Aggregator

.

.

On December 29, Searchlight III UTD and ForgeLight‘s acquisition of a majority stake of Univision Holdings formally closed. As such, Searchlight, a private investment firm founded by CEO Wade Davis, and associated entity, ForgeLight — an operating and investment company focused on the media and consumer technology sectors — are now the holders of shares in Univision previously held by Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, TPG, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and Saban Capital Group.

As expected, Davis assumed Univision’s Chief Executive chair from Vince Sadusky.

What wasn’t expected: a major house cleaning in Univision’s C-Suite.

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

P1 Learning has teamed up with Marketron to expand the resources on digital advertising that are available to media sales professionals in the Marketron Learning Center, an online training platform that provides best practices, how-tos, industry information, and product guides.

“Today’s sales professional prefers bite-sized modules, so P1 Learning’s library of over 2,000 courses was exactly what we needed when launching Marketron’s NXT Training Academy,” Marketron Senior Manager, Digital Transformation & Enablement Jeff Ulrich said. “P1 Learning’s industry-specific videos have helped us quickly scale our sales enablement efforts. The measurable increases we’re seeing in learning engagement will undoubtably lead to further revenue growth for our customers.”

P1 Learning’s digital ad sales courses are designed to train sales professionals on the essentials of interactive media and how to build successful customer programs integrating both traditional and digital assets.

“We pride ourselves on being responsive to the needs of our industry and short, up-to-date and easily understandable digital sales courses continue to top the list,” said Bryan Marriott, President and GM for P1 Learning. “It’s an honor to become the preferred training provider to one of the most highly respected broadcast-based companies around.”

All Marketron NXT and Pitch customers have access to a digital education and sales training program that includes portions of P1 Learning’s video-based training content focused on selling digital advertising.

The crowd overruns and adapts barriers at the U.S. Capitol in this photo by WTOP’s Alejandro Alvarez.

Even before pro-Trump protestors gathered at Washington’s Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, journalists at WTOP, Hubbard Radio’s highly rated all-news radio station, were aware that it would be no ordinary political rally.

“We knew that there were going to be a lot of people in attendance,” said Director of News and Programming Julia Ziegler. “We knew which groups had permits to be there — there were many of them — and we knew that the president would be speaking. So you had all the makings of a very large event.”

Still, it was shocking when the election protest and rally turned into violent attacks in and around the Capitol building. When it did, the three WTOP reporters on site and the entire WTOP news team kept Washington informed.

Ready for trouble

There were signs that the rally would be emotionally charged. The president had spent two months fanning political division with unfounded assertions about a rigged election. Even the name of the event, the “Save America Rally,” was designed to stoke fury as the joint houses of Congress were ratifying Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory down the street.

Still, there have been emotionally-charged political rallies in Washington over the last year. WTOP field reporters Alejandro Alvarez and Ken Duffy knew to keep a low profile by using their consumer smartphones to file reports and capture/file photos, audio and video back to the station.

“In these kind of tense situations, you always have to think about what makes you a target as a reporter,” said Ziegler.

“So if you’re a journalist out there recording on your phone, you can mix into the crowd where everyone else is using their phones.”

Given the subsequent events — with protestors painting “Murder the Media” and smashing an Associated Press camera position, and with subsequent videos emerging of crowd confrontations with other journalists — their caution seems prudent.

“We always tell our reporters to pull back as need to stay safe,” she added. “At certain points during that day, they had to.”

Getting news to the station

The downside of using smartphones at public events is that wireless networks are prone to slowing down due to traffic.

WTOP’s reporters relied on WhatsApp to get their audio and text messages back to the station. They have found WhatsApp to be pretty reliable even when cell service starts to fail. They also use Skype and Slack as well. For video, WTOP uses Slack or pulls videos from Twitter.

“The fact that WhatsApp sends out content as soon as you record it really helps,” said Ziegler. “You don’t have to upload or download it after recording: It just goes.”

Those incoming feeds turned up on a common channel that is shared among the WTOP newsroom staff so that everyone can see what’s coming in as it arrives.

Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller was at his broadcast booth at the House of Representatives, keeping an eye on the joint session.

Equipped as it is with a suite of links back to WTOP, Miller was in place when doors and windows were smashed and people started breaking into the Capitol building. He provided a steady stream of reports about the invasion no matter what was going on.

“Mitch is fabulous. He’s been with WTOP for a very long time, and he’s just one of those reporters who gets it and understands what the audience needs to hear in that moment,” said Ziegler.

“Whether during the lockdown or afterwards when he was being evacuated along with the Capitol Hill staff, Mitch kept us fully informed with multiple reports per hour as the situation evolved.”

Miller wrote after the event: “When guns were drawn and furniture was moved to block an invasion of rioters from the U.S. House chamber, the danger here at the Capitol was very clear. My broadcast booth is located across the hall from the House chamber, and as the Capitol went into lockdown, the doors of the area where I work with other Capitol Hill reporters were locked for safety.

“Every door that shut loudly, along with the dull roar of people inside and outside of the Capitol, ratcheted up the tension.”

