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San Francisco Public Press Executive Director Michael Stoll holds up a copy of the newspaper at the “Civic”/KSFP launch event.
Credit: Event photos by Jennifer Waits

Just a few blocks from San Francisco City Hall, news and public affairs station KSFP(LP) launched out of a “glorified storage closet” that once housed thousands of newspapers. 

The San Francisco Public Press, a 10-year-old non-profit, membership-based print and web newspaper focused on in-depth local news, is an unusual entrant into the community radio space, although it owes its very existence to a public radio-style model. 

“We always considered ourselves a newspaper inspired by public broadcasting, and now we have a radio station inspired by a newspaper inspired by public radio, so we’ve kind of come full circle in a way,” said San Francisco Public Press Executive Director Michael Stoll.

TIME SHARE

Hitting the airwaves in San Francisco last summer, KSFP joined time-share partner San Francisco Community Radio KXSF(LP) on 102.5 MHz. One of the last low-power FM radio stations to launch from the 2013 application window, KSFP broadcasts daily from 4 to 10 a.m., and from 4 to 10 p.m. via an antenna on Sutro Tower.

For about a year, San Francisco Community Radio’s KXSF was the sole station on 102.5 FM, transmitting during the other 12 hours.

Funding for the effort came from Public Press members as well as institutions like the James Irvine Foundation, the California Endowment and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

Operations Manager Laura Wenus, left, interviews “Muni Diaries” co-founder Eugenia Chien and producer Peter Clarke.

While KXSF’s crew of volunteers was full of folks with radio experience, San Francisco Public Press staffers were less seasoned and sought help from the broader radio community, including KXSF, to get up and running. 

As the vision for the station crystallized, two experienced radio producers were brought on board to oversee the station and its programming. 

At an evening event last August, community media supporters gathered at Impact Hub in San Francisco’s Mission District to celebrate the debut of both KSFP(LP) and its flagship show “Civic.” It had been a long road to the airwaves for San Francisco Public Press; and radio veterans in the room shared that they were happy about the rare launch of a new radio station in San Francisco.

“ENORMOUS RESOURCE”

KSFP Operations Manager and reporter Laura Wenus and KSFP Program Director Mel Baker are the core team managing KSFP, with Stoll serving as general manager. Wenus and Baker also are host and producer, respectively, of “Civic.”

Rather than launching with a full slate of original content, they opted to start slowly, beginning with the radio show and podcast “Civic,” which developed out of the journalism being done in the Public Press newsroom. 

In the studio of KSFP(LP)

Stoll acknowledges that while there’s been a lot of buzz in journalism circles about podcasting, KSFP wants to ensure that it’s taking full advantage of the opportunity that it’s been given with LPFM. 

“Everybody’s been talking about this sort of pivot to audio in the nonprofit local journalism space really for the last two to three years. … People have been starting to take it really seriously, but most of the organizations have tepidly dipped their toes into podcasting … they haven’t put a lot of energy into the volume of content or staffing or the distribution. It’s often considered kind of an add-on,” Stoll said. 

Understanding that 12 hours of daily airtime on KSFP is an “enormous resource,” Stoll and team have tried to be thoughtful and methodical about bringing their current work to the airwaves. 

Although they are entering a crowded radio dial in San Francisco that includes a variety of non-commercial powerhouses, KSFP’s hyperlocal news focus sets them apart. 

“We have a reputation for truthful, careful journalism in print, and we’re translating that into other media in a way that is aimed at keeping the work that we’re doing in print and print style journalism on the web relevant to new audiences.”

With “Civic,” airing at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays), San Francisco Public Press hopes to not only have something “of interest to San Franciscans,” but that also “encourages and enables civic participation,” according to Wenus. 

“Civic” features interviews and stories focused on local San Francisco issues and news. To pique interest in the show, the launch party featured a live on-stage interview that would form the basis for a future episode. Wenus’ entertaining conversation with the team behind public transportation-themed storytelling blog/podcast “Muni Diaries,” had the audience engaged, with many sharing their own amusing and harrowing public transit stories during the Q&A that followed. 

Other recent shows have included stories about climate change, homelessness, mental health and San Francisco elections. With an understanding that audio on demand is increasingly important, “Civic” is running both terrestrially over 102.5 and in podcast form, with additional bonus episodes available online.  

For now, the station is an FM-only venture, with a live stream on its wish list. Wenus shares that one of the exciting aspects of the project is the simultaneous launching of a radio station, radio show and podcast. She said it’s been interesting “trying to straddle those worlds.”

