Radio World

Shown is a 250-pound pumpkin with the hand-painted face of show host Dave Smiley.

Turkeys famously may not be able to fly. But pumpkins certainly can’t, and that means there will be a big SPLAT on Wednesday morning in Indianapolis.

Actually three big splats. The “Smiley Morning Show” on Cumulus station 99.5 WZPL(FM) will observe its 19th Smiley Pumpkin Drop by dropping three pumpkins of varying weights from hundreds of feet onto concrete.

One of the pumpkins weights 1,459 pounds; the station will also drop a 250-pounder and a 400-pounder.

“The smallest pumpkin will be painted with ‘Smiley Morning Show’ host Dave Smiley’s face on it,” the station announced.

“The largest pumpkin will be painted live onsite by artist Gavin Goode. Listeners will determine what will be painted on the pumpkin. So far, listeners have been suggesting a COVID-19 molecule.”

The event is free, and the station is inviting anyone, particularly families, to attend in or out of costume.

The show airs 6 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday at The Shops at Perry Crossing in Plainfield, Ind., with the three drops taking place between 8 and 8:35 a.m.

The post Indianapolis Station Readies Pumpkin Drop appeared first on Radio World.

Comrex has introduced a service that delivers conferenced audio from multiple contributors to the company’s hardware codecs in high quality.

Called Gagl, the service is cloud-based and allows one to five users to send and receive audio from computers and smartphones.

“Participants can connect and send audio by simply clicking a link using any common web browser,” the company announced. “Their audio is conferenced (if there’s more than one user), and delivered to a Comrex hardware codec such as ACCESS or BRIC-Link II. All participants can hear other participants, and the codec can send audio back to them.”

A promotional diagram from Comrex for the new Gagl service.

Comrex says Gagl could be used as the hub for a round-robin reporting program or for a “morning zoo” radio show to support multiple simultaneous connections at once.

“Because it offers low latency, it’s appropriate for call-in talk radio. Gagl could also be used to allow a single contributor to connect back to the studio from a computer or smartphone.”

The service will be available by the end of the year.

Comrex said the system is easy for users of any level of technical expertise to use and that the service provides stable connections with limited bandwidth.

“Gagl uses the Opus audio encoder, with a bit rate that delivers both voice and music in excellent quality. Gagl also delivers audio directly to a Comrex codec with all the stability enhancements, pro-grade audio connections, and features that hardware codecs provide.”

 

The post Comrex Introduces Gagl appeared first on Radio World.

 

StreamGuys  unveiled what it describes as a major upgrade to its SGplayer multimedia player.

“Complementing SGplayer’s existing embeddable configuration, version 3.2 offers a new full-page layout mode that provides additional ways for radio broadcasters and content producers to connect with their audiences and monetize their live streams and podcasts,” the company stated.

SGplayer is based on HTML-5 and is hosted by StreamGuys. The company says content providers can incorporate it into their websites to present live streams and on-demand content.

“SGplayer 3.2’s newly-redesigned, responsive user interface delivers attractive, customizable listening experiences on desktop and mobile devices while making it even easier for consumers to find and access relevant content. Tight integration with StreamGuys’ SGrewind time-shifting technology allows listeners to pause, resume, and rewind live streams or jump back to the beginning of a recently-streamed show through a scrollable and searchable program guide.”

Features include new engagement buttons and podcast subscription signups through RSS feeds or third-party platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. A Share button lets listeners share player links for  favoritecontent.

The company says the search functionality has been enhanced and that new monetization features enhance its support for dynamic advertising insertion.

The post StreamGuys Updates Its Multimedia Player appeared first on Radio World.

Jessica Rosenworcel, now acting chairwoman of the FCC, is shown at a Senate committee hearing in 2018. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

As the autumn of 2021 began, the FCC has been drawing closer to concluding its 2018 quadrennial review of media ownership rules.

The commission, now headed by Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, recently collected fresh comments from broadcasters and other interested parties.

Observers are watching to see if the FCC — under a Democratic president, but still lacking a full-time chairperson or a Democratic majority — will relax radio’s local common ownership rules. Those limit how many radio stations a company can own in a given market and how many of those can be in one service (meaning AM or FM, though raising limits on FM is the focus for most companies).

Broadcasters are not speaking with one voice on this question.

The largest radio broadcast group thinks lifting FM subcaps could devastate the AM band. Numerous other ownership groups say the FCC should ditch all ownership caps altogether except perhaps in the biggest markets.

Meanwhile some members of Congress have been pushing the FCC to do more to encourage minority ownership, a consideration that may influence its decision on ownership limits.

Drop the “fiction”

At the center of debate is a proposal from the National Association of Broadcasters to raise the FM limits and base the system on market size.

At present, in a market with 45+ radio stations, an entity may own eight, and no more than five in one service (AM or FM). In a market with 30–44 stations, an entity may own seven, and no more than four per service. In a market with 15–29, an entity may own six, no more than four in a service. And in a market with 14 or fewer, an entity may own five, and no more than three in a service, as long as it does not own more than half of the stations in the market.

But NAB has put forward the following proposal:

In Nielsen markets No. 1 through 75, it suggests that one entity be allowed to own as many as eight commercial FM stations — or 10 if the broadcaster is involved in the FCC’s incubator program to promote new and diverse owner entrants.

