Radio World

Ben Palmer

Planning for the 2022 NAB Show is ramping up, and Radio World is asking exhibitors about their expectations for what will be the first in-person spring show in three years.

Ben Palmer is president of Arrakis Systems.

Radio World: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend that radio professionals should be watching for at the show?
Ben Palmer: I think that there will be a great emphasis on flexibility and accessibility with technology. As we learned with the pandemic, it is important for your studio to be available to you at any moment.

RW: What will be your most important news or exhibit theme?
Palmer: We are excited to show off the new changes we have implemented with our APEX automation system, as well as updates to our analog and AoIP consoles. Specifically with APEX, we have added new cloud features that make it more robust and easier to manage remotely.

The Arrakis APEX Automation System

RW: How is it different from what’s available on the market?
Palmer: The cloud technology services that we are adding to APEX utilizes the latest in security protocols. I believe that this goes a step beyond what has been used by many other systems on the market.

RW: How has the lack of physical trade shows affected your clients or your own business?
Palmer: Sales have done well in spite of the lack of shows. While it has always been wonderful to meet face to face, we have still been able to maintain our relationships with our customers.

Arrakis Booth: N2338

The post Exhibitor Preview: Arrakis Systems at NAB Show appeared first on Radio World.

The FCC Media Bureau has finalized a filing penalty against the winning bidder of an FM construction permit for Hugo, Colo., reducing the fine to $1,000 and calling the error a “minor delinquency.”

ScarboroughRadio LLC, a winning bidder in Auction 109, failed to file a post-auction Form 2100, Schedule 301 long-form application until a couple of weeks after the deadline last September.

Applications can be dismissed outright in such circumstances, the commission pointed out; but an applicant can establish good cause if “minor, inadvertent” post-auction delinquencies don’t disrupt its auction process or undermine its goal of facilitating rapid implementation of service.

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In issuing a notice of apparent liability in December, the FCC waived the deadline, saying that Scarborough had complied with its other obligations, there was no indication of bad faith and the late filing was a minor violation. That meant Scarborough could go ahead with its plan to add FM service to Hugo.

But the FCC did propose a $3,000 fine in the NAL. Company principal Scott Scarborough then filed a response, noting that he is a first-time auction participant, and that after working with the Media Bureau staff on preparation of the long-form application, “it was his understanding that there was no more to be done, that the filing was complete and that there were no issues regarding late filing.”

The commission now has issued a forfeiture order. It said auction bidders were informed through various means of the rules for the post-auction long-form application; but, it continued, Scarborough replied to its NAL promptly, made its final payment and met the other relevant obligations.

“These facts, combined with the fact that Mr. Scarborough proactively reached out to bureau staff to complete the late-filed application, support Scarborough’s assertion that its late application filing was wholly inadvertent.” For this “minor post-auction delinquency,” the FCC settled on a reduced forfeiture of $1,000.

The post FCC Reduces Fine on Successful Bidder appeared first on Radio World.

The year 2021 was a quiet one for U.S. broadcast transactions, according to a new report, and radio station deal values were at their lowest point in at least 40 years.

According to a market deal recap, S&P Global Market Intelligence found that while broadcast station advertising revenue rebounded from the hit it took in 2020 due to the COVID outbreak, the station transaction market is sitting at near-historical lows.

Total TV and radio deal volume for 2021 was $4.72 billion. Radio represented only 4% of that; $190.2 million is the lowest value for radio transactions in the company’s records, spanning four decades.

The four largest radio station deals were driven by three of the country’s top-10 TV station owners.

[See Our Business and Law Page]

In June, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced the sale of its only radio stations to Lotus Communications for $18.06 million.

And late in the year, The Walt Disney Co. received $24.25 million for its remaining radio stations: VCY America will pay $9.25 million for KESN(FM) in the Dallas–Ft. Worth market, while Good Karma Broadcasting will pay $15 million for Disney’s AM stations in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, along with an LMA for Emmis Communications station WEPN(FM).

Of the TV/radio broadcast total, about $4.2 billion or almost 93% came from the top two deals and their spinoffs.

In February 2021, Gray paid $925 million to Quincy Media for two TV stations and two radio stations. In April, Gray then sold 10 full-power and three low-power stations from the Quincy acquisition to Allen Media Group for $380 million. In May, Gray then announced the acquisition of Meredith Corp. and its 16 full-power and 30 low-power TV stations for $2.82 billion.

For the third year in a row, the average cash flow multiple for radio transactions remained stable at 6.6-times forward buyers broadcast cash flow. “In our estimates, only 25 full-power radio stations were sold based on their cash flow. That is, however, five stations more than in 2020.”

The post Radio Transactions Are at Near-Historical Lows appeared first on Radio World.

The author is a retired broadcast engineer who has been involved with advancing radio and television throughout his career, including for Qualcomm/MediaFLO, Harris, Nautel and ONEMedia LLC/Sinclair.

“I would like to see AM radio begin simulcasting on ATSC 3.0 signals. A single ATSC 3.0 transmitter could carry all of the AM signals in a market, in addition to TV programs.”

That was Dave Hershberger, quoted in a Radio World profile after his much-deserved receipt of the NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award.

I think his proposition is worth considering.

In my opinion, the ultimate broadcast engineering experience is still an AM directional antenna array. That said, I smile politely when I hear talk of “AM revitalization.” At this point I think a deliberate, clear-eyed look at our much-loved industry leads us to reinvention over repair.

Medium-wave spectrum is far from “beachfront property.” For reasons that have been well documented — poor building penetration, increasing noise, dwindling receivers, aging demographics — the most likely future for AM spectrum is that it will continue to lose value to the point where launching something completely new, like high-power all-digital, makes sense.

The state of deployment of ATSC 3.0 by Nielsen TV market, from the Advanced Television Systems Committee. Areas in orange have at least one station “on the air,” though most have more than one. Those in light blue have stations planning service soon; those in dark blue are coming later in the year, at which point NextGen TV will reach 75% of the viewing public in terms of USA population.

FM’s low-VHF spectrum is closer to “beachfront property,” but even high-VHF is considerably better. Note that originally, FM was promoted as a replacement for AM, it was not promoted as an additional service.

Broadcasters also distribute their linear content via unlicensed and unlimited internet. This is all IP, so there’s no limitation on what can be broadcast, how it is packaged or how much bandwidth it takes.

While OTA broadcast covers unpopulated areas well, streaming is now available in virtually every populated area, building, tunnel, venue, etc., and there are few limits to how big the “coverage area,” can be, up to and including the entire planet.

