Radio World

Earnings reports from major radio broadcast groups this week show the damage to the bottom line caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is easing a bit as the economy recovers and advertisers return.

iHeartMedia in its financial report on Thursday said consolidated revenue clocked in at $707 million for the first quarter of 2021, which is better than it expected but still down 9.5% compared to Q1 of 2020. Take out political and revenue dipped 7.2% in the quarter, according to the broadcasters filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Those numbers appear to be a little better than several of iHeartMedia’s major competitors. Audacy (formerly Entercom) said today its net revenues for the first quarter were $240.8 million, which is down 19% year-over-year. Audacy’s broadcast radio revenue was down approximately 24% in the quarter. Meanwhile, Cumulus reported overall revenues declined 11.5% in the first quarter of this year, but its radio revenue declined 23.8% compared to Q1 last year.

[Read: iHeart Launches “Private Marketplace” for Podcasts]

iHeart Media recently realigned its reporting segments and for the first time broke out three specific sectors of its business on its first quarter balance sheet. The company’s Multiplatform Group, which includes its 860 broadcast radio stations and Premiere Networks, reported Q1 revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter in 2021. Specifically, broadcast revenue was down 22.3% year-over-year while network revenue declined 6% YoY, according to the company.

The largest radio broadcaster in the United States said operating expenses for the Multiplatform Group decreased 17.8% in Q1 compared to the same period in 2020 primarily due to lower employee compensation and other cost-reduction initiatives in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That included staffing cuts in iHeartMedia’s engineering department earlier this year. Observers at the time noted the company appears to be relying on a more regional approach to engineering staffing.

The iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group, which includes all digital assets like podcasting, grew revenue by 69.8% year-over-year. iHeartMedia says the digital audio business encompasses approximately 22% of the company’s consolidated revenue. The sector was led by continued growth in podcasting, which increased by 141.9% YoY, according to the investor report.

iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman said during Thursday’s call the Digital Audio Group is “well on its way to becoming our most profitable segment.”

Meanwhile, the company’s Audio and Media Services Group, which includes Katz Media Group and RCS, saw revenue decrease 8.5% comparative to the same quarter last year. Katz specifically was hard hit in Q1as a result of the presidential election in the year prior. Excluding the impact of political, revenues in the sector were actually up 0.7%, according to the company’s balance sheet.

Pittman told investors the company continues to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and expects to see a full recovery to 2019 levels by the end of this year.

Watchers of iHeartMedia stock saw positive signs in the past month when a bullish analyst report raised its rating on the audio company. BofA Securities media analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich bumped her rating up to Buy from Underperform. The company’s stock price immediately jumped about 13% and has held relatively steady since mid-April. It opened Friday at $19.86. The stock returned to the public markets in July 2019 following its emergence from bankruptcy.

Despite the positive stock news the audio company is still loaded down with debt, according to its SEC report. iHeartMedia had total debt of just over $6 billion at the end of March. iHeartMedia President and COO Rich Bressler said Thursday the company’s “interest expense will be approximately $335 million to $345 million” for 2021.

Bressler also discussed cap-ex spending by the broadcast giant: “Due to the significant real estate reductions we are working on to drive meaningful savings, our capital expenditures in 2021 will be $165 million to $185 million and then return to normal levels in 2022. Due to the timing of the real estate consolidation, capital expenditures will be heavily weighted to the second half of (2021).”

You could pardon iHeartMedia executives if they wanted to present investors the abridged version of the company’s Q1 results on Thursday and quickly move on to discuss their projections for the second quarter. The company says April 2021 revenues were up approximately 85% year over year. Keep in mind the company says that April 2020 was the month hardest hit by COVID. Company leadership expects second quarter revenues overall this year to be up around 65% YoY.

iHeartMedia also completed its acquisition of Triton Digital, a digital audio publishing, advertising and audience measurement business, during the first quarter. The company says the move will help tie together its various lines in the digital infrastructure space.

The post iHeartMedia Continues in Recovery Mode appeared first on Radio World.

Dave Kolesar shares this photo to update us on field testing at all-digital AM station WWFD.

In the background is the Xperi test van and Xperi’s Mike Raide. They’re at the transmitter site in Frederick, Md., where they’ve started another round of HD2 testing on the station at 820 AM.

Kolesar is senior broadcast engineer at WTOP/WFED and program director of the format “The Gamut.” He and Raide have worked together extensively on the digital project at WWFD, as we’ve reported.

[Read: Real-World Tests Make Business Case for MA3]

“The testing is being done to determine coverage of an HD2 MA3 signal, as it’s not quite the same as a main channel, unlike FM HD,” Kolesar told us.

“It involves driving along selected radials and noting where the HD2 audio fails, taking field strength readings at those points. Test gear includes the calibrated loop antenna on the roof, a FIM-4100 field strength meter, a spectrum analyzer, and an Xperi test receiver capable of receiving the HD2 signal.”

He said it takes about a half-day to drive a typical radial, so testing will be going on over several days.

“When we’re done, what we learn will incorporated into WWFD’s report to the FCC under its experimental authorization, as well as being submitted for publication at this year’s BEIT conference at NAB.”

Radio World welcomes images of your own radio technical projects. Email us at radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post WWFD Conducts More HD2 Testing appeared first on Radio World.

The Texas Association of Broadcasters announced in an email that its exhibits for the TAB Show in Austin in August have sold out, with 100 vendors booking space.

We took it as our prompt to check in with the TAB on its plans for holding a physical trade show on Aug. 3 and 4. It would be one of the first events in the U.S. radio industry to “go back live” since the pandemic began early last year.

Oscar Rodriguez is TAB’s president.

Radio World: It looks like TAB is moving firmly ahead with plans to hold a physical event. I’m sure you have a sense that you will be one of the first. What factors led you to decide to proceed in physical form?

Oscar Rodriguez: Our members. They’ve been hunting down vaccines since they first became available and now there’s an ample supply in Texas, so that was our primary consideration. But ultimately, they’re ready to meet and do business.

They want to explore new gear and revenue building strategies that’ll make them more efficient and profitable … lessons learned during this long-running disaster. They want to reconnect with friends across the state. And they know they’ll get a big bang out of the very few bucks it all costs.

RW: Will there be a virtual component as well?

Rodriguez: We definitely considered a virtual component or hosting a hybrid event. After much discussion, we decided to move forward and dedicate our resources to bringing in some top-notch presenters/panels and encouraging folks to join us — safely — in-person in Austin.

After more than 18 months of virtual events, most folks are burnt out on virtual gatherings.

RW: Describe the precautions show planners are taking, and how the attendee experience will be different. 

Rodriguez: Our team has been working diligently with the JW Marriott (our host venue) since last year to make sure all safety precautions are in place. Believe me, this has been no easy task with everything changing so quickly.