“EXCITING POWER” Mel Baker

From its small studio, Wenus and Baker record “Civic” and oversee the daily tasks of the radio station, slowly building out the schedule. It airs syndicated news and public affairs shows such as “Radio Survivor” and KQED shows like “The California Report Magazine,” “Political Breakdown,” “Making Contact,” “Bioneers,” “Reveal” and “Philosophy Talk” — and rounds out the remaining hours with PRX Remix, a stream of “stories, podcasts and documentaries” from non-profit media company PRX’s 24-7 stream. 

They’re also in talks with several independent audio producers for original programming that would have its broadcast home on KSFP.  The hope is that local producers will take to the KSFP airwaves, bringing additional programs to the schedule in months to come. 

The team is optimistic about its place in the media landscape. 

“There is just so much enthusiasm for the idea of … expanding the airwaves,” Stoll said, “and bringing new voices to the air and new choices.” 

Radio will allow them to reach new audiences. Baker speculates that, “Audio is a living breathing medium for communicating. People have more ear time than eye time. You can listen to more stories than you can ever read or watch, so that’s the exciting power of this medium.”

Jennifer Waits writes frequently about community, college and low-power radio. She is a co-founder of Radio Survivor, which produces a free syndicated weekly show that airs on KSFP.

The post KSFP Highlights Journalism, Public Affairs appeared first on Radio World.

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Wheatstone.com has a major new element: an online spare parts store.

According to a press release, the Wheatstone Store offers “spare cards, sub-assemblies, modules and other discontinued or out-of-production components for Wheatstone, Audioarts, PR&E and VoxPro products.”

This means DIYers have a new way to ensure their console surfaces, FM/AM/HD audio processors and complete AoIP studio systems stay in tip-top shape, according to the company.

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

But never fear, the Wheatstone Store doesn’t mean the company’s support team is being put out to pasture. Customer support can be reached online or via 1-252-638-7000.

The company considers the Wheatstone Store to be an addition to its existing online support, including the manuals, white papers and tutorials as well as technical and discussion forums already hosted on wheatstone.com.

Note that the products themselves will not be available via the Wheatstone Store; customers must go through existing distribution channels or order directly from the New Bern, N.C., factory.

 

The post Wheatstone Store Sells Parts Online appeared first on Radio World.

Getty Images/PashaIgnatov

The author is chairman of the Washington State Emergency Communications Committee. In 2016 Radio World interviewed Freinwald about EAS reform. We checked in with him for this issue.

The Washington SECC has a reputation for thinking outside the box when it comes to how they deal with Public Alert and Warning, in particular EAS. We think of ourselves as “progressives.”

The structure of the Washington SECC is an open, ongoing, cooperative and collaborative process that welcomes everyone involved with public alert and warning. We meet every other month, operate two in-state email list-servers, and often have ongoing committees working to deal with specific needs and tasks. 

Our EAS plan is unique in that it covers a broad range of areas that go well beyond what is required by the FCC. For example, Amber, Wireless Emergency Alerts, Organizational Structure, etc. The FCC is only interested in a portion of what we do. Yet, the idea is to be more inclusive for more public alert and warning systems.

Not long ago, the FCC announced that they are moving toward hosting State EAS Plans online via a process they call Alert Reporting System or ARS. After closely looking at what the FCC was proposing, it was decided that this would be a good time to perform an extensive update to our State Plan. 

To accomplish this task, the SECC created the Plan Revision Committee. Its goal was to review our existing plan and make changes indicated by the FCC’s proposed changes.

WA-PAWS

One of the first addressed was to rename our new plan. Whereas the FCC would be hosting the Washington State EAS Plan (online) and whereas the contents would likely differ from our Plan, it was determined that having two plans with the same name was not wise. 

Therefore, the Plan-Revision Committee proposed to the SECC that the name of our new Plan be WA-PAWS, or Washington Public Alert and Warning Systems. This title has been approved by the SECC. 

The new WA-PAWS plan will be like the existing EAS Plan and be printable as well as be available online. We will continue to use “tabs” to house specific items that will make updating much easier. 

Unlike the present plan, the new one will be broken into segments: Overview, Structure, Distribution, LECCs, Amber and Additional Resources. And finally, rather than duplicate what the FCC will have online for the State EAS Plan, we will simply provide a link to the FCC site hosting that tab information. In other words, the State EAS Plan will be a segment within the WA-PAWS Plan.

The process of getting from here to there is a gradual and deliberate one. We meet via a conference bridge about every two weeks, with periodic in-person meetings. Ongoing are a lot of emails with electronic document support. The committee reports to the SECC as to its progress every two months during their regular meetings. The Plan-Revision Committee has been working on this process now for over a year.

