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This article appeared in Radio World’s “Trends in Codecs and STLs for 2020” ebook.

Working from home or remote studios is in “normal” times a challenge for broadcast and voiceover talent. When one factors in a pandemic lockdown and the ensuing scramble to move studio-quality audio back and forth, a service like ipDTL can make that task less of a challenge.

The ipDTL service has been enjoying more attention during the pandemic but has been around for several years. It comes from In:Quality, which “operates a worldwide network for the real-time transmission of professional audio.” The company says its users include the BBC, New York Public Radio, NPR and Global Radio.

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The service is based on the open source Opus codec. Founding Director Kevin Leach, a former radio host and BBC sound engineer, says ipDTL runs smoothly on any modern computer: “If you can browse the internet smoothly on your computer, then you can run a stable ipDTL connection.”

To send a link.

A subscriber of the service can send a link to another location, where that link is opened in a browser and a bidirectional studio quality audio link would then be established.

ipDTL has additional capabilities: With the proper configuration, the subscribing user can also connect to legacy ISDN codecs (where still available) and even connect to a voice grade telephone. With SIP protocols and using a sip.audio account from In:Quality, a subscriber can also connect to hardware codecs (e.g. Comrex, Tieline, Telos, JK Audio) that are configured for Opus connections.

It is also compatible with G.722 and G.711 over IP. There is a video angle as well, VP8 and H.264. And it lives on Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS computers.

Subscription Levels

There are three levels of ipDTL annual subscriptions: Bronze users can send one connection link, Silver users two and Gold users may send up to four simultaneous connections. A version allowing six connections is in the late stages of testing. The Gold subscription also includes basic video functionality. Prices start at $15 per month. Subscribers get a sip.audio address (XXXXX@sip.audio), which allows SIP-enabled devices to talk to the subscriber.

How does this work in the real world? I tested the service recently during a virtual NAB Show demonstration with Leach.

There are some caveats from my experience.

All codec developers (software and hardware) caution users that sending a true mix-minus is vital for proper operation of the codec. For example: On a mixer like the Allen+Heath ZED 10, there are three ways to send a mix-minus (aux send, FX send and record bus). The best one that seems to work with USB connections is the record bus, where inputs other than the USB connections are selected (mics, etc.). The USB out can be fed from the record bus. If the main mix were fed to the USB out, that would create a feedback loop. A standalone codec could be fed mix-minus from the aux or FX send.

Screenshot

During our demonstration, I fed the record bus with the USB output. When Leach talked about the importance of a mix-minus, I created a feedback loop (which happens when the codec or other receive channel is fed back to the other end of the connection).

Unless a laptop is within visual distance of a wireless router, and it is the only device on the network at that particular time, in:Quality strongly recommends a wired connection to the network router when using the ipDTL service. With a wired gigabit connection over Cat-6,  I experienced no connection problems.

Leach says multiple SIP connections with ipDTL at the studio end provide maximum flexibility. He said devices such as Wheatstone SwitchBlade and Comrex Access MultiRack can receive multiple duplex real-time SIP streams from remote sites and guests. The studio so equipped can send a connection link to talent and guests so they can connect easily to the SIP hardware. There’s also an option to connect from one of the company’s range of SIP Opus Codecs.

Subscribers may opt to be listed in a database of ipDTL users around the world for an extra charge. That’s a useful resource for audio reporters and producers, and it could also help those producers and reporters to connect with newsmakers and subject matter experts.

An online network map lets the user find a studio, search for voice talent or see which radios stations are “ipDTL ready.”

“For too long now, there has been uncertainty and trepidation about the migration from ISDN to IP codecs,” Leach said. “With SIP now, it feels like we’re finally past the point of no return, but there’s still some work to do. A newspaper journalist should be able to ask a radio producer what SIP address they should call for an interview, and get a confident reply. Looking at the messages in our support inbox, we’re not quite there yet.”

Paul Kaminski, CBT, is a longtime Radio World contributor, and host and producer of msrpk.com’s “Radio-Road-Test” program. Twitter: msrpk_com; Facebook: PKaminski2468

 

The post Live Remote Broadcasting in Your Browser appeared first on Radio World.

The author is president of WorldDAB.

Last year was a pivotal year for DAB+ radio — with a string of developments providing clear evidence of the standard’s progress:

• In October, Germany launched its second national multiplex — offering 16 new services to a potential audience of 67 million people;
• In December, Switzerland confirmed that it would be switching off FM radio — starting with the public broadcaster in 2022, followed by the private broadcasters in 2023;
• Also, in December, the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC) came into force — requiring all new car radios in the EU to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio.