Besides 5G, tiny IP satellites are coming fast, covering the earth’s surface.

The single most important data point for broadcasters is ascertaining the audience. Our product is “eyes and ears,” a.k.a. “attention,” and we are not alone seeking and selling it.

[Read More Guest Commentaries Here]

When it comes to quantifying and qualifying the audience, OTA falls short of the internet. Interactivity, targeted advertising, non-linear and rich media are all impracticable within the current ecosystem.

That’s not trivial. Radio really can’t compete well with delivery that tells our customers exactly who is listening and can target advertising, alerts and other content.

Radio’s traditional exclusive sweet spot had been mobile. But streaming to smartphones, cars and portable “radios” with the present-day “carrier” access networks, even without 5G, is better in most ways than OTA.

FM chips in phones were never a viable option. But patrons expect that smartphone FM radio will work in any location — basement, elevator, office — where cell phones do but OTA FM cannot reach.

Selling points
So why should radio broadcasters be interested in ATSC 3.0?

First, NextGen Broadcast — and that’s what it is — is not just TV. Because it is IP-based, it can carry anything: linear radio and any data service, album art, or whatever … along with TV.

Second, OFDM on UHF runs circles around AM or FM in terms of coverage and penetration. Critical to this, is that like the HD/OFDM part of HD FM, single-frequency networks composed of multiple transmitters can push coverage into places otherwise unreachable by any other means other than the cellular carriers.

NextGen Broadcast on UHF is beachfront spectrum. No one is lining up to re-farm MW and VHF spectrum. There will be no auctions of radio spectrum.

Moving radio to NextGen Broadcast changes the ground rules.

For my entire career, it has been clear that the Venn diagram of radio and TV has two spheres that are destined to converge. The move to IP does exactly that.

In American radio, broadcasters ordinarily own and operate their own single-service transmitter (HD2, HD3 aside) and maybe some translators and streaming servers. NextGen Broadcast is a multiplex of services, radio, TV and data.

Some NextGen pioneers plan to aggregate their spectrum to move content between transmission systems; adjusting modulation/coding to maximize coverage, reach and capacity as appropriate for the individual services.

ATSC 3.0 can do that. Radio services could have a lease or other arrangement for access to a slice of NextGen multiplexes.

Currently, an FCC license is for 6 MHz of spectrum traditionally held by one entity. In NextGen broadcast, that license typically houses multiple “broadcasters.”

While one might not have to worry about tower lights or transmitter maintenance, “radio stations” likely would not be limited to those with a license and call letters. Regulations probably need to be updated, if for no other reason than rules enforcement reaches the spectrum holder and not the occupants.

There are other regulatory opportunities. For example, being IP, emergency alerting can be done once, collectively, for the whole multiplex.

NextGen has momentum
The current DTV transmission ecosystem is shifting to ATSC 3.0, with the first wave approaching completion with about 75% of the population covered by at least one NextGen Broadcast signal. According to some estimates, 2 million 3.0-capable TV sets will be in homes by Christmas of 2022.

If you think radio has challenges, look at TV. Current DTV is stuck with an ancient inefficient codec that can’t handle what today’s TVs can display and a modulation scheme (8-VSB) that can’t handle motion or support single-frequency network boosters.

It’s hard to imagine that in a decade, OTA TV will still be ATSC 1.0 in any sustainable way. Manufacturers are heavily invested in selling NextGen Broadcast throughout the world because that sells bigger, better TVs. They just have to be contemplating better “radios” too.

So how does that get NextGen Broadcast receiver chips into cars and smartphones?

For that, we have to look at the symbiotic relationship between ATSC 3.0 and 5G.

While most of the world’s connectivity traffic is unicast, the bulky part is broadcast. While the obvious 3.0 use case is the 700-pound gorilla of live linear radio and TV, there is also the anticipated distribution of data for self-driving cars and certainly things yet undreamed.

One can speculate that as the NextGen Broadcast infrastructure expands, discounted distribution and low-cost storage will be attractive for delivering more than the obvious popular movies and podcasts.

When it comes to the intersection of technology, regulation and business, anything can happen anywhere. However, NextGen Broadcast is designed to replace the world’s aging and imperfect OTA distribution. All of it.

This isn’t an incremental improvement.

As NextGen Broadcast transmission is lighting up, what is being distributed is, with few notable early exceptions, simulcasts of existing TV and radio content. That is not a typo. Audio services, including simulcasts of legacy radio stations, are being conveyed by NextGen Broadcast on the air now.

What’s next is the consumer side of the ecosystem. Clearly the first multi-millions of NextGen reception devices will be about simply making pictures and sound.

We radio broadcasters have “asks” that we might not have thought we could dream of. Dynamic (targeted) advertising and listener intelligence will need the devices to run apps that are built in or placed on the device by broadcasters. First-run NextGen TVs do some of that. Radio should be next.

Real opportunity
In a nutshell: After 20-plus years, and millions if not billions of dollars of development by hundreds of entities, NextGen Broadcast is authorized and on the air. Whether incumbent “radio” broadcasters take advantage of its capabilities and opportunities is an individual choice.

Some will stay the course, but others will enter a converged media world that is free of the major impairments and limitations we’ve been “improving” and “revitalizing” our way out of with limited success.

The combination of near-perfect distribution and the unlimited capabilities of OTA IP is a radio content provider’s Holy Grail. It might start with NextGen Broadcast simulcasts, but as a believer in radio, I think it goes much further. While we’ve been running toward revitalization, NextGen Broadcast has just tapped us on the shoulder. This is a tipping point that might take some of us by surprise.

Someday, I’d like to listen to radio in a hotel room again.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post NextGen TV Is Tapping Us on the Shoulder appeared first on Radio World.

Vitec Group brand Joby has introduced a string of entry-level mics and lavs aimed at content creators, and the flagship of the new audio capture offerings is the Wavo Pro shotgun microphone, intended for use by storytellers, filmmakers and creators on the go.

The Wavo Pro is equipped with a hybrid analog/digital system to power onboard active noise reduction, a sound management app, and integrated second 3.5 mm mic input. Designed to pair with mirrorless camera hardware, Wavo PRO adapts technology from sister brands like Rycote and Audix for its feature list.

An active noise reduction system leverages onboard Rycote technology to process and clear sounds made by users in the process of operating gear, removing self-generated structural noise.

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LEDs in front and back of the microphone help provide users with real-time monitoring no-matter the orientation, but more in-depth monitoring is available via a simple, dedicated iOS and Android digital sound management app that connects to Wavo Pro via Bluetooth. The app provides creators with real-time and remote visual monitoring of sound input, independent dual-mode EQ, and customized, shareable sound setups.

