Industry News

America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) and PBS on Tuesday shared their thoughts with the FCC in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on changes to the Emergency Alert System.

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IBC 2021 is set to go ahead as planned in September, with organizers saying they are focused on delivering “a fantastic event” at the RAI in Amsterdam.

However, the fall back dates for December are still in place, and an announcement on that is expected to be made in June. Organizers are asking the industry to keep their options open for both possible sets of dates.

The current dates for the show are Sept. 10–13 with the fall-back option of Dec.3–6.

IBC CEO Michael Crimp said organizers realize this year’s show might be the first large scale event many people have attended in a long time, and the team is putting lots of planning into that. They are working closely with the city of Amsterdam and the RAI, monitoring changes as they evolve.

“The industry is telling us that people are keen to come together again after being apart for a long time. In the coming months, a number of factors will help us decide when the event can happen and in what format. From macro trends such as vaccine roll out and testing, to the willingness of our attendees to travel, we will take all things into consideration as we make those important decisions,” he added.

IBC said it is budgeting for exhibition space to be about 30% less than in 2019, with the two pavilions not being used in 2021.

This year’s event will have more of a festival feel, said Crimp, with a perimeter to the site that will enable them to move around more freely. Attendees will have their temperatures checked before entering the perimeter, and will need to declare that they have recently passed a COVID test.

There will be no onsite registration for people who have not preregistered.

Inside, the halls will have extra wide aisles and one-way for ease of access. IBC intends to use cameras to monitor capacity in each hall. Each exhibitor will be told of their stand capacity, with attendees being scanned-in and out to monitor numbers.

Steve Connolly, head of sales at IBC, said support from the industry continues to be strong, with 30,000-sq. foot of booth space booked so far.

IBC will also run a digital platform for exhibitors alongside the physical event to enable them to promote products and book digital meetings.

The post IBC Set to Go Ahead as Planned in September appeared first on Radio World.

One of the nation’s two direct broadcast satellite (DBS) TV services provider just took a further step toward becoming a much broader operator — a better competitor to the traditional MVPD.

And, it is thanks in part to the selection of an Amazon.com company to help get the job done.

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Until this morning, it was largely understood that a 16-year Nielsen veteran who had been a highly visible member of the company’s global audience measurement team would be transitioning to Roku.

It was a conclusion made by connecting the dots: Roku some seven weeks ago agreed to purchase Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising business, and that deal closed April 16.

However, it turns out this Nielsen pro isn’t going to Roku. Instead, she’s going to a Comcast arm.

Kelly Abcarian has just accepted the role of EVP/Measurement & Impact within NBCUniversal‘s Advertising and Partnerships division.

NBCU made the revelation early Wednesday (4/21), calling Abcarian an “industry-renowned advanced advertising leader.” In her new role, Abcarian will “spearhead the company’s rapidly accelerating cross-platform and full-funnel measurement capabilities, leading innovation from impressions to impact at a local, national and global level across NBCUniversal’s One Platform.”

Abcarian reports into Krishan Bhatia, NBCUniversal Advertising & Partnerships’ President & Chief Business Officer, and will collaborate closely with the division’s Sales, Planning, Strategy, Partnerships and Ad Platforms & Operations functions “to build on the company’s position as a leading media and technology company to set a new standard for the future of all-screen measurement, advanced advertising solutions, and data-driven insights.”

“Kelly’s addition to our team represents a step change for our company and the industry, when it comes to the future of cross-platform measurement and data innovation,” Bhatia said. “Consumers have established an all-screen future and we’re doubling down on our position to usher in the next era of measurement. Kelly has decades-long measurement and advanced advertising experience, along with deep connections within the media industry and a partnership track record across CTV/OTT platforms.”

Bhatia adds that Abcarian will play an important role in the growth and development of NBCUniversal’s data strategy, including efforts such as NBCU ID and the Audience Insights Hub, which NBCU believes “will drive greater transparency, interoperability and results for brands while maintaining privacy as a core tenant.”

