Industry News

A request has been approved by the FCC that paves the way for the experimental construction and operation of a pair of new co-located, on-channel boosters — placed at two discrete locations for one expressed purpose.

That would be to garner additional data using GeoBroadcast Solutions’ ZoneCasting FM booster system — the technology being pitched to bring geo-targeted ad solutions, and programming, to the world’s oldest form of mass media.

The OK of an experimental FCC permit puts the wheels in motion on a real-life test at a forlorn Class B that was once one of the top Rock stations on the West Coast: KSJO-FM 92.3 in San Jose.

Today, it is owned by Universal Media Access.

And, it airs a multicultural format targeting South Asian and Indian listeners.

According to GeoBroadcast Solutions, the trial is designed demonstrate KSJO’s ability to add localized weather and traffic, news, advertising and EAS tests during short parts of a broadcast hour, and “how seamlessly unrecognizable” it will be to the average listener.

In a letter dated February 8, FCC Audio Division Senior Deputy Chief Jim Bradshaw ruled the proposed experimental operation meets the requirements of Section 5.203 of the Commission’s Rules. “We find that the public interest would be served by the knowledge gained through testing of the ZoneCasting technology,” Bradshaw said.

The test is particularly intriguing as it involves a station with a primary signal contour stretching as far south as Gilroy and Hollister, and as far north as San Francisco International Airport and the Oakland hills. In the car, KSJO’s signal can be heard as far as both the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge, but not in San Francisco’s cavernous areas.

“Our signal reaches a broad section of the Bay Area,” says Universal Media Access President/CEO Bill Saurer.  “We’re always looking for ways to improve the listener experience and are intrigued to see the opportunities ZoneCasting can provide KSJO in the future.

With a booster already in place in Pleasanton, East Bay communities including Hayward, Fremont, San Ramon and Livermore are already ripe for geo-targeted programming.

Now, what could come in the fourth Experimental Permit requested to test this technology and the second Experimental Permit request using the same booster configuration could bring possibilities to reality.

As GeoBroadcast sees it, the requested testing will use a back-to-back booster configuration set up at different locations “near the busy I-680 corridor.”

That points to the Pleasanton facility.

The request is for a period of 90 days.

The cost of the field test will be shouldered by GeoBroadcast.

However, the filing was made through Bert Goldman, President of Goldman Engineering Management, who will install the booster setup.

Oversight and auditing of the trial will be made by Dennis Roberson, President/CEO of Roberson and Associates, a technology and management consulting company to the radio industry.

Goldman has high hopes the Pleasanton booster can prove geo-targeting can be successfully implemented on facilities originally licensed for broadcasting, and not microcasting.

“The KSJO Zonecasting demonstration will prove that ZoneCasting can be very simply implemented, in this case, adding only one booster location and can significantly improve coverage in low signal areas while providing geotargeted programming which can benefit hundreds of thousands of listeners without interference,” Goldman said.

While GeoBroadcast is pitching ZoneCasting technology as a way stations can provide content to better serve their communities by offering hyper-localized news, weather, and emergency alerts, marketers have been clamoring for an addressable advertising solution for radio. This brings the industry closer to that desired goal.

Within 60 days of completion of the experimental operation, KSJO’s owner must file a full report detailing the research, experimentation and results of the testing with the Commission.

Extensions of this authority are not contemplated.

As GeoBroadcast seeks to move forward with the KSJO live test, the FCC’s deadline to file comments on amending Section 74.1231(i) of the Commission’s Rules on FM Broadcast Booster Stations is tomorrow (2/10).

Details are available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/11/2020-28784/fm-broadcast-booster-stations-modernization-of-media-initiative#addresses

Radio imaging, voiceover, programming, podcasting and jingle producer Benztown has entered into an agreement with Cipolla Analytics to market and provide sales representation for the company’s two advanced programming intelligence software programs.

The platforms are AirplayGPS and SpotGPS.

