Industry News

NEW YORK — Discovery, Inc. has become a minority owner of OpenAP, the advanced advertising company serving the television industry.

Discovery joins FOX, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS in the joint venture.

The investment signals an expansion of Discovery’s existing relationship with OpenAP, having integrated with OpenID in April 2021 and more recently partnering with OpenAP on the launch of XPm, the TV publisher backed cross-platform measurement framework.

“The commitment to OpenAP furthers Discovery’s strategy of building a technical framework that enables cross-platform audience-based buying and creating collaborative support for alternative currency standards,” OpenAP says, adding that it will help further its ability to grow the overall market for audience-based advertising ‘and expand the breadth and scale of its services across cross-platform identity, measurement and planning.”

Discovery Chief U.S. Advertising Sales Officer Jon Steinlauf and Jim Keller, EVP/Digital Ad Sales and Advanced Advertising, will each represent the company on OpenAP’s Board of Directors.

Additionally, Discovery will be able to contribute to OpenAP’s corporate strategy and product roadmap, while gaining further operational and technical efficiencies by activating audiences centrally through OpenAP.

“Discovery is excited to take an active role shaping the future of advanced audience buying,” Keller said. “Given our current momentum, influence and growth of audience-based sales, we believe Discovery can help further the work OpenAP has been doing to initiate meaningful change in the market.”

OpenAP works with more than 100 advertisers following the 2019 launch of the OpenAP Market with centralized advanced audiences able to be distributed to all national TV publishers regardless of platform.

“There is no denying that automotive dealers have been on a wild ride over the past two years, bouncing from one extreme to another,” says local advertising analyst Gordon Borrell.

A new report from his Borrell Associates recounts the events from the last 24 months that have changed the automotive advertising environment and previews what is to come.

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LOS ANGELES — In 1997, a trio of Class A FM radio stations at 92.7 MHz entered into a “trimulcast,” in a bid to serve the entire Los Angeles DMA. At first it was “Lite.” Then, it was “Jill,” the cheeky female response to first-adjacent Adult Hits “JACK FM.”

Today, two of those three stations remain and serve as Southern California’s home for Educational Media Foundation‘s Worship Music-focused Air1 noncommercial network. Until recently, however, the same issues that plagued the former formats for this facility remained — poor penetration in central Los Angeles.

That issue has now been resolved, thanks to an FM translator and the use of GeoBroadcast Solutions’ MaxxCasting system.

A “Common” settlement reached in 2019 is also an important factor for EMF.

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Why does Gray Television have an interest in a low-power television station licensed to a self-described “beautiful small town nestled in the hills of Southern Middle Tennessee?”

The fact that Lewisburg, Tenn., is an hour south of Music Row has everything to do with the broadcast TV company’s latest LPTV investment.

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RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION

As some three dozen lucky radio industry cognoscenti gathered in Las Vegas on January 6 to enjoy the 2022 Consumer Electronics and QR Code Showcase in Sin City, a veteran radio industry professional widely known for creating Classic Rock as an answer to hair-band free playlists fired off a fiery blog post that lambasted radio for shooting itself in the foot.

What was the problem? For the week ending January 2, 2022, Media Monitors’ Spot Ten Radio report showed Sirius XM accounting for some 33,794 spots aired across the AM and FM stations it tracks.

The latest Spot Ten Radio reports shows that it was likely a one-time deal, as the satellite radio company was absent from the top 10 for the week ending January 9.

Still, the presence of Sirius XM during that end-of-year week when subscription renewals are important is, in Fred Jacobs‘ view, a huge error in judgement, or perhaps a tremendous blunder.

We respectfully disagree and see no reason to panic and fret over radio advertisements designed to bring more attention to audio content. After all, it is Radio that allowed Sirius XM to even exist.

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Stormin Protection Products President John Pecore said the Optelator — a fiber optic isolator that eliminates grounding differentials between equipment and demark ground, protecting against direct lightning strikes on phone lines — has been discontinued.

A common application in broadcasting is to protect lines that serve remote monitors at transmitter sites. It also has uses in the automated milking industry — where remote monitoring equipment often suffers from poor connections — and in the military and homeland security, where Optelator protected inexpensive fax machines, copiers and printers, as well as provided isolated phone lines to silos and other military missile launching sites.

John Pecore blamed three factors for the decision: the pandemic, which he said has caused a 65 percent loss of business; increased pressure from his suppliers for parts orders in larger quantities; and a dramatic decline of demand for this kind of product.

