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Media Bureau grants Estrella Broadcasting's Petition for Declaratory Ruling to exceed the foreign ownership benchmark under Act.

Broadcast Actions

In morning trading on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market, Nexstar Media Group shares were trading above the $110 mark.

Should NXST finish at that price, it will conclude a healthy recovery effort for the broadcast media company’s stock that began in mid-April, just days after Nexstar shares fell to their lowest levels since October 2016.

On March 18, a $56.29 closing price was seen for Nexstar, as the company — like many in the media sector — faced much economic uncertainty as the novel coronavirus rampaged across the U.S.

A small rally fizzled, with a $58.80 closing price seen on April 15.

Since then, Nexstar has been a solid performer, replicating its small dips following a big gain as seen across the last seven years.

By June 3, a $93.67 close was seen. By September 9, a $98.72 finish brought Nexstar ever closer to the $100 mark — last seen in mid-February.

On November 16, Nexstar finally pushed back the $100 mark, reaching $111.37 by December 7.

Since then, just once did shares slip below the $100 level.

Now, Nexstar’s next goal is to reach a 1-year target price of $128.30.

Across 2018, one of the most exciting — yet least-talked-about — tech developments for the radio industry gained RBR+TVBR‘s attention by pure happenstance.

RBR+TVBR first learned of the product, the SOUNDOT AF1 headset for iPhones and iPads using the Lightning interface, in April 2018— ahead of that year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas. Later, at the 2018 Radio Show in Orlando, a demo yielded what so many in the radio broadcasting world wanted — in addition to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: Data-free audio from local radio, on a device everyone seemingly owns, a smartphone.

RBR+TVBR has now learned that the Soundot app is no longer being supported by Apple.

On Dec. 31, with the Soundot app offloaded due to lack of use, RBR+TVBR attempted to access it. It wouldn’t open. A message appeared, noting that the app was no longer supported. As such, the access button for the app was deleted.

Thus ends the second attempt to bring Apple’s iPhone and iPad users FM radio without paying for data usage.

A visit to Amazon.com, a key retailer at the time of the product’s launch, lists the product as unavailable.

An attempt to visit Soundot parent Blackloud‘s website, however, shows the product is still available for purchase, with Apple iTunes as the lone partner it is working with.

Clearly, this is outdated; Blackloud is based in the Los Angeles area and could not be reached prior to RBR+TVBR‘s holiday deadline.

ANOTHER STRUGGLE FOR ‘FREE’ AUDIO

Working with audio design partners Tempo Semiconductor Inc. (TSI) and Silicon Labs (SLAB), Walnut, Calif.-based tech company Blackloud formally brought the SOUNDOT AF1 to market on Sept. 18, 2018. It featured an iOS app and “premium lossless sound quality” for listening to music, watching videos, answering calls, and activating Siri.

But here was the plus for radio broadcasting executives: The SOUNDOT headset also let users directly access compression-free FM radio anywhere in the world via the FM chip embedded in its control box, without requiring internet connectivity or an activated FM chip in the iOS device itself.

At the 2018 Radio Show in Orlando, executives from Blackloud were on hand to promote SOUNDOT; attendees could have received a 10% discount for what was available for $79.89 on Amazon.

RBR+TVBR received a SOUNDOT AF1 for reviewing purposes. Was this radio’s solution for bringing over-the-air radio to the iPhone user? Yes, to a point. No HD Radio reception was available, and audio appeared to be mono. But, the corded antenna pulled in radio signals within a 35-mile radius while in Orlando, and at RBR+TVBR’s Palm Beach County, Fla., headquarters. Use of the device between New York City and Washington, D.C., on an Amtrak Acela train in November 2019 proved useful, with reception of stations easily obtainable within the 60 dBU contour for each FM signal.

There were drawbacks, however, for the Soundot in an era where smart speakers and ear buds dominate audio consumption. Few, if anyone, use corded headphones. And, perhaps Apple saw it as a product that would take away from its own wireless ear bud sales.

Then, there was the lack of promotion of Soundot, and its nearly exclusive sale via the Blackloud website and via Amazon.com. Given its potential in emergency situations such as earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires and the 2020 derecho that impacted eastern Iowa and Illinois, retailers such as Jewel/Osco, Kroger, Publix, Winn-Dixie, Vons/Albertsons, and CVS/Pharmacy and Walgreens would have been valuable to Soundout distribution and awareness.

The arrival of the Soundot at the 2018 Radio Show came one month before the most ambitious effort to bring data-free FM radio to a smartphone was abandoned, something Emmis Communications founder and CEO Jeff Smulyan today remains disappointed over.

With the release of Emmis’ fiscal Q2 2019 financial results, Smulyan revealed that TagStation LLC, and its NextRadio subsidiary, were each coming to an end.

Jeff Smulyan, appearing at NAB 2017 in Las Vegas

NextRadio — developed as an App that would turn any smartphone into a data-free FM tuner by unlocking a chip inside an individual headset — was a much-heralded advancement that won the support of the FCC.

Smartphones powered by the Android operating system supported the app.

But, Apple wouldn’t. That ultimately led to its demise.

