Radio World

Broadcasters in the United States are implementing a number of COVID-19 safety protocols as they resume radio station operations. But the process has been both tentative and uneven, given the dynamic national health and economic situation.

Industry leaders say safe return of employees is their priority as they evaluate when to reopen facilities and reimagine what new workplaces will look. Many broadcasters closed facilities at the onset of the coronavirus, and it’s very likely many will continue to have some employees work from home, according to those familiar with the situation.

Return-to-work scenarios shared by several executives with Radio World are wide-ranging and include safety protocols like social distancing along with mitigation efforts to prevent further virus outbreaks.

One challenge facing broadcasters is the varying reopening requirements set by local jurisdictions. As of early July some parts of the country had reopened even as other states were seeing spikes in the number of COVID-19 cases.

Many broadcasters are following the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Environmental Protection Agency for cleaning and disinfecting workplaces and other common areas. Radio station lobbies remain closed to the public in many cases, according to sources with direct knowledge of discussions.

Like a number of companies, Cox Media Group, which operates 54 radio stations in 10 markets, declined to discuss its specific re-entry approach for this story. However, a spokesperson said the company is moving ahead with caution. “We are doing everything we can to create a safe work environment and ensure our employees’ well-being.”

Practical concerns

The pandemic processes described by those who spoke with us include drastic measures like limiting free movement of employees inside buildings, avoiding the use of large meeting spaces, and even limiting the return of employees considered at high risk of contracting the virus. In many cases sales people will continue working off-site.

Those new work routines for employees are still being carved out, with new guidelines being adopted as office spaces and studios are realigned. Work models are still being fine-tuned by many large broadcast groups but work from home for some employees is expected to be extended.

A top-market public radio executive noted that companies not only must create their own rules but abide by those of the buildings where they lease space. This may raise additional issues involving maximum building occupancy, new “traffic patterns” such as one-way stairwells, and additional security card readers to support those patterns.

Also, if more air and IT staff are expected to work permanently from home, their employers may need to provide those homes with uninterruptible power supplies for conditioning and backup power — and have plans in place for “passing the mic” to backup talent or support people if the home is hit by an extended power outage.

Longer-term, a high-ranking corporate executive at one major radio group foresees a major shift to more centralized broadcast operations.

“It is pretty clear that corporate radio is trending to more centralized operations in general, similar to what iHeartMedia is doing. If anything, this pandemic proved remote operation could be achieved much more easily than first thought,” he said. “I think we will generally see facilities with fewer people and more on-air content being generated centrally instead of locally.”

iHeartMedia announced earlier this year plans to create AI-enabled Centers of Excellence in order to consolidate some operations at its radio stations, according to those familiar with the development.

Toolkit

NAB Executive VP and Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny said radio CEOs and other senior leaders he has spoken to have been pleasantly surprised at how well the shift to remote work has gone.

“In many cases 75 to 80% of the workforce is now, or was at one point, remote. The technology and engineering is there to enable it,” Matheny said.

[Related: “New Ebook Explores Broadcasting From Home”]

For some broadcasters, returning employees to the office may sound easy, but working from there could be hard, he said.

“I think a really important thing broadcasters can do right now is to have a plan for what happens when someone in their organization is diagnosed with COVID-19. This is especially true for stations that operate with a small staff where a single infection could cause a major disruption due to quarantine of multiple employees,” Matheny said.

The NAB has a Coronavirus Toolkit that offers station operation resources, educational resources and a link to the CDC’s guidelines on reopening.

“When it comes to returning to the office, the size and configuration of the broadcast facility and team will drive the physical considerations,” Matheny said. “Face masks are a major area of focus and were deemed the most needed Personal Protective Equipment item by broadcasters and others in the communications sector for critical employees.”

Hand sanitizer, gloves and supplies for regular cleaning of studio or other shared equipment are critical, Matheny said. “And an item that I believe is unique to broadcasters is the increased need for changeable microphone screens,” he said.

Other strategies being considered by broadcasters to maintain social distancing include barriers, modified work hours, alternating days in the office as well as people working remotely, Matheny said.

Cleaning crews will be necessary since wiping down all surfaces will be critical, he said. “And even staggered building entry times might be necessary since using elevators will be difficult while maintaining social distancing.”

Limited occupancy

One engineering executive at a major broadcast group said remote work for his company will continue for some time.

“Occupancy of air studios will be limited based on size,” the source said. “All air staff who are in the building will be at least six feet apart with clear dividers installed where necessary.”

Break rooms are likely to remain closed for some time, he said, and companies will do regular cleaning and sanitizing of touch points throughout broadcast facilities.

Many broadcasters are operating with fewer employees after furloughs; the industry has also seen recent job cuts that predated or were not specifically tied to the health crisis. One open question is how many such jobs might be recovered.

Big and small broadcast groups tell Radio World they are facing similar economic and operational issues during the pandemic.

Smaller and medium-sized groups are affected as much as the biggest ones. Art Sutton, president/CEO of GA-Carolina Broadcasting, said his company furloughed nine employees and closed stations to the general public. “We won’t consider bringing our employees back before July 31, when the federal government’s $600 weekly unemployment benefit expires,” he said.

The broadcaster, which has 16 radio stations across five small and medium markets, saw major revenue declines the past several months.

“Since we are operating with fewer people, that helps to offset our revenue declines of 5% in March 2020 compared to March 2019,” he said. Sutton reported a “brutal” 33% decline in April, 20% in May and a projected drop in June of 15-16%.