Once we agreed to the overall concept and structure, we have been dealing with each segment of the new plan’s tabs, slowly and deliberatively. At this writing we are dealing with what we call our Monitoring Matrixes, which are tables that guide participants as to what they should monitor in each operational area. We are dedicated to getting each segment right before proceeding further. The impact on participants (radio and TV stations and cable systems) of these updates will be minimal, and FCC compliance will be easier for participants.

In the future, participants will be able to view the WA-PAWS Plan online, hosted on the Washington State Emergency Management website. The refreshed state plan will be a wealth of information about how the overall process functions, including such details as “what needs to be monitored,” etc. Specifics regarding the State EAS Plan will be available online via FCC ARS. Validation of all the monitoring sources will be determined by the FCC (and FEMA) via the existing ETRS. 

BEYOND BROADCAST

It is important to understand that today, broadcasting is no longer the primary means of alerting the public. Today, there are more, and perhaps better, “tools” in the Public Alert and Warning Tool Box. It can be argued that the most effective tool for that task is WEA. 

Shown, a FEMA info sheet for young people about Wireless Emergency Alerts. Clay Freinwald writes, “It is important to understand that today, broadcasting is no longer the primary means of alerting the public. … It can be argued that the most effective tool for that task is WEA.”

Interestingly, if you look at the software that’s used by emergency managers, many of these programs provide a means for launching both EAS and WEA Messages. These systems have been joined by other tools, for instance participation by the National Weather Service, Reverse 911 telephone systems, highway signs, opt-in local alert programs and more. 

The challenge for broadcasters is to enhance their willingness to broadcast these public alert and warning messages. Tragically, many broadcasters decline to air anything other than what the FCC requires. Emergency managers know this and, as a result, have had no choice but turn their attention to other additional resources to alert the public. 

Our role in this effort is to further educate emergency managers on how to more effectively use all these tools. The need to have broadcasters participate in both the state committees (SECCs) and local groups (LECCs). This participation needs to come from management. Unfortunately, too many broadcast managers have concluded that EAS is a technical function. The truth: It is not. It is a public service function with the goal of saving lives and, as such, deserves attention from higher levels in the broadcast industry.

One more thing our SECC is working on: how to provide post-disaster information to the public after a major event such as the major earthquake that is promised for this part of the country. This effort requires more tools and more training for all stakeholders, and perhaps is another story for another time.

Clay Freinwald has been chairman of the Washington SECC since 1996 and is a past recipient of Radio World’s Excellence in Engineering Award. He can be reached at k7cr@blarg.net.

The post Washington State EAS Is Evolving appeared first on Radio World.

The RFEngineers Watch Dog receiver is used by many radio stations for local and remote off-air monitoring of audio, signal level, RDS and pilot. In this installment of our ongoing Raspberry Pi project series, Dan D’Andrea, RFEngineers’ “software guy,” details a project that employs a Pi to channel alerts from the receiver.

The Watch Dog receiver does not have an Ethernet port for sending out alerts over the internet. Instead, the receiver is configured, monitored and powered via its USB port. Thankfully, the USB port on the Watch Dog makes the receiver available as a serial device, which is easy to connect to in a variety of ways. We refer to this as its “Serial API” or “serial interface,” and it’s quite extensive. (Plenty of documentation can be found at http://www.RFEngineers.com/WD1.)

As one demonstration of what can be achieved with the Watch Dog’s serial interface, have a look at the RFEngineers Watch Dog Dashboard for Windows. The Watch Dog Dashboard is a free program that lets one easily configure and monitor the receiver and which is based entirely on the Watch Dog’s serial interface. See Fig. 1.

Fig. 1: RFEngineers Watch Dog Dashboard for Windows software.

We began to wonder: How easy would it be to hook a Watch Dog receiver to a Raspberry Pi and have the Raspberry Pi continually monitor the Watch Dog’s status via the serial interface and send out an email any time an alarm condition is found? Perhaps a small Python program?

It turns out that the Watch Dog’s serial interface makes it ideally suited for automating with Python. We were able to write a simple Python program to monitor the Watch Dog and detect alarm conditions in less than 10 lines of code! We then extended the program to include email alerts.

This program is available for free and for you to adapt however you see fit in a public GitHub repository that we created: https://www.github.com/rfengineers/Watch-Dog-Python.

