Industry News

The author is chairman of Digital Radio Mondiale. Her commentaries appear regularly in Radio World.

The recent DRM virtual showcase proved to be a real box of delights and new announcements demonstrating that the digital radio industry remains resilient and innovative even in pandemic times. “The best DRM IBC show with the lowest carbon footprint and best attendance” was one of the many feedbacks received. And there were lots of things to excite the over 100 participants from literally all over the world.

The highlights were grouped around some big themes like DRM in practice, extensively proven and used in the FM band; DRM and its possible major role in delivering educational content to large and remote areas in times when many students cannot attend face-to-face lessons; use of DRM in public signage which can be applied for both education, health and emergency announcements; a new and “live” way of monitoring on-air transmissions, which can be beneficial to both the engineers and the editorial staff of broadcasters.

[Read: Can Digital Radio Standards Coexist?]

While the all-band, open DRM standard is stable and well-established, technical improvements can always be implemented like the recent updating of the DRM system specification ETSI ES 201 980. Three improvements were announced by the DRM Technical Chair (BBC) and are to do with removal of some obsolete or unused modulation features and enhanced signaling when using emergency warnings. The changes, which are backwards-compatible, will make DRM’s implementation in chipsets and receivers more reliable, and add additional support for receiver text displays to be able to also support different scripts from around the world. We now know that the publication of the new ETSI version is expected early in 2021.

Around that time a DRM medium-wave pilot to be run by the BBC for the Middle East is also expected to start, as out of the 468 million people tuning to the BBC worldwide, we were told by the BBC representative that a quarter are still doing so on AM. And shortwave, a bit of a blast from the past for some, is not forgotten in places like Russia, China, and many other countries, as the demand for SW digital transmitters is quite healthy. As mentioned by the Ampegon representative the demand is mainly now for bigger capacity transmitters, above 25 kW going to 50 kW, able to cover wide areas with good analog and digital sound and delivering big energy savings. In its new factory Ampegon is working on satisfying these demands.

Improvements were also announced at the level of professional monitoring all these transmissions. So RFmondial announced the upgraded HTML5 GUI in its DRM/AM Monitoring and Measurement Receiver Family RF-SE and the possible software update of older versions. A new exciter version was also unveiled by the German company. Their German colleagues at Fraunhofer IIS also completed the picture with end-to-end implementations offering solutions (content server and multimedia player, data services like Journaline and Emergency Warning Functionality), services for supporting DRM field trials and rollout, as well as  unique expertise.

But the DRM Showcase was not all about better hardware. It was also about technical innovation. And the one that elicited most of the questions was the extended DRM multiplex for FM, an idea that benefited from the input of Nautel and RFmondial engineers. This solution allows one analog FM transmission (200 kHz) and four DRM channels (two in each of the 200 kHz guard spaces as a DRM channel only occupies 100 kHz). Or if the whole 600 kHz are used in pure DRM then up to six DRM channels (each service with up to three audio and one data services) can be offered from the same transmitter, same antenna with possible sharing of costs among several broadcasters. The individual broadcasters remain in control of their transmissions without the involvement of third-parties.

As usual, participants were also interested in what is happening in the various countries about implementing DRM. While India remains the top DRM country (alongside China), the adoption of DRM in all bands by Pakistan and its public broadcaster (PBC) was one of the big surprises of the showcase. The comprehensive three-phase costed plan to introduce DRM in FM, and medium-wave, first, in all the key areas of the country has been endorsed and praised since the “DRM—Advanced Radio for All” by top Pakistani officials.

Indonesia and its public radio (RRI) representative also presented its five FM transmitters which went on air over the last few months and the excellent results of the Emergency Warning Functionality demonstrated on a DRM FM transmitter in Jakarta in August. The recent tender for digital DRM transmitters in SW, MW and FM in Brazil was welcome news and the expectation is now that a locally produced SW DRM transmitter will be soon transmitting from the key public broadcaster central site.

