Aggregator

.

.

.

In this issue we learn how Jim Dalke and Stephen Lockwood are co-locating an AM station’s facilities with a cell tower. Hal Kneller describes the creation of a unique quasi-SFN using GatesAir Intraplex gear. And Buc Fitch helps you build an unbalanced-to-balanced converter.

Read it online here.

Prefer to do your reading offline? No problem! Simply click on the digital edition, go to the left corner and choose the download button to get a PDF version.

Project Journal

Co-locating an AM With a Cellular Tower

Jim Dalke, the owner of KARR, and Stephen Lockwood of Hatfield & Dawson obtained a construction permit to install a slant wire-fed cellular monopole.

From the Editor

Does Your Site Have Good Bones?

Cris Alexander has seen a few ugly things when conducting due diligence visits, such as transmitters with their side and back panels removed and interlocks jumpered out so that lethal voltages are exposed. How would your site shape up?

Also in this issue:

• Hybrid Synchronization in the Sunshine State
• Repack Impact: How Has It Affected Wireless Mics?
• Build an Unbalanced-to-Balanced Adaptor

 

The post Inside the October 21st Issue of Radio World Engineering Extra appeared first on Radio World.

An example of a site that is designed, built and maintained well. Often, broadcast transmitter sites are anything but.

From time to time, my travels take me to transmitter sites of radio stations that are not part of our company, because I have been asked to come in and do some antenna work or perform a due diligence inspection.

Some of these sites are designed, built and maintained well, a credit to those responsible.

Other times, sadly, what I find is anything but.

Many of these facilities are run down, overgrown and infested with insects and rodents. Some are downright hazardous to be in or even around.

The list of issues can be quite long, including weeds, brush or even trees grown up in the tower base areas; base fencing that, if it exists at all, is damaged or deteriorated; transmission lines falling off the ice bridge or supports; tower paint that has faded far out of tolerance and/or is flaking off; infestations of mice and other rodents in transmitter building and equipment; evidence of snakes, spiders and flying, stinging insects in residence … and on and on.

Sometimes, the equipment and facility wiring is in bad shape.

I see electric panels with the covers removed and wiring exposed, audio and remote control wiring is hanging loose with connections twisted together. I’ve seen transmitters with side and back panels removed and interlocks jumpered out so that lethal voltages are exposed. I’ve seen phasor cabinets with their doors removed and RF components exposed for anyone to touch.

How does this happen?

STATE OF DECLINE

Sometimes the answer is obvious. The station is in a state of decline, barely hanging on in a small community with little business and competition coming from several other directions. In those cases, there’s often no money to spend on maintenance, and the situation becomes one of self-perpetuating decline.

Other times it’s not so much a matter of money as of resources. A solo engineer, employee or contract, is stretched between many facilities, oftentimes scattered over a large geographical area, competing for attention and each receiving very little.

And sadly, at times it is what I would characterize as indifference. A person charged with the care and feeding of the site or station just doesn’t care and does the bare minimum to get by. The station is on the air, and nobody sees the transmitter site but the engineer; so no one is the wiser that there are big problems there resulting from neglect or worse.

Fortunately, these situations are by far the rare exception, but they do exist.

In a lot of cases like those I’ve described, the bones of what used to be are still visible.

At one time, it was a very nice, well-engineered facility that was undoubtedly well maintained, the pride and joy of the engineer given charge of it.

And unless there are structural or other issues that go beyond cosmetics, there often is hope for such a run-down and neglected facility. It may never shine as in its glory days, but it can be a safe, functional, well-maintained, reliable transmitter site.

STATE OF HEALTH

There’s a psychological element to such a situation that goes well beyond the physical condition of the site.

[Read more articles from award-winning engineer Cris Alexander.]

The worse shape a facility is in, the harder it is for even the most dedicated engineer to gin up any level of concern. It looks hopeless, so in his or her eyes, it really is. At some point, the roof will fall in and nature will reclaim the place, leaving little or no trace that it was ever there… or so it seems.

But clean the place up, plug the holes, remove the critters and their leavings, and that same engineer starts to feel better about the place, becoming hopeful. Maybe he or she even begins to take pride in it.

In years past, an FCC agent in charge of a western field office was the self-described “master of the ten-minute inspection.” He was a great guy, super to work with and always helpful and courteous.

If he walked into a transmitter site and found it clean and well-maintained, he wouldn’t look very hard for minutia or hidden violations. It was his view that if the company and engineer in charge cared enough to keep the place clean and maintained, it would very likely be in compliance with the rules.

He was right. While I can’t speak for current district Enforcement Bureau people, who might not admit to it anyway, I suspect they would agree.

So there may be another benefit to sprucing up a run-down site.

