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FEC Can Be a Double-Edged Sword
A current Radio World ebook explores trends in codecs. In this excerpt, Anthony Gervasi, Intraplex sales manager for GatesAir, offers insights.
Radio World: What do you consider the most important current or recent trend in how broadcast codecs are designed or deployed?
Tony Gervasi: The addition of SRT to audio codecs, and the ability to embed E2X data within the MPX payload to keep FM/HD1 synchronized on all transport paths.
RW: What are the implications of FM-MPX and microMPX for the way the radio industry chooses and deploys codecs?
Gervasi: There are variations of FM-MPX codecs, some that provide uncompressed MPX with RDS in 1.64 Mbps (rather than 2.2 Mbps or 3.2 Mbps) by using effective data packing. This reduction in bandwidth allows for MPX to be transported via 950 STL as well as LTE and satellite.
MicroMPX using 384k for compressed MPX with RDS allows for transport over slower connections as well as the ability to transport more than one over a traditional STL system.
RW: How do today’s codecs integrate with today’s AoIP networks and infrastructures?
Gervasi: Having the ability to ingest and output AES67, Wheatnet and Livewire allows the codec to show up on the cross-matrix routing software as a native appliance, allowing audio and GPIO to be steered and transported from site to site or from site to many. This also allows audio that is not in an AoIP format to be ingested into the AoIP network and routed accordingly.
RW: How do today’s codecs avoid problems with dropped packets?
Gervasi: A few different methods for UDP paths — one, by deploying redundant streams using path and/or time diversity to assure reliable transport, and two, by deploying FEC with buffering.
For TCP/IP paths, by using Secure Reliable Transport or SRT.
RW: Why is Forward Error Correction important?
Gervasi: FEC can be a double-edged sword. When using a RTP over UDP, adding 25% FEC with the proper amount of buffering can eliminate most minor packet losses due to path changes, micro path interruptions, etc.
If you are on an oversubscribed switch or system, adding FEC can make things worse. When troubleshooting packet losses and drops and the customer is running uncompressed audio at 44.1 (1.58 Mbps) with FEC, I will have the customer change to Opus 192 kbps with no FEC and see if the packet loss or drops lessen or get eliminated.
If the packet loss stops, this tells me that there is a bandwidth choke someplace, which could be a switch or an oversubscribed sub. By adding FEC to the data stream, you are adding additional payload and contributing more to the oversubscription.
[Check Out More of Radio World’s Tech Tips]
The post FEC Can Be a Double-Edged Sword appeared first on Radio World.
PPM Finds Its Way Into Audio Processing
A new Radio World ebook explores “The Software-Based Air Chain.” This is an excerpt.
Nielsen’s Audio Software Encoder decouples the company’s PPM encoding algorithm from the hardware encoder and instead makes it available for integration into third-party broadcasting equipment. When the software is incorporated into a station’s audio processing, it can add the enhanced CBET code to the audio stream.
Nick Mannion is director of product management at Nielsen; he has responsibility for its audio measurement portfolio including the Portable People Meter and diary collection systems.
Radio World: What is Nielsen’s interest in the software-based air chain?
Nick Mannion: First some background. Every station included in PPM measurement gets an encoder that places a watermark in the audio played over the air. Then we recruit a representative sample of panelists who carry around PPM, like the one I’m wearing here on my wrist. It picks up the code, logs it and sends the data back to Nielsen, where it’s tabulated and then projected back out to the population.
Typically, watermarking at the broadcast facility has been done by a piece of hardware that Nielsen — and Arbitron before it — provided to the stations. But working with the NAB Radio Technology Committee and its PPM subcommittee, led by Jason Ornellas of Bonneville, we developed a software encoder that takes the brain out of the hardware and makes it available in a software development kit for any vendor to integrate into their product.
At Nielsen, we’re agnostic on the question of virtualization. Our goal is to measure everybody in PPM markets equally, whether they are virtualized or condense their hardware onto an on-prem server. We need to make sure we’re providing solutions so that they can be measured with that PPM watermark.
RW: The software kit is available to any technology company that wants to integrate it in their product?
Mannion: Essentially yes, with a little bit of paperwork and NDAs. We now have 18 certified integrations including Orban, Omnia and Wheatstone. We have focused on audio processors because PPM typically sits in an air chain near the audio processor. On our engineering portal, stations can see which products are certified for Nielsen PPM encoding.
RW: How does one get certified?
