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Wayne Eckert is with the Rural Florida Communications Cooperative and a frequent Workbench contributor. He notices that a lot of electronics are using terminal blocks now. 

Klein’s 612-4 provides an exact fit for terminal block screws.

He finds them to be decent connectors, usually rated for AWG 24 to AWG 14 at up to 15 Amps, but says they’re prone to overheating and melting, often because the screws were not torqued properly. 

These terminals require a screwdriver with a 1/8-inch blade, but many people use a jeweler’s screwdriver or other tool that doesn’t achieve the proper fit.

Closeup of a Euro connector.

As usual, the tool for any job is out there, and Wayne learned that Klein Tools offers a screwdriver for this application. It costs about $9 and is well worth buying for your toolbox or pouch.

The full proper name is “Klein Terminal Block Screwdriver, 1/8-Inch Cabinet, TB-DIN,” and the Klein part number is 612-4. It has a medium-sized rubber-sleeved handle that will deliver plenty of torque to tighten DIN connectors, with an exact fit. The butt of the handle is labeled “TB-DIN” so you can find it easily in your bag. And the screwdriver is made in the USA.

The Klein 612-4. Archie pays homage

Retired broadcast engineer Archie Stulc admired the pictures we published of Dave Morgan’s master parts depot. Archie joked that if he were found worthy, he would enter that holy site and pay due homage.

Dave’s organizational process may in fact seem over the top, but what a pleasure to work with the results. And the project didn’t happen in just a few days; it took weeks to plan and months to get everything organized. Dave adds that he’s still not finished. 

The key to organizing as Dave did is to start small and build on what you can, when you can. The effort does pay dividends in knowing what spares you have on hand.

Cue the hydraulics Studio furniture controlled by a hydraulic lift.

Chris Wilk is the transmitter engineer for Draper Broadcasting in Salisbury, Md. He and his team faced a common decision: Should we build our new studio for seated or standing operators? If standing, how do we accommodate the range of heights of our air staff or an operator who uses a wheelchair?

Custom cabinet shops can build you a counter that will accommodate both modes of operation using hydraulics, but Chris found a retrofit kit from Ergosource in Minnesota that costs about $1,500. 

The lifting is performed by four hydraulic “legs” affixed to the cabinet. A local cabinet maker helped them attach the hydraulic mechanism onto the furniture; then Chris mounted an up/down switch in a rack panel to allow each operator to select the best height.   

At www.ergosource.com scroll down to Hydraulic Lift Systems.

If you take this approach, Chris reminds you to provide an extended cable harness for the table-top equipment with enough loop to allow the counter to be raised and lowered. 

The kit comes in six different adjustment ranges from 6 to 16 inches. There are also hand-crank versions and kits for tables with fewer legs. 

Rick’s Command performance A 3M Command Hook holds headphones.

Rick Foster has been behind the mic for more than 60 years, and although he’s mostly retired, he still hosts a show on a community station on Saturday afternoons. 

Rick, who has used a lot of headphones, saw William Harrison’s tip in January about installing a hook on a broadcast rack. Rick has found an inexpensive and secure “hanger” of his own, a hook in the Command brand line from 3M. You can stick it on the underside of the table that holds the mic or the console. Rick says he affixed a hook in his home studio 10 years ago and it’s still in place.

You and Workbench are a perfect fit. That’s why we want your tips! Email johnpbisset@gmail.com.

[Read Another Workbench by John Bisset]

The post Torque Those Terminal Screws the Right Way appeared first on Radio World.

Mike Pappas, vice president of business development for Orban Labs Inc., will address the topic “Why Worry About Your Air Chain?” on Sunday April 14 during the NAB Show’s Broadcast Engineering & IT Conference.

Isn’t the answer to the question obvious? Well, not always.

Mike Pappas

“We’ll be talking about the importance of taking a critical listen to your air chain from microphone through to the transmitter,” Pappas said, “an ‘audio audit,’ as it were.”

He notes that engineers famously are overworked these days, doing everything from fixing leaks in the restroom to paper jams in the copier.  But audio is the station’s key product and most important asset.

Pappas will discuss what he has seen and learned during his many station visits.

“The number one problem is having insufficient AGC drive in the processors, followed closely by cascaded processors,” Pappas said. “This can create real problems in your audio, ranging from a muddy sound to way too much compression.”