In markets 76 and smaller as well as in unrated markets, the NAB continues, there should be no cap on FM ownership at all; so one company could own all the FMs there.

And on the AM band, it says, companies also should face no cap in a given market.

The NAB made these recommendations in 2019 as part of the FCC’s 2018 pending quadrennial review process.

“These outdated media ownership rules, which no longer enable broadcasters to viably operate in a competitive market or effectively serve the public interest, are in more urgent need of reform than ever,” NAB said in its most recent filing.

In assessing competition, the NAB commented, the FCC can no longer maintain the “fiction” that broadcast stations compete only against other broadcast stations.

“The record compiled in 2019 showed that broadcasters compete against myriad traditional and digital platforms for both audiences and ad revenue,” NAB argues.

It cited data that shows consumers are acquiring more smart devices, from phones to watches to speakers, and that record numbers are streaming audio, paying for subscription music services and listening to podcasts. Those trends continue to fragment what once was a mass audience for AM/FM terrestrial radio.

A group of 10 broadcasters filing jointly, including Townsquare Media, Connoisseur Media and Midwest Communications, believe the decades-old rules hamper local radio broadcasters in competing for audience and advertisers against growing competitive threats from global tech companies. They asked the FCC to do away completely with all caps in all but the largest markets.

“As shown in earlier filings in this proceeding by the Joint Commenters and the NAB, particularly outside the top markets, there simply is no reason to retain ownership caps given the inconsequential share of the media market that these stations enjoy,” they wrote.

The joint filers continued: “To think that a radio company owning a sixth or seventh FM station in a big market, or even all the radio stations in a smaller market, will damage competition or harm the public interest is to ignore reality.”

Regulations adopted in a pre-digital world prior to 1996, they said, are outdated and “make no sense in today’s competitive media environment.” Therefore, “there simply is no reason to retain ownership caps given the inconsequential share of the media market that these stations enjoy.”

“Moderate” approach

However, industry biggie iHeartMedia is asking for a “targeted, moderate approach” to changing the rules. Notably, it thinks the NAB proposal could cause “potentially catastrophic harm” to owners of AM stations.

iHeartMedia has said on several occasions that relaxing current limits on FM ownership could lead to further devaluation of AM stations and hurt those owners, including women and minorities, by destroying the financial value of AM assets.

In its most recent comments, iHeartMedia wrote: “The commission should adopt a targeted, moderate approach to reforming the local radio ownership rules by eliminating only the limits on AM stations while retaining the current limits on FM stations. Doing so will avoid the potentially catastrophic harm that could befall AM stations were the commission to adopt the NAB proposal to deregulate substantially the FM band.

“Moreover, by maintaining the current FM subcap limits, the commission will ensure that the financial incentives essential to the success of the Incubator Program remain in place. The commission should be guided by the overarching principle of doing no harm.”

Salem Media Group, which owns and operates approximately 100 stations, has made similar arguments: “If the AM band ceases to be the destination for popular programming, AM traffic will greatly diminish and the value of AM radio will collapse,” it wrote.

The FCC “has spent considerable time and energy to revive AM radio, but doing away with subcaps cannot possibly further that end. Using great care and restraint on subcaps is critical,” Salem told the commission.

Some advocacy groups have been critical of the FCC’s handling of the issue and say arguments for relaxing the limits are not supported by facts.

The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) believes any move by the FCC to relax the limits on local radio ownership would increase consolidation and have a significant negative impact on African Americans and other minority station owners and entrepreneurs.

President Jim Winston said in a statement: “The reasons given for eliminating or radically relaxing the commission’s local radio ownership rule are not adequate to justify increased consolidation of ownership in local radio markets. The AM radio industry would be greatly injured by the proposals that have been put forth.”

The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) says the FCC should keep the status quo for now and said relaxing the limits “would disadvantage more minority broadcasters” in the United States.

“Increased consolidation is not a fix for low minority ownership in broadcast,” MMTC wrote. “And adopting the NAB proposal would in essence deregulate the FM band.”

The MMTC points to data from the FCC’s latest ownership report, released in September, which shows only 2% of commercial FM radio stations and 3.3% of AM stations are majority black-owned.

“Minority and women-owned broadcast ownership is embarrassingly low,” MMTC commented. “New voices — not increased consolidation, less new entry and less minority ownership — are the answers to local advertising competition from Facebook and Google.”

Nonpartisan advocacy group Free Press told the FCC the “lack of ownership diversity” is the reason current limits must remain and offered advice to the FCC.

“As it prepares for the next quadrennial review in 2022, the commission should conduct a thorough analysis assessing the policies and market structures that are more likely to foster ownership by women and people of color, and before undertaking any rule changes should first analyze how such decisions will impact broadcast ownership diversity,” Free Press wrote.

In addition, it urges the FCC to close “loopholes” in its rules that allow owners to operate more stations than they’re allowed under dubious operating agreements.

“Consolidation has contributed to an ongoing pattern of big broadcasters transitioning resources away from low-income communities, rural areas and communities of color, and allocating them predominantly to white, wealthy and urban areas,” Free Press stated.