Mannion: A company requests our SDK to integrate into their platform. Nielsen’s engineers work with them to understand what their product does. Then we develop extensive test criteria to make sure the PPM encoding coming out of the product is equivalent to what would come out of a hardware encoder, so that no station has an advantage or disadvantage. We develop a technical requirements document and hundreds of test cases — different ways you can set it up — and we make sure that you can’t, for instance, inadvertently route around the PPM encoding.
Only then do we give them a certification, a license to distribute the Nielsen Audio Software Encoder to radio stations.
RW: What are the most common concerns you hear from stations?
Mannion: This is something new; and when it comes to something like PPM encoding, which is critical for a station’s revenue, some groups or engineers are more hesitant to change than others.
Many prefer to start on their station streams. We measure streams separately from the AM and FM; and we see broadcasters getting comfortable with the software encoder by dipping their toes in first using their streams, before they jump to their big AMs and FMs.
RW: Was it technically difficult to assure that the software iterations were as reliable as the hardware?
Mannion: Not really. We run a battery of tests anytime we make a change in PPM or encoding. At our office in Columbia, Md., we have a critical listening room where we run exhaustive tests across all types of formats, content, processing volumes, background noise, etc.
We make sure the SDK puts out a good robust watermark, then we go through that certification process, looking at an individual product’s integration, including the battery of more than 100 test cases.
After our initial rollout, we also conducted field tests on AM, FM, HD and streams. That data is shared openly with the Media Ratings Council as part of our audit requirements.
Last but not least we have a multi-channel encoding monitor that allows stations to look at the performance of their watermark minute by minute across their day, so they can see they’re getting the same level of performance.
It’s in our best interest as well as the client’s to make sure they have a robust watermark.
RW: How many stations have switched?
Mannion: Around 500 streams in PPM markets have made the switch. Fewer so far on AMs and FMs. As I said, some are kicking the tires right now. But from my time spent at the NAB Show and meeting with various engineering leaders, as they look to virtualize their playout, this is where they are going. There are early adopters, and I think we’ll have a lot of fast followers who are just waiting and see how the early adopters fare before they jump in. That’s true not just in PPM but virtualization as a whole.
RW: What is the potential universe of users? If you put one encoder on every AM signal, every FM signal and every HD multicast, plus every stream version of those signals, that must be 25,000 or 30,000 potential encoder points in the United States.
Mannion: Keep in mind that we measure with PPM in the top 48 markets. At the peak of the hardware encoder, we had about 13,000 pieces of hardware out at stations. Some stations have primary and backup encoders; some have a “doomsday path” to air, for emergencies. But as to the size of the potential universe, I’d say it is around 5,000 stations or streams.
RW: Anything else we should know?
Mannion: The readers of Radio World, particularly readers of this ebook, are the people who are thinking about virtualization and cloud. What I’d like them to know is that Nielsen has options for them today, and that we’re a willing partner to work with them on the future.
Read more about how software is remaking the broadcast air chain in the latest Radio World ebook.
The post PPM Finds Its Way Into Audio Processing appeared first on Radio World.
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Iconic Denver Newscaster Rick Sallinger Dies
A veteran news reporter for KCNC-4, the CBS owned-and-operated property serving Denver, has died of natural causes at the age of 74.
Rick Sallinger passed away on Wednesday evening. He began at what is today “CBS News Colorado” some 30 years ago, and became known to national audiences for reports that aired on network newscasts.
A Chicago native, Sallinger worked in London for CNN in 1990. This came following a career that included roles as a local news reporter for ABC affiliate WRTV-6 in Indianapolis in the late 1970s, at NBC Owned Stations’ WMAQ-5 in Chicago, and at both KUSA-9 and KCNC-4 in Denver.
He first came to Denver in 1980 and left in 1986, but he returned in 1993.
A video tribute to Sallinger was shared by KCNC on Thursday afternoon.
On X, formerly Twitter, Sallinger’s family posted a message on his profile noting, “We are heartbroken. For 30 years he was a devoted journalist in Denver. He loved every second of it. He was the best father to his two sons and a loving husband to his wife of 30 years. We love you endlessly.”
As WRTV noted in its coverage of his death, Sallinger made his mark “through his no-nonsense approach to reporting often seeking answers and accountability while the camera was rolling.” This included bugging News Director Bob Gamble’s office and calling out WRTV for failing to shovel its own sidewalks after a snowstorm.
In 1979, he even had a little fun, offering WRTV viewers an investigative story on McDonald’s cherry pies.
Audacy Cites “Improving Results” in First Quarter of 2024
Audacy expressed satisfaction with its latest financial results. The company reported net revenues in the first quarter up 1% compared to the period a year earlier, with radio revenues down 2% and digital up 10%.