The programs, Benztown says, “transform airplay data into powerful and actionable station music and content (commercials, songs, and talk) analyses, in a highly compelling, visual, and intuitive form. This enables radio programming professionals to truly ‘see’ and adjust their music, optimize their PPM content-placement strategy, and always know what the competition is doing, enabling a fully informed, strategic approach to ratings success.”

AirplayGPS and SpotGPS provide big picture, song-by-song, and minute-by-minute insights at a glance. Users can see what they and their competitors are actually doing on-air, enabling them to quickly adjust and counter-program.

Ralph Cipolla, Founder and President of Cipolla Analytics, commented, “AirplayGPS and
SpotGPS were created to empower today’s radio programmer and provide what they
truly need to win. You have been asked to do more with less and perform at an even
higher level. Now you can establish a real advantage while your competitors cut back
on intel and analytics essentials. Once you see this, you can’t un-see how much you
need it.”

Are you ready for lightning?

Don’t miss our cover story by Wayne Eckert, who spent years protecting AT&T infrastructure from damage and shares his tips.

Also in this issue: T networks, SNMP, virtualization, off-air frequency measurements and more.

Radio World Engineering Extra provides a special deep dive into topics of interest specifically for radio broadcast engineers. It is edited by veteran DOE Cris Alexander.

Read it here.

The post Inside the Feb. 10 Issue of RW Engineering Extra appeared first on Radio World.

From our People News page: Jordan Lee has been named station director of WYMS(FM)/88Nine Radio Milwaukee.

The organization announced several other changes. Dori Zori was named program director while keeping her morning show role; Music Director Justin Barney becomes assistant PD.

The announcements were made by Director Kevin Sucher, who said Lee has led 88Nine programming for more than five years.

“As station director, Jordan will be responsible for the development of new products that allow for greater music discovery and work towards the station’s mission of serving all of Milwaukee,” the organization said. “Lee also serves as the executive producer for specialty program Rhythm Lab Radio, which the station recently announced is available for nation-wide syndication.”

Zori becomes Radio Milwaukee’s first female PD. Lee joined Radio Milwaukee in 2008. The two co-hosted its morning show in 2012–2014.

Send announcements about radio management and engineering roles to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Radio Milwaukee Promotes Several appeared first on Radio World.

The author is the chief engineer for Salem Radio’s WMCA in New York, WNYM-Hackensack, N.J., and Hofstra University’s WRHU in Hempstead, N.J. He is currently working towards a Doctorate in Education at Hofstra University.

Some time ago sitting in traffic in the Holland Tunnel, driving home from a routine maintenance visit to Salem Radio’s WMCA 570 AM transmitter site in Kearny, N.J., I had a wild thought. World Radio Day, the official UNESCO event celebrating terrestrial broadcast radio, was approaching in a few months. Wouldn’t it be cool if I could help a team of students turn the ambitious college FM station where I work into a worldwide radio network for just one day? At the time, it seemed like a silly, impossible daydream. But then again, WRHU Radio Hofstra University 88.7 FM is a place built on dreams.

First signing on the air in the late 1950s, WRHU (formerly WHCH and WVHC) has grown from its small studios underneath the campus’ Spiegel Theater to the broadcast powerhouse it is today. WRHU’s FM signal covers all of Nassau County on Long Island and parts of New York City’s five boroughs and the tristate area. Over the years, the station has won multiple Marconi Awards, enjoyed a high-profile relationship with the New York Islanders hockey team, and trained a multitude of passionate radio graduates who have worked their way into the New York broadcast market.

Housed in The Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University, the station is powered by its 200-plus student volunteers. And this year, the station reached a new height — receiving the World Radio Day Award from the Academy of Radio Arts and Sciences of America.

General Manager Bruce Avery has spent the last 27 years of his career at the helm of WRHU. It was his passion for broadcasting and commitment to preprofessional development in an environment of mutual respect that helped grow the station to where it is today. Bruce has always stressed that WRHU is a student-run radio station supported by a diverse group of administrators, faculty, alumni and community volunteers.