This article will go through the steps of setting up a Watch Dog receiver and a Raspberry Pi to work in conjunction as an Internet-enabled confidence monitor. It will use the AlarmEmail.py program referenced above and found on GitHub.

We used the following equipment:

• RFEngineers Watch Dog FM/AM/NOAA + RDS receiver, firmware v2.2.7
• Raspberry Pi 3 Model B
• 2.5A USB power supply

INITIAL SETUP

We used a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B with a fresh install of Raspbian OS, but just about any Raspberry Pi should do. We connected the Raspberry Pi to wall power using a 2.5A USB power supply. We then connected the Watch Dog to the Raspberry Pi via one of the Pi’s 4 main USB 2.0 connectors.

We chose to use a Raspberry Pi for this example but any PC, Mac or other computer that can run Python would be fine as well.

Note that you might ultimately gain better mileage using a powered USB hub to connect the Watch Dog to the Raspberry Pi, as we observed an Under-voltage detected! message in the system log file when first connecting the Watch Dog. The Raspberry Pi otherwise showed no problems powering the Watch Dog receiver.

FINDING THE WATCH DOG’S SERIAL PORT IN RASPBIAN

Run the following Linux command to determine on which port your Watch Dog is available:

dmesg | grep tty

Look for a line containing a message like USB ACM device. Copy down the full tty value for a later step, e.g. ttyACM0 in our case. See Fig. 2.

Fig. 2: Our Watch Dog was found on ttyACM0.

Next, clone the GitHub repository or simply download the AlarmEmail.py program directly from here: https://github.com/rfengineers/Watch-Dog-Python.

Open up the AlarmEmail.py program in your favorite text editor and change the following parameters:

ALARM_LIMIT_SECS

This limits how often, in seconds, an alarm email will be sent. For instance, if set to 900 then the program will wait 15 minutes before sending another alarm email. Leave at the default value of 900 seconds if this works for you.

ALARM_POLL_SECS

This is how often the program will query the Watch Dog via its serial interface to get the latest alarms reading. Leaving this at the default value of 15 seconds should be fine for most uses.

WATCH_DOG_PORT

Put in the value that you found above in the “Finding the Watch Dog’s serial port in Raspbian” section. For example, if the value you found was “/dev/ttyACM1” then you would change this value to that. You can leave it at the default value if your Watch Dog showed up on the same port as ours.

CONFIGURING ALARMEMAIL.PY EMAIL SETTINGS

You will need to change several email-related settings, and possibly a few other email-related settings as well.

EMAIL_SUBJECT

You can leave this as it is if you are fine with the default message we chose. Otherwise change to suit your needs.

EMAIL_FROM

You will need to put your email address here, or the email address where you want the emails to come from.

EMAIL_PASSWORD

The password used to send email on your email server with your email address. I used my Gmail account, which required that I set up an App Password. More info on that here: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833?hl=en.

EMAIL_TO

Where the email alerts should be sent.

EMAIL_SERVER_HOSTNAME

This is the hostname of the email server for the email address you are sending from. In my case, I was sending from my Gmail account, so I used smtp.gmail.com.

EMAIL_SERVER_PORT

The default port should be fine for most email servers. Otherwise you can change it here as needed.

RUNNING ALARMEMAIL.PY

Fig. 3: AlarmEmail.py showing normal output with no alarms.Simply execute the following command to run the program: python AlarmEmail.py. See Fig. 3.

Fig. 3: AlarmEmail.py showing normal output with no alarms.

Pulling the antenna from our Watch Dog receiver was enough for us to generate several alarms. See Figs. 4 and 5.

Fig. 4: Simulating an alarm condition and receiving an alert email. Fig. 5: An alert email showed up on my phone within seconds. ADVANCED: CONFIGURE ALARMEMAIL.PY FOR 24X7X365 FAIL-SAFE OPERATION

Fig. 6: Installing and starting the AlarmEmail.py systemd service.We want AlarmEmail.py to stay running, even if the Raspberry Pi temporarily loses power, is rebooted, or if the program ever crashes. We will accomplish this by running AlarmEmail.py as a Linux systemd service. Copy the AlarmEmail.service file from our GitHub repository to the /lib/systemd/system/ directory on the Raspberry Pi (see Fig. 6) and then issue two more commands to start the service:

sudo cp AlarmEmail.service /lib/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl enable AlarmEmail.service
sudo systemctl start AlarmEmail.service

Fig. 6: Installing and starting the AlarmEmail.py systemd service.

You may also want to go ahead and reboot your Raspberry Pi now to verify that the service starts on boot.