He continued: “When we found out that a woman had been shot inside the Capitol, concern for everyone’s safety continued to rise. I later learned that the shooting happened just a floor below us, in an area known as the Speaker’s Lobby, which is outside the House chamber. I was also alarmed when I saw all the protesters gathered on the steps of the east side of the Capitol. That never happens.”

Despite the danger around him, “I continued to report on the events in real time, all the while trying to remain fully aware of my surroundings, which were troubling, to say the least,” he wrote.

“Late Wednesday afternoon, we were told by the staff in the House Radio and TV Gallery that everyone in our area needed to evacuate … We quickly gathered up our broadcasting equipment and started moving through the maze of underground tunnels that connect the Capitol to the House and Senate buildings. We were escorted to a media room in the Rayburn Office Building. We were able to still report on what was happening as we essentially sheltered in place, as lawmakers and staff members were doing.”

WTOP field reporter Alejandro Alvarez was outside watching the angry crowd as the president’s incitements spurred the crowd to violence.

“There was one precise moment I can point to when I realized that something immeasurably terrible was underway,” wrote Alvarez afterwards.

“It was in the middle of President Donald Trump’s speech, shortly after he had urged his supporters to head for the Capitol … ‘Move forward, patriots, we’re taking the Capitol,’ was one of the first things I heard on arrival at the West Lawn, where the air stung from lingering mace … ‘We’ve been nice for too long,’ I heard someone yell. And another: ‘Where are the gallows?’”

Later in the day, Ziegler said, “There was one point where Ken Duffy was live when the police were repelling the protesters. He’s describing what’s happening to him in the moment and saying things like, ‘Stay with me, Shawn [WTOP anchor Shawn Anderson], give me just a second. I’m getting pushed back. I need to move over here.’ When you hear that, it’s just so captivating, and we had so many of those moments.”

Photo by Alejandro Alvarez of WTOP shows people on scaffolding intended for the upcoming inauguration. One sign reads, “We the people will bring DC to its knees. We have the power.” In the newsroom

As the afternoon’s chaotic events unfolded, news staff at the station’s broadcast facilities just across the District border in Chevy Chase, Md., worked to get the news to air.

The hub of the action took place in WTOP’s open newsroom, whose numbers had been depleted due to people working at home thanks to COVID-19.

“Normally we have everyone together in the same room — our broadcast, on-air, and web staff — so that there’s constant one-to-one yelling of information back-and-forth,” said Ziegler.

“To include at-home workers in this during the pandemic, we set up a open conference line and speakerphones so that everyone on shift can talk to and hear each other, whether they are in the newsroom or not.”

This open line of communications made it easy to share news from Capitol Hill as it came in. Meanwhile, whenever someone got swamped by the rush of information, other staff members stepped into help.

“It may sound corny, but we really work as a team,” said Ziegler. “It’s how we’re able to do what we do.”

During its wall-to-wall coverage of the insurrection, WTOP dropped commercial breaks from mid-afternoon Jan. 6 going into the next morning. “But we kept the other breaks built into the clock such as traffic and weather every 10 minutes, sports at :15 and :45, and business at :25 and :55,” Ziegler said.

“Maintaining the traffic reports was incredibly important, because the impact of the riot on traffic was a big part of the story. This said, the rest of the broadcast just flowed organically, as usually happens during a breaking news event.”

A couple of days after the assault, with additional images of Jan. 6 violence against both law enforcement and journalists emerging on social media, Alvarez wrote in a tweet, “I have plenty of colleagues on this beat who’ve been attacked or arrested. You know the risks but can’t help but wonder if your next assignment is the one you won’t get to walk away from safe and sound. It’s always at the back of my mind.”

More trouble to come?

Not long after the assault had ended and a curfew implemented, the building was protected by a seven-foot metal fence and the National Guard. Joe Biden had been confirmed as winner of the presidential election, and his inauguration was set to proceed on Jan. 20 — without President Trump in attendance.

The WTOP news team was pressing on to cover the aftermath, as the nation wondered how Trump’s last days in office would unfold, and reports surfaced of further threats against public officials and public buildings between now and the inauguration.

Ziegler expressed pride in WTOP’s team and how they have endured a year of crisis.

“We have gone through COVID, all the protests all throughout the summer/fall of 2020, and then the election. So we’ve been running a marathon and with the inauguration still to come, it’s still not over.

“Journalists are mission-driven people,” she said. “Our purpose is to help people, and our mission at WTOP News is to make sure that we are providing our community with everything they need to know about the biggest stories of the day. [Jan. 6] was huge from many different perspectives, but it’s not the only huge story we’ll be covering this year.”

 

The post How WTOP Covered the Assault on Congress appeared first on Radio World.

Between July 13 and November 5, 2020, Townsquare Media shares were rather stagnant, trading in the mid-$4 range for much of the period.

It was a far cry from the first days of February, when a $10.25 closing price was seen and many Wall Street observers noted how the local digital and audio company had enjoyed two solid years of share growth.

It appears the election of Joe Biden as U.S. president may have served as some sort of spark for TSQ, given its performance over the last nine weeks.

BE SURE TO FOLLOW RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!

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

The Federal Communications Commission has announced the deadline for public comments about its proposed rulemaking for FM boosters and geo-targeting.

