Radio World

The Federal Communications Commission has just asked a big question: Should the legacy, audio-based Emergency Alert System architecture be redesigned?

That is one of a bunch of questions that the FCC has asked in a new notice of inquiry about EAS. As Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel put it, “We’re looking for all the good ideas here, both big and small, because we know first-hand they can make a difference.”

The commission took several steps regarding alerting at Tuesday’s meeting, and this big question came toward the end.

First, it issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that sets out proposed changes to improve visual messages that appear on television during nationwide tests.

“When EAS alerts are displayed on the screen, they have both an audio component and a visual component,” Rosenworcel wrote in a statement. “In other words, they feature both a recorded message and a text crawl. But because of the legacy television architecture of EAS, the audio component may not always match the visual text. This can mean that in some circumstances, less information may be conveyed to either those individuals who have access only to the visual component or to those who have access only to the audio component. It can cause real confusion.”

This is especially true for those with disabilities, she said.

[Related: “FCC Contemplates ‘Persistent’ EAS Alerts”]

“For starters, we propose to improve the script for visual text during nationwide tests of the legacy system. We also propose changes to our rules that would bring similar clarity to nationwide tests using the newer, internet-based common alerting protocol, or CAP.”

Also, because there is greater ability to include enhanced text with CAP alerts, the FCC proposes to require broadcasters to check to see if a CAP version of an alert is available when they receive an emergency alert over the legacy system. “Finally, we ask what additional steps can be taken to rethink the architecture of EAS and improve the functionality of the system as a whole.”

In addition to that NPRM, it opened a notice of inquiry asking about more dramatic changes to legacy EAS.

A draft version of these actions was published prior to the meeting, you can read that here; the long list of questions starts in paragraph 24 on page 13. It includes questions like “Is there a more functional compression or modulation scheme that could replace AFSK,” and “Can we take advantage of digital transmission standards like ATSC 3.0 and HDR standards to improve EAS’s capabilities” and “Would it make sense to use legacy EAS only for the EAN (i.e., national emergencies) and NPT (to test the legacy system’s performance in delivering the EAN), but require use of CAP for all other alerts?”

And then the NOI concludes with that big question we led with above.

The FCC wrote, “The legacy EAS is audio-based, and daisy chain-based, because a relatively small number of hardened, full-power AM radio stations can reach 90 percent of the continental U.S. population, potentially allowing the president to communicate to the public during a national emergency. The system is centered on the EAS Protocol because it allows for automated EAS operation on the EAS Participants’ parts, and it is the same protocol used for NWS alerts broadcast over the National Weather Radio system. When the commission adopted the CAP EAS rules in 2012, it kept the legacy EAS because of its resiliency in the face of a national emergency, and because there was no fully CAP-centric system in place — where EAS messages are inputted and outputted in CAP format rather than the EAS Protocol format — to replace it.

“Do these factors remain as true and relevant today?” the FCC wants to know.

“Can the EAS architecture be redesigned to achieve the resiliency and automation provided by the legacy EAS (including delivery of ‘live’ audio), but with the functionalities provided with CAP — such as a system where the alert is still delivered over-the-air using daisy chain distribution, but the alert is formatted in CAP, with ‘live’ audio enabled by an instruction in the CAP contents?”

It wants to know what burdens and costs that would raise, whether downstream processing would systems be affected, whether consumer and enterprise emergency radios would be affected, whether NWS alerts would be affected and much more.

Comments will be taken in PS Docket No. 15-94, and we’ll report on filing deadlines when we have them.

The post FCC Asks: Should Legacy EAS Be Redesigned Altogether? appeared first on Radio World.

In January, the Texas Association of Broadcasters marks a quarter century for its Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program. Through the ABIP, a group of broadcast engineering veterans review stations for FCC compliance using FCC self-inspection checklists as a guide.

“An ABIP review is an affordable way for a station to confirm its compliance with FCC regulations,” said TAB Vice President for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Michael Schneider. “A number of stations have told us over the years that these reviews provide great peace of mind. They don’t want to miss something, and if they did, they want to fix the problem quickly. The TAB ABIP helps them do just that.”

Since Jan. 1, 1997, TAB inspectors have visited hundreds of Texas stations, reviewed station studio and transmitter facilities and certain station procedures for compliance, and helped stations avoid fines by identifying deficiencies and how to correct them.

“It’s not just a review of the online Station Public Inspection File. Inspectors assess transmitter and tower site issues like painting, lighting, fencing and signage, studio facilities, and a host of other areas including station technical and EAS logging,” Schneider said.

[Previously in Radio World: “Protect Your Most Valuable Asset: Your Station License”]

According to a list compiled by TAB ABIP Inspector Dick S. Pickens, the most common deficiencies identified through an alternative inspection include incomplete or unapproved station logs, no quarterly tower light alarm tests, no schedule of maintenance and calibration, various Public File violations, and EAS monitoring and logging deficiencies. TAB ABIP inspections do not include reviews of EEO compliance or of a station’s political file.

The TAB ABIP program, as in other states, is FCC approved. Stations found by the ABIP to be in compliance with FCC regulations can earn a three-year waiver from routine or surprise FCC inspections absent a complaint or tower safety issues.

Since 1994, state broadcasting associations have been able to partner with the FCC to provide ABIP services. A 2018 review of 15 years’ worth of ABIP records by the late Ken Benner, who spent some 24 years as an ABIP inspector, found that alternative inspections had helped stations avoid some $30 million in potential fines.

Schneider described the ABIP program as a win–win for stations and regulators, as well as the public.

“These independent reviews have helped broadcasters stay on top of their FCC requirements while allowing the Commission to reallocate staff and resources from field offices to other FCC policy areas,” he said.