The JW currently requires wearing of face masks in all indoor public areas, and we will enforce that or whatever requirements are in place at the time of the event.

[Related: “IBC Show Set to Go Ahead in September”]

We also are asking all registrants to agree to our health and wellness waiver before they are allowed to enter the show. Of course, we are setting the events/meetings and including floor decals to allow for social distancing, providing many hand sanitizer stations, and working with the JW to stay on top of frequently sanitizing common areas, etc.

We’ve also redesigned our big meal events to ensure safety and comfort, while making sure everyone has the sustenance they need for the non-stop schedule we always present.

RW: What will the experience of visiting a booth be like, and are there rules or guidance for those interactions?

Rodriguez: Initially, we’d planned to have 166 booths in the Trade Show. In order to respect social distancing rules, and best use our contracted space, we had to widen aisles and leave more open space, forcing us to reduce the exhibits to 100 8-by-8-foot booths.

Booth sales opened at the beginning of March (our latest start date ever) and sold out May 4, and we already have a waiting list.

In terms of the experience of visiting a booth, to be honest, we don’t know. Every exhibiting company will have their different level of comfort, and we will work with them to make sure we make that happens.

We’ll have our lead retrieval system in place so there won’t need to be any need to exchange business cards. But a lot of our exhibitors have hands-on equipment that they want to demo. And we are leaving it up to the individual exhibiting companies to decide how they want to handle their one-on-one interactions.

We’ve heard from some attendees/exhibitors who just don’t feel comfortable traveling yet, or their companies won’t allow it. We completely understand that and know that we’ll see them back in Austin in 2022.

For the most part, however, we’ve been hearing from both our exhibitors and broadcast attendees that they are ready to travel and reconnect in person with industry clients and friends who they haven’t seen in close to two years. They are excited — and we are too!

We’re expecting exhibitors to send fewer reps to work the show. And where a broadcast station might have sent five or six people in the past, they’ll most likely be sending fewer … though we’ve had some register more team members than ever before, so it may balance out.

Our Convention Committee has been working diligently on crafting a fantastic schedule of sessions and events and I’m confident their hard work will pay off in terms of broadcast attendees.

RW: What will the experience of attending a session be like?

Rodriguez: In the past, we set the meeting rooms to max capacity. Obviously, that’s not an option this time around. We’re setting each room to allow for social distancing and encouraging mask wearing whenever not seated.

RW: What else should we know?

Rodriguez: We’ll be celebrating 100 years of broadcasting in the Lone Star State! The 2021 TAB Show coincides with the centennial anniversary of the first broadcast signal in Texas, by WRR Dallas, on Aug. 4. That celebration, of course, will cover a lot of history. It’ll also be rooted in the present as the agenda focuses on the technology and practices powering modern radio stations, as well as the ATSC 3.0 “Next Generation” TV standard that’s already on-air in Texas.

Information including a list of exhibitors, sponsors, registration fees and schedule are at https://www.tab.org/convention-and-trade-show. Session topics and presenters for the sales, marketing and technical programs are pending.

The post TAB Is Ready for an In-Person Show in 12 Weeks appeared first on Radio World.

Reftone, the company created by engineers Dave Hampton and Lisa Chamblee, recently started shipping the LD-3B Ref-Cube. The cube-shaped monitor with a single 4-inch driver is a powered version of the company’s Ref-Cube monitors. The LD-3B is the first active model released by Reftone.

Available singly or in pairs, the LD-3B is capable of putting out 25 W at 8 Ohms. It offers two connection options: Bluetooth 4.2 or analog via a 3.5 mm input.

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

The monitors are 5 x 5 inches in size, weigh 5.5 pounds each, and are housed in magnetically sealed birch-plywood enclosures. Because they have no ports, the cabinets are less prone to resonance and offer clear midrange reproduction. According to Reftone, they designed the Ref-Cubes to “allow you to hear full-range audio clearly at low volumes.”

The LD-3B provides more than just midrange, however. Thanks to its full-range driver, it boasts a frequency response of 70 Hz to 20 kHz, which is wider on both ends than similarly designed speakers from its competitors.

You can purchase the LD-3B singly mono ($399) or as a stereo pair ($599). A special white stereo pair is available at $699. For the pairs the left monitor functions as a satellite, which is connected to the right with an included speaker wire equipped with banana plugs.

According to Reftone, these powered Ref-Cubes are designed for a wide range of applications, including tracking, editing, mixing, mastering, broadcast and post-production. Due to their small dimensions, magnetic shielding and ability to connect to an audio source using Bluetooth, the LD-3Bs are easy to place in virtually any production environment.

Info: https://reftone.com

The post Reftone Releases LD-3B Ref-Cube Monitors appeared first on Radio World.

My column about the FCC’s political-file consent decrees caught the eye of an engineer whose  employer has one radio station under a decree; he was appointed to be its designated compliance officer, so he’s getting a close look at the impact.

“I thought I might offer you a little off-the-record inside look at how easy it is to run afoul of the FCC’s political broadcasting rules,” he told me. But given how many stations are affected by this issue, I asked permission to share his comments anonymously, and he agreed.

Here’s what he wrote:

Paul, 73.1943(c) requires: “All records required by this paragraph shall be placed in the online political file as soon as possible and shall be retained for a period of two years. As soon as possible means immediately absent unusual circumstances.” That “as soon as possible” and “immediately” is what got us and a lot of others in trouble.

I get it … political candidates need to know right away, the same day, what competing candidates are doing in terms of advertising schedules, so that info needs to be up and available… immediately.

What happened in our case was that a gubernatorial candidate placed an order last October for an ad buy on our station. The account executive dutifully entered the order. Traffic got the spots scheduled and the spots aired right on time.

However, the paperwork for the order sat on the AE’s desk for a few days before she gave it to the person responsible for OPIF uploads. And just like that, because an AE set another piece of paper on top of the order sheet, we were in violation. When the OPIF manager got the order sheet, she immediately uploaded it and of course it was time stamped … several days after the order date.

There was no way around it, and we owned up to it in our renewal application.

It was nothing malicious, nothing particularly careless, just an honest mistake on the part of an employee who probably should have had a greater awareness of the rule and the possible consequences of violation.

Paul, another perilous, treacherous path to violation is network programming.

Oftentimes, political buys are made at the network level. The syndicators are required by contract (by our contracts, anyway) to immediately send us the paperwork so that we can upload it, but they quite often do not, either at all or not until several days later if they do at all.

We have no way of knowing what political ads are embedded until/unless we hear them or the syndicators tell us. When we do get the paperwork, we always annotate it with the date/time received and immediately upload it. But that could still constitute a violation, even though it is arguably beyond our control. The FCC would argue that we are responsible for everything that goes out over our airwaves, and they are correct.

The point of all this is that while political OPIF violations in this renewal cycle may seem epidemic, I don’t believe that is the case.