“The effort to form a consortium for NextRadio and TagStation has not been successful,” Smulyan said in October 2018. It had been rumored that several radio broadcasting companies were looking to acquire NextRadio and/or TagStation, turning it into a shared platform for all FM radio station owners to benefit from.

That effort failed.

Meanwhile, the iHeartRadio app has only grown, as has Entercom’s heavily promoted Radio.com — a major revenue generator for the company. Further, unlimited data plans are more common, and affordable, than ever before.

Smulyan said, “The major learning we had was that, to make this business really what it needed to be, it needed to do data attribution. To do that, we needed much deeper involvement. We tried. We couldn’t get the industry to come together. Everybody unanimously said, ‘We have to have this.’”

But, when it came time to pitch in financially, the response was tepid or nonexistent.

“We just couldn’t get enough support,” Smulyan said.

Of what use, then, are the Blackloud headphones that mirror wired iPhone headphones, but were specifically created for the now-deceased Soundot AF1?

They can be used just like regular headphones, with access to all audio.

Only, the audio available without data use is simply what’s been downloaded to Spotify or iTunes.

One of Cumulus Media‘s strongest markets is Cincinnati, where it has such radio brands as Warm 98, 92.5 The Fox, 96 Rock and top-rated WGRR.

Now, its VP of Sales has taken the top leadership role for the company’s five FM cluster in the Ohio metropolis, as Dave Crowl is retiring.

Rising to VP/Market Manager for Cumulus Media in Cincinnati is Jon Laing.

He had been VP/Sales for the stations, comprised of WOFX-FM, WFTK-FM, WRRM-FM, WGRR-FM and WNNF “94.1 Cat Country” since 2015.

But, he’s a veteran of Cumulus Media and has been in Cincinnati since taking on the role of Sales Manager for rocker WOFX and WFTK.

Before that, he was Sales Manager for Cumulus in nearby Lexington, Ky., following more
than 11 years as a Sales Manager and Integrated Media Solutions Provider for iHeartMedia and predecessor Clear Channel Communications.

The Kettering, Ohio, native was LSM for Clear Channel in Cincinnati, overseeing WEBN, WKFS and (under Clear Channel ownership) WOFX from May 2007 through the end of 2011.

From February 2006-May 2007 Laing was an Account Executive for CBS Radio in Denver.

Cumulus EVP Dave Milner says Laing “has his finger on the pulse of Cincinnati, with deep experience and relationships in the market. Importantly, he knows how to leverage the power of great local radio across traditional and digital distribution channels, positioning our customers and stations for success in 2021 and beyond. Jon’s dynamic leadership and expertise make him a tremendous asset to Cumulus Cincinnati and to the community
we serve.”

Laing added, “Right now is an incredible time to be in radio/audio, and I am thrilled about the opportunity to lead the Cumulus Cincinnati team. These five stations have a strong tradition of serving the community, entertaining our large listener universe while providing extensive audio and digital marketing solutions for our advertising partners. It is an honor and privilege to have this responsibility. A sincere thanks to Mary Berner and Dave Milner for their support and leadership.”

According to Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs, radio has a “youth problem.”

While Jacobs is likely not alone in making this proclamation, he’s been quite vociferous in exposing the industry’s weaknesses — despite its continued reach story that can’t quite overcome the digital media juggernaut and marketer prejudice.

On Wednesday (12/30), he took another close look at the “Kids in America,” to reference a big hot hit from this week in 1981. It appears the radio industry is too focused on music from 1981 and the listeners who remember them as hot hits, rather than as classic tracks to enjoy alongside today’s “best music.”

In a blog post, Jacobs notes that “like so many other industries, there are questions revolving around the shape radio will be in when a [COVID-19] vaccine is finally developed, tested, and distributed.”

He discusses changes brought forth by the pandemic, now in its ninth month, and how they are likely permanent — working from home, and its impact on commercial real estate; e-commerce, and its impact on advertising clients.

“But what will become of radio?” he asks. “In what condition will COVID leave the industry — both in terms of listening levels, digital usage, and of course, appeal among advertisers, locally and nationally?”

His early assessment: “We have years of trending in front of us, so it will be fascinating to see how the pandemic will alter media habits. Of course, no one knows whether all the ways in which media usage patterns are morphing will be permanent.”

Yet, Jacobs believes there is one certainty. “[It] has nothing to do with pandemics, vaccines, or music tastes. If the radio broadcasting industry doesn’t start researching and programming to younger generations, it will most certainly be out of business.”

If the radio broadcasting industry doesn’t start researching and programming to younger generations, it will most certainly be out of business. — Fred Jacobs

 

NO ‘GLOOM & DOOM’

Jacobs cautions that his words come from an individual “always looking to find a great story about radio’s resilience, relevance, and continued role in the media landscape.’

But, he points to demographic trends, and how they could imperil radio if it doesn’t engage in a thoughtful and meaningful response.

The trends Jacobs has reviewed extensively were released June 30 by The Brookings Institution. That said, it is no different than what the Pew Research Center has been saying for years in its own reviews of Census data: America is getting younger, and browner.

Now, more than half of Americans are millennials or younger.