The FCC is facing fresh pressure to investigate how its policies have influenced a shrinking pool of minority media owners. Twenty-five members of Congress signed a letter sent to Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in June requesting that the FCC examine how its decisions and programs have disproportionately harmed African Americans and other minorities.

In September, Rosenworcel, commenting on the ownership report, said: “As has been the case for too long, this data makes clear that women and people of color are underrepresented in license ownership. This requires attention because what we see and hear over the public airwaves says so much about who we are as individuals, as communities, and as a nation.  However, changes in the law, technology and court decisions like FCC v. Prometheus Radio Project make addressing this complex.”

(In 2017 the FCC adopted rules to abolish bans on newspaper/broadcast and radio/TV cross ownership and to relax several local TV ownership regulations; but those changes were held up by a legal challenge from Prometheus Radio and other critics. A Supreme Court decision this year reversed a lower court’s ruling and reinstated the 2017 FCC media ownership rules.)

She concluded: “There is much to consider to encourage more diversity in this market, including reinstatement of the Minority Tax Certificate Program.”

The post More Change for Radio Ownership Rules? appeared first on Radio World.

Nominations are open ahead of the IBC event in December for suppliers to enter the Best of Show Awards 2021 or, for those not exhibiting at the convention, a new Best of 2021 Awards.

The awards are supported by Future’s media and entertainment technology brands TVBEurope, Radio World and TV Tech. Nominations are due Nov. 23.

Nominations will be reviewed by a panel of independent industry experts.

Information and the registration information can be found on the award program page.

The post Nominations Are Open for Best of Show at IBC appeared first on Radio World.

A session of the AES Fall Online Convention this week will explain new recommendations about streaming loudness.

“Internet audio streaming and on-demand file playback have become major sources of media delivery, affecting the ways that audio is recorded, mixed, post-produced and delivered,” the organization noted in a session summary.

“Excessive loudness compromises quality, inconsistent loudness annoys listeners. To resolve these issues, the AES Technical Committee for Broadcast and Online Delivery has created recommended guidelines for establishing and implementing an effective Distribution Loudness for streaming and on-demand audio file playback. This session will have members of the committee discussing the recently released TD1008 Recommendations for Loudness of Internet Audio Streaming and On-Demand Distribution.”

This table is taken from the AES recommendations. Click the table to read the document.

The session will take place Thursday Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. Eastern time. It is part of a series of sessions online this month in lieu of an in-person AES show.

Leading the session will be consultant David Bialik and John Kean, senior engineer with Cavell & Mertz.

Others contributing to the recommendations document are Rob Byers, Jim Coursey, Eelco Grimm, Bob Katz, Scott Norcross, Robert Orban, Shawn Singh, Jim Starzynski, Alessandro Travaglini, Ian Shepherd and Greg Ogonowski.

Other sessions of the Broadcast and Online Delivery track are already available on demand including discussions of using SNMP, advantages of using metadata, stream monitoring, spatial audio in podcasting and other topics.

 

The post AES Session Explains Loudness Recommendations appeared first on Radio World.

Mississippi-based Boswell Media learned that good can spring from tragedy — even a tragedy that resulted in the downing of a 350-foot tower, the smashing of a studio roof and the loss of radio stations from the air.

After Hurricane Ida tore through Louisiana in early September, it turned toward Kosciusko, a city of nearly 7,500 in central Mississippi and the home of Boswell Media. Winds of 100 mph whipped through the area, deluging the city with hard rain and felling trees all across town.

[Read: Big Louisiana Radio Tower Comes Down in Ida]

“The ground had been so wet here after so much rain,” said Johnny Boswell, president of Boswell Media. At about 4:45 pm on Sept. 1, a staffer in the studio heard a thud as a tree from an adjacent property fell and landed on one of the tower’s guy wires. Even as the tree lay overturned on the guy wire, “the tower was doing its best to right itself,” Boswell said. But the combination of wet ground and fallen tree won the battle, bringing the tower down on the station roof.

The good news: the staffer inside the building was not injured even as the studio roof absorbed 100% of the tower weight. The bad news, however, was that the collapse cut off transmission of station WLIN(FM) and the network that feeds two other stations — WCKK(FM) and WKOZ(FM).

Over the next few weeks, the mangled tower was hauled away, a new concrete support structure was installed and dozens trees around the studio were removed. “We took the opportunity to eradicate around the perimeter over 50 trees close to the property line,” Boswell said. For a station that’s been in that same location since 1947, the lesson here is to watch out as nature grows and changes around towers and other buildings. “[Things like that] can creep up on you,” Boswell said.

The stations were brought back on air soon after the accident via a temporary antenna atop a power pole. “We had an STL and we were able to get to our other transmitting tower via our codecs,” Boswell said. “Everything is now up and running.”

After a new tower was located in Virginia, the station contracted with J Crow Tower in Philadelphia, Miss., to install a Rohn 65G, a 350-foot tower with a wind load of 90 to 110 mph. The station is also taking the opportunity to add a new temporary antenna to the tower. “Now we’ll have a good low-power option,” Boswell said.

By mid-October, the tower was in the midst of being painted and prepped for installation. And what’s more, the station found a way to turn tragedy into opportunity.