The OPIF and time stamping of uploads make it impossible to claim compliance if even a little late — not that we would ever knowingly do that anyway (we always in the past disclaimed our certifications in license renewal applications, “to the best of our knowledge …”). A tiny mistake under the current system makes for a black-and-white license renewal issue. It’s all very frustrating.

For now, we have put an embargo on all non-federal political advertising and will only take federal candidate ads that we are required to by law.

We hate to leave money on the table and not give candidates a platform, but we simply cannot take a chance that another small mistake will be made and affect our licenses.

Thanks to this reader for sharing his experience of how the current FCC initiative is affecting one company’s daily operations.

The post “It’s All Very Frustrating”: Life Under a Consent Decree appeared first on Radio World.

An interesting new series of infographic maps attempts one sort of answer to the common question, “Who is making money off of podcasting?”

The maps identify top-earning podcasts by country and by several popular genres.

The company that put them together believes the highest-earning podcast, in the United States and globally, is “The Joe Rogan Experience” with $72.3 million in what it calls “potential earnings.”

They think Europe’s top-earning podcast is comedy show “Sh**ged Married Annoyed,” with an estimated annual value of $10.6 million. And the highest-earning business podcast is U.S. show “The GaryVee Audio Experience” with $6.3 million.

The overall global map is fun to browse; click the image at right to see it enlarged. (A link to the full set of maps is at the end of this story.)

These were put together by financial blog Top Dollar Financial Insights Hub, which is part of debt consolidation company Accredited Debt Relief, working with UK-based content marketing agency NeoMam Studios (the latter produces “creative content that online audiences will want to share and journalists will want to write about”).

They did a similar project last year called YouTube Moneymakers, identifying the most popular YouTuber in various countries and estimating their earnings.

in issuing the podcast infographics, they noted that there are an estimated 850,000 active podcasts and 30 million podcast episodes, but that the industry’s revenue is estimated at less than $1 billion dollars right now.

Big media companies like iHeartMedia believe there is a lot more to be made in podcasting, and have made investments in the infrastructure and analytics to build that business, as seen in IHM’s launch of a programmatic “private marketplace” just this week.

Describing their process, the mapmakers say they compiled the top 20 podcasts in various countries across Spotify and Apple lists using Chartable, found the podcasts on Castbox and recorded the number of plays, number of overall episode and the number of episodes in the last 12 months.

“Following the calculation that Castbox sees about 2% of overall plays, Top Dollar multiplied the number of plays by 50 and calculated the number of plays by episode,” the organization stated in a press release.

“The team went on to estimate the potential earnings in the last 12 months by assuming three 60 second ads per episode and taking CPM values from AdvertiseCast.”

It then applied the same process for several specific genres as well.

See all the maps here: https://www.accrediteddebtrelief.com/blog/every-countrys-highest-earning-podcast/.

The post Maps Identify Top-Earning Podcasts by Country appeared first on Radio World.

David Bialik consults to stations on their streaming and audio processing. He is an AES Fellow and award-winning leader who has held technical positions with Entercom, CBS, Bloomberg, United Broadcasting, Bonneville International and the National Association of Broadcasters.

This interview originally appeared in the ebook “Trends in Audio Processing for Radio.”

Radio World: What would you say is the most notable trend in processing?

David Bialik: An important development in the use of processors is the awareness that streaming requires different processing than “over-the-air.” While broadcasters want to be the “legally” loudest, streaming does not have to be the loudest, but they can be the clearest; and with commercials originating from various locations, matching loudness levels is extremely important. 

The current recommendation from the AES’ recommendation for Streaming Loudness (currently being revised) is –17 LKFS.

Stations (and engineers) are now understanding that one size of processing does not fit all. You should not use the same processing for over-the-air that you do for streams. Use a loudness meter. Orban released a free one that is quite good!

As far as features: Many processors are good and have good features. Bob Orban and Frank Foti have often joked that they make the gun but you do not have to shoot it. Do not process so aggressively that you cannot identify the instruments. You should always be able to hear the cymbals! Ask yourself if the artist wants to hear their audio clipped or not.

RW: How will the cloud and virtualization affect the processing sector? 

Bialik: Stations are hoping this will cost less and take up less real estate. Hopefully the benefit of a cloud architecture will create redundancy and eliminate a point of failure. 

It also makes your internet connection more important and the need for backup more critical.

RW: With so many people working remotely, what are the implications for managing processing today?

Bialik: Security will be important, of course. Routing will be incredibly important since a station will have to set a “Quality of Service” to guarantee that the audio always has the bandwidth needed.

Stations will want remote facilities to sound the same as studios. Remote users will need good acoustics, and be able to produce high-quality audio — we do not want 1K telephone sound.

RW: Content comes at us from so many locations. What role do loudness and LRA (loudness range) play? 

Bialik: This will be more important, especially for streaming where Direct Ad Insertion is being used. You do not want to be listening to content (at –17 LKFS) and then have commercials and interstitials played much louder. I have heard this happen at 6 dB louder at times. You will be knocked off your chair. 

RW: Are listeners, especially younger ones, moving toward greater fidelity because of their use of on-demand services and personal downloads? 

Bialik: Stations with a good dynamic range will always sound more appealing to the listener.

RW: There are committees at the Audio Engineering Society working on recommendations and guidelines for online audio content. What would you like to see from this work?

Bialik: I am chairing much of this. Loudness issues invite the listener to constantly adjust the level. If they are adjusting one control it is as easy to turn the content off. How will that help the TLH?

RW: AES loudness metrics are moving to a lower target level for content, streams, podcasts and on-demand file transfer, like metrics established for online and over-the-top video. Given current practices, could radio see loss of potential audience due to listener fatigue?

Bialik: I believe the lack of dynamic range will cause listener fatigue. Hopefully the content will have good dynamic range and good loudness levels. The level of audio-only streams is being targeted at –17 LKFS while video is at –24 LKFS. Within the short term future, loudness could be controlled by metadata. Yes we are talking a 7 dB difference. The recording industry is also pushing for –24 LKFS. This allows for more headroom as well.

RW: With new “hybrid” radio platforms coming out, a listener might tune to an FM signal in a market but then drive out of it, with the receiver switching to the station’s online stream. What matching challenges does this present?

Bialik: Stations that have to cover ads and sports blackouts will sound worse. 

RW: What else should we know?

Bialik: If everyone say streaming is the future, why not invest in the future now and do the best audio you can?

Read other recent articles about processing for radio broadcast applications.

The post Streaming Has Its Own Processing Needs appeared first on Radio World.

The author is editor in chief of Radio World.

The consent decree announcements involving online political files keep rolling out from the Federal Communications Commission. Radio World has learned that more than 2,100 radio stations in the United States now are covered by these agreements, which require station owners to put compliance plans in place.

