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The FCC has updated its official seal ahead of the move to its new offices, featuring new design elements that represent the current state of communications.

The design was a result of an agency-wide contest, with the winning design from Umasankar Arumugam voted for by FCC employees and contractors.

[Read: Pai Explains Commission’s Coronavirus Philosophy]

The design elements include:

• Communication technologies, like satellites and broadcast towers, that are currently impacting the industry;
• Four stars on the outer seal border, which was an element on the original seal of the FCC’s predecessor, the Federal Radio Commission;
• 18 stars on the shield, representing the current number of bureaus and offices in the commission; and,
• The eagle and shield, which identify the FCC as a federal government agency.

The previous iteration of the seal featured a feed line that comes up the middle between a V-configuration of telephone lines. It connects to three horizontal lines, the middle of which connects to two broadcast towers. The other two connect to telephone lines.

Here is a comparison between the previous seal (on the left) and the new seal (right).

The FCC is expected to incorporate the new seal on business cards, stationary, publications, the FCC website and throughout its new headquarters over the next few months. Official use of the new seal will begin when the move to the new headquarters is completed; the move-in date has been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The post FCC Debuts New Seal appeared first on Radio World.

“To be sure, Mr. Chairman and commissioners, this is not the time to raise fees.”

So says the leader of the New Jersey Broadcasters Association to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and the other four commissioners.

Paul Rotella wrote what he called an “impassioned” letter asking that the FCC “hold off on the consideration and imposition of any regulatory fee increase at the next commission open meeting scheduled for May 13.”

He said that an increase in annual fees for broadcasters is not warranted and that “this is certainly not the appropriate time to put any further financial burdens on broadcasters.”

[Read: Hayes Urges FCC Not to Collect Mass Media Regulatory Fees This Year]

The proposed fee schedule calls for about $30 million in fees collected from U.S. AM and FM broadcasters, up from roughly $29 million this year, according to Radio World’s calculation of the FCC data.

Rotella said radio and TV stations have been particularly hard hit by COVID-19, with severe reductions in advertisement revenues. “Most broadcasters have sustained declines of 60–70% in ad revenues, and some have lost even more over the past two months. Indeed, some have had a vaporization of revenue altogether in the last 30 days. Even if the economy were restored tomorrow, it would take months to generate and invoice sponsor revenue, let alone receive it.”

Rotella said that fee hikes, “especially during this time of catastrophic economic upheaval, coupled with the precarious economic forecasts ahead, is simply imprudent and will likely further hobble local broadcasters’ efforts to survive in the aftermath of COVID-19.

“If these snowballing fees force stations to go dark, there’s no other local entity that could ever replace them.”

The commission is expected to consider fees for fiscal 2020 at its May meeting, a total of $339 million across industries.

 

The post “This Is Not the Time to Raise Fees” appeared first on Radio World.

Jeff Welton says he was lucky enough to find his dream job not far from where he grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada. 

This year’s recipient of the NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award joined Nautel nearly 30 years ago and has served the broadcast transmitter manufacturer in several roles.

Welton, 55, regional sales manager Central U.S. for Nautel, is a frequent lecturer and expert on digital radio, radio technology and radio engineering. He has written numerous articles and three chapters in the 11th edition of the NAB Engineering Handbook, and even finds time to volunteer at a local community radio station not far from his home, where he provides some engineering assistance. Many know him for his “Tips n Tricks” presentations, delivered with his warm sense of humor — as captured in the title of one called “How Not to Blow Stuff Up.”

The Canadian has been on a bit of a win streak. In 2018, the Society of Broadcast Engineers named Welton the James C. Wulliman Educator of the Year. In 2019 the Association of Public Radio Engineers handed him the APRE Engineering Achievement Award.   

Radio World asked Welton his thoughts on trends in RF manufacturing and where digital radio is headed in the United States.

Radio World: You spent your first 17 years at Nautel in field service and technical support positions. What is the most important current trend radio broadcasters need to know about? 