Comments are due Feb. 10, 2021. Reply comments must be submitted by March 12. Comments can be filed via the commission’s online portal; refer to MB Dockets 20-401 and 17-105.

Comments must be submitted no later than Feb. 10, 2021. Reply comments must be submitted no later than March 12.

The commission proposes to let FM broadcasters use FM booster stations to air geo-targeted content independent of the signals of a primary station within different portions of the primary station’s protected service contour for a few minutes during each broadcast hour. The goal is to provide hyper-localized advertising, information and other content.

As we’re reported, this is a proposal being driven by GeoBroadcast Solutions, a company that has a proprietary technology called ZoneCasting that it wants to bring to market.

[Read: “FCC Asks for Comments on FM Geo-Targeting”]

Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr recently have worked together to bring the proposal to this point.

Then-Commissioner Michael O’Rielly expressed concern in November that the proposal was moving too fast, given the “substantial implications for reshaping FM radio policy and the radio advertising marketplace.”

The post FCC Sets Deadline for Geo-Targeting Comments appeared first on Radio World.

Travel some 90 minutes to the east of Pittsburgh, and you’ll find yourself in the Johnstown, Pa., media market.

Here, Sinclair Broadcast Group owns and operates NBC affiliate WJAC-6, which airs The CW+ national network feed on a digital multicast channel. Sinclair also operates two other stations in the market, via somewhat complex master service arrangements.

Now, one of those stations is shifting from its licensee to its Time Brokerage Agreement partner — an entity with a long history of letting Sinclair handle most of the operations.

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

Take a glance at the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten TV report, and you’ll see one matter of fact as clear as today: auto insurance brands are as competitive as ever.

And, they’re spending money at spot TV.

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

He has more than 30 years of programming and production experience, having held leadership roles at Viacom, The Walt Disney Company and CBS.

Most recently, he led programming strategy for MGM Global Networks’ linear and digital networks.

Now, he’ll serve as the head of programming for The E.W. Scripps Co.’s national TV networks business — which now incorporates ION Media’s brands.

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

If you were wondering where one big auto insurance specialist has been of late, perhaps it was simply in production on new creative to freshen up its 2021 marketing and advertising slate.

Progressive is back at spot radio — and in a big way.

Thanks to a new effort, the brand has propelled its way to No. 3 for the week ending Jan. 10, 2021 on the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report.

It’s the No. 2 paid campaign for the week, behind new No. 1 Babbel.

As shown below, Progressive is competing for consumers at spot radio with GEICO and Liberty Mutual Insurance.

 

New York, NY – Nexstar Inc., America’s largest local broadcasting company, is seeking an experienced and dynamic Vice President/General Manager to oversee its operational agreement with Mission Broadcasting, providing services to WPIX-TV in New York City, the #1-ranked market in the country.

In this role, the Vice President/General Manager will have full oversight over Nexstar’s operations at WPIX-TV (CW), as well as the station’s digital, mobile and social media assets. WPIX-TV is owned by Mission Broadcasting and Nexstar Inc. provides operational support under the terms of a Local Programming and Marketing Agreement.

Nexstar seeks a proven leader to join the ranks of the country’s largest local broadcast company in the largest DMA in the United States. Proven skillsets and demonstrable experience in leading broadcast operational teams with sales-driven organizations, developing locally originated content, and a commitment to community service are fundamental requirements of this position.

Additionally, the successful candidate will have demonstrated results in developing revenue across multiple platforms, promoting teamwork within all station departments and a track record of success in maintaining a focus on operational efficiencies and growth in programming performance and new local revenue generation.

Essential Duties and Requirements

Ideal candidates will have a minimum of five years of general management experience at a commercial broadcast television station with accompanying digital assets. The right fit for this position will be a seasoned and knowledgeable professional who is a driven advocate of local broadcasting and digital service to the community in which they have previously served. This position requires a leader with exemplary strategic vision, focused execution, and a verified understanding of local outreach and thoughtful community involvement. In addition to having a proven track record of managing high-performing sales, and news teams, the successful candidate must be effective in collaborating with department heads, staff members and promoting teamwork within all areas of station operations, preferably with oversight of a large staff. The ability to engage local community leaders and develop long-term relationships with key station clients is essential.

If you are interested in joining the executive ranks of Nexstar Inc.’s operational leadership team, and making an impact in the nation’s largest DMA, you are encouraged to apply online at www.nexstar.tv/careers/

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Leadership Foundation is now accepting entries for the 2021 Celebration of Service to America Awards, recognizing outstanding community service by local broadcasters.

Following the pattern of the 2020 Celebration of Service to America Awards, winners and finalists will again be honored during a special televised event, available for stations to air next summer.

The one-hour program will feature celebrity guests, past honorees and D.C. policymakers commending local radio and television stations from across the country for their commitment to public service and the measures taken throughout 2020 to keep communities informed, supported and safe.

Eight Service to Community Awards will be presented, with one radio and one television honoree in each of the following categories:

• Broadcast Ownership Group
• Large/Major Market (TV DMAs 1-50, Radio Markets 1-50)
• Medium Market (TV DMAs 51-100, Radio Markets 51-150)
• Small Market (TV DMAs 101-210, Radio Markets 151-300)

Radio and television stations, as well as broadcast groups, are encouraged to enter their best community service efforts from the past year. Both NAB members and non-members are eligible to enter.