“She will also be an essential voice in the marketplace, working to partner with many of the leading trade organizations, measurement and technology companies on solutions and industry-wide initiatives,” NBCU notes.

“If you look across the industry, the signals are clear: we must collectively decide to embrace the future that our audiences have created,” Abcarian commented. “NBCUniversal is on the cutting-edge of next-generation measurement and targeting. And I’m thrilled to join the expert team behind One Platform and work to provide marketers the resources and techniques they need to fully understand the impact of their investments.”

Abcarian most recently served as GM of Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising Group, where she led the company’s addressable initiatives including the strategic acquisitions of several key players within the space. Prior to that, Abcarian led Nielsen’s global audience measurement product portfolio where she was responsible for the creation of Nielsen’s Total Audience Product suite, along with the development of Digital Ad Ratings for CTV.

Before joining Nielsen in May 2005, Abcarian held leadership positions at Oracle, Siebel Systems and Arthur Andersen.

MPR News named Sarah Glover as its newsroom’s managing editor.

She is former manager of social media strategy at NBC Owned Television Stations. She has experience as a photographer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, and was the first two-term president of the National Association of Black Journalists.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

“During her tenure, she created the NABJ Black Male Media Project, which examines the portrayal of Black men in the media,” MPR stated in its announcement. “She also played a crucial role in the Associated Press Stylebook’s move to capitalize the ‘B’ in Black to describe people and communities.”

She will lead 40 reporters, photojournalists and editors and be responsible for editorial decisions and planning on MPR News platforms.

“As communities across America strive for equity, so does the news industry,” she was quoted in the announcement. “My goal is to build upon the diversity work at MPR and develop an anti-racist and inclusive newsroom that’s a model for the nation. Storytelling is truth-telling, and the role of journalism is vital.”

Mike Mulcahy has been acting as interim managing editor since Laura McCallum took another post.

Minnesota Public Radio is a subsidiary of American Public Media Group.

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Glover Named to Editorial Post at MPR appeared first on Radio World.

A recent Radio World ebook explored trends in audio processing for radio broadcasters. Among the stories in that ebook was an interview with Ben Barber, president/CEO of Inovonics.

RW: Your take on the most important development in processors?

Ben Barber: Everything needs to be remote controllable and “monitorable.”

With fewer and fewer people actually being onsite, if there is an issue, broadcasters want to know about it right away. All of our newer audio processors are web-enabled, which means you can log into them and control them via their web page and not a proprietary app or program that may run on your PC but not on your smartphone.

With web-enabled products, everything can be controlled from any device with a web browser. You can also get emails, text messages and SNMP alerts as well as stream the audio back over the web.

RW: What should we know about differences in processing for analog and digital OTA, streaming and podcasts?

Barber: Today’s processors are all DSP-controlled and most can sound very good while at the same time controlling peak modulation as well as density. All that is great; but if you start with an MP3, especially at a lower bitrate, there is little you can do to make that source material sound great.

Always start with great audio, which will in the long run save you so many headaches down the road.

RW: What are the implications for managing processing, now that so many people have been working remotely?

Barber: I think what COVID has shown us is the resilience of both broadcast personalities as well as engineering to be able to do “everything” remotely. But just because it can be done begs the question, “Is it best for radio?”

Our medium is a very personal one, where the synergy between hosts is evident on nearly every show. Sure, programs can be done remotely; but in my opinion, if we think this is the new normal and we continue doing everything from scattered offices with little human interaction, then we are not giving our best.

As for processing, its primary purpose is to control peaks in order to protect your transmitter’s modulation, and also to keep you from splattering on your “neighbor.” Our industry should strive to give that processing air chain the best possible content that we can produce; to do that, I think in-person energy is what stimulates the mind, and the product shows it.

RW: What tools are available to mitigate issues involving synchronization of HD Radio and analog signals?

Barber: Back in the day when HD Radio was introduced, the system could be stable if everything was collocated and set up properly.

