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Waives pre-filing announcement requirement for applicants filing June 1, 2020, renewal applications

Could geo-targeted programming for over-the-air radio broadcasters be on the horizon?

The Federal Communications Commission is exploring that idea by requesting comments on a requested rule change that would permit radio broadcasters to air geo-targeted programming — such as emergency alerts, news and advertising — on a voluntary basis.

The request was formally made in March by GeoBroadcast Solutions, a Chicago-based technology company whose ZoneCasting technology uses FM boosters to distribute locally targeted content. According to the company, the rule change would be similar to the 2017 FCC decision that allowed TV broadcasters to use the next gen ATSC 3.0 standard to distribute geo-targeted programming.

[Read: Tech Company Asks FCC to Allow Geo-Targeted Radio Programming]

According to GeoBroadcast in its petition, “The commission could bring some of these same benefits to the radio industry by permitting radio broadcasters to use single-frequency network technology to provide one of the main consumer and broadcaster benefits inherent in ATSC 3.0: hyperlocal programming, emergency alerting and advertising.”

Specifically, the ZoneCasting model uses a single-frequency network to originate programming separately from the booster’s primary FM station. (This technology uses lower-power and lower-height FM transmitters operating on the same frequency and within the service contour as the primary FM station transmitter.) To achieve this, however, the FCC would need to amend part of the FM booster rule that currently requires an FM broadcast booster station to retransmit only the signals of its primary station.

According to GeoBroadcasting, this type of zoned broadcast coverage technology would allow radio broadcasters to provide hyperlocalized content, such as geo-targeted weather, targeted emergency alerts and hyperlocal news, the company said. Zoned broadcast coverage also would enable radio broadcasters to air geo-targeted traffic information, second language programming and local advertisements.

Zoned broadcast coverage could make the medium attractive to new kinds of advertisers, the company said, as it allows radio to reach their target audience much more efficiently. The company pointed to February 2020 BIA Advisory Services study that found that more than 90% of local retailers indicated that they would spend more on broadcast radio advertising if zoned advertising were available.

Comments on the issue can be left in the ECFS database using proceeding number RM-11854.

 

The post FCC Seeks Comment on Geo-Targeting for Radio Stations appeared first on Radio World.

Bob Triplett

Robert S. “Bob” Triplett died April 5 at age 97. He passed away at the VA Medical Center in Chillicothe, Ohio, just south of his birthplace of Kingston, and is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Triplett “always had an interest in radio,” according to his son — who goes by his air name Ed Douglas and is senior vice president of affiliate relations for Tom Kent Radio Network. In fact, Douglas says Triplett had wanted to start a station in Chillicothe in the 1940s, but couldn’t raise the funds.

Instead, Triplett served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, training pilots to use radar during combat missions. After the war, Triplett had a variety of diverse careers, including Philco radio salesman, until he became a broadcast engineer in 1966 and went on to be general manager of Wellston, Ohio’s WKOV.   

[Jim Withers reminisces about his Philco radio]

Then, in 1972, Triplett cofounded Triplett Broadcasting Company with his brother Wendell. Together, they owned and built several radio stations in Ohio and Kentucky and one in Tennessee. The first Triplett stations were WOGM(FM) and WTOO(AM) in Bellefontaine, Ohio. The company later acquired TV station Channel 53 in Chillicothe.

At age 70, Bob Triplett retired from his full-time job and became a contract engineer. According to his son, Triplett worked on his last transmitter at 94 years old.According to his obituary, the family is planning a memorial service and will announce details when gatherings are again allowed.

The post Bob Triplett, 97, Has Died appeared first on Radio World.

Voicecorps Reading Service is a central Ohio organization that helps people with low-vision or other disabilities stay informed through a team of about 200 volunteers who read aloud newspapers, shopping flyers and periodicals.

Radio World caught up with Voicecorps Marketing and Development Director David Noble to learn about how Voicecorps is adapting to provide its services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Radio World: What is the mission of Voicecorps?
David Noble: Voicecorps enriches lives by reading printed news and information to people who are blind, have low vision, or other conditions that prevent reading.