Jeff Welton: The biggest trend in transmitter manufacturing is IP connectivity. But most importantly for broadcast is the attendant need for IT security, which people are beginning to be made aware of; but it has been a very slow process.  

At work in 2000.

RW: How big of an issue is the security?

Welton: You have seen all of the news of IT ransomware attacks. There are many more hacks and viruses that happen every day that no one ever hears about. Occasionally I will do an Internet of Things search looking for unprotected devices, and if I search audio codes and search a few of the bigger names in codecs, I will find thousands of units online, and half will be using default user names and passwords. That’s the biggest thing right now for broadcasters to be aware of. 

RW: You’re no longer on the design side of the transmitter business, but where does Nautel see RF design going next?

Welton: You certainly see the trend toward smaller footprints. More power density, more watts per cubic inch, so to speak. That trend will continue, but eventually the laws of physics dictate we just can’t get any smaller. Having said that, the laws of physics can always be challenged, and we will going forward.

RW: Any move by Nautel toward a liquid-cooled design for FM/HD transmitter? Some of your competition, like GatesAir and R&S, have been active in that segment. 

Welton: I really can’t answer that question. No comment. That said, we have looked at liquid-cooling repeatedly over the years, going back as far as at least 15 years ago, if not further. We did a 20 kW design in the late ’90s/early 2000s that was liquid-cooled in the initial prototype. 

Ultimately, at that time, we did decide to abandon it for several reasons. Even today, with the advances in the technology, it’s hard to justify the additional cost of liquid cooling in all but the highest power levels, and even then only in specific circumstances. Definitely there are advantages, but the flexibility and lower cost of an air-cooled system typically outweighs those advantages in most cases. 

However, it certainly is situational. What may be the best cost benefit for a 30 kW station in one market may not apply equally to a similar station in a different market, climate or site situation. 

My recommendation to radio broadcasters is to always get a couple of opinions, then try to sort out what provides the best long-term benefits for your station. 

RW: How about all-digital for the AM band. Does Nautel see promise in that market?

Welton: Definitely, we are behind it and support it as a manufacturer. I think it will be good for the broadcast industry, but I’ll qualify that with one thing. It really all comes down to the content, honestly. I think the technology is great and it has promise, but without the worthwhile content and good programming, it is not going to solve any problems for AM broadcasters in the United States.            

RW: You’re known as the “go to” tech support guy at Nautel, yet your official title is regional sales manager. Tell us more about what you do and how much travel is involved.

Welton inspects a newly installed V5 in Wisconsin in 2010.

Welton: I travel anywhere from 100 to 200 days a year. It can vary quite a bit. I have the formal title of regional sales manager, but I pretty much focus on, as they say, “other duties as assigned.” I do seven to 10 state association shows a year. I do NAB of course. I do a half-dozen SBE presentations and some Nautel-sponsored webinars. I even stop in on sight occasionally to help with HD system installs. So I do get to do some hands-on work still.

RW: So you are out visiting facilities and meeting a lot of radio broadcast engineers. What is the most impressive thing you find about that group?

Welton: I think more than anything you find people who willing to be helpful to others, even their competition. You can find people who are competitors but then willing to help others in an emergency and work together. I’ve found that to be the case even during my tech support days.   

RW: How do you think radio can navigate the problem of losing veteran engineers who have a deep knowledge of RF systems? Obviously this affects broadcasters and how they maintain their RF facilities.

Welton: Well, there is a solution, and it’s hard. We need to get young people bit by the bug. Once you get in this industry it really does get into your blood. You don’t see many people leave the industry once they are in it. Where else can you have so much fun and make a living at it? [chuckles] 

I think the pay scale is coming up a bit, but the big thing is tweaking the interest of young folks. That might be hosting an engineering table at a state show career fair. You have to get the exposure to draw interest. There are lots of opportunities for people to be mentored and work part time while being in school still. That’s a great way into the profession 

RW: You perform presentations every year on topics like lightning protection, grounding, transmitter site safety and various other subjects. Is there a topic out there you want to teach?  

