Industry News

Tom Lawler is a contract studio/RF engineer who builds and maintains analog and AoIP radio and home studios for broadcast; his full-time job is in field technical services for RCS. We spoke to him for the Radio World ebook “Trends in Audio Processing for Radio.”

Radio World: Tom, what do you see as the most important trend in the design and use of processors?

Tom Lawler: With the development by leaps and bounds in flexibility — between insert patch points for ratings watermarking, multimode boxes, as well as being able to do MPX over AES or AoIP — modern processors have become virtual Swiss Army knives. Not to mention that devices like StreamBlade from Wheatstone or software processors like StereoTool let your online presence have just as much punch as the OTA signal. 

It wasn’t that many years ago where the only option was to try and adapt an FM box or use a PCI card that couldn’t be easily updated.

RW: What should readers know about the differences in processing needs for analog over the air, digital OTA, podcasts and streaming?

Lawler: Every medium requires a different approach, but they all require you to have as clean a source material as possible. 

With analog OTA you can get away with clipping/limiting to achieve loudness without introducing fatiguing artifacts — but that approach won’t work with digital OTA as artifacts will cause issues with the bit-reduced codec. For podcasting, use a gentle multiband to smooth over transitions between segments/presenters — resist the urge to treat it like FM! 

Streaming can be treated like FM, but make sure to use lookahead limiting instead of clipping — also, make sure everything is in-phase for when it’s folded down to mono on a smart speaker.

RW: How will the concepts of the cloud, virtualization and software as a service affect the processing marketplace? 

Lawler: I hope that it will lead to greater flexibility, redundancy and better quality. Imagine no STL issues to contend with (as long as your ISPs are up), and you now have the ability to make upgrades with the click of a mouse rather than having to physically rack up gear.

This is a great opportunity for users as well as vendors alike — users gain as much flexibility as they are willing to pay for, and vendors can have a reliable subscription income stream. Plus, there is no single point of failure like in a traditional plant.

RW: The pandemic is changing thinking about the need for big buildings and studios to make good radio. What does this mean for processing? 

Lawler: I think COVID-19 will accelerate moving to flexible software/cloud solutions for processing — and it will be more important than ever with the myriad of sources and level differences. 

Given that more and more talent is working remotely from home rather than at the studio it will be a challenge to keep everything sounding consistent from source to source. Not every home studio has mic processing, and many automation systems do not handle ducking gracefully. 

Adding processing in the cloud will be necessary to keep the audio consistent — more so now than before. This also means less in the racks to power and cool if done right.

RW: How is consumer behavior changing; for instance are younger consumers moving toward greater fidelity? 

Lawler: Things have come full circle almost. In the 1950s and ’60s you had a 3-inch mono speaker that went hand-in-hand with the explosion of top 40 radio. And now, we have smart speakers that are about the same size fueling another revolution in how audio entertainment is consumed. Apple and their just released new iPod touting greater fidelity, and the ability to pair them and create stereo, similar to other smart speakers. 

If this is how your audience consumes the station/stream/podcast, make sure to give them a download or on-demand stream that is easy to listen to no matter the environment. Make the most of the 3-inch speaker without sounding smashed. Do your content creators have access to the tools to process voice without making it sound unnatural? That is the trick with modern listening — making it pleasing while taking into account less than perfect conditions.

RW: In 2014 we did a story asking if processors had become as powerful as they could get. In 2020, where might further dramatic improvements come from?

Lawler: Never underestimate the ability to go further. My grandfather once believed that Cadillac would go no further than a dual points ignition setup — now look at what can be done with engine management! 

Tools like the limitless clipper in Wheatstone’s X5 or being able to generate a perfect composite FM signal from a 192 kHz PC soundcard with StereoTool. Six years ago everyone was asking what was next after the big three (Orban, Omnia, Wheatstone) took FM to as loud as could be asked — and all went in the direction of how to put the quality back in with such hyperprocessed source material from record producers. I can’t wait to see what the next six years bring!  

RW: What else should we know about processing for radio?

Lawler: Look at your entire audio path — from the quality of the files you are playing (WAV vs MP2/MP3), the STL, the exciter/transmitter, and even the antenna. Any one of those could be the reason you cannot achieve the sound you are looking for. And as the old saying goes “Garbage in, garbage out.”

Read what other thought leaders have to say in the ebook “Trends in Audio Processing for Radio.” Read it here.

 

 

The post Lawler: Listening Has Come Almost Full Circle appeared first on Radio World.

The new year seems to have started off with a bang for Skyview Networks, with the addition of The Weather Channel, The Associated Press, Hubbard Broadcasting and Carmen’s Calls.

What was the result of these new portfolio additions? That’s just one of the questions Steve Jones, President and COO of Skyview Networks, answers in this latest InFOCUS Podcast, presented by DOT.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Steve Jones” on Spreaker.

