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.

The next NAB Show isn’t until October thanks to the pandemic effect; but the association says exhibit hall reservations are off to “a significant head start.”

The National Association of Broadcasters said it has approximately 540 companies that have committed to the show in October in Las Vegas, including vendors from 31 countries. Organizers are promoting the event as “the time to restart, rebuild and reconnect.”

Among brands familiar in radio that NAB said have committed to the show are Audio-Technica U.S., Comrex, Nautel, Rohde & Schwarz, Wheatstone and WideOrbit.

NAB also highlighted AT&T, Inc.; Adobe Systems; Amazon Web Services; Blackmagic Design; Dolby Laboratories; Grass Valley; Ikegami; Limelight Networks; Panasonic; Planar; Pixel Power; Ross Video; Sony Electronics, Inc.; Telestream; Verizon Business and Verizon Media; and Vizrt.

It quoted Executive Vice President of Conventions and Business Operations Chris Brown saying, “Together with our partners, we are on a path to building a critical event that will reunite the industry and create a much-needed forum for building momentum going into 2022.”

It said initial applications account for about 330,000 square feet of space.

The show will co-locate with the Audio Engineering Society fall convention, the Radio Show and NAB’s Sales and Management Television Exchange. The Society of Broadcast Engineers also will coordinate its annual national conference with that schedule.

 

The post NAB Show Cites Early Exhibit Hall Sales appeared first on Radio World.

Gary Koster, Gerhard Straub and Macon Dail at the Greenville, N.C., Transmitting Station. Photo: VOA

A new post on the Voice of America public relations website provides an update about the ongoing test of Digital Radio Mondiale from a shortwave transmission site of the U.S. Agency for Global Media in North Carolina.

It noted that a series of USAGM tests of the digital radio technology was launched in early 2020 with content targeting Cuba and Latin America.

[Read: DRM Advanced Radio for All]

The article cites the experience of Gerhard Straub, supervisory director of the USAGM Broadcast Technologies Division; Gary Koster, broadcast radio technician and transmitter expert; and Macon Dail, chief engineer at the transmitting station in Greenville, N.C.

“The USAGM test, says Straub, is ‘coasting along’ in the pandemic, but additional content will be added when technicians can travel again,” the story states. “Straub says the VOA signal was taken off in the initial test to concentrate on the [Office of Cuba Broadcasting] digital content and to keep the signal robust. Now that there is good reception data, he noted, the digital bitrate can be increased and VOA content added back into the test in 2021.”

The article also mentions advances by DRM in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil and North Korea.

The test DRM signal carries audio, scrolling text and rotating images.

“You have to stop thinking of it as radio, because it’s not,” VOA quotes Straub as saying. “Just like we broadcast digital data on the internet, we can broadcast digital data over shortwave without being hampered by an internet firewall that maybe limits what we can send to a particular country.”

Read the article “USAGM, VOA Testing Innovative Digital Radio Platform.”

 

The post USAGM’s Test of DRM Is “Coasting Along” appeared first on Radio World.

Just in time for last minute Christmas shopping, the “Global Radio Guide” from Teak Publishing is available in its new, 15th edition.

Gayle Van Horn’s treasure for the shortwave aficionado “dives into how and where to hear exotic shortwave stations transmitting in the world’s tropical radio bands.”

A release add, “[T]hese stations serve as a window into the culture and daily lives of countries not served by large international broadcast stations. Even in an increasingly connected and digital world, for many of the citizens in these countries, these radio stations serve as the only source of news and information they have at their disposal.”

The guide features 24-hour station/frequency guide with schedules for selected AM band, longwave, and shortwave radio stations; hourly schedules for all language services, frequencies, and world target areas for over 500 stations worldwide; listings of DX radio programs and internet website addresses for many stations, time and frequency stations as well as other odd signals in the shortwave ether.

In addition to contributions of Van Horn, W4GVH, Ken Reitz and Fred Waterer of Spectrum Monitor along with Larry Van Horn add significant content.

The “Global Radio Guide” is available as an ebook for $8.99.

The post Latest Edition of Global Radio Guide Available appeared first on Radio World.

SiriusXM announced a new automotive partner for its 360L hybrid radio platform.

The company said Maserati has made SiriusXM with 360L a standard feature in its 2021 vehicles in the United States.