A secondary mic input is provided on the microphone itself, allowing users to use multiple microphones for interviews or dual-channel recording. The mic also sports an onboard −10 dB safe track for mono or dual channel recording.

Helping ensure the microphone doesn’t bleed a camera battery drive, the Wavo Pro has an auto power mode to switch the mic on/off automatically together with the camera. Lastly, the mic pairs with the entire Joby content creation kit, including tripods, lights and mics.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

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The Nebraska Broadcasters Association has joined the Society of Broadcast Engineers’ effort to bring new technical talent to the field of broadcasting through the SBE’s Technical Professional Training Program.

The SBE created the program at the beginning of 2021 in response to concerns about the ability to fill technical positions as current engineers age out of the workforce, as well as innovations in broadcasting technologies continue.

Launched in January, the NBA plans to cover the cost of TPTP enrollment for up to 12 enrollees, each accepted on a first-come, first-served basis for 2022. It has limited enrollment to one enrollee per dues-paying station employment unit.

[Related: SBE Launches New Training Program]

Jim Timm, president and executive director of the NBA, said many broadcast engineers are retiring faster than they can be replaced.

“Recognizing that many stations have a person or two on staff with some technical aptitude,” he said, “we feel the SBE’s TPT is an ideal way to help them expand their capabilities and potentially, groom some future engineers for NBA member stations.”

The Missouri Broadcasters Association launched a similar support program in 2021. Terry Beth Harper, director of member services for the MBA, agreed that finding replacements for those who have or are getting ready to retire can be difficult.

“Someone just starting out might find the right fit in the technical environment, and this program gives them a chance to explore that world a little deeper,” she said.

SBE President Andrea Cummis, CBT, CTO, added, “The SBE continues to increase its education efforts, which includes the TPT. The Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Missouri Broadcasters Association have actively embraced the program, which will hopefully serve as models for other state associations to follow.”

[Related: Cummis Set to Take the Lead at SBE]

There have been 33 participants since the launch of the TPTP. So far, the fixed number of participants budgeted for by the SBE has not been met.

The cost of the SBE TPTP is $475. This includes a one-year SBE membership with SBE MemberPlus, a copy of SBE CertPreview, a copy of the SBE Engineering Handbook, enrollment in the SBE Mentor Program, and the SBE CBT certification exam application fee to be taken later.

The post Neb. Association Support for SBE Training appeared first on Radio World.

A Mississippi AM station finds itself liable for a monetary forfeiture of $7,000 after allegedly operating the station without authority.

Magnolia State Broadcasting, licensee of station WMOX(AM) in Meridian, Miss., was required to renew its broadcast license on Feb. 3, 2020, which was four months before the station’s license was set to expire on June 1, 2020. No application was filed on time, the Media Bureau said, and the station’s license expired. On June 5, Magnolia sought reinstatement of the station’s license, which the bureau treated as a petition for reconsideration. The bureau granted the petition, reinstated the station’s license and had the application formally filed on Sept. 25, 2021.

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But the Media Bureau said that Magnolia did not request special temporary authority to operate the station following the expiration of the station’s license. And because the station continued operating after the license expired, the Media Bureau said Magnolia was in violation of FCC rules. The licensee also failed to comply with the Communications Act by broadcasting for more than one day with an expired license.

The commission’s forfeiture policy establishes a base forfeiture amount of $3,000 for failure to file a license renewal application on time. The guidelines also specify a base forfeiture amount of $10,000 for operation without authorization. However, the commission can adjust the base amount upward or downward as it sees fit.

In its review of the facts and circumstances — including that Magnolia failed to file its license renewal application on time, continued to operate the station after the license expired and never filed an STA to operate the station after its license expired — the bureau proposed a final amount of $7,000.

Despite the forfeiture, the bureau found that Magnolia’s violation of the rules and the act do not present serious violations. The bureau also found no evidence that the violations constitute a pattern of abuse.

As a result the bureau agreed to grant Magnolia’s application as soon as this forfeiture proceeding is resolved. Magnolia has 30 days to submit payment.

The post Unauthorized Broadcasting Nets Miss. Station $7,000 Fine appeared first on Radio World.

Colleen Harper is stepping down from her role as the executive director of the Audio Engineering Society in March. Harper, a Certified Association Executive (CAE), has led the AES headquarters staff for the past three years, having started with the organization in January 2019.

During her time at the AES, Harper has worked with the Society’s volunteer leadership, members and industry partners to shepherd the organization through a period of radical transition due to the global pandemic.

“I care deeply about the AES, and I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished together,” said Harper. “The past three years have been a tremendously rewarding experience and some of the most challenging and enjoyable years I could have imagined. My decision to step down has been a difficult one, but I leave knowing that I have accomplished the goals established when I joined the AES. As I leave to pursue a new challenge, I am genuinely sad to leave the Society, its dedicated staff and leadership, and the wonderful community that has accepted me as one of its own.”

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“The AES has been privileged to have Colleen’s experience and unique skill set to rely upon during trying times,” said Josh Reiss, AES President. “Not only is the AES in the best financial position it’s been in for years, despite a global pandemic, but Colleen has also helped usher in forward-looking operational plans, procedures and practices that will further solidify the Society’s role as the world’s leading professional audio technological organization. On behalf of the Board of Directors, the Board of Governors and the Society’s membership, we offer Colleen our sincere gratitude and wish her well as her career takes her in new directions.”

The AES Board of Directors will form a search committee to work with an outside search firm in the selection of Harper’s permanent replacement. Bill Foster, a veteran of AES leadership who served as Interim Executive Director during the search that led to the hiring of Harper, has agreed to serve again in that role following Harper’s departure in early March.

“Bill has proven his ability to see the Society through this type of transition,” said Reiss. “The Board of Directors has every confidence that he will once again provide the interim leadership needed. Colleen has set a high standard of performance that will be a perfect template to guide our search for her replacement.”

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Bauer Media Audio and Grupo Media Capital announced a definitive agreement for Bauer to acquire Media Capital Rádios.

This acquisition, which involves four of the 10 most-listened-to stations in Portugal, marks the entry of Bauer Media Audio into the Portuguese market, expanding its audio business to nine countries.

“I’m confident that under Bauer Media’s ownership, these stations will continue to thrive, be very successful and grow,” stated Mário Ferreira, chair of Grupo Media Capital, in a release announcing the deal. “… I would like to thank our talented teams for their commitment and contribution to Media Capital Rádios.”