Entries must be submitted by Friday, March 5, 2021 at 11:59 PST.

Additional information on the awards entry rules is available at ServiceToAmericaAwards.org.

New research released Monday (1/11) by groupM finds that more than half of its respondents believe it is important to be equipped with the latest technology.

An even greater percentage of respondents think that either they or a family member should be the only ones with access to health and fitness tracker data — an interesting privacy concern that media may wish to take note of when seeking to build their consumer databases based on opt-out criteria some may not be aware of.

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

In January 2015, she joined conservative Talk station WIND-AM 560 in Chicago as a Senior Account Executive. In August 2018, she rose to GSM.

Now, she’s been promoted to Director of Sales for Salem Media Group‘s entire Windy City operations.

Earning the bump up in responsibilities is  Angenette Natkowski. It’s a newly created position, one that sees her add duties for Salem Surround Chicago and sales leadership for Christian Talk & Teaching WYLL-AM 1160.

“As a salesperson, she not only had success selling AM 560, Angenette was instrumental with the launch of Salem Chicago’s digital division,” said Salem Media Group Chicago VP/GM Jeff Reisman. “Over the past two plus years, Angenette has proven herself to be a strategic sales manager and a strong leader. She is a seasoned marketing and communications professional. I am thrilled to put Angenette’s creativity and expertise to work on AM 1160 and have her lead Chicago’s talented sales team.”

 

On Wednesday (1/6), Cox Media Group lit the PR cannons and lobbed a cannonball in the direction of Suddenlink, in the form of a warning to subscribers that its broadcast TV channels were in danger of being “blocked” in lieu of a fresh retransmission consent agreement.

Suddenlink responded. But, talks didn’t progress since a day that will be long remembered for a Capitol Hill insurrection. As such, Suddenlink, by law, has prevented its paying subscribers from getting any CMG-owned station.

At 6:30pm PT on Friday (1/8), FOX affiliates KAYU-28 in Spokane, WHBQ-13 in Memphis and KOKI-23 in Tulsa; ABC affiliate KLAX-31 in Alexandria; the CBS and NBC affiliates serving Eureka-Arcata, Calif.; and the ABC, FOX, NBC and CBS stations serving Greenwood and Greenville, Miss., are now being blocked from viewers.

The blame game is on.

On Friday, Cox beat Suddenlink to the PR punch, pointing fingers that the Altice USA-owned MVPD for making “an anti-consumer decision to drop Cox Media Group (CMG) TV stations.”

Rather than reach a fair market deal with the Apollo Global Management-controlled CMG, Suddenlink “unfortunately opted to place their customers in the middle of their negotiations.”

Is that true, or a one-sided opinion?

Less than one hour later, Suddenlink issued a statement “related to Cox Media Group pulling its networks” from its TV lineups in six markets.

Intriguingly, Suddenlink used the word “networks” instead of “channels,” although none of the Big Four networks are involved in the negotiations.

“Despite being in the midst of a pandemic when access to affordable news is incredibly critical, Cox Media Group has pulled its channels from Suddenlink TV lineups in certain markets in an effort to extract an exorbitant increase in fees from us and our customers,” Suddenlink claims. “With so many households across the nation struggling, we call on Cox Media Group to stop holding our customers hostage, return the channels to our lineups, and focus on working with us to negotiate a new deal that is fair to our customers.”

To its defense, Cox points out that it has “over 100 agreements in place, including those with every other major cable and satellite provider in the markets we serve.”

Suddenlink responds that through parent company Altice USA in recent months, it has reached “dozens of deals with programmers, including many broadcasters in just the last several weeks, with no disruption to our customers.” Further, it assails CMG in asking for higher rates than what it pays “any other broadcaster.”

And, Cox EVP/Television Paul Curran took note of the pandemic while insisting that CMG stations get what they deserve in the way of retrans compensation.

“Our country continues to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic and, during these uncertain times, it is more important than ever that our viewers know their trusted local stations are there for them, providing the news and information they need to make decisions for their families,” Curran said. “CMG stations take pride in being trusted and vital resources for our communities, and we will fight to continue to fulfill this responsibility.”

The Humboldt County, Calif., stations present an ironic twist for Cox. Fifteen years ago, it owned the MVPD. The stations it owns today, dominant NBC affiliate KIEM-3 in Eureka and CBS sibling KVIQ-LP 14, came to CMG in late 2019 after Brian Brady’s Northwest Broadcasting was sold to Apollo, ahead of its Cox deal. In 2005, KVIQ was a Clear Channel-owned property using Channel 6, picked up in 2002 from Ackerley Group. KIEM was owned by Pollack/Belz Broadcasting.

An Class D AM in Barstow, Calif., in November with well-remembered call letters for Los Angeles radio listeners of the past was acquired in mid-November 2020 by The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council.

What wasn’t immediately known was that the MMTC had an immediate buyer. Now, paperwork filed with the Commission shows the little AM known as KIQQ is being spun to a new operator.

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

Developers and others involved in hybrid radio have been working to minimize the possible impact of royalty fees that U.S. broadcasters would pay for streamed audio content that is a popular function of hybrid systems for car manufacturers.