RW: How can people access this content?
Noble: Eligible persons can hear Voicecorps on FM-SCA radios loaned to them by Voicecorps, on the SAP channel of WOSU-TV 32-2, on select cable systems, and as of March 12, in the northwest corner of Ohio as the virtual channel of WBGU-PBS 37-9 and on the SAP of 37-2, which takes us into homes via cable systems.

Others, who have accessible PCs or smartphones, tune-in by going to our webpage www.voicecorps.org and listening to the live stream or choosing one of our on-demand audio files. The live stream is also available using Alexa over the Amazon system.

RW: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your organization?
Noble: We are heavily dependent on volunteers to perform the reading of print news and current information. They were almost exclusively coming to our studios to read live or record weekly programs.

In Ohio, the stay-at-home order meant we had to pivot to at-home recordings and telephones for live broadcasts. Not all our volunteers were geared up for that, so it’s been a scramble to coach volunteers remotely into producing readings that are of sufficient audio quality to broadcast — and maintain a normal schedule.

At the moment, we’re not dispensing SCA radios. Instead, we advise new listeners to tune in via TV-SAP, use a PC or hear our web stream using Amazon Alexa, if they have one.

[Bumblebee Brings the Buzz of Live Radio to People With Sight Loss]

RW: Have your goals changed in light of the stay at home order in Ohio?
Noble: Only in that we no longer ask volunteers to come to us. We still maintain the goal of keeping the blind and visually impaired public just as up-to-date as their sighted peers.

RW: What technological challenges have you and your volunteers faced?
Noble: Setting up a recording studio at home has been a challenge, as has been ensuring that the volunteers at home have access to the print news they previously picked up in our studio at the time of their broadcast.

We have to say that the volunteers are amazing. They have thrown themselves at this problem with as much or more dedication than we see on a normal basis. We have not missed a daily newspaper reading yet!

RW: What devices and software have you used to facilitate remote reading?
Noble: The volunteer lets us know what they have available in their home. We do our best to make that work. If they have Apple systems, they can record using that. If they use PCs, they can use that. If they can’t do those, we see if reading live over the phone works for their schedule and ours.

We just sent out an email suggesting they download Audacity’s free recording software because the interface is fairly intuitive, and we won’t lose too much time on software support issues.

RW: What else should readers know?
Noble: The ability to keep up with current print news has always been important to living an independent life. Now, access to current information is vital to surviving the pandemic. The news on personal safety is especially important to have when your means of interacting with the world relies largely on tactile input. Providing audio versions of the newspaper and other print is truly a lifeline.

The post Voicecorps Ensures Low-Vision Ohioans Stay Informed During Pandemic appeared first on Radio World.

A new category appearing in Techsurvey 2020 is “Hearables,” defined as wireless headphones and earbuds. Who uses “hearables,” and for how long?

The numbers Jacobs research found are almost evenly divided between male and female, but show a dramatic stratification by age. The silent generation trails with 20%, and Gen Z leads with 62%. No surprises there.

[Read: Techsurvey 2020 Says Home Stations Leads the Streaming Audio Pack]

Far more interesting is the TS 2020 breakdown of “hearables” use by ethnic groups. The Hispanic respondents lead with 52%, Asian is next with 50%, African American 47%, while Caucasian trails with 39%. What’s behind this trend?

Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs doesn’t have any hard data to answer that question, but he shares his thoughts. “Wearables might be perceived by some groups as a fashion statement, in the same way as designer clothes. This is a new category for Techsurvey, so we’ll need to watch and see how it trends in future research.”

When you break the “hearables” numbers down by format, rhythmic urban, CHR and sports radio fans are the most likely to use these devices, all at around 50%. At the trailing edge are classic hits listeners with 33%.

Jacobs data suggests that more than one in five use headphones/earbuds for AM/FM radio listening at least half the time. Note that in this category “hearables” includes conventional wired headphones along with wireless devices.

TS 2020 also looked at music discovery. The research said that AM/FM is still the first place where listeners go to find new music and artists, although radio is slowly losing its lead. It was the place where 41% went in TS 2018, 39% for TS 2019 and 38% this year.