Africa always gets a mention though South Africa has really scored a first with its policy announced two months ago that it recommends both DRM and DAB as a way to digitize radio in the country; a true torch-bearer for other African countries so reliant on AM and FM radio.

Over 2.5 million of cars with DRM receivers are placing India in a class of its own. Receivers are fitted at no cost in cars from the top brands. Work is continuing to increase pure DRM hours for five All India Radio (AIR) transmitters to full day and diversify content. Possibilities are being explored to have an educational channel and invite also some private broadcasters to use the extra channels available through DRM on AIR transmitters. Six more medium-wave transmitters are to be added to the existing 35 MW DRM transmitters. One of these new batch of DRM transmitters using all the extra DRM features will be launched officially in Hyderabad very soon. The increase of the DRM presence and the general technical effort being made will stimulate the receiver production and availability.

And a good part of the DRM event was devoted to the development of receiver and receiver solutions. One trend we noticed was the extension of DRM reception to FM so that it can cover analog and AM as well as FM broadcasts. Most of the receiver manufacturers proudly announced the availability of attractive features like support for xHE-AAC codec, Journaline, Emergency Warnings. The receivers introduced in excellent videos like that of Avion (India) came in all shapes and forms; from the rich variety of Gospell (China) and its GR series and DRM car stereo, to the Indian multifunctional receivers and SDR-based solutions of Inntot (India). RF2 digital (Korea/Germany) also came up with an SDR receiver solution for analog and all DRM bands, being also a multistandard device. Cambridge Consultants (U.K.) is working on a very low-energy and low-cost solution. The same idea was embraced by Starwaves (Germany/Switzerland) which presented a “tuk-tuk” radio (stripped down but very functional). It also announced the world premiere of Starwaves W293BT receiver, available now upon orders.

So, DRM is making great strides technically, geographically and in coming up with ingenious receiver solutions. To encourage as many digital radio practitioners, stakeholders and decisionmakers to embrace and implement digital radio, DRM, the consortium launched on Sept. 9 its own new video, “DRM — From Broadcaster to Listener.”

The post DRM Advanced Radio for All appeared first on Radio World.

WorldCast Systems has a new offering that it says will give FM broadcasters access to high-quality signal compression for FM MPX/Composite transmission.

“APTmpX is the world’s first and only MPX/composite algorithm to save network bandwidth without deconstructing the original composite signal,” it states in a release.

WorldCast described it as “a new compression format to transmit your high-quality composed signal at even lower bit rates, under 1 Mbps.”

It is available in MPX/composite-compatible APT IP codecs.

The manufacturer said advancements in recent years have eliminated much of the equipment once required to generate an MPX/composite signal. More recently, a single central processor assures consistent audio signature across a transmitter network.

“However, before APTmpX, there remained one challenge: how to manage the relatively high IP data rate of a composite signal without affecting the MPX/composite transmission,” the company wrote.

“APTmpX not only enhances our portfolio for MPX solutions, but also marks a milestone in the transition to an MPX/composite environment,” said APT Product Manager Hartmut Foerster in the announcement.

He said users benefit from lower hardware and distribution costs.

The post WorldCast Introduces APTmpX appeared first on Radio World.

For most AM/FM stations, getting listeners to utilize their online stream remains a challenge, according to The Infinite Dial’s report. When asked whether they listened to online audio in the past week, responses ranged from a high of 82% for sports listeners, to a low 39% for those who regularly tune in classic hits.

[Read: Is the Smart Speaker Like a New Age Home Radio?]

 When those same listeners were asked how often they listened to AM/FM radio online, the percentages drop significantly. The report stated that sports listeners still lead, but with 45%. Next comes R&B with 28%, while news/talk, alternative rock and hard rock/heavy metal are in a three-way tie for third with 26%. Bringing up the rear is classic hits with 11%. This disparity is a bit of a mystery, and no explanations are offered in The Infinite Dial’s report.