I mentioned the self-perpetuating nature of neglect. It also works in the other direction, although it requires some input of energy. If a facility is in good shape, most engineers will want to keep it in good shape or even improve it. We like to feel good about the facilities we maintain; and like it or not, those facilities do reflect on us.

The point is that if you have in your area of responsibility a site that is in some state of neglect or deterioration, you can very likely reverse it, without spending a lot of money. That reversal will pay big dividends, both in your own attitude, in the longevity and reliability of the facility and even in the sound and performance of the transmitter signal.

Start with a “to do” list developed by taking an objective walk-through of the site. What are the problems and issues?

Take the list and prioritize it logically. For example, if there is a rodent or insect infestation, first figure out where/how they are getting in and deal with that before you start to work cleaning up the rodent or insect mess or you’ll have to do it twice.

A good trick is to go to the site at night, and turn on the lights inside the building, tuning house or ATU. Then go outside and shut the door, with all outside lights off.

Wherever you see light escaping, even a pinhole, is a potential entry point for critters and bugs. Of course there may be entry points beneath, perhaps at a conduit or telco cable entry penetration where the light trick won’t help you, but those should be readily identifiable.

Plug the holes, then suit up (Tyvek suit, gloves, mask and eye protection) and start cleaning. Remove the bigger stuff by hand, then use the shop vac, then go to (safe) solvent cleaners/disinfectants and paper towels.

The work may take some elbow grease, but when you’re done, you’ll be amazed how much better the site looks and feels!

After that, focus on prevention. I’ve found mothballs help keep the critters away (they help keep me away, too, but it’s a small price to pay). Clear vegetation from the building or ATU cabinet, and put out an insecticide barrier, replenishing it regularly. An herbicide can also be applied to keep vegetation from growing back up close to the structure and providing critters a close-by habitat.

A lot of sites, both AM and FM, have good bones. Even if they have fallen into neglect, they can often be restored to a condition that an engineer can be proud of, despite the equipment being decades old. In most cases, the result is well worth the effort.

Cris Alexander, CPBE, AMD, DRB, is tech editor of RW Engineering Extra. He is the director of engineering for Crawford Broadcasting.

The post Does Your Site Have Good Bones? appeared first on Radio World.

A new audio play called “Phantom Power: A Brief History Of The Ghost In Our Machines” will be performed live online during the AES Fall 2020 Show to celebrate the 100 anniversary of commercial radio broadcasting in the U.S.

All those cryptic buzzes and beeps your engineer has been hearing over the years may be coming from a mysterious source.

Maybe it’s the “Phantom Power.”

That’s the amusing scenario being proposed by an audio play called “Phantom Power: A Brief History of the Ghost in Our Machines,” which will be performed live online on Oct. 29 during the AES Fall 2020 Show. Group-produced by the HEAR Now Festival, Soundbooth Theater and SueMedia Productions, this original audio play was created to celebrate Radio@100, the 100th anniversary of commercial radio broadcasting in the U.S.

[Read: AES Show to Look at Podcast Studios]

The backstory: Exactly 100 years ago — on Nov. 2, 1920 — an audio engineer was trying to get the very first commercial broadcast on air. Somehow, his work ended up pulling him into the machine itself and he found himself trapped forever in the radio waves. This engineer, nicknamed Phantom Power, spends the next 100 years fighting off the ghosts that live in the machines — and all those cryptic buzzes and beeps — and trying to get free.

When the play’s story begins, it’s the year 2020. It’s Halloween. And strange things are beginning to happen at the fictional radio station WDMB.

The ghostly hero, Phantom Power, begins to make his presence known at WDMB. A few days shy of the 100th anniversary of commercial radio broadcasting, the ghosts that live in the machines — that only Phantom Power can defeat — begin to appear. The morning show team at WDMB, who have since March 2020 been quarantining together at the studios while continuing to broadcast, begin to reminisce. They ruminate about broadcast history and previous technology, and in doing so acknowledge all the accomplishments that have come before them — of the engineers, DJs and producers that have curated and cared for radio over the last 100 years.

The idea for this production came about when producer Sue Zizza of SueMedia Productions was asked by AES Broadcast Chair David Bialik to create a special event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of commercial radio. Zizza has been producing special educational and performance events for the AES Broadcast Track, which has been a staple at the AES annual convention, since 1997.

After an email exchange with Ralph Scott, the public relations chair for the HEAR Now Festival, the team brought in audio playwright Butch D’Ambrosio to create a play that looks back on commercial radio’s rich history. This is familiar territory for D’Ambrosio” At last year’s AES show, D’Ambrosio wrote “An Intimate Evening with Tesla and Twain,” an audio performance about Nicola Tesla and Mark Twain.