The data show that the combined millennial, Gen Z, and younger generations numbered 166 million as of July 2019, or 50.7% of the nation’s population—larger than 162 million Americans associated with the combined Gen X, baby boomer, and older cohorts, Brookings Senior Fellow William H. Frey, who works in its Metropolitan Policy Program, notes.

To illustrate the youth population surge, Brookings put a chart together.

“Combining Gen Xers, Boomers and older groups now account for 4 million fewer people than these younger cohorts,” Jacobs notes.

Census estimates show the oldest Millennials are now 39 years of age.

As Jacobs points out, this generation makes up roughly half of the 25-54 year-old “sweet spot” the radio industry “has been relentlessly chasing for decades.”

That leaves roughly 30% of the population under the age of 24.

Is the radio industry fully engaging with this potential audience, and future growth engine?

As Jacobs see it, “radio refuses to seriously acknowledge” this audience segment is even there.

He opines, “A look at any radio market – from Omaha to Oklahoma City to Orlando – reveals the vast majority of radio stations are geared to appeal to that familiar, sales-friendly 30 year age span, while typically only a handful are actually targeted to younger consumers. Yet, the Census and all objective demographers would agree that broadcast radio’s approach falls somewhere between myopic and suicidal.”

The opposing view is that older radio listeners are predispositioned to tune to a radio station, as they grew up with the medium. And, older listeners largely enjoy higher disposable incomes, compared to 30-year-olds saddled with debt tied to higher education tuition loans, housing costs, and perhaps dollars tied to starting a family.

Still, radio, in Jacobs’ view, is stuck in the 1980s.

“The long-held optimistic radio theory promised that once young people got out of school, joined the workforce, and started commuting to and from work, they’d discover the appeal of broadcast radio – at least an FM station or two,” he says. “But that theory was dependent on a deluge of commuters and car radio dashboards resembling those ACDelco radio systems from the ’70s and ’80s that were limited to AM, FM, a cassette deck or CD player, and a half dozen or so preset buttons — and a workforce driving to and from work without fail.”

With more people working from home, many permanently, and in-vehicle audio entertainment systems now making Sirius XM Satellite Radio and Spotify easy to find, “Young consumers who’ve been attached to Spotify for their music (and their podcasts) aren’t likely to simply discover [WHTZ] Z100, KROQ, or Rush Limbaugh when they land that first job,” Jacobs believes.

BEYOND ‘THE UNITED COLORS OF BENETTON’

Compounding matters for radio and its “youth problem” is the ceaseless population growth of non-Caucasian children, teens and young adults.

Then, there is the surge in Latino, Asian-American (comprised of those of Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Thai, Japanese, Korean and Malaysian heritage) and African American populations.

For Jacobs, “The biggest change on the horizon will be the sweeping impact of demography – and not the next pandemic.  It will have a sweeping impact on every corner of radio as we know it today, including commercial music, talk, and sports formats, as well as public and Christian music radio.”

The biggest change on the horizon will be the sweeping impact of demography – and not the next pandemic.  It will have a sweeping impact on every corner of radio as we know it today, including commercial music, talk, and sports formats, as well as public and Christian music radio. — Fred Jacobs

 

Jacobs continues, “Radio may be an art form, but the science in this case is indisputable.  How will broadcasters survive in a world where upwards of 60% of the population have little to nothing to do with the medium?  How will today’s array of formats attract the millions of young people who are already finding their entertainment and information elsewhere?”

In his view, it has to start “with a serious dose of proactivity – a willingness to retrench, research, redesign, and reimagine the medium to better fit American tastes and sensibilities.  Perhaps it starts with an industry task force at the highest levels – the NAB, RAB, and the medium’s largest companies and organizations. And let’s make sure it’s not made up of ‘OK Boomer’ types, but instead is populated (or at least consulted) by the best and brightest Gen Zs and Millennials working in the medium today.  It would also be smart if they were representative of the gender/ethnicity mix broadcast radio will need to attract in order to stay relevant — and profitable.”

While radio is far from “a dire, tragic ending” for some broadcasters, Jacobs concludes that “a continued fixation with ‘doing it the way we’ve always done it’ is a sure-fire non-strategy virtually certain to leave broadcasters wishing they had taken action while they still could. There’s no vaccine or miracle cure for this.  It’s not under control.  And It won’t just go away. How we address this wave of inevitable change in the next five years will tell the tale. It’s on us. Whoa.”

 

“A Road Map to Tech Jobs.”

That’s what to be offered on January 15 in a virtual Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE) summit from the FCC group that will see the involvement, among others, of the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC).

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The following was excerpted from “Maintaining Audio Quality in the Broadcast and Netcast Facility.” In this segment, the authors deal with the many-faceted and often misunderstood subject of quality in digital audio chains.

In digital signal processing devices, the lowest number of bits per word necessary to achieve professional quality is 24 bits. There are several reasons for this.

Digital audio workstations need headroom to accommodate gain adjustments and mixing of several sources. Moreover, there are a number of common DSP operations (like infinite-impulse-response filtering) that substantially increase the digital noise floor, and 24 bits allows enough headroom to accommodate this without audibly losing quality. (This assumes that the designer is sophisticated enough to use appropriate measures to control noise when particularly difficult filters are used.) If floating-point arithmetic is used, the lowest acceptable word length for professional quality is 32 bits (24-bit mantissa and 8-bit exponent; sometimes called “single-precision”).