Device Sales

These market developments have been mirrored by strong consumer demand for DAB+ radios:

• DAB/DAB+ consumer receiver sales increased by 12% in 2020 (analog sales dropped by 21% over the same period);
• In Q4, the DAB/DAB+ performance was even stronger with sales up 22% year-on-year.

Consumers are moving away from FM-only devices to the more compelling offer available on DAB+ (increased choice, more consistent audio and, increasingly, color displays).

DAB’s Green Credentials

At the end of last year, a major advance was made when the BBC published its report into the energy footprint of its radio services. Presented at the WorldDAB General Assembly, this report broke new ground as, for the first time, it considered energy consumption across the whole of the radio full value chain: production, distribution, and consumer listening.

A BBC report indicated that DAB was the most energy-efficient platform for radio distribution.

The conclusions highlighted the greater efficiency associated with DAB radio:

• 28% more efficient than FM (per listening hour);
• 59% more efficient than IP (per listening hour).

These findings are clear evidence of the critical role which DAB/DAB+ plays in creating a sustainable future for radio — a priority of increasing importance for broadcasters and policy makers.

Prospects for 2021

The next major development for DAB+ in Europe will be the launch of national (i.e. metropolitan) services in France.

The media regulator, the CSA, has given the green light for services to be on air beginning July 15. Two national multiplexes offering 25 services will be available, with the key focus on the major road networks — starting with the highways between Paris and Marseille.

Conclusion

The EECC directive, coupled with strong developments in key European markets including France and Switzerland confirms that DAB+ is established as the core future platform for radio in Europe.

The strong growth in DAB+ receivers in cars and consumer radios underlines this progress, and the significance of these advances should not be understated.

• Radio’s role as the most trusted source of news and information has rarely been more important;
• In times of emergency, broadcast radio consistently provides levels of service reliability unmatched by mobile networks;
• The environmental advantages of DAB radio are clearly evidenced in the BBC report into energy consumption.

The challenge for us now is to maintain this momentum. Digital broadcast platforms lie at the heart of radio’s future. Now is the time to ensure we have the policy frameworks and strategic focus to deliver on this promise.

The post DAB+ Takes Center Stage appeared first on Radio World.

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Issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $1,500 to Pilgrims Journey, Inc., for failure to timely file a license renewal application for Station WPJI-LP, Hopkinsville, Kentucky

The Bureau cancels the Notice of Apparent Liability issued to Willtronics Broadcasting

Missouri Valley Broadcasting, Inc. enters into consent decree to resolve political file investigation

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On January 25, ten brands in the state of Michigan went live with sports betting.

To better understand the consumer reaction in Michigan to the launch of sports betting, Cumulus Media and its Westwood One national radio arm commissioned MARU/Matchbox to conduct a study of 700 Michigan adults aged 21 and older.

The research was conducted from Friday, Jan. 29-Monday, Feb. 1. The findings are now being shared.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has selected the agency’s next Press Secretary.

It’s an individual joining the Commission’s Office of Media Relations after having served as Communications Director for then-Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small of New Mexico.

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Have you downloaded Discovery+ yet? If not, perhaps you’ve heard about the new OTT platform from the company behind some of cable TV’s most watched networks.

Or, maybe you haven’t — given the ad plan of action from the company.

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The latest Media Monitors Spot 10 Radio report shows a big gap between the leading auto insurance brand and its closest competitor. Is this the start of a new trend?

It may be way too soon to make such predictions, but Progressive has a commanding lead by play count over GEICO in the latest report.

And, Progressive is the lone fully paid brand over 55,000 plays.

Otherwise, there’s little movement in the Spot Ten for the week ending February 14, 2021, with McDonald’s now at No. 10.

She began her career in 2011 as an intern at iHeartMedia/Milwaukee’s WKKV-FM.

Now, this sales talent has come full circle, as she’s been named VP of Sales for the company’s entire group of stations in Wisconsin’s largest market.

Jasmine M. Johnson has been named Vice President of Sales for the company’s Milwaukee stations, comprised of WISN-AM, WKKV-FM, WMIL-FM, WOKY-AM, WRIT-FM, and WRNW-FM.

Johnson reports to Nathan Tonarelli, Senior Vice President of Sales for iHeartMedia Milwaukee, and will be responsible for leading multicultural initiatives for broadcast, digital and iHeartRadio customers across the region.

“This for me is a full circle moment,” said Johnson. “To return to the company that gave me my first start – from an intern to my first job post-undergrad – as Vice President of Sales leading such an iconic brand in our community and serving such a loyal listenership base is a gift.”