“Public safety is also a top priority of the program, since a tower with faded paint or a lighting failure can be a hazard to aviation, and a breach in a tower’s fencing can lead to individuals trespassing on the site, potentially creating RF exposure issues or, with recent incidents of vandalism, knocking a station and its news and emergency information off of the air for an extended period of time.”

As with other programs, the COVID-19 pandemic did have an effect on the TAB ABIP, but looking ahead the demand for ABIP inspections is strong.

“We received far fewer orders for ABIP reviews after March of 2020. Many stations weren’t even allowing their own staff onsite. We still conducted inspections, however, following COVID-19 health and safety protocols,” Schneider said.

As stations reopen their facilities again to staff and the public, Schneider said there has been a “steady increase” in sign-ups for TAB ABIP inspections.

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

The post Texas Broadcasters Mark 25 Years of ABIP appeared first on Radio World.

I’m always looking to reduce the number of things that clutter up my studio, yet at the same time increase my capabilities and efficiencies. Other World Computing fills this order with the Mercury Elite Pro dual-drive hardware RAID storage solution with a built-in three-port powered USB hub.

Two universal drive bays within one enclosure will handle two drives — SSDs or spinning hard drives, or any combination — for up to 36 TB of total storage. You can decide to run the twin drives either as a Redundant Array of Independent Disks or as completely separate drives. A RAID offers a higher level of security by making two copies of everything across the two drives. This is useful for highly precious data — song audio files, financial tax records, family archives — things that you cannot lose!

The OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual works with any USB-equipped Mac, PC, mobile or tablet device, gaming console — just about any device that supports external storage. The front panel has activity LEDs, while the rear panel has two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Type C and two 10 Gbps USB 3.2 Type A connectors; all act as a hub. Besides gaining more storage, I was able to get rid of an extra USB hub.

[Check Out More Product Evaluations in Our Products Section]

Meant to stay online all the time, the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual comes in a nice-looking, heat-dissipating aluminum case (matching my Mac Pro) with a quiet and high-efficiency cooling fan. It is powered from an included 12 V DC power supply.

You may select three different RAID modes when first formatting the system. You can choose: Raid 0, RAID 1, JBOD (just a bunch of drives) or Span. Mine came with two 1 TB hard drives, so I have it formatted as 1 TB RAID 1, which uses disk mirroring and is fault-tolerant.

I connected it to my Mac Pro Tower to archive a copy of all my interim Pro Tools session files and audio — it powers up whenever I turn on the studio for a session and I love it for its simple operation.

Important to know: It comes with a three-year OWC limited warranty, including a one-year Level 1 data recovery and lifetime expert support. A system with a pair of 2 TB 7200 rpm drives, 64 MB cache and transfer speeds of up to 576  MB/s costs $249. The solid-state 1 TB SSD model with speeds of up to 1026 MB/s sells for $349 MSRP.

This article originally appeared in our sister publication Mix. Users and suppliers are both invited to send news about recent installations and product applications to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post OWC Mercury Elite Pro Simplifies Storage appeared first on Radio World.

Photo: Getty Images Helen Ross

Audacy says it is ramping up its interactive voice capabilities. The company announced a partnership with Voicify, which provides “conversation experience management software.”

“As part of the partnership, Audacy will leverage Voicify’s services to drive interactive voice capabilities across the Audacy platform and make station-branded skills more easily accessible for listeners via any voice assistant-enabled device,” the media company said.

[See Our Who’s Buying What Page]

It said it also will license Voicify’s “Voicify Conversation Experience Platform” to create and deliver interactive voice ads and “voice commerce experiences” for advertisers. It said that platform enables marketers to deploy personalized voice experiences to consumers automatically on smart speakers and other platforms.

Audacy Chief Digital Officer J.D. Crowley was quoted saying, “As we continue to expand and enhance the Audacy direct-to-consumer platform, adding new interactive voice capabilities and enabling voice commerce experiences across a wide range of devices is an important area of future growth, especially in an age where flexibility and speed to market are a must have for our advertising partners.”

The companies cited research from Emarketer that one-third of the U.S. population are using voice to conduct searches.

They said we can expect “high-profile campaigns for several marquee brands” soon.

Submit business announcements to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Audacy to Use Voicify for Interactive Voice appeared first on Radio World.

This isn’t what you want to see when you look up at a tower.

But it is what Matt Ruedlinger of Fullwave Tower & Broadcast found last Friday when his crew showed up at WMGI(FM) in Terre Haute, Ind., a 50 kW Class B station owned by Midwest Communications and operating at 100.7 MHz.

“We received a call that a tree had fallen on one of the lower guy wires and when we arrived found it like this,” he told us.

“After running a few analysis scenarios, we developed a controlled drop plan and removed the tower. Everything went as well as possible with no damage to the transmitter building or nearby power lines.”

This was not related to the recent tornadoes that made headlines. The station is operating from a backup tower and plans a new structure.

Send your interesting radio photos and stories to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Something Ain’t Quite Right With This Tower … appeared first on Radio World.

The Ram TRX 1500. SiriusXM’s 360L feature made its debut in Ram trucks in 2019.

During the years that I’ve produced the program “Radio-Road-Test,” I’ve seen in-dash entertainment evolve from basic to high-end AM and FM radios and cassette decks to sophisticated units capable of accessing entertainment from terrestrial stations, satellite channels and streaming audio.

More and more, such units occupy a prominent place in the center stack of the automotive dashboard. SiriusXM with 360L is the latest iteration of the satcaster’s platform. The name 360L is intended to suggest a 360-degree listening experience.

When it debuted in 2019 in the Ram 1500 pickup with 12-inch Uconnect 4.0 system, SiriusXM with 360L delivered content from both the satellite and through streaming via internet access through on-board modems.