The latest examples include Major Broadcasting Corp. for WYGO(FM) in Madisonville, Tenn.; Custer County Community Broadcasting for KMTA(AM) and KYUS(FM) in Miles City, Mont.; and San Luis Valley Broadcasting for stations KSLV(FM) in Del Norte, Colo., and KYDN(FM) in Monte Vista, Colo.

But these broadcasters are in good company. Many similar announcements have been coming out since last July, as we’ve reported, and have involved radio licensees of all shapes and sizes.

I’ve been curious about this project from the start. I reached out to the FCC staff for an update this week.

To start with, a commission spokesperson tells me that to date, the Audio Division of the Media Bureau has adopted approximately 130 consent decrees that cover approximately 250 stations. The stations had their license renewal applications put on hold pending FCC investigations; those holds were later lifted under the consent agreements.

But this doesn’t don’t tell the whole tale, because those numbers exclude the “Big Six” broadcast groups that first entered into consent decree agreements with the FCC last year. Those agreements were brokered with the help of the National Association of Broadcasters, and the FCC’s announcement about them last summer put this overall effort into the public eye.

The six broadcasters — iHeart Media, Alpha Media, Beasley, Cumulus, Entercom Radio and Salem Broadcasting — entered into consent decrees that require compliance reporting for all of the stations they own.

So if we include them, the number of consent decrees is about 136 but the number of stations covered by them is 2,135, including some that had not yet filed their own renewal applications.

It’s hard to give an exact number because in some cases, other owners also entered agreements that included not only stations with pending license renewals but some that had not yet filed. But it’s evident that the program has touched many broadcasters.

The consent decrees generally are all similar. A broadcaster acknowledges failure to comply with the rules for maintaining online political files, and it commits to a compliance plan and to report back later. The broadcaster avoids a financial fine. The FCC ends its investigation and removes the “hold” on the license renewal; it also acknowledges that the pandemic created exceptional circumstances for many broadcasters. (The FCC is not aware of any stations that were denied renewal for other reasons after a hold was lifted.)

To my eye, this program should be considered a success for both the FCC Media Bureau and the National Association of Broadcasters.

The regulator effectively gets the message out that it is serious about enforcing this particular set of rules and laws, with the clear implication that at some point in the future, more costly outcomes can be expected. Broadcasters avoid financial penalties and agree to follow rules they were supposed to be following all along. Meanwhile the industry’s largest broadcast association helps its members (and non-members) come into compliance and avoid fines.

I strongly suspect that failure to maintain political files properly (“derelictions” in the FCC’s language) have been the norm for a long time. So if we accept the premise that the political file rules are justified in the first place (a separate discussion), this outcome is also a win for the folks who developed the FCC’s program to put files online — though I’m sure plenty of broadcasters may have preferred not to have the commission looking directly into their paperwork all the time!

And I’d say that, in our current political climate, anything that tends to make our nation’s political process more transparent is a good thing.

The commission adopted rules requiring broadcasters to maintain public files about requests for political ad time more than 80 years ago. Political file obligations have been part of Section 315(e) of the Telecom Act since 2002. A full-power station’s political file is part of its public inspection file.

[Read more on this topic, “The FCC Can See Your Public File”]

Radio licensees must maintain information about requests to buy broadcast time from or on behalf of candidates for public office, or by an issue advertiser whose ad communicates a message relating to “a political matter of national importance,” and it must make that information available for public inspection.

Stations must place info about requests into their political files “as soon as possible.” Stations must maintain and make available information about all requests for broadcast time made by or on behalf of candidates for public office. And stations must upload the information to their online political files “as soon as possible,” meaning “immediately absent unusual circumstances.”

The commission has written that “It is crucial that stations maintain political files that are complete and up to date because the information in them directly affects, among other things, the statutory rights of opposing candidates to request equal opportunities.”

The post FCC Political File Consent Decrees Proliferate appeared first on Radio World.

Known to Radio World readers for his  broadcast engineering work at Greater Media and Burk Technology, and his presentations at numerous engineering conferences, Paul Shulins has struck out on his own.

Naturally he’s taking advantage of his past broadcast experience in this endeavor; and the result is Shulins Solutions, a broadcast technical consultancy.

Radio World: What is Shulins Solutions?

Paul Shulins: It has three pillars: the Stellar Eclipse platform which provides unique monitor, control and protection solutions for transmission sites; drone-based tower inspections; and a full range of consulting services based on years’ of practical experience on the ground building and operating broadcast facilities.

Stellar Eclipse broadcast site monitoring platform provides a systems approach to monitoring and protection of RF systems from simple to complex featuring exclusive VSWR Sentinel protection technology.

[Read: “Stellar Eclipse in Space City”]

sUAS Drone-based tower structure visual and infrared surveys provide an indispensable tool to diagnose the health of RF systems and tower structures without the risk of climbing the towers.

Broadcast Technology Consulting meets the demands of broadcasters, specializing in remote control solutions, studio design and construction, antenna protection systems and ratings metrics.

We pride ourselves on solving problems with an attention to detail that only comes from firsthand experience in the field. All of our products and services come from the point of view of the user, and are crafted with the passion of a lifelong broadcaster.

RW: I assume it’s mostly you doing the work. Do you contract out when you need others? Do you have employees?

Shulins: We were a virtual organization before working virtually was cool.

While I wear many hats, including having the technical vision and architecture for our offerings, I have a group of talented people who provide important skills like cloud-based software, hardware layout and fabrication, installations, marketing and so forth, all needed to bring world class products and services to market.

As a longtime licensed pilot and of course a career broadcast engineer I have a pretty unique skillset to fly our drones.

Even with the help I am typically the guy who answers the phone. I like being directly in touch with customers.

RW: Many readers will know you from your tenure at Greater Media and Burk, and your work and presentations at NAB conferences. What prompted you to become an entrepreneur?

Shulins: With the amazing support of longtime DOE Milford Smith of Greater Media, I was able to think outside the box, and provide exciting new technical solutions to problems that materialized due to the growing industry and technology.

Many of these solutions came in the form of digital playout systems, multi-site remote controls, and Part 101 studio-to-transmitter links before they were popular.

I decided that thinking in this way often led to solutions that others can benefit from too. My drive to share my passion for innovation presented the perfect opportunity to start this business.

RW: How do recent trends in how broadcast companies manage engineering affect the marketplace for the services you offer?

Shulins: For sure the market is changing. We are all balancing more projects at the same time, and resources are stretched thin.

During my long tenure at Greater Media, I was fortunate to have the time and flexibility to be able to creates a number of custom software systems that really helped improve the operating efficiency of the stations, and are the foundation of many of the products and services I offer today. That being said, many very capable broadcast engineers simply don’t have the time to be able to take on these types of projects themselves.

