monthly electricity costs were projected to hit $6,000-plus! So we bought three more micro wind turbines and put all four of them at the new transmitter site. The result is that our actual monthly electricity bills are $1,350.”

A bonus: Timmermans has configured the power system here so that it only draws on the outside grid when the wind isn’t generating sufficient electricity. Otherwise, Mother Nature is working to keep his two transmitters on air — for a lot less money and reducing our carbon footprint.

As for the cost of installing the micro wind turbines and the associated equipment to power the transmitter complex?

“It was a significant investment, but the money we saved paid it back in about eight months,” Timmermans said. He has since purchased solar panels to install here, “to bring the transmission bill a lot closer to zero.”

Studios came next

Great Lakes Country 103 FM and Hits100 FM have a total of nine employees. Prior to 2020, the offices and studios were in a rented facility in downtown Little Current, population about 2,500.

“People could see our DJs working through the front window,” Timmermans. “It was a way of connecting to the community.” The facility was powered by a biodiesel generator.

But Craig and his wife KT also own and operate two major music festivals, Manitoulin Country Fest and Rockin’ the Rock, on their own 84 acres outside of town every summer; and building a new studio complex on their own land was a logical move.

“After all, we interview the artists who appear at our festivals on our stations as a way of boosting their profiles,” he said. “So it just made sense to have our studios in the same place as our permanent stage and campgrounds.”

In 2020, despite the pandemic, they built a two-story, 2,600-square-foot studio complex to house the two FM stations at 1 Radio Road, Little Current, on the Timmermans’ “Manitoulin Country Fest” grounds.

Because Hydro One wanted to charge a hefty sum to run power lines to the new complex, Manitoulin Broadcasting built it to run entirely off-grid.

To make this possible, Timmermans installed a battery storage system capable of storing 2,000 amp hours of power at 48 volts. When charged, the system has enough power to run the complex for a week, 24/7.

Bank of batteries.

It is primarily charged by a series of south-facing solar panels constructed outside the facility, supplemented by pole-mounted vertical wind turbines.

“Compared to conventional wind turbines, the vertical turbines are extremely quiet,” Timmermans said. For times when there isn’t enough sun nor wind to fully recharge the batteries, the studio complex has a diesel generator, which uses about $20 of diesel fuel per month during the winter.

Solar panels.

“During hot summer months, we generate enough electricity from the sun to power all the lights, computers, broadcast consoles, support equipment and even our central air-conditioning for free,” he said.

“It just amazes me that I can get all that energy from just the sun. I am very proud to say our 2,600-square-foot, air-conditioned office building with two FM radios studios is 100% off-grid.”

Renewable works

The power is consistent and reliable, and the money saved grows every day.

Timmermans expressed a willingness to share his knowledge with other broadcasters. Contact him through www.hits100.ca or www.country103fm.ca.

But some quick advice: For station owners with rural transmitter/tower sites, “small wind turbines to help power your facility just makes good business sense,” he said. “To survive in today’s economy, you have to look at fixed costs that are very high, such as electricity, and find ways to offset those costs and just be greener.”

Owners who can add solar panels and vertical wind turbines to their studio complexes can also save money over time and keep these costs controllable as the grid’s power prices go up.

Besides the savings, there is satisfaction associated with generating most or even all of the electrical lifeblood that your station needs.

Reducing their carbon footprint is important to the Timmermans.

“We just put in all brand-new carpet in the office, and I was vacuuming it the other say,” said Timmermans. “And I said to some friends that were visiting, ‘You know what? I’m vacuuming for free! It’s not costing me a dime to vacuum our building.’”

James Careless is a radio and podcast producer, host and interviewer who has written for RW since 1990. 

The post Saving on Power in Little Current appeared first on Radio World.

One of the world’s top data, insights and consulting companies has appointed a new Group Chief Executive Officer.

But, he won’t be taking the role until November 1.

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On April 5, 2021, the Media Bureau, Video Division (Bureau) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in response to a petition for rulemaking filed by Sinclair Licensee, LLC (Petitioner), the licensee of WCYB-TV, channel 5 (NBC), Bristol, Virginia, requesting the substitution of channel 35 for channel 5 at Bristol in the DTV Table of Allotments. For the reasons set forth in the Report and Order referenced below, the Bureau amends FCC regulations to substitute channel 35 for channel 5 at Bristol.

In this document, the Commission aims to enhance the spectral efficiency of wireless microphones by permitting a recently developed type of wireless microphone system, termed herein as a Wireless Multi- Channel Audio System (WMAS), to operate in certain frequency bands. This emerging technology would enable more wireless microphones to operate in the spectrum available for wireless microphone operations, and thus advances an important Commission goal of promoting efficient spectrum use. The Commission proposes to revise the applicable technical rules for operation of low-power auxiliary station (LPAS) devices to permit WMAS to operate in the broadcast television (TV) bands and other LPAS frequency bands on a licensed basis. The Commission also proposes to update the existing LPAS and wireless microphone rules to reflect the end of the post-Incentive auction transition period and update references to international wireless microphone standards.

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