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The Federal Communications Commission continues almost daily to announce new settlements in the form of consent decrees with various U.S. radio broadcast companies that were not complying with the rules about their political files.

You’ll recall that in late July the commission announced consent decrees covering six big-name radio companies. (Read about that here.) We reported subsequently that the commission has been using the same template with a growing list of broadcasters.

More have been posted over the past couple of weeks. A sampling of the most recent includes agreements with Liberty in Christ Jesus Ministry, Sun Broadcasting, Heidelberg Broadcasting, Radio Fiesta, Thornburg Communications and Glades Media.

The basic pattern throughout is that the Audio Division of the Media Bureau suspends consideration of a company’s station license renewals, then determines that the broadcaster hasn’t complied with the political file rules, presumably through analysis of information that stations have posted (or not posted) in its online database.

It then gets the company to agree to a series of compliance steps and reporting. At that point the commission says it won’t investigate further, and lifts the suspension. The agreements don’t involve financial penalties.

The consent decrees all use much the same language, including a historical discussion of the need for political files and a statement that the FCC has taken into consideration the difficulties that radio stations face because of the pandemic.

The rules state that radio stations must maintain records of requests for schedules of ad time from candidates and certain issue advertisers, and of deals resulting from those requests. The records must include what advertising aired, advertising preempted, and the timing of any make-goods, along with other information.

Since March 2018 all radio stations were supposed to be uploading new public and political files to the FCC’s online site. More info about the rules can be found here.

The post FCC Continues Its Campaign of Political File Settlements appeared first on Radio World.

The pandemic has been tough on trade show planners, no question. But with no physical convention center to occupy, event organizers at least are free to experiment with different formats.

Witness what the National Association of Broadcasters is doing with its NAB Show New York. It will hold that event this year virtually, which is no surprise at this point; but it will also spread it out over a 10-day period.

Executive Vice President of NAB Conventions Chris Brown said in an announcement that the association is “continuing to evolve the digital event model.” He mentioned a more robust platform and enhanced experience for participants as selling points.

The content of NAB Show New York targets the television, film, online video, live events, podcasting, advertising, corporate A/V, production and post business segments. Typically the show is co-located with the AES convention at the Javits Center in New York.

Brown said the 10-day virtual format offers “a longer, more flexible schedule that optimize opportunities for conducting business, networking and peer-to-peer learning.”

In lieu of exhibit booths, the event includes a marketplace that will feature “immersive tours, new product demonstrations, authoritative white papers, and live chats with representatives from exhibiting companies.”

The fall Radio Show also will be held virtually, on Oct. 5 to 9.

The post NAB Show New York Will Spread Over 10 Days Online appeared first on Radio World.

A new 30-minute Radio World webcast explores new products from several of radio’s leading technology vendors.

Editor in Chief Paul McLane spends a few minutes with each of the manufacturers listed below to learn what they are offering for radio broadcasters. The format is intended to be fast-moving so you can learn about new products without taking up a lot of your day.

You can register here; the webcast goes live on Aug. 26, registrants will receive a reminder email.

From RCS Worldwide, Nate Mumford discusses the company’s cloud-based remote offerings. Though working outside the studio, your radio staff can continue to add audio, metadata or schedules as well as massage a log, automatically send a music log to automation and stream from any location. He also covers brand-new unique hybrid workflows between RCS products.

At Wheatstone, Jay Tyler introduces the Blade 4, a new WheatNet-IP I/O access unit coming out this fall. He explains what’s new in AoIP architecture and walks you through Blade 4 features, including dual ports and power supplies; new onboard apps; advanced source attribution for automating routing and control; codec integration with the AoIP network; and interoperability improvements using AES67 and NMOS.

Marty Sacks of Telos Alliance explains how the Axia Quasar AoIP Console builds on the company’s deep AoIP expertise. He describes its native AoIP architecture; features like new Source profiles, automatic mix-minus and automixing on all channels; and highly customizable design including user-assignable buttons in the Master touchscreen module and every channel strip. Marty also sets the stage for the future of consoles — hardware, software, cloud — based on the needs of the user.

