Industry News

In-person conferences are back on the schedule, with IBC on May 25 confirming it will stage a 2021 show in December, postponing it from September rather than scratching it off the calendar or going with an all-virtual presentation.

Ahead of that event, in late August, is a state broadcasters’ association conference that promises to be one of the more dynamic post-pandemic gatherings leading up to the NAB Show in October: the 70th Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Summer Conference.

The 2021 agenda is a dynamic one, and WBA President/CEO Michelle Vetterkind spoke with RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson to share what’s on tap for attendees this year in this podcast, presented by dot.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Michelle Vetterkind” on Spreaker.

Peter Rothfuss will take the helm in Audacy’s Gainesville/Ocala, Fla., market starting June 1.

He’ll succeed Dick O’Neil, who is retiring.

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Rothfuss will oversee WKTK(FM), WRUF(FM), WSKY(FM), WRUF(AM + FM translator). He has been the market’s general sales manager for five years.

Past roles include marketing and sales positions at Audacy Wilkes-Barre; sales management at Townsquare Media; chief operating officer for The Advertising Agency in Winter Park, Fla.

The announcement was made by Regional President Claudia Menegus.

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The post Audacy Promotes Rothfuss in Gainesville appeared first on Radio World.

Aside from the NAB Show in Las Vegas, one of the biggest global annual events for the broadcast media industry and the vendors that seek to grow their business at such conference expo halls is the IBC affair.

Held each year in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, the 2021 in-person edition of IBC was largely thought to have been scrapped, due to lingering pandemic concerns.

That’s not the case. It’s just delayed a few months from its normal show dates.

IBC2021 will take place on December 3 at the RAI in Amsterdam.

The announcement follows a decision at the May 24 IBC Partnership Board meeting to move the event from its usual September slot.

“Following a period of industry consultation, the IBC Partnership Board has agreed that December is the best date in terms of safety and industry readiness to engage,” IBC CEO Michael Crimp said, noting that the organization’s conclusion is based on the results of recent IBC exhibitor and visitor surveys and “macro evidence” of Europe opening up for business.

“We really value the feedback and candid input of our community — we have always been ‘By the industry, For the industry’, and this ethos continues to guide our daily decision-making process,” Crimp said.

IBC found that two thirds of the visitors and exhibitors it surveyed said assurance of robust onsite health and safety protocols would encourage them to attend, with vaccination passport entry by far the most popular measure. Further, some 86% of survey respondents said they were very likely, and 13% likely to have been vaccinated by December.

Additionally, two thirds of respondents already feel they are ready to travel, and a vast majority expect any corporate travel restriction policies to be updated by the end of the summer.

European Union commission data show that Europe is now on track to achieve its 70% vaccination target by July 2021 and to surpass this target by December.

Only one in ten of the visitors surveyed said they would not attend a December event.

Crimp concluded, “We did not shift from September lightly. However, as the evidence was gathered and considered, there was a shifting sentiment towards December from both exhibitors and visitors. We also had to consider the ability of the supply chain to deliver a high-quality event. We believe that key services such as airports and airlines, and hotels will have established smooth operations and be able to provide a more streamlined service by December.”

PromoSuite announced integration between WideOrbit WO Traffic and WO Automation for Radio and its PromoSuite Production radio workflow system.

“This solution will provide many benefits to radio stations using PromoSuite Production,” it said in a press release, “including speeding up the order entry process, streamlining cart number assignments, eliminating duplication, and reducing overhead associated with dubbing audio files into WO Automation for Radio.”

The announcement was made by WideOrbit’s Dub Irvin and PromoSuite’s Rey Mena.

[Read Radio World coverage of other recently introduced products]

The integration has three “connection points.” When an AE enters an order for a client and needs a spot produced, client information is populated into PromoSuite Production, which the company says eliminates duplicate effort in communication.

“Second, cart number assignments are immediately synced between the two systems. Third, audio files are directly dubbed into WO Automation for Radio.”

The post PromoSuite Integrates With WideOrbit appeared first on Radio World.

Effective June 7, the Audacy radio stations serving the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose region will have a new Regional VP and Market Manager.

It’s an appointment that comes just weeks after Cumulus Media’s crosstown stations named a new VP/Market Manager. And, it is the result of Audacy’s current RVP/Manager in Northern California getting a bump up to a national sales role at the company formerly known as Entercom.

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In Indiana’s largest market, an FM licensed to Danville, Ind., west of downtown Indianapolis, and a pair of AMs and their respective FM translators, have been transferred to a trust.

A FCC filing made Tuesday (5/25) offers a little insight as to why: the licensee of the stations passed away a couple of months ago. But what wasn’t shared is perhaps more noteworthy, as it involves the head of Connoisseur Media and the legendary Wolfman Jack.

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Sennheiser has unveiled its latest lavalier microphone, an omnidirectional clip-on mic aimed at content creators. The XS Lav Mobile mic is available in separate versions with TRRS connector and a USB-C connector, respectively, and the USB-C version is also sold as part of a larger Mobile Kit.