CONCLUSION

Getting real-time email alerts from devices that don’t provide an Ethernet interface can be easily accomplished when you combine a Raspberry Pi or other computer and a bit of Python code. In this sense, the Raspberry Pi can be a great piece of “glue” for broadcast engineers.

This article will hopefully get you thinking about other automation opportunities for your broadcasting infrastructure. For example, using similar methods to those outlined above, a device like the Watch Dog receiver could easily be turned into a multi-station confidence monitor. Stay tuned, as we will likely be publishing just such an article in the near future.

Dan D’Andrea is an amateur radio operator, embedded systems enthusiast, Software-Defined Radio (SDR) hobbyist and professional software developer with 20 years of industry experience.

Send your RWEE story ideas to rweetech@gmail.com.

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Read the previous Raspberry Pi article by Todd Dixon.

The post Get Email Alerts From an RFEngineers Watch Dog Receiver appeared first on Radio World.

The author is editor-in-chief of the UNESCO Courier.

Is radio out of date? Is it time to bury this medium that entered our homes nearly a century ago? Far from it.

Certainly, the transistor of yesteryear has lived its life. Linear listening, ear glued to the radio receiver, has had its day. Radio has begun its digital transformation. Today, listeners are just as likely, if not more so, to tune in on their mobile phones or computers.

A major factor in reinventing the medium has been the production of podcasts — programs available on demand. Radio can sometimes even be watched, when programs are filmed and posted online. The listener has evolved too. Once passive behind their devices, they can now take part in broadcasts, and even help shape programs, by voicing their opinions on social media.

CRUCIAL ROLE

So it is a very different but thriving medium that we now celebrate on Feb. 13 each year, on World Radio Day. Proclaimed in 2011, the day reminds us of the crucial role of this medium, which reaches a wide audience, even in the most isolated areas or in emergency situations. Since UNESCO’s creation, the Organization has relied on this key medium to help fulfill its mandate to foster freedom of expression and the free flow of ideas throughout the world.

The Organization provided programs to radio stations around the world, supporting radio information campaigns — such as the 2016 information campaign on the Zika virus in Latin America and the Caribbean — something it continues to do today. UNESCO offers training in radio broadcasting and reporting, as it has done for young Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2014. It also supports the creation of community radio stations, or those broadcasting in the aftermath of natural disasters.

The theme of World Radio Day 2020 is diversity. This remains a burning issue because the representation of women, minorities and people with disabilities on the airwaves is still unsatisfactory. We have come a long way since female reporters had to make way for men to read their reports on air, because male voices were considered more credible. But the challenge is real.

The lack of statistics in many countries makes it impossible to draw a global map of diversity in radio. But the data that does exist, speaks for itself. In France in 2018, women accounted  for 37% (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel, 2019) of radio broadcasters. They constituted 23% of political guests, and 37% of experts on radio.

In the United Kingdom, while 51% of radio staff were women, only 36% held positions of responsibility (Ofcom, 2019). Another example: in the United States, in 2017, only 11% of radio newsroom staff were from minority backgrounds (The Radio and Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and Hofstra University Newsroom Survey, 2018).

It’s important that radio reflects the audiences it serves more accurately, because diversity in radio is the key to fair and independent information. It is also a means of giving a voice to the variety of cultures and opinions that form the basis for critical thinking.

In spite of the evolution of radio in recent years, it remains that irreplaceable voice, which populates our solitude and seems to speak to us alone — even though it addresses the multitude. In a world invaded by screens, “paradoxically, one advantage of radio is that it is not accompanied by the image”, noted the UNESCO Courier in the editorial of its February 1997 issue devoted to radio.

This message is just as relevant today. “The chief quality of the TV image — that it seems so realistic — is actually its main flaw because it inhibits our imagination and our capacity to stand back and think,” the editorial continues. “We shall always need sound without image as part of our right to interpret for ourselves, as we tune in to the morning news, the meaning of world events.”

This article first appeared in the UNESCO Courier.

The post World Radio Day: Radio Is “Stronger and More Vibrant Than Ever” appeared first on Radio World.

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The National Association of Broadcasters is closely monitoring the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in China, with an eye toward its potential impact on attendance and exhibitors at the 2020 NAB Show, April 18-22, in Las Vegas.

As of this writing, no exhibitors have pulled out due to the virus; however, NAB is currently reaching out to companies from China to assess their status, said Ann Marie Cummings, senior vice president of Communications for the broadcaster trade association.

According to NAB’s demographic breakdown of its 2019 show, 30% of non-U.S. attendees came from Asia.