What’s your own experience? Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

The post U.S. Radio Remains in Pandemic Mode appeared first on Radio World.

SiriusXM’s new hybrid radio system, which combines over-the-air reception with streaming and on-demand functions, will be in many BMW vehicles starting this summer.

Its 360L audio infotainment system will start showing up in most 2021 models. The BMW deal continues a rollout of the platform with various carmakers; SiriusXM recently announced agreements with General Motors and Audi.

[Related: “It’s Confirmed, SiriusXM Will Acquire Stitcher” target=”_blank”]

The announcement was made by Ralph Mahler, department head, BMW Product & Strategy, and Chris Paganini, VP, Automotive Partnerships, at SiriusXM. Car buyers will get a 12-month subscription to SiriusXM’s All Access package.

The selling points for the 360L system include a library of recorded content available on-demand, personalized recommendations and the ability to search for related content.

The vehicle can also receive software updates. “One expected future software update will enable 360L’s newest feature, Personalized Stations Powered by Pandora,” the company said in its announcement. That capability will let drivers can create ad-free music “stations” based on the artist they are listening to, give songs a thumbs up/thumbs down and skip songs.

The new platform will come in 2021 BMWs including the 2 Series, 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series, 8 Series, X1, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 and Z4 models.

The post BMW Joins the 360L Hybrid Platform Bandwagon appeared first on Radio World.

GeoBroadcast Solutions is highlighting the use of its MaxxCasting synchronized FM booster technology in a single-frequency digital radio network at Entercom in San Diego.

GBS says this is the first commercially deployed HD Radio SFN. And it says the success of the project also supports its separate regulatory proposal to allow U.S. radio stations to use geo-targeting on FM boosters.

The station in this case is KWFN(FM), flagship of San Diego Padres baseball. The ballclub opens its abbreviated 2020 season at home on July 24.

GBS said the four-node SFN “extends clear FM and HD Radio coverage up and down the busy Interstate 15 and State Route 78 corridors. The improved signal also increases penetration with Nielsen PPM Portable People Meters to help broadcasters accurately measure audiences and set advertising rates.”

Areas with better coverage reportedly include Escondido, Ramona and San Marcos; and GBS said the station has seen a positive impact in ratings.

The manufacturer quotes Entercom Market Technical Operations Director JR Rogers saying the commuter listening experience improved because “the holes in the signal coverage have been greatly diminished.” This despite difficult hilly terrain in the area. Rogers told GBS that the community was previously served by a powerful AM signal from Mexico.

Entercom, he continued, particularly wanted to improve KWFN’s coverage to support Padres game coverage.

Separately, as we’ve reported, GBS has been petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to let radio broadcasters air geo-targeted programming. KWFN is not such a case; but GBS says this implementation of an HD SFN demonstrates that geo-targeting will work when boosters are equipped with its ZoneCasting technology.

[Related: “GBS Gathers Support for Geo-Targeting”]

“ZoneCasting will eventually owe its success to MaxxCasting, the foundational architecture that is currently boosting FM and HD signals from the Boston market’s WXLO(FM) to KWFN in San Diego,” it stated.

(The GBS geotargeting proposal in turn prompted a separate group to ask the FCC to also allow geotargeting on translators, which GBS deplored as essentially muddying the issue, as we’ve reported.)

The San Diego HD SFN installation includes GatesAir Flexiva transmitters with FAX Exgine exciters, a Flexiva FXMI 4g Exporter/Importer HD Radio system and Intraplex IP networking and synchronization gear to time-lock FM and HD signals between the main transmitter and the nodes.

Bert Goldman of Goldman Engineering Management coordinated system design and FCC compliance. Shively provided directional antennas. Distributor SCMS managed equipment sales and staging.

Users and suppliers are both invited to send Radio World your news about interesting technology deployments. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post KWFN Deploys an HD Radio Single-Frequency Network appeared first on Radio World.

Responding to the story “Urban One Disappointed by FCC Action on AM Multicasts”:

Someone please put Ajit on the shoot and ask him why the commission won’t support expanding the FM band in the lower end!

It’s the simplest way to revitalize the AM stations in a way that is most easily supported by radio and transmitter manufacturers, and applying the same or similar rules governing the existing FM band.

This band could be designated all-digital and allow the AMs time to build their facilities ahead of and during the manufacturing of radios, while working toward a migration of the existing FM stations to an all-digital mode as well, with the possibility of fixing some allocation variances, like grandfathered overlaps that become meaningless in some cases once the stations are all digital.

I’ve been saying this for two plus decades now. Has we started one decades ago, we’d be settled in pretty good by now!

I’ve also spoken about the future use of the existing AM band being given (allocated) to local municipalities for their public notifications, information and other messaging.

Nothing serves the public better than the city council and other divisions, having a direct connection to their citizens. We used to have this on our cable TV providers, but those have pretty much all dried up. But, being able to access this from anywhere (car, home, portable) is a better solution than the cable ever provided.

Traveler’s Information Stations are well programmed in some cities, but not many exist. A 250 watt TIS could serve two or three suburbs, or an entire community of small towns, especially when they aren’t all piled on top of each other’s frequency.

In light of recent and past events, maybe a local municipality’s TIS could be a platform for protests, rather than unsafe disruptions of traffic in the streets! That doesn’t work now because you can barely hear them, basically making them a waste of energy as just noise generators. At a minimum, they would sure be public service if they provided the city official’s updated information regarding those and other events.

Comment on this or any letter or article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

[Related: “FCC Officially Proposes to Allow All-Digital on the AM Band”]

The post Letter: AM Migration Is Still a Good Idea appeared first on Radio World.