This “hybrid radio” capability opened up online channels that weren’t available in the car and offered on-demand programming — interviews, podcasts and other features — based on listening preferences.

SiriusXM with 360L is a hybrid system that combines satellite and streaming content delivery to provide more channels and control.

In October 2020, the ability to create an artist channel through its subsidiary Pandora was added to the 360L experience in Ram trucks for those subscribers with SiriusXM’s Platinum Plan, along with sports notifications, which give listeners an alert about their favorite sports teams, and the ability to tune directly to the broadcast of the game.

Ram owners with the 360L platform from 2019 received over-the-air subscription updates to add those abilities to their units.

Listeners can access official broadcasts for pro and college teams.

SiriusXM says subscribers can also create individual listener profiles, so multiple drivers and passengers can customize and maintain their presets and favorites. Profiles can be synced with a listener’s mobile phone to access their favorites and pick up listening where they left off in the car on certain content.

[Check Out More From the Road Warrior]

How does this work in practice? In the Audi Q5, I was able to receive the audio stream of SiriusXM Channel 69 when the satellite feed was not available because of terrain. In the Ram 1500 TRX, I could create a channel by an artist unknown to all but a few radio listeners today, Richard Clayderman.

This feature used Pandora protocols to curate the channel’s music, adding music from other artists in the genre to Clayderman’s music, thus creating a “Richard Clayderman Radio” channel that was streamed. This is appealing to listeners like me who enjoy music from artists not usually heard on terrestrial radio — in my case Mantovani and Kostelanetz, in your case maybe it’s Weezer and Måneskin — and listeners who want to hear more music from their favorite artist when they want it.

Pandora is a part of the 360L experience, and it allows listeners to create an “artist channel.”

When I wanted to return to satellite programming or other radio programming in the Ram, all I needed to do was select the appropriate source, which could be done by touchscreen or voice control, with an old-school knob to back up the touchscreen and voice controls.

The on-demand programming offered by 360L gives a listener the ability to listen to a podcast or previously recorded show with a touch. In the Ram, the Uconnect unit will load mixed content in its presets (AM/FM/HD Radio, satellite channels and streaming audio selections).

Missing a podcast? Users can find them here.

Ford, GM, BMW and Volkswagen are among car manufacturers offering 360L-capable units in their newest vehicles.

We’ve been hearing from radio advocates like RadioDNS, the NAB and Xperi that local broadcasters need to have a strategy in place for competing with platforms like this. If one compares the channel and song displays from a typical SiriusXM channel to the display of a typical terrestrial station today, the comparison is striking.

My experience suggests that the 360L is a formidable competitor to terrestrial radio for the ears and eyes of drivers and passengers. There’s a lot to be said about giving listeners what they want, when they want it and for making it easy for the listener to access those choices.

Paul Kaminski, CBT is a veteran radio news reporter and RW contributor, and host of msrpk.com’s “Radio-Road-Test.” Twitter: @msrpk_com.

Marketing the 360L

A recent announcement that 360L will be included in most Jaguar and Land Rover models provides insight into how SiriusXM markets the platform.

“SiriusXM with 360L combines satellite and streaming content delivery into a single, cohesive in-vehicle entertainment experience, upgrading the way the subscriber interacts with the service by providing more choice and a more customizable listening experience for their ride,” it stated in a press release.

Some of the on-demand content available through 360L.

“It delivers more SiriusXM channels in the vehicle, and its personalized ‘For You’ recommendations and ability to quickly access related content make it easier for listeners to discover more of the programming they love. With SiriusXM with 360L, drivers and their passengers can also access tens of thousands of hours of SiriusXM’s recorded On Demand content, so they can access exclusive interviews, unique shows and live performances whenever they want.”

Itemized benefits included the availability of many of the company’s streaming channels; access to “tens of thousands of hours” of on-demand content; enhanced sports play-by-play that “makes it easier to find the listener’s favorite team when it is game time, and gives them access to the official broadcasts for more pro and college teams”; Pandora stations that enable drivers to create personal channels; “For You” content recommendations based on listening habits; and listener profiles to allow more than one person to choose favored settings. Drivers and passengers also can use their voice to search SiriusXM’s library of content; and in Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, the platform can receive over-the-air software updates.

More info: Where to find it

SiriusXM with 360L is available in vehicles from Stellantis’ Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands; GM’s Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet and GMC brands; Ford F150s and Ford vehicles equipped with SYNC4; Lincoln Navigator and Nautilus; most BMWs; and most Audis and Volkswagens. It is standard across the Maserati lineup. It will be available in the New Range Rover and will be standard in Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles equipped with the PIVI Pro infotainment system by model year 2023.

The post SiriusXM with 360L Is an Impressive Dashboard Experience appeared first on Radio World.

Kirk Harnack and Jeremy Ruck circa 1994 with scale model of Sears Tower antenna masts

Among those mourning the death of engineer Jeremy Ruck this past weekend is Kirk Harnack, his friend and former co-worker.

“Jeremy and I worked together on the [then] Sears Tower in Chicago under the tutelage of Don Markley,” Harnack told us.

“We were measuring human exposure to RF radiation, mapping the tower and roof areas where workers’ presence would be time-limited. It’s not surprising that Jeremy continued to apply his knowledge and RF wisdom to the Willis Tower’s RF infrastructure over the 25+ years since our shared experience there.”

Jeremy Ruck and Kirk Harnack at the Michigan Broadcasters Engineering Conference 2020

Harnack commented on Ruck’s real-world experience and ability to communicate difficult ideas.

“Jeremy would explain complex technical concepts in simple tech terms that most engineers could understand. You felt smarter — better informed — after any conversation with him.”