But it called attention to its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It quoted Chairman David Field: “Audacy delivered a solid start to 2024 with Q1 EBITDA increasing 173% vs the prior year. Second-quarter revenues are currently pacing up low-single digits, and we expect another quarter of substantial EBITDA growth, enhanced by our continuing work on expense reductions.”
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $9.6 million, compared to $3.5 million in the first quarter of 2023.
Field said its “improving results” are mostly attributable to “a significant acceleration in digital revenue growth, continuing meaningful revenue share gains, and declining expenses as our transformational investments bear fruit.”
The company is waiting on FCC approval of its pre-packaged Chapter 11 reorganization, with Field referring to “our best-in-class balance sheet,” among other assets.
On the technology side, Field said Audacy continues to invest in modernizing its Ad Tech Platform “to drive sales efficiencies in support of our digital business.” He noted that the company had announced a partnership with Super Hi-Fi “to upgrade our 700 digital Exclusive Stations and streamline our programming, production and broadcasting capabilities,” and another partnership with AI company ElevenLabs “to enhance our production processes, freeing up our creators to focus on building the exceptional content and experiences they expect from Audacy.”
He also noted the launch of Audacy Podcasts, retiring Cadence13 and 2400Sports as standalone brands while retaining Pineapple Street Studios as its production studio; and the creation of Audacy Sports, which consolidated its broadcast, digital and podcast sports assets under one name.
The company reorganization, once final, will bring a new Audacy board including the banks that cooperated to reduce Audacy’s $1.9 billion debt down by nearly 80% to $350 million. Soros Fund Management will become the broadcaster’s largest shareholder.
The post Audacy Cites “Improving Results” in First Quarter of 2024 appeared first on Radio World.
Cost Controls, Scripps Networks Trends Get Analyst’s Queries
It was a frustrating Friday for The E.W. Scripps Co. A morning conference call was held following the late Thursday release of its Q1 2024 earnings results, which CFO Jason Combs noted beat profit estimates “driven by tight cost controls.”
While CEO Adam Symson shared that Scripps is “off to a pretty good start for the year,” shares tumbled in Friday trading following the earnings call, during which the Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering media and cable at Wells Fargo Securities sought clarity on the company’s Q2 revenue guidance for its shaky Networks arm.
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‘Retro Reverie’ A Key Value In LEGO Icons Radio
From collectors across the globe to industry observers, there’s a lot of buzz over a new LEGO Icons offering that brings “a nostalgic nod to the iconic music styles of the 1950s and 1960s.”
Introducing the “Retro Radio,” a 906-piece set made of LEGO pieces that promises “a delightful voyage through musical time, combining vintage charm with contemporary functionality.”
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Ted Hand Runs for Second Term as SBE President
The Society of Broadcast Engineers’ Nominations Committee has announced candidates for the next national board election.
It nominated Ted Hand for a second term as president, Kevin Trueblood to return as vice president and Shane Toven to succeed Geary Morrill as secretary.
The treasurer’s election will be contested this year, with Geary Morrill and incumbent Jason Ornellas both on the ballot.
The committee also nominated the following to the board (asterisks indicate incumbents): David Antoine*, Wiely Boswell, Greg Dahl*, Dustin Hapli, Jeff Juniet, Josh Lynch, Sam Wallington and Fred Willard*.
Each year, SBE membership elects members to the national board, including officers for one-year terms and half its 12 directors for two-year terms.
Additional candidates may be nominated by the membership. Any eligible member proposed by at least 10 members to the national secretary by June 23 will be added to the ballot.
The election will take place July 8–Aug. 7. Balloting will be via an election website, except for members who opted out of electronic voting or have not provided email addresses; they receive ballots through the mail.
The Nominations Committee is chaired by Jeff Welton. Committee members are Joe Snelson and Kirk Harnack.
For information about candidacy, contact Secretary Geary Morrill at gmorrill@sbe.org or Executive Director Jim Ragsdale at jragsdale@sbe.org or call (317) 846-9000.
[Read more Radio World coverage of the SBE.]
The post Ted Hand Runs for Second Term as SBE President appeared first on Radio World.
Gray Television Target Price Gets Analyst Hike
Gray Television’s stock price has received a welcome bump in its 1-year target price, courtesy of analysts at Benchmark Securities, home to Dan Kurnos.
Following this week’s release of the company’s Q1 2024 earnings report, Benchmark hiked the target price on “GTN” to $13, from $11.
The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock.
Benchmark’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 82.46% from the company’s current price.
The $13 price target is aggressive, compared to that of Wells Fargo, which also increased its year-end valuation expectation for “GTN.” However, Wells Fargo’s new target price for Gray is $6, up from $5.50.
Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gray Television has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.40.
Neuhoff Station Sale Closes,
A transaction announced on February 1 brokered by Kalil & Co. that marks the end of radio station ownership for the Neuhoff Family in two Illinois cities has closed, with radio stations in both Danville and Decatur now under the ownership of a group led by Larry Perrotto.
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Red Wolf Completes Acquisition of Constitution State FM
The sale of a unique 3kw Class A FM station with a signal covering Western Connecticut has closed, putting the facility in the hands of John Fuller, and Red Wolf Broadcasting Corp.
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For A Bright Future Foundation Links With NABLF
The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation (NABLF) has forged a partnership with a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting underprivileged and underrepresented children that is designed to provide students with educational opportunities and “sustainable employment prospects” in the media industry.
Specifically, the NABLF and Louis Hernandez Jr.’s Foundation For A Bright Future are teaming create “a distinctive educational journey for students by leveraging their shared missions.”
The NABLF exists to attract people to broadcasting careers and promoting inclusivity within the industry. This, it says, aligns with FABF’s goal of providing “cutting-edge” dual credit instruction to secondary school students.
“Through this partnership, students will gain exposure to cutting-edge technologies in the media industry and develop valuable leadership skills, paving the way for sustainable employment opportunities,” NABLF says.
The collaboration will initially focus on key markets in New York, California, Florida, Texas and “other regions where NABLF and FABF can maximize their combined expertise and resources to create impactful programs.”
FABF’s Media Lab program envisions establishing media facilities in schools, allowing students to produce their own television programs, short films, music and sports programming. The program launched in 2023 in Los Angeles, Miami and the City of New York, with plans for sustained deployments across the United States and eventual global expansion.
“By joining forces with For A Bright Future, we will be able to scale our efforts in recruiting more young people to explore career-related education, specifically in broadcast technology, programming and marketing and sales,” said NAB Leadership Foundation President Michelle Duke. “Facilitating internships at television and radio companies are the cornerstones of our academic programs, and it synchronizes beautifully with FABF’s goal of placing diverse talent in the world of creative arts and media. It’s an exciting time for our two foundations to work together.”
How A Top Commencement Speech Can Help You
Two university commencement speeches are consistently ranked among the top 10 of the last two decades. Believe it or not, the impact and structure of one of these addresses to students provides a bevy of public speaking learning lessons for broadcast media executives. Veteran PR professional and public speaking coach Rosemary Ravinal outlines these key takeaways ahead of a weekend when many college graduations will be receiving their diplomas in this Media Information Bureau column.
By Rosemary Ravinal
Commencement speeches are one of the great college traditions designed to motivate graduates as they transition to the next phase of their lives. Since we’re at the time of year when they typically happen (between April and June), this is an opportunity to review some of the best commencement speeches of all time.
Most commencement speeches are created to motivate the graduating class to embrace the future with confidence, pursue their dreams, and make a positive impact in the world. However, some are so inspiring they are remembered long after graduation.
Two speeches are consistently ranked among the top 10 of the last two decades: novelist David Foster Wallace’s address at Kenyon College in 2005, and Steve Jobs’ at Stanford University in the same year. Both speeches contained bare truths about illness and death. Wallace took his own life in 2008 and Jobs died of pancreatic cancer in 2011. Although Wallace’s speech is memorable because it reads like a first draft of a suicide note, Jobs’ offers invaluable lessons on storytelling and speech structure that you can apply to your own talks. In fact, Jobs’ commencement address is considered the most watched speech ever with 43 million views on the Stanford YouTube channel alone.
Let’s deconstruct the impact and structure of this 15-minute masterpiece whose significance remains undiminished. Delivered just one year after his cancer diagnosis, Jobs’ speech wasn’t just another inspirational talk; it was a poignant reflection on life, death, and the pursuit of passion.
Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., was already an iconic figure in the world of technology. However, his battle with cancer had cast a shadow over his future. Against this backdrop of personal adversity, Jobs took the stage to share his wisdom with the graduating students, drawing from his own experiences to offer insights that transcended the boundaries of academia and resonated with people from all walks of life.
Jobs organized his speech in three “chunks” with a poignant story and message in each. His accounts were unvarnished and disarming and oscillated from light and humorous to dark and morbid. He started by saying humbly that he had “three stories about my life…no big deal.” His wrap-up was so sticky and memorable that it became a slogan: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
He spoke about dropping out of college and highlighted the unconventional path that led him to the pinnacle of his career. This set a tone of authenticity and relatability which instantly connected with the audience, drawing chuckles from the graduates.