In digital distribution systems, 20-bit words (120 dB dynamic range) are usually adequate to represent the signal accurately. Twenty bits can retain the full quality of a 16-bit source even after as much as 24 dB attenuation by a mixer. There are almost no A/D converters that can achieve more than 20 bits of real accuracy, and many “24-bit” converters have accuracy considerably below the 20-bit level. “Marketing bits” in A/D converters are outrageously abused to deceive customers, and, if these A/D converters were consumer products, these bogus claims would be actionable by the Federal Trade Commission.

Sample rate controversy

There is considerable disagreement about the audible benefits (if any) of raising the sample rate above 44.1 kHz.

An extensive double-blind test using 554 trials showed that inserting a CD-quality A/D/A loop into the output of a high-resolution (SACD) player was undetectable at normal-to-loud listening levels by any of the subjects, on any of four playback systems. The noise of the CD-quality loop was audible only at very elevated levels.

This is at KTBI(AM) 810 in Ephrata, Wash., one of three AM stations owned by American Christian Network. Running 50 kW daytime, it covers Spokane over 100 miles away.

Moreover, there has been at least one rigorous test comparing 48 kHz and 96 kHz sample rates. This test concluded that there is no audible difference between these two sample rates if the 48 kHz rate’s anti-aliasing filter is designed appropriately.

However, in 2016, a controversial “meta-analysis” of existing tests comparing high-resolution and CD-quality audio was published in the AES Journal.

According to the author, “Eighteen published experiments for which sufficient data could be obtained were included, providing a meta-analysis that combined over 400 participants in more than 12,500 trials.

“Results showed a small but statistically significant ability of test subjects to discriminate high resolution content, and this effect increased dramatically when test subjects received extensive training. This result was verified by a sensitivity analysis exploring different choices for the chosen studies and different analysis approaches.

“Potential biases in studies, effect of test methodology, experimental design, and choice of stimuli were also investigated. The overall conclusion is that the perceived fidelity of an audio recording and playback chain can be affected by operating beyond conventional resolution.”

Assuming perfect hardware, it can be shown that this debate comes down entirely to the audibility of a given anti-aliasing filter design, as is discussed below.

Far before the publication of the 2016 meta-analysis, in a marketing-driven push the record industry attempted to change the consumer standard from 44.1 kHz to a higher sampling frequency via DVD-A and SACD, neither of which succeeded in the mass marketplace. The industry is trying again with Blu-ray audio, and it remains to be seen if they will be more successful than they were with DVD-A or SACD.

FM stereo

Regardless of whether scientifically accurate testing eventually proves that this is audibly beneficial, sampling rates higher than 44.1 kHz have no benefit in FM stereo because the effective sampling rate of FM stereo is 38 kHz, so the signal must eventually be lowpass-filtered to 17 kHz or less to prevent aliasing. It is beneficial in DAB, which typically has 20 kHz audio bandwidth, but offers no benefit at all in AM, whose bandwidth is no greater than 10 kHz in any country and is often 4.5 kHz.

Some A/D converters have built-in soft clippers that start to act when the input signal is 3–6 dB below full scale. While these can be useful in mastering work, they have no place in transferring previously mastered recordings (like commercial CDs). If the soft clipper in an A/D converter cannot be defeated, that A/D should not be used for transfer work.

Dither

Dither is random noise that is added to the signal at approximately the level of the least significant bit. It should be added to the analog signal before the A/D converter, and to any digital signal before its word length is shortened. Its purpose is to linearize the digital system by changing what is, in essence, “crossover distortion” into audibly innocuous random noise.

Without dither, any signal falling below the level of the least significant bit will disappear altogether. Dither will randomly move this signal through the threshold of the LSB, rendering it audible (though noisy). Whenever any DSP operation is performed on the signal (particularly decreasing gain), the resulting signal must be re-dithered before the word length is truncated back to the length of the input words.

Ordinarily, correct dither is added in the A/D stage of any competent commercial product performing the conversion. However, some products allow the user to turn the dither on or off when truncating the length of a word in the digital domain. If the user chooses to omit adding dither, this should be because the signal in question already contained enough dither noise to make it unnecessary to add more.

Many computer software volume controls do not add dither when they attenuate the signal, thereby introducing low-level truncation distortion. It is wise to bypass computer volume controls wherever possible, and if this is not possible, to maintain unity gain through the volume control. Microsoft Windows Media Player and Adobe Flash Players should be operated at 100% (0 dBFS) at all times, and level control should be done either at the amplifier volume control or console fader.

In the absence of “noise shaping,” the spectrum of the usual “triangular-probability-function (TPF)” dither is white (that is, each arithmetic frequency increment contains the same energy). However, noise shaping can change this noise spectrum to concentrate most of the dither energy into the frequency range where the ear is least sensitive. In practice, this means reducing the energy around 4 kHz and raising it above 9 kHz. Doing this can increase the effective resolution of a 16-bit system to almost 19 bits in the crucial midrange area, and is standard in CD mastering. There are many proprietary curves used by various manufacturers for noise shaping, and each has a slightly different sound.