He said Ruck’s favorite test equipment was the vector network analyzer. “He educated hundreds of engineers on the importance of VNA measurements, characterizing dozens of key parameters in RF transmission systems. These measurements allowed the fine adjustments necessary to optimize DTV transmission as well as FM systems. He could massage these systems to work as well or even better than their design. I think you’d be amazed at the number of FM listeners and TV viewers who unknowingly enjoy the results of Jeremy’s expertise.”

Jeremy Ruck (right) in the 2020 calendar of tower company Precision Comms Inc.

Ruck was a popular presenter at engineering conferences, including in Wisconsin and Nebraska. “He also shared his experience and knowledge about the TV repack with a wider audience in November 2019 on the SBE WEBxtra webcast.”

The photos shown here are provided by Kirk Harnack.

The post “You Felt Smarter After Any Conversation With Him” appeared first on Radio World.

Designed by live event touring professionals, the Li.LAC Microphone Disinfector is a rack-mounted encasement that uses controlled exposure to ultraviolet light to kill bacteria and viruses on microphone surfaces, metal grilles and the windscreens underneath.

The Li.LAC Microphone Disinfector is available in a professional 19-inch 3U rackmount drawer-based format, so that it can be located in an equipment room or packed in a road case to travel with other equipment.

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

The departments of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands have conducted scientific studies to evaluate the effectiveness of Li.LAC. A disinfection level of 99.99 percent for surface disinfection inside Li.LAC has been approved by Opsytec Dr. Gröbel GmbH, an independent, accredited laboratory and developer of industrial UV measurement technology. Li.LAC qualifies the 99.9 percent value, however, noting that the exact surface disinfection level varies with the type of virus or bacteria and the shape and surface of the microphone or other object being disinfected.

The unit can hold up to three hand-held microphones or several lavalier or headset microphones, headsets or beltpacks at a time, and a disinfection cycle takes 5 to 10 minutes. Much like a microwave oven, users close the drawer and press Start; the unit will not operate unless the drawer is fully closed and switches off as soon as the drawer is opened, ensuring operator safety.

The Li.LAC Microphone Disinfector is available in the United States for $1,599 from ISEMcon. Li.LAC lists additional resellers in Europe and Australia/New Zealand on its website.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Li.LAC Microphone Disinfector Debuts appeared first on Radio World.

Another AM radio station in the United States has converted to all-digital broadcast operations. WSRO(AM) turned off its analog signal in early December and is now broadcasting jazz music in all-digital AM covering the western suburbs of Boston.

The radio station is licensed to Ashland, Mass., and owned by Langer Broadcasting Group. The geographic area considered part of the MetroWest region of Greater Boston and located about a half-hour west of the city.

According to a post by station representatives on a Boston area radio message board: “WSRO Ashland, Mass. is on the air in the digital-only MA-3 mode of HD Radio. The transition occurred about 3:30 p.m. this afternoon (December 1).”

The station, which promoted the switch to all-digital AM on-air, asked for reception reports from listeners in its online post.

The FCC confirmed the station turned off it analog signal on Dec. 1 and can no longer heard on analog radio receivers. The station at 650 kHz is directional and drops from 1.5 kW daytime to 100 watts at night.

WSRO programming is simulcast on FM translator 102.1 MHz in Framingham, Mass. It also simulcasts in analog on 1410 (AM) and 98.1 (FM), according to those familiar with the most recent developments.

Attempts to reach representatives of WSRO for comment on the transition and listener response were unsuccessful.

WSRO was silent from July 9, 2020, through Oct.27, 2020, to reorganize its finances, according to the FCC database. The station broadcast a Brazilian music format until it switched to jazz earlier this year.

The station’s transition follows the recent move of Cumulus Media news talker WFAS(AM) in New York’s Hudson Valley to all-digital AM broadcasting. WWFD(AM) in Frederick, Md., and WMGG(AM) in Tampa, Fla., are two other stations operating with all-digital AM broadcasts.

In addition, several other AM licensees have notified the FCC of their intentions to go all-digital only.

The post New England Gets Its First All-Digital AM appeared first on Radio World.

Jeremy Ruck — a broadcast engineer and P.E. who owned Jeremy Ruck & Associates, managed Willis Tower in Chicago and wrote many articles for Radio magazine and Radio World — has died.

According to his obituary at Oaks-Hines Funeral Home in Canon, Ill., Ruck was 50. He died after a battle with COVID-19.

Ruck graduated from Bradley University in 1996 with a degree in electrical engineering.

His friend and colleague Mark Persons said that Ruck was an employee of D.L. Markley & Associates for many years, but left that firm after Don Markley died. He formed Jeremy Ruck & Associates in 2012.

“The broadcast engineering community will miss Jeremy Ruck,” Persons told Radio World.

“Jeremy was always young and vital, ready to go the top of the Sears Tower, now known as the Willis Tower, in Chicago to supervise a broadcast antenna project in the middle of the night. Many remember Jeremy as a frequent speaker at the Wisconsin Broadcasters Clinic in Madison, Wis., describing the complexities and math behind engineering problems.

“He came to my town on the 1990s to do a tune up of a three-tower AM directional and sipped wine with Paula and me when the workday was done. We talked endlessly about the radio industry and amateur radio.”

Persons said Jeremy Ruck, WM9C, became an Extra Class amateur radio operator at age of 17 and was active in the ham community over the years.

“Like Don Markley, not many can fill his shoes.”

Fletcher Ford, CEO of Regional Media, posted on social media that Ruck was “one of the best consulting broadcast engineers in the country, a great husband and father, a devout Catholic and Freemason, and a great friend.”

Another friend, engineer Art Reis, said Ruck had been involved in leading the television repack in Chicago. “I am sad beyond words,” Reis wrote.