A hybrid radio receiver uses a station’s over-the-air signal within the listening area until it is no longer viable, then switches to the station’s online stream via cellular data networks, a feature called “service following” or “station following.” (The listener can choose whether that switchover happens automatically or with a prompt.)

It is an appealing selling point for hybrid radio: The listener stays on the same radio station in a situation when they normally would have switched away. Advocates call this an advantage for both listener and broadcaster — for the first time, terrestrial radio can provide “reception everywhere” akin to what satellite radio can offer.

The technology also can time-align the IP-delivered content to make a full seamless transition between the services, for the best user experience.

In the United States, radio broadcasters that stream their content on the internet or mobile apps must pay for music use on those digital channels; SoundExchange is the entity responsible for collecting digital music recording royalties and distributing them to copyright owners (see sidebar). When the hybrid radio platform is playing the stream, those royalties would kick in.

But broadcasters following these developments had expressed concern about possible additional “hidden” streaming fees if the implementation of hybrid radio samples the stream audio in the background in order to align it with broadcast — meaning broadcasters might incur rights fees even when no one is listening.

Developers like Audi and Xperi, which have separate implementations of hybrid radio, have been working on ways to minimize such royalty exposure.

One observer said he thinks anxiety about this particular potential problem will recede as hybrid becomes more established and the reality of usage becomes more apparent. “I think the bigger risk is that by reacting too adversely to the potential of this risk, it undermines hybrid and accelerates a move to an all-IP environment.”

“Increased engagement”

A number of large radio groups have expressed interest in hybrid radio, and the National Association of Broadcasters has been active in promoting its progress in the United States.

iHeartRadio is collaborating with Audi of America to bring the capability to drivers of connected cars in the United States. ​Meanwhile in December, Entercom said its Radio.com digital platform is now part of the DTS Connected Radio ecosystem, citing benefits of “increased engagement, expanded reach and turnkey management and control of content for each of our local broadcasters,” according to a press release.

Neither broadcast group commented for this story.

Advocates note that the royalty issue is less of a concern in markets like Germany where broadcast stations do not have to pay additional fees for an online stream if it is an exact simulcast.

But in the United States, a communications attorney familiar with digital media and hybrid radio said limiting exposure to any streaming royalties in connected cars is crucial to support the interest of radio entities.

“Obviously, (broadcasters) won’t want to pay more than necessary. They don’t want to pay for listeners that are not there on the stream. That would be a disincentive for the industry to support hybrid radio,” the attorney said.

“However, broadcasters pay fractions of a cent in streaming royalties, so unless its use becomes widespread, it might not be that much of a financial burden. Much of this will depend on the adoption of the technology and how many use it.”

Two sources involved in these developments emphasized that the time involved in alignment is only a couple of minutes of streaming in the background, and hoped the issue would not discourage other manufacturers from pursuing hybrid radio.

Location-aware

The discussion of sampling in the background to work out alignment for seamless switching is separate from whether streaming should be used at all where good broadcast signal exists.

Some broadcasters have worried that manufacturers would be tempted to put in poor quality radio receivers on the assumption they can freely fall back to streaming in bad reception.

In a 2020 Radio World article, David Layer, VP of advanced engineering for NAB, was quoted saying that a possible solution to such concerns is for broadcasters to provide geographic information to a receiver about where the station’s OTA signal should be strong enough to not require streaming audio.

“The receiver, which is ‘location-aware,’ would not use the streaming signal while within that strong signal area. This would help to reduce the amount of hidden streaming,” Layer said then.

One hybrid radio insider told Radio World that such a process would be like “geo-fencing, in a sense,” though the inverse of the typical application. “Such technology could prevent the stream from even being found within a station’s listening area, so there would be no threat of the hybrid radio receiver tapping into the audio stream unless it is outside the station’s listening area. It creates a barrier.”

However, the person continued, a geo-fencing system might not be able to take into consideration the varied nuances of hybrid receivers in a variety of connected vehicles. “That lack of a unilateral approach to solving the transition process is creating some concern among broadcasters.”

“Only when necessary”

On the alignment issue specifically, one way to limit fees is by maximizing the reception of a radio station’s over-the-air signal.

For instance, Audi — which has been in the forefront of hybrid radio deployment and introduced its first car model with the feature in 2017 — uses multiple FM antennas with the “latest broadcast radio receiver chipsets” to hold the signal stable as long as possible, minimizing situations where streaming is justified. Audi then utilizes an integrated 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot to maintain a station’s service when out of range of the signal.

Audi of America has introduced hybrid radio technology on some vehicles available in the United States with the new MIB 3 infotainment suite. With an annual subscription to Audi connect Prime ($365) or Plus ($499), listeners get hybrid radio along with features like Amazon Music integration and a WiFi hotspot.

According to one source, this system can compensate in most cases for up to around 10 seconds of delay in stream vs. the broadcast signal. “When it does not have the time for a perfect alignment, it will switch to stream when the broadcast signal is lost.”

Observers say hybrid receivers have their own unique characteristics and that, ultimately, auto manufacturers will be the ones deciding how seamless the transition from OTA to IP stream is going to be and how often the receivers sample the internet streams.