“Maserati becomes the first manufacturer to make SiriusXM with 360L a standard feature in its vehicles,” it stated.

Like other hybrid radio systems, the 360L platform combines satellite and streaming content delivery. The company highlights its personalization and on-demand benefits not available in the more familiar one-way satellite service.

SiriusXM has made 360L-related announcements with other carmakers this year including BMW, GM and Audi.

Maserati owners will get a 12-month trial subscription to SiriusXM’s All Access package.

[Related: “Entercom Joins the DTS Connected Radio Ecosystem”]

The post Maserati Signs on for SiriusXM 360L appeared first on Radio World.

Entercom’s Radio.com digital platform is now part of Xperi’s DTS Connected Radio hybrid radio ecosystem.

The announcement gives insight into how Xperi is positioning its system. Senior VP, Radio Joe D’Angelo was quoted: “DTS Connected Radio continues to build on its mission to give today’s car-owners the visually rich, immersive listening experience they expect from the digital dash, while ensuring broadcaster editorial control.”

The platform recently came to market in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and Xperi says more vehicle launches are pending.

For Entercom, the benefits here are “increased engagement, expanded reach and turnkey management and control of content for each of our local broadcasters,” according to VP, Corporate Business Development David Rosenbloom.

[Related: “Hybrid Radio Picks Up Momentum”]

With the hybrid system, Radio.com radio stations will appear with artwork, artist and album information and playlists. The DTS system allows listener personalization and also provides “service following” capability — when a vehicle drives out of broadcast range, it switches in the background to the online version.

The companies said the integration also means economies of scale. Radio.com is home not only to Entercom’s 230 stations but hundreds of affiliates.

With this new relationship, they said in the announcement, “Broadcasters can easily integrate and manage their services, station information, and streams in one place via the RADIO.COM platform integration, all while maintaining control of their content, with all changes reflected in vehicles with DTS Connected Radio.”

 

 

The post Entercom Joins the DTS Connected Radio Ecosystem appeared first on Radio World.

Order for TRT on the Nautel factory floor

Nautel has snagged another big contract to provide FM transmitters in Turkey.

The company is supplying 30 NVLT FM transmitters to Turkish Radio-Television Corp. with the option to purchase 12 more if needed.

These transmitters are all 5 kW models. The transmitters will be deployed at key locations throughout the country next year.

“Based in Ankara, TRT provides five regional and six national radio services as well as six AM radio broadcasts,” Nautel noted in its announcement.

“Additionally, Voice of Turkey provides shortwave programming in 32 languages. TRT radio is available on internet, satellite and cable as well as terrestrial services.”

In 2009, Nautel won a contract for 224 FM transmitters in a range of power levels up to 20 kW, and it supplied three 300 kW MW transmitters to TRT in 2008-2009. It said its transmitters have been “used to modernize a large portion of Turkey’s national FM Radio infrastructure.”

Yusef Tasdemir is the head of the Transmitter Operations Department at TRT. Ilker Aydin Akin is sales manager for Europe, Russia and Israel at Nautel.

Send news for Who’s Buying What stories to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Nautel Supplies 30 FM Transmitters to TRT appeared first on Radio World.

A divided Senate has approved Pres. Trump’s Republican nominee to the FCC, Nathan Simington.

Democrats strongly opposed the nomination of Simington, currently with the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, arguing it was a way to stymie the Democratic FCC agenda out of the gate, but Republicans prevailed in a straight party line vote 49–46, though with no floor defense of the President’s nominee after Democrats had pilloried him.

Senate Republicans have consistently appeared unenthusiastic about the Simington nomination, not speaking up strongly for him during the Commerce Committee’s approval of the nomination on Tuesday before voting (the same 49–46) to proceed to a vote on his nomination.

[Read: Chairman Pai Will Leave FCC in January]

Simington was the president’s choice while traditionally congressional Republicans would have a voice in the pick.

He is expected to take his seat, succeeding outgoing commissioner Michael O’Rielly, late Thursday (Dec. 8) or Friday, following the FCC’s Thursday public meeting.

President Donald Trump nominated O’Rielly for a second term, but pulled the nomination following a speech in which O’Rielly raised questions about efforts to regulate social media, something the President has been pushing the FCC to do.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee, was the first to speak on the Simington nomination after the Senate, again divided along party lines, had voted to limit debate and proceed, eventually, to the nomination vote.