To pursue this idea of a worldwide broadcast, I knew that the students would have to be in charge. I consulted with my colleague, Operations Manager John Mullen, on the best way to approach this. John is no stranger to big, globally successful ideas, having been program director for WBLS and operations manager for Hot 97 and CD 101.9 during their heyday in the 1990s. John and I agreed that the students would be best served by a broadcast that was a celebration of live and local radio, and that it would happen in two parts.

The first would be an actual global broadcast. WRHU would reach out to stations across the United States and around the world to invite them to join us for our special World Radio Weekend broadcast on Feb 12, 13 and 14. Student reporters and DJs would have the opportunity to do a bidirectional simulcast with each partner station. To accomplish this, we would use all of our technological options — our connectivity choices include Comrex Access codecs along with Telos VX IP phones and QGoLive soft codec apps for smartphones. Our updated studios feature the latest Wheatstone gear and RCS automation — to connect the World Radio Weekend broadcast affiliates with WRHU’s campus studios in Hempstead, essentially building an ad hoc network of international stations.

Finding interested affiliates was also easy. It turns out that radio geeks come in all shapes and sizes. WRHU alum and JVC Broadcasting owner John Caracciolo and Neversink Media Group’s Bud Williamson were the first to offer us airtime. We wanted to feature local stations that served their listeners with live and local programming. Established names like Pocono 96.7, Long Island News Radio, WKNY Kingston and WALL Radio seemed like a natural fit for the broadcast. From there the list grew longer. KBOO community radio in Portland, Ore., agreed to join us for a tribute to WCBS engineer and WRHU alum Marc Weiner, who passed away in 2020. Marc was a beloved technical mentor and friend of both stations, so it only seemed fitting to honor his memory as part of our joint broadcast.

Since then, the list of international and domestic stations has grown considerably. Bush Radio 89.5 FM, a community megaphone in Cape Town, South Africa, eagerly joined the program, along with Bradford City Broadcasting’s 106.6 in the U.K.; Taipei, Taiwan’s FM100; Florida Man Radio; South Seas Broadcasting’s KKHJ in American Samoa; and GGFM in the Philippines. For the Spanish-language segment of the broadcast, Hofstra University professor and Latin American radio scholar Mario Murillo will connect us with his partner station WIOX, Roxbury, N.J., where he produces a weekly Rumba music show.

The WRHU student team, led by journalists Derek Futterman, Rachel Luscher and Crystal Bermudez, has been hard at work preparing “WRHU’s World Radio Passport.” Listeners will have the chance to hear shows featuring music, voices and stories from stations around the world, all co-hosted by WRHU students.

“We want the listener to sit back and let the radio take them on this amazing voyage around the world,” said Futterman ’23, a journalism major.

More than 50 industry professionals were also interviewed as part of the production. WRHU students have spent the last two months gathering stories and radio experiences from radio’s household names such as 1010 WINS anchor Lee Harris, Q104.3’s Jim Kerr, WNYC’s Paul Cavalconte, ABC Radio’s Todd Ant, and MaryKate “MK” Burnell of the “More Music Please” podcast. Matching the students with professionals in their fields of interest proved to be very rewarding for both interviewer and interviewee.

Students from the station’s news and sports departments, led by Professionals in Residence Pete Silverman and Sara Hendricks, jumped at the chance to chat with some of the nation’s top talents. Shayna Sengstock ‘22, a WRHU student technical engineer, loved having the chance to interview veteran CBS engineer Mitch Glider. “It was really exciting to have the chance to learn about these amazing professionals and what they do,” she said. “They provided so much inspiration for my own career.”

WDST’s Lenny Bloch also enjoyed his interview with WRHU’s Grant Francis ‘21, responding with “Great kid, great chat!” Even Long Island music legends Richie Cannata and Liberty DeVitto got involved, talking about the crucial role of local radio in the region’s music history. Student Director of Music Programming Ed Mabeeza now has the challenge of scheduling the entire program in RCS Selector for the weekend.