Trailing far behind AM/FM are friends/relatives, Spotify, SiriusXM, YouTube/YouTube Music and Pandora.

 

The post Four in Ten Techsurvey 2020 Respondents Own “Hearables” appeared first on Radio World.

A colleague asked me recently how many apps I had on my phone. I guessed that I had about 50. She told me point-blank that my sense of reality was seriously impaired, so I did the count. The answer astounded me. I currently have 176 apps. Talk about a lack of self-awareness! 

With 128 gigs of storage, I don’t think about running out of memory until, of course, I do. 

According to socialmediatoday.com, the average smartphone user devotes 2.3 hours daily to app use. This stat is reflective of those with about 30 apps, and much of this time spent is with the big social media companies or huge national media brands.

For radio stations owned by the major groups, decisions about apps are made, generally, at the corporate level and then messaging is pushed down. 

iHeartMedia is to be commended for its “all-in” strategy and promotional roll-out across its stations. However, I’ve never heard or seen iHeart advertise their app to target a new audience that might never or rarely listen to broadcast radio. Perhaps they do so and I’ve just never encountered it. Marketing apps via digital advertising, in app stores and with Google search terms could be an opportunity for stations and groups who want to grow total audience. 

For small groups, standalones and non-commercial stations, what’s the app situation for 2020 and beyond?

I don’t think it’s debatable that every station in America has to be available via mobile phone and tablet in some form or another. 

On-demand behavior is driven by the desire for immediate gratification, most frequently obtained with the device in one’s pocket. A radio in the car or even on a different floor of the house won’t cut it anymore. I’ve stayed at four Airbnbs in the last six months and none of them even had a radio receiver. 

[Can an App Solve the DRM Receiver Problem?]

The least costly approach to streaming comes via radio station aggregation apps like TuneIn. The disadvantage of this platform is that it’s easy for your station to get lost among so many listening opportunities; listeners may not even bother looking for your station once they stumble upon so many wonderful choices.

For those who can afford to build and maintain a standalone app, there are three choices to evaluate. While there is no clear-cut best choice, it does seem that the future is moving toward the latest technology.

NATIVE 

The most common type of app is called a “native” app. This type is developed specifically for device use, primarily on iOS and/or Android. Native apps are the most expensive to build, maintain and market. 

They must be approved by Apple and/or Google to ensure they contain no malware or serious bugs. Each time you update your app, it has to be updated in-store. Plus, when Apple or Google roll out a new operating system, you may have to make your app compatible with their update. 

Because the native app has to match the user interface and software standards, the experience is often smoother and more intuitive for the user. 

On the other hand, the volume of competitors in the app store is enormous, potentially mitigating the discoverability benefits of that marketplace. 

WEB

Your next choice is a “web” app. This sort of app is really a mobile website built to look like and function as a native app. In fact, it’s often difficult to tell the difference between a web app and a native app. 

Web apps are much cheaper to build and maintain because they don’t have to comply with a phone’s operating system or meet standards for placement in an app store. Web apps run in a browser and auto-update each time they load. Yes, you can even make an icon shortcut that looks like a native app and resides on a phone home screen. 

The downsides are: not all functions may work off-line; they are less intuitive to use; they can be slower to load; and they may appear less premium to users . 

PWA

Your third choice has a ton of advocates and shows significant promise. It’s basically a hybrid between a native app and a web app. It’s called a “progressive web” app, or PWA. 

Unlike a web app, a PWA can use push notifications and access some device features, such as gestures.   

Unfortunately, this type of app does not yet work on all types and versions of browsers. This is ultimately slowing its adoption. 

I have never built one of these apps, so I can only repeat what I’ve read — and the reviews so far are mostly positive and optimistic. 

If Apple and Google don’t get greedy with their walled-off stores and instead encourage the development of PWAs, it will lower the barrier of app entry for all and provide an improved user experience. This seems inevitable, but there are no guarantees yet. 

One thing is certain though: We Americans love our phones and our apps. Radio must create and maintain a presence on mobile devices or risk relying completely on in-car listening, where even that piece of audio real estate is no longer the exclusive domain of broadcast stations. 

