Industry News

From our People News page: At MARC Radio, Jerry Butler has been promoted to market manager for its Gainesville/Ocala operation.

He had joined the company last year to lead its local sales effort. MARC has eight stations in northern Florida. The announcement was made by Dave Cobb, executive vice president.

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Before MARC, Butler was vice president of sales at Music Master and was on the faculty at the University of Florida.

Send People News announcements to radioworld@futurenet.com. We are particularly interested in announcements about engineers and executive leadership.

 

The post Butler Is Promoted at MARC Radio appeared first on Radio World.

It’s hardly a surprise. The third quarter of 2020 brought broadcast media an incredible amount of political advertising, boosting revenue to unprecedented heights across the broadcast TV landscape.

One year later, with fewer political ad dollars, losses are expected. But, how big the loss is has emerged as the key investor question. At Graham Media Group, the decrease was in the mid-single-digits.

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The author is senior development engineer for Wheatstone Corp.

There’s nothing like a little audio performance testing to cap off a hectic week at the station, especially if you don’t have to haul out the heavy (read “expensive”) equipment to do it.

There are two main things I like to test: the flatness of the frequency response and the distortion added by equipment in the air chain. For this, you’ll need clean test signals and a way to measure those signals after they’ve passed through the air chain.

Measuring Distortion
Obtaining clean test signals is fairly easy. Most audio editing systems have the ability to synthesize low-distortion sine waves and then save them to a file.

I generate and analyze test tones using some software tools written by Sebastian Dunst, available from http://softsolutions.sedutec.de. Note that a license is required to use these tools in a “commercial” environment.

I use the SoftSolutions Multisine audio generator to synthesize single or multiple sine waves of any length or audio level, stereo or mono, and store them as a linear WAV file.

Fig. 1 (Left): Two sine waves at 1 and 2 kHz, equal amplitude. Fig. 2 (Right): Undistorted spectrum of two sine wave signal.

Fig. 1 is the waveform that has resulted from adding a pair of sine waves at 1 kHz and 2 kHz, both at equal amplitude, to create a test signal. Then, with the SoftSolutions AudioAnalyzer software, I can analyze audio saved as a WAV file and display the distortion parameters I’m interested in.

Fig. 2 is the spectral analysis of the waveform from the above example. This would be what we’d see if we had a perfect air chain.

[Read the Complete Oct. 20, 2021 Issue of Radio World Engineering Extra]

If these two pure sine waves are fed through an air chain with no distortion (which isn’t possible, yet — all circuits add distortion), the analyzer would show only the original two signals. As the spectrum analysis shows, the rest of the audio spectrum would be clean — no other signals would appear above the bottom of the display.

But if there were distortion, what would it look like? It might appear similar to Fig. 3, showing many other signals in addition to the first two we started out with. The example is of a severe distortion problem — this air chain would sound horrible on the air!

Fig. 3 (Left): Severely distorted spectrum of two sine wave signal. Fig. 4 (Right): Waveform of 11 sine wave signal.

Frequency Response
The same tools we just used to measure the distortion within the air chain can also be used to measure frequency response.

This time we’ll use the same software tools to generate a test signal that has many sine waves. By then sending this complex signal through the air chain and then looking at it on the analyzer, we’ll be able to see if the sine waves (at different frequencies) are coming back at equal levels.

Fig. 4 is the waveform of a test signal made up of sine waves at 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240 and 20480 Hz. In a perfect air chain, the analyzer would show all of the signals at their original and equal levels after passing through the air chain.

Fig. 5 (Left): Spectrum of undistorted 11 sine wave signal. Fig. 6 (Right): 11 sine wave spectrum through an air chain with some problems.

Fig. 5 shows that all of the signals are present and that they all reach the same audio level. This represents “flat” (good) frequency response.

What would the analysis look like if there were a loss of low frequencies due to, for instance, dried out electrolytic capacitors in some part of an analog signal path?

It might look like the next display, shown in Fig. 6. Note how the signals at lower frequencies are quite a bit lower compared to the mid and high frequencies. This station would have a “weak” bottom end, no matter what they tried to do with the audio processing.