But he has come across many other problems. He rattles them off: “Unnecessary multiple D to A to A to D conversions in the air chain. Improper gain staging/clipping. Poor board op training. Wiring phase reversals. Bad mic preamps. Wrong mic selection for the announcers/room acoustics. STL problems including interference,” he said.

“Also issues with the FM exciter or transmitters. Improper antenna and combiner tuning, which degrades analog FM performance. And, on the AM side, incorrect tuning of the phasor/tuners, with sufficient symmetrical bandwidth.”

A sample block diagram of an air chain.

Pappas says poor engineering practice can impair a station’s performance on the Nielsen Portable People Meter.

“PPM encoding needs the cleanest, highest density audio to maximize ‘endcodeability,’” he said.

“If your air chain has problems, your PPM encoder isn’t going to be doing the job it should. This could mean under-reporting of your actual listenership, which can ultimately result in lower revenues for your station when you don’t show up as well in the ratings.”

Any use of PPM “enhancers” should be judicious; if they’re turned up too high you may generate objectional artifacts that clobber your TSL by driving your listeners away.

Pappas also recommends that you listen to every part of your air chain with a good set of closed-back headphones. 

“Some things may not be working up to their potential — and you may find that some things aren’t working at all. And don’t forget the microphones.”

Because air chain problems come in all flavors. “I have found multiple compressor/limiters cascaded and hiding in closets, under bundles of cables and in telco closets,” Pappas said. “In one instance they were running a combined 40 dB of total compression! Needless to say, the station didn’t sound good.

“And there was the AM transmitter site that was wired Pin 3 hot. And another that had the feed to the backup transmitter with the polarity reversed. And then there was the resident alligator at one AM site. They nicknamed him Nicodemus. …”

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

The post Why Worry About Your Air Chain? appeared first on Radio World.

A Saturday session of the Broadcast Engineering & IT Conference will explore “Using Drones to Verify FM Antenna Performance.”

John Schadler is vice president of engineering for Dielectric LLC, which makes antennas, RF systems components and transmission line. Jason Schreiber is managing director of Sixarms, which uses drones to provide measurement solutions for broadcasters and other industries. 

Radio World: What is your session about?

John Schadler: The paper will discuss the power of computer simulation and validate the predictions through comparisons to drone measurements. This in turn also shows the ability drone measurements have to verify antenna system performance.

It will include case studies, one of which would be impractical for any far-field range and can only be realized using simulation and validation using drone-based measurements.

RW: Can you remind us about the FCC rule change that is the context for this?

Schadler: In June of 2021, Dielectric filed a proposed rulemaking with the FCC to allow the use of computer simulation to verify the performance of directional FM antennas. In November of 2021, the FCC showed very strong support of the proposal by unanimously deciding to move forward with the notice of proposed rulemaking and reduce the public comment period down to 30 days. 

In May of 2022, new rules were adopted that give FM license applications the option of submitting computer-generated proofs of FM directional antenna patterns from the antenna’s manufacturer in lieu of measured pattern plots and tabulations. That strong support and quick adoption stem from the benefits and evident accuracy that simulation offers over traditional range measurements.

RW: How does the rule change bring drones into the discussion? 

Jason Schreiber: The drone pattern measurement solution is used to validate and compare to the computer simulations. 

Schadler: It supports simulation as an extremely powerful and accurate tool. It replaces physical modeling, prototyping and pattern test ranges.

Measurement system configurations for FM radio, AM radio and UHF TV.

RW: Tell us about the technology and the process involved.

Schreiber: Drone-based antenna pattern measurements are a relatively new technique, approximately 10 years, used to replace traditional helicopter and land-based field strength measurement practices. What was typically a very manual and time-consuming process is now fully automated, from the data collection to the drone flight path. 

John Schadler

Schadler: The computer simulation process imports detailed Solid Edge CAD drawings of the antenna and tower into ANSYS HFSS software, where the model is broken down into a tetrahedral mesh, and Maxwell’s equations are solved at each node to produce radiation characteristics of the entire structure. Since the calculations are exact at each node, a detailed model with a tight mesh leads to an exact solution for all practical purposes.

RW: I understand that Sixarms will introduce the use of tower imaging to obtain more accurate tower information. 