None of this would have been possible without the support of the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication and Dean Mark Lukasiewicz. Hofstra has given WRHU its support for over 60 years. On Feb. 12, we look forward to sharing WRHU with the world.

The post WRHU to Go Worldwide on February 12–14 appeared first on Radio World.

Hoping to advance its push for the FCC to allow geo-targeting content on FM boosters, GeoBroadcast Solutions has applied for 90-day experimental authority to run two co-located, on-channel boosters in San Jose, Calif.

Its goal is to collect more field data about the company’s ZoneCasting FM booster system.

“The test will be conducted through Universal Media Access’ KSJO(FM) in San Jose, Calif., a South Asian/Indian broadcaster,” the company said in an announcement.

“The trial will demonstrate KSJO’s ability to add localized weather and traffic, news, advertising and EAS tests during short parts of a broadcast hour, and how seamlessly unrecognizable it will be to the average listener.”

The filing was made by Bert Goldman Goldman Engineering Management, who will install the equipment if the request is approved. GBS said Dennis Roberson of tech and management consultant firm Roberson and Associates will oversee and audit the process.

Bill Saurer is president and CEO of Universal Media Access.

“The requested testing will use a back-to-back booster configuration setup at different locations near the busy I-680 corridor,” GBS stated.

Goldman was quoted in the announcement saying the goal was to show that ZoneCasting “can be very simply implemented, in this case, adding only one booster location and can significantly improve coverage in low signal areas while providing geotargeted programming which can benefit hundreds of thousands of listeners without interference.”

As we’ve reported, the FCC currently is taking industry comments about the GBS proposal on geo-targeting. That comment deadline is Wednesday.

GBS added that this would be its fourth experimental permit and the second using this booster configuration.

The post GBS Wants to Test Geo-targeting in San Jose appeared first on Radio World.

“One of the most invigorating parts of this job is when you start seeing data points that were unexpected and force you to re-think a core tenet.”

That’s the opening line from a newly released investor report on U.S. media from MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson.

He notes that from his Wall Street perch, MoffettNathanson has long preached the dogma that live sports “are the glue to Pay TV and, as such, will be the least likely content to go over-the-top.”

Umm … that’s proving to be untrue, to some extent. Now what?

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The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled an auction in July of 136 FM and four AM construction permits.

Auction 109 will open on July 27, 2021. It will include all of the FM permits that has been included in Auction 106 plus six more.

Auction 106 was postponed last year due to the pandemic and has now been canceled; applications to participate in that auction have been dismissed; so hopefuls will have to file a new application to take part in Auction 109. That window hasn’t opened yet.

Also up for auction in July will be four AM licenses — three in Illinois and one in St. Louis, Mo.

The commission has published proposed bidding procedures for the auction and has asked for comments, due March 15. Read the FCC notice here. And here is list of permits to be offered.

The Media Bureau also has frozen applications to modify any of the vacant non-reserved band FM allotments involved in the auction, as well as proposals to change channel, class, community or reference coordinates for them, and applications that fail to protect Auction 109 FM allotments.

A temporary freeze on AM minor changes that would conflict with the expired licenses of the four AM facilities remains in effect.

The post FCC Schedules Auction of 136 FM CPs appeared first on Radio World.

The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten TV report is out, and for the week ending February 7 — inclusive of Super Bowl LV, the biggest advertiser using broadcast TV remains GEICO.

Not far behind it is category competitor Progressive. But, there are two new entrants — and that’s a good sign for a big spring for spot television.

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The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report has been released, and it shows a huge jump in commercial airings by one of the nation’s largest department store brands.

For the week ending February 7, Macy’s finished at No. 7, powered by more than 36,000 radio spots.

That’s the big news of the week, as language learning app Babbel dips behind Progressive.

Here’s the full report: