Radio World

A sign directs residents to a COVID-19 test site in Aurora, Ill, in November, as cases spiked in the state. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Millions of jobs lost. Close to 300,000 perished. Over 16 million sick.

You know the facts because you’re living them. One thing most of us can agree on is that the science of this COVID-19 thing hasn’t changed and it remains highly contagious.

Being isolated for so long, it’s human nature that we are all past ready to return to normal activity. What’s constantly in play is the public’s attitude.

A friend of mine in Florida recently declared that she was “so done with COVID” and took a road trip to Key West with three friends, sharing a hotel room and reveling in the food and atmosphere of their favorite hot spots.

In touch with listeners

Understanding attitudes is the tricky part of being on-air during the virus. It’s the one discussion point your local team needs to update constantly so you can properly adjust what you’re doing on-air, online and with your social channels.

Nobody knows when this nightmare will end. Even once the vaccine deployment ramps up, it will be months before all public activity can safely resume in a normal way.

It’s super easy to be unintentionally tone-deaf about this tragedy, but doing so can damage your personalities and your brand, perhaps permanently.

In the beginning of the outbreak, from his yacht in the Caribbean, recording industry billionaire David Geffen posted a picture of a beautiful sunset for his 80,000+ Instagram followers. Seemed innocent enough, even with the caption that said , Sunset last night… Isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus. I hope everyone is safe.”

He got roasted first by his followers and then by the media. This is a guy who’s been involved in raising millions of dollars for clinics, charities for the homeless, and even has a school of medicine named after him in California. None of that matters to the people who perceive him as a privileged jerk.

They’re thinking, Yeah, you’re isolated all right … from the risk and uncertainty the rest of us face every day!

The lesson is that we can’t let our guard down as the seasons change and we need to be ultra-aware of what we are saying to our listeners.

Community-mindedness

You’ve had to be living in a cave not to know that the act of staying home when possible, wearing a mas, and social distancing — and the extent to which any should be mandated or voluntary — has become a political sore spot. Therefore, unless your product is a specifically conservative or liberal talk format, it’s risky to take a position.

A transparent way to talk about masks is to have the voices of your listeners express their opinion. Stay calm and have your best tension-easing methods of diplomacy ready to roll.

As the recent election shows, the country is split on so many issues that your personalities or station will inevitably alienate many listeners if you go all-in on one point of view.

However, because the relentless contagion of this devastating virus hasn’t changed, all stations should encourage sick people to stay home, to be careful around the elderly or others of compromised health, and to remember that we are all in this together.

There is one scientifically proven fact that your station staff could highlight:  wearing a cloth mask (even a bandanna over nose and mouth) may not do much to protect yourself, but it is enormously helpful in protecting others.

It is a community-minded action, and local radio culture is, or should be, all about community. Imparting this information via PSA or to a genuinely interested caller is an important public service.

That said, if your community is overwhelmingly in favor of full-time masks while in public, you could also give out or sell masks or hand sanitizer with your logo to benefit a charity, as some stations have been doing for months now.

Offer resources

Most importantly, every station in America should continue doing their best to generate funds, food and supplies for those in need.

With unprecedented unemployment, we must create more avenues to offer support. This may be more-frequent PSAs urging both monetary and non-perishable donations to food banks; airing announcements about volunteer opportunities; and supporting loans for those in need.

Adams Radio Group of Delmarva broadcast the “Radio Cares: Feeding America Emergency Radiothon” fundraising event last spring to benefit the hunger relief organization Feeding America. Credit: Salisbury Business Journal

If you haven’t done it already, I urge you also to create a resource page on your website with links to such things as local employment search ideas and help in navigating loss of income; food security advice and dollar-smart recipes; articles on coping with disruption of family life and other relationships; and, of course, how to stay safe and healthy in the face of COVID-19. Enlist a member of your staff who is good at research to compile these resources and review it with your talent so they’re in the loop of what’s available to their listeners on the website and what’s being constantly updated.

During times of crisis, people have long turned to radio personalities as virtual friends. And just as a friend is genuinely warm and approachable, it’s more important than ever that talent express a desire to share in their listeners’ lives.

Most of this comes in the form of morning shows; many who expanded hours in April continue to stay on for longer, while others have already scaled back. The situation is so fluid that if your area goes into lockdown again, you should take a hard look at your schedule.

There was a piece of optimistic news in a Radio Advertising Bureau article in October from Pierre Bouvard, chief insights officer at Cumulus: “The growth of workplace commuting combined with the return of children to school has caused time spent in the car to surge. This is good news for both the outdoor advertising and U.S. AM/FM radio industries. From May to October, Nielsen finds daily time spent in the car has grown +81% from 36 minutes in May to 65 minutes in October. Among heavy AM/FM radio listeners, daily time spent in the car has doubled from an hour and six minutes a day to two hours and 11 minutes.”

Even if this goes sideways due to renewed school closings and new restrictions, the beautiful part is that we can rest assured that in-car will come roaring back.

Many of us have more questions. At the top of my list: Do you continue to respond to the times in your local community?