It has been shown that passing noise shaped dither through most classes of signal processing and/or a D/A converter with non-monotonic behavior will destroy the advantages of the noise shaping by “filling in” the frequency areas where the original noise-shaped signal had little energy. The result is usually poorer than if no noise shaping had been used.

For this reason, Orban has adopted a conservative approach to noise shaping, recommending so-called “first-order highpass” noise shaping and implementing this in Orban products that allow dither to be added to their digital output streams. First-order highpass noise shaping provides a substantial improvement in resolution over simple white TPF dither, but its total noise power is only 3 dB higher than white TPF dither. Therefore, if it is passed through additional signal processing and/or an imperfect D/A converter, there will be little noise penalty by comparison to more aggressive noise shaping schemes.

One of the great benefits of the digitization of the signal path in broadcasting is this: Once in digital form, the signal is far less subject to subtle degradation than it would be if it were in analog form, although in fixed point form it is still subject to clipping. Short of being clipped or becoming entirely un-decodable, the worst that can happen to the signal is deterioration of noise-shaped dither, and/or added jitter.

Jitter

Jitter is a time-base error. The only jitter than cannot be removed from the signal is jitter that was added in the original analog-to-digital conversion process. All subsequent jitter can be completely removed in a sort of “time-base correction” operation, accurately recovering the original signal. The only limitation is the performance of the “time-base correction” circuitry, which requires sophisticated design to reduce added jitter below audibility. This “time-base correction” usually occurs in the digital input receiver, although further stages can be used downstream.

Sample rate converters can introduce jitter in the digital domain because they resample the signal, much like A/D converters. Maintaining lowest jitter in a system requires synchronizing all devices in the audio chain to a common word clock or AES11 signal. This eliminates the need to perform cascaded sample rate conversions on the signals flowing through the facility. Good word clock generators have very low jitter (also known as “phase noise”) and allow the cascaded devices to perform at their best.

Busting the myths

There are several pervasive myths regarding digital audio.

One myth is that long reconstruction filters smear the transient response of digital audio, and that there is thus an advantage to using a reconstruction filter with a short impulse response, even if this means rolling off frequencies above 10 kHz. Several commercial high-end D-to-A converters operate on exactly this mistaken assumption. This is one area of digital audio where intuition is particularly deceptive.

The sole purpose of a reconstruction filter is to fill in the missing pieces between the digital samples. These days, symmetrical finite-impulse-response filters are typically used for this task because they have no phase distortion. The output of such a filter is a weighted sum of the digital samples symmetrically surrounding the point being reconstructed. The more samples that are used, the better and more accurate the result, even if this means that the filter is very long.

It’s easiest to justify this assertion in the frequency domain. Provided that the frequencies in the passband and the transition region of the original anti-aliasing filter are entirely within the passband of the reconstruction filter, then the reconstruction filter will act only as a delay line and will pass the audio without distortion. Of course, all practical reconstruction filters have slight frequency response ripples in their passbands, and these can affect the sound by making the amplitude response (but not the phase response) of the “delay line” slightly imperfect. But typically, these ripples are in the order of a few thousandths of a dB in high-quality equipment and are very unlikely to be audible.

The authors have proved this experimentally by simulating such a system and subtracting the output of the reconstruction filter from its input to determine what errors the reconstruction filter introduces. Of course, you have to add a time delay to the input to compensate for the reconstruction filter’s delay. The source signal was random noise, applied to a very sharp filter that band-limited the white noise so that its energy was entirely within the passband of the reconstruction filter. We used a very high-quality linear-phase FIR reconstruction filter and ran the simulation in double-precision floating-point arithmetic. The resulting error signal was a minimum of 125 dB below full scale on a sample-by-sample basis, which was comparable to the stopband depth in the experimental reconstruction filter.

We therefore have the paradoxical result that, in a properly designed digital audio system, the frequency response of the system and its sound is determined by the anti-aliasing filter and not by the reconstruction filter. Provided that they are realized with high-precision arithmetic, longer reconstruction filters are always better.

This means that a rigorous way to test the assumption that high sample rates sound better than low sample rates is to set up a high-sample rate system. Then, without changing any other variable, introduce a filter in the digital domain with the same frequency response as a high-quality anti-aliasing filter that would be required for the lower sample rate. If you cannot detect the presence of this filter in a double-blind test, then you have just proved that the higher sample rate has no intrinsic audible advantage, because you can always make the reconstruction filter audibly transparent.

KTWO(AM) 1030 in Casper, Wyo., a Townsquare Media station. With 50 kW daytime omnidirectional and 50 kW directional night, it covers 75% of the state of Wyoming.

Another myth is that digital audio cannot resolve time differences smaller than one sample period and therefore damages the stereo image. People who believe this like to imagine an analog step moving in time between two sample points. They argue that there will be no change in the output of the A/D converter until the step crosses one sample point and therefore the time resolution is limited to one sample.

The problem with this argument is that there is no such thing as an infinite-risetime step function in the digital domain. To be properly represented, such a function has to first be applied to an anti-aliasing filter. This filter turns the step into an exponential ramp, which typically has equal pre-and post-ringing. This ramp can be moved far less than one sample period in time and still cause the sample points to change value.