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“We are very much looking forward to working closely with the talented team at Media Capital Rádios,” stated Bauer Media Group COO Paul Keenan. “We are committed to continuing to offer trusted news and great music and entertainment to Portuguese audiences, while bringing investment and innovation which will benefit listeners and advertisers alike.”

The deal, which is still subject to regulatory approval, encompasses the audience-leading Rádio Comercial; M80, the third most-listened-to station nationwide and the No. 2 station in the Greater Lisbon area, behind Rádio Comercial; youth-oriented Cidade FM; and two niche stations, Smooth FM and Vodafone FM. Bauer is also acquiring MCR’s extensive digital portfolio of 30 digital radio stations and more than 60 podcasts.

In the latest Marktest Bareme Rádio survey, MCR stations recorded a 38.7% audience share and a 54% weekly reach. Rádio Comercial logged a cumulative audience of 20.1% — the highest value ever recorded in the survey.

This announcement follows the 2021 acquisitions by Bauer Media Audio in Slovakia, Ireland and Finland.

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A view of the eruption of La Soufrière Volcano on St. Vincent, April 21, 2021. (Kingsley Roberts/AFP via Getty Images)

A global public awareness campaign hopes to convince the world’s nations to implement the Common Alerting Protocol.
Already in use in most of the developed world, CAP is an international standard for alerting systems that ensures the delivery of accurate, detailed and consistent alerts across all media in emergency situations.

As outlined in an online document “Call to Action on Emergency Alerting,” the campaign’s goal is “to ensure that by 2025 all countries have the capability for effective, authoritative emergency alerting that leverages the CAP suitable for all media and all hazards.”

According to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, a single CAP emergency message “can trigger a variety of public warning systems, increasing the likelihood that people receive the alert by one or more communication pathways.”

Heavy hitters
Support for this push is being provided by some big names in the international community. Endorsements have come from the likes of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Telecommunication Union, the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and Google.

AccuWeather and the World Meteorological Organization are onboard, as are the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union and the World Broadcasting Unions.

[Related: Campaign Aims for Global Use of CAP]

“Broadcasters play an essential role in communicating the key facts of an emergency, mindful that everyone in harm’s way must understand what is happening and what actions to take,” said Michael McEwen, head of the WBU Secretariat.
“This is why broadcasters embrace the CAP standard. … CAP makes public alerting faster, easier, less error-prone and more understandable. CAP helps a broadcaster be certain that an alert is authentic and authoritative, and to cross-check alerts from diverse sources. CAP alerts can also be compiled on a map to show how different aspects of the emergency are evolving.”

Proven in action
The effectiveness of CAP system was demonstrated in April 2021 when the La Soufrière volcano erupted explosively on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent. Thanks to widespread and timely CAP alerts across all media, residents in the “red zone” were told to evacuate to safer areas.

Here’s how the prime minister’s evacuation order appeared on smartphones via CAP alert in St. Vincent.

The result: According to the Associated Press, “There were no immediate reports of casualties or injuries.”

Dionne John, general manager of National Broadcasting Corp. SVG, said, “The CAP alert system was very effective during and after the eruptions. It proved to be particularly useful in alerting persons who were heading back to the red zone, whether to clean their homes or otherwise, whether it was safe to do so because of lahars and other elements. The media in turn was able to disseminate this information in a timely manner. I am positive that this may have contributed significantly to no lives being lost.”

CAP also helps keep residents informed of emergency events such as forest fires, flooding and severe storms in Canada’s remote and rugged Far North.

“Standardized delivery of unattended alerts makes communities safer while making radio more relevant as a reliable last-mile delivery mechanism, especially when there are breakdowns with online media and smart phone outages,” said “Radio Rob” Hopkins, a radio engineer in Canada’s Yukon territory.

His company, OpenBroadcaster, manufactures open-source CAP broadcast appliances for the Indigenous community radio sector. “Although most agencies don’t know, authorized issuers of emergency messages have the ability to notify residents in Indigenous dialects,” Hopkins said.

Filling the gaps
For people in the developed world, widespread adoption of CAP is a fact of life. In the United States, for example, the federal CAP system “is an aggregation of more than 1,600 city, county and state level feeds across the country,” said Eliot Christian, CEO of Alert-Hub.org CIC, an NGO committed to taking CAP global.

Eliot Christian

In fact, “Seventy percent of the world’s population lives in a country that already has a national-level CAP system. Another 15%, based on population, live in countries that are actively working on deploying CAP right now.”

It is the remaining 15% — in some of the world’s poorest countries — who lack access to CAP systems. Those are the governments the 2025 CAP awareness campaign is trying to sway. “These are the countries that are most affected by disasters because they don’t have a lot of built-in resilience,” Christian told Radio World. “For instance, their people could lose their entire livelihoods in a single hurricane.

“So yes, it is the most vulnerable countries that are unfortunately the ones that have the least developed alerting systems,” he continued. “And yet it’s so easy to create a CAP alerting system, which is why the agencies supporting this campaign agreed that it was time to issue a Call to Action and to set a deadline, to raise awareness and try to cover that remaining 15%.”

To learn more about CAP and how to deploy it in your region, visit alert-hub.org.

Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

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Bauer Media Audio UK is migrating streaming audio listeners away from third-party listening services.

“Over the next few weeks you may experience some slight changes to your listening experience if you listen to us via a third party listening service such as Sonos or TuneIn, but have no fear! We don’t expect these changes to have any noticeable effect for the vast majority of our listeners,” according to a “Changes to online listening” notice the company posted to its stations’ websites.

With the move, Bauer is encouraging Kerrang!, Planet Rock, and Absolute Radio listeners to stream the station via the company’s website, its iOS or Android apps or via Radioplayer, an app backed by the BBC and British commercial broadcasters, including Bauer.

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“Digital audio has opened up an exciting new route for advertisers, alongside broadcast advertising, to access our valued audiences,” stated Shana Hills, digital chief operating officer for Bauer Media Audio. “Having invested in more personalized products to further this reach, we’re excited to take this step, which will unlock further potential for commercial collaboration and targeting, driving significant revenue opportunities.”

The move follows the integration of Bauer stations in the U.K. onto Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant smart speakers, along with the Planet Radio music service for Sonos systems.

According to the company, the shift to owned-and-operating streaming delivery will allow Bauer to offer enhanced services to commercial partners as well as more personalized listener offerings.

According to the Q4 2021 RAJAR results, over three quarters of listening to Bauer stations happens via a digital device (web, mobile, smart speaker or DAB), compared to an industry average of 65 percent.