In some instances, there is a difference in the number of commercials aired on radio and online media, and The Infinite Dial’s report sought to determine how important hearing few/no commercials is to choosing online audio. Leading the pack, according to the report, are hard rock/heavy metal listeners, of whom 64% said few/no commercials was the only reason for listening to music online. 23% of this group said it was not a reason for choosing online audio.

Almost evenly divided on the matter are hip-hop/rap listeners, where the survey showed that 39% say no commercials are the only reason to listen to online audio, 38% say it’s not a factor in online listening, and 23% say it’s an important reason, but not the only one. At the other end of the spectrum are contemporary Christian listeners, where the report says 38% find few/no commercials a reason to tune in online, and 56% say it is not a reason.

AM/FM radio has traditionally been considered a top source for music discovery. According to this research, it still is, but it now shares the lead with YouTube and friends/family. The research also suggests that YouTube is the wild card, as its adoption defies the expected radio format and age boundaries. Trailing behind as a source for music discovery in most categories are Spotify, SiriusXM and Pandora.

The post Report Says Stations Struggle to Build Online Listenership appeared first on Radio World.

Greg Ashlock calls iHeartMedia’s newest offering a “product-driven network.”

The president of iHeartMedia Markets Group was talking about the iHeartSports Network that launched today.

“People are passionate about sports and this will deliver the timely regional and local coverage they care most about along with the biggest national stories,” Ashlock said in the announcement.

The network — also referred to as IHSN in the press release — will provide content to some 500 stations and their digital streams.

Almost exactly a year ago, the company launched an iHeartRadio Sports website.

“IHSN will deliver short-form national, regional local sports reports to listeners on formats that index high against sports interest, including rock, country, hip hop, class hits, news, talk and sports,” the company said.

Talent to be heard on the network include Cris Collinsworth, Colin Cowherd, Dan Patrick and Joy Taylor.

The company cited research from Scarborough that 83 percent of sports fans want a daily update, and from Nielsen that 89 percent of sports fans listen to radio each week.

“Research also indicates that almost two-thirds of sports fans do not have the time to seek out additional desired information.”

The post iHeart Launches Sports Network appeared first on Radio World.

Microphone hygiene and IP at the BBC are among the topics on the agenda for the Broadcast and Online Delivery track of the upcoming AES Show, which will be held virtually.

There’s also a healthy dollop of radio history, appropriate in this centennial year for radio.

Show planners released these highlights:

“Practical Tips for Using Digital Audio in a 2110 Facility” will explore IP architecture and the SMPTE ST 2110 media networking protocol, of which the Audio Engineering Society’s AES3 and AES67 standards are components. Moderator Andy Butler of PBS will host Wesley D. Simpson (telecom product consultant), Robert Welch (technical solutions lead, Arista Networks) and Peter Wharton (principal consultant, Happy Robot Inc.).

“Pass the Mic” will celebrate the 100th anniversary of radio broadcasting and its innovations with host veteran radio engineer John Holt.

[For News on Other Shows See Our Show News Page]

“A Century of Radio: What You May Not Know About the History of Broadcasting” features Donna Halper of Lesley University and Barry Mishkind of Broadcasters’ Desktop Resource sharing “surprising facts about broadcast history” and dispelling some cherished myths.

“Stay Safe: Disinfecting Microphones in the time of COVID-19” is presented by David Prentice.

“Podcasts: Telling Stories with Sound” has Rob Byers of American Public Media hosting designers/composers Jim Briggs and Fernando Arruda of Revel as well as podcast series reporter/producers Laura Starecheski and Ike Sriskandarajah.

The AES Show usually includes facility tours; this year there are two: “A Virtual Tour and Discussion: BBC Broadcasting House Studio,” led by Jamie Laundon, and “A Virtual Tour and Discussion: BBC Wales — Cardiff Central Square IP-based Broadcast Facility,” with Adrian Wisbey.

The Broadcast and Online Delivery Track has been led David Bialik for 36 years.

Show info is at AESShow.com. Full all-access registration starts at $149. Free AES Show 2020 Showcase registration is free before October 1.

The post History and Mic Hygiene Are on AES Show Agenda appeared first on Radio World.