Reach the author at marklapidus1@gmail.com. Read more great promotion, content and management articles from Mark Lapidus at www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/promo-power.

Comment on this or any article to radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line.

The post What’s the Right Tone on COVID-19? appeared first on Radio World.

A rendering of the new satellite

A new satellite serving SiriusXM is in orbit and “performing properly” after a Sunday launch.

That announcement was made by the company along with Maxar Technologies, which built the satellite, and SpaceX, which launched it.

The SXM-7 ready for launch in an image from SpaceX.

The satellite is SXM-7 and it has an expected service life of 15 years. There are five other active satellites in the company’s constellation, but SXM-7 and SXM-8 — which is scheduled to launch next year — will replace XM-3 and XM-4.

“SXM-7, a high-powered digital audio radio satellite, was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla.,” the companies announced.

“Shortly afterward, SXM-7 deployed its solar arrays and began receiving and sending signals. Next, SXM-7 will begin firing its thrusters to commence its journey to its final geostationary orbit.”

“SXM-7 will deliver the highest power density of any commercial satellite on-orbit, sending more than 8,000 watts of content to the continental U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, increasing the power and reach of the signal for SiriusXM,” they stated.

The announcement was made by Megan Fitzgerald, Maxar’s senior vice president of space programs delivery;

Bridget Neville, SiriusXM’s senior vice president of satellite and repeater systems engineering and operations; and Lee Rosen, SpaceX’s vice president of customer operations and integration.

 

 

The post SiriusXM’s New Satellite Is in Orbit appeared first on Radio World.

The author is president of Nova Electronics in Dallas, Texas.

A serious consideration for AM revitalization is being overlooked. Rather than promoting digital, which is still not ready for prime time, how about making changes in facilities a little more friendly?

One way is to get rid of the three-channel rule, which has outlived its usefulness. Many stations are going dark, but the band is still too crowded for most stations to move within that range. In order to reduce interference and improve coverage (which the FCC claims is of high importance, but doesn’t seem to practice), a station may have a frequency available that accomplishes all the above but is outside the range; and waivers are nearly impossible to receive. 

At present you have to wait for an AM filing window, which may not happen for years to decades (the last one was over 20 years ago), in order to make a move outside the three channels. 

There is no good reason for this, with the number of stations recently going dark, whereby a struggling station could improve their coverage and reduce current interference if such a move were allowed. 

Another factor would be to allow more stations into the expanded band. There are only 52 stations across the nation in the entire expanded band, making it an additional resource that is being vastly underutilized. 

Keep adequate protections between stations so as not to overcrowd the band, and allow this underpopulated territory to be used for improving the AM band, which was the primary motivation for its creation. 

These simple changes can be made with no real costs or changes in regulatory structure required. Unfortunately that seems to be the exact opposite of what government does. 

 

The post Letter: Drop the Three-Channel Rule appeared first on Radio World.

Jerry Del Colliano, rear, with NYU students. “Go to any college campus,” he said. “To them Spotify is the new radio.”

Perhaps nothing spreads through the U.S. commercial radio industry’s C-suites faster than some juicy water cooler talk from Jerry Del Colliano.

Clippings from Del Colliano’s online newsletter often bash the corporate strategies of iHeartMedia and Entercom. But the publisher of Inside Music Media doesn’t see himself as a critic of the leadership at those companies.

“I don’t do it to be critical. I do it because I love the radio industry,” Del Colliano said.

Nevertheless he has called iHeartMedia a “zombie” company that exists simply to keep up with debt payments. He believes Entercom is on a path toward voluntary reorganization or bankruptcy in 2022 unless it quickly recovers from the economic chaos of COVID-19. He says Cumulus is living on a “hall pass” from the financial markets due to the pandemic.

Del Colliano also has been critical of the NAB, calling the group “National Assassination of Broadcasting,” and has castigated the Federal Communications Commission for radio deregulation that he feels has allowed major broadcast groups to shed countless jobs.

“Think about this: Radio broadcasters no longer need a local presence in their market of license. What a wonderful thing for radio broadcasters,” Del Colliano says sarcastically. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Making a mess of it”

It’s clear to followers that Del Colliano speaks with a passion about an industry he grew up in.

He began his broadcast career working on air for the campus radio station while a student at Temple University. He worked in radio and TV programming and management in Philadelphia for years and is the former owner and publisher of trade publication Inside Radio.

Now he is a professor at NYU Steinhardt Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions Music Business Program. He also has taught at the University of Southern California.

The New Jersey native often writes in his newsletter with a particular focus on the actions of major broadcast groups that he believes have doomed the radio business.

“iHeartMedia, Entercom and Cumulus are making a mess of it right now. This is not the radio industry we are capable of being. It’s not a radio industry that’s going to survive,” Del Colliano said.

“It’s an industry that has been hijacked by a bunch of carpetbagger private equity people who have gone in and wrecked it.”

Sweeping programming changes introduced recently by iHeartMedia and Entercom to use out-of-market voicetracking to replace local on-air talent in many markets have been a frequent target of his ire.

“It’s the assassination of live shows in just about any daypart. These groups claim they are improving the local product by using regional or national syndicated talent and centralizing operations, but being local wins every time,” he said.

