Radio World

The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau has begun targeting property owners and managers that tolerate pirate broadcasting on their properties.

It started today by notifying owners of three properties in Queens in New York City that there is apparent illegal broadcasting happening at their buildings.

The bureau issued an announcement that it is exercising the FCC’s new authority under the recently enacted PIRATE Act, which gave the commission a significant new hammer in its anti-pirate toolkit: “Parties that knowingly facilitate illegal broadcasting on their property are liable for fines of up to $2 million,” it stated.

Enforcement Bureau Chief Rosemary Harold said, “It is unacceptable — and plainly illegal under the new law — for landlords and property managers to simply opt to ignore pirate radio operations. Once they are aware of these unauthorized broadcasts, they must take steps to stop it from continuing in their buildings or at other sites they own or control.”

If they don’t, she said, they risk a heavy fine, followed by collection action in court. “In addition, our enforcement actions will be made public, which may create further unforeseen business risks.” She emphasized what the FCC and broadcasters have been saying for years: that pirate radio is illegal, and can interfere with licensed stations and emergency alerting.

The bureau will provide written notice to property owners and managers that it thinks “are turning a blind eye to — or even helping facilitate — illegal broadcasting.” It also has created a new “Notice of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting.” The notice provides owners a period of time to remedy the problem before any enforcement action proceeds.

The first three notices were mailed — first class and certified mail — to owners of buildings in Queens that are just a few blocks apart. The bureau said it traced a signal on 105.5 MHz from 3520 97th Street, Queens; another on 91.3 MHz from 3535 95th Street; and a third on 95.9 MHz from 3512 99th Street. They were given 10 days to respond; the FCC said the bureau will “consider any response before taking further action.”

Under the prominent headline “Notice of Illegal Pirate Broadcasting,” each letter’s language should get the attention of a landlord. It reviews the possible penalties, then adds: “If you do not respond to this Notice, the FCC may nonetheless determine that, as a legal matter, you have sufficient knowledge of the above-referenced pirate radio activity to support enforcement action against you. Service of this Notice to you or your agent establishes the foundation, along with other evidence, that could lead to significant financial penalties.”

Broadcasters have pushed for decades for the FCC to be more aggressive in combating illegal broadcasting. FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly has been a vocal proponent of giving the commission more tools to do that, and Congress did so in the PIRATE Act.

The argument is that landlords and property managers often know of the activity, and the bureau said it has previously sent warnings to landlords and sought cooperation from national property owners’ organizations to raise awareness. “With pirate broadcasts persisting despite these efforts, Congress took action and empowered the commission to penalize property owners and managers that knowingly permit pirate broadcasters to remain operating from the landlord’s buildings or unbuilt areas,” it stated.

“Landlords and property managers also may be found liable if a pirate station ceases operation for some period of time but later resumes at the same site.”

 

 

The post FCC Starts Crackdown on Pirate Radio Landlords appeared first on Radio World.

The author is membership program director of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. NFCB commentaries are featured regularly at www.radioworld.com.

With 2020 ending, many people in noncommercial radio are looking at the defining moments of the year. And though the big stories of the nation had a lot of resonance, one topic in particular towered over the community and public media industries.

COVID-19 had a stunning impact, including upon stations forced to change core operations and to lay off staff amid financial problems. The presidential election spawned an array of community discussions, such as escalating polarization and the complex issues opened up by misinformation. 2021 is likely to see both of these subjects dominating headlines and our popular consciousness.

[Read: Community Broadcaster: Difference Makers]

However, if you are a watcher of community media or public radio, nothing quite shaped the industry like diversity, equity and inclusion.

DEI was front and center in no small part due to the proverbial dam breaking in community and public media. Scandals had been brewing at prominent organizations since at least 2017. But where leaders once beset by controversy angled out of positions largely on their own terms, 2020 was the year jobs were withdrawn, people were fired, organizations committed to do better, and everyone ignoring problematic cultures was officially put on notice.

This year, noncommercial media outlets of many sizes saw their names tied to claims of racism, exclusion and abusive workplaces. St. Louis Public Radio and WAMU drew national headlines for serious internal issues. Social media and the internet became forums for workers at Georgia Public Broadcasting, GBH, PRX and elsewhere to speak out. Where staff may have once been quiet, this was the year they instead called for accountability at places like WNET in New York and NPR. Past issues sunk the jobs of Sonya Forte Duhé and Andi McDaniel; they had new positions at Arizona State University’s well-regarded journalism program and Chicago Public Media, respectively. Elsewhere, 2020 saw a wave of retirements and resignations by those caught up in staff conflicts, the most visible of which was American Public Media Group CEO Jon McTaggart. Even community radio saw the spotlight, with sexual misconduct and other issues being raised.

It was not all bad news. The killing of George Floyd and nationwide racial justice demonstrations pushed many communities to have dialogs about bias and equality. Seattle’s KEXP announced it was changing its DJ lineup in a bid to more accurately represent its diverse city. In July, Colorado Public Media offered a sober look at its own failings, pledging to do better. And in the fall, Public Media for All organized a day of action that mobilized dozens of major public media organizations and hundreds of employees to commit to improvements related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

How diversity initiatives will be executed in 2021 remains to be seen, though signs are good that such topics will continue to be a high priority. In December, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting hosted a discussion on diversity with managers across the industry. Organizations like Greater Public, NFCB and the Station Resource Group are leading conversations with their cohorts. And outlets such as Capital Public Radio, KALW and Blue Ridge Public Radio have agreed to accomplish at least one Public Media for All goal in their first 30 days of signing up.

2020 has been a most difficult year for radio. Yet, new calls for inclusion may make 2021 a year we step up to be more relevant, diverse and engaged.

The post Community Broadcaster: Diversity Was Radio’s Story of the Year appeared first on Radio World.

Four of the six bays are shown during installation.

From Radio World’s Who’s Buying What page: WSEW(FM) in Maine will soon operate from a fresh tower site that includes a six-bay Dielectric DCR-H FM antenna with radome.

It’s shown here with four bays up during installation.

The site is across the border in Barrington, N.H., and will go live early next year.

The noncom Christian station is relocating from a tower site in Sanford, Maine, in order to improve signal strength and reach more people including listeners in Manchester, Nashua and Portsmouth, according to a press release from Dielectric.

Ron Malone is president of the licensee, Word Radio.

“WSEW’s market penetration was previously limited with the use of a log-periodic antenna system solution using linear, slant polarization,” Dielectric stated.

“In addition to the advantages of circular polarization, the side-mounted, six-bay antenna will have a prime position on the 400-foot tower to maximize coverage, with its center of radiation at 287 feet above ground level.”

The tower at the new site is owned by Vertical Bridge. Malone was quoted saying the project is intended to resolve issues that the station has had with multipath and occasional dropouts.

Users and suppliers are both invited to send news for Who’s Buying What stories to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post A New FM Site and Antenna for WSEW appeared first on Radio World.

Emerging technology could simplify facility infrastructure and reduce costs for broadcasters by eliminating reliance on hardware and utilizing the cloud instead.

A two-part session at this fall’s virtual Radio Show conference explored virtualization of traditionally hardware-based systems and the benefits of the fourth generation of HD Radio technology.

Moderator Roz Clark, senior director of radio engineering for Cox Media Group, framed the conversation as a look at the next generation of radio architecture, which will involve fewer hardware boxes in facilities as broadcasters move toward more service-based systems.

[Read RW’s free ebook “Virtualizing the Air Chain: Next-Gen Radio Architecture”]

“We know broadcast equipment is specialized, expensive and wears out. It requires maintenance and cooling. And all of these things are magnified by the number of stations you own, so evolving things forward and making it a more cost-effective and useful part of our business is a goal we all have,” Clark said during his introduction.

He noted that the NAB Radio Technology Committee is working with equipment manufactures to create common platforms to develop technology solutions.

“We are trying to simplify things, make it interoperable and adopt best practices, to develop technology to fit within the existing infrastructure — and the modern infrastructure as it evolves,” Clark said during his introduction.

PPM and EAS

The first panel included Jason Ornellas, regional director of engineering for Bonneville International Corp.; Alan Jurison, senior broadcast engineer at iHeartMedia; and Lakeya Jefferson, director of audio client engineering at Nielsen Media.

A goal of the NAB Radio Technology Committee, Clark said, is to make it easier and more cost-effective to implement HD Radio as the industry transforms into a digital transport delivery mechanism.

One part of that effort involves the software to insert Nielsen Audio PPM codes. Another is the implementation of Emergency Alert System content into an HD sub-channel stream.

Jefferson said Nielsen has taken its enhanced Critical Band Encoding Technology, or CBET, which is used in its PPM hardware encoders, and made it available in a software-based version to be integrated into third-party devices and products that may exist in broadcast facilities.

“We are excited to offer a wide variety of options when it comes to encoding. Nielsen is planning a beta release of our audio software encoder to a select group of audio processing vendors, including Orban, Wheatstone and Telos/Omnia, and AM stations with a wider production release later this year,” Jefferson said during the online session.

Field evaluation for AM stations began in early October with plans to release FM and streaming in 2021, Jefferson said.

Ornellas, who chairs the PPM Subgroup of the technology committee, said Bonneville successfully beta tested software-based PPM encoding using Orban processing at KHTK(AM) in Sacramento, Calif., and KSL(AM) in Salt Lake City. So did Cox Media at its stations WSB(AM) in Atlanta and KKYX(AM) in San Antonio, Texas.

“It was pretty seamless, with no issues for either the terrestrial AM or HD channel,” Ornellas said of the Bonneville testing. “We were able to see that the PPM encoding was being present right on the processor as well as the Multichannel Encoding Monitor. Nielsen was happy with the quality assurance they were expecting. This is a huge first step.”

iHeartMedia’s Jurison has been working for some time on getting the EAS component of the broadcast air chain put into software and virtualized into HD Radio subchannels.

“It’s been a challenge for (iHeartMedia) to get EAS onto the HD-2, -3 and -4 subchannels. We expect the next-generation architecture to move a lot of things out of defined-purpose hardware and into the cloud,” he said.

“We think some of the low-hanging fruit is the multicast channels. A lot of those stations just play music with few elements. As we migrate audio and radio into the cloud, these seem like good choices for us to virtualize.”

iHeartMedia uses a physical audio switcher that is tied to the EAS encoder to get EAS messaging onto the FM subchannels, Jurison said. The industry’s challenge, he says, is how to get EAS onto the subchannels without requiring hardware in the local market while remaining FCC-compliant.

He said Gen4 HD Radio technology and an embedded HD Radio importer/exporter will allow broadcasters to “virtualize” this process.

“It’s a whole new way of looking at HD Radio. The HD-2, -3 and -4 are perfect for us to begin putting things up in the cloud; but the cloud doesn’t have an EAS encoder,” Jurison said.

He explained that broadcasters will have the capability, thanks to the Gen4’s embedded importer/exporter, to connect the EAS encoder via 2wcom’s HDRCC, an HD Radio capture client appliance, which will encode all audio.

According to 2wcom’s website, the HDR-CC “requires a setup that has EAS audio connected to the capture client as well as a GPI to trigger the alarm. When the alarm is triggered, the three-channel HDR-CC logs into the importer and replaces all supplemental channels (HD2–HD4) with the alarm program. After the GPI is released, the HDR-CC logs out and the importer continues with normal operation.”

Jurison says Gen4 HD Radio technology will eliminate complicated audio switching requirements for emergency alerts. iHeartMedia is field testing the new system. The session included an explanation of how audio is delivered from an iHeartMedia data center in Cincinnati through its tech center in San Antonio to WWHT(FM)’s transmitter site in Syracuse, N.Y.

“We are essentially generating audio in the Cincinnati data center that goes through our WAN to the transmitter site in Syracuse with no hardware in between to generate the HD2 channel,” Jurison said.

In conclusion, Jurison said by using the Gen4’s embedded importer/exporter and 2wcom’s HDR-CC, broadcasters have the ability to insert EAS into any multicast channel from any data center anywhere across the country and eliminate physical hardware switching.

HD Radio Gen4

Part two of the virtual equipment evolution session featured presentations from broadcast equipment manufacturers Nautel, GatesAir and Rohde & Schwarz. The companies are working on Gen4 HD Radio virtualization technology for use in the cloud.

Moderator Roz Clark described an ongoing open collaboration to find radio architecture solutions that includes radio broadcasters, equipment manufacturers and Xperi, the parent of both HD Radio and the hybrid radio platform DTS Connected Radio.

“It’s really the three-legged stool approach between all of us. We want to simplify the architecture, we want to ease implementation to make it cheaper, better and faster. And also to leverage the technology that surrounds the broadcast business in general,” he said.

Philipp Schmid, chief technology officer for Nautel, said since a lot of the radio air chain is based on “purpose-filled boxes,” there is the need to look at the transition to a software environment and that HD Radio presents the opportunity to do so.

“However, HD Radio also adds cost and complexity,” Schmid said, “due to having to keep audio aligned between the FM and the HD-1.”

Nautel, which manufacturers transmission equipment, has partnered with Telos Alliance to develop a new Gen4 HD system using Omnia Enterprise 9s audio processing software and the Nautel HD multicast transmitter platform.

“The whole system can be applied in the cloud and can be scaled and is highly reliable,” Schmid said.

Nautel’s goal is “easy HD Radio conversion, cheaper HD Radio conversion, security and interoperability for third parties and legacy equipment,” he said.

A webinar of the Gen4 HD Radio system by Nautel is available on the company’s website.

Rohde & Schwarz manufactures the THR9 liquid cooled FM HD Radio transmitter and its HD component, the HDR900 built on the Gen 4 HD Radio architecture, according to information presented during the virtual conference.

“We suggest creating a functional block for all of the HD encoding. This block can live in the cloud or it can live virtually,” said Don Backus, account manager of radio transmitters at Rohde & Schwarz. “It gets us simplicity and it also gets us the ability to provide an abstraction from the hardware layer and that does allow for a virtual implementation or in the cloud.”

Backus said standardization on AES67, a technical standard for audio over IP and audio over Ethernet interoperability, and IQ over IP interfaces are key to the overall process.

“We want to define structures that enable less costly solutions with virtualized hardware and cloud computing,” Backus said.

To conclude the virtual Radio Show technology session, Kevin Haider, product manager, radio transmission for GatesAir, touched on the latest Intraplex IP link audio codec.

Haider said integrating IP tunneling capabilities within audio codecs provides multiple benefits for HD Radio applications, including maintaining relative delay between FM and HD signals across the network and providing reliable HD Radio E2X data streams across IP networks and limited bandwidth STL networks.

“It also allows for broadcasters to move their HD Radio exporter and importer to a studio where it is easier to maintain,” he said.

The post Engineers Explore Next-Gen Architectures appeared first on Radio World.

Flash back to fall 2019 at a community station abuzz with activity. A DJ is in the studio, spinning records, while volunteers socialize, work in production studios and assemble donor gift packages. Training is underway for new recruits and anticipation is high for a co-promoted concert at a nearby venue. Hugs are exchanged along with “hellos” and “goodbyes.”

For much of 2020 most of these activities were just a memory, as stations adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What does community radio look like when the community isn’t necessarily allowed inside the station? How are stations that pride themselves on 24/7 live in-studio DJs doing radio when they must restrict access to their buildings? And how are volunteer-reliant stations adjusting to socially distanced engagement?

The Grassroots Radio Conference confronted these questions in October. Held virtually, the event was hosted by ARTxFM, otherwise known as WXOX(LP) in Louisville, Ky.

Studio Safety

Dr. MarkAlain Dery has a unique perspective on studio safety, as an infectious disease physician and epidemiologist as well as founder of community station WHIV(LP) in New Orleans. He spoke as part of the online conference.

This image was shared by MarkAlain Dery, who spoke about COVID safety protocols at WHIV(LP) in New Orleans. “We took pictures of a few of our DJs and plastered these all over the station, plus our internal communications,” he said. “The DJ is Jenny Yanes and the show is called ‘Islam in the Crescent City.’”

For much of this year, only one person at a time has been allowed at WHIV. Masks are required and a clean sock is placed over the studio microphone for each shift.

Importance is placed on handwashing and disinfection of surfaces, and the production booth is closed. Flyers implore, “Spread Love, Not Germs.” WHIV supplies washable masks, which show hosts drop into a container marked “dirty” upon exit. Dery emphasizes the aerosolized nature of coronavirus, pointing out that masks and ventilation are both critical.

Because of the challenges in keeping studios clean and safe for volunteers, many community stations have opted to limit access drastically, with some shutting down in-person activities entirely.

In the early days of the coronavirus, WXOX shifted to a staggered studio schedule so that on-air hosts were not running into each other during program transitions. The initial plan was to have one volunteer do a show in the studio, followed by a remote broadcast.

Even with that precaution in place, WXOX General Manager Sharon Scott grew increasingly worried about everyone’s health.

“Literally, I wasn’t sleeping at night,” she reflected. When the outbreak worsened, she closed the studio. By that point most hosts were already broadcasting from home.

100 Different At-Home Studios

While each community station approaches broadcasting amid a pandemic differently, many used archived programs and automation to fill schedules when live DJs cannot be in the studio.

This was the initial approach at WFMU(FM) in East Orange, N.J., near New York City, where only a skeleton crew of staffers is allowed at the station.

Looking back on the early rerun-filled days, Station Manager Ken Freedman said that “It was awful.” He described the awkwardness of airing pre-virus shows that felt out of step while listeners in New York and New Jersey were going through the crisis.

Quickly, priorities shifted to setting up home studios for WFMU’s sheltering DJs. Freedman described how “sobering” it was to be at an epicenter of the pandemic, knowing people who died and having DJs come down with the virus.

Although WFMU has been doing remote broadcasts over IP for over 20 years, Freedman said that in some ways it’s more difficult today because there are “so many more options.” With around 100 different studios in DJ homes, it can be “very challenging” to help orchestrate myriad options and troubleshoot all the permutations of breakdowns in the broadcast chain.

It’s a similar situation at WXOX, where live broadcasts are originating from home studios across Louisville.

One vintage record-loving DJ has taken over a dining room table with their turntable setup; another broadcasts from a front porch, with bands playing in his front yard; and some keep it super simple using just a laptop.

To facilitate live remote broadcasting, WXOX created a secondary stream that only the on-air hosts can access. Hosts broadcast live to this stream, which the station picks up to transmit over FM and online. Scott recommends that for this behind-the-scenes stream, stations obtain a plan with the highest bit rate and lowest cap on the number of listeners to save on costs.

Under current circumstances, stations also have been more tolerant of variations in sound quality to allow community radio hosts to work remotely. Even the voice memo app on a smartphone can be used to record audio, from interviews to public service announcements.

A new vocabulary

At cash-strapped community stations, home setups for DJs can be Spartan; but low-cost or free software platforms help. Minimal requirements are a computer, internet connection, and headphones.

Sharon Scott encourages DJs to connect with an Ethernet cable to help mitigate troublesome WiFi connections. USB microphones are also recommended, although not every DJ has one.

Software used by DJs to stream live at WXOX and WFMU includes AudioHijack, Rocket Broadcaster, LadioCast and BUTT (“broadcast using this tool”).

Pacifica Network has posted a discussion of software and strategies for remote broadcasting that includes Zoom, Squadcast, Riverside.fm, Ringr, Zencastr, phone interviews, Cleanfeed, split-tracking, Dropbox, Splashtop, VPN, Rocket Broadcaster and Radio Hijack.

ARTxFM also has a remote tutorial at www.artxfm.com/remotestations/. And additional tips can be found in the archived conference sessions at www.youtube.com/VirtualGRC.

In Ames, Iowa, KHOI(FM) show hosts have been doing live radio and interviews using Zoom video meetings. Station Manager Ursula Ruedenberg calls it the “simplest solution” for programs with co-hosts and guests, despite some audio sacrifices.

Listeners have been understanding. “It’s a COVID-19 sound … people freezing up or sound getting a little bit wonky just has become part of the way things sound now,” she articulated.

“There for each other”

Beyond technical glitches, the “COVID-19 sound” has unintended benefits.

In Albany, N.Y., Paul Smart of WCAA(LP) has led audio production workshops that eschew “professional gloss.” For him, providing access and building community are more important.

Hearing tidbits of extraneous sounds on the airwaves, like background noises from dogs barking and phones ringing, has sparked listener interest in making radio at WCAA. That has led to an uptick in home-produced shows, allowing the station to expand local programming.

Community building is at the core of these efforts. Scott said, “In the midst of political turmoil, civil unrest and a range of local disasters, community broadcasting is more important than ever. Meanwhile, the global coronavirus pandemic makes accessing our studios a formidable danger of its very own. Yet, as FM broadcasters, we have committed ourselves to being there for our local community in times of emergency. We must also be there for each other.”

 

The post Community Stations Share COVID Stories appeared first on Radio World.

RWEE’s format allows us to dig more deeply into specialized topics of interest to radio engineers.

In this issue, David Maxson describes a situation in which an FM station was accused of causing 8th harmonic interference to a cellular carrier, which complained to the FCC.

Also: John Kean on loudness; Tom Vernon on RadioDNS; Cris Alexander on project planning; and Bob Orban and Greg Ogonowski on protecting your digital audio quality.

Read it here.

The post Inside the Dec. 16 Issue of Radio World Engineering Extra appeared first on Radio World.

IEEE Broadcast Technology Society has announced it will host an IEEE BTS Pulse event from February 9–11, which will discuss topics including single frequency networks, applications for drone technology and 5G content production.

The second ever IEEE BTS Pulse event, the three-day virtual event aims to answer vital broadcast industry questions with top experts, according to IEEE BTS’ website.

[Visit the Radio World Calendar]

The first of the three days will be dedicated to SFN and virtualization cohesiveness. The session will look at the fundamentals of ATSC 3.0 SFNs as well as the virtualization of broadcast gateways and some of the challenges and uses of software-based SFN implementations. S. Merrill Weiss, Merrill Weiss Group LLC; Benoît Bui Do, Enensys; Mark Corl, Triveni Digital; and Ali Dernaika, Hewlett Packard Enterprise are slated to speak on day one.

Day two will focus on drones and thermography, specifically how thermal imaging can be used to scan broadcast transmission lines and antennas to identify possible areas of concern and how drones can help in this area. Paul Shulins, BTS vice president and president of Shulins Solutions, is tapped as the day two session chair. Session speakers will also include certified thermographers and an expert on using drones for broadcast signal measurements.

The third and final day of IEEE’s Pulse event tackles 5G content production. Organized by the European H2020 project 5G-RECORDS, the session will look at the opportunities and challenges of 5G for professional audiovisual content production. This will include presentations on the European Broadcasting Union’s 5G content production activities and 5G technology enablers from Ericsson and Nokia. David Gomez-Barquero, Universitat de Valencia, Communications Department, iTEAM Research Institute- Mobile Communications Group will lead the session.

For more information on the IEEE BTS Pulse event, visit IEEE BTS’ website.

The post IEEE BTS Pulse Agenda Spotlights SFN, 5G and Drone Usage appeared first on Radio World.

The outgoing chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is asking why broadcasters should be covered by special media ownership rules at all.

“We need a fundamental, intellectually honest reassessment of what the media marketplace looks like now, where it’s going and what this means for consumers,” said Ajit Pai, speaking to the Media Institute Tuesday.

He noted the huge growth in ad revenue for digital platforms over the past decade compared to other media. The result, he said, is that broadcast media are subject to far more regulation “to guard against [their] supposed market power” than companies that are now far bigger than they are.

“In 2020, for example, Google and Facebook are each expected to bring in more ad revenue than every TV and radio station in the U.S. combined,” Pai said.

Pai, a Republican, has made regulatory reform and streamlining one of the themes of his tenure. But he thinks bigger changes are called for.

He said Congress should expand the FCC’s “forbearance authority” so it could eliminate outdated rules for video providers, and also consider “a top-to-bottom re-write of the Cable Act.”

More dramatically, “I also believe that the federal government needs to fundamentally rethink the very concept of media ownership regulation. … We don’t have special rules about how many social media outlets you can own. We don’t have special rules for how many streaming services you can own. We don’t have special rules limiting how many Americans your internet platform can reach. Indeed, our so-called media ownership rules don’t contain ownership rules for much of the media, and in particular those parts of the media that are growing fast. For some reason, the only ones we have are for broadcasters.”

The problem, he said, is “a fundamental refusal to grapple with today’s marketplace: what the service market is, who the competitors are and the like. When assessing competition, some in Washington are so obsessed with the numerator, so to speak — the size of a particular company, for instance — that they’ve completely ignored the explosion of the denominator — the full range of alternatives in media today, many of which didn’t exist a few years ago.”

He said when determining a company’s market share, “a candid assessment of the denominator should include far more than just broadcast networks or cable channels. From any perspective… it should include any kinds of media consumption that consumers consider to be substitutes,” Pai said.

“When you ask the intellectually honest questions, the answers raise serious doubts about whether the FCC should have media ownership regulations at all,” he concluded.

“If general competition law is good enough for other sectors of our economy, why not the broadcast industry?”

 

The post Pai Calls for Reassessment of Media Marketplace appeared first on Radio World.

Streaming is not a static technology. New innovations are constantly being developed.

Many video and “over the top” streamers have discovered the advantage of CMAF, the Common Media Application Format. This format, explained in standards document ISO/IEC 23000-19:2020, offers advantages to the streamer that are finally being recognized for audio-only streaming.

Technology companies StreamS and StreamGuys recently announced joint support for it. StreamS is part of Modulation Index, a company that offers streaming encoders and internet audio products and is headed by Greg Ogonowski, founder of Gregg Laboratories and former VP of product development at Orban.

StreamGuys is a service provider of live and on-demand streaming, podcasting delivery, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) toolsets.

Why does this matter to Radio World readers?

As the companies put it, their goal is to provide “next-generation, high-performance live audio streaming using fully compliant standards-based CMAF HLS for low-latency, adaptive-bitrate HTTP Live Streaming (HLS). Together, both provide a complete end-to-end streaming solution that is reliable, scales to rapidly growing large audiences and reaches more modern devices with stunning audio quality.”

Container format

Please note that various companies will offer different flavors of a format, which is a problem with generic formats. Someone one said that the beauty of standards is that there are so many. Unfortunately, there are also a multitude of interpretations.

As a result, many existing streaming protocols have been modified and hacked to the point of becoming proprietary, leading to compatibility issues among streaming servers and player clients and devices. Will the disparity end? Probably not in the foreseeable future.

This particular solution is working hard to stay compatible with Apple Music. StreamS makes the hardware and software solution, and StreamGuys is the content delivery network or CDN.

Many formats are needed for streaming: the encoding format (i.e. xHE-AAC), the transport format (i.e. HLS), and the container format. CMAF is an example of a container format:

• It can contain your audio and video plus all the associated metadata.
• ID3 metadata is supported.
• Commercials can still be injected from multiple networks.

A diagram from StreamS/Modulation Index depicts the process.

Why is the announcement from StreamS and StreamGuys a good idea?

Consider that the World Wide Web was designed to present static or small files. It was not originally thought of for presenting non-ending streams; streaming was conceived later.

CMAF takes your content and chops it into segments, sending it to the Content Delivery Network. CMAF then instructs the player how to reassemble and present it, thus getting rid of many of the typical issues associated with streaming.

Greg Ogonowski, president of StreamS, notes that a “streaming server” is no longer essential to send the stream out.

What about latency? The delay of the content from encoding to playback has been the sworn enemy of the streamer.

CMAF can reduce (though not eliminate) latency. With a smaller payload, buffering and unwanted stream disconnections are lessened greatly.

To achieve less latency they are using this with HLS, which stands for HTTP Live Streaming, an adaptive bitrate streaming communications protocol developed by Apple Inc. Yes, that Apple. So there is instant compatibility with all of the iPhones out there. Yes, Android supports HLS out of the box, though support depends on the version of Android.

So compatibility is there. With HLS, latency is closely tied to the duration of the media segments that you’re using.

“HLS is getting a whole lot better with CMAF,” said Kiriki Delany, president of StreamGuys, in the press release announcing the partnership. “We are excited to support ultra-low latency and simplify deploying HLS.”

Delany said HLS provided efficient ways to switch networks while maintaining a stream, as well as savings on power consumption for mobile devices; it also introduced much higher latency than traditional true-streaming systems.

“CMAF changes that by allowing encoding to happen much faster, which greatly reduces file-based buffers. Meanwhile, xHE-AAC, once adopted by all major browsers and mobile platforms, will simplify what codecs are needed on the decoder side. It will support very low bitrates, like 12 kbps for speech, to very high bitrates, such as lossless ALAC/FLAC formats. This simplification will mean larger reach, and lower barriers to cross platform compatibility.”

As a bonus, the higher adoption of lossless formats ALAC/FLAC for “fine arts formats” also invites the audiophile to enjoy streaming.

The introduction of CMAF and HLS is a big step for streaming radio and audio-only services. Hopefully others will get on board.

The author is a broadcast and streaming consultant and co-chair of the Audio Engineering Society’s Technical Committee for Broadcast and Online Delivery.

The post Putting CMAF HLS to Work in Audio appeared first on Radio World.

AVT Audio Video Technologies is highlighting a new digital radio installation in Germany.

“With the installation of NDR’s new DAB+ playout system supplied by AVT, listeners will be able to receive news and weather information from their respective regions via DAB+ with a coverage that was previously only possible via FM,” the manufacturer stated.

[See Our Who’s Buying What Page]

Norddeutscher Rundfunk, or NDR, is part of the public broadcast association ARD. It serves Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein.

“The DAB+ playout, which was previously divided into four regions, was replaced by a completely new redundant DAB+ Ensemble multiplexer system for 16 regions,” AVT stated.

It said the large number of different programs was a project challenge, because each of the 16 regional multiplexes can generate eight to nine independent DAB+ programs.

IP-based playout is done with a Magic DABMUX plus Ensemble Multiplexer with integrated DAB+ encoders licensed by FhG.

“The system’s internal redundant switching ensures seamless switching of the multiplex signal, which is available as EDI and ETI/E1 signal. The audio feed to the multiplexers including the audio monitoring is done via AES67 streams, which are connected to Prodigy audio converters from DirectOut,” the company stated.

“The regionally categorized slideshows are created by the PAD playout system of the company 4=1, Dynamic Label+, traffic announcements and TPEG traffic information is generated by the TIC system of the company GEWI. Linkage sets are triggered directly from CGI’s dira! automation software. The monitoring of the entire system is via EMBER+ with a GUI using Lawo VisTool. As management software, the new browser-based AVT DAB System Manager is used which enables the management of all 32 Ensemble multiplexers.”

Thorsten Geselle was the project manager at NDR.

 

The post NDR Gets AVT DAB+ Playout System appeared first on Radio World.

A sign directs residents to a COVID-19 test site in Aurora, Ill, in November, as cases spiked in the state. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Millions of jobs lost. Close to 300,000 perished. Over 16 million sick.

You know the facts because you’re living them. One thing most of us can agree on is that the science of this COVID-19 thing hasn’t changed and it remains highly contagious.

Being isolated for so long, it’s human nature that we are all past ready to return to normal activity. What’s constantly in play is the public’s attitude.

A friend of mine in Florida recently declared that she was “so done with COVID” and took a road trip to Key West with three friends, sharing a hotel room and reveling in the food and atmosphere of their favorite hot spots.

In touch with listeners

Understanding attitudes is the tricky part of being on-air during the virus. It’s the one discussion point your local team needs to update constantly so you can properly adjust what you’re doing on-air, online and with your social channels.

Nobody knows when this nightmare will end. Even once the vaccine deployment ramps up, it will be months before all public activity can safely resume in a normal way.

It’s super easy to be unintentionally tone-deaf about this tragedy, but doing so can damage your personalities and your brand, perhaps permanently.

In the beginning of the outbreak, from his yacht in the Caribbean, recording industry billionaire David Geffen posted a picture of a beautiful sunset for his 80,000+ Instagram followers. Seemed innocent enough, even with the caption that said , Sunset last night… Isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus. I hope everyone is safe.”

He got roasted first by his followers and then by the media. This is a guy who’s been involved in raising millions of dollars for clinics, charities for the homeless, and even has a school of medicine named after him in California. None of that matters to the people who perceive him as a privileged jerk.

They’re thinking, Yeah, you’re isolated all right … from the risk and uncertainty the rest of us face every day!

The lesson is that we can’t let our guard down as the seasons change and we need to be ultra-aware of what we are saying to our listeners.

Community-mindedness

You’ve had to be living in a cave not to know that the act of staying home when possible, wearing a mas, and social distancing — and the extent to which any should be mandated or voluntary — has become a political sore spot. Therefore, unless your product is a specifically conservative or liberal talk format, it’s risky to take a position.

A transparent way to talk about masks is to have the voices of your listeners express their opinion. Stay calm and have your best tension-easing methods of diplomacy ready to roll.

As the recent election shows, the country is split on so many issues that your personalities or station will inevitably alienate many listeners if you go all-in on one point of view.

However, because the relentless contagion of this devastating virus hasn’t changed, all stations should encourage sick people to stay home, to be careful around the elderly or others of compromised health, and to remember that we are all in this together.

There is one scientifically proven fact that your station staff could highlight:  wearing a cloth mask (even a bandanna over nose and mouth) may not do much to protect yourself, but it is enormously helpful in protecting others.

It is a community-minded action, and local radio culture is, or should be, all about community. Imparting this information via PSA or to a genuinely interested caller is an important public service.

That said, if your community is overwhelmingly in favor of full-time masks while in public, you could also give out or sell masks or hand sanitizer with your logo to benefit a charity, as some stations have been doing for months now.

Offer resources

Most importantly, every station in America should continue doing their best to generate funds, food and supplies for those in need.

With unprecedented unemployment, we must create more avenues to offer support. This may be more-frequent PSAs urging both monetary and non-perishable donations to food banks; airing announcements about volunteer opportunities; and supporting loans for those in need.

Adams Radio Group of Delmarva broadcast the “Radio Cares: Feeding America Emergency Radiothon” fundraising event last spring to benefit the hunger relief organization Feeding America. Credit: Salisbury Business Journal

If you haven’t done it already, I urge you also to create a resource page on your website with links to such things as local employment search ideas and help in navigating loss of income; food security advice and dollar-smart recipes; articles on coping with disruption of family life and other relationships; and, of course, how to stay safe and healthy in the face of COVID-19. Enlist a member of your staff who is good at research to compile these resources and review it with your talent so they’re in the loop of what’s available to their listeners on the website and what’s being constantly updated.

During times of crisis, people have long turned to radio personalities as virtual friends. And just as a friend is genuinely warm and approachable, it’s more important than ever that talent express a desire to share in their listeners’ lives.

Most of this comes in the form of morning shows; many who expanded hours in April continue to stay on for longer, while others have already scaled back. The situation is so fluid that if your area goes into lockdown again, you should take a hard look at your schedule.

There was a piece of optimistic news in a Radio Advertising Bureau article in October from Pierre Bouvard, chief insights officer at Cumulus: “The growth of workplace commuting combined with the return of children to school has caused time spent in the car to surge. This is good news for both the outdoor advertising and U.S. AM/FM radio industries. From May to October, Nielsen finds daily time spent in the car has grown +81% from 36 minutes in May to 65 minutes in October. Among heavy AM/FM radio listeners, daily time spent in the car has doubled from an hour and six minutes a day to two hours and 11 minutes.”

Even if this goes sideways due to renewed school closings and new restrictions, the beautiful part is that we can rest assured that in-car will come roaring back.

Many of us have more questions. At the top of my list: Do you continue to respond to the times in your local community?

Reach the author at marklapidus1@gmail.com. Read more great promotion, content and management articles from Mark Lapidus at www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/promo-power.

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

The post What’s the Right Tone on COVID-19? appeared first on Radio World.

A rendering of the new satellite

A new satellite serving SiriusXM is in orbit and “performing properly” after a Sunday launch.

That announcement was made by the company along with Maxar Technologies, which built the satellite, and SpaceX, which launched it.

The SXM-7 ready for launch in an image from SpaceX.

The satellite is SXM-7 and it has an expected service life of 15 years. There are five other active satellites in the company’s constellation, but SXM-7 and SXM-8 — which is scheduled to launch next year — will replace XM-3 and XM-4.

“SXM-7, a high-powered digital audio radio satellite, was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla.,” the companies announced.

“Shortly afterward, SXM-7 deployed its solar arrays and began receiving and sending signals. Next, SXM-7 will begin firing its thrusters to commence its journey to its final geostationary orbit.”

“SXM-7 will deliver the highest power density of any commercial satellite on-orbit, sending more than 8,000 watts of content to the continental U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, increasing the power and reach of the signal for SiriusXM,” they stated.

The announcement was made by Megan Fitzgerald, Maxar’s senior vice president of space programs delivery;

Bridget Neville, SiriusXM’s senior vice president of satellite and repeater systems engineering and operations; and Lee Rosen, SpaceX’s vice president of customer operations and integration.

 

 

The post SiriusXM’s New Satellite Is in Orbit appeared first on Radio World.

The author is president of Nova Electronics in Dallas, Texas.

A serious consideration for AM revitalization is being overlooked. Rather than promoting digital, which is still not ready for prime time, how about making changes in facilities a little more friendly?

One way is to get rid of the three-channel rule, which has outlived its usefulness. Many stations are going dark, but the band is still too crowded for most stations to move within that range. In order to reduce interference and improve coverage (which the FCC claims is of high importance, but doesn’t seem to practice), a station may have a frequency available that accomplishes all the above but is outside the range; and waivers are nearly impossible to receive. 

At present you have to wait for an AM filing window, which may not happen for years to decades (the last one was over 20 years ago), in order to make a move outside the three channels. 

There is no good reason for this, with the number of stations recently going dark, whereby a struggling station could improve their coverage and reduce current interference if such a move were allowed. 

Another factor would be to allow more stations into the expanded band. There are only 52 stations across the nation in the entire expanded band, making it an additional resource that is being vastly underutilized. 

Keep adequate protections between stations so as not to overcrowd the band, and allow this underpopulated territory to be used for improving the AM band, which was the primary motivation for its creation. 

These simple changes can be made with no real costs or changes in regulatory structure required. Unfortunately that seems to be the exact opposite of what government does. 

 

The post Letter: Drop the Three-Channel Rule appeared first on Radio World.

Jerry Del Colliano, rear, with NYU students. “Go to any college campus,” he said. “To them Spotify is the new radio.”

Perhaps nothing spreads through the U.S. commercial radio industry’s C-suites faster than some juicy water cooler talk from Jerry Del Colliano.

Clippings from Del Colliano’s online newsletter often bash the corporate strategies of iHeartMedia and Entercom. But the publisher of Inside Music Media doesn’t see himself as a critic of the leadership at those companies.

“I don’t do it to be critical. I do it because I love the radio industry,” Del Colliano said.

Nevertheless he has called iHeartMedia a “zombie” company that exists simply to keep up with debt payments. He believes Entercom is on a path toward voluntary reorganization or bankruptcy in 2022 unless it quickly recovers from the economic chaos of COVID-19. He says Cumulus is living on a “hall pass” from the financial markets due to the pandemic.

Del Colliano also has been critical of the NAB, calling the group “National Assassination of Broadcasting,” and has castigated the Federal Communications Commission for radio deregulation that he feels has allowed major broadcast groups to shed countless jobs.

“Think about this: Radio broadcasters no longer need a local presence in their market of license. What a wonderful thing for radio broadcasters,” Del Colliano says sarcastically. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Making a mess of it”

It’s clear to followers that Del Colliano speaks with a passion about an industry he grew up in.

He began his broadcast career working on air for the campus radio station while a student at Temple University. He worked in radio and TV programming and management in Philadelphia for years and is the former owner and publisher of trade publication Inside Radio.

Now he is a professor at NYU Steinhardt Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions Music Business Program. He also has taught at the University of Southern California.

The New Jersey native often writes in his newsletter with a particular focus on the actions of major broadcast groups that he believes have doomed the radio business.

“iHeartMedia, Entercom and Cumulus are making a mess of it right now. This is not the radio industry we are capable of being. It’s not a radio industry that’s going to survive,” Del Colliano said.

“It’s an industry that has been hijacked by a bunch of carpetbagger private equity people who have gone in and wrecked it.”

Sweeping programming changes introduced recently by iHeartMedia and Entercom to use out-of-market voicetracking to replace local on-air talent in many markets have been a frequent target of his ire.

“It’s the assassination of live shows in just about any daypart. These groups claim they are improving the local product by using regional or national syndicated talent and centralizing operations, but being local wins every time,” he said.

He says the beginnings of the radio industry’s troubles can be traced to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed for mass radio consolidation.

“I don’t think radio has been a business that has done well with consolidation,” he said. “Just look at it. Who can say that consolidation has been good for the industry?”

He feels he can point directly to why radio began to fail.

“The thing that made radio bulletproof is the exact thing these big groups have eliminated: being live and local. iHeartMedia and Entercom run up billions of dollars in debt, they cut back, they eliminate talent and they do programmatic selling. It’s as if they are looking for ways to destroy themselves.”

In fact, Del Colliano isn’t afraid to name names when it comes to the management of radio portfolios.

“David Field at Entercom is about as qualified to run a radio group as I am to be in private equity. He botched the CBS Radio merger. I mean everyone wanted CBS Radio. How do you screw that up? And that was before COVID-19 so he can’t blame that,” he said.

Going around the horn, Del Colliano says of Mary Berner at Cumulus: “She’s a very nice person, but she is from a private equity background. She is at Cumulus because she knew how to get them through bankruptcy, not operate them as a successful radio group.”

As for iHeartMedia, Del Colliano says he believes the cost-cutting by Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman only invited John Malone of Liberty Media to come in and position himself to “steal the company for pennies on the dollar. And (Malone) will run it on the cheap like we have never seen before.”

Liberty Media Corp, which already controls Sirius XM and Pandora, has a 5 percent stake in iHeartMedia, but in July the U.S. Department of Justice gave its permission for Liberty Media to increase its shares in iHeartMedia up to 50 percent.

“And you know how this is going to go. Do I have to spell this out to you? Liberty Media buys distressed properties. Pandora was distressed. Sirius XM was distressed. They get a few board seats and boom they will have their own people running iHeartMedia.

“Then he will gut it. It will operate with so few people you can’t believe. And he’ll use a lot of the programming strategies of satellite radio to program a terrestrial group of stations. No local staff and national formats piped into all the 800 and some radio stations. There will be further homogenization of radio,” he said.

“It was never personal”

Del Colliano teaches media, music discovery, streaming and immersive technologies at NYU, mostly via Zoom these days. In his class “Music in the Media Business,” he says young students tell him they have no need for radio.

“Go to any college campus. To them Spotify is the new radio. In fact, just look at people under 30 years old. Look at the next new car when you buy it. People are more worried about getting the Apple CarPlay to work than finding the radio in the dash.”

And AM radio has been left to die, Del Colliano said, despite recent “revitalization” actions by the FCC.

“(AM) is not sustainable. You have major broadcast groups now turning off their stations. I don’t think all-digital is a way forward when you render all analog radios obsolete.”

Del Colliano thinks AM could have become a podcast platform.

“Radio really missed an opportunity. All of these different shows featuring only the spoken voice. It would have been perfect for AM, but instead the big radio groups wanted Premiere’s Rush Limbaugh on their AM stations coast to coast. It’s exactly that type of programming on AM that caused podcasting.

“And I don’t buy the sound quality argument that AM just doesn’t sound good enough. Most people listen to podcasts through tiny earbuds.”

The internet pool that entertainment platforms are playing in now is so huge and so fragmented, Del Colliano says, Gen Z might not miss radio if it went away entirely.

“Young people would never trade Spotify or Apple Music for radio. They would sooner have playlists and the systems that are in place today. Over-the-air radio is still so antiquated,” he said.

Del Colliano says he often receives anonymous tips with information on the dealings of the major radio groups.

“But you might be surprised that I get a lot of the information from the people I write about. CEOs are fascinating people. They like to talk about themselves and each other. I have built a lot of trust with them. They know I will vet the information they give me,” Del Colliano said.

In fact, he calls Cumulus’ Berner “a friend” and even remains friendly with former Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey, who was often a target of Del Colliano’s scorn until he left the company five years ago.

“I skewered him bad, but it was never personal. Lew has spoken to my class at NYU. I use his book ‘The New Modern Media’ in my class. I just disagreed with the way he ran Cumulus.”

Del Colliano predicts radio groups that maintain a local presence will eventually enjoy better ratings and increased revenue compared to those who centralize operations. He mentioned Hubbard, Saga, Beasley and Alpha Media as examples.

“And that’s because those stations will continue to do what radio does best: be live and local. They’ll have programmers in the local markets. They’ll have sales people in the local markets.”

But he insists it will take an industrywide effort for radio to survive.

“It’s going to be a big lift. It’s going to take more than one person to turn the industry around. It’ll take a number of people who decide the right way to move forward is decentralizing the corporate structure of programming and sales and making radio local again,” Del Colliano said.

He concluded: “Then perhaps the greed of the consolidators might end and help radio save itself from private equity mismanagement.”

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

The post No Soft Edges From Jerry Del Colliano appeared first on Radio World.

Looking into 2021, the WorldDAB Automotive Working Group plans to work with vehicle manufacturers and broadcasters to help develop DAB+ guidelines using voice control as part of hybrid radio in vehicles

This is particularly important given that a new EECC Directive requires all new passenger cars in the EU be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio.

[Read: Metadata: Keeping Radio Strong in the Car]

The resultant guidelines will expand the existing WorldDAB User Experience (UX) Design Guidelines.

Expected efforts will focus on practices such as changing stations and searching for them through voice, allowing eyes to remain viewing the road.

Parties wishing to contribute to the new UX guidelines’ sections on voice control and hybrid can contact the WorldDAB Project Office.

 

The post WorldDAB Looking at Voice Control in the Car appeared first on Radio World.

In our latest issue, David Bialik comments on why CMAF HLS matters for radio streamers. Pam Johnston explains why WGBH in Boston dropped the “W” in its branding. David Antoine flips through the pages of “Radio’s Second Century,” a compilation of essays about radio. Jacob Daniluck offers hints on how to get the most out of your Tieline ViA codec. And group owner Gary Fisher relates how Equity Communications in New Jersey has reinvented itself thanks to the pandemic.

Read it online here.

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

On the Air

What’s the Right Tone on COVID-19?

For radio programmers, understanding attitudes can be a tricky business.

News Maker

No Soft Edges From Jerry Del Colliano

The newsletter author regularly dishes scorn on the actions of big commercial U.S. radio companies.

Also in this issue:

• Workbench: More on the STL Support Pole
• Book Takes Scholarly Look at Radio
• Putting CMAF HLS to Work in Audio

 

The post Inside the Dec. 9 2020 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

Country music is getting into the holiday spirit and CMT Radio affiliates and open markets are invited to join in.

A virtual holiday party benefiting children’s hospitals and hosted by country music personalities will be part of a four-hour radio special hosted by Seacrest Studios. The program “Home for the Holidays with CMT’s Cody Alan” can be downloaded on Dec. 14 by affiliates to air any time during the holidays.

[Read: Ryan Seacrest Foundation Opens Studio in Nashville]

Cody Alan and female country trio Runaway June participated in the benefit, which was held at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville. Young patients and their families at the hospital were treated to an interview with Runaway June, a live performance of their current single “We Were Rich” and songs from their new Christmas album.

The virtual event will also feature conversations with country music stars including Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Maren Morris and others. The program will include stories of Christmas memories, favorite gifts and family traditions, along with a mix of holiday-themed songs. Highlights will air on CMT’s “Hot 20 Countdown” on Dec. 19 and 20.

The Ryan Seacrest Foundation was founded in 2009 and its first initiative was to build broadcast media centers within pediatric hospitals around the country. Those centers are now in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, Orange County, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington.

 

The post CMT Radio Virtual Holiday Party to Benefit Children’s Hospitals appeared first on Radio World.

Edita Kudláčová has been selected to be the new head of radio for the European Broadcast Union.

She is a 12-year veteran of the central European national broadcaster, having risen to chief content producer.

Kudláčová is a member of the EBU’s New Radio Group and, prior to that, the International Relations Radio Group until 2016.

She said, “I’m passionate about radio and audio and I believe strongly in the power of these mediums to create fantastic content and in their potential to innovate and develop. I’m really looking forward to working with the team at the EBU.”

Her laurels include first prize for Best European Online Project at the 2019 Prix Europa for “1968 Project,” an initiative that also won the Journalism Award in the category for best online journalism. She also claimed first prize for best public service podcast with “Turn The Lights Off!” in the 2018 Podcast of the Year awards.

She takes over from Graham Dixon, who is retiring at the end of the year.

EBU Director of Media Jean Philip De Tender said, “Edita is already well known to our community, having been highly visible in the New Radio Group and at our industry events. Her track record in innovation, inspiring creativity and delivering award-winning projects makes her a dynamic addition to the EBU Media Management team.”

Director General, Czech Radio and Vice-Chair of the EBU Radio Committee René Zavoral said, “Edita has championed change and innovation at Czech Radio and developed new ideas and concepts into concrete projects, which have been instrumental in the overall transformation of the organization. We’re delighted that her talent has been recognized with the Head of Radio role, but we’ll miss her collaborative spirit, her energy and her passion for everything audio.”

 

The post Kudláčová Named to Run EBU’s Radio Operation appeared first on Radio World.

Time has run out for a Florida broadcaster who saw its construction permit revoked and its call letters deleted after a series of weather delays and procedural errors.

Florida Community Radio was issued a construction permit with a three-year window to build station WRBD(FM) in 2015. But a series of storms and rule changes delayed that construction as FCR faced off against the effects of Hurricane Irma and the commission’s decision to eliminate the main studio rule for radio stations. FCR requested a six-month extension of the deadline, which was granted by the Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau. Before the end of that extension FCR applied to modify its permit to operate on a different tower. The bureau granted that request as well.

[Read: FCC Rejects Appeal From Florida FM Applicant]

Then came Hurricane Michael in October 2018. FCR requested another extension based on the effects of the storm surge and flooding in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., where FCR planned to build its NCE station. The new extension deadline was moved to June 2019.

A third request came in April 2019 when FCR asked for additional time to perform an analysis of whether the station’s power lines should be underground as well as a structural analysis of the potential impact of a future Category 5 storm on the station’s antenna. Before handing out another extension, the Media Bureau asked FCR for information showing a direct connection between Hurricane Michael and the licensee’s inability to construct the station by the June 2019 deadline, but the Media Bureau said FCR did not provide any information.

As a result, the bureau denied FCR’s third request for an extension. The bureau also noted that the analyses that FCR wanted to perform could have been done well within the extended construction term.

FCR responded with a petition of reconsideration (which was denied) and an application for review (which was denied). In the application for review, the bureau rejected FCR’s new stance that argued that the new tower site was in a designated floodplain. The bureau also denied portions of the FCR petition that claimed that an additional extension was warranted. “We noted that FCR had not made any showing that Hurricane Michael continued to cause delays in construction, and that FCR had not made any construction progress,” the bureau said.

Advancing to 2020, the commission dismissed FCR’s latest petition based on procedural issues. The commission rules state that when the Media Bureau denies an application for review, the follow up petition for reconsideration will only be considered if the petition offers updated facts that relate to the event. The FCC said the arguments that FCR makes in its 2020 petition do not meet those requirements.

In its 2020 petition, FCR argued that the commission should establish longer extensions for permitees faced with back-to-back weather emergencies like the ones FCR faced with Hurricanes Irma and Michael. It also argued that the commission failed to establish adequate policies on increasing minority ownership of radio and TV stations.

But the FCC said that none of those arguments fall under the category of “circumstances which have changed,” which is what the FCC is looking for within a petition of reconsideration filing.

As a result, the commission dismissed FCR’s petition for reconsideration and updated its records to reflect that the construction permit for WRBD has now officially expired.

 

The post Florida Licensee Sees Construction Permit Revoked After Procedural Missteps appeared first on Radio World.

The society presented Poray with his own bobblehead depicting him in the SBE booth.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers threw a surprise party Thursday for departing Executive Director John Poray.

“You taught us how to be an organization,” veteran engineer Fred Baumgartner told Poray during a Zoom meeting attended by more than 75 people.

The group included numerous past presidents of the society, current and past board members and committee leaders, representatives from state broadcast associations, and friends and Poray family members.

[Related: “SBE’s Poray to Retire in 2020”]

Poray was SBE’s first full-time executive director and has been with the society since 1992.

He began his career with the Boy Scouts of America’s Central Ohio Council and went on to work for Kiwanis International, The Apartment Association of Indiana and The Columbus Apartment Association.

Among those on the call were two engineers who interviewed Poray for the job 28 years ago, Rick Farquhar and Fred Baumgartner.

Poray told the online gathering that when he joined, he figured he might stay in the job for four or five years.

“I’ve never been with a group that enjoys their work so much,” Poray said. “You like what you do, it’s part of you. That really rubs off.”

Poray noted that he is not an engineer but that he shared interests of many SBE members, having DXed as a boy and collected QSL cards.

Society veterans on the call praised Poray for his administrative abilities, good ideas and efforts to provide stability and growth for the organizations.

One said that when he became an SBE officer, his predecessor told him, “It’s an easy job. Just do what John tells you and you’ll be fine.”

New Executive Director James Ragsdale comes on board in January.

 

The post SBE Gives John Poray a Big Sendoff appeared first on Radio World.