Radio+Television Business Report

Video accessibility provider 3Play Media has brought to market Live Professional Captioning, a product release that offers users what it says is the first captioning platform to offer professional captioning by a human with auto captioning failover.

The new platform is the first major technology innovation in the live captioning market in years and revitalizes the industry, which 3Play believes “has historically been reliant on expensive and manual, outdated processes.”

Live video has been increasing in popularity over the last five years, but usage exploded during the pandemic. According to 3Play Media’s most recent State of Captioning survey, 60% of respondents are captioning live video and nearly half are producing up to 1,000 hours of live streaming video annually.

“The need for live captioning has exploded since the Covid-19 pandemic, and we’re not seeing it slow down,” said Josh Miller, co-CEO and co-founder of 3Play Media. “However, companies have had to choose between live automatic captions, which don’t provide the accuracy necessary for accessibility or a quality user experience, and traditional human-produced live captioning, which is historically manual and expensive but provides better accuracy. Our solution is the first to provide the best of both worlds for viewers and publishers – modern, platform-based technology with high accuracy and reliability.”

Chris Antunes, co-CEO and co-founder of 3Play Media, added, “Our new live captioning platform creates captions powered by a trained voice writer and a proprietary web-based tool developed by 3Play Media to accurately recognize a trained voice writer’s speech and produce consistently accurate and reliable captions at scale. When we consider 3Play Media’s proven approach to unsupervised captioner training that requires just a laptop and a microphone, paired with self-service customer event management, we see a solution that redefines live captioning.”

How does the Live Professional Captioning failover functionality work? If a captioner loses connectivity, internet, or power, the 3Play Media auto caption failover will take over within seconds and fail back immediately when the captioner reconnects.

Automation plays a key role in scheduling, too. 3Play Media’s web-based scheduling interface integrates with video and conferencing platforms, including Brightcove, YouTube, and Zoom, and offers RTMP captioning for over 30 different platforms. An overview dashboard helps users manage all live captioning events in one location and see the status of upcoming and in progress events. The scheduler also provides the user with key information pre-event, such as when the event has been matched to a captioner, when the captioner has checked in for an event and, during the event, general transparency around stream and caption status. API event scheduling enables customers to integrate and manage event scheduling in their business systems. Most caption vendors are still scheduling over email and using spreadsheets, which provides little to no visibility into the process or flexibility for content owners.

For more information on Live Professional Captioning, visit https://www.3playmedia.com/services/livecaptioning/

NAB Show will present the fourth annual Product of the Year Awards at the 2022 NAB Show.

The awards, which recognize the most significant and promising new products and technologies exhibited at NAB Show, is scheduled to be announced on Tuesday, April 26 at an awards ceremony and cocktail party held at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The nomination window will open on February 1 and remain open through April 1.

“The return to in-person events, including NAB Show, promises to drive innovation in technology that is transforming the media business,” said NAB SVP and Chief Customer Success Officer Eric Trabb. “We are proud to showcase the prominent companies that are advancing technologies and leading our industry’s future.”

The Product of the Year Award recipients are selected by a panel of industry experts in 15 categories and announced during an awards ceremony. Companies scheduled to exhibit at the 2022 NAB Show are eligible to enter. Nominated products and technologies must be available for delivery in calendar year 2022.

Award categories for the 2022 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards are:

• AI/Machine Learning
• Asset Management, Automation, Playout
• Audio Production, Processing and Networking
• Camera Support, Control and Accessories
• Cameras
• Cloud Computing and Storage
• Digital Signage & Display Systems
• Graphics, Editing, VXF, Switchers
• Hardware Infrastructure
• IT Networking/Infrastructure & Security
• Location/Studio Lighting
• Monitoring and Measuring Tools
• Radio
• Remote Production
• Streaming

More information about the Product of the Year Awards is available at nabshow.com.

CP Communications, known for its products and services for live event productions, has brought to market two new products for those focused on live production needs.