Mark Lapidus is a multi-platform media, content and marketing executive and longtime Radio World contributor. Email mark.lapidus1@gmail.com.

The post Apps Are Key to Radio’s Relevance in 2020 appeared first on Radio World.

With 116 member organizations in 56 countries, the European Broadcasting Union is the world’s largest association of public service media. Radio World Spoke to EBU Technology & Innovation Project Manager Digital Radio Ben Poor, to learn about the measures the EBU and its members are taking in light of the COVID-19 health crisis, and how he sees this situation impacting the future of broadcasting. 

RW: What impact is the coronavirus emergency having on EBU members’ station operations?

Ben Poor: As a general rule, EBU Members are the primary go-to point for real-time information on this evolving crisis. This means that — no matter what — they will continue to broadcast and have set themselves up to address this challenge. Over the past years, many have had substantial downward pressure on their operational and capital expenditure budgets. Thus they have had to pioneer automation and efficient workflows. Despite this, they have typically split their operational teams into separated teams that have no direct contact and are typically located at different sites and at home.

Ben Poor

Our members have sent all non-operational staff home so as to avoid compromising the operational teams and are active in working-from-home. In addition, they have stalled all non-operation-critical projects due to national containment procedures.

RW: Are there specific impacts in technical infrastructure and programming operations we should know about?

Poor: EBU members are prioritizing their news operations as part of their response to the crisis. They have also put in place measures to protect their news teams. This typically involves them being isolated as far as possible. In addition, there are evolving guidelines regarding live shows, where audiences are now excluded from attending, and being pre-recorded. Some radio talent is even making their contributions via links from home.

Also, operators are regularly disinfecting buildings and equipment of course. As regards distribution infrastructure, broadcasting continues as before. EBU members have prepared for scaling their online distribution channels to ensure that they can address the explosion in demand.

There is a shift in viewing and listening patterns, where EBU members have noticed that the evening peaks are now spread throughout the day. So, the broadcasters are revising their schedules to address the older populations at home as well as the children that are also now at home as schools have closed. Many others have set up dedicated podcasts to keep people informed about the crisis.

These are just some of the measures EBU members have introduced, and others are evolving continuously.

RW: What impact is the emergency having on radio engineers and technical staff, professionally or personally?

Poor: Due to the importance of the radio operations to the general well-being and security of the populations impacted by the lockdowns around Europe, staff is working around the clock in isolated teams to ensure the continuity of the broadcast and online operations. That said, many of the engineering staff have been working from home, and the operational staff are typically isolated so as to avoid contamination. This places some strain on the teams that will doubtless surface as the crisis evolves.

The European Broadcasting Union building in Geneva from above.

RW: It’s often common to ask engineers to step in when other staffers have to step out. Are there any best practices the EBU hopes engineers and their employers will adopt?

Poor: Indeed, the EBU has gathered the best practices being adopted by the pioneers in this space. These are available to any member or broadcaster through the EBU’s website. We have also established collaborative expert groups to facilitate communication between members so as to enable fast and efficient transmission of information. Keeping our stations on air is our business and all EBU members already have sophisticated contingency planning. Interestingly, one item we have noticed is that some of the planning is focused around equipment rather than people, so we’ve had to adapt some of this planning for the current crisis.

RW: How are you working to help your members during this crisis?

Poor: The EBU itself is a means of exchange between the members that are facing broadly the same challenges. Even if the individual countries have adopted different approaches to the crisis.

We have set up a dedicated webpage to share information. We are also looking at opportunities to share content between members and are providing advice and guidelines for how to deal with this situation.

RW: How do you see this situation impacting the future of broadcasting, in particular that of radio?

Poor: The longer-term impact of this crisis remains to be seen. With all non-essential projects on hold, we may not feel the impact on radio (and TV) schedules until later in the year when the productions currently in preparation would normally air.

This crisis may actually accelerate some of the developments around decentralization of studios and content production. This is especially true for radio, where we are seeing a slight trend in some countries to use content from outside traditional studios.

We have issued a report outlining audience reliance on public service media news during this period. The report also includes best practice case studies.

