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Digital audio advertising platform AdTonos has rolled out an audio-enhancing technology platform it says is born “out of a world-first research project to redefine audibility and prove the impact of sound quality on emotional response.” And, it has signed on Magnite as the product’s inaugural user.

Introducing Amplifier, designed to allow advertisers to dynamically enhance audio ad quality and create a more significant emotional impact.

By optimizing sound frequencies to neutralize device-related technical limitations,
Amplifier ensures clear and distinct audio ads, says AdTonos CEO Michal Marcinik. “Audibility is the new viewability. With the explosion in the consumption of audio advertising, from podcasting to digital radio and in-game audio, the significance of audibility is growing in the eyes of buyers. Sound quality is essential for the impact
and effectiveness of those messages. We have built Amplifier to revolutionize ad audio quality, creating engaging experiences across the devices and listening environments available today. With the last meaningful study on definitions in audio advertising dating
back to 2018, our bespoke research underscores an urgent need to establish updated
comprehensive measurement standards for audibility — to maximise buyers’ return on investment and promote industry-wide awareness of this crucial metric.”

The studio-based research that informed the creation of Amplifier took the existing definitions from the IAB open framework and applied rigorous testing across the most popular audio devices on the market today through the lens of the most up-to-date guidance on metrics like volume and loudness.

This led to proposing two updated specific conditions for Audible Ad Playout:

• The ad must not be filtered or flagged as invalid traffic (IVT).
• The player and the device’s volume settings, through which the ad is delivered, must result in the ad playing at a volume exceeding 10 dB for a minimum of 25% (any quartile) of the ad’s duration.

This redefined concept of audibility was then used to build the Amplifier audio-enhancing
technology – which can dynamically enhance audio ads to meet the standards. Finally, in
partnership with Neurensics, the technology was tested in a scientific study using functional MRI scans to determine the impact of Amplifier enhanced audio versus non-enhanced
audio. The results showed clearly that Amplifier-enhanced ad quality can shift emotional
perception from negative to positive, significantly activating positive emotions in audio ads,
leading to increased campaign effectiveness and improved ROI.

The 2024 NAB Show is just a few weeks away. Radio World is asking exhibitors about their plans and expectations. 

Jacob Daniluck is VP of sales, America for Tieline.

Jacob Daniluck

Radio World: What is the most important issue or trend for radio engineers and facility managers in 2024?

Jacob Daniluck: Any technology-related position in the media industry should always have security at the top of their minds. 

Each facility needs to consider the pros and cons of each situation and don’t be afraid to slow down plus ask questions when you’re unsure about best practices to counter evolving cyber threats. 

As network technology becomes more modern with the adoption of AES67 and SMPTE 2110 style networks, networks can become more interconnected to reduce costs, however this can come at the price of security.

Governments are putting pressure on developers to update security practices; however, end users should also prioritize security to protect assets, maintain service continuity and regulatory compliance, and safeguard their reputation.

RW: In what ways will AI-based tools change radio broadcasting workflows most substantially?

Daniluck: AI tools will change not just our industry, but all industries across the world. AI has a few areas that could improve broadcast workflows altogether in specific areas. The greatest example is AI-generated audio, and the ability to type up a statement, and have computer AI software generate a voice to read off the prompt.

This kind of technology is incredible and will most likely be a tool that can be leveraged by station owners, and operators throughout the country.

RW: What news will Tieline feature at the convention? 

Daniluck: For a while there has been some anticipation to see the next generation of the Bridge-IT, and we are pleased to announce that we will be showcasing the Bridge-IT II and the Bridge-IT XTRA II at the NAB 2024 conference. 

These low-cost codecs include the most sought-after features from the legacy Bridge-IT model, like the front-panel screen and keypad, XLRs for both analog and AES3, a no-compromise list of audio algorithms, plus the ability to syndicate using Multicast or Multi-Unicast streaming. 

In addition to these fantastic features, we are upgrading the units to include some new capabilities never seen before on a Tieline Bridge-IT: multiple network interfaces to support LAN and AoIP connectivity, multiple encoders/decoders to leverage dual-mono events, plus we have added more failover capabilities to always deliver a backup output audio source.
In addition, last year we showcased our MPX codecs for the first time, and since then we have started shipping these codecs. 

RW: Are there other trends that you’d like to comment on, or will be watching for at the show?

Daniluck: Areas of interest would be 5G wireless technology advancements and seeing how manufacturers are adopting 5G wireless into their technology eco-systems. As always, IP security is important, to observe how companies are tackling security concerns from clients on their specific eco-systems.