Now available are the Virtual Media Center and FastReturn secure video management platform.

Both products are built around WebRTC – the cloud-based technology used by Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other popular videoconferencing platforms – and have been used at such events as the 2021 editions of the TCS New York City Marathon and Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

“People have been struggling with the latency of live video in remote production workflows,” says Kurt Heitmann, CEO of CP Communications. “Announcers can’t be way behind the action with play-by-play or analysis. With FastReturn, we use the power of the cloud to deliver streaming return video with ultra-low latency, so you can view your live production from anywhere on any device in real time.”

FastReturn’s base package includes five streams and supports up to 100 users, but can be scaled to accommodate additional sources and larger crews. Users access FastReturn content via a web browser on smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops, as well as through Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick digital media players. Content is accessed through a secure client portal (optional custom user pages and templates are also available).

The platform can ingest any H.264 baseline profile RTMP stream, supporting HD resolution and 128kbit stereo audio with bitrates up to 10 MBps with less than 400ms of latency. FastReturn can also spin up edge servers around the world that are geographically closer to the production to provide even lower latency and better reliability.

Available as an ad hoc service, the Virtual Media Center is a browser-based multi-viewer designed for monitoring, not retransmission, of live video signals. Designed for use by remote journalists, it features a variety of multi-viewer templates, from simple 2-box and 4-box displays to more extensive layouts based on the number of signals being shared. Through a browser-based interface, media personnel can select which video feeds to monitor. All templates deliver video feeds with secure, two-step authentication and less than 400ms of latency.

Beyond event coverage, the Virtual Media Center can also help with multi-camera remote production. For example, a two-day commercial shoot was recently produced across three sound stages in Atlanta. The on-site crew used multiple Red House Streaming (RHS) CamSTREAM systems along with the Virtual Media Center to provide the California-based producers and director with real-time, behind-the-scenes views of the production. Developed by CP Communications, RHS CamSTREAM systems are all-in-one, cost-efficient video production and streaming solutions that are quick to configure and deploy for any live production.

“For members of the media who are not able to travel to an event, or for video production crew members who can’t be on site, the Virtual Media Center provides an effective and efficient way to monitor the live action from multiple cameras,” Heitmann explained.

FastReturn is available as a monthly service or can be licensed for specific events. CP can also provide RHS CamSTREAM units and RTMP encoders for rental.

— Brian Galante

The future of a forthcoming FM radio station at 88.1 MHz, serving the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, is now a bit clearer.

A settlement agreement has been signed by one hopeful licensee and the second-largest licensee of radio stations in the U.S. that paves away for the latter organization to build a station at that frequency.

Once complete, Educational Media Foundation will have a Garden Isle outpost.

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Here’s something noteworthy as the push to bring additional financial support to recording artists through new royalty fees for radio continues on Capitol Hill: four co-sponsors of the “American Music Fairness Act” are also co-sponsors of the “Local Radio Freedom Act,” the resolution that as of today has resounding support.

Even so, the musicFIRST Coalition is confident that the “AMFA” will win over Congress.

Or, is that a statement that’s a bit unfair to make as musicFIRST, led by the Congressman who lost his seat in a primary race to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, continues to push “AMFA” — something musicFIRST calls “actual legislation that has a real path to becoming law this year?”

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In the coming year, media and entertainment will continue to evolve quickly, not only reckoning with ongoing trends and disruptions within the industry, but also in its continued response to pandemic-led behavioral changes. That’s according to Deloitte, which has released a 2022 M&E outlook that explores “five attention-grabbing trends.”

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Combining OTT with linear television opportunities is a topic of increased importance for broadcast media companies across North America. That’s why learning how to combine broadcast television with Connected TV for optimal reach, performance and profit is knowledge you’ll certainly use in the coming and years.

The Radio + Television Business Report is pleased to offer insight and intelligence on the power of combining OTT and linear television opportunities on Thursday, February 10 in a webinar presentation in partnership with Compulse.