The amount of delay between OTA and the internet stream can vary, too, depending on connectivity variables built into the receivers. Different latency levels also will develop depending on the cellular network capabilities, such as the delivery speeds of 4G and 5G platforms. And then there is the application infrastructure used by broadcasters for their streams.

“The lower the delay an online stream has compared to the FM signal, the better seamless ‘station following’ works,” the observer said, noting that in the past, broadcasters generally haven’t had to worry about synchronizing the online stream with the OTA signal. “We’ve seen stations in Europe changing their delay to the better after they were introduced to hybrid radio. It’s about awareness.”

“Low-latency”

Xperi’s DTS Connected Radio platform is rolling out in a partnership with Daimler and its luxury Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles. The technology is part of the Daimler MB User Experience (MBUX) system. The carmaker is including hybrid radio on some Mercedes-Benz S-Class 2021 models that were set to arrive in the United States by the first of the year.

An Xperi official told Radio World some broadcasters supply the company with “custom audio streams” that are more tightly aligned to the over-the-air signal to minimize any streaming delays.

Joe D’Angelo, senior VP of radio at Xperi, said it’s not the company’s practice to use the audio stream in the background to create a seamless time alignment for the hybrid radio environment.

“It will not be totally seamless, but it will be a low-latency switch,” D’Angelo said. “A totally seamless transition could be a very expensive process for broadcasters. We are working with broadcasters to minimize their costs.”

D’Angelo said the issue affects the U.S. and Australian markets because of the structure of streaming royalties there, but that it is less of an issue in Europe.

“We are trying to maximize that radio broadcast signal usage and allow stream access only when it is in the broadcaster’s interest,” he said.

Hybrid radio is basically a collective term for technologies intended to enhance traditional broadcast with an internet connection; and “service following” is not the only benefit.

For instance DTS Connected Radio combines OTA radio with internet-delivered content and aggregates the metadata, such as on-air radio program and talent information and artist and song information. And hybrid radio will offer broadcasters real-time analytics on listening habits and crucial data for advertisers.

But radio broadcasters watch the cost of content closely, D’Angelo said, along with the cost of consumption.

“Those elements need to be considered when designing the system of over-the-air to streaming. With our platform we are very aware of this switch for broadcasters. We have done a lot of engineering work and implementation work to make sure we minimize the time spent streaming while still ensuring a great user experience.

“Our platform is constantly looking at RF signal quality, and then we ensure the switch to streaming only happens when it is absolutely necessary, and we switch back to broadcast as soon as possible. In our system we are literally talking about seconds for the alignment process where it is sampling the IP stream.”

D’Angelo continued: “Car radios all have very different RF performance characteristics. It’s important to consider this nuance to allow you to constantly assess the on-air signal quality.”

He said Xperi research indicates listeners will accept audio in hybrid radio mode that is not totally synced up.

Period of uncertainty

RadioDNS is an open standards organization that promotes technical standards for hybrid systems and encourages sharing of information sharing between broadcasters and manufacturers “to lessen the uncertainty of implementing hybrid radio.” iHeartMedia, Cumulus, Entercom, Cox and NPR are among the members of RadioDNS.

Project Director Nick Piggott said the initial integration phase of hybrid radio does create a period uncertainty for broadcasters since they can’t estimate the amount of extra streaming it creates.

“What I think we can say at this point — taking into account the speed at which vehicles are coming to the market and the number that support seamless switching — [is that] it’s unlikely to have a material impact [on streaming fees] in the short term,” Piggott said.

He said there is “no requirement for auto manufacturers to make hybrid radio seamless,” even though “that seamlessness is a specific approach to the implementation, which of course makes it seem magical to the driver.”

But broadcasters should support manufacturers’ ambitions to provide the audio experience that drivers want, he said.

“The risk of reacting too quickly to this concern is that it pushes manufacturers and drivers towards an all-IP approach, which is certainly less appealing than a hybrid approach.”

sidebar: Royalty Talk

More than 20 years ago the Digital Millennium Copyright Act established the need for radio broadcasters to pay royalties to music performers and record labels for digitally transmitted music.

SoundExchange charges on a per-song, per-listener basis. For each song heard by one listener, radio stations pay $.0018. Broadcasters, which self-report streaming numbers to SoundExchange, pay a minimum fee of $500 per year per digital channel, according to an expert familiar with the royalty payments.

The U.S. Copyright Office announced in 2020 that it would not set 2021 webcasting rates for broadcasters that stream their non-interactive audio programming on the internet until April 15, 2021. Whenever that new rate is established, it is expected to be retroactive to the beginning of the year.

Most radio stations also pay royalties for music they broadcast to organizations like ASCAP, BMI, GMR and SESAC, who reimburse songwriters and their publishers. SoundExchange, performers and record labels have long suggested that broadcasters should also pay royalties to the artists and labels, and have lobbied aggressively to that end.

 

The post Hybrid Radio and the Royalties Question appeared first on Radio World.

In this document the Federal Communications Commission proposes to amend its rules to enable FM broadcasters to use FM booster stations to air geo-targeted content (e.g., news, weather, and advertisements) independent of the signals of its primary station within different portions of the primary station's protected service contour for a limited period of time during the broadcast hour.