Other than these areas and AI, I’ll be keeping my eyes on the content production area, as well as content automation technologies that are being developed.

Tieline NAB Show Booth: C2811

[Read more preview coverage of the NAB Show.]

The post Exhibitor Preview: Tieline at the NAB Show appeared first on Radio World.

DJB Radio will be at the NAB Show and is launching a subscription-based model for DJB Radio Automation. 

A basic package starts at $89 per month and includes scheduling, satellite support, sports remotes, auto-ingest, remote voice-tracking and metadata management.

“Those who are looking to level-up their radio automation game will see some fresh new updates coming to DJB Radio Zone Automation, as well,” the company says.

Supporting “work from anywhere,” Zone now offers enhanced wide-area support and multi-market features. It provides remote access, on-screen audio mixers, integration with WNIP, Livewire and SAS, scheduling, and customizable screen setups. 

The company also will highlight DJB Radio Spider and its companion DJB Radio Logger. Spider automatically downloads content and formats it for any automation system. Logger will log, skim or schedule recordings from any local audio source, AoIP drive or URL. Remote access and monitoring are supported by an HTML interface and integrated email notifications.

Also available is DJB Radio Studio, a streamlined solution for home studios, remotes, podcasting and simple recording. It provides a 10-channel on-screen mixer, editor, sound board, direct streaming support  and audio scheduler.

DJB Radio Studio starts at $195, Logger at $295, Spider at $395 and automation packages at $89 a month. 

NAB Show Booth: N3343. 

[For More News on the NAB Show See Our NAB Show News Page]

The post DJB Radio Adds Subscription Option appeared first on Radio World.

I hope you’ll join me and hundreds of your engineering colleagues at the Nautel Radio Technology Forum on the Sunday morning of the NAB Show.

The annual meeting of the “NUG” will take place at the Flamingo Las Vegas beginning at 8:30 a.m., hosted by Jeff Welton. 

You don’t have to be a Nautel user to attend the free event, and you can come for all or just some of the talks in case you need to scoot. But I’ll be there once again to kick things off with an overview of what I’ll be watching for at the convention. And Nautel is teasing us by promising that there will be a “potentially provocative presentation” shortly after I speak, called “EAS at the Edge.” (I know a little about this intriguing topic, but I am sworn to secrecy.)

The first hour of the day is formatted as an Industry Briefing Breakfast. The remainder of the morning covers product announcements and other industry speakers, concluding with Jeff giving his “tips and tricks” that are so enjoyable. A free lunch follows.

Then there is an “HD Radio 101” session in the afternoon, “directed to anyone contemplating an HD radio deployment or just wanting a refresh on HD Radio transmission best practices.”

The forum qualifies for one-half of an SBE Recertification credit. This event has been very popular over the years, despite the disruption of the pandemic and the rejiggering of show schedules over at the LVCC. 

Find info on the forum registration page.

[For More News on the NAB Show See Our NAB Show News Page]

The post Nautel Radio Technology Forum Returns appeared first on Radio World.

A point system analysis for NCE MX Group 152 was conducted by the Commission at the start of the year, a result of mutually exclusive applications filed during the FCC’s November 2021 noncommercial FM radio station filing window.

A tentative selectee was chosen by the Commission. This was changed in the January 2024 decision. Now, there’s another shift with respect to what group will be moving forward with the creation of the FM noncomm, which will serve Gallup, N. Mex.

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Grants informal objection and dismisses modification application

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The Media Bureau affirms the dismissal of the application of Latino Public Radio for a new LPFM station at Nashua, New Hampshire

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The Media Bureau dismisses the application of New Hope Baptist Church - Gallup for a construction permit for a new NCE FM station at Gallup, New Mexico, and accepts for filing the application of Good News Broadcasting Network, Inc.

The Intercollegiate Broadcasting System has named the winners of its 2023-2024 IBS Media Awards. For IBS member stations, these awards recognize the outstanding accomplishments of both college and high school media outlets.

This year, more than 3,000 entries were submitted from 100-plus schools across the U.S. and globally. Each year, the media awards are handed out at IBS’ annual conference to its member stations. This year’s conference took place March 1–2 in New York City.

Stations could win awards in a variety of categories spanning news, sports, production, marketing and social media, among others.