These photos provided by Broadcasting Center Europe are from its project to install a new transmitter for L’essentiel Radio, adding a signal at 103.4 MHz for the French-language service in Luxembourg.

BCE is a European provider of media services, integration and software. The installation is in the small town of Blaschette in central Luxembourg.

[See Our Who’s Buying What Page]

“Since 2016, BCE has supported the French-speaking radio station with the integration of its studios, transmitters and antennas,” the company announced. “L’essentiel Radio has increased its country coverage with the launch of new frequencies in Rambrouch, Junglinster, Ettelbruck and Remich.”

The national radio service is now available on seven FM frequencies.

Eugène Muller is head of transmissions at BCE. Emmanuel Fleig is manager at L’essentiel Radio.

L’essentiel Radio is also planning tests of the DAB+ platform.

Send news of radio broadcast projects (studios, RF, TOCs/NOCs, etc.) to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post A New Frequency for L’essentiel Radio appeared first on Radio World.

Dan Slentz has been trolling the internet again.

This time he has come across a very interesting audio clip on YouTube. “Nickd2011” took an MP3 recording of Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” and compressed it up to 300 times.

Nick reminds us that every time an MP3 is recompressed, some of the audio is thrown away. In his example, Nick opened a FLAC file of the song in Adobe Audition, then saved it as a 128k MP3.

He then opened the MP3 he just saved, and resaved it as a 128k MP3 with a new file name. Nick repeated that process 300 times.

When you listen to the fifth generation you’ll notice artifacts in the audio. By the 10th, the audio sounds terrible. And with each subsequent compression, the audio quality only gets worse.

Nick compares the degradation to the game of “Telephone” in which a large group of people line up and the first person whispers something to the second person, who whispers it to the third and so on. By the time the message gets to the last person, the meaning would have changed.

A similar process happens when an MP3 file gets compressed over and over. Each generation introduces new artifacts in the audio, as the decoder imperfectly approximates what audio was thrown away. Wait till you hear the 300th generation!

This is a great clip to share with your programming folks. Find it here.

Sniffing for leaks

Amprobe probably is most familiar to broadcast engineers for its line of clamp-on ammeters the company builds. Their innovation doesn’t stop there, however.

The company has developed an ultrasonic leak detector to help troubleshoot leaks. Initially designed for air conditioning technicians, this probe also can be used to sense nitrogen or other gas leaks in pressurized transmission line.

The ULD-420 has a frequency range from 20 kHz to 90 kHz, the optimal range for detecting a variety of leaks. Three switchable filters help remove noise frequencies in noisy environments, and a headphone output is provided.

The tool runs about $1,000 on Amazon, so it may be better suited for group broadcaster purchase. You can find out more at the Amprobe website www.amprobe.com.

Coming up the end of this month, Amprobe is sponsoring a webinar on using the ULD-420 for leak detection. Register at www.amprobe.com/webinars.

Tiny bubbles

Looking for a less expensive means of leak detection? Radio World Technical Advisor and veteran engineer Tom McGinley reminded me of a simpler method: a bottle of soapsuds.

Even dishwashing liquid cut with water will work. Put it in a spray bottle and spray your connections and junctions of nitrogen tubing with the soapy water. If there’s a leak, little bubbles will appear at the leaky junction. Wipe the water off and tighten the connection.

Help the next engineer

I just presented a Generator Maintenance program for members of the SBE Mentor Program, which is designed to help broadcast engineers new to the field by partnering them with seasoned professionals. The goal is for the more-experienced person to share his or her gained knowledge, both empirical and practical, with someone new to the field.

Mentor Committee Chairman Chris Tarr says, “For the seasoned mentor, it’s a chance to give something back. For the freshman mentee, it’s an ideal way to gain inside knowledge and understanding that can sometime take years to accumulate.”

Program participants also are invited to join the SBE Mentor Group on the SBE Facebook page. This is a member-only benefit. Mentor program participants also receive monthly newsletters and have access to a special Mentor program quarterly webinar series.

Interested in learning more? Contact Education Director Cathy Orosz at corosz@sbe.org or 317-846-9000.

We’re hooked!

BGS Sales Associate Mary Schnelle sent us this photo. It’s a view of the underside of an interview table installed at WTOP in Washington by Rob Goldberg and RadioDNA last fall.

Just a simple hook intended for holding headphones. The hook quickly morphed into another use as a place for guests to hang their purses (or murses). Off the floor and easily within reach!

John Bisset has spent over 50 years in the broadcasting industry and is still learning. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance. He holds CPBE certification with the Society of Broadcast Engineers and is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award. Workbench submissions are encouraged, qualify for SBE Recertification, and can be emailed to johnpbisset@gmail.com.

The post How Michael Bolton Can Be 300 Times Worse appeared first on Radio World.

The author is membership program director of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. NFCB commentaries are featured regularly at www.radioworld.com.

The noncommercial media industry groups Public Radio Program Directors and Public Media Journalists Association hosted a joint conference virtually. One showcase featured a powerful initiative in public radio’s search for new audiences.

In 2015, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting launched its support of efforts to develop a new music format for noncommercial radio. What emerged was urban alternative, aimed at drawing a younger, multicultural audience to public media.

The graying of public radio has been a concern for many years, though podcasting, led by NPR in the public media sphere, has changed many of these perceptions. Diversity has been an ongoing concern, however. Urban alternative’s potential in this regard is tremendous.

[Read: Community Broadcaster: Four Election Day Issues to Avoid]

While noncommercial radio has many successful music formatted stations — think KEXP, WXPN and KCRW — none are explicitly focused on making noncommercial media a draw to multicultural audiences. Thanks to champions like Mike Henry and CPB Vice President for Radio Jacquie Gales Webb, you can now tune in to one of a handful of urban alternative stations and hear one of public media’s boldest experiments in decades.

Turn on The Drop, featured on HD at Denver’s KUVO, and you’ll catch emerging mainstream hip-hop blended with classics, cutting-edge soul and lively conversation. Houston KTSU has just unveiled the Vibe as its digital channel. To ensure success, the Texas Southern University station has introduced Ben Thompson as content director. Thompson is best-known as Madd Hatta, a Houston hip-hop radio luminary who was program director and morning show host at KBXX, the city’s top-rated station for nearly his whole 20+-year run. Elsewhere, urban alternative endeavors are showing promise, too.

The next great chapter for urban alternative will be securing commitments for FM broadcast. Thus far, HD and other secondary bands have been its home. Considering the a new full-power noncommercial license window is on the way, could there be a possibility for an urban alternative-born terrestrial broadcaster? Many media groups, including the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, are stepping up to educate aspiring station operators about their options.

The positive growth of urban alternative is a crucial opening for those of us in noncommercial radio to have some needed discussion about audience engagement. For more than a generation, public media’s story has been, implicitly as well as openly, about “super serving” its core audience — mostly educated, mostly white, mostly older, mostly middle class to wealthy. The suggestion has been that, by providing quality content to this listener, a station was by extension serving listeners who were younger and less white and wealthy.

But, as we are seeing from controversies across public media, such as the recent implosions at Minnesota Public Radio and St. Louis Public Radio, the generic approach is getting internal and external pushback. Super service does not necessarily mean inclusive service. CPB’s recognition that stations should foster relationships with nontraditional audiences is gratifying. One can hope that such innovative approaches empower others to have discussions about engagement, and about acting for our future.

The post Community Broadcaster: Inclusive Service Is the Future appeared first on Radio World.

The author of this commentary is a career broadcaster and a consultant to Widelity Corp. The company recently launched an outsource service to help stations maintain compliance with FCC Online Public Information Files requirements.

College students have a habit of graduating and moving on.

So, this year’s student manager at the campus radio station is gone next year and someone else is in charge for one school year.

Widelity’s informal survey of student-run radio stations shows that they are more likely to be in violation of FCC rules requiring online filings than are other non-commercial or commercial stations. It appears that the managers just don’t know to pay attention to the posting rules.