Schreiber: Drones are currently playing a major role in creating “digital twins” of critical infrastructure. That is, a complete tower full of antennas and cables can now be mapped in three dimensions using a drone. Two major techniques are photo-based, or “photogrammetry,” and laser-based “lidar.” Both solutions now allow us to create full digital twins of our infrastructure to allow for planning, maintenance and auditing.

This graphic compares a computer simulation with drone measurements, studying performance of the blue FM antenna (shown above the pattern graphic), taking into account both the effect of its own tower as well as the second tower in its aperture.

RW: How many broadcasters have used these technologies as you’ll describe?

Schadler: Since the start of the repack, Dielectric has designed more than 1,500 high-power antennas in a completely virtual environment as well as performed more than 100 UHF and VHF nearfield drone comparison studies.

Schreiber: Since 2014, Sixarms and our partners have measured more than 800 antenna patterns by drone. These include AM and FM radio, HD Radio and VHF and UHF digital TV.  This drone-based technique is being used by major U.S. and international broadcasters as well as broadcast infrastructure companies to validate that the antennas they have implemented have been manufactured and installed successfully.

Jason Schreiber

RW: What else should an engineering reader know?

Schadler: During the repack, extensive experience has been gained in drone measurement techniques as well as computer simulation of radiating structures. It has been shown that computer simulation and drone measurements are an accurate and cost-effective alternative to traditional FM range measurements and can predict and measure the performance of structures, which today would be impractical to perform any other way. 

In the future, tower mapping can provide the means for more accurate simulation models, leading to even more exact results. For the present, though, a drone pattern measurement solution can be used to understand the impacts of the supporting structure and other structures in the FM radiating pattern. 

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

The post Using Drones to Verify FM Antenna Performance appeared first on Radio World.

A broadcast radio company headed by Roscoe Miller, who is based in Greenville, Ala., is agreeing to add an AM radio station and its companion FM translator serving the small city of Ozark, Ala., as well as a Class A FM covering Fort Rucker.

Who is the seller? A Missouri-based radio broadcasting company.

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NEW YORK — Some 52% of TV content viewers have cancelled or lost access to at least one of their subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services within the past year. And, among those who cancelled or lost access within the past 12 months, the main reasons cited include efforts to cut subscription costs, recent price hikes, and perceived lack of value for the cost.

That’s the key finding from Horowitz Research’s just-released State of Media, Entertainment & Tech: Subscriptions 2024 report.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FCC on Tuesday confirmed that it plans to launch a
formal proceeding to examine how it can best help stop abusers from using connectivity tools in vehicles to harass and intimidate their partners.

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The FCC in March moved ahead on a party-line 3-2 vote to implement what FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel believes are new customer protections requiring all cable TV service providers and the nation’s two direct broadcast satellite companies to specify the “all-in” price “clearly and prominently” in their promotional materials and on every monthly billing statement.

Pro-cable TV advocacy group ACA Connects already expressed their disappointment in the vote. Now DirecTV has shared its thoughts, and its displeased, too.

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Metadata displayed in a Honda 2023 HR-V EX-L model. The study informs us that the car has FM, AM, HD Radio including HD logo and multicast channels, as well as SiriusXM, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The car has a dedicated radio button and supports PS Data and Radio Text as well as HD Radio Artist Experience.

I’m not often blown away by the release of a new industry report or resource. But I was wowed this morning when I got a look at something called the “2024 In-Vehicle Visuals Report,” which was just released by Quu.

Specifically I was stunned by the collection of data that the company has posted for anyone in the industry to inspect.

If you care about how your radio station appears on dashboards in the United States, you need to check this out.

This past winter, Quu’s CEO Jeff Newberry sent a talented young researcher out to car dealerships to sit in the 100 top-selling new cars in the United States for 2023.

That researcher gathered extensive information in each vehicle: What radio services does it have? Is there a dedicated radio button? Does the car support PS Data and Radio Text for FM? Does it display HD Radio artist and title, logos and album art?

And he took photos.

Quu then put together a web page that lists its findings for each new make and model of those 100 vehicles — and it provides the images. You can see how your RDS and HD Radio metadata would display on all of those dashboards, and compare them.

I’ve talked in this space for years about the importance of providing good metadata, and I told you that NAB’s David Layer has sat in some cars himself and found that many stations don’t do a good job of managing these visual components. We’ve also published photos over the years of sample dashboard displays of various technologies.