Johnson’s resume includes roles as Diversity Programs Director for Manpower Group, a role she held until January 2021. Before that, she spent more than 12 years at Pfizer, serving as Senior Manager of Government Relations and Corporate Affairs. From May 2002-July 2006, Johnson was an account executive for iHeart predecessor Clear Channel Communications.

It continues to build momentum in sports audio, with a marketing alliance with FanDuel, an acquisition of sports data and iGaming affiliate platform QL Gaming Group and the launch of the BetQL Audio Network exciting investors of Entercom Communications of late.

Now, it is adding a Vice President of Sports who arrives at Entercom from regional NBC Sports Washington.

Starting today, Matthew Volk is Entercom’s Vice President of Sports.

Mike Dee, appointed President of Sports in May 2017, stays in that role.

However, an Entercom representative explains to RBR+TVBR that Dee’s focus is on revenue strategy and business growth, while Volk’s role is content-based. This explains why Volk reports to EVP/Programing Jeff Sottolano and not to Dee.

Nevertheless, Dee and Volk will collaborate on their respective sports-focused efforts at Entercom.

According to Entercom, Volk will collaborate with national and market-level leadership “to ideate and manage the integration of existing and new sports and sports-betting content and partnerships” across the company’s broadcast, podcast and on-demand sports audio portfolio. He will also be charged with expanding on Entercom’s sports betting content through the expansion of the BetQL Audio Network and additional broadcast and digital concepts.

“This is an incredible opportunity to build on the core assets of Entercom’s sports brands and its broadcast pipes to drive its premier content both locally and nationally across digital, editorial, audio, video and betting content on all platforms,” said Volk. “Our multiplatform first approach will enable us to leverage our market-leading talent, programs and access to bring our fans all of the content they crave on the devices they choose.”

Volk had been VP of Content Strategy for NBC Sports Washington since 2018. Before that, Volk held multiple roles for ESPN from 2003 to 2018, including Director of Programming and Acquisitions for its NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL content. From 2001 to 2003, Volk was a Coaching Assistant and Football Operations Assistant for the New England Patriots.

Former Entercom VP of Sales & Strategy James Ingrassia now serves as VP of Media Strategy of Oxford Road, based in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He’s held the role since June 2020.

The Alliance for Women in Media and its Foundation (AWM/F) has cemented its 2021 National Board of Directors.

New to the Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) Board are:

• Kenetta Bailey, SVP/Marketing, Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO)
• Marsha Cooke, SVP/Global News and Special Projects, Vice Media
• Melissa Wright, Chief Content Officer, Twin Cities PBS

New to the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) Board are:

• Svetlana Gans, VP/Associate General Counsel, NCTA—The Internet & Television Association;
• Mike McVay, President, McVay Media Consulting
• Josie Thomas, former Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, CBS
• Christine Travaglini, President, Katz Radio Group

Officers of the board have been announced as The Weiss Agency EVP Heather Cohen, serving as chair; Crown Media Family Networks Chief Communications Officer Annie Howell, as incoming chair; Sutton Button Productions LLC VP/CEO Keisha Sutton-James, as immediate past chair; legal consultant Joyce Fitch, as treasurer; and Matrix Chief Revenue Officer Brenda Hetrick as incoming treasurer.

RBR+TVBR Publisher Deborah Parenti will continue to serve as a Director at Large of AWMF.

AWM/F board members Heather Cohen, Annie Howell and Mike McVay will continue to serve as chairs for the Gracie Awards. 

On January 16, 2018, a radio station licensee headed by Jason Zinzilieta and Janice Derks reached a LMA agreement with an entity led by the COO of member-manager Farmworker Educational Radio Network.

That involved two fully licensed properties and an FM translator serving the Prescott Valley of Arizona. Now, Zinzilieta and Derks have struck a deal to partially convert the lease to a purchase.

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A OneMedia promotional image.

It may be a little early for radio groups or SiriusXM to get worried, but they might want to take a close look at what Sinclair Broadcast Group is doing in Seattle.

This month the company is launching ATSC 3.0 over-the-air delivery of four Sinclair radio stations in the market as part of its STIRR XT digital audio service.

OTA simulcasts of KVI(AM), KOMO(AM), KOMO(FM) and KPLZ(FM) will complement 15 digital audio channels already being delivered “over the top” as part of STIRR XT.

When it announced the plan a couple of months ago, Sinclair VP of Technology Strategy Michael Bouchard was quoted in the press release saying the technology “lays the groundwork for our future plans of enhancing the reception of terrestrial over-the-air radio services throughout the country, as NextGen TV is deployed by broadcasters everywhere.”