He says the beginnings of the radio industry’s troubles can be traced to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed for mass radio consolidation.

“I don’t think radio has been a business that has done well with consolidation,” he said. “Just look at it. Who can say that consolidation has been good for the industry?”

He feels he can point directly to why radio began to fail.

“The thing that made radio bulletproof is the exact thing these big groups have eliminated: being live and local. iHeartMedia and Entercom run up billions of dollars in debt, they cut back, they eliminate talent and they do programmatic selling. It’s as if they are looking for ways to destroy themselves.”

In fact, Del Colliano isn’t afraid to name names when it comes to the management of radio portfolios.

“David Field at Entercom is about as qualified to run a radio group as I am to be in private equity. He botched the CBS Radio merger. I mean everyone wanted CBS Radio. How do you screw that up? And that was before COVID-19 so he can’t blame that,” he said.

Going around the horn, Del Colliano says of Mary Berner at Cumulus: “She’s a very nice person, but she is from a private equity background. She is at Cumulus because she knew how to get them through bankruptcy, not operate them as a successful radio group.”

As for iHeartMedia, Del Colliano says he believes the cost-cutting by Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman only invited John Malone of Liberty Media to come in and position himself to “steal the company for pennies on the dollar. And (Malone) will run it on the cheap like we have never seen before.”

Liberty Media Corp, which already controls Sirius XM and Pandora, has a 5 percent stake in iHeartMedia, but in July the U.S. Department of Justice gave its permission for Liberty Media to increase its shares in iHeartMedia up to 50 percent.

“And you know how this is going to go. Do I have to spell this out to you? Liberty Media buys distressed properties. Pandora was distressed. Sirius XM was distressed. They get a few board seats and boom they will have their own people running iHeartMedia.

“Then he will gut it. It will operate with so few people you can’t believe. And he’ll use a lot of the programming strategies of satellite radio to program a terrestrial group of stations. No local staff and national formats piped into all the 800 and some radio stations. There will be further homogenization of radio,” he said.

“It was never personal”

Del Colliano teaches media, music discovery, streaming and immersive technologies at NYU, mostly via Zoom these days. In his class “Music in the Media Business,” he says young students tell him they have no need for radio.

“Go to any college campus. To them Spotify is the new radio. In fact, just look at people under 30 years old. Look at the next new car when you buy it. People are more worried about getting the Apple CarPlay to work than finding the radio in the dash.”

And AM radio has been left to die, Del Colliano said, despite recent “revitalization” actions by the FCC.

“(AM) is not sustainable. You have major broadcast groups now turning off their stations. I don’t think all-digital is a way forward when you render all analog radios obsolete.”

Del Colliano thinks AM could have become a podcast platform.

“Radio really missed an opportunity. All of these different shows featuring only the spoken voice. It would have been perfect for AM, but instead the big radio groups wanted Premiere’s Rush Limbaugh on their AM stations coast to coast. It’s exactly that type of programming on AM that caused podcasting.

“And I don’t buy the sound quality argument that AM just doesn’t sound good enough. Most people listen to podcasts through tiny earbuds.”

The internet pool that entertainment platforms are playing in now is so huge and so fragmented, Del Colliano says, Gen Z might not miss radio if it went away entirely.

“Young people would never trade Spotify or Apple Music for radio. They would sooner have playlists and the systems that are in place today. Over-the-air radio is still so antiquated,” he said.

Del Colliano says he often receives anonymous tips with information on the dealings of the major radio groups.

“But you might be surprised that I get a lot of the information from the people I write about. CEOs are fascinating people. They like to talk about themselves and each other. I have built a lot of trust with them. They know I will vet the information they give me,” Del Colliano said.

In fact, he calls Cumulus’ Berner “a friend” and even remains friendly with former Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey, who was often a target of Del Colliano’s scorn until he left the company five years ago.

“I skewered him bad, but it was never personal. Lew has spoken to my class at NYU. I use his book ‘The New Modern Media’ in my class. I just disagreed with the way he ran Cumulus.”

Del Colliano predicts radio groups that maintain a local presence will eventually enjoy better ratings and increased revenue compared to those who centralize operations. He mentioned Hubbard, Saga, Beasley and Alpha Media as examples.

“And that’s because those stations will continue to do what radio does best: be live and local. They’ll have programmers in the local markets. They’ll have sales people in the local markets.”

But he insists it will take an industrywide effort for radio to survive.

“It’s going to be a big lift. It’s going to take more than one person to turn the industry around. It’ll take a number of people who decide the right way to move forward is decentralizing the corporate structure of programming and sales and making radio local again,” Del Colliano said.

He concluded: “Then perhaps the greed of the consolidators might end and help radio save itself from private equity mismanagement.”

RW welcomes comment on this or any story. Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

The post No Soft Edges From Jerry Del Colliano appeared first on Radio World.

Looking into 2021, the WorldDAB Automotive Working Group plans to work with vehicle manufacturers and broadcasters to help develop DAB+ guidelines using voice control as part of hybrid radio in vehicles

This is particularly important given that a new EECC Directive requires all new passenger cars in the EU be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio.

[Read: Metadata: Keeping Radio Strong in the Car]

The resultant guidelines will expand the existing WorldDAB User Experience (UX) Design Guidelines.

Expected efforts will focus on practices such as changing stations and searching for them through voice, allowing eyes to remain viewing the road.

Parties wishing to contribute to the new UX guidelines’ sections on voice control and hybrid can contact the WorldDAB Project Office.

 

The post WorldDAB Looking at Voice Control in the Car appeared first on Radio World.

In our latest issue, David Bialik comments on why CMAF HLS matters for radio streamers. Pam Johnston explains why WGBH in Boston dropped the “W” in its branding. David Antoine flips through the pages of “Radio’s Second Century,” a compilation of essays about radio. Jacob Daniluck offers hints on how to get the most out of your Tieline ViA codec. And group owner Gary Fisher relates how Equity Communications in New Jersey has reinvented itself thanks to the pandemic.

Read it online here.

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

On the Air

What’s the Right Tone on COVID-19?

For radio programmers, understanding attitudes can be a tricky business.

News Maker

No Soft Edges From Jerry Del Colliano

The newsletter author regularly dishes scorn on the actions of big commercial U.S. radio companies.

Also in this issue:

• Workbench: More on the STL Support Pole
• Book Takes Scholarly Look at Radio
• Putting CMAF HLS to Work in Audio

 

The post Inside the Dec. 9 2020 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

Country music is getting into the holiday spirit and CMT Radio affiliates and open markets are invited to join in.

A virtual holiday party benefiting children’s hospitals and hosted by country music personalities will be part of a four-hour radio special hosted by Seacrest Studios. The program “Home for the Holidays with CMT’s Cody Alan” can be downloaded on Dec. 14 by affiliates to air any time during the holidays.

[Read: Ryan Seacrest Foundation Opens Studio in Nashville]

Cody Alan and female country trio Runaway June participated in the benefit, which was held at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville. Young patients and their families at the hospital were treated to an interview with Runaway June, a live performance of their current single “We Were Rich” and songs from their new Christmas album.

The virtual event will also feature conversations with country music stars including Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Maren Morris and others. The program will include stories of Christmas memories, favorite gifts and family traditions, along with a mix of holiday-themed songs. Highlights will air on CMT’s “Hot 20 Countdown” on Dec. 19 and 20.

The Ryan Seacrest Foundation was founded in 2009 and its first initiative was to build broadcast media centers within pediatric hospitals around the country. Those centers are now in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, Orange County, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington.

 

The post CMT Radio Virtual Holiday Party to Benefit Children’s Hospitals appeared first on Radio World.

Edita Kudláčová has been selected to be the new head of radio for the European Broadcast Union.

She is a 12-year veteran of the central European national broadcaster, having risen to chief content producer.

Kudláčová is a member of the EBU’s New Radio Group and, prior to that, the International Relations Radio Group until 2016.

She said, “I’m passionate about radio and audio and I believe strongly in the power of these mediums to create fantastic content and in their potential to innovate and develop. I’m really looking forward to working with the team at the EBU.”

Her laurels include first prize for Best European Online Project at the 2019 Prix Europa for “1968 Project,” an initiative that also won the Journalism Award in the category for best online journalism. She also claimed first prize for best public service podcast with “Turn The Lights Off!” in the 2018 Podcast of the Year awards.

She takes over from Graham Dixon, who is retiring at the end of the year.

EBU Director of Media Jean Philip De Tender said, “Edita is already well known to our community, having been highly visible in the New Radio Group and at our industry events. Her track record in innovation, inspiring creativity and delivering award-winning projects makes her a dynamic addition to the EBU Media Management team.”

Director General, Czech Radio and Vice-Chair of the EBU Radio Committee René Zavoral said, “Edita has championed change and innovation at Czech Radio and developed new ideas and concepts into concrete projects, which have been instrumental in the overall transformation of the organization. We’re delighted that her talent has been recognized with the Head of Radio role, but we’ll miss her collaborative spirit, her energy and her passion for everything audio.”

 

The post Kudláčová Named to Run EBU’s Radio Operation appeared first on Radio World.

Time has run out for a Florida broadcaster who saw its construction permit revoked and its call letters deleted after a series of weather delays and procedural errors.

Florida Community Radio was issued a construction permit with a three-year window to build station WRBD(FM) in 2015. But a series of storms and rule changes delayed that construction as FCR faced off against the effects of Hurricane Irma and the commission’s decision to eliminate the main studio rule for radio stations. FCR requested a six-month extension of the deadline, which was granted by the Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau. Before the end of that extension FCR applied to modify its permit to operate on a different tower. The bureau granted that request as well.

[Read: FCC Rejects Appeal From Florida FM Applicant]

Then came Hurricane Michael in October 2018. FCR requested another extension based on the effects of the storm surge and flooding in Horseshoe Beach, Fla., where FCR planned to build its NCE station. The new extension deadline was moved to June 2019.

A third request came in April 2019 when FCR asked for additional time to perform an analysis of whether the station’s power lines should be underground as well as a structural analysis of the potential impact of a future Category 5 storm on the station’s antenna. Before handing out another extension, the Media Bureau asked FCR for information showing a direct connection between Hurricane Michael and the licensee’s inability to construct the station by the June 2019 deadline, but the Media Bureau said FCR did not provide any information.

As a result, the bureau denied FCR’s third request for an extension. The bureau also noted that the analyses that FCR wanted to perform could have been done well within the extended construction term.

FCR responded with a petition of reconsideration (which was denied) and an application for review (which was denied). In the application for review, the bureau rejected FCR’s new stance that argued that the new tower site was in a designated floodplain. The bureau also denied portions of the FCR petition that claimed that an additional extension was warranted. “We noted that FCR had not made any showing that Hurricane Michael continued to cause delays in construction, and that FCR had not made any construction progress,” the bureau said.

Advancing to 2020, the commission dismissed FCR’s latest petition based on procedural issues. The commission rules state that when the Media Bureau denies an application for review, the follow up petition for reconsideration will only be considered if the petition offers updated facts that relate to the event. The FCC said the arguments that FCR makes in its 2020 petition do not meet those requirements.

In its 2020 petition, FCR argued that the commission should establish longer extensions for permitees faced with back-to-back weather emergencies like the ones FCR faced with Hurricanes Irma and Michael. It also argued that the commission failed to establish adequate policies on increasing minority ownership of radio and TV stations.

But the FCC said that none of those arguments fall under the category of “circumstances which have changed,” which is what the FCC is looking for within a petition of reconsideration filing.

As a result, the commission dismissed FCR’s petition for reconsideration and updated its records to reflect that the construction permit for WRBD has now officially expired.

 

The post Florida Licensee Sees Construction Permit Revoked After Procedural Missteps appeared first on Radio World.

The society presented Poray with his own bobblehead depicting him in the SBE booth.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers threw a surprise party Thursday for departing Executive Director John Poray.

“You taught us how to be an organization,” veteran engineer Fred Baumgartner told Poray during a Zoom meeting attended by more than 75 people.

The group included numerous past presidents of the society, current and past board members and committee leaders, representatives from state broadcast associations, and friends and Poray family members.

[Related: “SBE’s Poray to Retire in 2020”]

Poray was SBE’s first full-time executive director and has been with the society since 1992.

He began his career with the Boy Scouts of America’s Central Ohio Council and went on to work for Kiwanis International, The Apartment Association of Indiana and The Columbus Apartment Association.

Among those on the call were two engineers who interviewed Poray for the job 28 years ago, Rick Farquhar and Fred Baumgartner.

Poray told the online gathering that when he joined, he figured he might stay in the job for four or five years.

“I’ve never been with a group that enjoys their work so much,” Poray said. “You like what you do, it’s part of you. That really rubs off.”

Poray noted that he is not an engineer but that he shared interests of many SBE members, having DXed as a boy and collected QSL cards.

Society veterans on the call praised Poray for his administrative abilities, good ideas and efforts to provide stability and growth for the organizations.

One said that when he became an SBE officer, his predecessor told him, “It’s an easy job. Just do what John tells you and you’ll be fine.”

New Executive Director James Ragsdale comes on board in January.

 

The post SBE Gives John Poray a Big Sendoff appeared first on Radio World.

The next NAB Show isn’t until October thanks to the pandemic effect; but the association says exhibit hall reservations are off to “a significant head start.”

The National Association of Broadcasters said it has approximately 540 companies that have committed to the show in October in Las Vegas, including vendors from 31 countries. Organizers are promoting the event as “the time to restart, rebuild and reconnect.”

Among brands familiar in radio that NAB said have committed to the show are Audio-Technica U.S., Comrex, Nautel, Rohde & Schwarz, Wheatstone and WideOrbit.

NAB also highlighted AT&T, Inc.; Adobe Systems; Amazon Web Services; Blackmagic Design; Dolby Laboratories; Grass Valley; Ikegami; Limelight Networks; Panasonic; Planar; Pixel Power; Ross Video; Sony Electronics, Inc.; Telestream; Verizon Business and Verizon Media; and Vizrt.

It quoted Executive Vice President of Conventions and Business Operations Chris Brown saying, “Together with our partners, we are on a path to building a critical event that will reunite the industry and create a much-needed forum for building momentum going into 2022.”

It said initial applications account for about 330,000 square feet of space.

The show will co-locate with the Audio Engineering Society fall convention, the Radio Show and NAB’s Sales and Management Television Exchange. The Society of Broadcast Engineers also will coordinate its annual national conference with that schedule.

 

The post NAB Show Cites Early Exhibit Hall Sales appeared first on Radio World.

Gary Koster, Gerhard Straub and Macon Dail at the Greenville, N.C., Transmitting Station. Photo: VOA

A new post on the Voice of America public relations website provides an update about the ongoing test of Digital Radio Mondiale from a shortwave transmission site of the U.S. Agency for Global Media in North Carolina.

It noted that a series of USAGM tests of the digital radio technology was launched in early 2020 with content targeting Cuba and Latin America.

[Read: DRM Advanced Radio for All]

The article cites the experience of Gerhard Straub, supervisory director of the USAGM Broadcast Technologies Division; Gary Koster, broadcast radio technician and transmitter expert; and Macon Dail, chief engineer at the transmitting station in Greenville, N.C.

“The USAGM test, says Straub, is ‘coasting along’ in the pandemic, but additional content will be added when technicians can travel again,” the story states. “Straub says the VOA signal was taken off in the initial test to concentrate on the [Office of Cuba Broadcasting] digital content and to keep the signal robust. Now that there is good reception data, he noted, the digital bitrate can be increased and VOA content added back into the test in 2021.”

The article also mentions advances by DRM in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil and North Korea.

The test DRM signal carries audio, scrolling text and rotating images.

“You have to stop thinking of it as radio, because it’s not,” VOA quotes Straub as saying. “Just like we broadcast digital data on the internet, we can broadcast digital data over shortwave without being hampered by an internet firewall that maybe limits what we can send to a particular country.”

Read the article “USAGM, VOA Testing Innovative Digital Radio Platform.”

 

The post USAGM’s Test of DRM Is “Coasting Along” appeared first on Radio World.

Just in time for last minute Christmas shopping, the “Global Radio Guide” from Teak Publishing is available in its new, 15th edition.

Gayle Van Horn’s treasure for the shortwave aficionado “dives into how and where to hear exotic shortwave stations transmitting in the world’s tropical radio bands.”

A release add, “[T]hese stations serve as a window into the culture and daily lives of countries not served by large international broadcast stations. Even in an increasingly connected and digital world, for many of the citizens in these countries, these radio stations serve as the only source of news and information they have at their disposal.”

The guide features 24-hour station/frequency guide with schedules for selected AM band, longwave, and shortwave radio stations; hourly schedules for all language services, frequencies, and world target areas for over 500 stations worldwide; listings of DX radio programs and internet website addresses for many stations, time and frequency stations as well as other odd signals in the shortwave ether.

In addition to contributions of Van Horn, W4GVH, Ken Reitz and Fred Waterer of Spectrum Monitor along with Larry Van Horn add significant content.

The “Global Radio Guide” is available as an ebook for $8.99.

The post Latest Edition of Global Radio Guide Available appeared first on Radio World.

SiriusXM announced a new automotive partner for its 360L hybrid radio platform.

The company said Maserati has made SiriusXM with 360L a standard feature in its 2021 vehicles in the United States.

“Maserati becomes the first manufacturer to make SiriusXM with 360L a standard feature in its vehicles,” it stated.

Like other hybrid radio systems, the 360L platform combines satellite and streaming content delivery. The company highlights its personalization and on-demand benefits not available in the more familiar one-way satellite service.

SiriusXM has made 360L-related announcements with other carmakers this year including BMW, GM and Audi.

Maserati owners will get a 12-month trial subscription to SiriusXM’s All Access package.

[Related: “Entercom Joins the DTS Connected Radio Ecosystem”]

The post Maserati Signs on for SiriusXM 360L appeared first on Radio World.

Entercom’s Radio.com digital platform is now part of Xperi’s DTS Connected Radio hybrid radio ecosystem.

The announcement gives insight into how Xperi is positioning its system. Senior VP, Radio Joe D’Angelo was quoted: “DTS Connected Radio continues to build on its mission to give today’s car-owners the visually rich, immersive listening experience they expect from the digital dash, while ensuring broadcaster editorial control.”

The platform recently came to market in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and Xperi says more vehicle launches are pending.

For Entercom, the benefits here are “increased engagement, expanded reach and turnkey management and control of content for each of our local broadcasters,” according to VP, Corporate Business Development David Rosenbloom.

[Related: “Hybrid Radio Picks Up Momentum”]

With the hybrid system, Radio.com radio stations will appear with artwork, artist and album information and playlists. The DTS system allows listener personalization and also provides “service following” capability — when a vehicle drives out of broadcast range, it switches in the background to the online version.

The companies said the integration also means economies of scale. Radio.com is home not only to Entercom’s 230 stations but hundreds of affiliates.

With this new relationship, they said in the announcement, “Broadcasters can easily integrate and manage their services, station information, and streams in one place via the RADIO.COM platform integration, all while maintaining control of their content, with all changes reflected in vehicles with DTS Connected Radio.”

 

 

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Order for TRT on the Nautel factory floor

Nautel has snagged another big contract to provide FM transmitters in Turkey.

The company is supplying 30 NVLT FM transmitters to Turkish Radio-Television Corp. with the option to purchase 12 more if needed.

These transmitters are all 5 kW models. The transmitters will be deployed at key locations throughout the country next year.

“Based in Ankara, TRT provides five regional and six national radio services as well as six AM radio broadcasts,” Nautel noted in its announcement.

“Additionally, Voice of Turkey provides shortwave programming in 32 languages. TRT radio is available on internet, satellite and cable as well as terrestrial services.”