If your radio station is tackling that elephant in the room (Hello there, Mr. Coronavirus) with panache, style or outright parody, the creators of a new awards event want to hear from you.

That’s the consensus of a new awards event — the Coronavirus Radio Ideas Awards — which will honor radio professionals from around the world that have used their brands and ideas to better serve their listeners during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Read: Radio Is the Local Lifeblood for Brands During COVID-19]

The Coronavirus Radio Ideas Awards will highlight the best ideas in 10 separate categories, such as Best Social Media Video Content and Best Hometown Video. Two other areas — Best Podcast and Best Journalistic Content — will be up for recognition later in the year.

Radio professionals have through July 31, 2020, to nominate their favorite ideas. After that, online voting will begin on August 6, 2020, and will continue through Sept. 7, 2020.

The contest is the brainchild of the radio industry companies Benztown, P1 Media Group as well as Radiodays Europe, Radiodays Asia and RDE Podcast Day.

The 10 categories up for nomination are:

Best Social Media Video Content

Best Virtual Event

Best Parody

Best Virtual Concert

Best Station Promo

Best Community Service

Best Social Media Visual

Best Hometown Video

Best Sales Promotion

Best Mega Promotion

The two other categories that are part of the awards can be nominated later in the year and those two will be being judged by a panel of experts. Those two categories are: Best Podcast and Best Journalistic Content.

To nominate your favorite promos, visuals, videos and parodies, go here.

The post New Awards to Honor Radio’s Humor and Insight on Coronavirus appeared first on Radio World.

AM radio station owners in the United States are likely to get a rule break next month from the Federal Communications Commission.

Chairman Ajit Pai says the FCC will vote on whether to eliminate the radio duplication rule for AM stations while retaining it for FMs.

“In 1964, the FCC first adopted rules to restrict the duplication of programming on commonly owned broadcast radio stations operating in the same geographic area,” Pai explained in a blog post.

The original reason was to prohibit FM stations in larger cities from duplicating too much programming of a co-owned AM station in the same area, though the cross-service limitation later was dropped.

“We’ve revised [the rule] several times throughout the decades in response to changing market conditions. The current version of the rule was adopted in 1992. Going on three decades later, the rules are overdue for a revision,” Pai wrote.

[Related: “Radio Duplication Rule Up for Discussion”]

Given other recent votes that eased AM rules by this commission, it seems the change is likely to pass.

The rule at present prohibits any commercial AM or FM radio station from devoting “more than 25 percent of the total hours in its average broadcast week to programs that duplicate those of any other station in the same service (AM or FM) which is commonly owned or with which it has a time brokerage agreement if the principal community contours … of the stations overlap and the overlap constitutes more than 50 percent of the total principal community contour service area of either station.”

When the commission proposed the change a few months ago, it noted that the current rule was adopted 27 years ago to foster competition, programming diversity and spectrum efficiency, but that radio has changed significantly since then.

Pai cited “realities of the marketplace” and technical challenges faced by AM broadcasters as reasons to lift the rule from those licensees. “This approach will afford AM broadcast licensees greater flexibility, facilitate all-digital broadcasting by AM stations and ultimately allow stations to improve service to their communities.”

(Pai’s reference to all-digital service on the AM band was brief but suggests that the FCC soon will allow AMs to switch to that mode if they wish, as it has recently proposed.)

Another rule change that looks likely to be adopted at the August commission meeting has to do with broadcast infrastructure and antenna siting.

The rules currently prohibit the grant or renewal of a license for an FM or TV station if the applicant or licensee controls an antenna site that is “peculiarly suitable” for broadcasting in the area and does not make it available for use by other similar licensees.

The FCC noted last fall that when these rules came about around the end of World War II, FM and television were in their infancies, and the infrastructure available to broadcast a signal over the air was sparse.

“Back then,”  Pai wrote, “the commission froze the construction of new broadcast facilities in order to preserve equipment and materials (or materiel, if you’re so inclined) for the war effort. At the same time, the commission adopted rules requiring existing broadcast licensees to share their facilities in certain situations. To our knowledge, there has never been a case where all the criteria necessary to invoke the rules were successfully met. And given the significant broadcast infrastructure deployment since then, and the fact most towers are now owned by independent companies that lease tower space to broadcasters, these rules no longer serve any practical purpose.”

Pai said no broadcasters even filed comments about the proposed repeal.

Meanwhile on the C-Band front, Pai said he has circulated final draft procedures for a C-band auction to be held in December, to be voted on next month, and said the commission is moving quickly on this issue.

“If it weren’t for COVID-19, the ‘Top Gun’ sequel would be in theaters right now,” he pointed out. “Nonetheless, you can rest assured that we’ll all be mavericks in three weeks. That’s because when it comes our August meeting’s main attraction, repurposing C-band spectrum for 5G, we feel the need — the need for speed.” And he kindly provided a link for that cultural reference.

The post FCC Is Likely to Kill the Duplication Rule for AM Stations appeared first on Radio World.

Eight-year Nautel vet Kyle Dibbin looks to be moving out in the world with a new appointment as regional sales manager for Africa and the Middle East for the transmitter maker. He was most recently business development manager for the VS line of FM transmitters.

Dibbin started in 2012 in a hands-on role in testing and repair before moving to customer service roles.

Nautel Senior Director of Broadcast Sales Wendell Lonergan said, “Kyle has a wealth of knowledge both in the technology behind Nautel transmitters and customer interaction on a daily basis. … His passion for providing long-term quality transmitter solutions to customers will be a great asset to our partners in this region.”