“The phone hardline industry has crashed and burned [while] wireless is alive and well,” he said.

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In fact the product was scheduled to be discontinued in the late 1990s, but Pecore said a review that appeared at the time in Radio World was followed by a rush of interest. “This product became a great success in your industry, and has been depended upon in radio for many years.”

The company will continue to support users of the Optelator II and the early-generation Optilator with repair services, and can rebuild or replace PC boards, at least until the supply chain has dried up. But no more brand-new units are available.

“Sometimes progress destroys the old, and brings in the new. It is the end of life as we know it for the hardline phone line,” Pecore said.

“One last final words for the radio broadcast industry: Thank you.”

Radio World invites both users and suppliers to tell us about recently installed new or notable equipment. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post The Optelator Is Discontinued appeared first on Radio World.

Educational Media Foundation is using a new and unusual FM translator installation so that more people around Los Angeles can hear its Air1 Radio Network Christian worship format.

GeoBroadcast Solutions said EMF is using a MaxxCasting system to expand the signal quality and audience reach of two FM stations through the installation of a translator in downtown Los Angeles. The technology company said EMF has increased its potential listenership by as much as 4 million.

“KYRA(FM), broadcasting to the north of the city in Ventura and L.A. Counties, and KYLA(FM), broadcasting from Orange County in the south, had been simulcasting the Air1 signal on the 92.7 frequency but weren’t reaching the densely populated downtown and neighborhoods of the city,” GBS explained in its press release.

“Through the innovative installation of a co-channel translator on the AON Center building, GBS engineers were able to bridge the gap between the two coverage areas and built a continuous signal that now stretches across 110 miles.”

MaxxCasting is a booster-based system that uses a cluster of directionalized, synchronized node sites to reduce interference between a station’s main and booster transmissions. But this configuration did not involve a node/booster at all; it relied on moving the translator to the Aon Building and synchronizing the two main stations.

GBS quoted EMF Senior Broadcast Engineer Shane Toven saying, “Since we’ve owned the stations, our challenge has been connecting the two signals and providing continuous coverage between our co-channel signals, which conventional boosters and repeaters were not able to provide.”

Equipment for Maxxcasting is provided by Doug Tharp at SCMS, the U.S. distributor for GatesAir transmitters. Paul Littleton is director of spectrum design at GeoBroadcast Solutions.

The post EMF Deploys Translator in L.A. appeared first on Radio World.

Many engineers are familiar with programmable keypads, sometimes referred to as X-keys, used for shortcuts to computer software. A gaming company called Elgato has taken the idea a step further with something called Stream Deck.

This is a hardware box with buttons that simply connects to a computer (Mac or Windows) via a USB port. There are no additional power requirements or anything else but the USB cable.

This content creation controller is aimed at the new world of video streamers: “Streamline your setup! Elgato Game Capture, OBS, Twitch, Twitter, TipeeeStream, XSplit, YouTube and more — Stream Deck integrates your tools and automatically detects your scenes, media and audio sources, enabling you to control them with a quick tap of a key.”

But there’s plenty here that a radio person can put to good use.

Engaging keys

With three sizes, you can have a 32-button, 15-button or small six-button version of the Stream Deck.

Utilizing its software (a free download from its site), you can easily create shortcuts and macros to allow this device to control the computer, connected hardware or software.

The author’s Stream Deck with custom buttons

Making this more visually appealing and user-intuitive is that the keys are backed by full color LCD graphic displays. You can place JPGs or animated GIFs on the key faces to represent functions or software.

I’ve found nothing that requires special formatting or specific resolutions for the images or animated GIFs, they just load and work. There are even plug-ins that allow the animation to represent everything from audio levels, clocks, current weather info (as a weather graphic).

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The buttons can be used to bring up a website, a web stream or nearly anything the computer can do on its own. You can even turn the Stream Deck into an instant audio clip player, as its software allows you to load audio files that are quickly and instantly recalled via the button (and output on the computer’s sound card).

Stream Deck integrates with Elgato’s product ecosystem (for functions like controlling Wave Link audio software, turning on/off Key Lights or capturing console gameplay via the Game Capture line of HDMI capture cards).

With a publicly available SDK, anyone can build plugins for Stream Deck; there are many available that integrate with products from NVIDIA, Spotify, Philips and Corsair’s iCUE ecosystem.