The company said that move away from third-party stream aggregators is being enacted for all of its U.K. brands, but “there are no plans for similar moves in other territories.” Bauer Media Audio operates more than 150 brands across eight European nations.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

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Performance royalties are back in the spotlight on Capitol Hill.

The House Judiciary Committee held a virtual hearing about the proposed American Music Fairness Act.

NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt said that four years ago, the same committee asked the broadcast and music industries to work together to develop a proposal on the terrestrial performance royalty issue. He said NAB “worked for more than 18 months and offered numerous proposals to our industry partners behind closed doors that aimed to achieve that goal. … When our concepts were rebuffed, we came back to the table with new ideas time and time again.”

LeGeyt said, “Unfortunately, the music industry was unwilling to do its part in these negotiations. … [A]s a result, we find ourselves in this hearing room today debating a performance fee proposal that is strikingly similar to its predecessors.”

[Related: Hybrid Radio and the Royalties Question]

He reiterated arguments that broadcasters have made before: that a new royalty on local radio is “financially untenable for broadcasters of all sizes and unjustified as a matter of policy,” that there is a lot of support among legislators for competing legislation called the Local Radio Freedom Act, and that artists themselves frequently acknowledge the importance of radio in their success.

Among those weighing in on the other side was singer and songwriter Gloria Estefan.

She described herself as “a very big fan of radio and its place in music.” But she told the legislators, “Each of the songs that are precious and meaningful to you was a labor of love for the songwriters, the artists, the musicians and producers that brought it to life. … But when their music is played on the radio, artists don’t get paid, only the songwriters do. The radio stations benefit from the advertising dollars. But the artists that breathed life into a song, the featured artists, the singers, producers and studio musicians, are left out.”

Estefan said this can be particularly problematic for older artists whose songs still get airplay.

“It simply doesn’t make sense that artists are not being paid when their music is played on one specific platform: AM/FM radio. Why hasn’t this been rectified sooner? … Every industrialized country except the United States provides a performance right. … Artists respect broadcast companies; all we are asking is for them to respect us back.”

And in a filed statement, Michael Huppe, president/CEO of SoundExchange, said the lack of performance rights to artists or labels “is one of the most egregious injustices that exists today in the U.S. music industry.”

He said the proposed legislation grants royalties to music creators “while protecting small broadcasters by limiting their annual payments for playing music to $500, less than $1.40 a day. And qualified public, college and noncommercial stations would pay only $100.”

Hopppe specifically criticized iHeartMedia for declining to appear. “If iHeart seeks to continue denying music creators fundamental respect, they should have the decency to do it to their faces and explain their justification.”

You can watch the full three-hour hearing online.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Radio and Performers Are Back, Arguing Over Royalties appeared first on Radio World.

Just before Austin Powers and Dolly Parton (or their close facsimiles) walk on stage to entertain attendees of the upcoming NATE UNITE conference, a more sobering discussion will be part of the educational sessions on tap during the convention.

On day two of the four-day conference at the Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, the NATE Unite 2022 show will bring together a series of sessions, courses and exhibits on safety and communication for those in the tower and wireless communications infrastructure, construction, service and maintenance industries.

[Related: NATE Unite 2022 Features FCC’s Carr, DISH’s Ergen]

This year, three tracks of educational sessions will be featured at the conference including an Administrative/Business track, Technical/Engineering track and Health and Safety track.

Sessions this year will take a close look at safety measures in several sessions including “Climbing Safety: Beyond the ABCs,” that will delve into those safety topics that are sometimes skipped during a typical tower climbing safety course. Led by the safety equipment company Ergodyne, the session will highlight a series of strategies and solutions that can be used to build a comprehensive safety planning program.

A second safety session — titled “Capstan Hoist Applications and Safety” — will bring together a product specialist, equipment demonstrator and an engineer to discuss the common uses of capstan hoists in the telecom industry with a focus on safety strategies like rope selection, fleet angle and rigging techniques.

While one educational session will discuss include proper communication between safety groups and communications firms, another will give an update on NATE’s new Climber/Rescuer Training Standards (CRTS), which were updated and released in January 2022. Staffed by a group of technicians, consultants and members of the tower industries, the panel will look at the newly revamped CRTS document, which evolved from the former NATE Course Training Plan/Course Training Standards (CTP/CTS) document. The session will give an overview of the changes in this new standards document and how these changes might impact future trainings.

The NATE Unite conference will also include networking receptions, an exhibit floor and a keynote luncheon where the aforementioned Austin and Dolly will entertain alongside Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

The conference will span four days — Feb. 21 to 24 — and will be held at the 300,000-square-foot Caesars Forum conference center that opened across the street from Caesars Palace in October 2020.

The post Tower Safety at Forefront of NATE Unite appeared first on Radio World.

This story is from RW’s sister publication TVTech; given the interest among radio stations in this topic, we share it here.

This spectrum plot depicts the relative positions of digital television and analog FM radio signals within a 6-MHz TV broadcast channel. (Courtesy of Jampro)

It’s been more than a decade since the first so-called “Franken FM” radio stations took to the air—stations licensed as Ch. 6 TV operations, but using their 87.75 MHz audio carrier to create a standalone FM broadcast service receivable by most FM radios.

Frankens have long been a thorn in the side of legitimate FM operators, and during their existence, the FCC has heard plenty about them. However, as the commission has been pre-occupied with more pressing matters such as spectrum auctions and repacks, little, if any action has been directed at these “mongrel” FMs, with regulators perhaps hoping that they would vanish last year when all LPTVs were forced to either “go digital or go dark.”

However, just like the hydra in Greek mythology, cutting off the head proved not to be the answer in eradicating the beast — others soon grew back, or in the case of Franken FMs, some creative RF engineering work allowed LPTV Ch. 6 licensees to retain analog audio services despite their move to digital broadcasting.

The first of the “next-generation” Franken stations — KBKF-LD, a Venture Technologies property in San Jose, Calif. —  took to the air in the spring of 2021, with an FCC-issued STA to operate an ATSC 3.0 TV channel with a “tagalong” FM carrier. In applying for the STA, the station opined that such hybrid digital/analog fashion was covered by the ATSC A/322 standard, with its 3.0 signal “pulled in” to occupy 5.509 MHz of its 6-MHz berth and the rest given over to an FM carrier.

Reaction to ‘NextGen’ Frankens
Currently, there are at least half-dozen of these “second-generation” Frankens, and given the FCC’s apparent willingness to grant STAs coupled with the number of Ch. 6 TV authorizations, others may soon appear.