In most of these cases, nothing has been posted in their Issues and Programs folder since the requirement to post online started almost three years ago.

[Related: “Big Companies Settle With FCC on Online Public Files”]

Why would Widelity Corp., a company that derives its operating revenue by representing commercial radio and television stations, take on helping these chronically underfunded non-commercial stations to get current with their online responsibilities?

Widelity’s joint project with College Broadcasters Inc. seeks to educate these station leaders and to help them create systems so that the knowledge is passed on from year to year.

We have had success consulting radio and TV stations and MPVDs in the television repack, in the C-Band repack and in the online filing process, and this is an opportunity to help educate the next generation of broadcasters about their responsibilities.

Widelity and CBI believe that there is the possibility of finding an underwriting sponsor, so that the student-run stations can receive services paid for in exchange for on-air announcements.

COVID-19 changed everyone’s daily life, and the same is true for student-run radio stations. Station staff had to relocate, and most student-run stations were scrambling just to keep programming on the air. The Online Public Inspection Files process wasn’t on everyone’s “to do” list.

Widelity services will provide board members who oversee student-run stations the confidence that FCC compliance standards are being met as required.

Outsourcing these time-sensitive requirements to Widelity should provide peace of mind not only to the directors, but to the staff administrators as well. As students rotate in and out due to churn, Widelity is a constant that can be depended on to assist the new student staff with information about how to properly handle their station OPIF requirements, including the Issues and Programs quarterly reports.

It certainly is not in an educational institution’s best interest to have its station noncompliant and subject to an FCC fine. It also makes for bad public relations.

Our informal survey shows that FCC OPIF compliance is not part of many student-run stations’ curriculums. We are answering that need by creating a webinar that, in conjunction with College Broadcasters, Inc, will be available to student-run stations.

Because sometimes FCC rules change, we plan to be a continuous, reliable source of FCC compliance information to our client schools.

College broadcast leaders, whether student, staff and faculty, can reach out to us at Widelity for more information.

Radio World welcomes other points of view at radioworld@futurenet.com.

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What do sports radio listeners have in common with top 40 listeners? Not much, really. That’s according to the latest report from Edison Research The Infinite Dial series. It profiles listeners of 11 U.S. radio formats. The report goes on to give some granularity to these different listening audio behaviors.

Titled “Radio Listener Profiles,” this report focuses on weekly AM/FM radio listeners who reported listening most often to a radio station with one of the following formats: alternative rock, classic hits, classic rock, contemporary Christian, country, hard rock/heavy metal, hip-hop/rap, news/talk, R&B, sports and top 40.

[Read: Radio Listening Audiences Rebound Despite Pandemic Impact]

The thesis of Edison Research and Triton Digital’s report is that while formats are usually classified by the age and sex of their listeners, not all audio and audio device behaviors can be inferred along those lines. The report refers to the survey participants as P1 listeners.

Ownership of an in-home AM/FM radio continues to be a challenge for the industry, according to the report. Formats whose listeners are most likely to have a radio at home include classic hits, classic rock, country, hard rock/heavy metal, news/talk and sports. Those listeners likely lacking this appliance regularly tune in to alternative rock, contemporary Christian, hip-hop/rap and top 40. Positioned exactly between these two in terms of radio ownership are R&B listeners, representing the overall average.

According to the report, this loss of traditional home radio receivers is partially offset by the influx of smart speakers. Again, the report claims, the utilization of these new devices is not consistent across the board. Not surprisingly, it suggests that smart speaker adoption tracks pretty consistently with the formats which attract younger listeners. Those most likely to own a smart speaker tune in to alternative rock, hard rock/heavy metal, hip-hop/rap, R&B, sports and top 40. On the other hand, the report says, those holding on to their AM/FM radio prefer country, classic hits, classic rock, contemporary Christian and news/talk.

The post Is the Smart Speaker Like a New Age Home Radio? appeared first on Radio World.