In fact, assuming no jitter and correct dithering, the time resolution of a digital system is the same as an analog system having the same bandwidth and noise floor. Ultimately, the time resolution is determined by the sampling frequency and by the noise floor of the system. As you try to get finer and finer resolution, the measurements will become more and more uncertain due to dither noise. Finally, you will get to the point where noise obscures the signal and your measurement cannot get any finer. However, this point is orders of magnitude smaller in time than one sample period and is the same as in an analog system with the same bandwidth.

A final myth is that upsampling digital audio to a higher sample frequency will increase audio quality or resolution. In fact, the original recording at the original sample rate contains all of the information obtainable from that recording. The only thing that raising the sample frequency does is to add ultrasonic images of the original audio around the new sample frequency. In any correctly designed sample rate converter, these are reduced (but never entirely eliminated) by a filter following the upsampler. People who claim to hear differences between “upsampled” audio and the original are either imagining things or hearing coloration caused by the added image frequencies or the frequency response of the upsampler’s filter. They are not hearing a more accurate reproduction of the original recording.

This also applies to the sample rate conversion that often occurs in a digital facility. It is quite possible to create a sample rate converter whose filters are poor enough to make images audible. One should test any sample rate converter, hardware or software, intended for use in professional audio by converting the highest frequency sinewave in the bandpass of the audio being converted, which is typically about 0.45 times the sample frequency.

Observe the output of the SRC on a spectrum analyzer or with software containing an FFT analyzer (like Adobe Audition). In a professional-quality SRC, images will be at least 90 dB below the desired signal, and, in SRC’s designed to accommodate long word lengths (like 24 bit), images will often be –120 dB or lower, assuming a 24-bit path (which is capable of representing low-level energy down to –144 dBFS).Taking full advantage of high-performance sample rate conversion is another reason to use 24-bit audio for production and to reduce the bit depth (if necessary for applications like burning audio CDs) only as the final step, using appropriate dither.

A good reference on sample rate conversion performance can be found at http://src.infinitewave.ca/.

Less is more!

And finally, some truisms regarding loudness and quality: Every radio is equipped with a volume control, and every listener knows how to use it. If the listener has access to the volume control, he or she will adjust it to his or her preferred loudness. After said listener does this, the only thing left distinguishing the “sound” of the radio station is its texture, which will be either clean or degraded, depending on the source quality and the audio processing.

Any program director who boasts of his station’s $20,000 worth of “enhancement” equipment should be first taken to a physician who can clean the wax from his ears, then forced to swear that he is not under the influence of any suspicious substances, and finally placed gently but firmly in front of a high-quality monitor system for a demonstration of the degradation that $20,000 worth of “enhancement” causes! Always remember that less is more.

Comment on this or any article. Email rweetech@gmail.com.

The post Maintaining Quality in Digital Audio Chains appeared first on Radio World.

On October 1, television stations located in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands were required to file applications for license renewal for terms expiring on February 1, 2021.

However, 11 stations failed to file license renewal applications with the FCC.

That’s bad news: their licenses will expire in one month, unless immediate action occurs.

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The annual WorldDAB General Assembly took place in cyberspace in November. Approximately 300 people joined to hear 35 speakers describe the state of DAB+ digital audio broadcasting around the planet.

Videos of the sessions are available on the WorldDAB YouTube Channel. A sampling:

Gaining ground

In an opening address titled “Strong Progress in Troubled Times,” WorldDAB President Patrick Hannon said 2020 was a good year for DAB+.

WorldDAB President Patrick Hannon described progress for the technology and set out priorities including further placement in cars and adoption in new markets.

In the UK, DAB listening has overtaken FM for the first time; almost 60% of all listening is digital and 70% of that listening is done using DAB/DAB+ receivers. This trend has prompted the British government to launch a review to help assess consumer habits and support radio in the wider audio market.

In Germany, he said, a second national DAB+ multiplex, launched recently, reaches 83% of the country’s population. In the Czech Republic, existing DAB+ signals now reach 95% of all potential listeners, and Czech Radio revealed plans to start switching off analog services in 2021.

France will launch national DAB+ services in 2021, while Switzerland has confirmed its plans to start switching off analog broadcasts in 2022. In Italy, DAB+ consumer sales almost tripled in the first half of 2020, helped by a regulation requiring all receivers sold from January onwards to include digital capabilities.

Hannon said significant developments were occurring in other parts of Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and parts of Africa.

Tunisia and Algeria recently launched DAB+ services. A draft regulation for the licensing of digital radio is expected to be published in South Africa by March 2021.

Automotive progress

DAB’s progress in penetrating automobiles was the subject of several sessions. To date, the technology has been successful in staking out space in European automotive dashboards. For instance, in “Norway, Switzerland, the UK and Italy … over 90% of new cars all have digital radios as standard,” said Hannon.

The implementation of the European Union’s European Electronics Communications Code in December, enforced by national laws in EU member countries, will improve matters further. All new car radios sold in the EU will be required to receive DAB+, whether an EU member country has digital radio terrestrial services on air or not.

“COVID-related delays are possible,” Hannon observed, “but critically there’s no major issue … By the end of 2021, the vast majority of new cars in Europe will have DAB+ as standard.”