Notable winners include:

• Nassau Community College, WHPC — Best Community Radio College Station
• John Carroll University, WJCU(FM) — Best College/University Radio Station (under 10,000 students)
• University of Kansas, KJHK(FM) — Best College/University Radio Station (more than 10,000)
• Carmel High School, WHJE — Best High School Radio Station

WHPC 90.3, the voice of Nassau Community College, received four national awards at the 2024 Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) conference on March 2, 2024, including Best Community College Radio Station.

Find the full list of college and high school winners here.

According to its website, the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System — founded in 1940 — is an all-volunteer organization that supports student media, offering annual membership and award opportunities. 

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The post IBS Names High School, College Media Award Winners appeared first on Radio World.

Carlos Avila has joined Nautel as its new territory manager for Latin America and the Caribbean. In a press release, Nautel said Avila has been in the broadcast industry for 40 years, with education in electrical engineering and economics.

He is centrally-located in Brazil “to bring superior service to customers in the territory,” said Nautel.

Avila’s background includes the design and manufacturing of RF circuits. According to the company, Avila has provided technical support all over Brazil and other countries in South America, including the commissioning of AM and FM transmitters.

Wendell Lonergan, Nautel’s senior director of broadcast sales, said “Carlos’ extensive knowledge of Nautel transmitters and experience as a Nautel agent in South America since 1996 gives him an immediate start in providing high quality support throughout the entire sales and commissioning process.”

He replaces Gerardo Vargas, who retired late last year.

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The FCC Media Bureau has terminated an FM translator license and proposed a $16,200 fine against Southern Media Interactive LLC.

The case involves 790 WSFN(AM) and its translator, 103.7 W279BC(FM), in Brunswick, Ga. The commission said the translator had operated from an unauthorized location for at least a year and carried original programming. It said Southern Media admitted to unauthorized transfer of control of the station to Shanks Broadcasting and that the AM had committed multiple engineering violations, including failure to notify the commission of multiple periods of being off the air and broadcasting from a temporary facility after an STA had expired.

The commission said the WSFN saga began when the station lost access to its Blythe Island Highway AM transmitter site on Sept. 1, 2022. At the time, Shanks apparently took control of the station, running its Georgia-based “Sports Superstations” network. Shanks announced the acquisition on social media but the deal had not been filed with the FCC.

Based on the commission’s findings, WSFN’s AM signal was silent after Sept. 1 but the translator remained on the air until Oct. 28. It was not until Oct. 31 that Southern Media filed an STA to account for the signals being off.

In January of 2023, Southern Media Interactive filed for an STA to resume operation of the AM from a temporary site and said its FM translator would return to the air from its original site. The commission granted the STA.

But a month later, the Media Bureau received a complaint that while the translator was on the air, its AM signal was silent. The commission said an Enforcement Bureau agent verified the complaint and found “no tower or antenna” at WSFN’s antenna site nor its STA site. The agent also observed no tower at the translator’s licensed site but determined its 103.7 FM signal was originating from a tower 3.3 miles to the north.

The bureau sent multiple letters of inquiry to Southern Media Interactive. The company told the FCC it had been unaware the AM station was off the air, saying it was unable to monitor the station remotely from the location specified in its STA. SMI subsequently acknowledged that the AM had been off the air for most of 2023. The commission said SMI also had ceded financial control of the station to Shanks, including accepting payment of $15,000 for a “temporary building” at the engineering site listed in WSFN’s STA.

The FCC said Southern Media Interactive never sought authorization to operate the translator from a different location.

Now it has ruled that the translator license had automatically expired because more than a year had elapsed since it operated from the authorized site. “The record in this case contains no evidence that the translator’s unauthorized operations were caused by factors beyond SMI’s control. Rather, it appears SMI chose to operate the translator from a location more than 3 miles from its licensed transmitter site, and chose not to seek commission authorization to do so.”

The silence and STA violations of the AM signal, as well as the unauthorized control to Shanks, resulted in a $16,200 forfeiture being proposed against Southern Media Interactive. The licensee has 30 days to appeal the fine or seek reduction.

(Read the decision.)

The post Georgia AM Loses Translator, Faces Penalty appeared first on Radio World.

MIAMI — On October 10, the Raúl Alarcón Jr.-led Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) filed a lawsuit against a Texas entrepreneur who agreed to expand his website to broadcast television through the acquisition of Mega TV, only to fail to meet its payment obligations.

A settlement has now been reached. However, questions remain as to how much money SBS will be getting, and if it is anywhere close to the amount the Orlando Salazar-led VOZ Media agreed to purchase Mega TV for.