The solutions we offer can really help engineers manage their transmission sites, and provide a level of protections and monitoring that simplifies their operation. Our drone tower inspections using thermal imagery can help find issues quickly before they cause serious down time. We strive to provide tools that help engineers make the most of their time and help simplify with an approach that is based on my experience waking in their shoes for many years.

RW: How widely are drones being used now in broadcast inspection work?

Shulins: We see it growing more and more each day. I think the TV spectrum repack really put a lot of pressure on the tower climbing resources and brought focused, alternative ways to inspect towers beyond simply climbing them. While nothing can fully replace a physical inspection, sUAS inspections bring new technology and capabilities, allowing for inspections that can be made more frequently, less expensively, and in many cases with more detail than a physical inspection often finding problems not obvious from the ground.

RW: Give an example of a project you’re working on or recently did.

Shulins: I recently had the honor of working with some very talented engineers on a 10-station FM combiner system that had very complex switching and safety requirements. The type of software and hardware solutions I deploy happened to be a perfect fit for this operation. Features like automatic power reduction in the event of line pressure loss, and integrated mode switching using multiple motorized coaxial switches. It was a lot of fun to design and deploy.

I have also recently been able to pinpoint transmission line problems with the sUAS using thermal imagery when more conventional resources like spectrum analyzers and ground based TDRs were unable to localize the issue.

RW: What else should we know?

Shulins: My strength is my experience and my passion. The old cliche holds true that if you love what you do for work, then it really isn’t work. My entire career has been about innovation and technology, but the most important part is the people. I have had the good fortune of working with some of the very best in the world, and learning from all of them. I enjoy making people’s lives easier by providing exciting ideas and solutions to help them save money and compete effectively. I approach each day with excitement and can’t wait to see what opportunities are around the corner.

The post Shulins Opens Up His Own Shop appeared first on Radio World.

Wearing its “world’s largest podcast publisher” hat, iHeartMedia has launched something it describes as unique. It’s a “Private Marketplace” to offer advertisers a programmatic buying way to reach listeners to podcasts in the iHeartPodcast Network.

The system was developed through Voxnest, which iHeart acquired last fall.

Brian Kaminsky, chief data officer and president of revenue strategies, said the goal of that purchase was to let iHeart give podcast advertisers “additional targetable inventory at scale.” The company said in its announcement that the iHeartPodcast Network offers “30 million US monthly uniques and 257 million global downloads and streams.”

The technology will let advertisers create their own “marketplaces” consisting of specific audience targets and pricing, “to dial up and down across each year as their marketing needs require.”

Those advertisers will have on three targeting options: Category, Geolocation and Psychographic.

“Categories” include business and finance, TV and film, music, true crime and so on, while “Geolocation” promises to deliver relevant messaging to a specific region.

“Psychographic” lets an advertiser buy into shows that “speak to specific consumer behaviors like the conqueror, explorer, legend, cultivator, decider, thriver, rising star, advocate, backer and intrepid.”

Buyers will be able to choose multiple deal types including Programmatic Guaranteed (PG), Preferred Deal (PD), Private Auction (PA) and Open Marketplace (OMP).

In 2016 iHeart launched a “programmatic private marketplace for digital radio” in an announcement with AdsWizz.

The post iHeart Launches “Private Marketplace” for Podcasts appeared first on Radio World.

Al Kenyon has a couple of suggestions of his own for the Federal Communications Commission regarding the Emergency Alert System — specifically involving EAS Originator and Event Codes.

He is intimately familiar with the topic as chief of FEMA’s IPAWS Customer Support Branch; but he emphasized that he was making his suggestions as an individual, not speaking for FEMA. He thinks the suggestions will improve public-facing EAS messaging without significant additional costs to industry or the alerting community.

[“FCC Releases Details of EAS Proposal”]

Kenyon filed comments in the FCC’s notice of public rulemaking regarding changes to the nation’s alerting systems.

He says originator codes need to make clear who or what organization originated the message. He also would like to see the addition of a Domestic Terrorism Event code.

First, he noted that two of the four currently authorized EAS originator codes convey descriptive information regarding who originated the alert.

“WXR and CIV indicate that the message originator was the National Weather Service or a Civil Authority, respectively. The third originator code, EAS, was commonly and interchangeably used with CIV when broadcast stations were always manned during operation and key local primary stations were expected to originate EAS messages at the request of local officials.” But he said that is no longer the case. “Use of the ‘EAS’ ORG code is now limited to use in conjunction with EAS Participant-originated RWT and RMT test messages.

“The fourth originator code was not based on the originating office or official but rather on the name of the top-level national EAS dissemination system, the Primary Entry Point system, ‘PEP.’ This collection of stations and facilities is now referred to by FEMA as the National Public Warning System or NPWS.”

But Kenyon noted that the PEP is not an originator, it is a message dissemination system.

“An EAS message scroll that begins with ‘The Primary Entry Point System has issued an …’ has little or no meaning to the general public and can only contribute to general confusion,” he said. “For the benefit of the public, originator codes should reflect who or what organization originated the message, not what collection of technical facilities were enlisted for top level dissemination of the message.”

Kenyon recommended that the FCC consider a replacement organization code such as FEO, for Federal Executive Official, or a similar alternative. He said this would be compatible the idea of renaming the current WEA Presidential Alert to allow for common use of that category by the president or by the FEMA administrator, as laid out by Congress in the legislation that prompted the current NPRM.

Second, “Regarding possible additions to EAS Event Codes, I ask the commission to consider authorizing a new Event Code for use in urgent instant action situations such as a radiation hazard caused by detonation of a ‘dirty’ bomb or improvised nuclear device,” Kenyon continued.

“While discussion of such hopefully unlikely events may be both unpopular and unpleasant, should such an event occur, it will be essential to the public health and welfare that people take shelter immediately. (That means Mommy should not get in a car and drive to little Timmy’s school. Little Timmy will be sheltering in place in school. Both Mommy and Timmy will be much better off if Mommy does not risk exposure during the period of greatest hazard immediately following the event.)”

For such a case Kenyon proposes adding a Domestic Terrorism Event, DTE, or similar event code. “Ideally a DTE Event Code would be a must-carry event similar in required retransmission status to an Emergency Action Notification. Presumably, such status could be granted through presidential delegation of authority to an appropriate fast response agency or organization.”

He closed his filing by saying that he doesn’t realistically expect the FCC to act on the proposed additional Event Code in the current proceeding. “But I would be remiss if I did not get this recommendation on the record now before the ebb and flow of international relations and splinter factions reaches a point where this becomes an imminent concern.”

Kenyon is a former engineering executive or chief engineer with broadcast companies Clear Channel, Jacor and Taft. He also has done significant volunteer work with EBS and EAS committees at various levels from local to national. He also worked for Denny & Associates, ManTech and Five Rivers Services before joining FEMA in 2010. In 2017 he was named IPAWS Customer Support Branch Chief.

The post Kenyon Says Make EAS Originator Codes Clearer appeared first on Radio World.

Radio and TV broadcast antenna and RF support equipment maker Dielectric has appointed Dan Glavin as its new western region sales manager. He succeeds Steve Moreen.

Glavin will be responsible for sales west of the Mississippi River. He’ll report to Vice President of Sales Jay Martin.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

According to a release, Glavin started with the company in 2018 as an electrical engineer and expanded that job with outstanding performance. Martin pointed to that in the selection of Glavin for the job. “The ability to identify product requirements and respond in a technical capacity is key to this position, and Dan’s level of problem-solving expertise is rare among field sales,” said Martin. It is also noted that he is fluent in Spanish.

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Dielectric’s Glavin Goes West appeared first on Radio World.

HHB Communications is now the primary distributor for Comrex in the United Kingdom.

“The strength of HHB’s reseller relationships in the UK, Scotland and Ireland and their focus on

customer service make them an exceptional choice to distribute Comrex products,” said Comrex Sales Director Chris Crump in the announcement, made jointly with HHB Head of Sales Matthew Fletcher.

Comrex was incorporated in 1961 and is known for its audio and video codecs, telco interfaces and related products.

[Read more of our recent coverage of Comrex news and products.]

HHB Communications was founded in 1976 and serves pro audio solutions to broadcasters, recording studios, post facilities, and system integrators. Consultation, training and installation are among its services.

The post Comrex Names HHB Its Primary UK Distributor appeared first on Radio World.

Group One Ltd. named James Tunnicliffe as technical support engineer for Calrec products in the United States.

He will be based in Newark, N.J., and report to CEO Jack Kelly and Group One Vice President of Broadcast and Production Chris Fichera.

“In his new role, he will be responsible for providing phone- and IP-based product troubleshooting and repair coordination, onsite service and maintenance calls, system design assistance and trainings, and liaising with Calrec’s headquarters in Hebden Bridge, England,” the company said.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

Group One Ltd. is a U.S. importer and distributor for professional audio and lighting manufacturers including Calrec, whose products include radio consoles.

Tunnicliffe is a former Studer applications specialist with Harman Pro North America and also worked as a field service engineer and product specialist for Euphonix. Prior to those roles he was with Design FX Audio in Burbank and Westlake Audio in Hollywood.

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Group One Hires Tunnicliffe for Calrec Support appeared first on Radio World.

Aug. 11 will be the date of the first national EAS test since before the pandemic began.

Officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency officially informed the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday that it plans its sixth national EAS test on that day. They also plan to conduct a nationwide Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) test concurrently.

As in the past, FEMA set a backup date in case a national test on Aug. 11 might interfere with actual alerting needs in the country around that time. The backup is Aug. 25.

Al Kenyon, chief of the Customer Support Branch of the IPAWS Program Office, wrote to the FCC that FEMA plans to conduct the Aug. 11 test at 2:20 p.m. EDT (18:20 GMT).

[Read: FCC Releases Results of 2019 National EAS Test]

“The test message will use the National Periodic Test (NPT) event code and be geo-targeted using the All-US (000000) geocode,” Kenyon wrote.

“This year FEMA proposes to originate the EAS portion of the test via the National Public Warning System composed of the FEMA designated Primary Entry Point (PEP) facilities. The intent of conducting the test in this fashion is to determine the capability of the Emergency Alert System to deliver messages to the public in event that dissemination via internet is not available.”

In the most recent national test in 2019, several PEPs did not transmit the alert due to varying degrees of equipment failures. Out of 77 PEP stations, 12 experienced technical issues on test day, according to a post-test FCC report.

Kenyon said that in the upcoming test, full message text and multilingual messaging will not be available due to the over-the-air message delivery and relay used in this system of EAS message dissemination.

“As in past years the national EAS test message will look and sound very much like the regular Required Monthly Test (RMT) messages broadcast every month by all EAS Participants, broadcast radio and television, cable, wireline service providers and direct broadcast satellite service providers,” he continued.

“Concurrent with the proposed 2021 National EAS Test, FEMA also proposes to originate a Nationwide Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) test by originating a WEA message using the WEA test handling code targeting only cellphones where the user has opted-in to receive WEA test messages.”

An FCC analysis of the 2019 test found that 82% of radio stations participated that year.

While that test generally was deemed a success, the FCC said in its post-test report that some challenges impeded the ability of some EAS participants to receive and/or retransmit the NPT.

Some participants reported problems with equipment configuration, audio quality, alerting source problems and clock errors, among other issues. More than 2,530 test participants didn’t receive the test at all.

Other issues in 2019 included audio issues, power issues, signal issues, internet issues and even lightning — 20 participants reported issues caused by bolts of electricity.

Also, several State Emergency Communications Committees reported that certain areas of their states did not receive the alert. SECCs in Florida, Michigan and Georgia reported delivery problems to the Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations. The FCC also received reports of smaller-scale monitoring source issues in parts of several other states.

The post Aug. 11 Is the Next National EAS Test appeared first on Radio World.

Big Tech is coming after automotive dashboards to win the ears and eyes of drivers/passengers; and radio’s best chance to survive this attack is to get hybrid radio into cars/trucks fast.

This “call to action” was expressed repeatedly during a recent webinar hosted by WorldDAB and the European Broadcasting Union.

“DAB+ at the Heart of Hybrid” delved into advances being made in hybrid radio technology by various companies and associations.

[Read: Broadcasters Conspiring in Their Own Demise]

Hybrid radio refers to platforms that combine over-the-air broadcast reception with two-way wireless connectivity.

The webinar focused on the role of hybrid radio in the DAB context, but themes of the conversation — threats from large digital competitors, the use of metadata, the future role of broadcast radio — are of interest globally.

Stark Warning
The presenters warned against allowing large digital competitors to take control of in-vehicle entertainment environments.

“When you look at what Big Tech can do and what they’ve (already) done in the app space — just look at Apple and Amazon and YouTube: They’re basically giving away audio content to aggregate an audience to basically monetize,” said Joe D’Angelo, Xperi’s senior vice president of radio.

“They’re stealing your audience by commoditizing an audio platform and audio service,” he said. “That’s the threat.”

Numerous topics were touched upon during a fast-moving two hours, thanks to the gentle but firm time management skills of moderator and WorldDAB Vice President Jacqueline Bierhorst.

Ben Poor, EBU’s project manager for digital radio, discussed the future of radio.

“We think that DAB can provide the best of broadcast,” said Poor. At the same time, “hybrid (radio) is the best way of creating a better user experience. So using broadcast plus IP makes for a range of new user experiences that are more engaging, that are more interesting, that are more dynamic, and that give the user more information and more value.”

RadioDNS Project Manager Nick Piggott explained the role of RadioDNS in creating open standards for hybrid radio, with an emphasis on the “open” part of the equation.

“The purpose of open standards is that they are durable,” Piggott said. “That means they last. They’re not anchored to the success of one company. And they’re interoperable, which gives you that huge scaling capability,” while reducing costs for broadcasters and manufacturers by only having one interface to support.

Radioplayer Director of Automotive Partnerships Laurence Harrison said, “We’ve got some experience in this area because we already powering approaching a million cars on roads today with hybrid radio and DAB+ at its heart. That’s through our collaboration partnership with Volkswagen Group and previously the fantastic team at Audi, which is now Car.Software Org.” Harrison noted that Radioplayer has recently formed a partnership with BMW Group, with Radioplayer’s hybrid radio solution going into BMW dashboards starting next year.

Added Andrea Heidrich, managing director of Radioplayer Austria: “Metadata is the key to the success of Radioplayer. Radioplayer ensures that only official station metadata provided directly by the broadcasters is used on car dashboards.”

Xperi’s Joe D’Angelo highlighted the features of his company’s DTS AutoStage hybrid radio system.

“This platform is open to all broadcasters,” said D’Angelo. “It’s free of charge. There’s no required investment. The data flows through the system ensuring that broadcasters are constantly in control of the end-user experience.”

The first carmaker success for DTS AutoStage was its adoption by Daimler last year.

Pluxbox CTO Cas Adriani titled his talk “A Brand Isn’t What You Say, It’s a Sum of All Experiences You Create.” He urged broadcasters to present the best visuals on hybrid radio screens.

“Your brand strategy is as strong as your weakest link,” said Adriani. “If people see your old logo or no logo at all in the station list, it’s hard for them to connect all the efforts you put in this advertisement for this important moment choosing the station.”

Finally, Radioline COO Xavier Filliol talked about his company’s hybrid radio efforts.

“Today what we provide is two hybrid radio applications,” he said. “One is HTML5-based: We presented it with Xperi last year at CES. And the other one is on (compatible with) the Android Automotive OS. We did it with Panasonic Automotive System Europe since last year in May.”

Panel Discussion
The webinar concluded with a presenters’ panel discussion on the merits of hybrid radio — that it uses the best of broadcast and IP to deliver a superior in-vehicle entertainment experience, doing so free from the influence of Big Tech.

“We need to make sure, as an industry, that we are working hard to keep radio prominent in that environment,” said Harrison of Radioplayer.

“The by-product of Big Tech’s involvement in the dashboard — and Android Automotive is a good example of this — is the dash becoming an app ecosystem … Hybrid radio is absolutely the platform on which we can build and innovate and create that radio experience that is going to keep radio exciting; keep it strong and keep it relevant.”

Radio isn’t alone in wanting to keep Google’s grip off the dashboard.

“Automakers are as leery of Big Tech as broadcasters are,” D’Angelo said. “That’s why we consider — and I think everyone would agree with this — that we’re in this space to provide a competitive response to Big Tech. … The whole reason we’re doing this is to provide control to broadcasters and provide an alternative to the car companies for how they can innovate around audio services.”

Will radio broadcasters and automakers be able to resist the incursion of Big Tech in the world’s dashboards? Will radio become “just another audio stream” in a vast catalog offered by Google and other Big Tech providers? The answer has yet to be written.

View the webinar “DAB+ at the Heart of Hybrid” on the WorldDAB YouTube channel.

The post Hybrid Described as Radio’s Best Chance appeared first on Radio World.

Wednesday is a day to appreciate the folks who work on your tower.

NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association has declared May 5 to be Tower Technician Appreciation Day “to pay tribute to the important work that communications infrastructure technicians conduct on a daily basis to enable a connected world.”

The proclamation highlights tower technicians for their skill sets, big responsibilities and demanding work environments.

[Read: NATE Shares Warning About a Honeywell Harness]

For example, it states: “Communications tower technicians have been designated by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as essential critical infrastructure workforce and are currently playing a heroic role on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic building, installing and maintaining America’s broadband infrastructure to accommodate the explosive demand for data and wireless services, thereby ensuring or enhancing reliable, high-speed networks.”

Read the full proclamation.

In the tower biz, a lot of attention is paid to work supporting 5G, broadband infrastructure and emergency alerting. But of course tower techs serve broadcasters as well.

Gordon Smith, the president/CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, joined in the appreciation.

“NAB salutes America’s tower technicians whose work is critical to the operation of broadcast radio and television stations. The particular skill set required, including working under dangerous conditions, is vitally important in preserving broadcasting’s uniquely local and resilient platform on which consumers and communities rely,” he said in a statement released by NATE.

The social media hashtag to use is #TowerTechAppreciationDay.

The post May 5 Is Tower Technician Appreciation Day appeared first on Radio World.

Audacity, the long-running open source, cross-platform audio editor, has been acquired by Muse Group. Founded in 1999, the free software program has been downloaded more than 100 million times to date.

In partnership with Audacity’s online open-source community, the new owners will be looking to expand the software’s feature set and update its ease of use. Dedicated designers and developers will be tasked to work on the software, but Audacity will remain free and open source, the new owner says.

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

Shepherding Audacity will be Martin Keary, recruited based on his efforts running MuseScore, an open-source music notation software that is also owned by Muse Group; Keary will oversee both brands. In a wide-ranging YouTube video detailing the history of Audacity, Keary noted that he will be interviewing users and creating online spaces to interact with those users in an effort to determine priorities and approaches to the program’s development going forward. Keary noted that the company will prepublish designs and updates so users can comment before widespread implementation, taking advantage of open source’s transparency.

Some early priorities as Audacity moves forward will be the addition of nondestructive, stackable VST effects, as well as user-experience updates with the aim of making features easier to find and use. In the video, other, more experimental ideas are suggested and teased, such as a 3D spectral editing prototype that, if developed, could possibly offer haptic spectral editing via a haptic glove. With these and other additions in mind, Muse Group will be looking to hire a number of senior developers and designers with experience in audio and music technology.

Audacity’s new parent company, Muse Group, is relatively new itself, having only opened its doors last week on April 26. Muse Group owns the brands Ultimate Guitar, MuseClass, ToneBridge and MuseScore, which together reach more than 350 million users in more than 60 countries. The company is led by chairman Eugeny Naidenov and CEO Michael Trutnev; Naidenov founded Ultimate Guitar in 1998. In total, Muse Group has more than 100 employees in a fully remote-working oriented workforce; the company is privately held with no investors or external shareholders.

The post Audacity Acquired by Muse Group appeared first on Radio World.

Sue Zizza will receive the Norman Corwin Award for Excellence in Audio Theatre for 2021.

The National Audio Theatre Festivals noted that Zizza has been “producing award-winning audio theater for radio, the web and commercial release for more than 40 years.” She has been a teacher of sound for radio, television and film starting at Hofstra University and continuing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

“Sue has worked in many ways as a promoter of the art of audio theatre, fostering connections between the radio drama world and the emerging arenas of audiobooks and podcasting,” NATF wrote. “Sound effects aficionada, director, teacher, producer, Sue’s wide-ranging talents have long qualified her for this distinction.

Zizza is also co-owner of Radio Waves Studios in New York. In 2019 she and her partner Dave Shinn produced a radio drama about Nikola Tesla in front of a live audience in the rooftop theater of a building where Tesla lived and conducted radio experiments more than a century earlier.

[Read: Watch Out! The “Phantom Power” Is Coming This Halloween Season]

NATF wrote in its email, “It is particularly meaningful to announce that this year’s award will go to someone who has contributed so much to this organization, as well as the industry itself.”

The award will be presented during the annual Hear Now Festival in June.

The post Zizza to Receive Corwin Award for Audio Theatre appeared first on Radio World.

The author of this commentary is a director in the Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics.

Just a few years ago, Jacobs Media Strategies conducted a study for the National Association of Broadcasters identifying the critical shortcomings facing the broadcast industry in its management and delivery of metadata for its content and advertising.

Prior to the encroachment of the digital age and streaming, this didn’t seem like such a high priority.

To its credit, the NAB sought out Jacobs to conduct an audit of digital station content as rendered in automobiles to assess the varying levels of digitalization across the radio dial.

Conducted about four years ago, the Jacobs audit was carried out in three markets and found significant shortcomings in the availability and rendering of metadata in vehicle infotainment systems.

The mere fact that such a study would be conducted at all was clear validation and recognition of the primacy of in-vehicle radio listening.

Just as radios of all kinds — clock radios, boom boxes and Walkman-style portables — have all but vanished, automobiles have increasingly become a key focal point for consuming audio content, second only to smartphones.

Most estimates suggest that in-vehicle radio listening today accounts for 50 percent or more of all radio listening, at least in the U.S. This figure is generally seen as somewhat lower outside the U.S.

The NAB has long recognized the importance of car radio listening — especially after witnessing the rise of SiriusXM, which has built one of the world’s most successful and largest networks of subscribers almost entirely upon and through its relationship with auto makers. Rare is the automobile in the U.S. that doesn’t leave the factor or the dealer’s lot equipped with SiriusXM satellite radio.

The importance of the listening experience in the car is twofold. The listener in the car represents a captive audience — seatbelted in place and focused on the driving task. The infotainment system, previously known as the car radio, is the focal point for content consumption in an environment designed to mitigate distraction.

The big change that has thrust metadata to the forefront, though, is the reality that the “car radio” as we once knew it is gone. There is no radio dial. There is now an increasingly large digital display and a built-in wireless connection.

Now every infotainment system has become something of a “box of chocolates”, to borrow a line from Forrest Gump. No two infotainment systems are identical.

At the same time, Strategy Analytics research has shown that even though radio listening in the car is king, content consumption more broadly considered is increasingly fragmented. This experience is global and reflects the introduction of app-centric in-dash systems and smartphone mirroring.

The Jacobs Media audit highlighted the magnitude of the problem on the ground in cars on the road today.  Jacobs concluded:

• There is room for improvement.
• The display of radio station text and image information is generally inconsistent, creating a sub-optimal user experience.
• The radio industry needs a standardized approach.
• Dynamic vs. static information. Some stations provide a static environment for their content, while others use a dynamic approach and “scroll” or “chunk” information, creating a sub-optimal experience that can be harder to read.
• Album art for FM-band HD Radio stations. There is a lack of consistency in the use of display pictures and illustrations when music is playing.
• Case consistency. Some stations use all caps, while others blend in all caps for some items and title case for others.
• There is a lack of consistency during commercial breaks. There is no industry standard for showcasing advertisers during commercial breaks.
• Inconsistent use of available fields. (RDS systems have two available fields for content display. The Program Service (PS) field has both static and dynamic capabilities and is comprised of just eight characters. It typically resides at the top section of the dashboard display. The RadioText (RT) field is comprised of up to 64 characters and is typically on the lower portion of the dashboard display.)
• There are missed opportunities to showcase HD1 (main channel) stations, especially in the spoken word formats.
• HD multicast channels generally lack branding of any kind.
• Format designations need to be reviewed and expanded. Too often, the name of the format of the station is incorrect, or is simply listed as “Other.”

In its report, Jacobs Media highlighted these failures with images from in-dash displays.

Four years later a company, Quu, has emerged to directly engage with broadcasters to help overcome the overwhelming metadata shortfall that persists to this day.

This matters because in today’s in-dash systems the radio is no longer the default screen. Drivers and passengers have to search for the radio, and may not even recognize it when and if they find it.

Quu is directly taking on this challenge, as is Xperi.

The latter has emerged on the metadata scene — actually Xperi has been toiling for the past 15 years to stitch together the back-end infrastructure now capable of delivering what can only be described as radio-as-a-service, or RaaS.

Xperi’s Raas platform, DTS AutoStage, aggregates station, artist and genre information suitable for in-dash display clarifying the consistent appearance of what a connected radio should look like while simultaneously enabling non-linear listening with search and program guides along with the ability to integrate events and interactive advertising opportunities, from organizations such as Instreamatic.

[“Xperi Has Big Ambitions for DTS AutoStage”]

Xperi is perhaps best known as a digital radio advocate, with particular emphasis on HD Radio. But the scope of AutoStage is sufficiently transformative that it is enabling a redefinition of the concept of hybrid radio (a combination of streaming and broadcast) pioneered by Audi.

It’s true that each automaker has its own idea about what radio should and will look like in the car. At least with Xperi, automakers can start with a consistent look and feel applicable across the globe and capable of integrating analog and digital broadcast sources and rendering them in a familiar fashion in any car.

This Xperi value-add is essential in a market increasingly dominated by Android-based infotainment systems increasingly skewing toward app-based solutions, or smartphone mirroring solutions that exclude broadcast content sources. Xperi’s RaaS platform allows broadcasters to compete and allows auto makers to create differentiated systems, while preserving familiarity.

The weakest link — as demonstrated by Jacobs Media in its NAB audit and still in evidence today — are the broadcasters, many of which have yet to remedy the shortcomings in their metadata strategies.

As radio listening declines in automobiles — a phenomenon that Strategy Analytics has documented from consumer surveys conducted over the past 10 years across China, North America, and Europe — broadcasters will have no one to blame but themselves for that fading signal.

The message from the Jacobs Media study, from Quu, from Xperi and from Strategy Analytics surveys and customer clinics is clear: Fixing the management, delivery and rendering of metadata in dashboards is essential to the survival of broadcast radio.

The post Broadcasters Conspiring in Their Own Demise appeared first on Radio World.