“There were so many trees that were cut and some logs that came out that were useable,” Boswell said. He coordinated with the team cutting the trees and together they decided to cut the logs to a useable length. The reclaimed wood has been donated to a saw mill rehabilitation program at a local correctional facility.

 

The post Tower Misfortune Turns into an Opportunity for Mississippi Radio Station appeared first on Radio World.

This article originally appeared on the Fluke website and is used with permission. The company has posted online courses and other resources at www.fluke.com/en-us/learn.

Anyone who makes their living by working with electricity quickly develops a healthy respect for anything with even a remote chance of being “live.” Yet the pressures of the getting a job done on time or getting a mission-critical piece of equipment back online can result in carelessness and uncharacteristic mistakes by even the most seasoned electrician.

This list was developed as a quick reminder of what not to do when taking electrical measurements. Paying attention to three specific categories when thinking about the most common mistakes made when making electrical measurements, personal protective equipment, tools, and culture of safety.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Having the right equipment to keep you save comes first.

1: Leave your safety glasses in your shirt pocket.

Take them out. Put them on. It’s important. The same goes for taking the time to put on insulated gloves and flame-resistant clothing. All of these steps fall under wearing proper PPE. Follow the table method to figure out what level of gear you need on, as detailed by NFPA 70E Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace.

2: Work on a live circuit.

De-energize the circuit whenever possible. If the situation requires you to work on a live circuit, use properly rated tools paired with the correct PPE for the environment. Make sure you wear safety glasses or a face shield and insulated gloves, remove watches or other jewelry, stand on an insulated mat and wear flame-resistant clothing, not regular work clothes. 

Tools

Once you’re geared up and you’re appropriately protected, it’s just as important to make sure the tool in your hand is the right one for this situation, and the test tool and its accessories are safe to use.

3: Replace the original fuse with a cheaper one.

If your digital multimeter meets today’s safety standards, that fuse is a special safety sand fuse designed to pop before an overload hits your hand. When you change your meter fuse, be sure to replace it with an authorized fuse.

4: Use the wrong test tool for the job.

It’s important to match your digital multimeter to the work ahead. Make sure your test tool holds the correct CAT rating for each job you do, even if it means switching DMMs throughout the day.

5: Grab the cheapest meter on the rack.

You can upgrade later, right? Maybe not, if you end up a victim of a safety accident because that cheap test tool didn’t actually contain the safety features it advertised. Look for independent laboratory testing marks on your test tools to ensure they have been proven to handle what they’re advertised at.

6: Neglect your leads.

Test leads are an important component of digital multimeter safety, they are an extension of your test tool. Make sure your leads match the CAT level of your job as well as the tool. Look for test leads with double insulation, shrouded input connectors, finger guards, and a non-slip surface.

7: Hang onto your old test tool forever.

Today’s test tools contain safety features that were unheard of, even a few years ago. Even if your old test tool is still working, many of the new features, both safety and test features, can be well worth the cost of an equipment upgrade.

Culture of Safety

How your company thinks about and learns about safety influences how individuals conduct their work, what the culture of safety around them looks like. Mistakes are made when you’re pushed to work too quickly or new employees aren’t properly trained.

8: Use a bit of wire or metal to get around the fuse all together.

That may seem like a quick fix if you’re caught without an extra fuse, but that fuse could be all that ends up between you and a spike headed your way.

9: Fail to use proper lockout/tagout procedures.

Remember to follow the correct steps to remove power from an electrical circuit or panel, and to lock out and tag the panel or circuit, so that no one can re-energize it while work is in progress. Lockout/tagout procedures are detailed as part of NFPA 70E. 

10: Keep both hands on the test.

Saved a big one for last on this list: Do not keep both hands on the test. When working with live circuits, remember the old electrician’s trick to keep one hand in your pocket. That lessens the chance of a closed circuit across your chest and through your heart. Hang or rest the meter if possible. Try to avoid holding it with your hands to minimize personal exposure to the effects of transients.

[Related: Read the ebook “Mission-Critical: Maintaining Your Transmitter Site”]

The post 10 Dumb Things Smart People Do When Testing Electricity appeared first on Radio World.

East Valley Institute of Technology student Annaliese Stickle sitting at the board; behind, left to right, student and Drury finalist Finn Taylor, senior Jonas Pearson, Pulse Operations Manager Brian Mobley, student and Drury finalist Amber Solomon, Faculty Advisor Dave Juday and student Moriah Paynes.

A high school radio station has been honored with four national awards — including Best High School Radio Station — for their efforts in news reporting, promotion and coverage of key social issues.

KPNG(FM) Pulse Radio is a 5,000-watt public radio station on FM 88.7 that showcases the talents of students enrolled at the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT), a career and college prep school in Mesa, Ariz. The awards are part of the annual John Drury High School Radio Awards — named after TV news anchor John Drury — to recognize excellence in high school radio broadcasting in 17 areas including categories like best newscast, best sports talk program and best website.

Pulse Sports crew at a high school game. Left to right – East Valley Institute of Technology alum Jimmy Watters, students Finn Taylor, Braden Lilly and Moriah Paynes, alum Derek Montgomery, student Parker Gurash and staff engineer Amanda Krainski.

