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For many readers, cold weather will be here before we know it; and that is inevitably when we find ourselves working outside around a tower. (Troubleshooting an AM antenna tuning unit after midnight comes to mind.)

Fig. 1 shows a really neat portable propane heat lamp to keep you warm outside this winter.

Fig. 1: Portable propane tank-mounted heaters

Cumulus Regional Engineer Justin “J.T.” Tucker found these dual propane tank-mounted heaters at a camping supply store; they are also available online. Search “portable tank-mount propane heater.”

Single units are under $50, the dual element versions pictured are around $100.

Remember, even though they are equipped with a safety shut-off valve and tip-over switch, do not use these inside your transmitter building or any enclosed spaces.

Useful videos

We received a nice note from David Mathews, who created the “Moseley 6000 Series Frequency Change” video on YouTube that we described in July. Even if you don’t have to change frequencies on that pair of STLs, David offers a number of useful tips should you ever need to get inside the boxes.

In his note, David reports a lot of “likes,” so thank you, readers!

David tells us that he’s a “sort of” retired assistant chief engineer with North American Broadcasting in Columbus. He plans on putting together future videos on other equipment.

Okay, Workbench readers: Any specific boxes you’d like to learn more about? And for the more seasoned engineers, here’s a challenge to share your knowledge with others using YouTube. If you put something together, let me know.

Swag

Workbench contributor Marc Mann writes in to thank us for letting readers know about Inovonics and their really useful Radio Hero Swag Bag. The secret’s out; Fig. 2 shows what Marc received.

Fig. 2: A treat from Inovonics

If you missed the offer, there are still a few left. To request one drop an email to sales@inovonicsbroadcast.com.

MOVs and GDTs

Steven Karty saw the suggestion we shared from Paul Sagi to change out gas discharge tubes with metal oxide varistors inside your surge protection devices.

Steven reminds us to weigh the application and the equipment before making a wholesale change; although MOVs do respond more quickly than GDTs, the much higher capacitance of MOVs limits their use, especially on audio circuits.

There’s no problem if loading up the lines being protected with lots of capacitors connected to ground doesn’t degrade the signal. But many signals will be adversely affected by the extra capacitance, so MOVs are mainly used where the capacitance isn’t a problem, like inside AC powerline surge protection devices, as Paul suggested.

Because MOVs and GDTs wear out with use, Steven suggests they be replaced periodically for continued protection. The failure mode of most MOVs is shorting and (if there’s sufficient power available) melting. Although some GDTs may short, the failure mode of most GDTs is that their firing increases, so that they aren’t providing any protection.

Thanks, Steven. All good points to consider.

Gas discharge tubes are sealed devices with a gas mixture between two electrodes. When a high voltage surge is detected, the gas ionizes, providing a short circuit to ground for the surge.

The metal oxide varistor performs a similar function. The resistance of the MOV changes with voltage, becoming a short circuit when a voltage surge is detected.

Both are shunt devices, “shunting” the high-voltage transient to ground, and hopefully protecting the circuit to which it is connected.

GDT memories

In addition to surge protectors, GDTs were used in several RCA transmitters to prevent surges from damaging components.

Tucked out of the way, this little glass tube, about the size of your finger, could sometimes short to ground, depending on the intensity of the surge. The resulting permanent short circuit certainly protected the transmitter, but also meant it would not run.

Kudos to RCA design engineers (Buc Fitch?) who mounted the GDT on a snap-in bracket so (like a fuse) it could be pulled out of the circuit and easily replaced. If you have one of these older transmitters, look for it; I’ve seen instances where some engineers would remove the shorted GDT, leaving no protection.

This only invites more damage, should another surge come along.

Put it in the dryer …

Louis Bornwasser, now retired, was an FM chief engineer in the 1960s and ’70s. Later in his career he serviced and manufactured equipment for motion picture theaters, “in the days before digital.”

Louis writes to tell us that he has cleaned power cords, mic cords and air and garden hoses for 40 years using the kitchen dishwasher, though he admits that the idea we shared recently would not have occurred to him, though circuit board cleaners that he used in the manufacturing process are similar.

Louis adds: Do it without dishes.

… Or put it in the wash 

Louis brings up a good point. Although I’ve never personally done it, I have heard stories of engineers using a car wash to clean an old transmitter before moving it to a new location or frequency.