The post EBU Members Work to Ensure News Continuity appeared first on Radio World.

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Cumulus Media has joined other broadcasters in instituting furloughs, pay cuts and other measures this week to combat the financial downturn anticipated due to the effects of COVID-19.

Chicago media observer Roger Feder reported Wednesday morning that Cumulus’ “salaried employees will take three weeks of unpaid leave in one-week installments over the next 15 weeks. Others will take 90-day pay cuts, and a third group will be put on 90-day furloughs, starting April 16.” 

However, SAG-AFTRA, which represents station on-air talent, is pushing back, according to his reporting.

Additionally, CEO Mary Berner will take a 50% pay cut, Feder writes.

Cumulus declined to comment when contacted for information about this story.

The post Cumulus Institutes Furloughs, Salary Cuts appeared first on Radio World.

Russia has resumed Digital Radio Mondiale broadcasts on shortwave. The country originally aired the Voice of Russia via DRM a few years ago. The new service is tentatively called Radio Purga (“Radio Blizzard”). The target area is the Chukotka region of the Russian Far East. Analog shortwave transmissions once served the area, but those ended in the early 2000s when the broadcaster left analog shortwave.

Getty Images

Chukotka is vast and the target audience only numbers a few thousand. Thus, shortwave is the only practical way to reach the population. The transmitter site, Komsomolsk Amur, used to broadcast Voice of Russia’s analog programming and is now being used for the DRM program.

NEW SERVICE

The new service is a joint project between the government in Chukotka and the Far Eastern regional center of the Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network.

Using DRM for Radio Purga has several advantages over analog shortwave. Radio Purga over DRM, for example, offers a static-free and higher fidelity signal. Studies have shown that DRM is just as reliable as analog shortwave over this distance via single-hop transmission.

The broadcaster is considering transmitting two audio programs from a single DRM transmitter. This is something analog shortwave can’t do. It’s also planning on using DRM’s ability to transmit short text message or a type of RSS feed (Journaline). DRM transmissions also use only a quarter of the power that analog transmissions do.

“We have in these remote places 2,000 residents who need to be provided with communications services … the Northern Sea Route also requires attention,” said Roman Kopin, the governor of Chukotka, last spring when the project was initiated, according to a Russian press report. In addition to mariners on the Northern Sea Route, the audience includes geologists, miners, reindeer herders and hunters.

Test transmissions started in August via different DRM modes and bandwidths to trial “hardware setup and determine signal acceptability,” with the goal of covering over 95% of the area. Programming consists of a music loop and has been heard as far away as the United States. As of press time the broadcaster was still carrying out transmission tests but regular programing is expected to begin sometime in the next few months.

One of shortwave’s greatest strengths has always been its ability to communicate to hard-to-reach locations. Radio Purga’s audience is spread over an immense, remote region. The resumption of shortwave via DRM will provide the population with a communications lifeline in both audio and text.

The post Russia Returns to DRM on Shortwave appeared first on Radio World.

Duchesne Drew

Duchesne Drew will lead Minnesota Public Radio as president effective May 4, MPR CEO and American Public Media Group President/CEO Jon McTaggart announced Wednesday.

Next month, Drew will take over for interim MPR President Tim Roesler, who has held that title since November. The prior MPR presidents were McTaggart and MPR founder Bill Kling, according to the Star Tribune. According to the press release, Roesler will help with the leadership transition through June, when he will return to his normal full-time position as chief business development officer for AMP Group.

[MPR Names HQ After Founder]

In his new role, Drew will be responsible for strategy, programming and daily operations for the 46-station radio network, and MPR brands including MPR News, Classical MPR and The Current, as well as the pubcaster’s social and digital services. 

Drew most recently served as community network vice president for the Bush Foundation. Prior to that, he was managing editor for the Star Tribune.

McTaggart described Drew as having “terrific leadership and news experience” and said “his commitment to using public media to inform and inspire people is a perfect fit for MPR.”

The post Minnesota Public Radio Hires New President appeared first on Radio World.