From a strategic point of view, the rollout — while initially modest — demonstrates Sinclair’s commitment to delivery of more than better-looking and sounding television via ATSC 3.0, says Mark Aitken, senior vice president, advanced technology, for Sinclair and the president of its ONE Media 3.0 business.

“One of the reasons we are doing this is because the automotive guys always ask: ‘Is there an alternative to digital radio [and] to SiriusXM that can be delivered via the ATSC 3.0 standard?’” he says.

While acknowledging it is “early in the game,” Sinclair is hoping these “Seattle 3.0” radio simulcasts — the first of many to launch in the broadcaster’s ATSC 3.0 markets — will pique the interest of automakers as they plan for the future, he says.

Automakers need a minimum of three years to add anything to what’s on the drawing board. The launch of STIRR XT OTA today just might be enough to nudge them into including 3.0 receivers in future models, he says.

“We think there is a real compelling reason to consider the inclusion of ATSC 3 receivers in cars,” says Aitken. “Once you’ve done that, all of the other opportunities for what can be carried in that digital spectrum open up.”

Frequently cited use cases for ATSC 3.0 in vehicles include delivery of in-car entertainment, map and navigation data and fleet-wide software updates for computer-controlled automotive tech.

NextGen TV hybrid service

Like ATSC 3.0 itself, the combined STIRR XT is a hybrid service — part OTA and part OTT, or “over the top.”

When the 3.0 radio simulcasts launch, only NextGen TV sets and gateway owners in Seattle will be able to receive them. However, in October 2020 Sinclair revealed early production samples of its Mark One smartphone with built-in 3.0 receiver. These phones and other expected 3.0 consumer devices will make mobile reception of OTA 3.0 digital audio a reality one day, says Aitken.

“We truly will be delivering radio broadcast content — just delivered over a different spectrum,” says Aitken. “It’s not FM; it’s television spectrum.”

Consumers access STIRR XT via the STIRR Radio broadcast app available universally on televisions labeled as NextGen TV sets. When consumers launch the app, they can navigate to STIRR Radio to begin enjoying OTT- and OTA-delivered digital audio channels, he says.

Sinclair has been in discussions with other broadcasters about simulcasting their radio stations over the air via ATSC 3.0 with STIRR XT in markets where the station group has no radio stations, says Aitken, who said the service at launch will be purely ad-supported.

XHE-AAC codec and ATSC 3.0

STIRR XT audio channels delivered over the top are being encoded using the Dolby AC-4 audio codec, which is specified to be used in North America as part of the ATSC 3.0 standard.

However, Sinclair has other plans for STIRR XT channels delivered over the air. Rather than AC-4, the station group will encode OTA audio channels using the xHE-AAC (Extended High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding) codec.

“We are working on integrating a broadcast app-delivered highly efficient radio audio codec, which is not technically supported in the ATSC 3.0 standard,” says Aitken. “But because this is all IP — and this is the magic of IP — that broadcast app will deliver a player for an audio codec that does not exist in the ATSC 3.0 standard.”

Motivating Sinclair’s choice of xHE-AAC for OTA-delivered STIRR XT is bandwidth efficiency, says Aitken. With xHE-AAC, Aitken predicts significant bandwidth savings.

For example, a stereo audio channel encoded with AC-4 requires 96 kilobits per second, while the same channel needs just 24 kbps when encoded using xHE-AAC, he says.

The extra efficient codec also puts Sinclair’s STIRR XT OTA delivery in line with what’s going on around the world in digital radio, he says.

“xHE-AAC is the audio codec that is part of the digital radio standard called Digital Radio Mondiale,” says Aitken. “It is deployed globally, and it is in fact the most efficient commercially available codec.”

Adopting the Digital Radio Mondiale framework in the STIRR Radio broadcast app ensures that all of the tools for radio functionality are already available, he adds.

The Seattle rollout of STIRR XT follows Sinclair’s initial deployment in Oklahoma City. Sinclair plans to make STIRR XT available in all of its ATSC 3.0 markets.

“The whole point here is that we are using STIRR as a backbone piece of our OTT-OTA convergence strategy,” says Aitken. “We are bringing to bear all of the tools and all of the assets that we can to step forward with a competitive foot with the services we can offer.”

 

 

The post Sinclair Readies ATSC 3.0 Radio Simulcast   appeared first on Radio World.

In our special Presidents’ Day edition of the RBR+TVBR Daily Headlines E-mail, readers first learned of a big transition at online music research pioneer TroyResearch.

Jonathan Little, the company’s longtime VP of Sales and Client Services, on Tuesday spoke with Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson to share more about those changes in this new InFOCUS Podcast, presented by DOT.fm.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Jonathan Little” on Spreaker.