She said she had questions about his neutrality and independence, given reports he had tried to enlist Fox News to spotlight the issue of regulating social media and given the abrupt withdrawal of O’Rielly’s nomination in favor of Simington, who worked on NTIA’s petition to the FCC seeking social media regulation, a petition Trump had mandated in an executive order as part of his effort to regulate sites, like Twitter and Facebook, he has long argued censor Republicans, including him.

“I hope that we will not pass the Simington nomination,” Cantwell said, but added that if he was to be confirmed, as assumed, her colleagues should move quickly to also approve a Democratic nominee to the commission, when one is chosen. She pointed out that, usually, Republican and Democratic FCC nominees are paired in such circumstances. A Republican Senate is not likely to rush to such confirmation, however.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the second senator to speak on the nomination, pulled no punches.

He said Simington was dangerous to the FCC at this moment in history, for which he was the wrong person at the wrong time, pointing to President Trump’s attempts to retaliate against social media platforms, his attempts to enlist the FCC in that effort, and Simington’s participation in that effort.

Blumenthal called him unprepared and unqualified for the post. He also cited the potential gridlock issue and noted the usual bipartisan pairing of nominees. He urged a no vote.

Democrats have reason to be worried that Simington’s installation could tie up the Democratic agenda after Jan. 20 — there would be two Democrats and two Republicans — and until a third Democrat can be named to Pai’s commission seat — he is exiting Jan. 20 — which if Republicans retain control of the Senate could be months down the road.

FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, who will be the only other Republican on the commission after the chairman exits, has been urging the Senate to confirm Simington so together they can thwart a Democratic FCC’s moves out of the gate.

In an appearance on Fox Business’ “Cavuto Coast-to-Coast,” Carr said: “I think it would be very valuable to get Simington across the finish line and help forestall what really would be billions of dollars’ worth of economic damage that I think a Democratic FCC would look to jam through from Day One. One thing a Democratic FCC is expected to do is restore net neutrality rules, which Carr has called “socialism in sheep’s clothing.”

 

The post Republican Nathan Simington Confirmed to FCC Seat appeared first on Radio World.

Wayne Eckert is an engineer with the Rural Florida Communications Cooperative. He occasionally comments here in Workbench on electrical matters of interest to broadcast engineers.

He noted the article by Mark Persons in the Oct. 14 issue of Radio World detailing lightning damage at KRJM. For engineers who are interested, he points out that AT&T has a relevant document “Grounding and Bonding for Network Facilities” that can be downloaded free in PDF form.

Fig. 1: The down conductor has been stapled to the 4-by-4 pole.

Wayne writes that while the document was created for central office grounding and bonding, it is now considered a company reference for all cell sites as well. And many parts it are applicable to broadcast sites, studios or any other facility where uptime is of high importance.

Wayne believes that if just some of the practices detailed in the AT&T document had been applied at KRJM, the damage suffered could have been greatly reduced.

One thing that caught Wayne’s eye was it appears that the pole supporting the STL link lacked a down ground. Wayne bases this opinion on the damage to the pole and from what Wayne could see in the photograph.

A down ground is an old utility practice and is a simple lightning protection device. Normally before the pole is placed, a lineman will secure a #6 hard drawn copper conductor to the pole with fencing staples. This line will attach from the top of the pole to the “butt” or bottom of the pole, leaving 6 inches or so of it standing above the top and coil up a few feet of the cable on the butt.

The goal is to produce a grounding electrode on the butt of the pole, so when the pole is placed in the earth it will make good contact with the earth.

If the pole is already in place, you can add a down conductor by installing an 8-foot ground rod into the earth.

Note well: Before pounding anything into the earth, contact your state’s one-call utility notification center. All states have such centers and require by law that you call 48 to 72 hours before digging. In most states the number is 811.

A “locate” will be scheduled and done at no charge to determine if there are any underground utilities present. Keep in mind that though this service is free, it is not “next day,” so plan your work, giving the “locates” folks plenty of time. Failing to notify them can get you killed should you drive the ground rod through an electrical cable or natural gas pipe. At the least, it can result in being sent a substantial bill from a utility should you damage something below grade.

