Aggregator

.

.

Variety reports that Joe Budden has fired his co-hosts Rory Farrell and Jamil “Mal” Clay from the popular Joe Budden Podcast.

In episode 437 of the show, Joe berated his hosts on-air for disrespecting him in some way and fired them.

On Twitter Joe seemed to indicate that he may be ending the show when he responded to a fan by saying, “There are millions of podcasts, ppl will survive.”

So far, the episode has only been officially released to his Patreon subscribers and the episode is titled “You Want It To Be One Way…”

— Podcast Business Journal

The last time ViacomCBS had anything to do with audio, CBS Radio was a part of CBS Corporation, and a reunification of CBS and Viacom hadn’t yet been consummated.

Guess what? ViacomCBS is talking audio. Only, the discussion is fully focused on podcasts.

And, iHeartMedia is involved.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Of all of the audio media companies to report its quarterly earnings results, one sticks out for its bold decision to dare to compare its Q1 2021 results to that of Q1 2019.

That would be Townsquare Media, where digital ad prowess is now propelling its stock in noteworthy ways.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

The Walt Disney Company has ended its fiscal second quarter of 2021 with 103.6 million Disney+ subscribers.

Uh-oh. Disney+ in early March said it surpassed 100 million subscribers for the first time, and it appears the excitement over the over-the-top platform is slowing down.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Its shares now bear an aggressive 1-year target price of $4.13. Its publishing arm is performing well, and its non-secular spoken word AM Talk stations could win over listeners to the late Rush Limbaugh.

All seems great for Salem Media Group, yet its stock price is now two months into a decline that has put a firm break on a big Wall Street recovery.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Telos Alliance has introduced a high-density version of its iPort, calling it a multi-codec gateway that lets broadcasters license up to 64 codecs in one rack unit.

“Worldwide networks use iPort for both distribution and contribution, spanning multiple time zones,” the company explained in its announcement.

“Now, the iPort legacy continues with the more powerful iPort High Density, which transports multiple channels of stereo, mono and dual-mono audio across IP networks, including private WANs, IP-radio links and over good quality public internet connections, perfect for large-scale distribution of audio to single or multiple locations.”

The iPort High Density comes with eight bidirectional stereo codecs, configurable to run in MPEG or Linear PCM mode.

“Broadcasters can license additional codecs up to a maximum of 64, as well as add Enhanced aptX encoding.”

The box connects to existing Livewire networks using one ethernet cable (CAT-6 recommended) for all I/O. It can also pair with Telos Alliance xNodes via an adequately configured ethernet switch for use as a standalone multi-stream codec.

The post Telos Intros a High-Density Version of iPort appeared first on Radio World.

Standard Media Index, known for its global advertising spend and pricing data, has just released key findings from its Q1 2021 “Anglo Market Report.”

It’s a comprehensive look at English-speaking markets, looking primarily at North America, Australia and New Zealand, and the United Kingdom but not Ireland.

In these locales, SMI finds, combined ad spend has lifted 4% above the total recorded in Q1 2020 and 1% above the pre-COVID Q1 2019 period.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Despite the strain that digital native technology platforms have placed on their traditional business, local broadcast radio and TV will continue to play an important public interest role for years to come, said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

He spoke during a virtual luncheon sponsored by the Media Institute.

“Broadcasting has always been a steady and reliable resource to Americans,” he said, according to remarks provided by the commission. “And now more than ever, Americans still rely heavily on broadcast media to navigate the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”

[Related: Sen. Cantwell Touts the Importance of Local Broadcast News]

Starks, one of the two current Democratic commissioners, quoted a recent study that found that broadcast TV was the most pervasive medium accessed during the pandemic, reaching 84% of Americans surveyed.

The study also found that local broadcast TV proved to be the most trusted news source with local TV news shows attracting 25 million nightly viewers.

The emphasis here should be on the word local, Starks said.

“Localism is one of the pillars that guides the FCC’s regulation of broadcasting, and now more than ever local TV stations must rise to the challenge of continuing to serve local audiences while at the same time navigating the evolving media landscape and managing the evolving needs of their diverse populations of consumers,” he said.

Starks quoted a recent study by BIA Advisory Services that found that the most trusted, highly consumed and most valued news source among all models is news produced by local broadcast stations.