Welton: One of the big ones for me is HD Radio, AM and FM, and the implementation. The technology has developed so that I would like to put together a booklet and really dig in how to install and what to look for rather than the theory of the operation of the technology. Really it would be a practical application of HD Radio. So now that it is out there, I’d better get to work on it. 

Jeff Welton calibrates equipment during an AM HD upgrade at WNYC in 2005.

RW: Nautel has for some time thought about equipment beyond transmitters as a way to grow the business. Any new broadcast equipment coming down the pipe?

Welton: Not much I can say on the broadcast side. Much of the work we do outside of broadcast is non-disclosure since we are dealing with the military. We find lots of ways to keep busy and we do a lot of things in RF above and beyond radio, which is cool.

RW: Tell us something about yourself that surprises people when they learn it.

Welton: That I have a fully functioning wood working shop at my home right outside my office. I haven’t been able to work out in it much since I’ve been so busy with work. The last thing I built was a vanity for a bathroom remodel. I did all the cabinetry and built all of the drawers into it. That was cool. It’s a far departure from electronics

RW: Anything else keep you busy at home?

Welton: I love to cook. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I got a pressure cooker last year, and loved it so much I augmented that with a second one about a week later.

RW: How did you get your start at Nautel? 

Welton: We had a speaker at my high school one day for career day talking about electronics school in Toronto. I grew up on a farm in Nova Scotia, so as soon as I heard the word “Toronto” I was hooked. He could have been talking about cosmetology school and I would have ended up being a hairdresser. So I went to Radio College of Canada (RCC) for electronics engineering. 

Then I had a few jobs after that, including doing bench repair at Radio Shack. Then in 1990 Kevin Rodgers (now president and CEO of Nautel) was put in charge of building a customer service department for Nautel. By the luck of the draw I ended up there and have been ever since.   

RW: What were your first thoughts upon learning of the NAB engineering award?

Welton: Really of all the people I need to thank for being where I am today. There have been so many people I’ve learned from. Jack Sellmeyer and Tom King come to mind if you are talking directional AM antennas. Gary Cavell has always been willing to answer my sometimes dumb questions. Mark Persons is always willing to share knowledge.   

The one thing I always try to convey to people is that everybody everywhere knows something that somebody else doesn’t. I’ve just been very fortunate to find a bunch of people willing to share the things they know that I don’t. And there is a long list of things. The more I know the more I realize I don’t know it all. Not even close.

The post Welton Is More Than Just “Tips n Tricks” appeared first on Radio World.

GENEVA — The European Broadcasting Union’s Digital Radio Summit 2020 in February focused on possible future models for radio and audio entertainment.

One of the key topics was the future role of integrated radio and multimedia systems in the connected car.

Antonio Arcidiacono is EBU director of technology and innovation. Credit: EBU

During that event, Antonio Arcidiacono, EBU’s director of technology and innovation, presented the keynote speech. He emphasized the relevance of in-car audio content, both linear and not, which would result from the proper blending of broadcast and IP feeds integrated through appropriate, next generation system and user interface.

TRULY IMMERSIVE

Radio World later spoke to Arcidiacono about how he imagines the car will look 20 years from now. He said he imagines himself sitting behind the wheel, finding himself in a type of semi-mobile living room in which the multimedia system welcomes him and understands his present mood.

According to Arcidiacono, the system will know that he has been in the office and so it’ll begin by providing him with the information he is most interested in, followed by a carefully defined progression of content depending on what he’s most interested in.

The driver will then be able to prompt his or her car with something like: “Well, that’s enough news for now. How long is it to get home?” The car will answer the question and then start playing music again based on the mood of the driver as well as any passengers.