In 2009, Nautel won a contract for 224 FM transmitters in a range of power levels up to 20 kW, and it supplied three 300 kW MW transmitters to TRT in 2008-2009. It said its transmitters have been “used to modernize a large portion of Turkey’s national FM Radio infrastructure.”

Yusef Tasdemir is the head of the Transmitter Operations Department at TRT. Ilker Aydin Akin is sales manager for Europe, Russia and Israel at Nautel.

Send news for Who’s Buying What stories to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Nautel Supplies 30 FM Transmitters to TRT appeared first on Radio World.

A divided Senate has approved Pres. Trump’s Republican nominee to the FCC, Nathan Simington.

Democrats strongly opposed the nomination of Simington, currently with the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, arguing it was a way to stymie the Democratic FCC agenda out of the gate, but Republicans prevailed in a straight party line vote 49–46, though with no floor defense of the President’s nominee after Democrats had pilloried him.

Senate Republicans have consistently appeared unenthusiastic about the Simington nomination, not speaking up strongly for him during the Commerce Committee’s approval of the nomination on Tuesday before voting (the same 49–46) to proceed to a vote on his nomination.

[Read: Chairman Pai Will Leave FCC in January]

Simington was the president’s choice while traditionally congressional Republicans would have a voice in the pick.

He is expected to take his seat, succeeding outgoing commissioner Michael O’Rielly, late Thursday (Dec. 8) or Friday, following the FCC’s Thursday public meeting.

President Donald Trump nominated O’Rielly for a second term, but pulled the nomination following a speech in which O’Rielly raised questions about efforts to regulate social media, something the President has been pushing the FCC to do.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee, was the first to speak on the Simington nomination after the Senate, again divided along party lines, had voted to limit debate and proceed, eventually, to the nomination vote.

She said she had questions about his neutrality and independence, given reports he had tried to enlist Fox News to spotlight the issue of regulating social media and given the abrupt withdrawal of O’Rielly’s nomination in favor of Simington, who worked on NTIA’s petition to the FCC seeking social media regulation, a petition Trump had mandated in an executive order as part of his effort to regulate sites, like Twitter and Facebook, he has long argued censor Republicans, including him.

“I hope that we will not pass the Simington nomination,” Cantwell said, but added that if he was to be confirmed, as assumed, her colleagues should move quickly to also approve a Democratic nominee to the commission, when one is chosen. She pointed out that, usually, Republican and Democratic FCC nominees are paired in such circumstances. A Republican Senate is not likely to rush to such confirmation, however.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the second senator to speak on the nomination, pulled no punches.

He said Simington was dangerous to the FCC at this moment in history, for which he was the wrong person at the wrong time, pointing to President Trump’s attempts to retaliate against social media platforms, his attempts to enlist the FCC in that effort, and Simington’s participation in that effort.

Blumenthal called him unprepared and unqualified for the post. He also cited the potential gridlock issue and noted the usual bipartisan pairing of nominees. He urged a no vote.

Democrats have reason to be worried that Simington’s installation could tie up the Democratic agenda after Jan. 20 — there would be two Democrats and two Republicans — and until a third Democrat can be named to Pai’s commission seat — he is exiting Jan. 20 — which if Republicans retain control of the Senate could be months down the road.

FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, who will be the only other Republican on the commission after the chairman exits, has been urging the Senate to confirm Simington so together they can thwart a Democratic FCC’s moves out of the gate.

In an appearance on Fox Business’ “Cavuto Coast-to-Coast,” Carr said: “I think it would be very valuable to get Simington across the finish line and help forestall what really would be billions of dollars’ worth of economic damage that I think a Democratic FCC would look to jam through from Day One. One thing a Democratic FCC is expected to do is restore net neutrality rules, which Carr has called “socialism in sheep’s clothing.”

 

The post Republican Nathan Simington Confirmed to FCC Seat appeared first on Radio World.

Wayne Eckert is an engineer with the Rural Florida Communications Cooperative. He occasionally comments here in Workbench on electrical matters of interest to broadcast engineers.

He noted the article by Mark Persons in the Oct. 14 issue of Radio World detailing lightning damage at KRJM. For engineers who are interested, he points out that AT&T has a relevant document “Grounding and Bonding for Network Facilities” that can be downloaded free in PDF form.

Fig. 1: The down conductor has been stapled to the 4-by-4 pole.

Wayne writes that while the document was created for central office grounding and bonding, it is now considered a company reference for all cell sites as well. And many parts it are applicable to broadcast sites, studios or any other facility where uptime is of high importance.

Wayne believes that if just some of the practices detailed in the AT&T document had been applied at KRJM, the damage suffered could have been greatly reduced.

One thing that caught Wayne’s eye was it appears that the pole supporting the STL link lacked a down ground. Wayne bases this opinion on the damage to the pole and from what Wayne could see in the photograph.

A down ground is an old utility practice and is a simple lightning protection device. Normally before the pole is placed, a lineman will secure a #6 hard drawn copper conductor to the pole with fencing staples. This line will attach from the top of the pole to the “butt” or bottom of the pole, leaving 6 inches or so of it standing above the top and coil up a few feet of the cable on the butt.