And WideOrbit’s William “Dub” Irvin talks about how WO Automation for Radio helps stations manageoperations from any location. The conversation includes a sneak peek into v5.0, available soon, which allows for full control of the automation system, including true voice tracking and recording capabilities, through native apps that can be installed and used from anywhere.

This is a free sponsored webcast, part of Radio World’s ongoing series about radio and audio products and technology trends. Register here.

The post Radio World to Stream “Fall Product Peeks 2020” appeared first on Radio World.

We already knew that U.S. commercial radio was going to bring in a lot less money from local advertising this year; but the latest projection is not any more encouraging.

BIA Advisory Services expects over-the-air radio advertising to finish at about $11.2 billion for 2020. Its prior projection four months ago was $11.4 billion; and before the pandemic, BIA originally had projected that OTA radio would bring in about $13.1 billion.

So this latest forecast suggests a –15% differential from “what might have been” for radio this year.

More broadly, the research company predicts that spending on all local advertising in the U.S. will be down about 6% despite strong anticipated political advertising, as shown here:

The firm lowered its previous estimates in almost all media categories. It now projects total 2020 local ad spending at $140.4 billion, down from a projection of $144.3 billion four months ago.

Mark Fratrik

Its chief economist Mark Fratrik said in the announcement, “Right now, we believe a realistic view of the economy overall and the advertising marketplace is that after a dramatic decrease in the second-quarter and a bumpy start to the third, the remainder of the year will turn positive but end up with an overall decline in local advertising for the year.”

He pointed to local political ad spending as one positive area, with campaigns making more use of online rallies and events. Segments showing “some COVID resilience” include healthcare and finance & insurance, but even those are down in terms of overall ad revenue spending.

The post BIA Lowers Local Ad Spending Projections Again appeared first on Radio World.

“Best of Show” Up Close is a series of Q&As with participants in Radio World’s annual springtime Best of Show Awards program.

RCS nominated its Revma Professional-Grade Streaming.

Radio World: What is Revma, and what kind of users is it intended for?

RCS: Revma is a Content Delivery Network that allows professionals from small to large scales to distribute their stream and efficiently duplicate their feeds to multiple destinations and configurations. Revma is compatible with industry standard encoders and players, as well as can be custom tailored to specific user workflows.

RW: What sets it apart from similar offerings in this product class?

RCS: Revma is different from most Content Delivery Networks because it can easily scale from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of streams, all while maintaining a next level of ultra-high reliability, with rich analytic detail.

To further monetize their streams, users can also take advantage of Revma’s VAST compliance ad-insertion technology, which can be further controlled with a wide array of rules, like geo-targeting and more.

The Revma Conference App, one of the many tools available for broadcasters included as part of the Revma package, creates a cloud studio in which hosts can invite multiple participants from different geographical locations, to be mixed as part of a single output stream.

Revma Ads Graph

RW: RCS has been emphasizing the ability of many of its products to work remotely. What about Revma?

RCS: The Revma UI is completely web-based and can be accessed via any computer or device with an internet browser using defined logins and passwords. Administrators can remotely monitor their streams, adjust configurations and run analytic reports, all of which can be done without downloading from an app store or installing software on a machine.

RW: What does it cost? Is it shipping?

RCS: Available now. Since every client has different unique requirements, our RCS sales representatives are available to tailor each Revma quote to a user’s desired setup.

RW: What else should we know about Revma?

RCS: For commercial in-store radio applications, Revma also has an In-Store Radio model in which administrators can define centralized programming that is broken down between Blends, content, and Breaks, commercial traffic, that can be duplicated from the master feed or overwritten with each location’s own blends and/or breaks.

Most importantly, as part of the RCS family of products, users know they’re receiving renowned worldwide support, sales, development and reliability.

[Read about all the nominees and winners in the award program guide.]