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There are many tools available, both hardware and software, that can be used to quantify the quality of the station’s air chain. Remember that it is not important which tools are used but rather that they are used to check occasionally to see if the station’s air chain is healthy.

If the air chain isn’t up to snuff, it doesn’t matter what audio processor, transmitter, STL or exciter the station has, because the on-air sound can never be better than that of the weakest link.

The post Audio Performance Testing on the Cheap appeared first on Radio World.

The Federal Communications Commission agreed to renew the license of an Alabama FM translator station — but only on the contingency that it enter into a consent decree and agree to make a $13,000 penalty payment.

After getting the green light to begin operating FM translator W299BX at the same site as its primary station WARB(AM) in Dothan, Ala., back in 2015, Alabama Media LLC had both stations go quiet for nearly 10 months in 2015 and 2016. Then in September 2016, the translator began operation from a recently constructed tower located nearby, with WARB following suit a few days later. Two months after that, Alabama Media moved three of its four full-power stations to this new so-called Dothan Tower.

[Read: Florida Licensee Faces $3,000 Forfeiture After Late Filing Penalty]

And while the broadcaster filed modification applications to relocate its full-power stations, it inadvertently failed to file a modification application for the translator.

A complaint was filed by broadcaster WOOF Inc. soon after, saying that Alabama Media did not have approval to operate the translator at that site. WOOF operates 99.7 WOOF(FM) and 560 WOOF(AM), both in Dothan, Ala. Two days later, Alabama Media filed a modification application and requested special temporary authority (STA) to operate at the new site.

The Media Bureau responded (note that the decision took nearly 2.5 years, into March 2017) and granted both the modification application and STA. The bureau also found that Alabama Media was liable for a monetary forfeiture of $18,000 for several violations: unauthorized operation, originating programming without authorization, failing to notify the FCC of its intent to discontinue operations for 10 or more days, failing to obtain approval to discontinue operations for more than 30 days and failing to file proper forms needed when relocating a translator. The bureau gave Alabama Media 30 days to pay the full amount or submit a written statement seeking reduction.

In April 2019 Alabama Media responded and asked the bureau to reduce the forfeiture, saying it could not afford to pay that amount since the company has operated at a net loss for the past four years. As a smaller broadcaster, Alabama Media said, it does not have access to lines of credit or other readily available funds. And besides, the broadcaster said, a reduced forfeiture is all the admonishment it needs to deter any future misconduct.

But the Media Bureau was not persuaded. “[T]he mere fact that a business is operating at a loss does not by itself mean that it cannot afford to pay a forfeiture,” the bureau said in its order. The bureau ruled that financial hardship in this case is not enough to approve a reduction of the $18,000.

But something did sway the bureau to decrease the forfeiture: Alabama Media’s track record as a rule-following licensee. “[W]e find that a reduction from the forfeiture amount proposed in the [notice] is appropriate given that Alabama Media does not have a history of prior offenses.”

As a result, the bureau entered into a consent decree with Alabama Media in which the broadcaster admitted to the charges laid out by the bureau and agreed to make a $13,000 civil penalty payment. The bureau also denied the earlier objection raised by WOOF since the licensee did not show how Alabama Media’s continued operation of the translator would be against public interest.

 

The post Consent Decree (Plus Good Behavior) Results in Reduced Forfeiture appeared first on Radio World.

The third quarter 2021 results from the largest audio content creator and distributor in the U.S., iHeartMedia, were released shortly before the company’s two top leaders, Bob Pittman and Rich Bressler, played host to analysts and investors in a conference call scheduled for 4:30pm Eastern.

How did the company do? As the answer was shared, investors snapped up iHeart shares in immediate after-hour trading on Thursday.

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In 2021, Entravision Communications fully transitioned from a Hispanic-centric U.S.-focused media company to a global digital advertising player with its decision to take full ownership in Cisneros Interactive. This followed Entravision’s acquisition of Singapore-based Media Donuts.

Now, Entravision has invested in Africa, with its acquisition of a South African digital ad solutions company.

The news came just as Entravision distributed its third-quarter earnings results.