This year’s production differs from other live audio productions in part because it creates the impression that the audience is together in the same room, Zizza said. “Working with Soundbooth Theater has made this production feel as if we are together in the theater or studio,” she said. “This past June, when HEAR Now went virtual and took the festival completely online, we found that Soundbooth had been experimenting with live performance and had found ways to minimize latency issues that can defeat many ‘zoom performance’ events.”

Jeff Hays

The production features cast members Jeff Hays, founder of Soundbooth Theater, as well as actors Gary Francis Furlong, Annie Ellicott and Laurie Catherine Winkel. Soundbooth’s Ahmed Mahmoud will be engineering the live performance using a variety of software including StreamYard and Steam Deck. David Shinn of SueMedia Productions is the event’s technical director, who will ensure the performance’s web stream will be accessible to AES attendees. HEAR Now intern Rory Stevenson has created the prerecorded sound effects.

By honoring radio’s past, Zizza said, today’s radio professionals can be a better shepherd in the future.

“We should appreciate those who came before, their inventions, and the time they invested to give us the ability to reach each other over the airwaves,” she said. “If we continue to honor the past, we will get to create the future and the next 100 years of broadcasting, wherever that leads.”

Those interested in listening in to “Phantom Power” can register for the AES event here.

 

The post Watch Out! The “Phantom Power” Is Coming this Halloween Season appeared first on Radio World.

In this document, the Commission eliminates the radio duplication rule, which restricts the duplication of programming on commonly owned stations operating in the same geographic area, for both AM and FM stations to reflect technological and marketplace changes since the current version of the rule was adopted in 1992. This approach will strike an appropriate balance between fostering our public interest goals of promoting competition and diversity and affording broadcast radio licensees greater flexibility to address issues of local concern in a timely fashion, facilitate digital broadcasting by AM stations, and ultimately allow stations to improve service to their communities.

.

.

.

.

.

Latitude Media, LLC enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

Forum Communications, Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

.

A rescue mission unfolded on the afternoon of Oct. 20 as three maintenance workers ended up trapped high up on a television tower in the Elsanor/Rosinton, Ala.,  area. It unfortunately ended tragically, with the death of one of the workers, according to the Baldwin County Sheriff department.

According to WPMI(TV), the local NBC affiliate, the workers had climbed the tower, which houses the antenna for WJTC television and a local radio station, to repair a guy cable as part of an ongoing maintenance project. Witnesses on the ground reported that at about 1,300 feet debris may have struck one of the individuals, with the other two locking in place.

Two of the workers were able to be rescued and sustained nonlife-threatening injuries. The other worker unfortunately died before being brought down.

The maintenance workers were from a company in Texas. No names have been released.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident.

For more information, read coverage on myNBC15.com.

The post Alabama TV Tower Accident Results in One Death, Two Rescues appeared first on Radio World.

For the first time in the last six years — since Edison Research study began tracking audio consumption as part of its Share of Ear measurement efforts — podcasting’s share of all audio listening has hit a new all-time high.

The findings were revealed at the Podcast Movement virtual conference in a keynote address by Edison Research Senior Vice President Tom Webster. The latest findings show that the share of time that Americans age 13 and older spend with podcasts as a percentage of all their audio listening has tripled to 6%, up from 2%, in 2014.

[Read: Listening Is Shifting Back to the Car]

“Podcasting has become the greatest companion medium,” Webster said. “Not only can you take it with you while you do other things, but we also see people turning to podcasts for a sense of community and connection during a very stressful time.”

The growth in podcast listening has been steady according to Edison’s research over the last six years. In the Share of Ear report released in Q3 of 2018, podcasts had risen one percentage point over the previous four years to 3%. That report revealed that large chunks of listening time were allocated to other channels like YouTube (11%), streaming audio (14%) and AM/FM radio (46%). In the two years since the 2018 report, listening levels for podcasts has risen another three points.

The Share of Ear Report looks at how the average American divides their listening time among the listening platforms — including AM/FM radio, streaming music, owned music, satellite radio and podcasts — and looks at where and through which devices consumers listen to audio.

 

The post Share of Listening to Podcasting Hits All-Time High appeared first on Radio World.

Ken Webb

Editor: I have been a subscriber to your magazine for awhile now and I particularly like the articles and your relevancy. For example your Aug. 19 issue “WWV/WWVH Stand Ready to Fight Global Chaos.” The article mentioned the “mass solar ejections” from the sun.

I was particularly interested in this article because in the late 1960s and early 1970s a “sun-storm” began its peak interference with shortwave communications in the worse way. I remember I could hardly hear WWV with my shortwave receiver.