Among his survivors are his wife Frankie and 10-year-old son Alexander.

A graveside funeral services will be held on Thursday, Dec. 16, at St Joseph Cemetery in Canton, Ill, according to Ruck’s obituary.

The post Broadcast Engineer Jeremy Ruck Dies, Age 50 appeared first on Radio World.

One major technological innovation in consumer electronics of the past decade is the smart speaker. Increasingly, there are ever fewer homes that you can walk into where devices will not activate when you utter the name Alexa.

The smart speaker performs many jobs in the modern home from turning on lights, acting as a cooking timer, and connecting with search engines. These devices are handy. In many homes, these speakers also serve as a table-top radio. Many users don’t realize that asking an Amazon Echo or Google Nest smart speaker for their favorite radio station actually connects them to the station’s live stream.

Delivering an audio stream to at-home listeners via smart speakers presents new opportunities and challenges for broadcasters. But with the right approach to tackling these challenges, a broadcaster can increase listener engagement and generate more revenue for the station … and isn’t that what station ownership wants?

[Read more articles by David Bialik.]

First, development of a good smart speaker action (for Google) or skill (for Amazon) is imperative. A station should have its own smart speaker skill or action, not relying on the device’s default response. This allows the station to have full control over the listener experience, maintaining their brand, without the reliance on potential competitors (i.e., iHeart and TuneIn) to act as gatekeepers.

Perhaps the station wants to have its on-air talent be the voice for the skill, rather than Alexa or Google’s default voice. The station should think critically about the invocation phrase the audience says to listen to the content. This must be a simple phrase for your audience to remember and, yes, it must be unique!

The difficulty is the uniqueness. Is the station’s name or call letters easy to say clearly without being misinterpreted by the smart speaker as a competitive or out-of-market station? Are the verbal commands going to be easy for the listener to remember?

Picking a unique activation phrase is not an easy task, but it is as crucial as making sure that your FM transmitter is on frequency!

For some broadcasters who use the default skill on the device, the delay between asking to listen to a station and actually receiving audio can be fairly long, sometimes as much as 30 seconds. This delayed response is detrimental to building your audience due to listener impatience.

“The importance of simplicity and having quick stream playback in the action is crucial,” said Eduardo Martinez, director of technology for StreamGuys, whose company creates custom interactions for stations.

This diagram explains the flow of a smart speaker command, in this case using StreamGuys’ services.

During development, skills are tested in a sandbox environment to continually add features or match the interactions available for your needs. Once the developer is happy with the response, the skill is sent for approval (sometimes called certification) by the platform before it is available on the smart speaker. You can always make updates, but those updates also need to be approved.

Skill development is not easy and using an experienced developer is the smart route to getting integrated with a smart speaker.

Second, the listener should be instructed how to install and use the stations’ skill. No longer will you have to turn the dial or press a preset button for your favorite station. Because the station’s skill can have custom invocation phrases and interactions, it’s important the listener be aware of how to use this specific service.

If both live and on-demand content is available, listeners should know how to verbally navigate to both types of content. Custom stills are a great opportunity to prompt listeners to contribute to station programming, such as make song requests, respond to listener polls, or ask a question of an interviewee. A non-profit station could appeal to listeners to submit a donation.

All this advanced interaction increases listener engagement, but requires some listener education to be effective.

Third, the station should sell advertising on the stream to sponsors looking to reach at-home listeners. The convenience of using the voice to interact with a station’s program has pulled in the audience. Now is the time to present advertising packages to sponsors who want to reach these listeners.

Potential sponsors include companies that provide home appliances, such as kitchen and laundry, or home services, such as food delivery, house cleaning, or yard maintenance. Packages could be assembled that only reach smart speakers; most stream ad insertion technologies can target dynamic ads just to these listeners.

Assuring your sponsors that their messaging reaches at-home listeners allows you to charge higher rates for ad placement to their targeted audience. Consumption metrics for both live and on-demand usage by smart speakers are also important data the ad sales team will want to share with sponsors.

The percentage of radio listening on smart speakers will continue to grow as more of these devices find their way into homes. An effective initiative to engage with these listeners should include a custom skill or action, suitable instruction for the audience about how the verbal interaction works, and targeted sponsorship messaging to provide value to advertisers. Together, these components can help increase audience, listener engagement, and revenue as the listening platforms evolve.

Please remember that digital assistants are entering the automotive environment now, too, so the need for good voice commands continues to grow.

The author is a consultant who has held technical broadcast and streaming positions for companies like Entercom, CBS Radio, Bloomberg and Bonneville. He is co-chair of the AES Technical Committee for Broadcast and Online Delivery and chair of the Metadata Usage Working Group of the National Radio Systems Committee. Contact him at dkbialik@erols.com or 845-634-6595.

The post Smart Speakers and How to Talk to Them appeared first on Radio World.

The 1BCG transmitter used for the original Transatlantic Test Project in 1921

To celebrate the first transatlantic radio broadcast by members of its club 100 years ago, the Radio Club of America (RCA) will undertake a re-creation of the 1921 Transatlantic Test Project transmission on Dec. 12.

Using shortwave, low power and other state-of-the-art technology from the time, the signals the club broadcast in 1921 from Connecticut were heard in Scotland, the Netherlands, England, Germany, Puerto Rico, British Columbia, California and Washington state.

[See More of radio’s history in Roots of Radio.]

Back in 1921, the club said in an announcement about the event, transatlantic wireless was an arduous process done with 250 kilowatt transmitters and antenna superstructures. Ham radio operator Major E. Howard Armstrong, though, worked to secure a 10 foot × 14 foot wooden hut in a farmer’s field in Greenwich, Conn., with a transmitter with an input power of 900 watts. The signal was broadcast using a 100-foot-long and 70-foot-high T-cage antenna with a radial counterpoise at a wavelength of 230 meters.