The study also reveals the strain that technology platforms have placed on the traditional broadcast business model; TV and radio have steadily lost advertising revenue over the last several years.

When it comes to radio specifically, the pandemic has had a significant impact. For many years, disruptive technologies and applications like satellite radio and streaming services have attracted listeners away from broadcast radio. Starks noted that FCC latest figures show that there were 44 fewer licensed commercial FM stations and 34 fewer AMs a year after the coronavirus pandemic began.

Potential improvements may be in store with the upcoming planned auction this summer of four AM construction permits and 136 FM construction permits as part of Auction 109.

“In my view, the unique ability of radio to target specific audiences where they live and work gives broadcasters a competitive advantage,” he said. “I believe that local broadcast radio and TV will continue to play an important public interest role for years to come.”

The speech can be viewed at the Media Institute Communications Forum page.

At the virtual event, Starks also spoke about the importance of diversity in media, the future of media ownership, accessibility, localism and competition.

The post Starks Cites Local News as a Pillar appeared first on Radio World.

From the south side of historic St. Augustine, Fla., sits a broadcast tower that’s home to a Class B AM with 230 watts after dark and 2kw when it’s light out. It uses an FM translator to give a little “revitalization,” too.

Now, both are heading to a new owner.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

On March 1, a California company focused on how cable television companies “can maintain its relevance” in the coming years as subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) continues to gain market share voluntarily reorganized by seeking federal bankruptcy protection.

At the time, the company, MobiTV, stressed it was “committed to working with its lenders and stakeholders towards a speedy and successful resolution” of its filing for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

It’s now known that the successful resolution to its fiscal woes is a sale at auction of its assets to the highest bidder. The winning bid went to the parent of HD Radio.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

On Tuesday, Saga Communications shares rocketed upward by 30%. This immediately led to questions as to why that even CFO Sam Bush couldn’t answer, when contacted by RBR+TVBR.

Now, a SEC filing shows what led to the jump, and small retraction in share value seen Wednesday. And, it only presents more questions regarding Saga — and its largest shareholder.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Tom Scott has been promoted to the role of vice president/engineering for mid-size group owner SummitMedia.

“Scott will manage engineering for all SummitMedia Markets throughout the U.S.,” the Alabama-based company announced.

“He is a radio veteran with over 30 years of engineering experience and has served as a chief engineer for SummitMedia, Cox Radio Group and Clear Channel Radio.”

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

The announcement was made by SummitMedia CEO Carl Palmer, who highlighted Scott’s “depth of knowledge and strategic vision.”

The company has stations in Birmingham, Ala.; Greenville, S.C.; Honolulu; Knoxville, Tenn.; Louisville, Ky.; Omaha, Neb.; Richmond, Va.; Springfield, Mo.; Tuscaloosa, Ala.; and Wichita, Kan. (Here’s a list of its stations.)

He succeeds Dennis Sloatman, who retired (read our interview with him).

Send engineering and executive People News announcements to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post SummitMedia Promotes Tom Scott appeared first on Radio World.

Sen. Maria Cantwell spoke with NAB President Gordon Smith at the State Leadership Conference about the important role that radio and TV broadcasters play in reporting legitimate news.

More must be done to preserve local news in local communities, especially in light of unfair competition and the bulk of misinformation that is often erroneously reported as news — that was the sentiment expressed by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) during a one-on-one chat with NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith. Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, spoke to Smith after giving a keynote address at the NAB’s 2021 virtual State Leadership Conference.

At the virtual conference, Cantwell spoke about the important role that radio and TV broadcasters play in reporting legitimate news; in her mind they are part of our nation’s critical infrastructure.

[Read: “My Heart Will Always Beat as a Broadcaster”]

Along those lines, she also announced her intention to propose a tax credit and grant program totaling $2.3 billion to support local journalism through the next few years.

“My message today is that local broadcasting continues to play an important role in creating trust in the United States of America,” she said during the interview with Smith. But it’s all too clear that TV stations, radio stations and newspapers face serious hardships caused both by major changes in information age and from the coronavirus, she said.