The post Nautel Names Dibbin for International Sales appeared first on Radio World.

An AM radio station in Indianapolis has received permission to operate experimentally using all-digital transmission; it would be the second such full-time test station in the United States.

But the experiment may never take place.

Station owner Urban One is not happy that the Federal Communications Commission approved only part of its request. The commission did not allow the company to rebroadcast digital multicasts of the AM test station over two analog FM translators.

In response, Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins III told Radio World, “AM radio is at best beyond challenged, and at worst headed towards extinction. Any digital applications that improve coverage and the ability to deliver multiple streams of content is critical to AM’s survival.”

He said the fact that FM digital allows the ability to broadcast multiple sources of content over translators has been a key use for FM digital. “That ability is even more critical to the survival of the AM spectrum. I hope the FCC will allow this key use of AM digital technology in our quest for experimental authority. Everyone says they want to save AM; now here is a chance to do it.”

The Story til Now

The station in question is WTLC in Indianapolis, located in Nielsen market #25.

Urban One asked for permission to use the MA3 mode of HD Radio to test all-digital operation there. (FCC rules currently do not allow all-digital operation on either AM or FM, though the commission has been considering lifting that restriction for AM stations, and many in the broadcast industry have expressed support of that idea including the National Association of Broadcasters.)

To continue serving local listeners during its test, WTLC proposed that two FM translators associated with WTLC would continue to operate in analog — an important consideration since all-digital testing means listeners with analog receivers would no longer be able to hear the AM signal.

The FCC accepted all of the above and it notified Urban One of that in a letter in May.

However, it did not approve the company’s request that multicast channels of the AM test signal be rebroadcast over those two FM translators. And therein lies the rub.

Urban One had hoped that the project would be a logical “next step” to the work done at Hubbard’s WWFD in Maryland. The potential use of multicast channels in AM digital has taken on a higher profile since WWFD tested an HD-2 multicast in December, as we’ve reported.

“WTLC will introduce an HD Radio MA3 multicast feature into a top 50 Nielsen radio market with consequent publicity to gauge listener interest in the purchase of AM multicast receivers,” Urban One wrote in its application.

“As technology is fast-moving and radio receivers for 2022 and beyond are now being designed, new AM receivers incorporating the reception of HD Radio MA3 multicast sub-channels may depend upon concrete indications from the FCC that it will authorize this multicast mode, and from broadcasters that they will utilize this multicast capability.”

But the FCC staff apparently didn’t buy into this idea, at least not yet — perhaps feeling that the question of allowing all-digital AM stations and the question of using such stations for a new kind of translator “play” deserve separate consideration. This is speculation because the commission’s only comment on the matter was brief: “At this point we are not authorizing the rebroadcast of the (second) multicast channel on an FM translator station,” wrote James Bradshaw, senior deputy chief of the Audio Division, in the same letter.

Urban One attorney John Garziglia of Womble Bond Dickinson told Radio World that the company had

engaged in “several in-depth discussions” with Audio Division officials ahead of the filing and explained its intentions, including the use of translators to rebroadcast multicast channels in the same way that FM stations can. He said Audio Division officials had “expressed optimism” that the request would be favorably received.

Only after the filing was made, he said, did the staff say it would not allow the AM multicast channel to be carried on an FM translator. Garziglia said Urban One would not would have asked in the first place had it not received informal assurances that the proposal as written would be favorably considered.

He also said that Urban One subsequently told the FCC it would not proceed — “it simply does not work for WTLC as a business matter” — but that the commission issued its partial approval anyway.

Radio World invited comment Tuesday from the FCC and will report any reply.

“Chicken and egg”

Garziglia expanded on Urban One’s thinking in his comments to Radio World: “Unlike HD sub-channels, which are a reality, the HD Radio digital multicast channel chipset is being just being introduced. Going forward, it will be a ‘chicken or egg’ situation — multicast capability will not be included by consumer receiver manufacturers because they are not sure that consumers want this feature, and consumers will not ask for this feature because they are unaware that it exists.”

Urban One, he said, “was trying to take a lead, consistent with its business responsibilities, to expend the funds and efforts to introduce AM HD Radio digital multicast programming to the public, and to enable receiver testing of the AM MA3 multicast technology by manufacturers.”

Without the ability to simulcast the AM HD Radio digital multicast programming on an FM translator, he said, “the public will never know that the AM digital multicast programming is there. In addition, the purpose of introducing AM multicast capabilities to the public so that the public will demand such receivers is lost.”

He said the company saw a business benefit of serving the public with two AM multicast streams of programming; but without the multicast carriage, “it would be a losing business proposition, a consideration of which is often overlooked by the FCC but is vitally important to radio broadcasters.”

He concluded, “Unfortunately, at least at this point, the FCC is an obstruction, rather than a forward-looking champion of the radio listening public” in failing to approve the authority.

Garziglia said Urban One intends to seek an audience with Chairman Ajit Pai in the hope that his office can encourage the Audio Division “to take the wider policy view” — that the introduction of AM digital multicast broadcasts carried by FM translators “will be good for the public, good for the future of radio broadcasting, and good for the FCC in its encouragement of diverse programming.”

WTLC is a Class B AM station on 1310 kHz with 5 kilowatts daytime and 1 kW nighttime directional. Branded “AM 1310 The Light,” its format is inspiration and praise. The test would be in cooperation with Xperi and Nautel, both of which supported the request and are also involved in the first experimental station, Hubbard’s WWFD in Frederick, Md.