A map from Patrick Hannon’s presentation

Radio’s place in the car and the competition for in-car listenership were tackled by Roger Lanctot, director of Automotive Connected Mobility with Strategy Analytics.

He said connectivity is the way of the future for automotive infotainment.

“In 2020, for the first time, more than half of all (new) cars will come in with built-in modems,” he said. This is enabling all kinds of in-car listening options including streaming media and hybrid radio, in which a receiver tunes to terrestrial broadcast but switches to the streamed version when the car is out of range.

Now being offered by Audi, with other automakers and equipment manufacturers looking to follow suit, in-car hybrid radio also allows users to search online for their favorite artists/songs and find them on terrestrial radio.

“The key that’s enabling this is the backend metadata infrastructure that’s being provided by multiple suppliers,” said Lanctot. “It’s stitching together that metadata from digital radio that makes radio searchable.”

Looking ahead, Lanctot sees great advertising revenue potential in harvesting in-car listener data. “Companies like Drive Time Metrics are working with automakers to help them understand how to gain insights into the listening behavior of customers in their cars,” he told attendees. “This is a very powerful value preposition that can potentially transform the broadcast industry if we can get at these insights.”

In another session, Guru Nagarajan, lead automotive manager for Google’s Android Automotive, spoke with Xperi SVP of Broadcast Radio Joe D’Angelo about some of the challenges Google is facing in developing the company’s Android Automotive operating system.

“We are learning,” Nagarajan told attendees. “We’ve had 200 automotive OS platform releases now behind us … With every release, we continue to innovate on the platform, expand the interfaces (and) make it more modular.”

According to Nagarajan, radio still accounts for the majority of in-car listening in all circumstances, and will remain important.

“Whether it be a network-constrained scenario in a connected car or (where) you have full connectivity, radio’s continuing to play a key role, and the data is reflecting that,” he said.

Visual experience

But to retain its share of in-car listening via modern infotainment systems, radio broadcasting may need to move beyond audio.

“We all know that radio needs to be a really rich visual experience in cars of the future with bigger dashboard screens,” said Laurence Harrison, chair of the WorldDAB Automotive Working Group. “Metadata is the thing that’s going to power that. Metadata is the visual and textual information about your station that brings your bands alive.”

It is up to broadcasters to provision this metadata to car dashboards. This is why WorldDAB has launched a campaign to encourage broadcasters to provide richer visual and textual data to in-car displays, to attract/retain drivers and passengers as they tune across DAB+ stations.

In doing so, radio can compete against streaming services and music apps that already use striking in-car visuals to lure listeners to their services. This will particularly matter when self-driving cars take over and drivers will be able to enjoy content on large in-car displays rather than watch the road.

Also discussed during WorldDAB’s automotive sessions were “service following” strategies, as listeners move between FM and DAB+ to stay tuned to their preferred radio programs; a RadioDNS open source project that allows broadcasters to track and measure in-car listening across different platforms; and “quickfire” topics in which WorldDAB’s Rosie Smith asked experts for predictions on the future of audio in the car. All can be accessed through the WorldDAB YouTube Channel.

Boosting receiver sales

In a session about “Marketing DAB+” creative ways to build listenership and receiver sales were profiled.

In Germany, DAB+ radio manufacturer TechniSat teamed with Digitalradio Büro Deutschland to sponsor a “Design Your Own Radio” contest. People who logged in at meinradio.dabplus.de/ could use free online graphic tools to customize the case of a TechniSat DAB+ receiver. The best design was adopted for a limited edition radio, with the winner receiving one of these radios.

To maximize DAB+ marketing success in general, “collaboration is key,” said Jacqueline Bierhorst, chair of the WorldDAB Marketing Group.

Bierhorst said promotions by European public and private broadcasters are vital to DAB+’s success in the region. As an example she cited the Netherlands’ recent DAB+ video campaign, which was joined by more than 60 DAB+ channels, with “the most famous deejays and presenters embodying the switch from FM to DAB+” in their TV commercials. Since this campaign launched, DAB+ listening in Holland has gone up 27 percent.

In terms of actual radios sold, DAB+ sales are holding steady across 12 European countries, with 3.78 million DAB+ receivers sold annually in 2019 and 2020.

“Portable radios make up the lion’s share of sales,” said Max Templeman, insight director for consumer electronics with research organization GFK. Portables accounted for about half of all DAB+ radio sales during these two years, with the rest coming from sales of car radios, clock radios, tuners and radio boomboxes; among others.

COVID-19 had an impact on DAB+ radio sales. Thanks to the lockdowns across Europe, online sales’ share of total consumer purchases went from 26% in January 2020 to 60.9% in April 2020. As outlined by Hannon at the start of the General Assembly, ensuring all receivers are equipped with DAB+ as standard is a priority.

The post DAB Advocates Celebrated Growth in 2020 appeared first on Radio World.

The new year will bring big changes to the Washington, D.C. broadcast regulation scene.

There’s the inauguration of a new President and installation of a new FCC chair, who will make an imprint on the agency with his or her own priorities.

What can broadcasters expect with respect to D.C. regulation in January 2020? David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker Knauer offered a detailed look at what’s important to radio and TV station owners and managers.