As part of the 2020–21 awards, Pulse Radio students within the Radio/Audio Production program at EVIT were honored with Best High School Radio Station, Broadcaster of the Year, Best Public Affairs Program and Best Station Promo.

[Read: Drury Awards Celebrate High School Radio]

“Words can’t describe how proud I am of our EVIT Radio students,” said Dave Juday, a radio/audio production instructor at EVIT and faculty advisor at the station. “Regarding the last school year, I’ve said multiple times that not only did our students survive in-person learning during a pandemic, but they also found a way to thrive. These awards are a testament to our students’ hard work and the dedication they have to see our program and radio station succeed.”

One of the newest categories — Broadcaster of the Year — was given to recent graduate Donoven Ong, who was also named Student of the Year by the school’s Radio/Audio Production department. Ong is currently a freshman at Northern Arizona University, where he has already launched his college radio career at KJACK Radio.

Radio students Annaliese Stickle (left) and Finn Taylor in one of the production rooms.

Recent graduate Essie Bianco was honored for Best Public Affairs Program for her Public Pulse show about mental health. The program focused on mental health of students and staff as they dealt with off-campus virtual learning and a return to in-person instruction in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Best Station Promo was awarded to senior Justin Brooks for his Halloween promo production.

This is the third year that EVIT students have competed in the John Drury High School Radio Awards and overall received 21 nominations — the most of any high school — in 11 categories. The honors continue a streak for the station: In 2019–2020, EVIT students were recognized for Best Public Affairs Show, Best PSA and Best Radio Drama. The previous year, EVIT earned awards for Best Promo and Best Station Advisor.

 

The post Arizona High School Station Named Best in the Nation appeared first on Radio World.

San Francisco contract engineer Bill Ruck awards Frank Hertel a gold star for his unique approach to a noise-reducing mic project as we described in August and shown here. Bill noted that a similar system was part of the Grateful Dead’s “Wall of Sound.”

Bill adds that Frank connected his Pin 1 (ground) to the shell of the XLR connector, and says there are two camps in this regard. He has learned not to connect Pin 1 to the shell on his cables because it can induce all sorts of ground issues when interfacing to unfamiliar equipment. He says you never know what “The Other Guy” has done with his ground.

This is especially true with video. Remember that video is unbalanced and that the video folks tend to have a lot of crap on their ground systems. You could hear sync with analog NTSC; but today, SD just puts wideband noise everywhere.

Because of that potential for picking up noise, Bill made what Dan Healy, the Grateful Dead front-of-house mixer, called “the mother of all isolation boxes.”

It is a heavy steel box with four Western Electric 111C coils wired 1:1. The male and female connectors on the top were mounted in acrylic and therefore are insulated from each other.

Only Pins 2 and 3 are connected to the 111Cs. No matter how mangled the cables are, they can’t cause problems to the front-of-house or recording truck.

“Back in my broke misguided youth,” Bill continues, “I used to borrow mic cables for events. I learned the hard way to spend the night before the event testing and rebuilding them.” Nowadays Bill has several thousand feet of cables, all made properly, mostly with Canare L-4E6S.

Like most of us, Bill has seen Pins 2 and 3 reversed as well as the common error of reversing Pins 1 and 2. That can really cause havoc.

From all his cable experience, Bill has learned that even with Pin 1 floating, you can still have issues if the XLR shell is connected to Pin 1.

As a workaround, Bill constructed several 6-inch green cables that have Pin 1 floating at the female end and Pins 2 and 3 through. Pin 1 (the cable shield) is connected only at the male end. That way, no matter what Pin 1 and the shell are connected to, the ground is broken. This breaks up ground loops.

In Frank’s noise-cancelling mic application, tying Pin 1 to the shell shouldn’t make much of a difference, since microphones also tie Pin 1 to the mic body.

Splendid isolation

If you don’t have Western Electric transformers, you can pick up easy-to-wire isolation transformer boards from Newman-Kees RF Measurements & Engineering, as shown here

This Audio Hum and Lightning Isolator board from Newman-Kees uses high-quality transformers to isolate lines.

They provide lightning isolation to 1200 Volts and can be strapped for various applications as shown in the schematic. Features include 600 Ohms in and out, primary and secondary center taps, board traces for attenuators and 1/8-inch mounting holes. Cost: $35.50. Email newman-kees-hertel-rf-eng@twc.com.

 

Hard to use?

Another opinion came from Oliver Berliner of SounDesign Engineers.

“Call me a killjoy for fearing that Frank Hertel’s clever ‘Outtaphaser,’ detailed in the Aug. 18 Workbench, may be as tricky to operate effectively as it was to create,” Oliver writes.

“That’s because the output levels of the two crowd mics must match, leaving the level of the guest’s voice to be regulated intentionally and/or inadvertently by the mics’ moving toward or away.”

Oliver said a way to overcome this limitation while still reaping the advantages of stereo theory is to mount twin mics on a dual-mic stand and use them for the crowd noise throughout the game, giving a third mic to the interviewer.

Cancel that cancellation

I followed up with Frank about these comments.

First, in preparing the article, I should not have used the phrase “noise cancelling,” rather “noise reducing.” Frank’s out-of-phase mic scheme reduces the background crowd noise but doesn’t cancel it completely.