This activity by the sun discouraged me because I couldn’t hear with my home-built equipment. I no longer found it fun to “work” the 80-, 75-, 40-, 20-, 15- and 10-meter amateur radio frequencies with code or voice.

That was disappointing because at 12 years old I became a ham radio operator (WA2BQM), related here in Newsday a few years ago.

I left off my amateur radio world still with a love for radio and electronics but managed to have a great career as a New York radio personality on major stations in the New York Tri-State area. In 1982 I produced, from my home studio, a weekly international radio syndicated show, “Jazz From the City.” Since 2005 I have held down the morning show on SiriusXM, Channel 49, “Soultown,” 6 a.m.–12 noon Monday–Friday.

I was able to pursue this path because of the technical training I received in my young days as a little 13-year-old ham radio operator. Please read the article and see who took the time with a neighbor’s son to teach this little guy to pursue his life-long love — radio.

I also appreciated the Sept. 2 issue of RW featuring black engineers Tobias Poole, David Antoine and Ben Hill. I too have “pulled many a cable,” “wired and soldered many a wire,” “built many a radio and TV studio and antennas” (including my home studio) so I well-relate to the many challenges that they overcame and still maintained a built-in love for their work.

The post Letter: Sun Storm Influences appeared first on Radio World.

The author of this commentary is media solutions account manager of ENCO Systems Inc.

Artificial intelligence and radio have a long and fruitful road ahead.

We all know AI is used to detect faces in photos and videos — and it’s really excellent at understanding natural language too. Not just the words being said — but who’s saying them, and so much more.

An area we’ve seen dramatic improvements in from AI is Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), with real-time accuracies now higher than ever attainable before. With products like ENCO’s enCaption (tailored for the radio industry), true speaker independence is achieved, with an on-premises solution that’s fast and reliable.

ENCO’s been crafting ASR products since 2006, and radio automation software for even longer — the marriage of the two is a powerful tool radio stations can use to mine their voice content (live and recorded), to better monetize, repurpose and create.

We even offer solutions whereby you can navigate audio recordings by viewing their captioned words on a screen, enabling you to click on them to navigate through the recording. Say goodbye to laborious and inefficient audio scrubbing!

Indeed, ASR is the key entry point to so many additional methods of analyzing, reporting and even understanding the spoken word.

This is excerpted from “AI Comes to Radio.” Read the free ebook by clicking the image.

ENCO’s enCaption-based ASR and radio tools allow you to deliver the spoken word to your listeners as live text to websites, searchable logs and transcripts, video captions (open and closed), and even captions delivered to car radio head units and streaming endpoints.

The same ASR text can help your producers and writers gain a treasure trove of additional data to work with, to help find nuggets of information hidden deep within their interviews.

Smart AI can help indicate who’s talking and for how long, or even the meaning of what’s being discussed, and where the topic is going.

Interesting things start to happen when you have such voluminous amounts of data. For your ad sales or underwriting teams, an AI can automatically determine where the Live Reads took place, and dump that to an audio clip (and text copy) for later review and sharing.

How about a computer-generated summary of an entire interview, in a single paragraph? AI can help with that, too.

The intimacy of radio suggests AI can never replace humans on the air, since the power of radio and voice needs far more than simple intelligence to be compelling.

But AI’s not just for autonomous vehicles and facial recognition — because when combined with well-designed software focused on the specific workflows of news and talk radio, it becomes an essential tool to aid your creative teams in making sense of your growing content, and gain greater value from it.

This is just the beginning.

The post ASR Is a Key Entry Point for AI appeared first on Radio World.

Congratulations to our colleague Mark Persons for receiving the John H. Battison Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Society of Broadcast Engineers! His latest article is about lightning damage and is featured on page 8.

Also: Best of Show at IBC winners … Laurence Harrison of the World DAB UX Group on the growing role of metadata … Benjamin Lardinoit of On-Hertz on advantages of software-defined infrastructure … and a look at technical gear behind KDKA’s famous first broadcast.

Read it online here.

Prefer to do your reading offline? No problem! Simply click on the digital edition, go to the left corner and choose the download button to get a PDF version.

Connected Car

Audi AG Launches Hybrid Radio in U.S. and Canada

Christian Winter wrote his master thesis in 2012 about hybrid radio, so he knows a little about the topic. He explains and updates what we need to know about it as its uptake is spreading.

Audio Gear

TZ Audio Stellar X2 Microphone Shines

This petite cardioid condenser retails for $199.99. Frank Verderosa found its performance remarkable.

Also in this issue:

• Zoom as a Research and Promo Tool
• Metadata: Keeping Radio Strong in the Car
• The Advantages of Software-Defined Infrastructure

 

The post Inside the October 14 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.