Jim Schultz primarily does electrical contract work of all types for broadcast stations and telecom and data facilities. Along the way he has been involved in several transmitter installs.

Jim confesses that radio has always been a first love. For him the relationship started, like many in the biz, with a Knight Kit wireless broadcaster kit when he was 9 years old, six decades ago.

Although he spent a few years on both sides of the mic in medium-market radio, he now has owned his own business as a Connecticut E1 Unlimited Electrical Contractor for almost 40 years. Let that be an encouragement to anyone thinking about starting a contract engineering business!

Jim has been following our discussions about bonding and grounding in Workbench and took note of Wayne Eckert’s drawing of a properly grounded pole in December.

Jim suggests adding a bonding kit where the coax feedline leaves the pole, and a #6 or larger copper bonding conductor from the grounding electrode to the power/telco/ CATV station ground.

Fig. 1 shows a typical ground kit, available from CommScope.

fig. 1: CommScope manufactures a variety of ground kits for different size cables. Zap!

Mark Jensen is president of MWB Broadcasting, which owns stations in Nebraska and Hawaii. On a recent Idea Bank conference call, Mark related that an abundance of flies had made working inside his transmitter building unpleasant. Not only that but the flies were getting sucked into the transmitter, causing expensive damage.

Mark’s solution was to install bug zappers inside the buildings. The light attracts and kills the flying insects, keeping them out of electronic equipment. Simple but efficient.

On the same call there was a discussion about keeping weeds down from around your transmitter building or tower.

Terry Barber is with Little Engine Broadcasting, in Montgomery, Ala. He has a billboard company nearby, with scores of old billboards on hand. The sections are of no use to the billboard company, so Terry has placed the old billboard sections on the ground, around his transmitter building, and covered them with gravel.

Since the weeds won’t penetrate the boards, any that do grow amidst the gravel can be pulled easily. Another inexpensive, effective, solution.

X marks the driver

You probably have a screwdriver set with both straight and Phillips drivers. You go to grab one and have to stop and look at the tip to see if it is the one you want.

Mark Peterson, engineer at WCTS(AM), in Plymouth, Minn., offers a solution: Take a Sharpie brand or similar permanent marker and mark the handles of the Phillips drivers. If you store drivers vertically, in slots or loops in the tool case, place a mark on the on the butt end of the driver — an “X” to indicate Phillips or a slash “/” for the straight blade.

Take a minute or two to do this and you’ll never grab the wrong driver again.

We love all these simple, yet useful, reminders.

Who needs a carwash?

Alan Peterson is the national production director for the Radio America Network and a longtime member of the Radio World family.

Our recent discussions about cleaning equipment using a hose or carwash reminded Alan of the time in the early 1990s at WLAD(AM)/WDAQ(FM) in Danbury, Conn., when an oil burner in the basement of the studios malfunctioned and filled the building with greasy smoke and soot.

Professional cleaning crews took care of the general office mess while, but the guidance of the late Tom Osenkowsky, Alan and a few other staffers took care of degreasing the electronic gear.

As Alan related the experience in the pages of Radio World, a reader suggested that a suitable way to clean an ITC triple-deck cart machine was to remove all rubber parts like pinch rollers and rubber feet, and run it through the dishwasher!

Alan fortunately hasn’t had a second shot at a station fire to test the idea, and cart decks have gone the way of the Conestoga wagon, so we can’t report any outcome of the proposed experiment. Perhaps Workbench readers can share one.

Smart water sensors

Jose Luis Bolanos is with Broadcast Services LLC. He attended a Zoom meeting for the Grand Rapids SBE chapter recently on which I spoke.

In the presentation on AoIP, I also mentioned the use of water sensors to protect both studio and transmitter sites from water damage.

Typically, these floods are caused by clogged condensate drains, but roof leaks in seldom-visited sites can be just as costly.

Jose Luis has been using water sensors in facilities as well, but his are battery-powered (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: WER makes this Wireless Water Leak Sensor Alarm with 90 dB buzzer. We saw it on Amazon for less than $30 for a four-pack.

They will wail/beep when they come in contact with water. You’ll find them described at this Amazon link: https://amzn.to/37qSwQD. This set includes four sensors for under $30. Note that batteries are not included.

Jose Luis places the sensors in strategic corners or near AC condensate drain pipes — he had one of those clog once, and it started to drip water inside the transmitter building.

When the alarm starts, he can pick up the noise with a security camera that receives audio or an environmental monitor unit.

Nowadays, you can purchase water sensors that are connected through the internet (like everything else). These versions will send alarms to a smart phone/email.

Here is an Amazon link for these IP sensors, shown in Fig. 3, which cost less than $50 for three and come with batteries: https://amzn.to/3akUTWY.