The post “Best of Show” Up Close: RCS Revma appeared first on Radio World.

It was 1980 and I was on top of the world, a kid in my early 20s and the chief (and only) engineer of a top-rated pop FM station in Dallas.

My office was on the top floor of a bank building and I had a great view out the glass wall in front of my desk. I had all the latest equipment, great studios, a brand-new main transmitter site, a nice paycheck, a company car and a bunch of trade to burn. Could it get any better? No doubt about it, I had arrived.

The past 40 years have made the memories a little fuzzy at times, but I’m pretty sure I thought I knew it all back then. I must have known it all, or I wouldn’t have had that job, office and all the perks, right?

One day, my DOE, Gary Hess, came into my office. He wanted me to do an allocation drop-in for an East Coast market. A what? How does that work? Obviously there was at least one thing I didn’t know.

Other memories may be hazy, but I have a clear recollection of Gary down on the floor of my office with me, topo maps spread out under a straight edge, showing me how to plot the chosen reference coordinates. Then he showed me how to do a channel study, how to lay out eight radials and how to calculate the average terrain elevation.

I did what Gary showed me, he filed the FCC paperwork, and the drop-in was successful. That allocation is still in place to this day, as is the Class A FM station he filed for after teaching me how.

It’s been a lot of years, but I’ve never forgotten that lesson. More importantly, I’ve never forgotten that Gary took the time to show a young, know-it-all kid something new, providing a skill that would serve me well for many years to come.

How Does That Work?

Fast-forward almost a decade from that point. I was older, presumably wiser, and infinitely more aware of what all I didn’t know. Except for maintaining a few simple, mostly non-directional AM transmitter sites, all my experience to date had been television and FM, but I had a new 5 kW four-tower AM build-out dropped right into my lap with a deadline and a budget. Oh boy.

I knew virtually nothing about AM antenna systems, phasors, ATUs and sample systems. Certainly I understood the basic principles from what I had learned in engineering school many years prior, but I had never put that into practice in any way. So I was really sweating it.

For many years, my company had used Gallagher & Associates as its consulting engineering firm, and Charlie Gallagher was a good friend. When I dropped the bomb of the AM antenna project on Charlie, he didn’t miss a beat. He immediately began teaching me the things I needed to know, taking me step by step through the process.

Charlie showed me how to do a phase budget, then how to design a phasing and coupling system. He taught me how to design a power divider, the advantages and disadvantages of various designs, and how to choose real-world components for the system. Within a few short weeks he had shown me how to calculate driving point impedances and leg values in tee-networks.

Charlie Gallagher showed me how to do a phase budget, how to design a phasing and coupling system, how to design a power divider and lots more. These are some of his notes.

With Charlie’s help and calculations and diagrams flying back and forth on our newfangled fax machines, I got that site built, tuned up, proofed and licensed — and Charlie never set foot on the property. He gave me the tools — and the confidence — to do the job myself. That station and site are still on the air all these decades later.

The learning process didn’t stop there. Charlie continued to teach me about AM allocations, how to do groundwave equivalent distance calculations, how to make and apply conductivity measurements and how to do skywave night limit studies. After that came directional antenna design. I still have a drawer full of fading thermal fax paper with Charlie’s notes and examples, and occasionally I still refer to them.

In the years that followed, I did a lot of AM allocation and antenna projects completely on my own. I learned something, sometimes a lot, from each of them. But I still didn’t know it all.

Somewhere along the way, Charlie introduced me to John Furr, another of his protégés who was director of engineering for Clear Channel. John and I became friends and often swapped thoughts and ideas. John was a programmer, I was more of a hacker (in the sense that I tried to write code).

I learned a lot from John, and eventually we became business partners. John passed away several years ago, but the company he started and in which I remain managing partner still survives.

Passing it On

John, like Charlie, had a heart for teaching people our trade, and once or twice a year he would host an immersion symposium at a San Antonio hotel, bringing in Charlie, other presenters and me. We would, for a very reasonable cost, teach attendees how to do AM, FM and TV allocations and a whole lot more.