The down conductor provides a bypass for the lightning’s energy into the earth, sparing the pole from extensive damage. Keep in mind that all pole attachments shall be bonded to the down ground cable. It is required by code that you bond the grounding electrode to the building’s grounding system using a direct buried #6 copper conductor, which prevents potential differences between grounds.

Wayne included several photographs that detail a down ground installed on a pressure treated 4-by-4 support pole.

In Fig. 1 above, note how the down ground is stapled to the support post. Also note that the last 36 inches or so of the down ground cable is protected by a piece of PVC pipe secured to the post.

Since the size of the 4×4 is too small for a butt coil, a ground rod was used, shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

In this photo, also note that all of the bends in the grounding conductors are sweeps (gentle curves, no sharp angles). This is very important as it minimizes the inductance in the grounding conductors.

Fig. 3: A view at the top of the pole.

Wayne writes that though lightning is direct current, it acts more like RF due to its extremely fast rise time, so inductance must be kept to a minimum.

Fig. 3 shows the top of the 4×4 pole with a pigtail, to which supporting structures like antennas or STL dishes can be bonded and grounded.

More on GDTs and MOVs

Robert LaJeunesse in Ann Arbor, Mich., holds an MSEE. He read with interest our discussions about gas discharge tubes and metal oxide varistors.

Bob points out that there are unique differences. The MOV clamps above its breakdown voltage while the GDT clamps below its breakdown voltage.

This may seem like a minor point but it has a major impact on the power dissipated by the clamping device, not to mention the pass-through energy.

With the GDT clamping lower, this device reduces the amount of energy that can pass into the subsequent protected circuitry; and the lower clamping voltage likely allows for more clamping current without over-dissipating.

It also makes sense that both be used together to protect a load. The MOV would absorb lower power surges but might allow the voltage to rise significantly above the MOV threshold on a higher current surge. The GDT can then kick in and clamp the voltage down, pushing more of the dissipated power back to the source — and source wiring — thus limiting the surge power that gets to the protected device.

Bob notes two PDF resources from Littelfuse to learn more. One is “Varistor Products Overview.” The other is a datasheet about its CG6 gas discharge tubes.

John Bisset has spent more than 50 years in the broadcasting industry. With this column he begins his 31st year writing Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance. John holds CPBE certification with the Society of Broadcast Engineers. He is also a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award. Workbench submissions are encouraged, qualify for SBE Recertification and can be emailed to johnpbisset@gmail.com.

The post Workbench: A Lineman’s Tips to Ground an STL Pole appeared first on Radio World.

Emergency alerts will be showing up on more digital billboards in the United States through a partnership of FEMA and Lamar Advertising.

“The alerts are transmitted over FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) on select Lamar digital billboards throughout the country,” the agency wrote in a press release.

[Read: COVID-19 and Emergency Alerting Best Practices]

The announcement was made by Administrator Pete Gaynor, who called 2020 an “unprecedented” year for public alerts thanks to the pandemic and “a record number” of hurricanes.

IPAWS alerts have appeared on Lamar digital billboards in 17 states “and are available to run in all 43 states that Lamar covers,” FEMA said.

“Alerts will be displayed for 30 minutes at a time. Not all alerts sent through FEMA will appear on a Lamar billboard.”

FEMA said that since 2011 IPAWS has carried more than 81,000 alerts and warnings, and of those, 11,000 have been delivered in 2020 alone.

The post FEMA Expands Use of Billboards for Alerts appeared first on Radio World.

The Telos Alliance has released a “soft” console through its Axia Audio badge.

The iQs AES67 mixing console software is an HMTL5 software-based console designed to provide remote operation powers via Windows and Mac computers along with mobile devices. It works with the company’s AE-1000 server or Docker.

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

Telos Alliance Executive VP of Sales, Support, and Marketing Marty Sacks said, “IQs software runs on roads built by industries much larger than our own and gives broadcasters flexible options for deployment, including our new AE-1000 server and Docker container. … All while giving you total control with a simple web browser, allowing broadcast engineers to ‘Studio Anywhere.’”

According to a release iQs is scalable and allows multiple iterations at the same time. It is compatible with off-the-shelf hardware and has easy upgrade paths. Multiple subscription levels are available. It also allows for customization.

The company also points to the advantage of cloud-based systems such as trimming cap-ex costs and also eliminating or keeping physical plant costs under control.

Info: www.telosalliance.com

 

The post Telos Alliance Releases Axia iQs Soft Console appeared first on Radio World.

An image from the FCC’s “5G FAST Plan” web page

The Federal Communications Commission has begun its largest auction of mid-band 5G spectrum.

With legacy occupants now in the process of clearing out, the commission is making “280 megahertz of prime mid-band spectrum in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band” available.

Chairman Ajit Pai said the FCC “is paving the way for Americans to receive fast 5G wireless services. Together with the recent success of our 3.5 GHz band auction, our work to auction the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands in 2021, and the other groundbreaking spectrum auctions we’ve held since 2017, our 5G FAST Plan is in full swing.”

Satellite companies, including the ones that serve the radio broadcast industry, are moving their services to different frequencies, a process that has involved broadcasters having to adjust their own infrastructure. The commission said the first phase of the repack of satellite operators will be done by this time next year, and the second will conclude by December of 2023.

Pai highlighted the pace of the process, saying the mid-band spectrum “will be available to deliver next-generation connectivity to American consumers and businesses years ahead of schedule.”

“This spectrum holds the potential to be prime spectrum for 5G services given its combination of geographic coverage and capacity, and the FCC’s auction procedures will ensure the assignment to auction winners of contiguous spectrum blocks allowing wide channel bandwidths that support 5G deployment,” the FCC stated.

The post C-Band 5G Spectrum Auction Begins appeared first on Radio World.

Several major U.S. media groups believe “front-line” journalists should be among those who get early access to vaccines.

The organizations sent a letter to a committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They say journalists who provide “critical and essential functions in their communities” should be included in the early phases. They emphasize the work of journalists as “a lifeline of important health information” and an important part of public education about  the value of vaccines and the logistics involved.

The National Association of Broadcasters is one of the signatories.

“While highlighting the risk to journalists who are in the field reporting about health care workers and patients, meeting with people in essential businesses and covering rallies, protests and public events, the letter clearly specifies that the most at-risk populations should come first,” NAB wrote in a press release about it.

“The news media organizations support prioritizing vaccines for front-line health care workers, first responders and others providing critical support, as well as the most at-risk populations. However, the letter urges the committee to consider the essential role of journalists and the risks they encounter as it develops subsequent phases of vaccine deployment.”

Among organizations signing it are PBS, the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Association and numerous other journalism groups.

 

 

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Mark Persons is shown receiving the SBE Lifetime Achievement Award virtually

Prior to this autumn, only nine people had received a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

Mark Persons is the 10th. The award was presented to Persons during an SBE online membership meeting and award ceremony. Radio World is proud that Mark is a longtime contributor and valued member of the RW family.

We asked him to share thoughts and memories of his career.

This story starts in the mid-1920s when my father, Charles B. Persons, became a radio broadcast engineer at age seventeen at WEBC Radio in Duluth, Minn. — the only station in town. It grew to become part of a seven-station network before he left to build our own WELY in Ely, Minnesota, in 1954.

It was a great time for me to learn electronics and Ohm’s Law, turn knobs on the 250-watt AM transmitter and build Heathkit equipment at age seven. That station was later owned by well-known CBS journalist Charles Kuralt.

I became a radio amateur in 1963, the year before our family built and owned KVBR Radio in Brainerd, Minn. At age 17, it was a natural for me to wire the transmitter and studios with the latest innovation: cartridge tape decks.

There was never a question about my future. Broadcast engineering was not just a job, it was a lifestyle.

Three years later, I found little interest in college, which taught nothing about electronics. I enlisted in the U.S. Army and taught electronic repair at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Then it was off to Vietnam to do high-tech electronic repair. The plan was to fulfill the obligation to our country so I could go back to broadcast engineering in 1969.

Work ramped up in the 1970s, when engineers were let go from radio stations because the FCC no longer required them. Soon I was a full-time independent radio broadcast engineer, building 12 new stations and repairing countless others. Good test equipment helped solve the problem of a noticeable hearing loss from my service in Vietnam.

Treat it like your own

Coming from a family ownership situation, I treated each station as if it were my own. The attachment was personal because the work was mostly for clients who believed in engineering. A message on our telephone recorder said, “I am out working on one of America’s great radio stations.”

My wife Paula came into the business full-time after working as a legal secretary. She has a keen sense of character and it paid off. Her job was to run the office, freeing me to go out in the field 60 hours a week at 40 or more clients.

Once I was almost hit head-on by a drunk driver at 2 a.m. but went in a ditch instead.

I never wanted to own a station. The challenge of installing, troubleshooting and repairing equipment was more than enough. It is a great feeling to get all electrons flowing in the same direction, so to speak.

Along the way, two engineers tried to get into our “territory” by promising lower prices. (They never asked; we might have given them a few stations.) In the end, the clients came back to us for dependable results.

We lost less than $4,000 to bad debts over the years. I remember two times when a customer was slow to pay and then called looking to send me to a transmitter right away. Paula’s response in one case was, “You are no longer a customer!” That day I drove right by his downed transmitter while coming back from another project and did not stop.

That dented our reputation a bit, but we stuck by our principles. As Paula said, “We are not a bank that loans money.”

The author working at KLOH(AM) in 1988.

My first AM directional was a five-tower array in 1982 at Hibbing, Minn. It was built from parts, including a custom phasor controller. The phasor was, and still is, a room in a building with an eight-foot-high aluminum wall with inductors, capacitors and contactors on the backside. Coupling units were built open-panel style at each tower.

The client liked this so much that he had me build a three-tower array in Cape Coral, Fla., and a three-tower in Carmel Valley, Calif. All 10KW stations. He gave me the freedom to design and build what I thought was best for each job.

Then there were more than 40 C-Quam AM stereo installations. One of them was at the Cape Coral station, which introduced the “oldies” format in 1986. It placed second in the Arbitron after being on the air only six weeks.

Sharing knowledge

Never satisfied, I modified equipment, then designed and built many electronic gadgets used in stations. That evolved into designing products for manufacture such as the Programmer 3A Live Assist Program Controller and the Max-Tel Remote Broadcast Telephone, later updated to be the Max-Z and ZII.

I have always enjoyed telling stories. Approximately 188 of my articles have been published, mostly in Radio World. Then there is the popular Tech Tips section on my http://mwpersons.com website, where free answers are given to radio broadcast engineering problems.

[Read recent Radio World columns by Mark Persons.]

We retired when I was 70 and mentored two engineers to take over the territory. There was no charge except for a few hours of classroom training to bring them up to speed on measuring AM impedance etc. Then the SBE mentor program added two mentees in other parts of the country. I also became a member of the National Radio Systems Committee’s AM Improvement Working Group.

It is volunteer work, and it feels good to continue to be a part of the broadcast industry that I grew up and prospered in.

The plan is to keep writing articles for Radio World in the quest of spreading knowledge to broadcast engineers everywhere. Radio has a great future and needs good engineers to keep it going.

Regarding the SBE Lifetime Achievement Award: I had no intention of seeking that or any other accolade. Life just worked out that way while keeping the “families” of stations the best they can be. Paula says she will bury me next to a transmitter when the time comes.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The SBE John H. Battison Award for Lifetime Achievement recognizes and pays tribute to individuals for their dedication, lifelong achievement and outstanding contribution to broadcast engineering, according to the society. Prior recipients are Benjamin Wolfe and James Wulliman (1995), Philo and Elma Farnsworth (1997), Morris Blum (1998), Richard Rudman (2002), Richard Burden (2005), John Battison (2006) and Terry Baun (2010). You can watch the replay of the membership meeting and awards ceremonies on the SBE YouTube channel.

The post Mark Persons: “I Never Had a Plan B” appeared first on Radio World.

Radioplayer said it gave the first public demonstration of a three-way or “tri-platform” hybrid radio app in the Android Automotive Operating System.

The app combines DAB+ and FM over-the-air radio with online streams. The organization said the demo was for an online audience of major carmakers using automotive-grade tuner hardware.

Managing Director Michael Hill said, “Our aim is to make hybrid radio the standard experience in Android Automotive; this is the first step towards that.”

Radioplayer is a not-for-profit that started in 2011 in the U.K. as a partnership of the BBC and commercial radio. It now operates in numerous European countries and Canada, with France and Sweden pending.

[Read: “Radioplayer Expands in Europe”]

The three-way app was developed in partnership with Tier 1 technology supplier Panasonic Automotive Systems Europe, or PASEU.