This live event, scheduled for 2pm Eastern, features a discussion between RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson and Compulse Regional Sales Director Paolo Romanacci.

Romanacci will share the rise of “CTV” — not the Canadian broadcast TV network, but Connected TV. He’ll also provide details on how marketers can use CTV and Over-The-Air TV in combo to reach viewers that “cut the cord” and will never see a spot cable-booked ad. Romanacci will even share a client success story with participants before participant questions will be addressed.

Registration is open now. Save your virtual seat by signing up for this complimentary webinar, presented by Compulse, today!

By law, Dish on January 12 blocked its customers from receiving The CW Network in Louisville, WDRB-41 and WBKI-TV; NBC affiliate WAND-TV in Decatur, Ill.; and all four network affiliates serving tiny Lima, Ohio.

It was the latest retransmission fee impasse to surface in recent years. Now, it has ended. But, there’s chatter that another carriage dispute has just been resolved, hours before a “blackout” by law was to take place.

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In November 2012, Bruce James and his Vermont Broadcast Associates engaged in a transaction that saw the sale of a 100-watt FM serving a small town some 100km south of Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Just over nine years later, the FM is officially defunct. Rather than try to find a buyer, the owner surrendered the station’s license.

Without comment, the FCC on January 19 moved forward with the cancellation of the license of WQJQ-FM 100.1 in Barton, Vt.

The station, which is now “DWQJQ” in the FCC database to reflect the call letters’ deletion, was owned by Capital Broadcasting Associates.

Led by Michael Percy, Capital had been using the station to simulcast WGMT-FM 97.7 in Lyndon, Vt., covering the St. Johnsbury, Vt.-Berlin, N.H. regional area.

No reason is known for Percy’s decision to surrender the property. He paid $25,000 for WQJQ nearly a decade ago.

However, WGMT has partial coverage of the Barton area, which is fairly rural. It is serviced by Vermont Public Co. stations and by Adult Contemporary WMOO-FM in Newport, Vt., while a host of out-of-region stations can be heard, including those from Canada broadcasting mainly in Quebeçois French.

The decision to turn in WQJQ’s license is a rarity, as it is an FM station. In recent months, a host of companies have turned in their AM radio station licenses to the FCC, for various reasons.

Cumulus Media did so in 2020; Beasley Media Group also opted to do so with one South Florida AM. Saga Communications did so in fall 2021. Additionally, in September 2021 KPHP Radio — an entity tied to Donald B. Crawford and Crawford Broadcasting — voluntarily surrendered the KKPZ license to the FCC. The Commission, as such, immediately cancelled the license of KKPZ.

Meanwhile, in May 2021 Fort Myers Broadcasting Company surrendered to the Commission the licenses of WAXA-AM 1200 in Fort Myers, Fla. and WNPL-AM 1460 in Naples, Fla.

Given the focus on the FM translators and not the AMs, and the ability to feed FM translators from a digital multicast signal in HD Radio led Fort Myers Broadcasting Company to simply give up the WAXA and WNPL licensees.

But, in other cases, the programming heard on the deleted station disappeared altogether.

In Vermont, what was heard on WQJQ will continue on the originating station.

He’s spent the last seven years as VP/GM of the internal digital agency of WEHCO Media.

Starting today (1/24), he’s the new VP of Digital Sales at Beasley Media Group.

Pat Eastburn joins the audio content and distribution company from WEHCO’s Flypaper Digital Marketing.

He reports to Beasley Media Group Chief Digital Officer Todd Handy and focus on leveraging his experience across the entire digital sales team. Eastburn will also have a focus on new products, services and key verticals.

“Pat was the consensus choice as the top candidate for this role given his extensive background in leading digital agency sales teams and disrupting traditional media channels,” Handy said.

Eastburn expressed excitement in joining a company that is “so well-respected.” He commented, “I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the entire team. I believe that digital marketing has significant potential as an industry relative to current and future opportunity. Combine that opportunity with top level talent and the sky is the limit.”