I still have the notebooks we used and handed out at those symposiums. To this day I occasionally hear from people who attended. The reality is that there was at the time nowhere else to get that kind of training. I was honored to be a part of the process.

Fast-forwarding again to recent years, instead of learning about scary AM allocations and networks, I find myself learning about firewalls, routing, AoIP, multicasting, VLANs, switches, protocols and other scary stuff.

Attendees listen at a John Furr symposium in 2002. You might recognize attendees if you look closely; I see Joel Saxburg, Steve Davis and Jeff Littlejohn, among others.

It occurred to me recently that the learning never stops, not really, or it shouldn’t, not if we’re to keep up. With technology changing so rapidly, I find that knowledge to be perishable.

For some, sadly, the learning does stop, and for those folks, skills quickly become dated and stale. Their value in the industry is low, or at least lower than that of those who work at keeping up. I occasionally encounter folks like that. With some, it’s as if they are unaware there is anything beyond the things they do know. They’re missing out altogether on a whole world of opportunity.

Coming out of a pandemic, the broadcast industry will be leaner and more efficient than ever. We’re operating in a whole new way, often remotely and certainly with fewer warm bodies at the controls. More is required of engineers, and a higher skill set is needed than perhaps any time in the past. Those without those skills will find themselves at a significant disadvantage.

Which brings me to a point: There have never been more opportunities for continuing education than there are right now, and you don’t have to travel to a hotel in San Antonio to take advantage.

There are live and on-demand webinars on timely topics available from many sources, including the Society of Broadcast Engineers. There is, in my opinion, no better bargain out there than the SBE’s “Member Plus” membership level, which provides unlimited access to the entire archived catalogue of SBE educational webinars and all new webinars produced during the membership year.

Manufacturers often offer product-specific training that has broader application, many times in webinar format. White papers on timely topics abound and are often available online, and we strive to make the cream of that crop available in these pages.

In short, there is no excuse for not continuing to learn in this business. The opportunities are many, and your very livelihood may depend on it. So make it a point to try and learn something new or expand your skills every day. Never stop learning!

And perhaps more importantly, make an effort to pass on what you learn to others. I am forever grateful to Gary, Charlie, John and others who took the time to show me some new things. Don’t miss an opportunity to be a mentor to someone else!

W.C. “Cris” Alexander, CPBE, AMD, DRB, is director of engineering at Crawford Broadcasting and the technical editor of Radio World Engineering Extra. Read past issues of RWEE and RW.

The post Engineers Should Never Stop Learning appeared first on Radio World.

Announcements like this are a reminder of how the podcast advertising environment is maturing and getting more sophisticated.

Nielsen says it has signed audio advertising and media agency Veritone One as a subscriber to its Podcast Buying Power service.

Nielsen launched the service in the summer of last year and says it now has about a dozen major subscribers including IPG Media Brands, which signed in January, and PodcastOne, which joined in April. Previously announced clients include iHeartMedia; Cadence13; Midroll, Stitcher’s advertising arm; Westwood One and cabana.

The research service provides data about 18 genres and 150 podcast titles that can be cross-referenced by consumer purchase behavior patterns and use of services.

Nielsen says this “allows clients to profile shows using program titles collected from subscribers in order to connect specific types of listeners with particular advertisers and specific program-level insights. It also features the same capabilities by genres and listening usage.”

In the announcement, Veritone One’s SVP of Strategy and Investment Conor Doyle was quoted saying this tool will help it refine ad placements and expand offerings for new advertisers that want to get into podcasting. “Access to consumption and audience data will attract brand advertisers who have been previously hesitant to enter the largely direct-to-consumer space,” he said.

Nielsen says the service can capture results for given programs and tie them to retail categories and advertisers with specific brand names. It says the service is particularly relevant as more brand advertisers are coming into podcasting.

 

The post Nielsen Signs Veritone One for Podcast Research appeared first on Radio World.