Unfortunately, the problem was exacerbated by splitting up the system and not keeping the importer and exporter at the same location, nor keeping them time-locked together via GPS. In addition you had latency and packet issues that would wreak havoc on the FM and HD1 alignment.

Though there are new processors and equipment on the market that should keep things in alignment, the majority or equipment still in service still has huge drift issues.

Here’s a picture of FM/HD1 drift over a 20-day period on a local FM/HD1 station.

This is not a small market off in the corner of some small city or county. They either need to replace all their HD Radio equipment, or get a JUSTIN 808 Time Alignment Processor from Inovonics. Our box goes in-line with the HD1 audio and continuously monitors the alignment of the two audio signals. When the alignment drifts, samples are slowly added or subtracted from the air chain until the FM and HD1 audio is aligned. It’s really that simple to fix.

That picture shows a drift of 20,000 samples which is nearly 0.5 second!

RW: In 2014 when we visited processing in an ebook, we thought radio processors were so powerful and had such incredible algorithms, that it was hard to imagine where further dramatic improvements would come from. How do you answer that today?

Barber: I more or less agree. Today’s DSPs are so powerful that the issue no longer becomes processing power, but the intellectual property of making algorithms function in a way that makes things sound exceptional.

Inovonics’ goal in designing and manufacturing audio processing has been to design a quality product that is innovative and gives exceptional results at an affordable price.

I like to use the analogy of driving a car when comparing audio processors. It would be hard to argue that a McLaren 720S, Lamborghini Aventador or Ferrari 488 are not incredibly magnificent automobiles and take driving to a whole new level; but, for most of us, a solid Mercedes, BMW, Chevy, Ford or Toyota are probably quite sufficient to get the job done of a “daily driver.”

Again, taking nothing away from the supercars of today; but you will see a lot more “regular” cars on the road as we go about our daily tasks. The honest truth? That’s where I see Inovonics fitting into the processor market: a solid, dependable, reliable, innovative audio processor for the “regular” guy.

The post Solid, Innovative Processing for “Regular Guys” appeared first on Radio World.

The DRM Consortium recently concluded its General Assembly. Seventy people from 13 countries participated.

Chairman Ruxandra Obreja said the past year has been the busiest for DRM since the consortium was founded.

She reported “excellent progress” over that time in countries including India, South Africa, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Russia and Hungary.

[Read: StarWaves Introduces DRM SoftRadio App]

Obreja also cited prototypes, updates and developments announced by receiver and chipset manufacturers including Gospell, RF2Digital, Inntot, Cambridge Consultants, NXP, Fraunhofer IIS and StarWaves.

She also noted the announcement of a project to test the DRM framework within ATSC 3.0 digital television, which would give access to DRM content on various devices and platforms.

And she said interest was strong in the recent trial of DRM for FM in India, which she called a success and which also featured head unit radios with both DRM AM and DRM FM integrated.

The post DRM Consortium Sees “Excellent Progress” appeared first on Radio World.

On April 9, the media company known for more than 50 years as Entercom Communications officially changed its ticker symbol to “AUD” to reflect its new corporate identity, Audacy.

On Tuesday, trading in AUD hit a fresh post-rebranding low, bringing it to its lowest price since the first day of March.

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The Federal Communications Commission has taken the unusual step of cancelling two proposed forfeitures — but not without admonishing the licensees for their violations.

In both cases, a Notice of Apparent Liability was issued by the Audio Division of the Media Bureau for the same violation: failing to file a license renewal application in a timely manner.

In the first case, the Bay City Public Schools district in Bay City, Mich., failed to file an application to renew the license of station WCHW(FM) on time. The same error was made by Billy R. Autry, licensee of two Mississippi stations —  WKRA(AM) and WKRA(FM) in Holly Springs, Miss.

[Read: Four Stations Receive Forfeitures for Same Alleged Violation: Late Filings]

The FCC Rules are clear when it comes to submitting license renewal applications: the request must be submitted on the first calendar day four months prior to the expiration of the license.