A summary of some key data from across the 100 car models studied.

But this is something different, a data set that allows the industry to make some sweeping insights. I’m aware of no such similar tool.

Out of the gate, Quu is highlighting six key findings:

• It found that AM/FM radio is “ubiquitous” in new vehicles, with 100% having FM and 98% still having AM. “The rumors of AM/FM disappearing from the dash have been highly exaggerated,” Quu concludes.
• Not surprisingly, though, it found that broadcast radio no longer has a dashboard monopoly, thanks to the presence of satellite radio, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and …
• … a smaller but growing number of in-car streaming apps, which are most prevalent in GM and Toyota cars. Quu found that on average there are now six direct audio sources per new vehicle (and some of them can access thousands of audio sources each — so essentially, radio faces infinite audio competition).
• Two out of three new cars have HD Radio installed. That’s an important landmark for the long-term rollout of that digital radio technology. “While not universal (yet),” Quu wrote, “two out of three new vehicles have dozens of additional local market signals at their fingertips, presenting opportunities as well as challenges.”
• But General Motors is an important exception to the broader adoption of HD Radio. GM accounts for one out of five of the top new vehicles sold, but it only supports HD Radio in certain Cadillac models.
• It found that all new vehicles have in-dash text capabilities, and most can display logos and other images. “A radio station’s in-dash experience is a vital part of its brand and needs to be treated as such.”

I spoke with Steve Newberry today. He emphasized that although Quu obviously has an interest in this topic as a supplier of visual products in the dash, this report and data are being published free as an effort to raise awareness and understanding among both broadcasters and advertisers.

None of us has the time to go sit in hundreds of new cars. None of us really has an appreciation of how much variety there is in how our stations show up to our listeners. But here you can.

This initiative represents a serious attempt to help radio managers and advertisers comprehend how stations show up in new vehicles that flood our marketplace each year. Quu plans to repeat the study over time.

Newberry will hold a webinar about this tomorrow (April 10) that you can attend, with experts Fred and Paul Jacobs of Jacobs Media, Mike McVay of Media Consulting and Joe D’Angelo of Xperi (info here).

But you don’t have to wait for the webinar to review the findings and access the data directly. You can find the report here and look at the data here. I strongly encourage you to browse both.

 

The post New Report From Quu Does a Real Service for U.S. Radio appeared first on Radio World.

Paul LeFort, head of local TV sales at Nielsen, assumed Television Client Services duties at the start of 2024 with the retirement of Catherine Herkovic. As LeFort settles in to his new role, he spoke with RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson to share the latest on how Nielsen helping broadcasters in showing the continued value of UHF/VHF, so that they can continue to woo advertising clients with stories that go beyond reach.

LeFort also touched on measurement accuracy for the television industry and what he’s looking forward to at the 2024 NAB Show in this all-new InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.fm.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Paul LeFort” on Spreaker.

DELRAY BEACH, FLA. — Take a spin in a brand-new 2024 Subaru Crosstrek, or five other models from Subaru of America, and you may be taken aback by the enhanced audio entertainment dashboard that’s front and center in the main console.

While HD Radio is easily accessible and AC controls are now push-button below the visually enhanced audio selections, SiriusXM subscribers are also benefiting from a next-generation upgrade.

SiriusXM with 360L is now available on 2023 model year and newer Ascent, Legacy and Outback vehicles, as well as 2024 Crosstrek, Impreza and WRX models, giving drivers additional content from SiriusXM.

SiriusXM with 360L combines satellite and streaming content delivery into a singular in-vehicle entertainment experience. Specifically, more than 100 additional music channels can be accessed from the vehicle, matching what users of the SiriusXM app can access.

There are also personalized “For You” recommendations, something broadcast radio stations may wish to take note of.

SiriusXM SVP/GM of Automotive Partnerships Gail Berger commented, “SiriusXM brings listeners closer to the music, sports and talk content they love and SiriusXM with 360L delivers to drivers even more content and a truly enhanced and personalized listening experience for every driver. We are proud of our work with Subaru to make SiriusXM with 360L available in several new models and to enable our enhanced audio entertainment experience via an update to a large number of vehicles already on the road.”