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RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION While traveling recently in Central California, the importance of AM radio’s continued accessibility in U.S. vehicles became abundantly clear to RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson. Across three days in Yosemite National Park, cell phone reception was difficult. So was tuning to Sirius XM. This provided a fresh perspective on the fight to keep AM radio in every vehicle.

 

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The Media Rating Council (MRC) has a new person responsible for leading support of its audit and accreditation activities. This will include audits of services in various media and advertising measurement lines, with an emphasis in digital, but also including Television, Radio, Print, Out of Home and Cross-Media measurement, as well as other emerging measurement methodologies.

Now serving as Director of Measurement Audit Operations is Hannah Bolcar.

In her new role, Bolcar will also support standards setting activities including research, data analytics and organizing feedback, as well as representing the MRC to internal and external constituencies.

Bolcar joins from Sirius XM’s Pandora unit, where as Senior Manager of Sales Development she was responsible for leading audio strategy, strategic partnership agreements and cross-platform audio programs for advertisers. Before that, Bolcar spent upward of eight years at organizations including Mindshare, Carat and Giovatto Advertising, specializing in digital activation, customer strategy, and research.

“With the need for accreditation growing, and with the scope of Standards that the MRC now audits against broadening, we are looking forward to benefitting from Hannah’s experience as we enhance the support we provide to the industry and MRC members,” said George Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC.

 

Auddia Inc. — the developer of a proprietary AI platform for audio and “innovative technologies for podcasts” that believes it is “reinventing” how consumers engage with audio, has closed on $3.5 million of new financing by selling 1.3M common shares from its previously announced equity line.

Theo Romeo, Chief Product Marketing Officer for Auddia, said the financing allows the to lock products including its pay-for-commercial free broadcast radio app faidr “into our roadmap in an ongoing effort to improve the user experience and performance metrics.”

Further, the company believes that by strengthening the balance sheet and improving the “premium listening experience” available on faidr, which includes commercial free AM/FM listening with the ability to skip content and the enhanced podcast listening experiences facilitated by Seamless Play and Forward+, Auddia is better positioned to execute on a merger and acquisition strategy.

“One of the key synergies that makes our M&A strategy so attractive is upselling premium subscriptions to consumers already listening to standard AM/FM streams and podcasts,” said Michael Lawless, Auddia’s CEO. “We expect that everything we do to enhance the premium experience on faidr will translate directly to increased subscriptions not only from our own user base but from the user bases we are able to acquire and those we are able to reach through our upcoming SAAS offerings.”

Following the equity line activity Auddia has 2,150,337 common shares outstanding as of March 15, 2024.

With FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal signing off on the plan, a Consent Decree has been entered into between the Commission and the owner of a low-power television station in Maine to settle an investigation into whether the licensee ran afoul of closed-captioning rules.

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Telos Alliance will show a new 25-Seven product, the PDMX program delay manager, at the 2024 NAB Show.

25-Seven PDM products provide seamless removal of objectionable content from live programming. PDMX brings this essential functionality into the virtual realm.

“A software implementation of the industry-standard PDM II Program Delay Manager, PDMX incorporates all the features and functions broadcasters have come to depend upon, optimized for pure AoIP and virtualized production environments,” the company says.

“Flexibly designed to match client deployment preferences, PDMX can be hosted on-premises using a COTS server, on cloud-based platforms like AWS, or on the new Telos Alliance AP-3000 hardware platform.”

Features to ensure program integrity include up to 99 seconds of stereo audio delay, a unique “dump” function that selectively removes objectionable content, and a feature called Overkill that allows for seamless insertion of show-specific fill files to maintain uninterrupted broadcast flow.

Also standard is the PD-Alert system, which automatically notifies station personnel via email and provides time-stamped audio files for review whenever the Dump function is activated.

“Multiple methods of delay construction are offered, from pre-rolling to time expansion or playback of locally stored audio files, ensuring precise control over content delivery,” Telos states.

It says PDMX’s audio algorithms ensure artifact-free audio even during buffer construction, and support synchronization with metadata and GPIO closures for enhanced broadcast management.

PDMX offers Livewire+AES67 connectivity and includes up to 20 Livewire GPIOs and LWRP protocol support for native integration with Axia Pathfinder.

NAB Show Booth: C1808

[For More News on the NAB Show See Our NAB Show News Page]

The post Telos Will Show New 25-Seven PDMX appeared first on Radio World.