In Bay City’s case, that meant that the application should have been filed by June 1, 2020, to prepare for the station’s Oct. 1, 2020, license expiration date. That application was not filed until the day before it expired: Sept. 29, 2020.

For Autry, the renewal applications for the two stations should have been filed by Feb. 3, 2020, in preparation for a June 1, 2020 license expiration date. Those applications were not filed until May 20, 2020.

In both cases, the bureau proposed a forfeiture of $3,000 per station. Both licensees were given 30 days to pay the full amount or file a written statement as to why it should be reduced or cancelled.

For the Bay City Public Schools district, it blamed the coronavirus pandemic.

The school wrote to explain that its employees did not have access to the station for four months in early 2020 because of restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The district also had the impression that its filing deadline was July 1, 2020, and believed that it had already filed its renewal application on June 29.

It turns out that the licensee had saved the application in the commission’s Licensing and Management System database but it had not formally turned it in. Mistakes that result from unfamiliarity with the FCC’s requirements are still willful violations, the bureau said. “[C]onfusion or difficulties with the commission’s electronic filing system are not grounds for reduction or cancellation of a forfeiture,” the bureau said.

But the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic held sway; the bureau moved to cancel the forfeiture and granted the renewal application. But it admonished the licensee for failing to file on time.

In Autry’s case, the bureau proposed a $6,000 fine for failing to renew the two stations’ licenses and gave him 30 days to pay the full amount or explain why the forfeiture should be reduced or cancelled.

Autry responded by saying that he was not aware of the filing deadline because a notification was sent to a former employee of the stations. He also asked the bureau to cancel the proposed forfeiture based on his inability to pay and included copies of federal tax returns for 2017, 2018 and 2019 in support of this request.

Being unaware of a deadline is not enough to excuse the violation, the bureau said. Violations resulting from error or unfamiliarity are still willful violations.

But the bureau will consider a reduction or cancellation of a fine if the licensee can demonstrate a legitimate financial hardship through three recent federal tax returns. After reviewing those, the bureau found that payment of the proposed forfeiture would create such a hardship. As a result, the bureau cancelled the proposed forfeiture and granted the renewal applications — but not before admonishing Autry for his violations.

The post FCC Admonishes Licensees for Missed Deadlines — but Agrees to Cancel Forfeitures appeared first on Radio World.

Starwaves and Fraunhofer IIS announced an Android app that allows reception of Digital Radio Mondiale transmissions on mobile devices, when used in conjunction with an RF dongle.

“Starwaves enables Android phones and tablets to receive entertainment, text information and emergency warnings via DRM Digital Radio — without costly data plans, independent from cell phone network availability, and based on innovative Fraunhofer technology,” Starwaves said in its announcement.

The company noted that it has been active in DRM radio receivers for years. Johannes von Weyssenhoff is founder of Starwaves, which was founded in Germany in 2005 and subsequently moved to Switzerland. Its early products included Starwaves Prelude, a DRM-DAB receiver, and Carbox, an automotive DRM-DAB with analog shortwave. The company was also involved in Africa’s first DRM trial in the FM band in South Africa.

[Related: “Sinclair, Fraunhofer Will Integrate DRM in ATSC 3.0”]

The new app provides listeners with access to the DRM digital radio standard, across all transmission bands from DRM on longwave to FM band and VHF band-III. The app is available on the Google and Amazon Android app stores.

The app supports DRM features like Emergency Warning Functionality, image slideshows, station logos, and service descriptions including Unicode support.

“To provide all these services, the app only requires a standard off-the-shelf SDR RF dongle that is attached to the device’s USB port,” it said.

DRM’s largest market is India, where it is heard on mediumwave and has recently been tested for possible use on the FM band. The DRM Consortium recently concluded its General Assembly, which also reported on projects in Indonesia and Pakistan as well as a DRM trial on FM in Russia and another on shortwave in Brazil.

The post StarWaves Introduces DRM SoftRadio App appeared first on Radio World.