It’s an SBE special! We talk with Society of Broadcast Engineers President Wayne Pecena about the organization’s pending projects, its pandemic response and its new executive director. Geary Morrill previews the Technical Professional Training Program that launches in January. And Mark Persons reflects on his career after receiving the SBE’s prestigious John H. Battison Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Prefer to do your reading offline? No problem! Simply click on the digital edition, go to the left corner and choose the download button to get a PDF version.
Buyer’s Guide
Streaming, Podcasting and Online Content Delivery
Customers of Comrex, Telos and StreamGuys explain why they chose the products they did. Also learn about new offerings from Tieline, Inovonics, StreamS, Wheatstone, RME and BroadcastPix.
Processing
Mike Pappas writes about how an Orban AM processor came to have the Nielsen encoding built in.
Also in this issue:
The post Inside the Nov. 25, 2020 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.
Programmatic ad platform AdTonos says a campaign for Audi in London marked the first time interactive audio ads have been launched across commercial radio on smart speakers.
The U.K.-based company has a technology called YoursTruly that was used in a campaign in which listeners could react to the Audi ad with a voice command to book test drives for Audi cars or find a dealer.
“The innovative technology allows advertisers to reach listeners via smart speakers with engaging two-way, voice-based communications, delivered across Octave’s vast portfolio of commercial radio stations,” AdTonos wrote in a press release.
It said YoursTruly was developed to exploit “the significant and fast-growing potential of native audio ad experiences.”
To make it work, the ad features an “interaction trigger” that is inserted into an ad break; listeners can react to the ad with a voice command to engage the voice assistant and complete a desired action before being returned to the live station.
This campaign was in partnership with Octave and Omnicom Media Group’s agency, PHD. It was planned by PHD and targeted commercial stations including Absolute Radio, Kiss Radio and Magic Radio.
The post AdTonos Promotes Interactive Audio Ads appeared first on Radio World.
The author is SVP, Engineering — Digital Platforms at Xperi Corp. This commentary is part of Radio World’s Radio@100 series marking the industry centennial.
A hundred years later, reports of the demise of radio continue to be greatly exaggerated. Again.
In fact, it seems that the very idea of radio has been waved away as a second-hand thought only for it to show its deep value — time after time. Even today, as the media splinters and morphs into the many ways people engage with content, radio is here, valued and appreciated — and continuing to rank above all other channels in consumption.
Radio has survived and thrived thanks to continuous innovation, along with the dogged work of achieving scale and adoption of those innovations. Those who have made radio their careers have focused on delivering what consumers want by coming together to innovate across content and technology.
For example, in the early days of FM radio that meant that stations launched FM broadcasts without receivers in the market, driving the adoption of an improved sound experience that increased the value of their content.
Making Radio CompetitiveIn a way, the idea of HD Radio began, over 20 years ago, much like those FM radio days. Broadcasters were seeing competition for their products and services — from satellite radio, iPods and MP3s. The vision was to develop a digital solution that would allow broadcasters to be competitive, by improving quality and enriching the overall content experience. It was “CD-quality sound, no hiss or fuss” with the name of the song showing up on the digital screen, with multi-casting opportunities.
This would prove to be a more engaging way for this increasingly digitally oriented audience to experience the local and personal content that broadcasters had spent years nurturing.
It sounds easy, but being the first to do something is always a risky, uphill endeavor. And while the story of HD Radio has always been about technical invention, the most critical part of that story is how it brought receiver-makers and broadcasters together.
It’s fair to say, in fact, that the HD Radio journey started as a classic Catch-22: the receiver-makers would not invest in a new product if no one was transmitting; broadcasters would not transmit if there were no receivers in the market to pick up their signal.
Fortunately, precedent had already been set when Westinghouse created broadcast content for their early wireless receivers. The first commercial broadcast in the U.S., aired on KDKA on Nov. 2, 1920, announced the winner of the Harding-Cox presidential race. More importantly it announced commercial radio — and changed the world.
Glory Days of ReceiversThe first commercial automotive HD receiver was the Kenwood KTC-HR100 HD Radio tuner; it was a dealer-installed aftermarket item. The black box went into the vehicle’s trunk and the HD Radio function was completely separate from the main radio headunit.
We spent thousands of hours developing and testing it, including having groups from Japan and the U.S. drive around, measuring reception and performance for days on end. Home products took the same journey: the Boston Acoustics Recepter Radio HD went through hundreds of hours of testing and validation.
At first, those units were expensive. But the economic tipping point came when Visteon signed with BMW AG to put HD Radio in 2006 model-year cars — that was the key that started the engine for HD Radio.
Today there are 42 car manufacturers and 290 models available with HD Radio. The Catch-22 has been solved, with each side of the ecosystem having exactly what they need: the audience and the technology to serve up a premium experience, where and how consumers want it.
According to the recent Techsurvey 2020 by Jacobs Media, 69% of listeners surveyed said that the main reason they listen to radio is that it’s easiest to listen to in the car.
Innovation EvolvesOver the past 20 years, we’ve worked with our partners to develop thousands of different radio models for car, home, portable and phone. To date, we have tested almost 4,000 radio models through our 80+ point product certification program.
What began with 12 people working on our vision for HD Radio, continues with hundreds of experts in technology development and systems engineering. All told, thousands of people around the world are involved in the development, production and sale of HD Radio.
And those new receiver products have innovated to transform radio listening into a much richer experience compared to the first HD Radio receivers launched 16 years ago. Consumers can now access multicast HD2-HD3 audio programs and have a visual experience with album images
It has been quite a journey, one in which the immutable law of consumer value has ruled. Costs have decreased and the accessibility of HD receivers has increased. Quality has improved thanks to a worldwide production ecosystem with established relationships with over 50 manufacturing partners across the world.