The goal is to produce a grounding electrode on the butt of the pole, so when the pole is placed in the earth it will make good contact with the earth.

If the pole is already in place, you can add a down conductor by installing an 8-foot ground rod into the earth.

Note well: Before pounding anything into the earth, contact your state’s one-call utility notification center. All states have such centers and require by law that you call 48 to 72 hours before digging. In most states the number is 811.

A “locate” will be scheduled and done at no charge to determine if there are any underground utilities present. Keep in mind that though this service is free, it is not “next day,” so plan your work, giving the “locates” folks plenty of time. Failing to notify them can get you killed should you drive the ground rod through an electrical cable or natural gas pipe. At the least, it can result in being sent a substantial bill from a utility should you damage something below grade.

The down conductor provides a bypass for the lightning’s energy into the earth, sparing the pole from extensive damage. Keep in mind that all pole attachments shall be bonded to the down ground cable. It is required by code that you bond the grounding electrode to the building’s grounding system using a direct buried #6 copper conductor, which prevents potential differences between grounds.

Wayne included several photographs that detail a down ground installed on a pressure treated 4-by-4 support pole.

In Fig. 1 above, note how the down ground is stapled to the support post. Also note that the last 36 inches or so of the down ground cable is protected by a piece of PVC pipe secured to the post.

Since the size of the 4×4 is too small for a butt coil, a ground rod was used, shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

In this photo, also note that all of the bends in the grounding conductors are sweeps (gentle curves, no sharp angles). This is very important as it minimizes the inductance in the grounding conductors.

Fig. 3: A view at the top of the pole.

Wayne writes that though lightning is direct current, it acts more like RF due to its extremely fast rise time, so inductance must be kept to a minimum.

Fig. 3 shows the top of the 4×4 pole with a pigtail, to which supporting structures like antennas or STL dishes can be bonded and grounded.

More on GDTs and MOVs

Robert LaJeunesse in Ann Arbor, Mich., holds an MSEE. He read with interest our discussions about gas discharge tubes and metal oxide varistors.

Bob points out that there are unique differences. The MOV clamps above its breakdown voltage while the GDT clamps below its breakdown voltage.

This may seem like a minor point but it has a major impact on the power dissipated by the clamping device, not to mention the pass-through energy.

With the GDT clamping lower, this device reduces the amount of energy that can pass into the subsequent protected circuitry; and the lower clamping voltage likely allows for more clamping current without over-dissipating.

It also makes sense that both be used together to protect a load. The MOV would absorb lower power surges but might allow the voltage to rise significantly above the MOV threshold on a higher current surge. The GDT can then kick in and clamp the voltage down, pushing more of the dissipated power back to the source — and source wiring — thus limiting the surge power that gets to the protected device.

Bob notes two PDF resources from Littelfuse to learn more. One is “Varistor Products Overview.” The other is a datasheet about its CG6 gas discharge tubes.

John Bisset has spent more than 50 years in the broadcasting industry. With this column he begins his 31st year writing Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance. John holds CPBE certification with the Society of Broadcast Engineers. He is also a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award. Workbench submissions are encouraged, qualify for SBE Recertification and can be emailed to johnpbisset@gmail.com.

The post Workbench: A Lineman’s Tips to Ground an STL Pole appeared first on Radio World.

Emergency alerts will be showing up on more digital billboards in the United States through a partnership of FEMA and Lamar Advertising.

“The alerts are transmitted over FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) on select Lamar digital billboards throughout the country,” the agency wrote in a press release.

[Read: COVID-19 and Emergency Alerting Best Practices]

The announcement was made by Administrator Pete Gaynor, who called 2020 an “unprecedented” year for public alerts thanks to the pandemic and “a record number” of hurricanes.

IPAWS alerts have appeared on Lamar digital billboards in 17 states “and are available to run in all 43 states that Lamar covers,” FEMA said.

“Alerts will be displayed for 30 minutes at a time. Not all alerts sent through FEMA will appear on a Lamar billboard.”

FEMA said that since 2011 IPAWS has carried more than 81,000 alerts and warnings, and of those, 11,000 have been delivered in 2020 alone.

The post FEMA Expands Use of Billboards for Alerts appeared first on Radio World.

The Telos Alliance has released a “soft” console through its Axia Audio badge.

The iQs AES67 mixing console software is an HMTL5 software-based console designed to provide remote operation powers via Windows and Mac computers along with mobile devices. It works with the company’s AE-1000 server or Docker.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Telos Alliance Executive VP of Sales, Support, and Marketing Marty Sacks said, “IQs software runs on roads built by industries much larger than our own and gives broadcasters flexible options for deployment, including our new AE-1000 server and Docker container. … All while giving you total control with a simple web browser, allowing broadcast engineers to ‘Studio Anywhere.’”

According to a release iQs is scalable and allows multiple iterations at the same time. It is compatible with off-the-shelf hardware and has easy upgrade paths. Multiple subscription levels are available. It also allows for customization.

The company also points to the advantage of cloud-based systems such as trimming cap-ex costs and also eliminating or keeping physical plant costs under control.

Info: www.telosalliance.com

 

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