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Wikipedia’s New Infobox for Radio Stations

The volunteer editors at Wikipedia are shaking up some of the information included in radio station articles. A new “infobox” — basically a sidebar that provides a quick overview of the article’s subject — has been rolled out for radio stations.

The new template harmonizes the radio and television station infoboxes, reorganizing content and adding several new fields.

It went live on Aug. 8, although some maintenance edits are still being made to finish the migration.

Among the additions to the new infobox is a “licensing authority” field. For U.S. stations, if this is set to FCC and the station’s facility ID is in the infobox, it automatically adds links to the station’s LMS and public file database entries.

The documentation for the new radio station infobox, along with a listing of all the supported fields, can be found here.

Because Wikipedia pages tend to appear high in Google search results, it is worth checking your stations’ articles to see if there is incomplete or missing information, both in the new infobox and the article. However, take care in editing an article. Wikipedia’s rules against promotional and paid editing are strict and it’s easy for a company to run afoul of them.

Readily verifiable information, such as adding the station’s FCC facility ID, RDS program service name, or slogan to the infobox, will likely be uncontroversial.

Adding full program schedules and DJ bios to the article, however, will likely be reverted as too promotional. All changes to articles are tracked and connected to user accounts and/or IP addresses, so if edits are made from an IP address connected to the company, it may be flagged as problematic.

If significant information is missing from the page, consider posting something to the article’s talk page, along with links for verification, and asking an editor to incorporate it into the article.

Wikipedia’s Old Infobox for Radio Stations

On Wikipedia, third-party sources are always preferred, so a newspaper or magazine article is a more trusted source than a station’s website.

If a station logo is missing, one can be uploaded, but encyclopedia’s rules about non-free images can be complicated. Unless a logo is released for public use under a Creative Commons license (basically relinquishing trademark and copyright rights), it must be low resolution and limited to use only in an article infobox. This can be another situation where asking an editor for help may be the best strategy.

For more information about how radio stations are included in Wikipedia, visit WikiProject Radio Stations. The project includes a list of Wikipedians working actively on radio station pages who might be willing to help make sure your station’s page is complete.

 

The post Wikipedia Updates Radio Infoboxes appeared first on Radio World.

In this issue, Cris Alexander and the EE team bring you two special in-depth articles: a look at an RDS best practice topic from data guru Alan Jurison, and the full text of a white paper that Dave Kolesar and Mike Raide had planned to present at this spring’s NAB Show, summarizing and updating their findings about all-digital AM operation.

Read It Online Here.

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

Metadata

Best Practices for RDS Subcarrier Injection

With dashboards using so much data, it’s important to maintain proper injection levels.

Digital Radio

A Case Study in All-Digital AM HD Broadcasting

Refinements, performance tests, multicasting and lessons learned at digital station WWFD(AM) in Frederick, Md.

Fundamentals

What to Know About Gain Structure

Larry Wilkins explains why broadcast engineers should take note of this concept even for digital operations.

 

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

Digital Alert Systems has made available an update for the FEMA IPAWS certificate in One-Net and DASDEC units. The current certificate expires in late October. Without the new certificate the units will not function properly within the EAS network after Oct. 28.

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

Digital Alert Systems EAS Product Manager Jon Rue said, “We encourage our DASDEC and One-Net customers to update their certificate files before Oct. 28 to avoid any message delivery disruption. … While we understand this does take time, our customers should be encouraged to know we are working with FEMA IPAWS to automate this process in the future.”

Go here to learn more and download the needed file.

 

The post Digital Alert Systems Updates EAS Equipment appeared first on Radio World.

Who’s on top of the podcasting world these days?

Media Monitors has released its latest Podcast Listener survey; the findings are shown in three charts below. The results reflect the ongoing popularity of certain podcasts but also the shifting relationships and acquisitions on the business side of podcasting.

Top Shows

Joe Rogan

Media Monitors reported that “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “The Daily” from The New York Times remain at the top, but “both shows seem to have expanded their audiences since our last survey was taken. Each podcast doubled the total number of respondents that reported listening in the past seven days.”

The New York Times’ “1619” enjoyed strong gains, helped by national attention on racial issues including Black Lives Matter.

“Office Ladies” appeared for the first time this quarter, likely drawing on a dedicated fan base from the TV series “The Office.”

“My Favorite Murder” and “Crime Junkie” made repeat appearances, with MFM down somewhat. Comedy podcasts “The Misfits Podcast,” “Ear Biscuits” from Ramble, and “Unlocking Us with Brené Brown” from Cadence13 all were notable.