The important thing, though, is content. That’s why radio is a sustainable platform. It’s something we’re very proud to be a part of, this innovative power to deliver personal options to consumers. The Jacobs’ Media Techsurvey makes it clear: Six in 10 say that personalities are the main reason they listen — and close to 90% agreed that one of radio’s primary advantages was its local content.
Personal. Local. And immersive. I see that as the future of HD Radio.
As we get set for the next 100 years, there are three things that will power the growth of HD Radio — and radio in general.
The first is humility. Learning from our experience informs the growth of the future, especially in terms of HD.
The second is momentum, because as HD grows, all connected industries gain velocity and opportunities to create more interactive and personal radio experiences.
And finally, it’s to remain fearless in our innovation journey, and to be relentless in bringing new ideas and features to the market. That’s how we deliver on the promise of a better experience for listeners — and that’s why we’ll be here 100 years from now.
The post HD Radio’s History of Innovation and Future of Growth appeared first on Radio World.
iHeartRadio released an interesting list of popular songs for 2020, based on its listener data.
It added up total audience spins and streams across its broadcast radio stations and digital network “to look at the top songs that got Americans through this truly one of a kind year.”
“What’s perhaps most interesting about this data is that it shows a complete picture of what folks across the country listened to — not just what those using digital streaming services had queued up,” a company representative wrote in an email.
She said ”Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd reached an audience over 2 billion in the United States alone.
The overall list is below.
The company also posted lists for specific genres; it has been a good year for acts like country’s Morgan Wallen, rhythmic’s Roddy Ricch, alternative’s Twenty One Pilots, rock’s Shinedown and R&B’s Chris Brown. (Find the lists here.)
iHeart’s Top 10 Overall Songs of 2020:
The post iHeart Lists Top 10 Overall Songs of 2020 appeared first on Radio World.
The Technical Professional Training Program just announced by the Society of Broadcast Engineers aims to position new entrants to broadcast engineering for success by expanding their knowledge base.
Geary Morrill of Alpha Media chairs the Education Committee of the SBE and is a member of the organization’s executive board. He talked with Radio World in November about the pending program.
“What we’re doing by offering TPTP,” he said, “is providing means to deliver support to a new broadcast engineer, leveraging inherent strengths of current SBE initiatives — providing a step-by-step template that can be utilized by group owners, independent broadcasters, contract engineering firms, state associations … basically any organization concerned with finding and developing our next generation of broadcast technical professionals.”
Over the years, SBE has developed and delivered programs and support to those already employed in the profession. “Unfortunately, those not intimately involved in the technical side of our industry aren’t truly aware of what and how we do this,” he said.
“They are however acutely aware there’s less and less folks available to perform technical work critical to their enterprise, and that sources traditionally geared to prepare new techs — trade schools and electronic vocational training programs, and on-the-job learning opportunities — have either shrunk or disappeared completely.”
SBE’s leaders weighed how to fill the gap.
“This was not just a technical issue. We would need to make everything user-friendly to both technical and non-technical folks, or it could never get off the ground,” Morrill said.
Cost and Benefits
The cost for a person entering the program is $475. What do they receive for this?
First, they’ll be paired with a mentor, someone already in the technical side of the industry with a knowledge base and practical experience that will help to encourage and guide their learning process.
“In a group owner situation, this could be someone already in their employ at a market, regional or national level,” Morrill said.
“It may be someone affiliated with another organization, like a state broadcasters’ association, interested in supporting this effort for their membership. Or it could be a retired engineer looking to pay forward the support he or she received as a new entrant to our profession some time ago. The common denominator is a desire to see a new person succeed in their broadcast technology career.”
Second, the mentor will collaborate with their mentee to determine their grasp of the disciplines and technologies needed for their role using existing and enhanced tools like SBE CertPreview.
“Armed with this evaluation, the mentors can direct a mentees’ studies by curating the extensive archived SBE webinar series as well as new offerings that are always in development as technology evolves,” he said.
“Included with enrollment in the program, the mentee receives SBE Member Plus level access to the entire educational webinar library of the society for a year, including all new webinars. Mentee learning is further supplemented with a copy of the recently published ‘SBE Engineering Handbook,’ providing a written resource that can be used for both their studies and future reference.”
Third, a natural byproduct of this effort will be preparation to write the Broadcast Technologist Certification exam for either AM/FM or TV. That helps to demonstrate a mentees mastery of electronic fundamentals and relevant FCC rules.
Morrill said SBE is encouraging employers to invest in participation by their new hires.
“In return, it’s reasonable to ask for a commitment from the employee to remain with the employer making this investment, for a mutually agreeable period, or to reimburse the employer’s hard cost if they should choose to withdraw. That way, both parties have a vested interest in the employee being successful, as they have ‘skin in the game.’”
Morrill said the effort involves education, mentorship and certification that already exist in SBE offerings but brings them together in a “guided” system rather than offering things a la carte.
“This is a huge benefit to the intended users because we realize folks who aren’t already technically proficient simply don’t know what they don’t know. And non-technical folks wanting to help don’t either.”
SBE will also provide support and training for volunteers to make their role effective and rewarding.
“A successful mentor doesn’t need to be a professional educator … just be willing to take an active interest in bringing this next generation along.”
[Read the announcement about the program launch.]
The post Geary Morrill on SBE’s New TPTP Program appeared first on Radio World.
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