Although Mr. Berliner’s suggestion of using three mics certainly will work, it’s more appropriate for a fixed position mic. Frank’s system is best used for a roaming reporter, who is not stationary.

Frank also pointed out that this technique is based on “ideal theory.” If an identical sound, at an identical level, is intercepted by both microphones; and if those microphones have identical frequency response and equal sensitivity, the resultant audio output would theoretically be zero. But since we are living in a real world, with a lot of physical variations, the best that can be claimed is that a goodly amount of background noise will be greatly reduced.

Try it out and let Workbench readers know what you experienced. Email johnpbisset@gmail.com.

The post Workbench: Readers React to Frank Hertel’s “Outtaphaser” appeared first on Radio World.

The NAB Broadcast Engineering & Information Technology Conference couldn’t meet in person this month, but its presentations and proceedings will be available online.

The National Association of Broadcasters said it will make the conference available as video on demand in November, via a purchase option on its NABAmplify.com site.

“Along with access to the majority of presentations originally planned for the 2021 NAB Show via VOD, viewers will receive access to the full set of papers compiled in the Proceedings of the 75th BEIT Conference,” it said.

[Read Radio World’s feature on the 75th anniversary of the BEITC.]

NAB said topics this year include all-digital radio, cloud technologies for broadcast, hybrid radio, mitigating facility risks (physical and cyber), Next Gen TV technologies, OTT TV technologies, radio broadcasting technologies, SMPTE ST 2110 / IP-based facilities, TV enhancements and using drones for broadcast engineering.

Related: “Drones Become Part of Radio’s Toolkit”

The conference program committee includes technologists from NAB member organizations and other experts, with representatives from the Society of Broadcast Engineers, the Broadcast Technology Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-BTS), the North American Broadcasters Association, and the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers.

The post BEIT Program to Be Available on Demand appeared first on Radio World.

Jon Tatooles, James Gordon, Matt Anderson

Field mixer, multitrack recorder and wireless equipment maker Sound Devices has been acquired by Audiotonix.

The England-based company has scooped up a number of well-known audio console manufacturing names over the last few years. That list would include Allen & Heath, Calrec, Solid State Logic, DiGiCo and audio equipment distributor Group One.

Founded in 1998 by Matt Anderson and Jon Tatooles, the company carved out a niche in the film and TV world with field mixers, wireless equipment and small, portable multitrack recorders. Both principals were still with the company at the acquisition. Tatooles will depart while Anderson will remain as CEO and chief engineer.

Audiotonix CEO James Gordon said, “The addition of Sound Devices and their fantastic team to our portfolio of premium audio brands is a proud moment for all involved. Their expertise and technical pedigree in film production, broadcasting and professional recording is a great fit.”

 

The post Sound Devices Acquired by Audiotonix appeared first on Radio World.

In 2019, leaders from major radio groups discussed the state of the industry at the Radio Show. From left: Moderator Stephanie Ruhle of NBC News. Mary Berner, president and CEO, Cumulus Media; David Field, president and CEO, Entercom; Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO, iHeartMedia. Photo: Paul McLane.

There will be no more fall Radio Show conventions.

The National Association of Broadcasters and the Radio Advertising Bureau have announced that beginning in April, the fall Radio Show, which has been a staple of the U.S. commercial radio industry for decades, will be integrated into the NAB Show.

“This change provides more opportunities in one location for radio professionals and elevates radio in the larger media ecosystem represented at NAB Show,” NAB stated.

“The integrated event in Las Vegas will feature signature awards, networking events and a comprehensive conference program, including popular sales and marketing sessions presented by the Radio Advertising Bureau.”

The organizations had already planned a temporary integration of sorts for this year’s show, when they planned to collocate the Radio Show with the rescheduled NAB Show. But both ultimately were canceled because of the ongoing health crisis.

It turns out that the final in-person fall Radio Show was in Dallas in 2019. A virtual version was held last year. The pre-pandemic schedule had called for the show to be in Nashville in 2020, New Orleans and 2021 and Nashville again in 2022. Cities that have hosted the event in the recent past also include Philadelphia, Orlando, Indianapolis, Chicago and Washington.

The Radio Show in recent years drew about 2,100 reported attendees. Its agenda traditionally emphasized radio management and sales content, though there was always a technical component and exhibit floor. In recent years the event has been held in hotel conference settings rather than larger convention venues.

Longtimers will also recall that in the 1990s the show was part of an umbrella event called the World Media Expo that also encompassed SBE and SMPTE conferences.

NAB also announced that the presentation of the 2021 NAB Marconi Radio Awards and the State of the Industry Address by NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith will take place virtually on Nov. 10.

This will be Smith’s final State of the Industry address; he steps down at the end of the year, to be succeeded by Curtis LeGeyt.

 

The post The Fall Radio Show Is No More appeared first on Radio World.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers will hold its annual membership meeting and awards program online on Monday (Oct. 18).

The meeting was to have been held at this month’s NAB Show, which ended up being cancelled. So the society will use its monthly SBE WEBxtra presentation for the purpose.

“The SBE Membership Meeting portion provides an update on SBE activities and programs from the past year with reports from the secretary, treasurer and several committee chairs,” SBE stated. “It also includes some final thoughts from SBE President Wayne Pecena, who is completing his second term in that role.”

Newly elected SBE officers and board members will be sworn in to begin their terms, including incoming President Andrea Cummis.

[Read Radio World’s interview with Andrea Cummis]

“Following the swearing in, Andrea will lead the awards presentation portion of the program, which will recognize the efforts of SBE chapters, members and sustaining member companies for their accomplishments and honors from the SBE Awards Program. Presentations include the Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year award to Chris Tobin and the Technology Award to Telos Alliance.”

SBE Certification Director Megan Clappe, who was recently named an SBE Fellow, will also be recognized.

The event takes place on the SBE YouTube channel on Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern/Noon Pacific.

 

The post SBE Holds Online Membership Meeting Monday appeared first on Radio World.

For an article in our latest Buyer’s Guide section, software supplier RCS asked its customer Brett Patram of Hubbard Radio in Cincinnati about his experience with its software.

RCS: Tell us a little bit about your position.

Brett Patram: I am the director of engineering for the Hubbard Radio Cincinnati market.

I originally came on to handle their local IT/network infrastructure needs. But I was also handling all the RF needs at the same time. My background is pretty heavy in both RF and IT. Eventually I took over as director of engineering, which made the most sense for everyone.

RCS: What products have you installed from RCS?

Patram: GSelector and Zetta primarily but now we are also using Revma to carry some of the point to multiple DR [disaster recovery] streams to our transmitter sites

RCS: Why did you choose to install Zetta and GSelector?

Patram: As a previous NexGen facility we were used to, let’s say, certain luxuries that NexGen offered. When it was time to review our automation choices we were a bit surprised to find that the other vendors were still playing catchup to NexGen. Zetta in comparison was years ahead, and was a mature product with years of development behind it.

The choice to also migrate from Selector to GSelector was one that made the most sense based on the full integration the two products shared with each other. We have a very particular staff that are passionate about the tools they use to program and run their stations. We saw several workflow improvements that they couldn’t do without the Zetta and GSelector integration existing.

RCS: You have added Zetta Disaster Recovery, can you elaborate on this feature and why is helpful for Hubbard?

Patram: Zetta Disaster Recovery was another draw to the overall offering. I needed a backup solution that was multifaceted.

It helps us in several ways. We are always sending a current backup snapshot of our database and audio assets into the cloud. We don’t have to be directly responsible to maintain this environment.

Our logs are also being synced and played out in the cloud environment. This creates the ultimate backup audio solution for us. When we need it, it’s always available and it’s actually going to be what we programmed and scheduled — not some canned fill audio. At our transmitter sites and even in the studios the streamed feed of the Zetta Cloud DR instance is made available to switch into. Because all our logs and assets are backed up into this environment, all our spots would continue to play if we needed to use it for any length of time.

On top of that, being able to control these sequencers from a very familiar looking interface makes it that much easier in a true DR scenario to take control and “run” the station from that environment.

For info: Contact RCS at 1-914-428-4600 or visit www.rcsworks.com. 

The post User Q&A: WKRQ Chooses RCS appeared first on Radio World.

It’s time to file your station’s 2021 biennial ownership report.

Every odd-numbered year — we’re looking at you, 2021 — AM and FM radio stations and TV stations are required to file biennial ownership reports with the Federal Communications Commission. The filing window for 2021 opened on Oct. 1 and will run until Dec. 1. All reports must be submitted by that date.

[Read: FCC Could Recommence Race and Gender Reporting for Broadcasters]

In a public notice, the FCC reminded stations that reporting ownership information is a fundamental obligation of broadcast licensees. “The accurate and timely filing of such information is critical to ensuring that the commission and the public know who owns, operates and controls broadcast stations,” the commission said in a webinar about the filing window. Such ownership information is crucial to understanding the broadcast industry as a whole, the commission said, including tracking the diversity makeup of a station and identifying owners with an ownership stake in multiple stations.

“For several years now, promoting female and minority ownership has been an important goal of the commission,” said Bill Durdach, attorney/advisor for the Media Bureau, in a recent webinar about the filing requirement.  “Like any other goal, you can’t advance it if you don’t have accurate data to inform your decisions. This is why [these filings] are so important.”

There are a few important things stations should keep in mind. One, the filing should be a snapshot of what station ownership looked like on Oct. 1 of this year. Two, there are a different forms for commercial and noncommercial stations. Form 323 should be used by commercial stations; Form 323-E should be used by noncommercial stations. Third, AM and FM stations are required to submit an $85 fee.

Keep in mind that two main sets of data should be listed on the form. First, the report must list all stations and licenses to which the ownership report relates. Second, each report must provide key information on the entity and all individual owners, including details like call sign, FRN number, address and a listing of what role an owner has within the station, such as director, limited partner or stockholder.

The webinar created by the commission offers guidance and notes common filing errors that individuals should look out for — such as using an FRN number consistently and remembering to report what the station ownership looked like on Oct. 1, not after that date.

Necessary forms, instructions and other resources can be found on the FCC’s Media Ownership webpage. Stations can also reach out to the commission through a dedicated email address: form323@fcc.gov.

The post Window Open for Filing Biennial Ownership Report appeared first on Radio World.