The testing would use a Nautel NX5 transmitter with NX HD upgrade, Exgine and HDMC+, operating in Xperi’s HD Radio MA3 all-digital mode broadcasting both a digital main channel and a digital multicast channel.

Comment on this or any story. Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

The post Urban One Disappointed by FCC Action on AM Multicasts appeared first on Radio World.

Having closed its fiscal year in June, the family-owned Sennheiser Group has announced its financial results for 2019, and while sales were only slightly down overall for the year, the company is preparing for the worst. Citing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on its consumer and professional businesses, as well as a slowdown in the headphone market, Sennheiser will cut roughly 650 employees by the end of 2022, with about 300 of those jobs in Germany.

Daniel Sennheiser, co-CEO of Sennheiser, noted in a statement, “In order to position the company for a successful future, we will adapt our organizational structure to the changing conditions and align it with the new requirements.” As a result, the company will be looking to make cuts in corporate functions such as supply chain and operations. Aiming to enact the reduction in what it termed a “socially responsible manner,” Sennheiser will consider measures such as not filling open positions, a voluntary redundancy scheme and severance options in addition to offering partial and early retirement.

“We are a family-owned company and every single one of our employees is part of the team,” said Dr. Andreas Sennheiser, co-CEO. “Together we share a passion for audio. With this in mind, these have been very difficult decisions to make and it is important to us primarily to avoid redundancies and to find individual solutions together with employees.” He added, “We will continue to focus on our core competencies and further strengthen both our consumer and professional divisions by transferring operational responsibility completely to these two business areas.”

Sennheiser’s fiscal year 2019 saw the company grow in its professional division while it landed below expectations in the consumer business. In total, the Sennheiser Group generated turnover of $863 million — 6.5% more than in 2018.

The company attributed much of its slide on the consumer side to the global headphone market, which has declined by 30 to 40% in recent months, largely due to physical retail outlets worldwide being closed or operated under shortened hours. Accordingly, sales of Sennheiser headphones also decreased to the same extent. In order to mitigate those effects, in March, the company introduced cost reductions and reduced working hours in Germany. Measures to reduce personnel costs and material costs were implemented to the same extent at Sennheiser’s international locations.

The effect of COVID-19 has also been felt in the company’s live sound microphone sales, as Daniel Sennheiser explained: “With the cancellation of live events all over the world, the entire event and music industry has been practically brought to a standstill and is only slowly getting back on track. The future of many rental companies, and other service providers is under threat. This is having a significant impact on sales of microphones, which will continue to be reflected in our business performance next year. Exceptions are studio microphones.”

In the fiscal year 2019, the professional division generated turnover of $414.4 million, an increase of 9.2% over the previous year. Growth was driven in particular by the product categories of live music, studio recording and business communication. The consumer division generated turnover of $448.7 million. Although turnover increased by 4.1%, that landed below the growth of the headphone market as a whole, despite the launch of new headphone models in the premium segment.

Playing to a hometown crowd continued to be Sennheiser’s forte when it came to sales — EMEA continued to be the region with the highest turnover in 2019 with $436.4 million, garnering an increase of 6.4%. In its home market Germany, Sennheiser was able to increase turnover by 1.8%. The APAC region recorded the highest increase in percentage terms with 10.6%. Growth was driven in particular by the markets in China, Japan and South Korea, while in the Americas region, turnover increased by $7.2 million, or 3.3%, year on year to $226.6 million.

With imminent job cuts and an expected continued downturn ahead, Sennheiser added that it fully intends to keep funding its R&D efforts going forward, including the development of its AMEBO immersive audio technology. “To create innovative audio experiences for our customers and to shape the future of the audio industry, we are continuously investing in our development activities, “ said Dr. Andreas Sennheiser. Sennheiser Group’s investments in 2019 increased by 4.1% to $71.8 million, which corresponds to 8.3% of turnover.

The post Sennheiser Announces Layoffs Amidst Slowing Market appeared first on Radio World.

Inovonics has published a comparison chart to help its users figure out which AARON receiver to buy. (A link is provided below.) We asked Sales & Marketing Manager Gary Luhrman about it.

Radio World: For those not familiar, briefly what is the AARON series?

Gary Luhrman: The AARON series is a family of three FM and FM/HD Radio rebroadcast translator receivers built to handle the most challenging reception scenarios. Boasting sensitivity and selectivity superior to even the most elite professional or consumer receivers, the AARONs combine premium features with unparalleled receiver performance.

Starting with a unique Software Defined Radio (SDR) front-end that provides extraordinary sensitivity, selectivity and RF shielding, each model adds additional functionality designed to meet unique needs according to the broadcaster’s application. The AARON products also provide remote access and valuable monitoring feedback via an intuitive web interface that is accessible from any web-enabled device (smart phone, tablet or PC). Engineers can listen via an audio stream and receive notifications via email or SMS messages for audio loss, low signal, RDS error, pilot loss, and audio failover back-up.

RW: Who came up with the idea for the series? 

Luhrman: Inovonics had made re-broadcast receivers for years but we were being asked for more features, better sensitivity and selectivity than our traditional analog designs could offer. That’s when we took a second look and decided to totally do a redesign from the ground up.

RW: How is Aaron different from other products in its class, what sets it apart?

Luhrman: The selectivity and sensitivity of the receiver make the AARON a strong contender to be Number 1 in its class. The straightforward setup and intuitive management from the web interface make the AARON easy to work with, and additional built-in tools at your disposal, such as RDS encoder, composite pass-through and MPX regeneration modes, along with failover audio back-up features. Finally, Inovonics’ three-year factory warranty and Premiere After Sales Service helps to “seal the deal” when engineers are looking for a reliable rebroadcast receiver.