The dashboard of the Sony Vision-s prototype car unveiled at CES 2020. Credit: Sony

“Let me explain,” said Arcidiacono. “I lived in Paris for 30 years and I believe the perfect music to listen to in the car in the French capital is jazz, because the city has a jazz spirit, and people who walk on the street walk with a jazz rhythm,” he said. “This is not necessarily the case elsewhere, so the system would offer an immersive experience that is finely balanced between mood and surroundings.”

On the other hand, if the system understands that his actual mood is tired, maybe he will expect it to play something relaxing like Claude Debussy’s “Moonlight sonata”

BIEN-ÊTRE

In 20 years the car will most likely be autonomous, so there will be no worry about driver distraction. The system will also most likely be able to offer multiple content genres, including visual ones, but always in accordance with the specific situation.

“It’ll be a matter of ‘bien-être’ as the French say,” adds Arcidiacono. “An experience able to offer maximum comfort, and also allow the user to make or receive phone calls.”

In his mind, the system will be able to autonomously detect which calls he will accept and those he won’t, and automatically manage and sort them. In some cases it’ll also be able to answer the phone calls or messages Arcidiacono receives, because it would have learned from him and will know how to appropriately respond to the most common messages and calls.

The idea is that the system will allow the driver to continue living that experience of well-being without interruption thanks to the intelligent behavior of the car and entertainment system.

Holoride is an extended reality (XR) system which enriches visual impressions with real-time physical feedback of the moving vehicle to deliver more intense and immersive VR car experience. Credit: Audi/Holoride

He continued: “Maybe the system will also be able to understand that I don’t want to go home a certain evening, and it’ll subsequently suggest that it take me to a favorite restaurant.”

The car will also share the same proposal with his wife, who at that moment is in a different place and in a different car. If they both accept, the two cars will bring them to the chosen restaurant where they’ll meet at a table already reserved for them, he suggested.

INTEGRATION

If the first-choice restaurant did not have available space, the system will take care of offering a suitable alternative, again in line with their preferences and the mood of that moment.

“Or it could be that, for example, after leaving work I am going directly to a cultural event instead of heading directly home” Arcidiacono continued. The system will understand that the person is going to that particular event, and then during the ride will provide him or her with an overview of what they’ll see and hear, giving expert reviews so they can make the most of their outing.

This integration between information, entertainment and education, which has always been the three fundamental pillars of broadcasting, will therefore continue in the future. Arcidiacono sees them as increasingly integrated with each other.

The EBU headquarters in Geneva. Credit: EBU

However, if at a certain point the driver decides they don’t want the assistance, the person can simply say something like: “Leave me in peace because I want to think and have quiet time,” The car will then understand.

Speaking about the user interface, Arcidiacono thinks most of the buttons will have disappeared. “Maybe there will be only one button to turn everything off if the driver gets nervous, because being in control is also a natural feeling. A big red button to push to say to the system ‘Stop it!’ might be useful,” he concluded.

The post How Will In-Car Entertainment Look in 20 Years? appeared first on Radio World.

A Petition for Reconsideration (Petition) has been filed in the Commission's proceeding by Michael Couzens and Alan Korn, on behalf of Discount Legal.

Order adopting reorganization to fold the Media Bureau's Engineering Division into the Industry Analysis Division

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The author is SVP, Engineering — Digital Platforms at Xperi Corp.

Daily radio listening represents more than 60% of consumer media consumption worldwide — surpassing even television and content streaming in many markets.

The recent “Digital Radio Vision for India” workshop, held Feb. 12, offered an optimistic view of how India, through its “Digital India” initiative, can capitalize on the nation’s growing radio broadcasting industry.

Ashruf El-Dinary

Xperi was on hand to present its vision of how HD Radio, can support the radio industry’s transition from analog broadcasting to a significantly more robust and diverse digital broadcast platform.

Today some 2400 radio stations in several countries use HD Radio to reach more than 400 million people across North America and other countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa.