As such hybridized use of a U.S. DTV channel was not on the table when the NextGen TV standard was being drafted, the arrival of this new wave of Frankens has raised some eyebrows — and questions, just as when the first of the quasi-legal 87.75 FMs popped up back in analog Ch. 6 days.

Several individuals who have been closely involved with the ATSC 3.0 standard were polled for their opinions on this new wave.

[Related: San Diego TV Station Broadcasting Hybrid FM-ATSC 3.0 Signal on TV Channel 6]

“During development of ATSC 3.0, a number of use cases were discussed; many were documented,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland. “I can’t recall this being one of them. ATSC 3.0 was designed to be flexible and to accommodate a wide variety of use cases and business plans. Beyond that, we cannot say whether this use case falls within the intent of ATSC 3.0, as authorized by the FCC for the U.S.”

Richard Chernock, a long-time contributor to the ATSC 3.0 initiative, stated that “the assumption going forward in the design of ATSC in the U.S. was to establish a full 6 MHz channel. Anything less would reduce 3.0’s capabilities. In my opinion, to use 3.0 for the Franken FMs is to actually lower spectral efficiency.”

However, Chernock added “using ATSC 3.0 technology to carry radio audio is a lot more efficient than to use FM. You could go into any big city with a lot of FMs and you could put them all into one 3.0 channel.”

Chernock said that he would have to do the math to get a precise figure of the number of discrete audio program streams that could be digitally transmitted within an ATSC 3.0 6-MHz channel, but he speculated that it could easily approach 1,000 given the efficiency of today’s codecs.

S. Merrill Weiss, who has been deeply involved in both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 standards work, feels the jury is still out regarding hybrid DTV/FM transmissions.

“After reviewing all the publicly available technical material that I could obtain on the proposal to combine ATSC digital signals with FM analog signals in a single Ch. 6 emission, I found a dearth of information on either practical operating parameters and systems, or testing of equipment beyond very rudimentary prototypes,” said Weiss.

He expressed several concerns, one of them being the possible impact on 3.0 reception associated with the necessary “squeezing in” of DTV transmission bandwidth to accommodate an FM carrier. “The center frequency of the digital signal would be about 160 kHz below the channel center, and it is not known to me whether consumer receivers being sold can be pulled that far,” said Weiss. “The system may work and be useful, but the information is not available yet to prove it. Once this is released, a judgement on the practicality and utility of such a system may become possible.”

Mark Aitken, ATSC 3.0 “evangelist” and Sinclair Broadcast Group’s senior vice president of advanced technology, remarked that he was not surprised at all about the “second coming” of Franken FMs after last July’s mandatory shutoff of remaining analog LPTVs.

“Actually, I think I played a role in getting them in business with 3.0,” said Aitken, explaining that his own involvement into “stretching” a TV channel’s utility “came about quite some time ago” when he was asked if it were possible to accommodate multiple services within a single television channel’s spectrum allocation.

“The question posed to me several years ago was ‘if I had 6 MHz of spectrum and wanted to offer a narrowband 5G service, could I do that in conjunction with ATSC 3.0?’” said Aitken. “I thought about it and said ‘yeah.’ I demonstrated it later. This was with a narrowband Internet of Things service. I showed that we could carry two separate RF services within a single channel. I probably should have taken out a patent!”

Putting Spectrum to ‘Good Use?’
Asked whether he thought a Franken FM was a legitimate application of the ATSC 3.0 or a misuse, Aitken took a neutral stance.

“I’m not going to argue against folks who want to use technology to their advantage,” he said. “The large number of Franken FMs that existed are from people who are not in the TV business. With the limitations of FM spectrum, they are making use of the FCC rules and channel segmentation philosophy. They’re putting it to good use.”

He explained that by its very nature, ATSC 3.0 is designed to be extremely flexible and extensible. “Numerically — and this is not understood by most folks with regard to ATSC 3.0 — you can get to any number of bandwidths,” Aitken said. This is the reason that the [3.0] bootstrap itself is only 4.5 MHz wide. We wanted to make sure that in the future 5 MHz raster spectrum could be used by others by using the 3.0 standard. This is not ensconced or codified in the standard, as it was feared that the FCC might do an ‘about-face’ and reduce [U.S.] TV channel bandwidth to 5 MHz, so this was dropped out of the specification. A channel bandwidth of 8 MHz is, in fact, codified within the ATSC 3.0 standard and is being tried in India.”

As Sinclair owns a number of Ch. 6 TV stations that could potentially become Franken FMs, Aitken — when asked about such a possibility — said that he didn’t see this happening anytime soon, although the possibility of gaining more utility from television broadcast spectrum is always intriguing.

“I would think there’s no current interest [in Franken FMs],” he said. “Sinclair is not really interested in radio, as its core business is video. I don’t want to preclude this possibility in the future, but right now we’re focused on rolling out ATSC 3.0.”l

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Next-Generation ‘Franken FMs’ on the Rise appeared first on Radio World.

Focal recently expanded its Alpha Evo studio monitor line with the new Alpha 80 Evo and Alpha Twin Evo powered monitors, joined by the additional debut of its Sub One subwoofer, designed for the Evo and Shape monitor lines.

Like the original Alpha 50 Evo and Alpha 65 Evo, released last year, the Alpha 80 Evo and Alpha Twin Evo are based around a Slatefiber cone, made by Focal in France from recycled carbon-fiber. Alpha 80 Evo and Alpha Twin Evo offer a new 1/4-inch (6.35 mm) TRS jack input, a user-disengageable automatic standby power mode and, on the Alpha 80 Evo, inserts for wall and ceiling mounting. The fully analog monitors are equipped with two class D amplifiers whose high-current capacity reportedly allows full control of signal dynamics.

The new monitors feature a 5/8-inch thick (15 mm) MDF cabinet and incorporate internal braces. The bass-reflex design, with a new larger cabinet vent, has been designed aiming to ensure acoustic integration in a variety of studio spaces. Offering integrated mounting points, the new Alpha Evo line can potentially be incorporated into an immersive mixing system.

The Alpha Twin Evo sports dual 6.5-inch Slatefiber woofers and a 1-inch Aluminum inverted dome Tweeter, while the Alpha 80 Evo has a 8-inch Slatefiber woofer and 1-inch Aluminum inverted dome Tweeter.

Meanwhile, the Sub One, with its 200 watts (RMS) amp, is intended for partnering with any of the monitor models from both the Alpha Evo and Shape powered monitor lines for a 2.1 system, as well as multi-monitor immersive sound setups. For the Sub One’s speaker drivers, Focal engineers have chosen double-skinned Slatefiber cones.