Although Congress passed the CARES Act in late 2020 to help support broadcasters through tax changes, small business loans and employee retention credits, the fight to protect journalism must continue, she said, as local broadcasters continue to shed jobs and fight stiff competition from digital native sources.

“Broadcast journalism and news journalism are part of [our] critical infrastructure,” Cantwell said, saying that the $2.3 billion in tax credits and grants to ensure that local journalism continues to thrive.

Under Cantwell’s plan, tax credits would help preserve the existing broadcast workforce and a grant program that would help broadcasters who are looking to rehire.

Smith asked Cantwell why she thought that local journalism qualifies as part of our critical infrastructure. “You provide information and challenges to other information that’ s inaccurate,” she said. “It’s an ecosystem that needs to be preserved.”

“What I really appreciate about broadcast journalism and local news in particular is that it is what holds us together,” she said. “It is what puts the eyes on our local legislators and our governments. And without that we’d really have a deterioration of our communities. It’s something we have to fight for.”

The NAB State Leadership Conference, an annual gathering of several hundred station owners and executives, provides updates on current legislative and regulatory issues facing TV and radio broadcasters.

 

The post Sen. Cantwell Touts the Importance of Local Broadcast News appeared first on Radio World.

The author is with E2 Technical Services & Solutions. This article is excerpted from the ebook “The Real World of AoIP.”

This story is excerpted from the ebook “The Real World of AoIP.” Click the cover to read it for free.

Planning a new studio system based on audio over internet protocol begins with what we have always done. First, the number of rooms is settled on, then the capabilities of each room are defined by their function.

While many new studio builds now include cameras and more large video screens than in the past, for the most part studio rooms are built to perform similar functions. There the similarities end.

Broadcast integrators and equipment installers have always been the last in the project timeline and often crashed in the past because of their requirement for point-to-point, “single channel per wire” topology. Studios had all the audio gear and needed huge cable bundles to a tech core with an under-utilized and massive infrastructure. No longer!

Packet switched networks using IP encapsulation and centralized digital storage controlled remotely mean studios have little equipment in them, and the entire audio system has moved to an IT core where single boxes do multiple things.

This centralization is enabled by audio signals that are controlled and distributed as streams combined on a single cable between two points, where many, even thousands, of signals are carried on just four pairs. The efficiency of data technology developed by the information technology industry for personal computers has been repurposed to make the installation of audio systems less wire-intensive, less expensive and more flexible at the same time.

Welcome to AoIP.

Speak the local language

To best take advantage of the world of IT, you must blend in with its practitioners. The IT team can be of great assistance in building out your state-of-the-art studio complex, or it can be one of your greatest hindrances. You want to keep them on your side as much as possible.

Learn proper use of IT terms, because those with an IT background usually have no idea of ours.

Modern networks run on switches and routers according to the OSI model. Hubs are not used. There are no such things as “network switchers” or “switching hubs.”

Their routers are not the same as what we term an audio router. Nodes are items that create the network. This includes routers to guide packet traffic between networks, and switches that provide a connection point to the network. Endpoints are purpose-specific devices. For example, an audio console/video production switcher is a Human Interface Device (HID) and an endpoint. You should translate broadcast systems into that construct to talk to an IT professional.

IT is no longer a backend function, it is the platform on which we broadcast. Media networks use certain IGMP or Multicast protocols, featuring a “querier” that not all IT will know about.

AoIP is networked audio. AES67 is a protocol for use in AoIP. Neither is the same as AES3, which is point-to-point serial digital audio signal. Both use XLRs and RJ45s. And then there is AES50.

These various wiring and signal standards have been developed by the Audio Engineering Society in conjunction with audio industry manufacturers, but don’t get carried away with these terms in the IT world. The confusion in the use of terms with “AES” as a reference can lead to very expensive mistakes.

PTP for IT means Precision Time Protocol, a network standard aka IEEE-1588. This standard is the key to making media function at low latency on an IP network. Learn about PTP. Nothing else works if the PTP does not. The current standard is PTPv2 and was updated recently. Every network has a PTP Master Clock, which may be associated with more than one piece of hardware.

AoIP requires some different tools for troubleshooting and test that come from the IT industry. Learn about WireShark/pcap, PTP Track Hound, VLC, subnet calculators and other free but very useful tools for network admin. IT Command Line tools such as Ping, Arp -a and Netsh are useful in troubleshooting and testing.