From 1989-2007, Eastburn held various sales and training positions for BellAtlantic, which became Verizon. From there, he spent nearly six years as a RVP of Sales for YP Holdings, a division of AT&T Advertising Solutions.

In a move designed to strengthen the position of an affiliate of The CW Network against the ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates in Indianapolis, DuJuan McCoy-owned Circle City Broadcasting has moved forward with the relaunch of an 11pm newscast at one of his two properties — a sign that WISH-8‘s local news presence seeks to be unrivaled.

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A radio industry veteran who spent the last 11 years in Indianapolis has been named Operations Manager of “98.9 The Rock,” “ALT 96.5,” “106.5 The Wolf” and “99.7 The Point” in Kansas City.

He’ll assume his new duties on February 1 while also taking the role of Brand Manager for two of those Audacy Inc. audio brands.

Taking the OM role for KQRC-FM, KRBZ-FM, WDAF-FM & KZPT-FM in Kansas City is JR Ammons.

The role will see Ammons gain oversight of the stations the content strategy, talent, operations and branding. It’s a return to a company formerly known as Entercom for Ammons, as Audacy/Kansas City SVP/Market Manager Roxanne Marati welcomed him to her group of radio stations. “His extensive background operating multiple stations will position him for success, and we look forward to working alongside him in this next chapter of his career,” Marati said.

Ammons has spent the last three decades in Radio, and has been associated with WZPL-FM, WNTR-FM and WXNT-AM in Indianapolis for the last eleven, exiting as OM. Before that Ammons was associated with Lincoln Financial Media, and its former ownership of WSTR-FM “Star 94” in Atlanta, where he was Program Director. He’s also programmed WAPE-FM in Jacksonville and KMXV-FM in Kansas City.

“I’m so thankful for the 11 years I’ve spent in Indianapolis; we’ve had so much fun, made so many lifelong friends and had so much success,” said Ammons, who began his run at the stations under Entercom ownership and stayed with the properties through their 2019 transition to Cumulus Media ownership. “The opportunity to come back to Audacy and work with Roxanne was simply too good to pass up. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the team she’s building in Kansas City.”

 

The company co-founded by CEO Daniel Barreto has widened its nearly five-year partnership with Hearst Television, giving the broadcast TV station owner’s “FAST” live channel content another distribution point.

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There are two dominant users of spot cable, according to the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Cable report.

One is an auto insurance specialist getting lots of attention for their quirky, retro-feel campaign. The other is an auto insurance specialist known for its gecko.

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A fresh look at the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report for the week ending January 23 shows that a job-search site that’s grown in prominence over the last several years truly appreciates the power of Radio.

Gone are the days of Monster, it seems. Indeed is the job-seeker portal of choice in 2022, and last week saw the brand account for some 72,000+ spot plays on the AM and FM radio stations Media Monitors tracks.

That’s a substantial lead over the No. 2 paid user of spot radio last week: auto insurance giant Progressive.

Who else is using radio? Babbel has become a steady brand at AM and FM, as has Lowe’s, which takes advantage of a soft marketing period from The Home Depot.

Until late September, all seemed particularly strong for iHeartMedia‘s stock price. A year-long increase was underway, with shares moving from just over $14 per share in late February to nearly $27.50 just four months later.

By October, however, worries about the Delta, and Omicron, variants of the COVID-19 virus accelerated, creating new concerns about ad dollar weakness at radio. Ups and downs for IHRT were seen, and the shares still managed to start 2022 at $21.57.

Since then, it has been a bumpy ride on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market for iHeart.

The latest dip for the company’s shares was seen on Friday, as IHRT fell 2.7% from Thursday to land at $18.67.

That’s the second-lowest closing price of the last six months, with a December 1 finish of $18.37 the only other time IHRT finished at this level.

While IHRT is still above where it was a year ago, it still marks a frustration for the company led by CEO Bob Pittman and COO/CFO Rich Bressler (pictured, top left). The current 1-year target price for IHRT is $32.78 per share.