Currently shipping in North America, the three models have SRPs of Alpha 80 Evo $549 each ($1,098 a pair), Alpha Twin Evo $659 each ($1,318 a pair), and Sub One $999 each.

The post Focal Augments Alpha Evo Studio Monitor Line appeared first on Radio World.

Workbench explores how an Octopus can help you check components.

The FCC continues its recent explorations of how to improve EAS while, separately, a campaign is underway to encourage more countries to use Common Alerting Protocol.

Fred Baumgartner says ATSC 3.0 could be a radio content provider’s Holy Grail.

Thresa and Michael Gay offer a growing line of problem-solvers. And Dan Houg samples the joys of semi-retirement.

Read it here.

The post Inside the Feb. 2, 2022 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

A Groundhog Day shadow is passing over the nomination of Gigi Sohn to the FCC, but it likely has to do with another shadow that passed over the committee this week.

Signaling that there would not be enough Democratic votes to secure a favorable report of her nomination to the full Senate, it has been stricken — literally — from the agenda for Wednesday’s (February 2) vote on a host of nominations.

That is according to a note late Tuesday from the committee. Also pulled was the nomination of Alvero Bedoya to the open seat on the Federal Trade Commission and Mary Boyle to be a commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The reason appears to be the absence of committee Democrat Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who suffered a stroke and is in the hospital, though he is expected to make a full recovery. “[T]he speedy recovery of Sen. Luján remains first and foremost priority,” said the committee before reporting the dropped nomination, all likely to need every Democrat to get approval.

“[T]he list of nominations to be considered at tomorrow’s Commerce mark-up has been recalibrated to take into consideration the need for all Democratic votes in order to move certain nominees forward,” said a committee spokesperson.

Perhaps the delay is so legislators can contemplate the issues raised by cable and telecom ISPs Tuesday. Both NCTA President Michael Powell and USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter wrote the committee to raise concerns about Sohn’s recusal offer related to broadcast copyright and retrans.

A version of this story appeared first in our sister publication Broadcasting & Cable.

The post Gigi Sohn Nomination Pulled from Confirmation Vote appeared first on Radio World.

Dan Houg, right, jokes around with Jobie Sprinkle during a break at the 2016 Public Radio Engineering Conference. Both are past presidents of APRE.

Dan Houg made an unusual entry into the field of radio engineering in 2004. He was in his mid-40s, having never even been in a radio facility before.

That did not prevent him from working successfully on several major projects, nor from becoming president of the Association of Public Radio Engineers. But after 17 years he has moved on to a different venture.

Radio World asked him about that and about his tenure as chief engineer of Northern Community Radio in Minnesota, a two-station network consisting of KAXE(FM) in Grand Rapids and KBXE(FM) in Bagley, near Bemidji.

Radio World: Dan you posted on PubTech that you were about to “cease to be a broadcast engineer and become a semi-normal human being.” How does it feel to have made that big decision?

Dan Houg: I knew about a year ago that I wanted to wrap up my 18 years in broadcast and work on restoration projects of vintage electronics, motorcycles and vehicles at home.

However, KAXE had a construction permit for increasing tower height that was expiring soon. I had always intended to see that project through to completion, but funding delays kept pushing construction back until this April [2021], when I could finally start purchasing.

In May, I made the decision to leave at the end of October, hoping the project would be done but needing to set a date for myself to leave.

The tower crew finished up Friday afternoon, Oct. 29. I turned the new plant on at 3 p.m. and drove home for the very last time at 6 p.m. after a 13-hour day.

It feels incredible to finish this project that started over three years ago, get it on the air and be able to retire the day it is operational. It is exactly the right time to leave.

RW: What are your plans?

Houg: Well, I joke with staff that I need to be like the 17-year cicada and go underground and not be seen nor heard from. Being a small shop, I’ve been in 24/7/365 contact for the last 18 years, literally not having my phone off for close to two decades, so I need to hide for a while to shed some stress. My wife knows all too well the 2 a.m. voice of the Sine Systems and Davicom remotes.

Financially, I still need to bring in some income, so I call this “leaving radio” more than retirement. When I’m in my home shop I’m in my “happy zone” and will earn a few dollars fixing things.

RW: What is the FixIt Workshop?

Houg: The Fixit Workshop (thefixitworkshop.com) is my new venture to switch gears away from broadcast.

As with so many of us engineers, I’m good at fixing things whether it is diagnosing a fire-breathing 25 kW tube transmitter, setting up a microwave link or repairing the HVAC system. Now I’ll turn to restoration of vintage guitar amps, I have a pallet of 1960s European tabletop tube radios that need refurbishing, and I enjoy working on the big Sansui, Fisher and Marantz solid-state receivers from the 1970s.

I have two VW Westfalia camper vans to restore getting ready to sell one of them, and all sorts of projects have come my way from putting a new engine on a log splitter, welding up a maple syrup stove and sap evaporator to repair of an old slot machine. I have a particular fondness for 1980s Mercedes Benz diesels and am always on the hunt another one.

Our service as “do it all” engineers really reflects a skill set that is apparently in short supply in a small community. I nostalgically like to think of myself as Luis, the Fixit Shop owner on the children’s television series “Sesame Street.” Working on well-made appliances like the Sunbeam T20 Automatic Radiant Control Toaster, an incredible piece of American engineering, is so rewarding for me.

RW: Is it true you’d never been in a radio station when you started your KAXE job in 2004?

Houg: Yes. My friend, Maggie Montgomery, was the general manager of Northern Community Radio, and the previous engineer had left. I decided to leave a very nice government job that was sucking the soul out of me and try my hand being KAXE’s engineer. Straight up learning curve. I have so much respect and admiration for the folks that have been in radio their entire lives and have such a good grasp on the technology. I’m just getting to the point where I feel like I have a handle on some things!

RW: And here you were doing a buildout of a 100 kW FM.

Houg: This last project was a complete replacement of our tower, transmitter plant-plus-shelter, and microwave link.

Dan Houg at the KAXE job site.

KAXE went on air in 1974, but the original tower went down in 1984 when a truck was putting a load of Class V on our tower road, and the raised gravel box snagged the lowest guy spanning over the road and brought the tower down.

When it was replaced, I don’t think the management at the time communicated to Pirod that in addition to our 100 kW 12-bay antenna with radomes, there would be ANOTHER 100 kW tenant with a 10-bay with radomes, all interleaved in the top 100 feet of the tower.