If you wanted to learn how your community is handling the coronavirus pandemic but had trouble getting the information you needed, what would you do? If you’re like many of us, you’d probably turn to Google, send a couple emails and then, exasperated, call it a day.

If you’re Bill Trifiro, that would be an inadequate response.

Trifiro, a radio reporter based in Roanoke, Va., became frustrated last week when trying to report on the local situation. “I could get the Cleveland Clinic on the phone, but I couldn’t get our local hospital system to answer questions,” he explained in a Monday morning interview.

He also identified the absence of hyper-local information and a need for connection. With his background and professional network, Trifiro decided a coronavirus radio station programmed by volunteers was a logical solution. 

Trifiro then reached out to Rob Ruthenberg, “the guy who knows everyone and can build radio stations,” as he put it.

Ruthenberg, who is a radio consultant and former GM, had been experiencing his own frustrations related to the pandemic and doing his part to help friends and neighbors navigate the situation. He noted the emphasis on national news and also was concerned about potential misinformation being spread on social media. Trifiro asked Ruthenberg to help create the format and recruit volunteers.

Next, Trifiro reached out to Flinn Broadcasting, which holds the license for WBZS(FM), a commercial station in Shawsville that had also just ended a local market agreement. According to Trifiro, Lonnie Flinn quickly agreed to let them use the 102.5 MHz signal and passed him on the engineers who could make it happen. 

“These guys are not just sharing their time and their energy and footing the electric bill, they’re sharing their license,” said Ruthenberg. He and Trifiro understand the gravity of this. “It’s important to stress that these people are trusting us, and we owe it to them not to damage that,” Ruthenberg said. 

SETTING STANDARDS

In order to ensure that their fellow volunteers are on the same page, they’ve instituted a training program to explain how to assess news sources and vet information, the standards talk.

About one-third of the volunteer staff are veteran broadcasters or have been trained so far, according to Trifiro. Both expect to get the rest up to speed quickly, and they also hope more people will join their ranks as the word spreads about the COVID Virginia project. As of Tuesday afternoon, COVID Virginia has about 20 volunteers who have signed on or expressed interest.

COVID Virginia is looking for more volunteers to host shows, screen calls, serve as producers, and do the innumerable tasks that keep a station running. They’re also asking people to do this work from their homes and with their own limited resources. 

MAKING IT HAPPEN

In order to enable this collaboration from the technological side, Trifiro reached out to Backbone Networks Chief Technology Officer/Vice President George Capalbo. At Trifiro’s request, Backbone created a custom network and shared an app that enables volunteers to get on the air with uncompressed audio to ensure that the station’s audio is broadcast-quality. All for free for the next 60 days, or perhaps even longer.

“We’re planning on going through June 10, when Virginia’s emergency order lifts,” Trifiro explained. “But if it goes past that we’ll go past that, and George has already said he’ll go past that and it give it to us for free as well.” 

Their appreciation for this generosity is apparent, and it’s not hard to understand why the pair sound a bit incredulous that they’re actually pulling this off.

“The hardest parts were outsourced and given to us for free! And people are giving of their time,” Trifiro said, explaining how some of their volunteers are also reporters from the local NPR affiliate or broadcasters who have come out of retirement to step up for their community.

Trifiro and Ruthenberg are also excited to partner with other radio stations and even a TV news team on the project, which will give them resources to cover news that would otherwise have gone unreported. Other stations understand that COVID Virginia isn’t “trying to be the competition,” Trifiro said, noting that it helps that the format has a designated sign off date (and they aren’t planning to run commercials).  

WDBJ(TV) channel 7 is providing audio for the 5–7 a.m. time slot, and 24/7 News Source — which is owned by iHeartMedia and for which Trifiro is also a correspondent — has donated top- and bottom-of-the-hour news updates, in addition to other audio as the COVID Virginia volunteers require. “We want to be local, but it’s great to have the national information to ‘localize’ and lean on for comparison,” Trifiro explained.

WHY RADIO, WHY HERE, WHY NOW?

Ruthenberg is in charge of volunteer recruitment. So far, he’s taken an individualized approach, going through his address book and calling up colleagues and reaching out to local colleges. He’s gotten a communications professor and one student volunteer to sign on thus far, and he hopes others will follow.

“It’s a real opportunity for people who want to work in this environment to get a real first hand, brass tacks kind of handle on it. It’s one of those things in this industry, your biggest learning experiences are under fire. This is no exception,” Ruthenberg said.

He is also clear why the COVID Virginia station is so important to southwest Virginia. It’s simple: demographics. The area around Roanoke is popular among retirees and others older than 65, who are among those most vulnerable to COVID-19 — and those who can least afford to parse Facebook posts’ veracity. 

“We have this aging population that has this inherent disconnect with different forms of technology,” Ruthenberg explained. But he is confident radio can make a difference here. “We’re bringing radio back to being the initially useful tool that it was intended to be.”

Trifiro agrees. “In times of crisis, when there’s epidemics, or now a pandemic, when there’s horrible disasters, people need local radio.”

For this project in particular, Trifiro said, “Part of what we’re going to do is help dispel the stuff that you’re seeing on Facebook that isn’t true, and we’re going to do it in a way that hopefully ties the community together and makes them feel not so alone in isolation, like the tag says, we’re together in isolation.”

As far as they know, COVID Virginia is the only station that will not only be covering the press conferences remotely and interviewing experts, but also taking calls from listeners who are seeking connection while practicing social distancing. (As of Tuesday afternoon, Trifiro was troubleshooting some issues with the phone system, but expected to have callers on the air by the Wednesday morning show.)

Ruthenberg is clear that the station will fight misinformation, but also seek to affirm people’s emotions, while learning from past mistakes. The fall out from the “war of the worlds” broadcast, for example, is exactly what they plan to avoid.

Just as Flinn, Capalbo and others contributed to getting COVID Virginia on the air, Trifiro and Ruthenberg want to help other broadcasters pursue similar initiatives. 

“If there are other communities in Virginia that are in need of this kind of sharing and information to cut down the isolation, we are definitely up for adding on,” Trifiro said. He added, “We’re focused on southwest Virginia because that’s where the terrestrial stick is, but we’re all Virginians.” 

Trifiro said he hopes the radio station can emulate what FDR did during the Great Depression with his fireside chats, providing information and hope with a steady voice. However, he knows that COVID Virginia’s audio signature will be quite different.

“We’re going to be as professional as possible because we’re running a radio station, and we have that obligation,” Trifiro said. “But at the same time, folks are going to hear my kid knocking on the door, the dogs barking, perhaps, and know that we’re going through what they’re going through, which I think is unique.”

It’s only been a week since he dreamed up the idea, but Trifiro says he’s already looking forward to taking the station off the air, which he and Ruthenberg say won’t happen “until we win. When we beat COVID-19.” 

If you’re interested in learning more about COVID Virginia, visit https://www.covidvirginia.com, check out their Facebook group or tune your dial to WBSZ(FM) 102.5 in Roanoke, Va., area. If you’d like to volunteer for the station, email help@covidvirginia.com. 

The post COVID Virginia to Help Listeners Be “Together in Isolation” appeared first on Radio World.

The bad news: AM radio will never be the same. How many dyed-in-the-wool broadcast vets built crystal sets or foxhole radios and played with a cat’s whisker? How many hours of AM DXing, especially during the Sunday morning maintenance period, listening for an announcer in a distant control room to give the calls? 

In the digital AM world, we’ll sure miss the singing of an iron core when it’s replaced with a digital “whoosh” sound. Nostalgia will always exert a tug on the heartstrings of a Real Broadcaster of a Certain Age. 

Those days are disappearing.

The good news: AM radio will never be the same. It will be substantially better. That is to say, the game is likely to be changed radically by all-digital “HD” AM.

Many of us have objected to the jamming of first adjacents by IBuzz. It’s difficult to tolerate the degraded audio when an “HD” AM signal reverts to analog. 

Those qualities were attendant to the use of MA1 hybrid analog/digital use on the standard broadcast band. All-digital MA3 is a whole new ballgame. Xperi, successor to iBiquity, currently is allowing AM stations to license the technology at no cost in perpetuity.