Voicemod has a plugin in the Stream Deck store that enables Stream Deck users to control the Voicemod software; this allows an audio input to the computer (like a USB mic) to be changed using the “Voice Changer.”

And while 32 buttons gives a lot of options, you can have one button to act like a shift or control key to take you to a new layer/page of presets, thus increasing choices.

Since the Stream Deck has no GPIO interface, for the device to control hardware, either that hardware must have software on the PC, or another device (like a USB to GPIO adapter) would be needed.

Enticing

Elgato is a company that focuses on gaming, but its technology has some enticing possibilities when tied into radio broadcasting, webcasting or video for radio when interfacing into the workflow of a radio station.

Stream Deck icon library

On testing Stream Deck, I was successful in controlling BSI’s Simian automation software, opening Adobe Audition and quickly recalling effects and settings. I was also able to load audio (from music to SFX) and activate equipment off and mic mute buttons. In addition it can display currently playing audio represented by a horizontal bar graph meter. You can have a combined analog/digital clock displayed as a button (accurate with the computer), and even a button that updates the temperature and current weather graphic (displayed on the button).

It’s easy to use and lots of fun. I suspect other users, including the creative geniuses working for morning shows, might make this do even more cool things.

Elgato is based in Germany and California. Founded in 1999, it was acquired in 2018 by Corsair Gaming Inc.

Stream Deck XL (32 buttons) lists for $249.99. Stream Deck (15 buttons) is $149.99 and Stream Deck Mini (six buttons) is $79.99.

Also available is Stream Deck Mobile software for smartphones (Apple and Android), with a 30-day free trial, then $2.99 a month or $24.99 a year for a subscription. For info see www.elgato.com/en.

Program producers and studio engineers are both invited to send news about equipment used or recent installations at a radio studio to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Having Fun with the Elgato Stream Deck appeared first on Radio World.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — CBS News has completed what it calls “several key appointments” in its M Street news hub, including the selection of a new bureau chief and giving the executive producer of its Sunday political talk program Face the Nation a wider role.

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A slide from FEMA’s IPAWS Users Conference session discussing the 2021 National Test

FEMA’s new series of online IPAWS presentations might be of interest to broadcasters wanting a better understanding of EAS and alerting message origination.

The IPAWS Users Conference, which includes FEMA’s recap of the 2021 National EAS test last August, discusses the ever-increasing number of alert origination software tools available to alerting authorities. The presentations are intended to answer the questions of EAS stakeholders, according to FEMA, and provide alerting authorities with the tools and skills needed to create effective alerts and become confident IPAWS users.

The webinar features Al Kenyon, chief of FEMA’s IPAWS Customer Support Branch, in several segments. He targets upstream message importers, such as local emergency managers and law enforcement, and discusses the steps it takes to become an IPAWS alerting authority and the web-based training available for alert originators. The courses also cover several additional event codes that have become available.

[Related: National EAS Test Showed Improvement, FCC Says]

Kenyon, a former radio engineering executive with broadcast companies like Clear Channel, Jacor and Taft, discusses how local authorities can apply for FEMA Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) and the importance of renewing expired MOAs. Proficiency demos, officially called the “IPAWS Mandatory Monthly Proficiency Demonstration Program,” also are critical to the user’s ability to complete a task, according to Kenyon. “Practice, train, exercise, succeed,” Kenyon stresses in one of the webinar modules.

FMEA’s Jody Smith highlighted the new Technical Support Services Facility, including its training space.

Meanwhile, Jody Smith, manager of the IPAWS technical support services facility, covers best practices for alerting authorities sending IPAWS alerts.

Smith in another segment gives a video tour of FEMA’s new Technical Support Services Facility, which offers training opportunities for alerting authorities. The new facility in Oxen Hill, Md., which is closer in proximity to FEMA headquarters, is still under construction, Smith said on the video, but is fully functional.

Dr. Amanda Savitt, a postdoctoral researcher with Argonne National Laboratory’s National Preparedness Analytics Center, is a guest on the IPAWS webinar and in one segment discusses the two-day Technical Assistance Workshops for alert originators she delivers through FEMA. The training focuses on improving a jurisdictions’ ability to communicate effectively to the public before and following a disaster, including tips for pre-scripted announcements and enhancing social media skills.

The IPAWS Users Conference online video presentations with accompanying slides are publicly available vai https://www.fema.gov/ipaws-users-conference-presentations-and-videos.

The post FEMA Hosts First IPAWS Users Conference appeared first on Radio World.