We had a tower analysis performed a few years back, because every tower maintenance crew that came out would say “Man, that tower looks overloaded.” The engineering report stated the tower was in danger of failing, even if bare with no antennas, and that it did not pass current standards for a 40 mph wind!

So as part of a long-term infrastructure improvement project, we knew it had to be replaced. We got a construction permit to go from 315 to 499 feet, and got to work raising money.

The new tower is on the same site as the old tower, 15 feet away, and the new tower was used to destack the old tower.

Now we have an ERI guyed tower that meets current standards and I sleep much better. I worried every night with high winds that the old one would come crashing down.

We have a Nautel NV30LT-N transmitter being supplied program material using a GatesAir IP Link 200 with dual IP paths of land fiber and a licensed 11GHz link, an Orban 8700i processor and a gorgeous Tunwall switch controller for the Dielectric 6000 series switch that eliminates an old patch bay (which was mounted at the perfect height that every generation of engineer has bonked his head on).

I reused our old Electro-Impulse 25 kW dummy load, having cleaned it, replaced the power cord and fixed the air flow switch. It works great except it smells like mice when it gets hot.

RW: What other accomplishments are you proud of from the past 17 or 18 years?

Houg: Through the financial genius of our former general manager, we’ve built new studios at KAXE in 2005, and added the new station KBXE in 2012 with full studios at 50 kW with a new ERI 499-foot tower.

I’ve done three towers and two studios now. My first tower, a 90-foot self-standing, taught me the importance of soil borings I’d neglected to obtain; it became the “STL tower from hell” after they found 6 feet of muck below the surface that required much excavation and foundation support.

Then with the KBXE 499-foot tower I learned that every large project takes a serpentine path, despite laying out the process linearly. It nearly killed me with stress with twists and turns in everything from siting, property acquisition and construction.

This last tower project I knew there’d be twists and turns. When an obstacle would come up I tried to say “Okay, let’s figure this out.”

There’s an old adage that every engineer should return to the first studio they built and apologize. So true with KAXE. There’s things that I was able to do much better on my second studio for KBXE including my own plan for sound isolation that a very highly paid architect did so poorly at the KAXE studio.

RW: Briefly tell us about your career before you came to this job.

Houg: Well, I started working running carnival rides, so don’t disparage those folks!

I worked for the Minnesota Department of Health for 17 years doing health care facility inspections, food and lodging inspections, and ended up in water quality doing testing and providing technical assistance for public water supplies.

I have a degree in social work, one career in health and another in broadcast; and I’ve just now figured out what I want to do in retirement!

RW: You mentioned a couple of people in your post as having been helpful in the radio part of your career.

Houg: Having zero radio background when I started, I needed a lot of help building a new studio within eight months of starting employment. I was in over my head.

A former engineer of KAXE, Shane Toven, was a font of information for the studio build and programming of our Logitek and ENCO systems. Many know how brilliant Shane is, and he had installed KAXE’s first satellite system, an SOSS, at age 14 as a nerdy kid looking for a place to hang out after school.

As projects kept coming and I was buying equipment, I ended up with a career-long relationship with SCMS salesman Jim Peck. Jim steered me to good equipment decisions and helped me think through projects to account for all the pieces. Having the ability to talk to a knowledgeable sales rep versus scrolling through web pages was so crucial in making the right decisions.

And I’d met Gray Haertig of Haertig and Associates at my first Public Radio Engineering Conference. I noticed this loud man in an Aloha shirt in the front row brilliantly interacting with speakers who then got up and gave a stunning presentation himself.

I’ve used Gray for our RF engineering and FCC filing since that time and am indebted to his generosity and knowledge as well as friendship. Shane, Jim and Gray have told me to breathe when needed, gotten me out of jams and given great advice, some of which I’ve taken and foolishly disregarded the rest. They are great friends.

RW: You’ve been active in the Association of Public Radio Engineers. How is the organization holding up, through the many months of the pandemic?

Houg: The APRE Board comprises station staff, industry reps and organization members, all of whom saw their workload and workflow drastically change over the last two years.

The APRE has two very important strengths that keeps it thriving. First, the board members themselves are incredibly committed radio professionals who are task-oriented and work together as a cohesive group. It has been my great pleasure to be part of this organization with such highly functional people, including our current Board President Victoria St. John as well Jobie Sprinkle and Paxton Durham.

The second strength is that being a volunteer organization unlike a manufacturer or vendor, the APRE doesn’t HAVE to make money or put on conferences to stay afloat. As they negotiate conference postponements and cancellations due to the pandemic, the assets and resources are not depleted.

The APRE is meeting actively all through the pandemic and is ready to bring the Public Radio Engineering Conference back in full.

RW: What else should we know?

Houg: If I could impart any passing wisdom to engineers, it would be to feel free to ask the stupid questions. Seek help, ask advice and admit you don’t know something as there are brilliant people willing to help you.

Dan Houg invites hearing from readers by email to thefixitworkshop@gmail.com.

The post Dan Houg Leaves With a Job Well Done appeared first on Radio World.

The plaque outside WSTA noting the station’s role during and after Hurricane Hugo (click to embiggen)

Jeff Huggabone forwarded this picture of the plaque outside WSTA(AM) in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. As the plaque notes, “Lucky 13” was the only station to remain on the air in the wake of Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

Jeff was reminded of the plaque by the announcement on Jan. 31 that Addie Ottley was retiring from his six-days-a-week post as host of the “Addie Morning Show.” Ottley had announced last November, on his 80th birthday, was beginning his “semi-retirement” and stepping down as president and CEO of Ottley Communications Corp., which operates WSTA.

“If you read the inscription and really take a moment to unpack it, I think it can give you a feel for Addie’s sense of dedication and what this radio station represents to mush of the residents in the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands,” Jeff wrote.

The post Mailbag: The Lucky 13 appeared first on Radio World.

With World Radio Day coming up, UNESCO is offering a list of suggestions about how radio organizations around the world can celebrate it.

“We encourage all radio stations to plan and take part in this global event by organizing original activities related to the theme ‘Radio and Trust,’” it wrote in the introduction to a list of 13 ideas.

“Make the themes of the day your own — trust in radio journalism; trust and accessibility; trust and sustainability of radio stations.”

Suggestions include special programs, contests and quizzes.

Here is the list, in PDF format for downloading.

The 11th World Radio Day is Feb. 13. The event started in 2011 on the anniversary of the founding of United Nations Radio.

The post 13 Ideas for Celebrating World Radio Day appeared first on Radio World.