Nearly 500,000 existing owners of 2023-24 model year vehicles are expected to be able to receive an over-the-air update enabling the expanded offering from SiriusXM. This update is currently available and will be rolled out to qualifying vehicles over the next few months. To receive SiriusXM with 360L features, Subaru vehicles must be equipped with SiriusXM satellite radio hardware, have an active SiriusXM trial or subscription, and include the capability of SUBARU STARLINK connected vehicle services.

SiriusXM with 360L is also anticipated to be available on future Subaru models, including the 2025 Forester.

Newly purchased or leased Subaru vehicles equipped with SiriusXM in the United States receive a four-month trial subscription to SiriusXM.

She’s described as “an experienced journalist and award-winning producer” and is coming from CNN. Introducing the new Executive Producer of CBS News Confirmed.

Melissa Mahtani will begin her new role on April 22 and reports to Claudia Milne, senior vice president and head of standards and practices for CBS News and Stations.

Mahtani will focus on developing the television, digital and social media presentation of the work of the CBS News Confirmed unit, a newly launched initiative to identify, combat and inform viewers of misinformation.

“Melissa’s depth and breadth of experience across multiple media platforms makes her the perfect person to lead the audience-facing presentation of the work of CBS News Confirmed,” Milne said. “She knows how to produce stories and shows, tell stories and package information to reach the largest audiences on whatever platforms they’re watching or reading. She will be a huge asset to our team.”

Mahtani most recently served as a senior producer and reporter for CNN since 2017.

“CBS News Confirmed is the right initiative at the right time,” Mahtani said. “We are witnessing an onslaught of misinformation that makes it harder for people to distinguish between what is real and what is not. CBS News Confirmed will empower our viewers to be able to tell fact from fiction, sharing our own process of verification every step of the way.”

During her career, Mahtani has lived and worked in Zambia, the U.K., France, Spain, Italy and the United States.

Before joining CNN, Mahtani was a news producer at France 24 and earlier at ITN. She began her career in 2007 at CNBC.

 

In 1995, “Machine Translation” was one of the great concerns among professional translators, trained and schooled to properly deliver the right syntax, phrasing and colloquial words that a computer could not.

Nearly 30 years later, translation and dubbing services may not require a human after all, thanks to artificial intelligence and its rapid ascent in the broadcast media marketplace. And, among its first users, is Sinclair Inc.

Generative AI use at the multimedia company led by Chris Ripley that has taken a key role in the rollout of ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast transitions and a shift to NEXTGEN GEN has arrived.

It is being employed at cable TV network Tennis Channel, for the series “Petko Unfiltered.”

As Baltimore-headquartered Sinclair sees it, this marks the company’s first steps into usage of generative artificial intelligence within its original content to reach more audiences globally in their native languages.  

Specifically, AI will be used for language translation across several properties, beginning with “Petko Unfiltered,” a Tennis Channel series with network analyst Andrea Petkovic, a former WTA world top 10 player that offers views a first-person perspective on trending tennis topics.  

The episodes, which are recorded and presented by Tennis Channel in English in several European countries and on the T2 digital multicast network in the United States, will be translated into Spanish to air on Tennis Channel in Spain beginning later this month. 

For this initiative, Sinclair has collaborated with generative AI video company HeyGen, which specializes in voice translation and lip-sync services.

For full transparency, the episodes will include a disclosure slate explaining the AI usage and a QR code linking to https://tennis.com/ai which will provide a comparison of episode language versions.  

“Generative AI is set to transform the world we live in; and Sinclair is enthusiastic about leveraging the technology to make our original content accessible to a bigger audience through language translation,” said Sinclair President/CEO Chris Ripley. “At the same time, we believe that upholding ethical standards in media through AI implementation is paramount. We recognize our duty to employ AI with integrity and transparency, to safeguard not only our industry’s reputation but also the trust of our audiences.  At Sinclair, we take this responsibility seriously, which is why we have chosen to voluntarily and proactively join the leading organizations dedicated to promoting responsible practices.”

Sinclair is a member of organizations working to protect content provenance and address misinformation including Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), a leader in the global effort to address digital misinformation and content authenticity, focused on promoting and providing an open, cross-industry approach to media transparency, and the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), a formal coalition dedicated exclusively to drafting technical standards and specifications as a foundation for universal content provenance.

In addition, Sinclair has created an internal, interdepartmental AI workgroup to facilitate knowledge sharing, governance, compliance, and strategic guidance across the company: SAIF – Sinclair AI Forum.