The event was a watershed, the organization said. On Dec. 12, 2021, at 0252 UTC (9:52 p.m. EST) radio aficionados with a shortwave receiver or have access to an internet radio receiver can tune to 1825 kHz. The transmission will identify as W2RCA and repeat the 1921 Morse Code CW transmission at a speed of 12 wpm.

In addition to the Radio Club of America’s re-creation, The Vintage Radio and Communications Museum of Connecticut will use a replica of the 1BCG transmitter to transmit a similar one-way Morse Code message on 1820 kHz. The message will repeat every 15 minutes starting Dec. 11 at 2300 UTC (6 p.m. EST) through 0400 UTC (11 p.m.) on Dec. 12.

The American Radio Relay League and the Radio Society of Great Britain have assembled a list of other stations and groups organizing events and activities to celebrate 100 years of amateur radio transatlantic communication. Visit http://www.arrl.org/transatlantic and https://rsgb.org/transatlantic-tests respectively.

The post Radio Club of America to Recreate 100-Year-Old Transatlantic Test appeared first on Radio World.

Bernie O’Brien in an undated photo.

The author is owner of broadcast equipment company SCMS. He writes here about the recent passing of longtime sales engineer Bernie O’Brien.

Bernie, who passed away on Nov. 22 after a six-month extended illness unrelated to Covid, was a private person but also one who never met a stranger.

He was always more than gracious to assist anyone, in business or in his personal life. He was well known to broadcasters throughout the United States and to many manufacturers with whom he worked over the years.

Bernie joined SCMS about 34 years ago as a sales engineer, having worked previously for David Green and Associates, which was acquired by Radio Resources. In addition to selling for SCMS Inc., Bernie worked with several broadcast groups on a contract consulting basis such as Flinn Broadcast in Memphis.

He was the first field salesperson that SCMS hired and he was a great engineer who loved the industry — a problem-solver. He loved giving each of us answers to our customers’ questions and problems, providing unique technical solutions from his many years of experience. As he would often say, “No problem, chief!”

Bernie was easy to recognize, with his faded blue jeans and handle mustache, and at conventions he could often be found outside having a smoke with his longtime friend Dale Tucker of Radio World or meeting with his close engineering buddy Dave Hacker.

Bernie, we will see you on the other side in Transmitter Heaven.

 

The post In Appreciation of the Late Bernie O’Brien appeared first on Radio World.

A talk show stunt that aired EAS tones on a Las Vegas radio station may cost Beasley Media Group $20,000.

The rules of the Federal Communications are strict: No transmission of false or deceptive emergency alert system tones or EAS simulations are allowed.

But in September 2020, the commission said, Beasley station KDWN(AM) apparently aired them during “The Doug Basham Radio Show,” a paid programming block, in the absence of an emergency, authorized test or qualified PSA.

The tones were also carried on the HD2 signal of KKLZ(FM) and on an FM translator.

[See Our Business and Law Page]

According to the FCC, Beasley acknowledged the incident, said the station hadn’t previewed the clip and that “immediately after” transmission, KDWN’s board operator “confronted Basham and informed him that the broadcast was impermissible.” The board op also notified KDWN’s program director.

The commission now has issued a notice of apparent liability. “The prohibition on such transmissions has been in place for many years, and the commission has repeatedly made its requirements clear,” it wrote.

The base forfeiture in such cases is $8,000, but the FCC more than doubled the proposed amount, citing “the number of transmissions at issue, the amount of time over which the transmissions took place, the stations’ sizeable audience reach, and the serious public safety implications of the apparent violations” as well as other factors.

Beasley has 30 days to pay or to respond explaining why it thinks the penalty shouldn’t stand.

The post EAS Tone Misuse Draws Penalty for Beasley appeared first on Radio World.

AEQ said it has incorporated talkback in its line of NetBox routers.

NetBox 32AD MX is an audio matrix with 64 analog, digital and IP inputs and outputs. NetBox DSP has between 64 and 160 inputs and outputs, all of them IP.

“These units respond to the concept of ‘mixed routing,’ in which audio over IP is used, over the AES67 or Dante protocol to simplify wiring and facilitate transport to a router that has, among other things, IP inputs and outputs, and is equipped with features for high-level audio routing and processing,” AEQ wrote.

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Those features include logical line grouping, salvos, macros, agenda, silence detection, time scheduling, level meters, signal generator, audio mixing and processing, IP transport of GPIOs and multiplex group management.

These are managed through a multi-post and multi-user application, based on customized views to control one or more local or remote audio matrices for various uses in radio, television and sound systems.

“For its use in radio, giving way to several correspondents, and in television, operating remote intercom, the Talkback or MPX function has been developed,” AEQ said.

“A ‘Talkback’ group is a combination of input and output lines that allows to automatically execute an N-1 routing between these lines,” it said.

“But to facilitate the work, an additional keypad has been created to the XY screen of the matrix. The coordinator listens to correspondents at will using the PFL buttons. He integrates each correspondent to the program, and at the same time joins him to the talkback group, by means of the Mute OFF buttons (Active in yellow).”

The coordinator speaks to each or all correspondents, using the Talk buttons, during which time the reception of the N-1 from the other correspondents is eliminated or attenuated by 20 dB each.

When a Talkback is created, the inputs, outputs and crossover points involved are cleared or cleared. The gains of all Talkback related crossover points are set to 0 dB.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post AEQ Incorporates Talkback in NetBox Routers appeared first on Radio World.

The regional Great Lakes Media Show is planning to welcome back attendees in person at its annual event in March.

The two-day show — sponsored by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters (MAB) on March 2 and 3 at the Lansing Center in Lansing, Mich. — gathers Michigan broadcast and media industry leaders for an event that includes a series of technical and educational sessions, a career fair and a roster of speakers.

Events for smaller, specific groups are being held on March 2, including an engineering seminar, a session for public media news directors and several exhibitor events. On March 3, the exhibit hall will open followed by a economics management panel; a session on ransomware for engineers and managers, a media career fair; and a series of sales, management and marketing sessions.

As a regional event, the Great Lakes Show will give attendees time to delve into issues such as recruitment, enhancing employee engagement through inclusive leadership, sales strategy tips and how best to cover breaking news when you have limited staff on hand.

[Check Out More Events on Radio World’s Calendar]

“Our goal is to not only provide our members — more than 320 TV and radio stations — with continuing education opportunities and recognition through our awards program, but also the chance to engage with one another and share ideas,” said Sam Klemet, president elect of the MAB.

“We host sessions for our engineers, managers, on-air staff, programmers and sales staff and these sessions help these individuals stay ahead of what’s coming in broadcasting and to learn some of the technical skills needed to keep their stations strong.”

Klemet said the MAB also devotes time at the conference to recognize outstanding achievements by students starting their careers in broadcasting, as well as to honor annual scholarship recipients. Each year, the MAB Foundation awards more than $25,000 to students to support their broadcast education.

The event wraps up on Monday night with a Broadcast Excellence Awards reception and ceremony. In addition to broadcasters and media groups, registration for the event is open students, parents and educators.

MAB says it will follow CDC guidelines for COVID-19 prevention and health safety at the time of the show. Details will be posted on its website closer to the event.

Submit news about your event to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Great Lakes Show Preps to Welcome Back Attendees appeared first on Radio World.

Radio World is taking an in-depth look at “The Infinite Dial UK 2021” report this week.

Podcasting was the final topic raised during Edison Research’s “The Infinite Dial UK 2021” webinar.]

Hosted by Edison Research President Larry Rosen, the Dec. 2, 2021, webinar shared the findings of the Infinite Dial UK report, which was based on 1,000 telephone interviews with U.K. residents 16 and older during the fourth quarter of 2021.

“Podcasting has been the hottest topic in the world of audio now for several years,” said Rosen. “I think all of you will find this part really interesting.”

Podcasting Awareness in Australia, Canada, U.S. and U.K. (Courtesy Edison Research)

Seventy-one percent of U.K. listeners 16+ are familiar with podcasts, he said. Breaking this down by age group, it was 73 percent for people aged 16–34, 72 percent for 35–54, and 67 percent for 55+.

This compares to 92 percent (16+) awareness with podcasts in Australia, and 78 percent in Canada and the U.S. (18+ and 16+ respectively).

[Read more of our coverage of the “Infinite Dial” report]

“Fifty-nine percent of everyone in the U.K. say they’ve ever listened to a podcast,” said Rosen. This breaks down to “63 percent of 16- to 34-year-olds, 61 percent of 35- to 54-year-olds and 54 percent of those aged 55 and older.”

Interestingly, “even though awareness of podcasting is lower in the U.K. compared to the U.S., the percentage of people who say they’ve ever listened to a podcast is a couple points higher,” he said. “Fifty-nine percent in the U.K. (16+) is a couple points higher than our 2021 estimate here in the USA (16+) of 57 percent.” Podcast listenership in Australia was 60 percent (16+), and 57 percent in Canada (18+).

Meanwhile, “41 percent of everyone in the U.K. saying, ‘Yes, I’ve listened to a podcast in the last month,’ is pretty equal across the age groups,” Rosen said. The value ranged from 38 percent among those 55+ to 44 percent for 35–54.

“And how does that compare to the United States? Well, that’s actually bang on exactly the same: 41 percent is our USA estimate (16+) for 2021.” Australia comes in at 36 percent (16+) and Canada at 38 percent (18+).

“My understanding is that monetization of podcasts or the podcasting business has not developed to quite the same level in the U.K. as seen been seen in the United States,” said Rosen. “Maybe this graph can be part of the impetus for more money coming into the space. As people can see, our estimate for monthly usage of podcasting in the U.K. is exactly the same as what we get in the United States. You also see that the estimates in the U.K. is higher than our estimates for Canada or, Australia tied with USA, for the highest of these four countries. So, any theories that people have that podcasts lag in the U.K. is just not supported by our Infinite Dial report.”

The British podcast audience is 51 percent female and 49 percent male, he said, while the U.K. population is split 50/50 along these lines. As well, “the people who are in that 41 percent listen to podcasts have exactly the same age profile as the total population.”

Composition of Monthly Podcast Listening by Age in U.S. and U.K. (Courtesy Edison Research)

Larry Rosen then outlined weekly podcast listening in the UK. “25 percent of everyone in the U.K. age 16 and older said, they’ve listened to a podcast in the last week” he said. “In this case, the numbers a little bit behind our USA estimate for this year (16+) which was 29 percent, but higher than our 2020 estimate.” Australia’s rate was 26 percent (16+), while Canada was 23 percent (18+).

Rosen closed the Infinite Dial UK 2021 webinar by asking how many podcast episodes respondents listened to the week before being surveyed. This came out to a weekly average of five per person, with about a third of people saying four or five episodes and another third saying six to ten episodes. Only 1 percent of respondents said they downloaded 11 or more episodes during in the prior week.

“We get a very similar estimate in the U.K. as what we see in the United States,” said Rosen (no numbers were provided). He continued by emphasizing that, “on average people who listened to any (podcasts) are listening to five podcasts episodes in the last week. And that shows that this is a robust medium that deserves the attention.”