Fig. 3: The Govee WiFi Water Sensor has an adjustable alarm but will also connect to WiFi and send emails, app notifications and alerts to your phone in the presence of a water leak. It’s around $50 for three. Note that it doesn’t support 5G WiFi.

Workbench submissions are encouraged and qualify for SBE Recertification. Email them to johnpbisset@gmail.com.

John Bisset has spent more than 50 years in the broadcasting industry and is in his 31st year writing Workbench. 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.

The post Workbench: Remember a Ground Kit at the Base appeared first on Radio World.

By Brian Galante
Special to Weekly Tech Roundup

Dielectric’s low-power TV and FM business continues to grow as the company develops and expands its antenna and RF product portfolio of lower-power broadcast systems.

Radio stations in Florida and Puerto Rico represent two recent examples of how Dielectric has improved signal coverage for FM translators in challenging coverage areas.

Hal Kneller, a broadcast industry veteran now working as an independent consultant, specified Dielectric DCR-T antennas for FM translators associated with WSRQ-AM, in the Sarasota market, and WMDD-AM, on the far eastern coast of Puerto Rico.

The DCR-T incorporates the benefits of Dielectric’s FM ring-style antennas, giving low-power FM broadcasters an alternative for single-station systems. This makes the branch-fed, circularly-polarized DCR-T a compelling option for broadcasters needing to improve signal coverage.

WSRQ’s translator for 106.9 FM (W295BH, in Sarasota) is part of a blended SFN and simulcasting network that synchronizes programming across four stations in the Sarasota-Bradenton radio market.

In an effort to improve coverage the 250-watt translator, previously located in Bradenton, W295BH was moved to Sarasota. While the move would establish a stronger signal with better building penetration in the hub of Florida’s Suncoast region, the existing “budget antenna” had suffered recent water damage.

Thus, it would not suit the signal’s new directional pattern.

Kneller kept the station on the air with a backup system while the one-bay DCR-T antenna was installed on its new tower, which he described as “very busy and loaded”. The compact DCR-T design was top-mounted on the 475-foot tower, using a tower pipe initially intended for cellular antennas. The top-mounted position, combined with the directional pattern designed for the translator, has substantially improved the translator’s effectiveness in the all-important Sarasota area.

Kneller also purchased two Dielectric FM filters for the Sarasota site’s transmitter building, with one feeding 106.9 and the other feeding a system on 99.1 FM. The two antennas are installed on the same tower at the same elevation. That generated significant interference concerns for both Kneller and the FCC, resulting in extensive intermodulation studies.

“The intermodulation concerns were legitimate and challenged us to choose carefully when it came to a filtering solution,” Kneller said. “While it made sense to go with Dielectric given our antenna choice, we still planned for extensive tests using parking lot simulations and by connecting the filters inside the building. We were relieved to learn that no interference or interaction between the two signals existed. Like the DCR-T, the Dielectric FM filters are compact and were easy to wall-mount inside an RF building with limited space.”

BORICUA BOOST

The WMDD system in Puerto Rico is also a “cross-service translator” that simulcasts the main AM signal on 106.5 MHz. Licensed to the city of Fajardo, the translator is located 30 miles outside of San Juan on the eastern edge of the island. The translator is located on the AM station’s 400-foot tower, and provides better sounding FM service to the local population.

“Puerto Rico is very mountainous and has a challenging terrain for FM coverage in the area surrounding Fajardo,” Kneller said. “We specified an omnidirectional two-bay DCR-T antenna with half-wavelength spacing, which directed the signal up and away from the ground. This is a common practice for translators and avoids interference with another radio station’s contour on the ground. Dielectric’s design solved these concerns up front, and they packaged and shipped the antenna in a way that helped us quickly bring all of the elements together. It took less than two days to install the antenna and new isocoupler, hang the two bays, and run the new 7/8-inch transmission line down the tower.”

And, while Kneller sees many broadcasters stick with “budget antennas” for translators, he singles out Dielectric for products boasting a professional stainless-steel design. In his view, it offers longevity for lower-power systems, along with the benefits of low VSWR, null fill and all of the other high-performance attributes that you expect for full-power FM stations.

Editing by Adam Jacobson, from Sarasota County, Fla.

A privately held owner of television stations on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Georgia and Kentucky has signed a multi-year local television measurement services agreement with Nielsen.

BE SURE TO FOLLOW RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!

The accord brings local TV measurement for all of Marquee Broadcasting Group‘s stations.

Marquee is headquartered in Salisbury-Ocean City, Md.; and its stations can be found in Dover, Del.; Bowling Green, Ky.; Glenwood Springs, Colo.; and two Georgia markets.

“We believe that Nielsen data are vital and critical components in our comprehensive suite of tools we utilize to serve our communities across all of our markets,” said Marquee CEO Patricia Lane. “With Nielsen, we are confident Marquee will continue to provide the highest level of service and expertise to our viewers, our advertising partners and the communities we serve, because local truly does matter.”