Introducing a new study from the company bringing artwork and visual advertising and informational opportunities to radio broadcasters that provides station owners with a snapshot of AM and FM’s place in dashboard displays today.

Quu‘s 2024 In-Vehicle Visuals Report, a first-ever look that comes courtesy of the company founded by Chief Technology Officer Joe Harb and led by CEO Steve Newberry, is based on data collected by an independent contractor tasked with auditing in-dash systems in the nation’s 100 top-selling new vehicles.

To gauge radio’s in-dash standing, each vehicle audio entertainment system was carefully analyzed for listening features and visual components including radio text, artist, and song information. Photos were taken, and a detailed, standardized questionnaire was completed. Data was collected from individuals who sat in new vehicles onsite at various auto dealerships between November 2023 and January 2024.

“With so much listening happening in cars, we must identify our strengths and weaknesses,” Quu said. “This report intends to provide the broadcast industry with new research. As radio’s status evolves in future years, we will track it.

THE DASHBOARD SCORECARD

A snapshot of how common each feature is in the dashboard of the top 100 best-selling new vehicles in the U.S. is one of the key highlights of the inaugural In-Vehicle Visuals Report.

Six key findings were presented by Quu, all of which could be incorporated into a deck promoting broadcast radio’s benefits to advertisers:

• AM/FM radio is ubiquitous in new vehicles.
• AM/FM radio no longer has a dashboard monopoly.
• A growing number of vehicles offer built-in streaming apps.
• Two out of three new vehicles have HD Radio installed.
• GM vehicles are an exception to the widespread adoption of HD Radio.
• All new vehicles have in-dash text. Most can display logos and other images.

Of the above conclusions, the availability of HD Radio is perhaps a big eye-opener, as it was just a few years ago when getting digital multicast stations and/or “crystal clear HD Radio” was an add-on option for drivers who didn’t own a luxury automobile.

At the same time, General Motors’ lack of embrace of HD Radio is a matter Xperi Corp. will likely need to continue to resolve, some 20 years after HD Radio first appeared across the U.S.

Xperi SVP of Global Broadcast and Radio Joe D’Angelo is one of four industry experts working with Quu to analyze the results. “Despite sharing the dashboard with others, broadcast radio’s undeniably loyal audience will stay with them and spend more time with their programming if presented appropriately,” he said. “New connected car digital dashboards are unlocking tremendous opportunities for content curation.”

Also working with Quu as experts are Fred and Paul Jacobs and longtime radio industry programming consultant Mike McVay; independent broadcast radio researcher Doug Hyde is also involved in the project.

For Quu, the ability to have logos and images appear in-dash is a big plus.

Speaking with RBR+TVBR, Newberry notes that Quu is not selling the data detailing auto brand-by-auto brand dashboard details, and that it is designed for the industry to spark conversations with automotive companies while Quu gathers the information.

He also agrees with the contention that it is the fault of General Motors and not that of Xperi Corp. that HD Radio is virtually non-existent across GM’s automotive line.

Explaining why the report was created, Newberry recalls how some advertising clients, consumers and radio station managers were saying such things as, “I can’t see this,” or asking, “Is this working?”

“Nobody in the industry was looking at the dashboard,” Newberry says. “We wanted to ensure the industry had that yardstick and more than ‘instinctive feels.'”

For a generation of radio industry air personalities, voice tracking has been commonplace at stations both big and small. Now, AI-powered radio services company Super Hi-Fi is rolling out a new product ahead of the 2024 NAB Show that it says blends talent management, shift management, job assignment and voice track recording into one interface.

Introducing Voicetrack Fusion, which Super Hi-Fi says can reduce voice track scheduling and production time. “When we’ve asked our customers what they want most from us, more effective voice tracking has always been near the top of the list,” said Super Hi-Fi CEO Zack Zalon. “We crafted Voicetrack Fusion from the ground up to solve real problems, and to function as a powertool for unparalleled efficiency that we know radio teams will
really love.”

Voicetrack Fusion automatically produces all of the elements around voice tracks and offers Voice Track Scheduling, Powerful Syndications, Automated Alternates, Automated Production and Automatic Mastering.

Voicetrack Fusion is available through the Super Hi-Fi Program Director OS.

‘POTS’ line costs got you down? Here’s a solution that comes courtesy of Broadcast Bionics.