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Glades Media Company LLC enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

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Keys Media Company, Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

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FCC denies the Application for Review filed by PMCM TV, LLC, challenging the community of license change of WEDW from Bridgeport, CT to Stanford, CT

FCC denies the Application for Review filed by PMCM TV, LLC, challenging the grant of an application for WEDW to convert its facilities to a Distributed Transmission System

An image from Google Maps shows the installation locations; click on map to see details.

Digital Radio Mondiale is highlighting test measurements done by the Radio Republik Indonesia network.

“RRI has just conducted measurements proving that DRM in FM is spectrum- [and] energy-efficient, delivering audio and text in superior quality without any interference even in very crowded FM environments,” the organization stated.

It provided a link to a one-minute RRI video about the project.

DRM said that in June, “a digital radio transmitter was installed and commissioned by RRI at Pelubharan Ratu in Sukabumi province, West Java. This innovative step meant this is the first-ever digital radio broadcasting station for FMset up for warning functionality in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia.”

It said the station is broadcasting three audio programs in digital DRM, and a data channel presenting text of news and current affairs information in the Bhasa Indonesia language; that data is provided through the Journaline system.

A second digital transmitter was installed at Pantai Labuan in West Java; a third DRM FM transmitter was commissioned in July in central Java.

In addition, DRM said, RRI plans to install and commission two more DRM FM transmitters in West Sumatra and in eastern Indonesia in August.

It said RRI’s tests in West Java indicated that six test points covered by the 1 kW transmitter could be served with only 50 watts of DRM power. “In testing a simulcast broadcast using 1 kW and 800 Watt with spacing distance 150 kHz between the middle frequency FM and DRM, the measurement showed no interference between FM and DRM. The DRM quality was at least equally good to FM, but the sound quality of DRM was even better than FM.”

DRM provided a link to a coverage map as well.

[Related commentary: “Use DRM for India’s FM Band”]

The post DRM Highlights DRM for FM Tests in Java appeared first on Radio World.

Cumulus Media is getting out of the tower ownership biz. It plans to sell “substantially all” of its broadcast communication tower sites to Vertical Bridge and to lease access to them instead.

The company also announced that its net revenue in the most recent quarter was down almost 48% from a year ago.

The sale of its towers is a move to raise cash to pay down debt. President/CEO Mary Berner described it as “an agreement to monetize our tower portfolio for more than $210 million, proceeds which will further add to our liquidity and contribute to significant incremental debt pay down.”

The company reported the agreement in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in its latest quarterly financial announcement.

[Related: Cumulus Considers Selling Tower Holdings]

The first closing of the transaction is expected to occur in the fourth quarter.

The initial term of each tower site lease would be 10 years, followed by five option periods of five years each. If all the sites are sold, Cumulus expects to have lease obligations of approximately $13.5 million each year; while it will lose some annual tenant revenues, it will also save money in operating expenses.

“The transaction will not have any effect on the company’s current broadcast operations,” the company told the SEC.

In reporting its latest financials, Berner said that despite the pandemic, Cumulus generated $90 million of cash in the quarter “through quick and decisive expense actions, strong working capital management and the completion of the sale of land in Bethesda, Md.,” referring to the former tower site of WMAL. The completion of that sale netted it an additional $66 million in cash.

The company told shareholders that it had “meaningfully mitigated” the pandemic’s impact in the second quarter through “significant fixed cost expense reductions,” and that it expects total reductions of more than $85 million in 2020.

Still, the numbers were filled with minus signs as Cumulus struggled, like other media companies, to cope with the pandemic. In the latest quarter, Cumulus reported net revenue of $146 million, down almost 48% from the same period a year ago. It had a net loss of $36.3 million. For its entire first fiscal half, net revenue was $373.9 million, down about 32%, with a net loss of $43.7 million.

Cumulus owns 424 radio stations in 87 markets and is a major syndicator through its Westwood One arm.

 

The post Cumulus Will Sell Its Towers to Vertical Bridge appeared first on Radio World.