Catherine Herkovic, EVP/Managing Director of Nielsen Local TV, added, “The backbone of the Local TV business are Local broadcast TV stations. Nielsen is proud to help Marquee serve its local communities and to provide a service that supports accurate, comprehensive delivery of the news.”

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has opened the nomination period for the 2021 Technology Awards. The three awards highlight significant achievements in the fields of broadcast engineering and digital leadership and will be presented on June 17 at a special NAB Amplify event.

Awardees will also be recognized at the 2021 NAB Show, held October 9-13 in Las Vegas.

The Radio and Television Engineering Achievement Awards are presented to individuals for their outstanding accomplishments in the radio and television broadcast industry, respectively.

The Digital Leadership Award honors an individual at a broadcast station, group or network who has transformed a traditional broadcast business to succeed on digital media platforms in a measurable way.

“NAB enjoys celebrating our industry’s technical and engineering achievements each year by presenting these awards to individuals and organizations that have distinguished themselves with noteworthy performances,” said NAB EVP/Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny. “These awards recognize unique leaders who are working to transform our industry, and I’m delighted to feature them on Amplify and at NAB Show.”

The deadline for nominations is March 22. Nomination forms and detailed award rules are available at nab.org/events/awards, along with a list of past recipients.

BOCA RATON, FLA. — Clear Media Network has selected ARC, the research software developed by former Sun Broadcast Group CEO Jason Bailey (pictured), as its Affiliate CRM and Network Automation Tool.

ARC provides networks and producers a cloud-based platform to research, affiliate, create digital contracts, and analyze Nielsen data.

Clear Media Network’s 24/7 formats are repped by Key Networks.

With the two companies on ARC, data flow including add/drops, barter loads, start and end dates as well as affidavit compliance can now be fully automated.

“Providing the best programmed formats is our top priority, and partnering with the Reatro Team will help free-up even more of our time to focus on our products,” said Mark McCray, President of Programming and Operations of Clear Media Network.

Reatro Ventures founder and CEO Bailey added, “With the addition of Clear Media Network to the ARC family we can now automate much of the affiliation process between them and their sales network, saving countless man-hours on both sides. I’m thrilled to have Gary, Mark and the entire Clear Media team on board and look forward to being a, even a small part, part of their exciting journey.”

Workflow automation, media processing, quality monitoring and test & measurement tool maker Telestream has entered into a strategic collaboration with Skyline Communications.

This will see the two companies develop a partnership focused on the integration of Telestream’s cloud-based video monitoring solutions and Skyline Communication’s DataMiner network management, orchestration and operations support product.

Skyline’s multi-vendor DataMiner connects with any third-party product, appliance and cloud service to provide end-to-end infrastructure management and deployment, service orchestration and process automation.

For the first time, DataMiner orchestration can be leveraged to automate OTT service deployment – on premises and in the cloud – and Telestream content monitoring at the same time, with the monitoring system deployable on demand, wherever needed, across over 70 global cloud locations.

DataMiner uses the Telestream cloud API to control the dynamic deployment and takedown of monitoring resources to match its ability to control end-to-end video deployments. The new Telestream cloud capabilities empower users to spin up stream monitoring in the cloud, on demand, under manual or automatic control from DataMiner.

This facility is valuable for live events, where premium monitoring is critical, but may only be needed for the duration of the event (schedule-aware monitoring). An additional upside is that the orchestration of the Telestream cloud stream monitor service is always aligned with the actual OTT service configurations (context-aware monitoring). It also provides for supplemental geographical troubleshooting on demand, scheduled periods of monitoring for premium content as part of live channel schedules, or for synthetic testing of video-on-demand HLS or DASH assets anywhere in the world.

“This is an exciting time for streaming services leveraging the cloud for contribution and distribution,” said Steven Soenens, Skyline’s VP Product Marketing. “The new Telestream service combined with the automation provided by DataMiner provides a truly on-demand deployment, orchestration, monitoring and troubleshooting operational environment to match the transient nature of the video services we are seeing today. We are very much looking forward to seeing customers leverage the combined solution, including the more than 1500 existing DataMiner customers.”

The new service integration extends the Skyline and Telestream monitoring partnership, which already includes the Telestream IQ solutions and Prism solutions for waveform and SMPTE ST-2110 analysis.

The new Telestream Cloud Stream Monitoring service can also deploy transport stream monitoring, leveraging Telestream IQ QoS and QoE solutions. This allows video providers to dynamically deploy monitoring for SRT or Zixi feeds, either as contribution streams to the cloud, or across the global cloud backbones for global transit of transport streams as a satellite replacement or augmentation strategy. The transport stream monitoring has the same global reach as the OTT monitoring service across multiple public cloud providers.

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.”