“The hybrid app has a single, multi-platform station list that hides the platform from the user and allows them to select a radio station from the strongest available signal, prioritizing DAB+, then FM, followed by streaming, and automatically switching between platforms if the car moves out of coverage,” Radioplayer stated.

“The unique Radioplayer User Interface is powered by official broadcaster metadata from the Worldwide Radioplayer API and is fully compliant with Google’s Android Automotive Design Guidelines and the WorldDAB User Experience Design Guidelines.”

Radioplayer said its hybrid app is now available to car manufacturers to use in Android Automotive cars and that the UI can be customized.

“Radioplayer is also seeking to partner with Google to ensure hybrid capability for all radio apps and help improve the current standard radio experience in Android Automotive,” it stated.

“Further development of the app will see on-demand and podcast content, enhanced now-playing visuals such as artist images, as well as station recommendations, added early next year.”

 

The post Radioplayer Demos 3-Way Hybrid App appeared first on Radio World.

Kaylee Good is one of the hosts and student management leaders at WLTL Radio.

Illinois’ WLTL Radio has been named Best High School Radio Station in a program that recognizes excellence in high school radio broadcasting.

The John Drury High School Radio Awards are named in honor of ABC-Chicago news anchor John Drury. They are presented by North Central College and WONC Radio in Naperville, Ill.

WLTL Radio at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Ill., has won numerous awards in this program in the past, and in 2020 it was named to the top award during an online ceremony. It also won in individual categories for news feature story, specialty music program, on-air promotion, social media campaign and best website.

WLTL Radio is a student-run volunteer station that launched in 1968. It celebrates its history and its alumni at www.wltl.net.

Chris Thomas is faculty advisor and general manager. “Despite everything that 2020 has thrown at our students, they still did their best to produce quality content and entertaining programming for our community listening on 88.1 FM and streaming around the globe on WLTL.net, and today’s honors recognize their hard work and dedication. I am immensely proud of them,” Thomas said in a press release.

Read the list of nominees.

 

The post WLTL Is Named Best High School Station appeared first on Radio World.

The 2021 National Religious Broadcasters convention will be postponed after all.

Planners of NRB 2021 had been optimistic that they could have a physical event in March in Grapevine, Texas, and had reconfirmed that intention to Radio World in late November.

But today CEO Troy Miller wrote in an email to potential attendees that “our team came to the conclusion that while we could host an in-person event safely in March, many of you would be limited in your plans to attend or hold meetings during the event.”

NRB has moved the event to June 21 to 24.

“These additional three months will enable more opportunities to network and fellowship without as many of the current restrictions and limitations. With the additional time, increased effectiveness of treatments and widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines, June will be much closer to a full return to normal,” he wrote.

Any hotel reservations at the Gaylord Texan will automatically be updated.

 

The post NRB Postpones March Convention After All appeared first on Radio World.

iHeart announced a partnership to provide holiday music stations to viewers of the Roku Channel.

“America’s most popular iHeartRadio holiday music stations will be easily accessible to all users of The Roku Channel, available on Roku players and TVs, The Roku Channel mobile app, web, Samsung Smart TVs and Amazon Fire TVs,” according to iHeartRadio blog.

[Read: iHeart Lists Top 10 Overall Songs of 2020]

That includes iHeart Christmas, iHeartChristmas Classics, iHeartChristmas Country, iHeartChristmas R&B and iHeartChristmas Rock.

The company said the integration is free to Roku viewers “and marks the first time iHeartRadio’s hit music stations can be enjoyed in a video-focused experience.”

iHeartRadio’s content catalog remains available on the iHeartRadio channel on Roku devices.

The post iHeart Holiday Stations Are on Roku Channel appeared first on Radio World.

Ben Poor

The author is project manager, radio, on the Technology and Innovation team of the European Broadcasting Union, an alliance of public service media with 115 member organizations in 56 countries. 

For almost as long as radio and television services have existed, a large amount of effort has been expended on measuring the audiences that listen to them.

Largely driven by the boom in U.S. commercial broadcasting in the 1930s, measurements were necessary to define the advertising models that were to sustain these new services.

Although audience measurement on television would come to dominate what is understood to be “listening figures,” audience measurement is still a vital part of radio both for commercial and public service broadcasters.