Under the hybrid MA1 standard, the analog signal was accompanied by a digital signal that was 10 to 20 dB down from the nominal carrier power. Under the all-digital MA3 standard, there is no analog signal; the digital signal is at full power. 

Some 75% of the power in an analog signal was wasted in the carrier and redundant sidebands. Only one “single sideband” at a maximum of 25% of the station’s total power was necessary to convey useful data, the station’s audio. With all-digital AM, 100% of the station’s power is employed for that purpose. It’s much less vulnerable to many kinds of interference, and audio quality is not limited by the receiver’s IF response curve.

Fig. 1

The tests of all-digital MA3 at WWFD in Frederick, Md., have been famously successful. The station’s 2 mV/m contour (green in Fig. 1), often considered to be an AM station’s analog listening limit today, covers about 368,000 people in a 1,300 square mile area.

The 0.5 mV/m (orange in Fig. 1) is protected from interference, and was historically considered to be an AM station’s daytime coverage before AM interference became a significant issue. For WWFD, this signal covers about 2.33 million people over a 4,545 square mile area.

The all-digital MA3 signal has been proven reliable out to around the 0.1 mV/m contour, or 100 uV/m (red in the figure). This is 1/5 the strength of the old standard, and merely 5% of the signal level that is generally considered usable on today’s radios. 

For WWFD, this contour covers about 10 million people over a 21,900 square mile area. I carried it from 70 miles south of the station in Stafford, Va., to beyond Baltimore. (I neglected to try beyond that, so it might have even greater range.) The audio was indistinguishable from FM stereo, and in the future can incorporate graphics and other data. 

My stock 2013 BMW car radio with a windshield antenna is nothing special. In fact, the analog AM side sounds awful, just like so many other “modern” dashboard AM receivers. 

But HD AM dashboard penetration is already around a third of all cars, and climbing. That’s significantly higher than AM’s share of AQH listening in our country today. All-digital MA3 signals are totally compatible and listenable on any HD AM receiver. (Note, however, that all-digital WWFD did not stop a scan.)

I made two very informal short videos on an iPhone of my WWFD listening experience last May and posted them on YouTube here:

• Stafford, Va.: https://youtu.be/vyG8Nyba_lk
• Baltimore: https://youtu.be/hWp6mh4WKQU

CASE IN POINT

As I write this, I’m helping a friend who’s ready to retire from operating his 10,000-watt AM in Greenfield, Mass., so I decided to look into its potential as an all-digital AM. 

Fig. 2

The station is WIZZ, a daytimer on 1520 designed with a single two-tower pattern to protect Buffalo during Critical Hours, as required for two hours after Local Sunrise, and two hours before Local Sunset. Between those two limits, however, a preliminary study shows that WIZZ can operate with 50 kW non-directional.

The potential of WIZZ HD AM all-digital coverage by day at 50,000 watts non-directional is shown in Fig. 2 in red. This is the 0.1 mV/m coverage contour. Also shown is the currently licensed 10 kW directional contour. Note that the station also has some freedom of movement to optimize population coverage, by moving toward Boston, for example.

All-digital HD AM coverage from the present site would be just under 5 million people within a 15,600 square mile area. 

[Upgrading to AM All-Digital: Why, How and Lessons Learned]

I wouldn’t want to use a daytime facility like this to compete head-to-head with a format that exists in every market, but the phenomenal coverage is ideal for reaching an enormous potential audience with any unduplicated or specialty format. In that way, it’s not so different from FM in the 1960s. This station now broadcasts a format of American standards and pop hits that most stations have abandoned. The audience for this kind of format is older but fiercely loyal, not to mention well-heeled. When the station goes off, so does their radio. In this format, the station enjoys revenue streams from both advertisers and listeners. The associated FM translator can retain the audience during a transition to all-digital AM.

This is one example of the difference MA3 all-digital AM can make for an AM station. Obviously, each situation is different, but it behooves every broadcast engineer to take a close look at digital AM and advise their licensees of its potential in their particular situation.

The author is a technical and general radio consultant and small group owner. He has held numerous radio roles and founded an AM, six commercial FMs, two NCE FMs and numerous translators.

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