The complexities of the transition from the FCC Media Bureau’s online Consolidated Data Base System (CDBS) to the Licensing and Management System (LMS) have been well chronicled. But some of the major stakeholders who regularly use the new system told Radio World they generally find it to be more flexible than its predecessor despite some challenges.

LMS is the Media Bureau’s latest internet-based system to permit electronic filing of broadcast radio and television application forms with the Federal Communications Commission.

“I think broadcasters need to keep in mind that the transition to LMS is a work in progress and that some patience is needed as the FCC works out the kinks,” one veteran consulting engineer said.

“Significant” advance

The FCC launched its e-filing LMS forms system for TV licensees in late 2014. The LMS transition for radio broadcasters began in May 2019 with the transition of station renewal applications to the new platform. The FCC subsequently transitioned applications for new and modified FM, FM translator and booster, and LPFM stations to LMS.

In November, the FCC announced that applications for assignment and transfer of control of broadcast station licenses and construction permits would begin transitioning from the CDBS and become available in the LMS, though existing assignment/transfer applications will not be moved.

This latest phase “significantly advanced the LMS transition,” said a commission spokesperson. The renewal, assignment of license and transfer of control applications are the most heavily used of Media Bureau forms.

The spokesperson said the main items remaining to transition are AM applications and a number of informal filings and less commonly used forms.

“While no conversion is without its issues, we are pleased there have not been major disruptions during the transition,” the spokesperson said.

The EEO Program Report, Schedule 396, went to LMS as part of the transition of the renewal application, according to the FCC.

The Online Public Inspection File (OPIF) will remain a separate database. Information filed in LMS, where necessary, will link to OPIF the same way CDBS feeds information to OPIF.

Aiming to simplify

It’s important to note that information does not flow from LMS back to the CDBS database. For pending applications filed in CDBS and for legacy information, broadcasters should continue to check both LMS and CDBS to ensure they have complete information.

Also, “Although the FCC conducts extensive testing before we make public releases, there inevitably will be some bugs that we do not catch,” the spokesperson said.

The FCC describes the old CDBS database as “extremely complex,” containing decade’s worth of information that is highly customized. The gradual transition to LMS has been a deliberate process to avoid mistakes when possible, the spokesperson said.

“It also is important to note that the transition is not limited to the public-facing applications and database search features. We also are transitioning the engineering tools we use to analyze applications and the administrative tools we use to process applications. In many cases, transitioning those tools greatly complicates the process and leads to longer transition timelines.”

More elegant

Joe Davis, consulting broadcast engineer and president of Chesapeake RF Consultants, says LMS does present a new way of doing things but that it feels like a more elegant form of electronic filing.

“We’ve have had to learn what kinds of files could be uploaded, sizes allowed and the easiest way of searching for filings,” Davis said, “but it takes time to adapt to the differences.”

The commission has a web page to help with the new system,, click image to access.

Davis said one noticeable difference is the abandonment of the FCC’s decades-long use of file numbers and prefixes that reflect the nature of an application (for example, BP- for AM construction permit, BPH- for FM construction permit, BL- for AM license and so on), and the date filed of new applications.

“Now in LMS, that filing is just a sequential number given in order of all applications received. It just makes it much more difficult to search for applications because you just don’t know the date of an application without reading the file.”

There really isn’t much for station engineers to enter in LMS, Davis said.

“The typical scenario for a station-level engineer might be to query information from LMS. The public access part of LMS allows for people to cull readily available information on any station by entering a call sign,” he said. “CDBS had those same query features but they are a bit different now.”

The occasional PDF file gets corrupted during the uploading process in LMS, Davis said.

Bob Weller, vice president of spectrum policy for the National Association of Broadcasters, said the CDBS had a lot going for it but did have limitations such as fixed fields that couldn’t be easily changed. “Then when the FCC did change something it would break everyone’s software,” Weller said with a chuckle.

The initial migration was incremental but still “pretty disruptive,” he said, “because the underlying database structures that sophisticated law offices and consulting broadcast engineers use are very different from the FCC’s graphical user interface. So there were some hiccups with the LMS server, but those seem to have been worked out.”

Weller says many consulting engineers still complain about the lack of AM data available in CDBS and now LMS.

“Figures and graphical things unique to medium-wave broadcasting were never added to CDBS. And AM license applications Form 302 are still a paper filing exercise,” Weller said. “And in order to look at someone else’s AM application filing you need to send someone downtown — Washington — to retrieve all of the paper records from the Public Inspection Room. It’s unduly expensive because of it.”

The Media Bureau does plan to transition all AM filings to electronic submissions in LMS as part of the change to the LMS system. “Due to the complexities of AM engineering, we expect that to be a significant development effort,” the FCC spokesperson told Radio World.

Weller, who previously worked at the FCC, said the commission introduced an online database in 1979, called the Broadcast Application Processing System (BAPS), which processed applications and generated authorizations and Public Notices. BAPS was replaced by CDBS in 1999.

As services are moved into LMS, Weller said, communications attorneys and consulting broadcast engineers again are reminded there is “no backwards compatibility” between CDBS and LMS.