This week, several large companies, including Amazon, Ericsson, Intel, LG, Nvidia and Sony, announced they were pulling out of the 2020 Mobile World Congress, April 24-27, in Barcelona due to the risk of coronavirus.

In Las Vegas, the city’s convention bureau has seen no cancellation of trade shows since the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, said Erica Johnson, director of communications of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. There are 16 trade shows with more than 5,000 expected attendees scheduled for Las Vegas between now and the beginning of April.

As of Feb. 12, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 45,171 with 1,115 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. NAB is following the advice of the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control as it plans its 2020 gathering, said Cummings.

[Coronavirus: ABU Takes “Necessary Precautions” for DBS 202]

“The health and safety of our attendees and exhibitors is our first priority,” and to that end, the association is developing policies and procedures “to combat potential threats and ensure a safe and productive environment for all,” said Cummings.

Possible steps include “enforcing best practices to prevent the spread of flu viruses,” ramped up sanitation efforts and making sure medical personnel are present at the event, said Cummings.

While it is still too early to determine what, if any, effect the virus will have on the show, the trade association is “confident the NAB Show will convene as the world’s largest and most comprehensive media and technology convention,” she said.

“More importantly, our hearts go out to the citizens of China and all who have been directly affected,” said Cummings.

The post NAB Monitoring Coronavirus, Assessing Impact on 2020 Show appeared first on Radio World.

This year, World Radio Day is dedicated to diversity — diversity behind the mic and in the newsroom, diversity in the airwaves’ music and ideas. This focus comes at just the right time. Radio and radio-like audio are poised for growth, so long as they can woo younger listeners by reaching them where they are, via digital products like streams and podcasts.

Radio knows how to create value for listeners and sponsors. Radio is great for discovery, as trusted voices introduce us to new sounds, new artists and new thoughts on cultural or political developments.

New digital platforms and media are inspired by radio’s time-tested formats. Efforts on the part of streaming services to grow their user base, for example, draw on radio’s ideas, linking music, engaging talk, friendly conversation and other elements into personalized radio-like channels. 

PODCASTING

The podcast boom shows that the human element outweighs the algorithm in creating this value for listeners. The majority of broadcasters see podcasting as a good opportunity, one way or another.

We at BMAT see this as one of the largest global monitors of broadcasting for reporting purposes, carrying out 24/7 tracking of around 8,000 channels across 134 countries.

Podcasts offer potential listeners a chance to catch a beloved on-air personality whenever convenient for the listener. Podcasting lets broadcasters expand their offerings, curate experiences for specific audience segments and, importantly, experiment with new sounds, approaches and perspectives. Podcasts are a great springboard for diversity, allowing new voices to find and build an audience. 

We need to nurture these new voices in order to keep radio’s audiences youthful. For music radio in Spain, where BMAT is based, the average age of listeners is 40, which means there aren’t a lot of teens tuning in. Especially in first-world countries where there are so many other options, Gen Z and millennials are elsewhere. They’re still tuning in, still listening, but not as much. Broadcasters need to think about how to engage with these audiences. This doesn’t mean we should abandon terrestrial broadcasts, but instead, we could let new formats cross-pollinate with tried-and-true approaches. 

We need to nurture these new voices in order to keep radio’s audiences youthful.

These approaches endure and can flourish in the future, I believe, because they involve real human connection. Radio is the most widespread medium on the planet, and worldwide, its penetration is still higher than the internet. For many listeners, radio is still the best, if not the only, way depending on their location, to hear new sounds or catch up on news or important issues. 

For me and for billions of other people out there, there’s this feeling when you turn on the radio. You find your favorite station, and you come to trust the person’s taste you’re listening to. It’s a relationship between you and the presenter, a relationship that means something in this era of on-demand audio content. It’s a relationship that’s still going strong.

Jose Torrabadella is VP of broadcast at Barcelona-based BMAT. He works with the monitoring and reporting of song information, duration, audience and context for broadcasts on TV and radio channels across 134 countries.

The post Relationships Are Why Radio’s Future Promises to Be Strong appeared first on Radio World.

Getty Images/askmenow

It is the age-old question: What came first, the chicken or the egg? Arguments can be made for both, so the question remains unanswered, at least in the philosophical sense. But what does that have to do with broadcast radio? In that regard, I suppose we could ask whether the transmitter or receiver came first, and the answer would be that they both came at the same time.

In the early months of this year, we are faced with a similar question: What has to come first for all-digital AM to succeed: a critical mass of HD-Radio capable receivers, or a significant number of stations transmitting in the all-digital mode?