Comrex is teasing a new product launch that it will announce Monday at an SBE chapter meeting that will also be conducted as an online webinar.

The company said the Zoom meeting webinar will be held in conjunction with the Society of Broadcast Engineers Chapter 15 and the Next Best Thing Media Tour.

Comrex added that people in the New York area are welcome to join in person for the New York SBE Chapter 15 Annual Picnic and NBT tour from 4 7 p.m. at New York Elks Lodge #1 in Lynbrook, N.Y.

 

The post Comrex, NBT and SBE15 Plan Monday Event appeared first on Radio World.

Henry “Hank” Mahler

Influential media engineer Hank Mahler has died.

Among his contributions to the broadcast industry, he was part of the team at the CBS Technology Center in Connecticut that designed and built the CBS Laboratories Audimax and CBS VoluMax, two audio processors that became widely used in radio and TV.

His passing, on Oct. 5 at the age of 84, has been noted by his colleague Bob Seidel, the former CBS vice president of engineering and advanced technology as well as former president of SMPTE.

Seidel distributed an obituary and appreciation, describing Henry Mahler as an icon.

According to Seidel, Mahler also helped develop the first audio loudness meter for measuring human perception of loudness. And he said many of the audio curves specified by the International Telecommunications Union approximate the original CBS Loudness Meter design from the early 1960s.

“Hank also received a patent for developing an audio meter capable of indicating 60 dB of audio range while the typical VU meter displays approximately a third of that range. Hank also worked on the CBS 360 Record / Player, which was a stereo self-contained solid state audio recorder.”

Mahler went on to be involved in numerous important TV, video and cinema technologies, including developing the famous TV color bars used for calibrating analog color systems. Our sister publication TV Tech has a writeup about his work.

Seidel also provided a personal memory:

“Many a vendor dreaded having their equipment evaluated in the CBS Engineering Lab, because Hank would inevitably uncover issues that required them to ‘go back to the drawing board.’ However, in the end, when the equipment passed Hank’s muster and received the CBS Engineering Lab ‘Good Engineering Seal of Approval,’ it was a world-class product and was recognized by the industry as being top of the line in its category.

“If you wanted to stay on Hank’s good side, you would never interfere with his coffee breaks, which he would announce VERY loudly in his deep baritone voice, ‘COFFEE.’ The lunch time volleyball games at the CBS Laboratories in Stamford, Conn., turned Hank into a jovial, but fierce competitor. There were many CBS Lab colleagues that fell prey to Hank’s practical jokes, and they reciprocated by sending him a fake termination ‘pink slip.’ His office was plastered, not with his technological accomplishment, but with family photos, indicating what was important in his life,” Seidel wrote.

“Hank’s most endearing qualities were his humble nature, engaging smile and willingness to use his vast engineering knowledge to educate his fellow engineers. He will be missed by his immediate family and by his CBS Family who had the privilege of working with him for over 60 years.”

Danbury Memorial and Cremation also has posted an obituary.

 

The post Hank Mahler Dies, Was Innovator for CBS Technology Center appeared first on Radio World.

GatesAir has added native Livewire+ IP audio networking to its Intraplex Ascent cloud transport platform.

This means Intraplex Ascent can ingest and output multiple audio channels directly via IP without the need for conversion equipment, which the company said adds scale and efficiency for radio broadcasters that manage many digital audio channels between studios.

Future support is planned for WheatNet-IP.

Intraplex Ascent started shipping last year. The manufacturer describes it as a next-generation audio over IP platform built to transport broadcast and media content at scale, “leveraging common off-the-shelf hardware to reduce the costs of multichannel contribution and distribution between many locations.”

[Read Radio World’s ebook “What’s Next for Virtualization”]

It quoted VP of Engineering Keyur Parikh saying, “GatesAir has successfully deployed Ascent with a national radio broadcaster that is sending 32 audio channels between two major studio locations. They are directly connecting to the Livewire studios, providing encoding and reliable transport across public IP networks.”

The system’s Dynamic Stream Splicing software supports transport across redundant networks, and GatesAir says it optimizes stream integrity by protecting against jitter, packet losses and network failures. DSS software also supports duplication of SRT streams with video and audio over separate network paths, “leveraging a single stream-splicing buffer for hitless protection against errors and failures.”

“Intraplex Ascent is built to work natively with IP protocol, and IP-based transport is becoming ubiquitous within studio and STL connections,” said Parikh in the announcement. “Whether sending content over cable, DSL, fiber or microwave, everything converges to IP, and Ascent’s software-based solution then provides the engine for moving large volumes of media content for ATSC 1.0/3.0 television and FM radio networks. We are bringing the scalability of the cloud to move content between multiple sites at the same time.”

 

The post GatesAir Adds Native Livewire Support to Intraplex Ascent appeared first on Radio World.

Get an orange vest. Give the pickup truck a tuneup. And go top off your genset … For readers who live in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is coming!

Also: Business is booming at Technical Service Group. … Larry Langford is troubleshooting distortion on a client’s FM translator. … Tula has a nifty combo mic/recorder. … And the FCC is listening to the debate over allowing companies to own more stations in one market.

All that plus early Black sportscasters, the power of radio local news and letters from our readers.

Read it here.

The post Inside the Oct. 13, 2021 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.