In Europe, methods of audience measurement for radio vary between countries, but three methods have been generally adopted across industry: diaries, interviews and electronic measurement.

These give periodic snapshots of listening (e.g. ranging from daily to twice yearly), which does not give a clear picture of individual usage, either being driven purely from device usage, or being more based off brand recall, as such providing a broader picture of performance.

More detailed information about real engagement with specific programs, special events, segments and topics is lost in the aggregation. An experienced manager will know that a good radio station is the sum of all these parts yet relies on “craft” that can sometimes be hard to justify to those who control budgets.

An alternative arrived in the 1990s with the rise of online measurement. This introduced a number of new metrics but also provided analytic data that could be available instantly.

Thus, those publishing on the web could have a live view of how audiences were reacting to their content. For newspaper publishers, this has fundamentally changed their business; and although this has led to a rise in “clickbait,” it is notable that audiences still place value in “trusted sources.”

Audience measurement for radio services has been changing in similar ways with the rise of internet streaming and connected devices. Being able to measure how many people are listening to a stream, during what times and for how long can, in theory, give us the analogy to traditional measurement, with the benefit of being near-instantaneous.

Broadcasters have been trying this for the best part of two decades, although currently largely only for internal use. The reason is that much of this data relies on inference from server logs, by using proprietary methods from the broadcaster’s own applications or through third-party applications. A lack of shared technical standards and methodologies has limited development.

By contrast, traditional methods may not be sophisticated or granular but they have the advantage that they have been accepted as valid and largely transparent. Additionally, the different actors that sit between a broadcaster and their listeners can obfuscate the situation, resulting in the broadcaster not getting the full picture.

With a distribution chain that now includes increasing number of layers, each with opportunities for aggregation and caching, numbers are harder to rely on. For newer connected platforms like smart speakers, acquiring comparable figures can be challenging both for live and on-demand listening and again reliant on the platform (e.g. Amazon, Google) granting access. Importantly, the only party with access to the whole picture is the platform provider itself.

While internet streaming for radio has previously been a minority proportion of overall listening, dwarfed by use of broadcast, this will perhaps change as audiences consume more on-demand and personalized content, as well as with the further rollout of connected cars.

A clearer view of consumption across all platforms will become more and more important. Having a standardized method that can directly carry analytics for both broadcast and broadband, live and on-demand — the full spectrum of hybrid radio — is needed.

Such an effort has started as a collaboration among several organizations, led by the RadioDNS Technical Group, which I chair. The body is responsible for developing and maintaining open standards for hybrid radio, involving representatives from broadcasters and associations across three continents (including the National Association of Broadcasters and the European Broadcasting Union) as well as device manufacturers and service providers.

The goal of the project is to develop a free and open standard for the gathering of analytic data from the connected devices themselves, as well as the definition of a basic set of data to be gathered. By optionally using RadioDNS Hybrid Lookup, the broadcaster can define and control where the data is sent regardless of whether the listening is happening over broadcast or broadband.

Having the ability to determine how a listener moves between platforms (e.g. FM and IP), the broadcaster’s own radio services and live/on-demand during a session, in an anonymized way, is key to revealing the real value of hybrid radio services.

This can act as proof to broadcasters of their value, in a way that supports future investment. This benefits device manufacturers, increasing the coverage and quality of hybrid radio services that can be offered free-to-access for their own customers.

Ultimately, the winner will be the listener. Regardless of the means and mode of listening, enabling measurability for the connected era can improve radio, keeping it vibrant and exciting in an increasingly competitive space.

 

The post Collaboration Seeks a Radio Analytics Standard appeared first on Radio World.

Just in time for the studio-that-has-everything is something the studio doesn’t have — a black Electro-Voice RE20 microphone for under the radio station Christmas tree.

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

EV calls it a “low-reflection dark charcoal finish” for the venerable radio broadcaster standard. Ideally, besides being stylish it should provide use in radio studios with video cameras (not that the traditional putty-colored finish was particularly shiny).

The RE20 Black is really a horse of another color with the EV Variable D design, integrate pop filter, humbucking coil and a mid-bass filter.

Info: www.electrovoice.com

 

The post RE20 Has the New Black for Electro-Voice appeared first on Radio World.