As Oxenford writes in the WBK Broadcast Law Blog, on or before January 10, all full-power broadcast stations, commercial and noncommercial, must upload to their online public inspection files their Quarterly Issues Programs lists, listing the most important issues facing their communities in the last quarter of 2020 and the programs that they broadcast in October, November and December that addressed those issues.

Oxenford says, “These lists are the only documents required by the FCC to demonstrate how stations served the needs and interests of their broadcast service area, and they are particularly important as the FCC continues its license renewal process for radio and TV stations.”

He notes that one can find a short video on complying with the Quarterly Issues/Programs List requirements here.

Television stations should also be preparing their annual Children’s Television Programming Report (Form 2100, Schedule H – formerly Form 398) and certification of compliance with commercial limits in their children’s programming.

“The Form 398 would normally be due to be filed at the FCC on January 30 but, as that date falls on a Saturday, the FCC filing deadline this year is February 1, the next business day,” Oxenford says, noting that this is the first time that stations will file a “KidVid” report covering an entire year and not just one quarter.

FCC rules also require that stations place in their public files by January 30 of each year records documenting compliance with the limits on the number of commercial minutes that stations can allow in children’s programming.

Oxenford also shares that reply comments are due in two proceedings that will affect broadcasters.

Interested parties have until January 25 to submit reply comments in the FCC’s foreign entity sponsorship identification proceeding.  This proceeding seeks to enhance and standardize the on-air disclosure that broadcasters must make when programming is supplied or paid for by a foreign entity or its representatives.

Also due that same day are reply comments on the petition by the National Association of Broadcasters to clarify who is legally responsible for the programming on a subchannel of one TV station when that programming is a simulcast of another station’s programming.

This would include when the subchannel is acting as the required ATSC 1.0 “lighthouse” signal for the primary video stream of a station that has converted to ATSC 3.0 (Next Gen TV) operations.  The NAB suggests that the originating station, rather than the host station, should be liable for the public service, political broadcasting, public file and other legal obligations that arise from that programming.

Looking ahead to February, television and radio stations in several states must file applications for license renewal and file and upload EEO reports.

By February 1, TV stations in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi and radio stations in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma must file their license renewal applications through the FCC’s Licensing and Management System (LMS).

Those stations must also file with the FCC a Broadcast EEO Program Report (Form 396) and, if they are part of an employment unit with 5 or more full-time employees, upload to their public file and post a link on their station website to their Annual EEO Public Inspection File report covering their hiring and employment outreach activities that occurred in the period from February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021.

TV and radio stations licensed to communities in New Jersey and New York also must meet their Annual EEO Public Inspection file report obligations on February 1.

Looking for something to listen to during your holiday downtime? Binge-listen to the RBR+TVBR InFocus Podcast.

Hosted by Editor-in-chief Adam R Jacobson, you’ll learn, be inspired, and be entertained by these short audio insights and observations on the important topics that can drive your business forward in 2021. Here are some of the people we’ve been talking to:

 

Gordon Smith, NAB Jeff Smulyan, Emmis Communications Eddie Esserman, Media Services Group Sean Compton, NewsNation – WGN America Anne Schelle, Pearl TV Rollye James, Veteran Air Personality and Radio Station Owner Brad Deutsch, Foster Garvey   Listen to the InFOCUS Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Podbay, or Deezer.

 

And, be sure to subscribe to the Podcast on the service of your choice, so you don’t miss out on forthcoming episodes each Tuesday and Thursday in 2021.

 

On December 10, 2019, Hubbard Radio’s Seattle station group selected Jeff Dubow to serve as the new Executive Producer for the highly successful Brooke & Jubal syndicated program, mostly heard in mornings across the country.

Dubow had been with flagship station KQMV-FM “Movin’ 92.5” in Seattle for nine years, and had been the Assistant Producer for the last seven years.

Now, Dubow will be co-hosting the program heard on KQMV and on more than 50 stations through Premiere Networks.

Jubal Fresh, a.k.a. Jubal Flagg, has formally exited the program.

News of Jubal’s exit became known Friday, largely thanks to veteran Chicago media reporter Robert Feder.

However, there were signs upon Dubow’s promotion that things were awry at the program. Extended rebroadcasts began in the fall of 2019, and Jubal has been absent from the show since the start of 2020.

He joined Movin’ in 2011, after a stint at iHeartMedia’s KBKS-FM “Kiss 106.1” in Seattle. Now, Jubal and his wife have entered the podcast realm.

Among the affiliates of the Brooke & Jubal show is WSHE-FM 100.3 in Chicago, a Hubbard property.

According to Feder, the show is being rebranded Brooke and Jeffrey in the Morning, with executive producer Dubow now alongside Brooke Fox. Jose Bolanos will remain a “regular contributor.”

“We’re very excited about the new show,” Jeff England, Hubbard Radio Chicago market manager, said in a statement to Feder. “We strive to provide outstanding and engaging entertainment for our listeners. Brooke, Jeffrey and Jose will continue to deliver on that goal.”

Jubal’s Back In Seattle, Competing Against Hubbard By Adam Jacobson – July 27, 2020

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