The XS Lav USB-C Mobile Kit includes the mic as well as an additional Manfrotto PIXI Mini Tripod and Sennheiser Smartphone Clamp.

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

The lavalier microphone is intended to help emerging users upgrade their audio beyond use of onboard mics in cellphones and other capture devices, allowing content creators the ability to mic a sound source (such as themselves) closer and thus help isolate that source.

The mic ships with a 2-meter/78-inch cable for plugging into a device; a standard USB-C to USB-A adapter will make a XS Lav ready for legacy products, too. For video conferencing, users may want to choose a XS Lav USB-C, as the 3.5 mm jack on XS Lav Mobile will disable a device’s audio output.

Frequency response is listed at 50 Hz–18 kHz.

All XS Lav mics include a microphone clip, removable foam windshield and a draw-string storage pouch as a standard.

The XS Lav (with TRRS plug) is priced at $49.95, while the XS Lav USB-C runs $59.95 and the XS Lav USB-C Mobile Kit is $99.95.

Info: www.sennheiser.com

The post Sennheiser Launches XS Lav Mobile Mic appeared first on Radio World.

Once May 22 concluded, organizers of the National Translator Association‘s conference were more than pleased with one of the more difficult decisions it has had to make — hold an in-person event in Utah, or cancel it due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The former choice was taken, and NTA President John Terrill is thrilled with the response.

Terrill tells the Weekly Tech Roundup that Community Engineers from as far away as Guam and Alaska traveled safely to Salt Lake City for the association’s annual event.

So did some of the industry’s top presenters, with in-person and Zoom-delivered sessions covering topics ranging from basic LPTV operations to NextGen TV and ATSC 3.0.

“Attendance expectations were greatly exceeded as members, exhibitors, and presenters met with COVID distancing, but face to face,” Terrill said. “We know it was risky, but we thought we had to live with COVID.”

At the conference, NBC VP of Technology for the Western Region Doug Lung presented practical ways for translator TV stations to convert to ATSC 3.0-based digital signals.

Joel Wilhite, the Sr. System Design Engineer at Harmonic, covered all the concerns and questions for small broadcasters to join the transition from digital to NextGen broadcasting.

Another conference highlight: the on-site appearance of former FCC Video Division Deputy Chief Hossein Hashemzadeh, who answered questions and worked the packed room through such current Commission concerns as white space technology and checking the FCC database of analog stations to ensure your license is not on the analog list.

Another FCC D.C. notable — Jean Kiddoo — reported on repack payments and encouraged everyone to “close out” their repack reimbursements by certifying that reimbursed payments were paid to the vendors listed in the Form 399 applications.

“The attendance to the first major convention for broadcasters during the pandemic is a clear notice that upcoming conventions may experience the same pent-up interest we had,” Terrill said.

Quu Inc., a technology company known for its capability of adding dynamic visuals to radio broadcasts, is adding to its “Success Team.”

This sees the arrival of a Customer Success Manager, and a Technical Success Manager. Each report to CEO Steve Newberry.

New to Quu are Jackie Bart and Joe Marshall.

In the newly created roles, Bart and Marshall will work directly with operations, sales, and programming teams on the local level. In addition, they will guide stations through installation, on-boarding, training, and support to publish synced programming and sales messages, or “Visual Quus,” on car dashboards.

“We’re excited to welcome Jackie and Joe to the team as we take the next step in Quu’s evolution,” said company founder and Chief Technology Officer Joe Harb.

“Jackie’s deep training experience with Arbitron and Scarborough Research as well as Joe’s technology experience with Harris/GatesAir demonstrate their tremendous professional credentials,” Newberry said. “They are outstanding individuals with a sincere passion and focus on training, service, and success. These critical hires demonstrate Quu’s focus on not simply selling software and services to radio stations, but ensuring our partners know how to use Quu’s powerful tools to engage listeners, upsell radio’s core product, and make ads more effective.”

The app that offers live streaming of every iHeartMedia radio station and those of its partners, on-demand streaming by recording artist, and an array of podcasts has just hit a big register user milestone.

The iHeartRadio app has officially surpassed 150 million registered users.

In addition, iHeartRadio has now recorded more than 3 billion app downloads, with monthly downloads peaking as high as 28% as compared to last year.

One big reason for this growth: iHeartRadio’s “continued dedication and innovation in the growing podcasting space,” the company says.

“As the No. 1 podcast publisher globally according to Podtrac, iHeartRadio has doubled down on growing our expansive library of iHeartRadio Original podcasts, which includes some of the most-listened-to podcast series in the world,” iHeartMedia posts.

Among its podcasts are “Stuff You Should Know,” “The Ron Burgundy Podcast,” “Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach + Donald” and  “Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.”

Additionally, iHeartRadio has added to its streaming catalog, which features millions of songs and curated playlists across a variety of moods and genres.

It’s not just our listeners that are growing, but iHeart’s social audience, too.

iHeartRadio now has a total social audience of 234 million.