Rosen closed the webinar by reiterating his earlier point: “I hope that we’ll see the same kind of investment in the U.K. podcasting market that we’ve seen in the United States, and that maybe the Infinite Dial UK can help bring that across.”

Part 1: “First-Ever ‘Infinite Dial UK’ Survey Provides Insights for U.K. Radio”
Part 2: “‘Infinite Dial UK’ Details U.K. Radio Listening, Ownership”
Part 3: “‘Infinite Dial UK’ Digs into U.K. Online Audio”
Part 4: “‘Infinite Dial UK’ Looks at In-Car Media”
Part 5: “U.K. Likes Podcasts Finds ‘Infinite Dial UK’”

The post U.K. Likes Podcasts Finds ‘Infinite Dial UK’ appeared first on Radio World.

To help the Federal Communications Commission deal with the influx of applications received during the November 2021 filing window for new noncommercial education FM stations, the commission took the step of weeding out those applications with flaws and dismissing a section of those with technical defects.

The application window was a popular one — the bureau received 1,282 applications for new NCE FM stations. As the bureau began to review the applications, Media Bureau staff identified mutually exclusive (MX) groups and singletons (those applications that are not mutually exclusive with other applications filed in the window).

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The bureau also announced, in a Public Notice on Dec. 8, it was taking the step of dismissing singletons that were defective. According to the bureau, 75 of singleton applications submitted have technical issues.

Applications were dismissed for various reasons including a second-adjacent channel violation, antenna power output that exceeds the FCC’s 15 dB limit and insufficient broadcast coverage of a city.

But even though those 75 applications have been dismissed, each of the applicants has an opportunity to file a curative amendment and petition for reconsideration. Those petitions must be filed within 30 days of the dismissals. For an application to be reinstated, the amendment must correct the defects, propose only minor changes, comply with the commission rules and not create new application conflicts.

Amendments should be filed electronically through the FCC’s Licensing and Management System using Schedule 340.

The post FCC Winnows Applications in NCE FM Filing Window appeared first on Radio World.

Nielsen’s Gracenote has unveiled Audience Predict, a new content analytics tool that forecasts the potential future performance of entertainment programming.

Audience Predict draws on Gracenote content metadata, Nielsen audience measurement data and advanced machine learning technology to provide content distributors and owners with predictive insights to help maximize their return on programming investments, the company said.

Audience Predict joins Inclusion Analytics in Gracenote’s new Content Analytics suite of offerings designed to help companies better understand what to produce, whom to cast and where to place programming to maximize audience reach and return on investment, Gracenote said.

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“The media ecosystem primarily associates Gracenote with advanced search and content discovery enabling TV providers to connect viewers to programming, but our industry-leading entertainment metadata and IDs have equally strong applications powering new analytics which inform smarter business decisions,” said Simon Adams, Gracenote chief product officer.

“By helping the content community see into the future around program performance today, we’re helping them solve one of the most vexing issues they face — distribution complexity. This expands our larger Content Analytics offerings which help the entire media industry make more informed decisions,” Adams said.

Audience Predict analyzes relationships between streaming service or network distribution outlets and the anticipated potential program performance utilizing years of proprietary Nielsen viewership data, the company said.

The solution forecasts potential audience size, composition, reach, and viewing minutes under different distribution scenarios by considering program genre and drop patterns for streaming content or airdate, airtime and lead-in for linear content. Using machine learning, the model will iteratively improve and can be trained to output new program performance metrics based on customer needs.

In addition, Gracenote said Audience Predict can help content creators and owners identify the most potentially advantageous streaming platforms or networks for their content and develop compelling program packages for target buyers. The solution enables data-driven decision-making on program acquisitions, renewals or cancellations for streaming and linear content distributors, forecasting which shows have the potential to draw the largest overall audience or best target segments.

Submit business announcements to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Nielsen’s Gracenote Launches New Audience Prediction Tool appeared first on Radio World.

(Flag-map courtesy Wikicommons)

Under a motion approved Dec. 7 by the Council of States, the upper house of the Swiss bicameral legislature, FM stations would be allowed to operate in the country until at least 90 percent of all radio listening in the country happens digitally via DAB+ or webcasting. The proposal must still be approved by the National Council before it is considered by the Swiss executive branch.

Currently, all FM licenses in the European nation are scheduled to expire at the end of 2024 by which time stations are expected to have completed the transition to DAB+. Between now and then, FM stations can voluntarily shutter their analog operations.

In August, Swiss media regulator BAKOM set Dec. 31, 2024, as the FM shutoff date for the country. The regulator had targeted an earlier date for the complete switchover to DAB+, but stations in the French-speaking portion of the country were not as far along with the transition as their counterparts in the German- and Italian-speaking cantons.

[Previously: “Swiss FM Shutdown Reverts to Original 2024 Date”]

According to a report in the German-language Klein Report, the motion was proposed by Ruedi Noser, an FDP.The Liberals party councilor from Zürich. Noser has long been skeptical of the push to move broadcasters from FM to DAB.

The report notes that even if the 90-percent threshold is approved by the National Council (the Swiss lower house) and the Federal Council, it may not mean much of a reprieve for FM radio in Switzerland. The latest consumer survey by researcher Gfk Switzerland found that about 88 percent of Swiss radio listening happens via digital platforms.

In making the proposal, Noser also asked the Federal Council, the executive branch of the Swiss government, to investigate whether or not DAB+ was an “outdated” standard, comparing to internet radio and mobile streaming services.

“I don’t know whether you have already noticed that practically everything that comes to market today is attached to the Internet. The DAB standard is not an internet standard,” said Noser. “The DAB standard is a separate technical standard for radio — nothing else. Maybe at some point we will have to discuss switching off DAB.”

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