The company has yet to see its shares climb above the $30 mark.

As a premium subscriber to the Radio+Television Business Report, you are on the VIP list to receive our Winter 2022 Special Report via instant download.

What awaits you?

• The Future of Broadcasting & OTT for OTA TV – Agora Director of Business Development for Media and Entertainment Brad Altfest is interviewed.
• Broadcast Media’s Top Tech Leaders – This first annual list salutes the best tech minds in radio and television – and it’s a reader-generated honor roll.
• Technology: Empowering Broadcast Radio and TV – The cancellation of the NAB Show and the delay of IBC Amsterdam didn’t put a hard stop to product rollouts and big plans for 2022.
• RBR+TVBR’s Products to Watch List – An opportunity to learn more about other companies of note to radio and TV companies.

The RBR+TVBR Winter 2022 Special Edition is available now to all subscribers!

LOCK IN YOUR COPY BY BECOMING A RBR+TVBR MEMBER TODAY.

It’s a tastemaker Adult Alternative noncommercial FM that since 2007 has done what stations such as KCRW in Santa Monica, Calif., and WXPN in Philadelphia have brought to local radio listeners.

Now, ’88Nine’ is seeking a new Executive Director, as Kevin Sucher has stepped down “to pursue other opportunities.”

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In the final days of 2020, the FCC approved a request by Univision to accept foreign investment in excess of the 25% benchmark set forth in its regulations. Then, in summer 2021, the company that is today majority controlled by Searchlight III UTD and ForgeLight and led by CEO Wade Davis requested the Commission’s OK for two specific non-U.S. based entities to grab a share of Univision ownership.

A Declaratory Ruling was released by the Commission on Friday.

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Que pena … The end is near for “Qué Buena” listeners across the New York Tri-State Area.

For those who have wanted WFME back on a FM signal heard in Gotham, it is almost time to rejoice.

Family Stations has closed on its acquisition of what will soon be the former WQBU-FM 92.7, licensed to the Nassau County municipality of Garden City, N.Y.

According to the asset purchase agreement, finalized on December 2, 2021 and subsequently filed with the FCC, Univision is selling WQBU and its two boosters, giving it coverage in Manhattan and Queens, for $9 million.

A 10% escrow deposit was placed with Kalil & Co., as escrow agent. Kalil & Co. represented Univision in the transaction, as the exclusive broker. As previously reported, Univision months ago retained the Tucson-based brokerage to help it spin non-essential radio stations.

With the deal’s completion, after 18 years Family Stations will regain much of its lost FM signal coverage from the sale of the original WFME-FM (today WXBK-FM 94.7) to Cumulus Media in late 2012. At the time, WFME “moved” to 106.3 MHz, a facility from 1964-1993 known as WVIP-FM. As locals can attest to, it is hardly a New York-market facility, with a 980-watt Class A signal covering northern Westchester and Fairfield County, Conn.

Even with WQBU, WFME still will lack a Northern New Jersey FM signal. However, there is an AM option. WFME-AM 1560 uses a two-tower daytime signal and three-tower nighttime signal pushing out 50kw watts of Christian talk and teaching fare; it sold its Maspeth, Queens, tower site and uses a new site based in New Jersey.

In the 18 years since Univision purchased what is today WQBU, it is being sold for $51 million less.

The deal value crossed what Hoffman Schutz Media Capital’s David Schutz in December told RBR+TVBR is a “psychologically significant valuation metric” — one dollar.

Based on the new 2020 Census, the 60 dbu “service area” contour of WQBU reaches 9,396,000 people. “At a $9 million announced selling price, that represents a population metric of $0.96 per person,” Schutz concludes, adding that the twin synchronous on-channel boosters in Manhattan and Brooklyn didn’t exist when Univision bought the facility.

Representing Family Stations, best known for its association with the late Harold Camping, as its FCC legal counsel is Matthew McCormick with Fletcher Heald & Hildreth.