Some quirks

Some aspects of LMS are better, said Rajat Mathur, vice president of Hammett & Edison, Inc., a broadcast and wireless consulting firm.

“The LMS forms and schedules themselves have some auto fill and error checking capabilities, which is helpful. For example, when an antenna structure registration (ASR) number is entered in an LMS application it automatically fills in the appropriate data (ground elevation and tower heights) from the ASR database into the relevant field in the LMS form,” Mathur said.

Yet there are some quirks to LMS, Mathur said, usually related to starting an application.

“CDBS was straightforward in this regard. You just picked the appropriate form from a list and go. However, in LMS the FCC has transitioned from a form-based system to a largely schedule-based system, and sometimes it can be difficult to find and start the appropriate application,” he said.

Doug Vernier, president of V-Soft Communications, said the transition has added to the workload of consulting engineers and broadcast law attorneys who regularly use the online database.

“We download from the LMS very early each day to make it available to our users. All of our processing programs had to be rewritten to handle the new LMS data structure,” Vernier said.

He hopes the FCC makes some final additions before completing the transition to LMS. “The commission could finish the transition by including many useful items left out from the CDBS such as a link from the record to the primary station’s translator or translators,” Vernier said.

In addition, the LMS still does not have the comments that were posted with the records on the CDBS, Vernier said. “The comment file was particularly useful when it gave information on agreements with foreign stations about the maximum power that can be run in the direction of the foreign stations. This loss is really a big problem when we are working with a U.S. station near the U.S. international borders.”

“Far from perfect”

Michelle Bradley, president of REC Networks and REC Broadcast Services LLC, said radio broadcasters need to pay particular attention to previous assignments and transfer applications.

“Unlike what the FCC did with modification applications, the existing assignment/transfer applications will not be moved into LMS. Pre-November 18 applications filed in CDBS will not be able to be amended in either CDBS or LMS. The same goes for pleadings in those applications,” Bradley said.

REC, which provides advocacy and professional filing services, recommends broadcasters send an e-mail to FCC staff to request a manual amendment of those applications. “Consummation notices from granted CDBS assignment/transfer applications will continue to be allowed in CDBS,” Bradley said.

Lawyers often use the Media Bureau’s databases to complete the legal sections of forms that were started by consulting broadcast engineers, who provide the technical data. One veteran communications attorney told Radio World the new LMS system is “far from perfect.”

“The FCC’s adoption of LMS for its radio broadcast station application work is afflicted with similar shortcomings that affected the original adoption of CDBS several decades ago. That shortcoming is that the FCC’s staff did not invite public comment from its most prolific users of the system – the legal and engineering community – prior to putting the LMS foundational aspects in place,” this Washington-based attorney said.

“This lack of user input, and the deficiencies in LMS as a result of no input, will likely cripple the usability of LMS for years to come.”

He continued: “CDBS, as it has been modified through the years, is an extremely efficient and a quick way to search out just about any facility information or application filed regarding a broadcast station. Conversely, LMS is sluggish, and buries information behind multiple non-descript headings. I do not know whether it is pride, or simply bureaucratic intransigence, that kept the FCC staff from involving the public and prime users of LMS in the design of it.”

That does not seem to be the consensus view, however.

“We have not had any issues with the carrying over of databases, including call signs or FRNs [FCC Registration Number],” said Reid Avett, communications attorney with Womble Bond Dickinson in Washington.

“Some of the improvements, such as having the ability to create a special use FRN for ownership reports within the LMS form are very helpful. Generally, it’s more user-friendly for filers. For example, LMS can model an ownership report off of a prior ownership report, so it takes less time to complete.”

However, there are still nuances of varying degrees between CDBS and LMS, Avett noted.

“We find that some of the searching can be trickier. For example, a facility search will include the same information as an application search, but be formatted differently,” he said.

And Avett has one final request of the FCC: “A filer must search several sub-menus to find all of the reports that can be filed. For instance, we do not understand why a link to start an EEO report does not appear on the first or second page. Instead, a filer has to click on ‘facilities,’ then click on a facility ID, then click on ‘file a report’ and then select EEO report.”

The FCC says LMS users are encouraged to contact the Audio Division with feedback about problems they encounter and should remember they can consult the LMS Help Center for instructions and other assistance.

Sidebar: Some Data TBD

Users familiar with the database said that as of November, LMS data did not yet contain helpful items such as whether FM stations transmit in HD, the associated facility ID or a link from the record to the primary station’s translator or translators.

John Gray, vice president of V-Soft Communications, did a comparison for certain FM technical data in the LMS vs. the CDBS from around the time the transition began in late 2019.

Missing as of November were the “digital status” flag that indicates if a station is using HD Radio; an indication that a station is near a country border and the distance to that border; FM comments that were contained in the CDBS “fmcmnts.dat” table; STA records; and the electrical beam tilt indicator flag (though for this data point, Gray said the LMS field “aant_electrical_deg_ind” in the “APP_ANTENNA” table could indicate this, noting that it does contain some values. He said there was a “bt_ind” field in the old “fm_app_indicators” CDBS table).

“We continue working on improving the information flow from LMS and expect new information to be available as we enhance the database,” an FCC spokesperson said.

 

The post FCC Database Transition Nears Completion appeared first on Radio World.