RW: We’ll share a link to your chart below. But give a quick summary of how these three models differ.

Luhrman: The AARON 650 is our most popular FM Rebroadcast Receiver due to its flexibility to handle most scenarios.

For starters it has the sensitive and selective digital FM receiver referred to earlier along with Composite Pass-through and baseband regeneration modes, which are valuable tools when the FM reception is very challenging and the signal needs cleaning-up before passing it on to the FM transmitter.

The 650 also has a built-in RDS encoder, which allows you to alter or modify the RDS message to the translator. The 650 has two Antenna inputs and two MPX outputs along with some audio back-up capabilities via Web-stream or SD-Card. Finally, the interactive Web interface allows remote listening via Web-stream, FFT Analyzer, Alarms/Notifications, and supports SNMP.

The AARON 640 is the “no frills” model with the same digital SDR front-end for great FM reception, Composite Pass-through, and Active Reception Processing for bandwidth, stereo blend, HF blending and more. And of course it has the interactive web interface with remote listening via web stream, Alarms/notifications and SNMP support.

The AARON 655 FM/HD Rebroadcast Receiver is almost in its own category. It was designed to accept FM and HD Radio 1-8 program sources for rebroadcast, as well as analog, AES-digital and streaming inputs with fallback-priority selection.

You can think of the 655 as three products built into a single 1U box. It has the sensitive FM/HD Radio SDR-based receiver; a complete three-band audio processor with stereo generator; and a dynamic RDS encoder.

Some of the unique features of the 655 include creating a dynamic RDS message by converting the Pad Data from HD Radio channel or Streamed audio. The built-in audio processor allows the broadcaster to provide the best possible audio signal to the FM translator, and the 655 has input options for Analog, AES-digital, and Streaming audio.

RW: What are the retail price points?

Luhrman: Here are our list prices for the AARON rebroadcast receivers; I urge broadcasters to contact their preferred Inovonics dealer for a competitive quote that may be more attractive than the prices you see here:

• AARON 640 FM Rebroadcast Receiver = $2,100
• AARON 650 FM Rebroadcast Receiver = $2,390
• AARON 655 FM/HD Radio Rebroadcast Receiver = $2,600

RW: What else should we know?

Luhrman: All Inovonics products are designed, manufactured and assembled at our factory in Felton, Calif. USA. They come with a three -year factory warranty and Premiere After Sales Service. We can be reached for any questions at www.inovonicsbroadcast.com.

Link to the Inovonics AARON Comparison Chart (PDF).

The post How to Pick the Right Inovonics AARON Receiver appeared first on Radio World.

Digital Radio Mondiale is welcoming a policy statement from the government of South Africa about digital radio.

“This is a momentous decision for South Africa [and] the African continent and represents a first for digital audio broadcasting anywhere, as it brings together in one policy the two ITU-recommended open digital radio standards, DRM and DAB+,” DRM wrote in an email from Chairman Ruxandra Obreja.

DRM was reacting to a directive from Stella Tembisa Ndabeni-Abrahams, minister of communications and digital technologies, regarding the introduction of digital sound broadcasting in South Africa. It recommends both DRM, for AM and FM bands, as well as DAB+.

“The directive is based on the regulatory South African acts, the ITU Radio Regulations of 2016, the Southern African Development Community band plans and the Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy,” DRM wrote in a summary.

“Its aim is to provide a licensing framework and optimum allocation of radio frequencies for the South African three-tier system of public, commercial and community broadcasting services.” The goal is to stimulate local industry in the manufacturing of digital receivers and encourage investment in broadcasting.

“This is both a positive sign and strong encouragement to the broadcasting sector to attain the goals of universal service and access to all,” DRM continued.

“With this pragmatic and pioneering recommendation, the South African citizens will be free to consume an ingenious and complete digital platform through which they can access education, achieve social change and attain economic empowerment.”

The statement directs the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa to “determine priorities for the establishment of digital broadcasting networks and services in the frequency bands allocated for these services, to introduce DSB services alongside the existing analog services.” The authority is to “encourage market availability and use of multi-standard receivers to allow for the continued use of analog FM alongside DAB and DRM.”

The recommendations are Digital Radio Mondiale to complement analog AM service in the medium-wave band (535.5–1606.5 kHz) and analog FM services in VHF band-II (87.5–108 MHz); and to be deployed in the allocated VHF band-III (214–230 MHz). DAB+ transmissions would complement those in the allocated VHF band-III (214–230 MHz).

The post DRM Welcomes South Africa Digital Policy Statement appeared first on Radio World.

The Arkansas Broadcasters Association is the latest to cancel an annual conference due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic in the United States.

“In the interest of addressing the health and safety concerns of our members and partners, we have decided not to move forward with ARKCON 2020,” Executive Director Luke Story wrote in an email to members.

“This was not an easy decision. Fortunately, we did not have to make this decision alone, and are grateful to our members and partners for helping us through the difficult process.”

The organization will host a virtual sales and management media summit on July 22 and 23; it will be free to ABA members.

As we reported earlier, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association recently made a similar decision about its annual Broadcasters Clinic. And September’s fall Radio Show had been cancelled earlier by the National Association of Broadcasters and Radio Advertising Bureau.

The post Arkansas Broadcasters Won’t Meet in Person appeared first on Radio World.

Broadcast business software developer Marketron has announced a new ebook and series of free webinars.