Introducing CallerOne, which allows stations to move to more cost-effective SIP lines.

This is made possible thanks to new support for existing call control hardware from Telos and Wheatstone.

And, the FCC is to thank — at least in part. In August 2022 the Commission removed requirements for ILECs to offer analog POTS lines at competitive rates. By October
2023, all remaining cost obligations were lifted. This spurred carriers to plan the decommissioning of outdated lines, aiming to end all PSTN lines by 2030.

As such, CallerOne now supports Telos VSet and console call controllers, whereas Wheatstone facilities can use WheatNet for IP audio and GPIO control. “These integrations enable broadcasters to continue using their existing hardware and call handling workflows while transitioning to a more cost-effective SIP talkshow solution,” the team at CallerOne notes.

Matt Collison, Brand and Marketing Lead at Broadcast Bionics, notes, “CallerOne’s integrations with Telos and Wheatstone allow broadcasters to transition to a SIP talkshow solution, while retaining their much-loved hardware and workflows. We expect this to be an extremely popular option for stations feeling the effects of POTS price hikes.”

CallerOne will be on demo at NAB 2024 on the Broadcast Bionics booth (C2030), and on the Broadcasters General Store booth (C2808) with Wheatstone.

Streaming and podcast specialist StreamGuys has brought to market a cloud service for enterprise-level audio contribution and distribution. And, it begins shipping as the 2024 NAB Show readies its April 13 opening in Las Vegas.

Introducing the Reflector EVO.

The second generation of the Reflector service, developed 14 years ago to help broadcasters move high-quality audio over the public internet, the Reflector EVO boasts uncompressed PCM signals with high bandwidth requirements. This makes for a strong alternative to satellite for syndicated program delivery, multi-studio networking and other distribution services with wide geographic dispersion, StreamGuys believes.

Developed in partnership with the Audio over IP experts at Barix, StreamGuys will lead all sales efforts and provide service hosting and 24/7 technical support for radio broadcasters, program syndicators and audio content creators that require a scalable, one-to-many cloud networking architecture for content delivery.

Barix has updated its encoding and decoding hardware for additional network resiliency, along with enabling fast switching between encoders and adding support for lossless audio compression. Barix’s new LX400 broadcast codec, also to be introduced at NAB (Booth C2348), offers OPUS audio support for customers that want the highest possible audio quality and bandwidth conservation, with support for constant and variable bitrates (6kb/s to 510kb/s). Customers can manually configure encoding quality and the audio delay level of the receiving decoder (between three and 30 seconds), with seamless communication between each device worldwide.

The LX400 devices also include standard Barix AoIP codec features such as selectable input gain, relay support and contact closures, the latter of which allows broadcast networks to provide affiliates with precisely timed triggers for local ad breaks over EVO. Speaking of affiliates, StreamGuys has improved alerting applications that allow networks to target alerts. This ensures that important notifications are prioritized for affected stations only, rather than being disseminated to all engineers in the network.

StreamGuys will demonstrate Reflector EVO at NAB Show 2024, where the company will share space at the ENCO booth (W1743).

With reporting by Brian Galante

 

 

 

Nautel has confirmed that it will incorporate audio player and playlist functionality into its
VX Series product line.

With the audio player functionality, users will be able to upload content locally or remotely via an IP connection to make a playlist; no USB, addition cards, or site visits are necessary.

The built-in audio player can use the file playlist as an audio source and is often used
as an audio loss backup. This capability is slated for availability later this year.

Nautel Head of Marketing and Product Strategy John Whyte says the addition of the audio player “has proven to be a very popular capability for our customers and is an example of how Nautel brings continuing enhancements to its products.”

— Elaine Jones, for Weekly Tech Roundup

California-based Inovonics, and its Sales and Marketing Manager, Gary Luhrman, are heading into the 2024 NAB Show with the release of an EAS Monitor Receiver in a compact half-rack package.

Introducing the 677 Triple Tuner, which boasts three built-in discrete frequency agile receivers, each one programmable for either AM, FM or NOAA reception. Each receiver has a balanced monaural XLR audio output to serve as EAS monitor, or off-air monitor throughout the broadcast facility.

Luhrman adds that the product has a web interface for remote monitoring and listening, and that SNMP is fully supported.

 

For more information, please click here: https://www.inovonicsbroadcast.com/product/677

 

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