But, as the workshop outlined, while HD Radio is helping revolutionize and digitize radio services around the world, India is lagging far behind, with most of its radio stations transmitting solely in analog. The good news is that HD Radio offers All India Radio and private broadcasters an opportunity to accelerate and become world leaders in digital radio networking.  It simply makes sense.

Here’s Why:

Clear Audio, Diverse Programming, Multimedia

HD Radio allows radio stations to transmit multiple programs and other information with quality audio and robust and diverse content. While the analog transmissions that currently dominate radio in India provide listeners with music, news, or talk shows on their radio receivers — each analog radio station broadcasts only one audio program per frequency.

The mobile BeatBoy HD101 cell phone.

HD Radio, on the other hand, enables radio stations to utilize advanced technology to send multiple audio programs digitally with higher sound quality, as well as to include associated and relevant digital content and images.

For example, a digital radio receiver or mobile phone can automatically tune to digital radio programming and enable users to select from multiple audio programs on the same frequency, all while still receiving older, analog-only broadcasts.

 HD Radio Can Bring India Together

India has a diverse population, with over 23 different languages and a very mobile population. Radio listening happens on-the-go. HD Radio enables the simultaneous broadcast of programming in multiple languages and allows broadcasters to communicate national, regional, and local information on separate audio channels, as well as offering diverse programming in large urban markets like Delhi and Mumbai.

In addition, it’s possible for the government’s All India Radio broadcasts to transmit the Prime Minister’s monthly Mann Ki Baat message in multiple languages. To access this content, India requires digital radio solutions for mobile handsets, such as the BeatBoy HD101 cell phone sold in the Philippines.

Community-building, Government Communications and Emergency Alerts

As well as offering India’s listeners a multimedia experience, including program-related pictures synchronized with the audio, HD Radio enables listeners to stay in touch with their specific communities through localized entertainment, information, and talk radio shows. These incude emergency notifications and alerts to warn and inform local residents of events such as storms, fires or other threatening disasters in multiple languages.

The HD Radio system can integrate with India’s National Disaster Management Agency alerts infrastructure by importing CAP-formatted alerts into the digital broadcast chain.  These digital emergency alerts can provide critical notifications and text alerts to HD Radio enabled devices, which will “wake up” on detecting an alert message.

Also, HD Radio can help the government notify the public of non-critical information, such as reports on health and environmental matters from various ministries. For example, All India Radio can partner with the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change to provide hourly notifications on air quality index using text and graphic notification transmitted to HD Radio receivers.

Digital India Initiative

Because it is an effective way to reach the general public with audio communications, including sending information and data to millions of devices for infrastructure and IoT services, HD Radio system can help India’s radio industry and businesses. Through the Digital India Initiative, HD Radio can facilitate the development of new applications for local services to enhance control and management of infrastructure and the power grid, send traffic services to trucks and cars to improve navigation and reduce congestion, and access IoT devices with secure unidirectional smart-messaging and control.

The Time is Now — Digital Radio and All India Radio

With adults globally listening to an average of 90 minutes of radio a day, it is clear that radio is here to stay, but only so long as it adapts to the digital consumer. India has half a billion of those digital consumers and the opportunities for increasing the scope of radio communications, both locally and nationally — all while improving the radio experience — are significant, and potentially of major benefit to India’s population.

The post Why HD Radio Makes Sense for India appeared first on Radio World.

Jeff Welton snags a big honor. Dan Slentz worries about the quality of music coming into your station. Scott Gerenser explains “containerization.” John Bisset pulls brush from your satellite dish. And James O’Neal looks at technology that helped launch an industry.

Read it online here.

Prefer to do your reading offline? No problem! Simply click on the Issuu link, go to the left corner and choose the download button to get a PDF version.

AUDIO FOR RADIO
“An Audio Quality Crisis in the Music Industry”

Decapitating your audio can’t be good for an industry highly dependent on sound quality. So says Dan.