Top Publishers

Media Monitors noted that the second quarter “saw further consolidation in the podcast space” as Spotify purchased exclusive rights to “Joe Rogan” and SiriusXM closed its deal to buy Midroll/Stitcher/Earwolf.

The latter deal, it said, gives SiriusXM some level of access to Midroll’s represented shows “but it is unclear how that relationship will evolve moving forward.”

Also notable was the recent acquisition of Serial Productions by the New York Times. “Although the exact terms of the deal are unclear (including a reported “’creative and strategic’ partnership with ‘This American Life’), The New York Times has clearly moved to increase their footprint in upper echelon of podcasting.”

Two NPR’ daily news programs broke int the Top 25: “Up First” and “Consider This from NPR.” MM also recommended keeping an eye on Crooked Media, breaking into its Top 25 chart with “Pod Save America.”

iHeartMedia has the most podcasts in the top 200, 13 podcasts. “These include a mix of their radio-first properties published in podcast form, as well as their podcast-first Stuff Media properties. Coming in second is NPR with 12, followed by Wondery with 8. This seems to bode well for Wondery’s new standalone app and premium service, debuted in June.”

MM added that The New York Times (tied at 7) would jump to #4 if combined with This American Life & Serial Productions.

Top Genres

Comedy (including sub-categories) remains the most popular genre in the survey, while news is tied with society and culture at #2; also popular are true crime and sports.

Media Monitors is a network and local monitoring company that covers various media; its survey was conducted in late June. Participants had to be 18 or over and were screened on whether they had listened to a podcast in the last week, then were asked to list the titles, and were encouraged to consult their app during the survey. These “unassisted” responses were then matched back to RSS feeds that were polled to collect info about genre and publisher.

The post Joe Rogan and “The Daily” Add to Audience Strength appeared first on Radio World.

re: Applications Accepted For Filing

Thornburg Communications, Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

Liberty In Christ Jesus Ministry enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

Radio Fiesta, Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

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Sun Broadcasting, Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

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re: Actions on Pending Applications

Glades Media Company LLP enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

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Heidelberg Broadcasting, LLC enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

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The Federal Communications Commission continues almost daily to announce new settlements in the form of consent decrees with various U.S. radio broadcast companies that were not complying with the rules about their political files.

You’ll recall that in late July the commission announced consent decrees covering six big-name radio companies. (Read about that here.) We reported subsequently that the commission has been using the same template with a growing list of broadcasters.

More have been posted over the past couple of weeks. A sampling of the most recent includes agreements with Liberty in Christ Jesus Ministry, Sun Broadcasting, Heidelberg Broadcasting, Radio Fiesta, Thornburg Communications and Glades Media.

The basic pattern throughout is that the Audio Division of the Media Bureau suspends consideration of a company’s station license renewals, then determines that the broadcaster hasn’t complied with the political file rules, presumably through analysis of information that stations have posted (or not posted) in its online database.

It then gets the company to agree to a series of compliance steps and reporting. At that point the commission says it won’t investigate further, and lifts the suspension. The agreements don’t involve financial penalties.

The consent decrees all use much the same language, including a historical discussion of the need for political files and a statement that the FCC has taken into consideration the difficulties that radio stations face because of the pandemic.

The rules state that radio stations must maintain records of requests for schedules of ad time from candidates and certain issue advertisers, and of deals resulting from those requests. The records must include what advertising aired, advertising preempted, and the timing of any make-goods, along with other information.

Since March 2018 all radio stations were supposed to be uploading new public and political files to the FCC’s online site. More info about the rules can be found here.

The post FCC Continues Its Campaign of Political File Settlements appeared first on Radio World.

The pandemic has been tough on trade show planners, no question. But with no physical convention center to occupy, event organizers at least are free to experiment with different formats.

Witness what the National Association of Broadcasters is doing with its NAB Show New York. It will hold that event this year virtually, which is no surprise at this point; but it will also spread it out over a 10-day period.

Executive Vice President of NAB Conventions Chris Brown said in an announcement that the association is “continuing to evolve the digital event model.” He mentioned a more robust platform and enhanced experience for participants as selling points.

The content of NAB Show New York targets the television, film, online video, live events, podcasting, advertising, corporate A/V, production and post business segments. Typically the show is co-located with the AES convention at the Javits Center in New York.

Brown said the 10-day virtual format offers “a longer, more flexible schedule that optimize opportunities for conducting business, networking and peer-to-peer learning.”

In lieu of exhibit booths, the event includes a marketplace that will feature “immersive tours, new product demonstrations, authoritative white papers, and live chats with representatives from exhibiting companies.”

The fall Radio Show also will be held virtually, on Oct. 5 to 9.

The post NAB Show New York Will Spread Over 10 Days Online appeared first on Radio World.