One fellow laid the transmitter in the bed of his truck and took it through. Then, he turned the transmitter over and repeated the process. He told me he supported the transmitter on a few 4×4 blocks of wood, allowing the water to drain. He removed things like doors and relays and tubes, but it apparently worked.

Another took the transmitter to a do-it-yourself car wash. Using the hand-held spray nozzle, he could reach into all the nooks and crannies to get years of grime out.  I’m hoping that one or more of our readers who have done this can write in, and maybe include a picture or two.

My concern would be things like transformers, especially the high-voltage type!  That’s the last thing you want to compromise with water and soap! Leaving the equipment to dry in the sun for a week is probably “good engineering practice.”

John Bisset has spent over 50 years in the broadcasting industry and is still learning. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance. He holds CPBE certification with the Society of Broadcast Engineers and is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award. Workbench submissions are encouraged, qualify for SBE Recertification, and can be emailed to johnpbisset@gmail.com.

The post GDTs vs. MOVs: Choose Carefully appeared first on Radio World.

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Nautel and Telos Alliance say it is possible to move the entire HD Radio air chain into a virtual environment; and they offered a “concept demonstration” this week to support the idea.

During a webinar, the technology firms showed what they describe as “the world’s first cloud-based, time-locked FM+HD Radio air chain.” Their demo included two “failover” events to show that program continuity can be maintained in the case of a problem.

A graphic from the Nautel/Telos Alliance webinar; click image for larger view.

The companies say their work on this project anticipates easier and more flexible digital radio deployments via virtualized audio processing and software-based Gen4 HD Radio importer/exporters. You can view the webinar at www.nautel.com/resources/webinars/.

Nautel makes FM and AM radio broadcast transmitters. Telos Alliance is an audio technology company whose brands for radio include Axia Audio, Omnia Audio, Telos Systems and 25-Seven Systems.

Their announcement was made by Marty Sacks, EVP of sales, support and marketing at Telos Alliance; Philipp Schmid, Nautel’s CTO; and Kevin Rodgers, Nautel’s president and CEO.

Rodgers said broadcasters would benefit through potential cost savings and because virtualization would make operation of multiple stations easier and allow “near-instantaneous” upgrading of services with little downtime.

“The flexibility and ease of transitioning to HD Radio become simpler than ever, allowing broadcasters to scale their operational requirements up and down as needed and offering new revenue opportunities,” he said in the announcement.

In reviewing context of this work, Nautel and Telos noted that cloud operation is well established at IT and business firms that manage large amounts of data. And Sacks said interest among broadcasters was already growing before the pandemic and has only increased since spring, when virtualization techniques enabled air talent to work from home.

“The combination of AoIP, networkable products and servers, either in house or cloud, made it possible to continue operating regular programming, both locally and on a network level, despite a forced decentralization of staff,” he said.

Prior to this week, Nautel and Telos Alliance demonstrated a way to eliminate time alignment drift by locking the FM and HD1 signals using software-implemented audio processing and a Nautel Gen4 HD MultiCast+.

This week’s demonstration, they said, built on that, showing how this time-locked air-chain “could be hosted in the cloud, utilizing the Telos Alliance Omnia Enterprise 9s high-density audio processor, a software-based Gen4 Importer/Exporter, and Nautel technology all running on the Amazon Web Services platform.”

The companies emphasized that further development work and the release of additional products will be needed prior to full deployment.

Schmid of Nautel also emphasized the importance of “failover” in a robust virtual network, referring to a system’s ability to switch to backup paths when there’s a problem.

“Our demonstration clearly showed the inherent availability of backups in a cloud-hosted air-chain. We included two failover events, switching our air-chain from Ohio to Brazil, then to a Nautel HD MultiCast+ acting as a physical resilient node. In all cases, the program flow was only briefly interrupted.”

The post Nautel and Telos Alliance Explore Cloud-Based Air Chain appeared first on Radio World.

Lisa Fowlkes

With fires consuming towns on the West Coast and hurricanes damaging communities in the east, the issue of preparing for natural disasters has never seemed more essential.

That issue is clear to the head of the safety and security bureau at the Federal Communications Commission who released a statement as part of September’s National Preparedness Month to recap the latest developments in the nation’s Wireless Emergency Alert plans. Lisa M. Fowlkes, chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, also detailed how emergency managers and the public can best go about taking advantage of this tool.