The ebook is titled “Digital Transformation Playbook: A Play-by-Play Guide for Broadcasters to Grow Digital Advertising Revenue.”

The upcoming webinar series is called “Radio’s Digital Transformation” and the individual events are:

• July 15 — Develop a Vision and Prepare for Change;
• Aug. 6 — Designing Your Digital Product Suite;
• Aug. 26 — The Importance of Workflow and Processes;
• Sept. 16 — Creating Your Digital Organizational Structure;
• Oct. 7 — Launch Your Digital Game Plan;
• Oct. 28 — Tracking Performance and Removing Roadblocks.

Marketron CEO Jim Howard said in the announcement that in terms of product value, “radio has always been hard to beat as an advertising medium” but that broadcasters are recognizing the potential of digital advertising to drive growth.

The post Marketron Makes Broadcast Business Software Ebook Available appeared first on Radio World.

Those owning or considering purchasing Digital Audio Denmark or NTP Technologies converters/routers may wish to know about a newly released trio of controllers, the Penta 615 series.

These rackmounted boxes are compatible with Digital Audio Denmark (DAD AX32 and DX32R) and NTP Technology (Penta 720/721) routing products.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The pushbuttons are programmable. The color displayed when active is also programmable. The OLED display above each key is also programmable.

The 615-610A adds rotary encoders for volume control. The 2RU 615-620A has a display.

The group can be powered over Ethernet or by an adaptor.

Info: www.ntp.dk

The post NTP Provides Control appeared first on Radio World.

The radio news business in the United States will take a big blow when Westwood One ceases its news operations next month.

WWO is the national-facing arm of Cumulus Media. It has more than 900 affiliated stations for its news products.

The company declined to make public the number of employees affected by this closure, citing company policy. According to media reports, affiliates got the news last week.

Westwood One News launched in 2015; and two years ago the company was hailing the news operation as “the Edward R. Murrow Award-winning, highly-regarded full-service news division of the largest radio network in the U.S.” At that time it said its affiliates reached more than 25.7 million people, based on Nielsen Audio data; since then its reported number of affiliates has grown.

Now the news operation is set to shutter at the end of next month.

“Given the current necessity to make critical decisions about the deployment of resources, we made the decision to cease WWO news operations on Aug. 30,” a spokeswoman confirmed in a statement.

“We extend our heartfelt thanks to the entire WWO News Team for all that they have accomplished and acknowledge the exceptional leadership of Bart Tessler, who has commanded our admiration and respect throughout his 45-year news career.”

The company said it remains “heavily committed” to its personality driven news/talk programming with brands like Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, Jim Bohannon and Michael Savage.

Related: “Westwood One Slams NYC-Based Ad Buying Assumptions”]

The post Westwood One Will Close Its News Operation on Aug. 30 appeared first on Radio World.

Don’t give the people who win your on-air contests a reason to call the FCC.

That’s the takeaway from two cases in Texas in which broadcasters have ended up facing possible fines.

On-air contests have long been one of radio’s most engaging and entertaining activities. But there are strict rules around running them. Failure to hold up your end of a contest can bring action from the Federal Communications Commission.

Townsquare Media of El Paso Inc. allegedly violated those rules when KSII(FM) failed to timely award a contest prize.

The commission said it got a listener complaint that KSII had failed to award a prize of Elton John tickets in late 2016. The winner said a station employee took his information, informed him that the tickets were not yet available and instructed him to call back after the new year. The listener called in January and February but was told the tickets still were not available.

Townsquare blamed the problem on a breakdown in communications and procedure, saying there was no intent to defraud or deceive. It eventually followed up and provided tickets to a different Elton John concert in Las Vegas, with airfare and hotel.

But the FCC says precedent is clear that “neither the improper actions of a licensee’s employees nor subsequent remedial actions undertaken by a licensee can excuse or nullify a licensee’s rule violation.” It plans a $6,000 forfeiture. This is higher than the base fine of $4,000 because of the trouble the listener had to go through and because of another past fine against Townsquare, though it’s nowhere near the upper limits in contest cases of about $50,000 per violation or even $500,000 for a single act.

In a separate case, contest rules tripped up Gow Media, licensee of sports station KFNC(FM) in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The FCC said KFNC failed to award a prize to the winner of a Fantasy Football contest in 2016. The listener said that the prize was an all-expenses-paid vacation to Marival Resort in Mexico, but that he he never received it “despite many calls, emails and messages.”

Gow Media said the operator of the resort had reneged on its commitment and that the station eventually offered the listener $3,600 in cash, which it said is twice the value of the prize. The listener accepted this, signed a Settlement Agreement and indicated that he would like to rescind his complaint.

But the deed was done. Although Gow Media later took steps to resolve the issue, this was only after the FCC began its investigation, the commission said, adding that Gow did not explain why it took so long to respond to the listener nor why the matter remained unresolved for two years. It also pointed out that KFNC’s contest rules limit the time period to claim a prize to 30 business days. “Timely fulfillment of the prize … was a material term of the licensee’s own contest rules.”

In this case the proposed penalty is $5,200. In both cases, the broadcasters have a window of time to pay the forfeitures or file a written statement seeking to overturn them.

The post Contest Missteps Slip Up Two Texas Stations appeared first on Radio World.

Ilker Akin has joined transmitter manufacturer Nautel.

He will be regional sales manager for Europe, Israel and Russia and be based in Germany.

Akin has been in technical management and marketing with several German and Turkish companies, many of which are involved in broadcast system installation and equipment sales.

The post Nautel Adds Akin appeared first on Radio World.