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Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio, the non-profit charitable organization dedicated to the advancement of female leadership in radio broadcasting, has teamed with vCreative to recognize and celebrate women in radio “whose unsung efforts ensure efficiency, both operationally and financially, for their stations and groups.”

The program’s inaugural free webinar, “Recognizing Women in Operational Excellence” will be held Thursday, December 2, from 1pm-1:45pm Eastern.

Hosted by vCreative CEO Susie Hedrick and MIW Board Member Valerie Blackburn, the webinar showcases three uniquely talented women who make a significant impact daily on their company’s operations:

• Becky Deneger, Vice President of Traffic Operations at TSM
• Mildred Sibley, Vice President of Station Traffic Operations at Entravision
• Melissa Mitchell, Director of Finance and Corporate Controller at Bonneville

Webinar participants will hear how these professionals strategically embrace emerging technologies; integrate new products into existing workflows; and hire and train teams.

Reserve your spot and learn more here: https://hubs.la/H0-z_pz0

It’s a question Lee Miller, Executive Director of low-power television and OTT advocacy group ATBA, addresses in a new opinion piece.

And, it is a major topic facing broadcast media leadership and air personalities alike that will serve as the centerpiece to a highly anticipated Forecast 2022 conference panel.

In a communique distributed to Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance members on Thursday (11/4), Miller says, “On the heels of recent ransomware attacks, as an industry, we need to take a look at our systems and networks.”

The good news, in Miller’s eyes: Keeping ransomware off your system isn’t difficult — especially for a small operation.

“Much like preventing malware and viruses, best practices are pretty much the same,” he writes. “A ransomware attack must have some access to your system, usually through a rogue application. Be sure you and your staff are cautious about downloading or opening any files from the web or your email if you’re not very certain of their source.”

Miller notes that hackers now use a variety of social engineering methods, such as spoofing an email that looks like it’s an urgent message from a staff or family member; these typically include links that will install and/or download spyware and other files used by ransomware attack agents.

“Consider strongly again and again before opening and running anything on your computer, especially if it arrives without your expectation,” Miller advises. “Besides being careful about what you click on or download, there are three rules of system security that you should always apply: Protect, update, and back up. All malware, including ransomware, often exploits older or unpatched operating systems and software, and just because you might be on a macOS, don’t think you’re immune!”

Cyber threats are coming fast and furious nowadays. Every day we hear of another ransomware attack or data breach, and it seems that the cyber adversaries are taking over companies unopposed. Cyber security expert Steve Morgan, founder of Cybersecurity Ventures and Editor-in-Chief at Cybercrime Magazine, sits down with WABC Radio’s Juliet Huddy at Forecast 2022 for a provocative interview that will cover, in non-technobabble, how the cyber adversaries are doing it, why people and companies are in the dark when it comes to cybercrime, and what they can and should do to protect their organization. This session is presented by RCS Sound Software To hear what Morgan has to share, you have to be there. REGISTER TODAY AND SECURE YOUR SEAT AT FORECAST 2022!

 

The direct broadcast satellite company presently at war with broadcast TV station owner TEGNA over a new retransmission consent agreement suffered a severe gut punch on Wall Street, following the release of Q3 2021 results that failed to live up to analyst forecasts.

At 2:20pm ET, Dish Network shares were down by 14% on five times the normal trading volume.

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(Click here to enlarge.)

NPR and Wondery in October held their top positions in Podtrac’s list of top podcast publishers as measured by U.S. audience.

Most of the rest of the list looks like last month’s too, with a few swapping positions.

But this month, ViacomCBS joined that list and enters at #12 (bumping Hidden Brain Media out of the top 20).

Ranking data only includes publishers that participate in Podtrac measurement:

The company said Unique Monthly Audience for 19 of the top 20 publishers was up or flat in October over the month before.

(Click here to enlarge.)

 

It also found that Total Global Downloads for the Top 20 were up 9% from the month before but down 9% compared to October of 2020.

The list of top individual podcasts also looked similar at the top compared to the month before, with the NYT at the top, and NPR holding five of the next 19 slots:

[Related: “iHeart, NPR Have Their Prints All Over Podtrac Rankings”]

 

The post Podtrac Issues Monthly Podcast Rankers appeared first on Radio World.