COVER STORY
Welton Is More Than Just “Tips n Tricks”

The newest NAB Radio Engineering Achievement honoree is all about customer service, support and training.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

• They Set the Stage for the Birth of Radio
• Cyber Security in the COVID Age
• Containerization as an Alternative to Virtualization

The post Inside the April 29 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has added two more names to its list of Fellows. At its April 24 meeting, the SBE board of directors voted to elevate James Leifer, CBPE, and Ralph Beaver, CBT, to its highest membership level. There have been 81 Fellows during the course of the SBE’s 56-year history.

Both will be recognized Sept. 23 at the SBE National Awards Dinner, which will be held in conjunction with the SBE National Meeting. This year’s meeting is scheduled during the SBE Chapter 22 Broadcast & Technology Expo in Syracuse, N.Y.

“They both possess and regularly demonstrate the skill, attitude, professionalism and dedication to broadcast engineering that are the benchmarks of an SBE Fellow,” SBE President Wayne Pecena (CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, DRB, CBNE) said in the announcement. Pecena also noted that he had worked with Leifer and followed Beaver’s efforts at the SBE.

James “Jim” Leifer

Leifer is the senior manager of broadcast operations for American Tower Corp. and is based in the Boston metropolitan area, where he moved in 2017 for his present role working on the TV repack. In Florida, he held engineering positions for iHeartMedia, Ion and Paxson.

Because Leifer’s broadcast career kicked off in south Florida in 1987, he initially joined  SBE Chapter 53. In 2008, Chapter 53 elected him chapter chair, a role he fulfilled until 2012.

Leifer is the SBE board’s current immediate past president. He served as president from 2017–2019, and prior to that was the board’s VP from 2015–2017. Leifer was the SBE secretary from 2011–2015, first joining the board in 2009. 

Several of his nomination letters characterize Leifer as a talented, competent and technically capable broadcast engineer, willing to help others. Leifer’s regulatory advocacy is also a standout, according to his peers.

Ralph Beaver

Beaver, NFL general manager of frequency coordination and CEO of Media Alert LLC, is another long-serving SBE Floridian. He moved to Tampa in 1973, and joined Chapter 39 two years later. Beaver is active in the chapter’s Broadcast Engineering Symposium. 

Additionally, Beaver served on the national board  from 2002 until 2012, during which time he chaired the EAS Committee and then the Frequency Coordination Committee. In the latter role, Beaver worked with the SBE/NFL Game-Day Coordinator program, a position he was well suited to, since he had begun working with the NFL in 1999 as the Tampa game-day coordinator and Super Bowl coordinator for that same year. He took on his current role with the NFL in 2011.

Beaver’s nominations highlighted his EAS efforts as well as his frequency coordination work. One letter called him “a master of spectrum allocations and spectrum compatibility studies.”

The post Leifer and Beaver Chosen as SBE Fellows appeared first on Radio World.

Nielsen’s latest report on radio listening in Norway shows that DAB+ continues to gain ground in Norway.

The report, which includes data on 2019 radio listening, finds that last year approximately 86% of Norwegians listened to radio on a weekly basis.

According to the study, more than 3.4 million people (approximately 73% of the population aged 10+) now have DAB radio in their home. This figure includes both regular DAB radios as well as analog receivers with DAB adapters.

In addition, the Nielsen Audio study indicates an increase in the number of in-car DAB receivers. In Norway all new cars sold are now equipped with a DAB radio as standard, and the report stats that in 2019, 67% of the population had access to DAB radio in their car. This is up 9% from 2018. Of those, 82% say they listen to DAB radio at least once a week while in their cars, while almost half listen to it on a daily basis.

The full Nielsen Audio 2020 report is available to download here. A WorldDAB report (updated in February) on the Norwegian radio market featuring the results after the FM switch-off and lessons learned is available here.

The post Nielsen Audio 2020 Report Is Now Available appeared first on Radio World.

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