As the FCC considers allowing AM stations to convert to the MA-3 all-digital mode on a voluntary basis, broadcasters are faced with a choice as to which stations it makes sense to convert.

In some situations, the choice would seem to be fairly clear. If an AM station’s programming is 100% duplicated in the coverage area by an FM signal, whether from a sister full-power station or a translator with good market coverage, chances are that the majority (if not all) of the listeners are tuning into the FM signal anyway, and there is no downside to converting the AM to the all-digital mode, at least in terms of audience impact. The all-digital signal will give listeners another high-fidelity means of getting the station’s programming.

But in other situations, there may be some FM duplication of coverage and programming, but is it enough that no listeners are disenfranchised if the analog AM signal goes away? That is a decision that each licensee will have to make; only those who are intimately familiar with the market, their radio stations and audiences have sufficient information to make that determination.

I suspect that this is where the vast majority of AM stations are — in a situation that is anything but clear-cut one way or the other.

WHERE TO START?

Standalone AM stations would seem to be poor candidates for all-digital conversion. If you believe the HD Radio penetration data, that means as soon as the all-digital switch is flipped, at least 50% of the station’s listeners will get nothing but white noise. And while the statistics on receiver proliferation are undoubtedly correct on the whole, I imagine that the real numbers vary widely depending on region, demographics, the local or regional economy and other factors. All this is part of what amounts to a very local decision as to whether all-digital conversion is right for a particular AM station.

And then there is the elephant in the room: cost of conversion. Since the MA-3 mode primary digital carriers fit within the spectrum occupied by the analog signal, it is likely that most stations have sufficient antenna bandwidth to handle the all-digital spectrum.

This is in contrast to the demands of the digital hybrid mode that is authorized at present. A lot of stations that got on that bandwagon had to do a significant amount of work to get their antenna systems in shape to pass the digital sidebands. I did a bunch of those myself some 15 years ago, and it wasn’t easy.

So assuming few or limited antenna issues, all-digital conversion costs are primarily the Xperi licensing, and the signal generation equipment, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Figure in some needed infrastructure changes for many stations and the costs will be even higher. That may not be a huge thing for a fully-duplicated AM in a profitable local cluster, but for the ma-and-pa AM with a translator in a small market, it may be a deal killer.

And that brings us back to the “what comes first” question.

SO MUCH NOISE

As Ben Downs so eloquently argued in his petition for rulemaking that eventually resulted in the all-digital AM NPRM, the AM broadcast medium is in trouble. In decades past, the issue was interference. In the here and now, it is man-made noise. The interference issue remains, but in many cases it is eclipsed by the noise problem.

The interference issue is, if you will pardon the pun, static (the adjective, not the noun). By and large, other than as a result of normal ionospheric variations, interference for a particular station’s signal is what it is … and what it was. The FCC’s rules and international treaties tend to keep interference from increasing significantly beyond current levels.

Many modern transmitters are all-digital ready.

But the noise problem, now that’s anything but static. It is ever increasing. I encountered an excellent example of this at my home a few months ago.

I began experiencing a lot of new noise on the AM band as well as on the lower HF bands. The noise produced such a roar that I could not listen to any AM signals at home without at least some underlying noise. The big 50 kW signals were at least listenable, but they weren’t clean. Lower-powered signals were completely unlistenable.

I tried everything I could think of to track down the noise source without success, walking around the house with a battery-operated portable radio, listening for an increase or decrease in the roar as I moved from room to room. The noise seemed to be ubiquitous. I eventually concluded that it must be coming from my neighbor’s solar charge controller or inverter.

Then one day, I happened to have a radio on when I turned off the switch for the front exterior lights. We normally leave those lights on all the time, but for some reason I turned them off that day … and instantly the noise disappeared! AM reception was clear and clean, and the S-9 noise floor on the 80, 60 and 40 meter bands dropped to S-2! I turned the exterior lights back on, but the noise remained gone.

I left the lights on, thinking that the noise would eventually come back and I could investigate further, but it never did. And then later that day, as I was backing the car out of the garage, I noted that one of the front exterior lights was out. I opened the fixture and looked at the LED bulb, and I found it discolored. Clearly it had been hot. Most likely it had been arcing internally, and when I turned off the switch, the arc extinguished, and the spacing was sufficient that it did not return when I turned the circuit back on. I replaced that bulb with a new GE LED bulb, and all was well. Still no noise.