There is much cooperation behind the scenes with some vendors. The network is becoming agnostic and ubiquitous, which will support competing product endpoints among different manufacturers.

Know where you’re going

AoIP moves along networks based on Internet Protocol addressing schemes. A typical AoIP network is often isolated from other networks and uses protected subnetworks (subnets) that allow only the audio streams and broadcast signaling to travel between them.

This is a critical part of network design, which is often done early in the design and then handed off to the audio team. It’s important to understand how these networks are described.

IP addressing is not magic and it is very logically structured.

IP addressing since 1996 uses a technique called CIDR (the /x after IP address). The smaller the x that comes after the slash, the larger number of IP addresses are available. In an IPv4 address there are four groups of binary octets, zeroes or ones, representing a number between 0 and 255. There can be a total of 256 addresses in each octet.

I suggest building AoIP networks on a Class B or CIDR /18 structure, which allows 16,382 total addresses and uses a netmask of 255.255.192.0.

For example, the above netmask would allow a range of addresses from 172.20.192.xxx to 172.20.255.xxx, or 64 x 256 addresses (255–191 = 64). Follow a pattern such as 172.20.X.Y/ where X= studio or rack and Y= device in the rack.

Media networks should use Static addresses on a private network. DHCP should be avoided. Instead of DHCP, AoIP may use automatic private number addressing. In an enterprise network, ask the administrator to use DHCP reserve, which requires you provide the MAC address in exchange for an address reserved in DHCP. This provides static address behavior while preserving the net admin’s control.

When doing network changes, patience is a virtue. Not all network changes are instant. Many timers run to 15, 30 or 60 seconds. Always wait to see the effect of change! And backup, backup, backup.

Keep track of everything

A useful organizational system before installing anything is to copy all Media Access Controller (MAC) addresses and Serial Numbers (S/N) to a spreadsheet with their assigned room location and IP addresses.

While everything has a MAC address and serial number, you can’t always fit that label on the back of a device that’s one rack unit high and only a half rack unit; the sticker ends up on the bottom cover plate, invisible after installation. Assign an asset tag number and place that number on the equipment front panel to allow easy location of a particular device.

In studios, custom software programs are essential to setup and operation of the equipment. They are often delivered by email or download from a company site. Be sure purchasing forwards confirmation emails so that you have the license or directions on how to download! Keep a separate spreadsheet of license keys that are specific to individual devices (e.g Pro Tools editing software).

When doing the system configuration for the first time, keep in mind that every signal is both a source and a destination depending on your perspective. It becomes important to structure the names of signal sources and other ID criteria so that you do not have 12 items called MIC_1 or Console PGM and no idea of Source/From or Destination /To.

Recent AoIP systems now allow both short and long signal names to assist with this organization. The short name is what will appear on the console channel display, for example, and is often limited to eight characters. The associated long name allows more information to be included, such as the signal location, to help locate the correct signal when troubleshooting or doing system configuration.

Plan for growth. A plant will have more, not fewer networked items in the future If your count is 20 devices don’t use a 24-port switch, go to the next size!

Spend a few extra dollars and purchase a dedicated PC for the tech core to hold system management tools and documentation. This computer should be able to access all the secure subnets for the audio systems equipment (consider making this computer available to offsite via a remote control program for remote troubleshooting).

Get a printer/scanner that handles 11×17 and scan to PDF everything that you may need to share with the installation team, such as system diagrams. Create a set of configuration backups or default settings on the PC that are clearly marked with the date in the file name.

Final tips

Build ahead of install to reduce the time of install. Almost the entire system can be put together in an office, programmed and put back in the box until final installation.

As noted earlier, the broadcast installers are at the very end of the project timeline, after everyone else has run into problems and the schedule has slipped perilously close to the move-in date. If you’ve got the space to do this pre-installation work, then do it early and be the hero who gets the job in on time.

Comment on this or any story to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The author is with E2 Technical Services & Solutions, offering media systems consulting and engineering including networked audio, video and A/V over IP.   

The post I.T. Is the Platform on Which We Broadcast appeared first on Radio World.

.

.

.