[Read: FEMA Says No National Alert Test This Year]

One of the most significant improvements to the system is enhanced geo-targeting options for Wireless Emergency Alerts. Starting in December 2019, participating wireless providers must provide the ability to deliver alerts on a mobile device to a specific area targeted by emergency management officials — no longer just blanket the entire county — with no more than a one-tenth of a mile overshoot.

The commission also recently requested that the CTIA, the trade association representing the communications industry, provide to the FCC an annual report with estimates of current and projected market penetration rates of mobile devices supporting enhanced WEA geo-targeting starting in July 2021. A similar request was sent to the standards organization Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions as well as to Qualcomm to confirm the chip manufacturer’s support for enhanced geo-targeting.

Fowlkes also highlighted the ability for public health officials to send Wireless Emergency Alerts with enhanced information — up to 360 characters from the original limit of 90 characters — and the capability for officials to send alerts in Spanish. She also touted a new class of alerts called Public Safety Messages to convey information such as the location of emergency shelters after a disaster.

In addition, Fowlkes said, as of December emergency managers can conduct state and local WEA tests that reach only consumers who choose to participate, noting that these tests do not require a waiver from the FCC.

In addition to releasing a set of tips for using the new Wireless Emergency Alert enhancements and for issuing multilingual alerts, Fowlkes also urged consumers themselves to take an important step: keep Wireless Emergency Alerts enabled on their phones.

“While it’s possible to turn most of these alerts off, they are proven life savers — so please keep them on,” she said.

The post FCC Releases Guidance on Using WEA Alerts appeared first on Radio World.

In the attack on New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, the radio and TV broadcast infrastructure was devastated. The World Trade Center was the locus and the loss downed radio and TV stations.

Broadcast engineers immediately moved into action to reinvigorate the Empire State Building broadcast facilities and relocate stations to other facilities. In addition plans for rebuilding were started.

Take a listen to this important session from Oct. 10, 2003, at an AES Show on “Rebuilding of New York Broadcasting” to see how today’s renewed New York airwaves came about. It features many of those most closely involved, including Howard Price of ABC, John Lyons of the Durst Organization, Steve Shultis of WNYC and many others.

The post Remembering Sept. 11 appeared first on Radio World.

Detroit News station WWJ began test broadcasts on Aug. 20, 1920 using call sign 8MK. A phonograph horn attached to the transmitter’s microphone is seen picking up recorded music on a borrowed Edison phonograph. From left are “disc spinner” Howard Trumbo, announcer Elton Plant and engineer Frank Edwards. Credit:
Author’s collection

It was shortly after World War I that Clarence Thompson, a partner of Lee de Forest, formed a new company Radio News & Music Inc. in New York. His goal was to encourage newspapers to broadcast their news reports by wireless, using de Forest transmitters.

The franchise offer — available to only one newspaper in each city — offered the rental of a de Forest 50-watt transmitter and accessories for $750. Just one newspaper signed up for the deal; it was the Detroit News, led by publisher William E. Scripp.

He had been interested in wireless since investing in Detroit experimenter Thomas E. Clark’s wireless company in 1904. Scripp’s son, William J. “Little Bill,” was an active ham radio operator, operating a station in the Scripps home.

People might laugh

Scripp proposed accepting the Radio News & Music offer and building a Detroit News radio station in 1919, but he met resistance from his board of directors. It was not until March of 1920 that he was given the go-ahead to sign a contract.

The de Forest transmitter was shipped to Detroit on May 28, 1920, but was lost in transit; a second transmitter was constructed and sent on July 15. This delayed the installation of the station until August.

Radio News & Music hired a Detroit ham operator, 19-year-old Michael Lyons, to install the transmitter on the second floor of the News building and to erect a rooftop antenna. A license was needed, but broadcasting in 1920 was just an experimental activity, and broadcast licenses did not yet exist.

The handful of pioneer broadcasters were operating under a variety of license classes, including amateur, experimental and “commercial land station.” The News decided that an amateur license was the most expedient option, and a license was quickly obtained with the call sign 8MK.

Scripps initially worried about the optics of a newspaper giving away its news reports for free over the air, and so he wanted the appearance of an arms-length relationship with the station. For this reason, the 8MK license was registered in Lyons’ name.

In a 1973 letter, Lyons recalled:

I’ll never forget the Tuesday we started broadcasting, and the reporters would not publish the fact, because they were afraid people would laugh at the Detroit newspaper. Besides, I was told, there was a chance the radio news would deter people from buying newspapers to get the news.

8MK made its first transmission on Aug. 20, 1920, on a frequency of 200 meters (1500 kHz), the bottom of the amateur band. It was just a test of the new equipment, and so it was not publicized. It is estimated that no more than 30 people heard the broadcast that night.

This was the 8MK antenna in June, 1921 — a 10-wire end-fed assembly that ran between two adjoining Detroit News buildings. Credit: Author’s collection

Elton Plank, a 16-year-old office boy, was given the task of being the first announcer because of his pleasing voice. At 8:15 p.m., Plank placed a megaphone against the transmitter’s mouthpiece and announced, “This is 8MK calling, the radiophone of the Detroit News.”

He then signaled Howard Trumbo, operating a borrowed hand-crank Edison phonograph, to play two records: “Roses of Picardy” and “Annie Laurie.” Listeners were asked to telephone in their signal reports to the newspaper, and 8MK signed off the air.

Election bulletins, August 2020

After several more test transmissions verified the equipment was working properly, 8MK made its first publicized broadcast on Aug. 31, 1920, the night of the state’s primary election.

A front-page announcement in the News alerted the public to the upcoming broadcast: “Miscellaneous news and music will be transmitted from 8 until 9 o’clock so that operators may adjust their instruments. Election bulletins begin at 9 o’clock and will continue on the hour and half-hour until midnight.”

An estimated 500 listeners heard that night’s broadcast.

After that auspicious debut, 8MK began a schedule of two broadcasts per day, six days a week, featuring news and weather summaries from the pages of the Detroit News combined with entertainment from phonograph records.

Each day, the program schedule of the “Detroit News Radiophone” was published on the front page of the newspaper. Encouraged by the positive results of his radio experiment, Scripps transferred the 8MK license into the name of the newspaper and dedicated more resources towards his fledgling operation.

A staff of three was assigned — two engineers and a program manager. New program concepts were tried: in September, there was a remote broadcast of live dance music by the Paul Specht Orchestra, and the results of the Dempsey-Miske boxing match were announced. The Brooklyn-Cleveland World Series baseball play-by-play scores were sent out in October.

On Nov. 2, 8MK broadcast the Harding-Cox presidential election returns, the same night as KDKA’s famous first broadcast. Live Christmas carols were broadcast in December. Lectures, dramatic readings and poetry were added in 1921, and live music was increasingly being heard.

Although still operating under an amateur license, 8MK was a commercial broadcaster in all aspects, operating from a business establishment with a paid staff and professional content.

National coverage

In the fall of 1921, new government regulations were issued that prohibited amateurs from broadcasting news and entertainment.

This meant that the Detroit News, along with dozens of other pioneer broadcasters, were required to apply for a new class of license called “Limited Commercial.” Subsequently, in November, 1921, the “Detroit News Radiophone” received a new license with the randomly-assigned call letters WBL, and it moved to the new shared broadcasting frequency of 360 meters (833 kHz).

But when listeners had trouble hearing the call sign correctly, a new call sign was requested, and the Detroit News station became WWJ on March 3, 1922.

Operator Fred Lathrop is at the controls of WWJ in 1922. The Western Electric 1-A 500-watt transmitter is rear left, with its electrical control panel at right. The desk contains only a microphone, audio amplifier, radio receiver and a wavemeter (frequency monitor). A room behind the transmitter contains a motor-generator set and banks of storage batteries, which supply DC power to the transmitter; power rectifier tubes had not been invented. Credit: Author’s collection

Scripps now poured considerable resources in his radio operation. A new WWJ studio/office suite was built on the fourth floor of the building. A 290-foot antenna was stretched between the News building and the Fort Shelby Hotel in 1921, and a 500-watt Western Electric transmitter was installed in 1922, only the second factory-made broadcast transmitter in the country.

With these improvements, WWJ was now being heard across the country at night. By summer, there was a full-time staff of nine. Live broadcasts of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra began in February, and in May a new 16-piece WWJ Orchestra was organized, consisting mostly of symphony musicians. Regular church services were broadcast on Sundays.

The WWJ operating staff in 1922. Back row, from left: unknown; Walter Hoffman, engineer; Genevieve Champagne, secretary; Keith Bernard; Elton Plant, announcer. Front: Charles Kelly, station manager; Howard Campbell, engineer; Bill Holliday, program manager; G. Marshall Witchell, reporter. Four more engineers are not shown. Author’s collection

Star performers appeared on the station, including Fanny Brice and Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. Nightly news reports with running commentary were delivered by Albert Weeks, billed as “The Town Crier.” Children’s bedtime stories were being read nightly.

As local live talent was hired to broadcast on WWJ, some refused to believe there was really an invisible audience hearing their performances. They were accustomed to the immediate feedback of a live audience, but the microphone offered only silence.

When future radio comedian Will Rogers made his first ever radio broadcast over WWJ in October, 1922, he didn’t believe that people were really listening: “I don’t think you can hear me,” he announced. “If this isn’t the bunk, let me know if you can hear me.”

To his great surprise, he received letters and postcards from all over the Midwest. Even Henry Ford had heard him, using a receiving set he had built himself.

Live remote play-by-play broadcasts on WWJ began in October, 1924, when Chief Announcer Edwin “Ty” Tyson called a University of Michigan football game from the stadium. The university allowed just this one broadcast because the stadium was already sold out, but when they were flooded with ticket requests for the next game they agreed to allow regular broadcasts.

Renowned sports announcer Ty Tyson joined WWJ as an announcer in 1922 and broadcast a variety of events before being recognized for his sportcaster abilities. He broadcast Tigers games on radio from 1927 to 1942, then on television from 1947–51, and then returned to radio. Tyson retired in 1953 and died in 1968. Credit: Author’s collection

In 1927, Tyson broadcast the entire season of Detroit Tigers home games over WWJ. He soon became one of the country’s foremost early sportscasters, and called both the 1935 and ’36 World Series games for NBC.

In 1923, WWJ moved to 517 meters (580 kHz), sharing the frequency with the new Detroit Free Press station WCX (now WJR), and then in 1925 it moved to 850 kHz, operating full-time with a new 1 kW transmitter. After the company’s new parking garage was completed across 3rd Avenue in 1926, the transmitter moved into the garage building, and two new towers suspended the antenna 265 feet above street level between the garage and the paper warehouse.

(WWJ was shifted to 920 kHz in 1928, and then to its current 950 kHz frequency in the NARBA Treaty realignment of 1941.)

Showcase station

As radio entered its “golden age” in the 1930s, backed by the ample resources of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain, no expense was spared to make WWJ a first-class station.

When the NBC Red Network was organized in 1926, WWJ became its Detroit affiliate. In 1936, a new showplace five-story studio building was built for a cost of $1 million, and an opulent 5 kW transmitter building and new tall tower were inaugurated. Both structures were designed by the famed Detroit architect Albert Kahn.

A new studio building, designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn and built at a cost of $1 million, opened in 1936. It was across Lafayette Boulevard from the Detroit News buildings. An underground tunnel connected the structures. Author’s collection In 1936 WWJ raised power to 5,000 watts and moved from the News building to this new transmitter building and tower on Eight Mile Road. Like the studio building opened that same year, the transmitter building was designed by Albert Kahn. Its granite block façade was highlighted by leaded glass windows towering above the doors.
Author’s collection

Frequent remote broadcasts originated from a fleet of remote trucks and the Detroit News aircraft. “Radio Jake,” the WWJ Interference Engineer, prowled the city in his own vehicle, solving interference complaints for citizens as a free public service.

The Detroit News had operated WWJ entirely as a goodwill service to the public. By 1928, it had reportedly invested $466,000 in the station, despite earning not a penny in return.

There was no way knowing if WWJ benefited the company through increased newspaper sales. This was the conundrum of radio in the late 1920s — it was now an essential public service, but had no clear source of revenue. It was not until advertising was permitted in the early 1930’s that radio became a profitable medium.

Aerial view of the WWJ towers on the roof of the Detroit News building, 1937. The Detroit River and Ambassador Bridge are in the background. By this date, the main transmitter was located on Eight Mile Road and these towers were used for backup. They were dismantled in 1943, their steel donated to the war effort. Author’s collection.

WWJ was continually at the forefront experimenting with new broadcast technologies. In 1938, it transmitted a radio newspaper during overnight hours to facsimile printers in local residences. In 1936, it inaugurated an experimental “Apex” high-fidelity AM station, W8XWJ, broadcasting on 41,000 kHz from the top of the Penobscot Building skyscraper.

In 1940, this was converted to W45D, one of the nation’s first FM stations (now WXYT-FM). And in 1947, WWJ-TV took to the airwaves (now WDIV).

The WWJ transmitter room in 1963. Transmitter engineer Ed Boyes is at the control desk. Author’s collection

The 65-year relationship between WWJ and the Detroit News ended in 1985, when The Gannett Company bought the newspaper and spun off WWJ/WJOI to a group of local businessmen. Then in 1989, they were purchased by CBS Radio, who invested in a major power increase to 50 kW in 2000.

In 2017, CBS Radio merged with Entercom, today’s owner of WWJ, which coincidentally also owns pioneer stations KDKA and KNX. The original WWJ de Forest transmitter was donated to the Detroit History Museum in 1959, where it can be seen on display today.

For more of John Schneider’s history articles, including other centennial stations that were heard prior to the famous KDKA broadcast of 1920, visit www.radioworld.com/author/johnschneider.

 

The post WWJ in Detroit: A 2020 Centennial Station appeared first on Radio World.

Smuggled dinosaur bones? Scuba diving under a pyramid? Binaural audio recording onsite?

It’s all part of the third season of the “Overheard at National Geographic” podcast. For its production team, gathering field recordings from exotic locations and subjects is just another day at the office.

“It’s hard to be in the [National Geographic] office for five minutes without immediately seeing there are a million stories out there to tell,” says producer Brian Gutierrez.

“You walk around, and there’s an archivist who’s recording old transcripts of Jacques Cousteau. There are people coming back from remote islands [and] writing about volcanoes and earthquakes. It’s almost impossible to not tell this to other people in the way that we’ve been doing it on Overheard.”

Capturing That Field Sound

Hosted by National Geographic writer and editor Peter Gwin and executive editor Amy Briggs, “Overheard at National Geographic” tags along with explorers, photographers and scientists who uncover unlikely and unheard stories from the edges of the world.

“The tone of the show,” Gutierrez says, “is, ‘Hey, the world’s a big, amazing, crazy place full of interesting, fascinating stuff I bet you didn’t know.”

Often, no one is closer to these tales than the journalists themselves. That’s why, after wrapping the first season of the podcast, the team began training them to capture audio so the podcast could piggyback on location stories the magazine and television channel produce.

“One of the learnings we took away from season one was, ‘How are we going to push the show further, and how can we think of ways to incorporate more of that field sound into the show?’” says Whitney Johnson, director of visuals and immersive experiences at National Geographic.

Amy Briggs, co-host and executive editor of “Overheard at National Geographic.”

By outfitting journalists with handheld recorders like the Zoom H6 and Roland R-07, they’re able to bring back audio that puts listeners in the adventure right alongside them. Sometimes audio comes from less conventional sources, such as a GoPro camera that captured underwater sounds used in the episode “Scuba Diving in a Pyramid.”

But when they get the chance to go into the field themselves, the production team takes advantage of the opportunity.

“I went to a warehouse in Queens [New York] where a paleontologist had dinosaur fossils given to her by Homeland Security because they had been illegally shipped to the United States,” says Gutierrez.

“Just following her with the recorder and letting her tell her story, I think brings you into the moment more than just being in the studio.”

Bounce-back

Gutierrez embraced the challenge of creating a sense of place, even in a nondescript location like a warehouse. He pointed a shotgun microphone at a wall to get audio bounce-back when he interviewed the paleontologist, and used binaural omnidirectional condenser mics from Core Sound while walking through the spacious, Raiders of the Lost Ark-like trove.

“They’re these little microphones that are the size of medicine pills, and I clip them to the sides of my hat,” he says. “There’s this sort of 3D effect of being in a space, because the microphones are literally where your ears are.”

The hosts track their narration with Shure SM7B mics when they can record in the studio, but currently they both use a Zoom recorder and Sennheiser ME66 shotgun mic at their homes. Gutierrez works with two additional producers on each episode, which takes about six weeks from concept to completion.

Although the podcast plays off adventurous themes like the ones National Geographic magazine has explored for more than 130 years, the podcast creators set out to fulfill a different kind of mission in the audio medium.