If you’re looking for an FM opportunity, here’s a heads up: The Federal Communications Commission has reinstated 14 vacant allotments in four states and one U.S. territory.

This is the result of some bureaucratic changes over the years.

At one time the commission’s table listed all vacant FM allotments as well as channels and communities occupied by authorized facilities. In 2006, it removed allotments of authorized and awarded FM facilities to accommodate new application procedures for stations to change their communities of license. And now when an authorization is cancelled, the vacant FM channel is supposed to be reinstated in the FM Table, to be protected for spacing purposes and preserve the opportunity to license a future station in that community.

The 14 allotments being reinstated by the Audio Division of the Media Bureau had been removed from the table because a construction permit or license was granted; but they are vacant now because of the subsequent cancellation of the authorizations or dismissal of long-form auction applications.

So the commission is reinstating them. In future it said it plans periodically to update the FM Table to reinstate such allotments when this situation arises again.

The allotments in this case have already undergone notice and comment rule making, so the staff said there’s no need for further notice and comment.

The list of reinstated vacant allotments is below. Most are in California, Texas and Colorado. But depending on your idea of heaven, there are single allotments in the Virgin Islands and Iowa.

The Audio Division adds that its engineering analysis confirms that these vacant allotments meet minimum distance separation requirements. But it added that to prevent short-spacing, it adopted new site restrictions for Channels 261B at Coalinga, Calif., and 278C2 at Hereford, Texas. “Both are considered fully spaced allotments notwithstanding the subsequent grant of authorization to several stations that are providing contour protection to these allotments” under FCC rules. Also, Channels 261B at Coalinga, Calif., 271A at Ford City, Calif., and *275A at Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands are considered fully spaced allotments as well.

Community      Channel Added

Avenal, California — 269A

Coalinga, California — 261B

Dos Palos, California — 240A

Firebaugh, California — 234A

Ford City, California — 271A

King City, California — 275A

Lindsay, California — 277B1

Calhan, Colorado — 284C3

Idalia, Colorado — 231A

Asbury, Iowa — *254A (*238A was deleted)

Ganado, Texas — 235C1

Hereford, Texas — 278C2

Palacios, Texas — 259C1

Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands — *275A

(Channels with an asterisk may be used only by noncommercial educational broadcast stations. Learn about the FM Table of Allotments here.)

The post FCC Reinstates 14 Vacant FM Allotments appeared first on Radio World.

It’s official, SiriusXM plans to acquire podcast biggie Stitcher later this year.

“With the acquisition, SiriusXM’s combined properties will contain the largest addressable audience in the U.S. across all categories of digital audio — music, sports, talk, and podcasts,” the company stated Monday.

SiriusXM has been aggressive in remaking itself well beyond its roots as a satellite-based company. In 2018 it acquired AdsWizz, a digital audio advertising technology company. Last year it completed its acquisition of streaming player Pandora. More recently it acquired podcast management and analytics platform Simplecast.

[Related: “SiriusXM Will Debut New Hybrid Radio System in Cars”]

SiriusXM will pay $265 million to Stitcher’s owner E.W. Scripps, plus up to another $60 million based on Stitcher’s performance this year and next. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.

“The transaction will also further extend the substantial reach of SiriusXM in the digital audio ad marketplace,” it stated. “The SiriusXM and Pandora owned-and-operated digital platforms, combined with the company’s exclusive ad sales arrangement with SoundCloud for the U.S., and the Stitcher and Midroll networks that are subject to the agreement, will reach over 150 million listeners.” Midroll is a podcast ad network that is part of Stitcher.

The company said in its announcement that it “will be better positioned to advance the podcast ad market and help solve some of its critical challenges through precision targeting, ad efficiency and improved measurement capabilities via a streamlined ad marketplace.”

Stitcher was founded in 2007. It creates podcasts, operates targeted content networks and offers podcast ad agency services for shows, as well as offers its own popular podcast app.

[Related: “Stitcher’s Flexible New Facility in Manhattan”]

The post It’s Confirmed: SiriusXM Will Acquire Stitcher appeared first on Radio World.

The Radio Adverting Bureau has created an audio campaign for radio stations looking to reinforce radio’s role as a purveyor of truth and trust.

The campaign was created in partnership with the company Yamanair Creative to emphasize that radio has long been a place to turn for truthful news — a necessity given the recent boycott of Facebook and the resulting interest in trying to ensure brand integrity, RAB said.

[Read: Amidst Stay-at-Home Orders, Radio Listenership Remains Strong]

For example, one of the new 20-second spots focuses on radio’s ability to deliver on the two most important commodities in advertising: truth and trust. “As an advertiser, you have to trust your partners to protect your brand’s truth,” said one of the new RAB spots, emphasizing that radio remains a media that listeners can trust.

“RAB thought it important to provide you the tools to reinforce to the advertising community and listeners that broadcast radio is not only a safe place for brand messages, but it is trusted by consumers and influential when it comes to their decision-making,” said Erica Farber, president and CEO of RAB. “…(N)ow is a perfect time to remind our advertising partners and listeners that they are in good hands with radio to protect their brand’s truth.”

The campaign, known as the Trust and Truth spots, can be customized with a station’s personal branding and are available to be downloaded for free. Once there, stations can also select from other RAB radio spots and dozens of social media tiles. Stations also have access to additional pro-radio messaging from the RAB including the Leading by Example and Spirit of Radio articles.

The post New Audio Campaign Aims to Reinforce Radio’s Role as Trusted Partner appeared first on Radio World.