Jobs took long pauses between the stories and announced the topic of each one in headline style. At the end of each story, he offered a key lesson.
Story 1: Connecting the DotsJobs began by recounting his own journey, emphasizing the importance of hindsight in understanding life’s twists and turns. He urged the graduates to trust their intuition and have faith that the dots would somehow connect in the future, even when the path ahead seemed uncertain. This part of the speech laid the foundation for what would follow, setting the tone for a narrative that celebrated the serendipitous nature of life.
Takeaway: You can only connect the dots looking back, not forwards. You must trust they will connect and give you the confidence to follow your heart.
Story 2: Love and LossIn the second part, Jobs delved into the theme of love and loss to underscore the fleeting nature of existence. He spoke candidly about the public humiliation of being fired from Apple at age 30 and how that freed him to enter the most creative period of his life as founder of NeXT and Pixar. He emphasized the value of curiosity, experimentation, and nonconformity, and advised his listeners to follow their hearts and intuition rather than succumb to the status quo.
Takeaway: The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it, keep looking. Don’t settle.
Rosemary Ravinal
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Entravision Reduces C-Suite Expenses With Leadership Shifts
Entravision Communications, which today sees the bulk of its revenue come from global digital advertising initiatives while its roots remain in U.S. Hispanic radio and television station ownership, has a new Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer.
This results in the naming of a new Chief Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller, and a new General Counsel and Secretary.
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Salem Quietly Posts Q1 Results That Repeat 2023 Concerns
Salem Media Group, the company led by Dave Santrella focusing on Christian-themed and conservative secular spoken word audio content, reported a slight decrease in its net broadcast revenue during Q1 2024 as the company net loss was statistically flat from one year ago.
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Ahead Of Chapter 11 Exit, Audacy Narrows Let Loss In Q1
With no quarterly earnings call as the publicly traded company seeks to soon exit from voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and end its “debtor-in-possession” status with the FCC, Audacy Corp. joined the many broadcast media companies that decided to release its financial results for the first three months on Thursday.
How did the company founded by CEO David Field‘s father, Joseph, fare?
Net revenue climbed to $261.81 million from $259.64 million, while total operating expenses declined to $262.23 million from $271.84 million — validating industry chatter seen across the recent 2024 NAB Show that Audacy is rapidly positioning itself to emerge from bankruptcy as a strong restructured company with 80% of its debt erased.
With a fund led by George Soros, the Democrat who has also placed a significant investment in Latino Media Network, Audacy appears on track to see net income soon. In Q1 2024, its net loss shrank to $1.85 million (-$0.39 per share), from $35.9 million (-$7.63) in the same period of 2023.
The results surpassed the $258 million revenue estimate offered by one analyst polled by Yahoo! Finance, while the EPS significantly exceed that analysts prediction of EPS coming in at -$6.24.
Adjusted EBITDA came in at $9.6 million, soaring from $3.5 million. Adjusted Free Cash Flow improved to -$2.66 million from -$41.72 million.
The financial report couldn’t spark Audacy’s beleaguered share price, with “AUDAQ” trading on an Over-the-Counter market with a Thursday closing price of $0.1641.
“Audacy delivered a solid start to 2024 with Q1 EBITDA increasing 173% vs the prior year,” Field noted in prepared comments. He added that Q2 revenue is currently pacing up low-single digits. “We expect another quarter of substantial EBITDA growth, enhanced by our continuing work on expense reductions,” he added.
Specifically, April was particularly strong for Audacy, up high single digits. While May is flat, June is up mid-single digits.
Thank the digital prowess being executed by Audacy for that performance, as its Radio arm is currently pacing down low single digits for the quarter. In contrast, Digital revenue is pacing up in the high teens.
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Field noted in his comments distributed with Audacy’s Q1 results late Thursday that the company formerly known as Entercom’s improving results “are predominantly attributable to a significant acceleration in digital revenue growth, continuing meaningful revenue share gains, and declining expenses as our transformational investments bear fruit.”
Saluting the Audacy team, Field lauded the company’s staff “for their excellent work in driving financial and operating progress while simultaneously executing our reorganization plan, all without disruption to customers, listeners, partners, vendors or our staff.”
With CFO Sarah Foss and COO Susan Larkin in chief leadership positions, Field said the Audacy team “is very much looking forward to a bright future, emerging as a scaled leader in the dynamic audio market, distinguished by our best-in-class balance sheet, our top positions across the country’s largest markets, and our exclusive premium content highlighted by our unrivaled leadership in sports audio.”
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