The point here is that what happened at my house with one noisy LED bulb (in a house that has 100% LED bulbs) happens all the time in other homes and businesses. It may not be an LED bulb. It may be the motor controller in a high-efficiency HVAC unit. It may be the microprocessor in a washing machine or refrigerator. Or it may be solar charge controllers and inverters. Each noise source adds to the RSS interference level at every receive location, and as more and more devices are added, the noise floor goes up and up and up. Each device is okay by itself, but each one adds to the total.

LET’S GET MOVING

At this late date, I daresay that there is nothing that can be done about the noise issue. That train left the station a long time ago, and there is a lot of momentum. In my opinion, this noise issue spells doom for most of the AM broadcast medium. Only the strongest stations that produce a field of 10 mV/m or more throughout the coverage area have a chance at survival.

This is where all-digital comes in. It has a demonstrated immunity to noise. It’s not a panacea, but it does perform well in our 21st century noisy environment.

So I’m going to go out on a limb here and agree with proponents that if AM is to survive for the long term, it has to make the jump to all-digital.

But what comes first? Do we wait for a critical mass of receivers before making that jump, or do we go now? Do we drive the demand for digital receivers by going all-digital now, or is that a pipe dream? Or … is it way too late for any of this, making this a pointless discussion?

I don’t have a Magic 8-Ball that I can shake and get answers, but I do believe that the AM broadcast medium has both value and a future — if we get moving now, in at least a limited way, with conversion to the noise-immune all-digital MA-3 mode. Receiver proliferation will independently continue, driven by the auto industry and FM. AM can ride that wave. But if the AM medium dies while we wait … well … it won’t much matter if there are plenty of digital AM capable receivers out there.

It’s certainly something to think about.

Watch a Radio World webcast about all-digital on the U.S. AM band on Feb. 19. Info is at https://tinyurl.com/rw-sunrise.

Cris Alexander, CPBE, AMD, DRB, is director of engineering of Crawford Broadcasting Co. and technical editor of RW Engineering Extra. Email him at rweetech@gmail.com.

The post Is the Time Right for All-Digital AM? appeared first on Radio World.

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Director of Technology & Innovation, Ahmed Nadeem, said in a statement that, despite the Coronavirus outbreak, the organization plans to go ahead with DBS 2020.

Nadeem reassured industry professionals the union is “monitoring the situation and following guidelines from local authorities and agencies.” He added that it is “taking all necessary safety precautions to create a safe environment for all concerned.”

SPECIFIC MEASURES

A few of the actions the organization is applying include working closely with Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur to ensure specific safety measures; increased disinfection across all high-volume touch points (e.g. catering areas, surfaces, handrails, WCs, entrances/exits, public touch-screens); availability of hand sanitizer around the event and main entry-exit points; and signage onsite reminding attendees of hygiene recommendations.

In addition, he emphasized that organizers would implement a “microphone disinfecting and change protocol” for all speakers. They are also encouraging a “no-handshake policy” for attendees and will provide advice to exhibitors on effective cleaning and disinfection of surfaces within their stands as a means of prevention.

Nadeem also pointed out that the hotel has devised a special protocol for anyone feeling unwell and that the hotel’s chief safety officer will be on hand to provide assistance to anyone who needs medical attention.

“We will continue to monitor the situation following the guidelines from local authorities and take the necessary precautions for the safety of everyone involved,” he said. “While we note that a few exhibitors and participants have informed us that they will not be able to join due to travel restrictions and advisories, we highly appreciate their support and continued partnership.”

According to the ABU, the following sponsors/exhibitors have withdrawn from the event for health and safety reasons: DVB, Elevate Broadcast, Eutelsat, Sony, LS telcom and Rohde & Schwarz.

The post Coronavirus: ABU Takes “Necessary Precautions” for DBS 2020 appeared first on Radio World.

A new Raspberry Pi project, six basic audio measurements and Ben Dawson on collocating your AM with a cell tower. All those stories and more are among the technical topics ready for your perusal in the latest edition of Engineering Extra.

Read it online here.

Prefer to do your reading offline? No problem! Simply click on the Issuu link, go to the left corner and choose the download button to get a PDF version.

DIGITAL RADIO
Is the Time Right for All-Digital AM?

Cris Alexander, our technical editor and one of the industry’s most respected engineers, weighs in on this timely question.

BAKING WITH PI
Get Email Alerts From an RFEngineers Watch Dog Receiver

Ain’t projects like this fun?

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

• Collocating AM Transmitter Facilities With Cellular Monopole Towers
• Introduction to the Six Basic Audio Measurements
• Be Smart When Thinking About UPS

The post Inside the Feb. 12 Issue of RW Engineering Extra appeared first on Radio World.