“We were really interested in trying to develop a show that held on to the ethos of what makes a great National Geographic story — a commitment to really immersive storytelling and great characters—but [also what] was really appropriate for audio,” says Johnson. “We knew we were not trying to make the audio version of a magazine story, and that we had to create something that was unique and deliberately [a] podcast.”

This story originally appeared in our sister newsletter Podcast Pro.

 

The post Producing “Overheard at National Geographic” appeared first on Radio World.

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From Radio World’s Who’s Buying What page.

The FM 3 kW transmitter from WorldCast’s Ecreso transmitter brand has been approved for acquisition by German association of regional public broadcasters, ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland).

WorldCast Systems Director of Product Marketing Gregory Mercier said, “The ARD specifications are acknowledged to be among the most demanding in the industry. We are honored that this organization has once again approved an Ecreso transmitter and proud that our product meets their standards for efficiency, reliability and robustness.”

Several Ecreso models have been approved for use by the nation’s public broadcasters and almost 2,000 are in use a release said.

The FM 3 kW is an FM transmitter that is compatible with Ecreso’s SmartFM technology.

 

The post ARD Approves Ecreso Transmitter appeared first on Radio World.

Getty Images/Pantan Kamsan

The Federal Communications Commission is offering deadline relief to certain AM radio stations in the United States that hold construction permits for FM translators.

The Media Bureau said it will accept COVID-19-related requests to postpone the expiration date for CPs from Auctions 99 and 100 that are due to expire by the end of June 2021.

The bureau “is aware that shutdowns associated with the pandemic have forced stations to halt construction, have disrupted equipment availability and deliveries, and have interrupted travel for tower and equipment installers,” it announced.

“In addition, the pandemic has compounded the severe financial difficulties experienced by many AM stations, including the significant loss of advertising revenue due to economic disruptions and the need to cover breaking news and air public service announcements relating to the pandemic.

“These financial difficulties, in some cases, may have caused AM stations to delay construction of authorized cross-service translators.”

The two filing windows date to 2017 and were part of the FCC’s AM “revitalization” initiative. The windows produced more than 1,700 construction permits for these new “cross-service” FM translators. Radio World has asked the commission how many of those CPs are now on the air and will report any reply.

Stations should submit a waiver request at least 15 days before the expiration date. Extensions can be no more than six months.

Waiver requests should be in the form of a letter submitted by e-mail to Robert Gates (Robert.Gates@fcc.gov) or Larry Hannif-Ali (Larry.Hannif-Ali@fcc.gov) of the Media Bureau, Audio Division. There is no fee. (Don’t use the Licensing and Management System for this request.)

Requests must specify how the pandemic or its economic impact has prevented timely construction. Evidence of justification might include financial statements demonstrating the pandemic’s economic impact on the permittee; affidavits or other evidence of the unavailability of components or tower crews; or copies of equipment orders.

The rules don’t provide for CP extensions; but the bureau wrote, “We will in appropriate cases grant a waiver of the construction deadline based on ‘rare and exceptional circumstances beyond the permittee’s control.’”

It added that this is specifically for CPs awarded to applicants in those two auction windows expiring on by June 30. “While other applicants and permittees are free as always to seek waiver relief, our public interest finding does not specifically pertain to other construction permits, applications or services.”

More information is here.

The post AM Translator CPs Get Some Deadline Relief appeared first on Radio World.

Radio World’s Fall Product Peeks webcast was a hit (you can watch it here), and now comes the sequel.

Join us for the next 30-minute Radio World webcast, and learn about more new products coming from radio’s leading technology vendors like Tieline and Wheatstone. We’ll also give you a special preview of the technical sessions of the upcoming virtual Radio Show.

Editor in Chief Paul McLane spends a few minutes with each manufacturer to learn what they are offering for radio broadcasters. This format is intended to be fast-moving so you can learn about new products without taking up a lot of your day.

We’ve had great feedback about our shorter, more accessible format, which is fast-moving so you don’t have to tie up a lot of your day. 

Joining us for a special segment is Skip Pizzi of the NAB, discussing the technical sessions of the virtual Radio Show in October.

Register here for this free Radio World webcast, and we’ll send you a reminder close to the date. 

The post Second Fall Product Peeks Webcast Explores More New Products appeared first on Radio World.