Industry News

Mark Persons is shown receiving the SBE Lifetime Achievement Award virtually

Prior to this autumn, only nine people had received a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

Mark Persons is the 10th. The award was presented to Persons during an SBE online membership meeting and award ceremony. Radio World is proud that Mark is a longtime contributor and valued member of the RW family.

We asked him to share thoughts and memories of his career.

This story starts in the mid-1920s when my father, Charles B. Persons, became a radio broadcast engineer at age seventeen at WEBC Radio in Duluth, Minn. — the only station in town. It grew to become part of a seven-station network before he left to build our own WELY in Ely, Minnesota, in 1954.

It was a great time for me to learn electronics and Ohm’s Law, turn knobs on the 250-watt AM transmitter and build Heathkit equipment at age seven. That station was later owned by well-known CBS journalist Charles Kuralt.

I became a radio amateur in 1963, the year before our family built and owned KVBR Radio in Brainerd, Minn. At age 17, it was a natural for me to wire the transmitter and studios with the latest innovation: cartridge tape decks.

There was never a question about my future. Broadcast engineering was not just a job, it was a lifestyle.

Three years later, I found little interest in college, which taught nothing about electronics. I enlisted in the U.S. Army and taught electronic repair at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Then it was off to Vietnam to do high-tech electronic repair. The plan was to fulfill the obligation to our country so I could go back to broadcast engineering in 1969.

Work ramped up in the 1970s, when engineers were let go from radio stations because the FCC no longer required them. Soon I was a full-time independent radio broadcast engineer, building 12 new stations and repairing countless others. Good test equipment helped solve the problem of a noticeable hearing loss from my service in Vietnam.

Treat it like your own

Coming from a family ownership situation, I treated each station as if it were my own. The attachment was personal because the work was mostly for clients who believed in engineering. A message on our telephone recorder said, “I am out working on one of America’s great radio stations.”

My wife Paula came into the business full-time after working as a legal secretary. She has a keen sense of character and it paid off. Her job was to run the office, freeing me to go out in the field 60 hours a week at 40 or more clients.

Once I was almost hit head-on by a drunk driver at 2 a.m. but went in a ditch instead.

I never wanted to own a station. The challenge of installing, troubleshooting and repairing equipment was more than enough. It is a great feeling to get all electrons flowing in the same direction, so to speak.

Along the way, two engineers tried to get into our “territory” by promising lower prices. (They never asked; we might have given them a few stations.) In the end, the clients came back to us for dependable results.

We lost less than $4,000 to bad debts over the years. I remember two times when a customer was slow to pay and then called looking to send me to a transmitter right away. Paula’s response in one case was, “You are no longer a customer!” That day I drove right by his downed transmitter while coming back from another project and did not stop.

That dented our reputation a bit, but we stuck by our principles. As Paula said, “We are not a bank that loans money.”

The author working at KLOH(AM) in 1988.

My first AM directional was a five-tower array in 1982 at Hibbing, Minn. It was built from parts, including a custom phasor controller. The phasor was, and still is, a room in a building with an eight-foot-high aluminum wall with inductors, capacitors and contactors on the backside. Coupling units were built open-panel style at each tower.

The client liked this so much that he had me build a three-tower array in Cape Coral, Fla., and a three-tower in Carmel Valley, Calif. All 10KW stations. He gave me the freedom to design and build what I thought was best for each job.

Then there were more than 40 C-Quam AM stereo installations. One of them was at the Cape Coral station, which introduced the “oldies” format in 1986. It placed second in the Arbitron after being on the air only six weeks.

Sharing knowledge

Never satisfied, I modified equipment, then designed and built many electronic gadgets used in stations. That evolved into designing products for manufacture such as the Programmer 3A Live Assist Program Controller and the Max-Tel Remote Broadcast Telephone, later updated to be the Max-Z and ZII.

I have always enjoyed telling stories. Approximately 188 of my articles have been published, mostly in Radio World. Then there is the popular Tech Tips section on my http://mwpersons.com website, where free answers are given to radio broadcast engineering problems.

[Read recent Radio World columns by Mark Persons.]

We retired when I was 70 and mentored two engineers to take over the territory. There was no charge except for a few hours of classroom training to bring them up to speed on measuring AM impedance etc. Then the SBE mentor program added two mentees in other parts of the country. I also became a member of the National Radio Systems Committee’s AM Improvement Working Group.

It is volunteer work, and it feels good to continue to be a part of the broadcast industry that I grew up and prospered in.

The plan is to keep writing articles for Radio World in the quest of spreading knowledge to broadcast engineers everywhere. Radio has a great future and needs good engineers to keep it going.

Regarding the SBE Lifetime Achievement Award: I had no intention of seeking that or any other accolade. Life just worked out that way while keeping the “families” of stations the best they can be. Paula says she will bury me next to a transmitter when the time comes.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The SBE John H. Battison Award for Lifetime Achievement recognizes and pays tribute to individuals for their dedication, lifelong achievement and outstanding contribution to broadcast engineering, according to the society. Prior recipients are Benjamin Wolfe and James Wulliman (1995), Philo and Elma Farnsworth (1997), Morris Blum (1998), Richard Rudman (2002), Richard Burden (2005), John Battison (2006) and Terry Baun (2010). You can watch the replay of the membership meeting and awards ceremonies on the SBE YouTube channel.

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Radioplayer said it gave the first public demonstration of a three-way or “tri-platform” hybrid radio app in the Android Automotive Operating System.

The app combines DAB+ and FM over-the-air radio with online streams. The organization said the demo was for an online audience of major carmakers using automotive-grade tuner hardware.

Managing Director Michael Hill said, “Our aim is to make hybrid radio the standard experience in Android Automotive; this is the first step towards that.”

Radioplayer is a not-for-profit that started in 2011 in the U.K. as a partnership of the BBC and commercial radio. It now operates in numerous European countries and Canada, with France and Sweden pending.

[Read: “Radioplayer Expands in Europe”]

The three-way app was developed in partnership with Tier 1 technology supplier Panasonic Automotive Systems Europe, or PASEU.

“The hybrid app has a single, multi-platform station list that hides the platform from the user and allows them to select a radio station from the strongest available signal, prioritizing DAB+, then FM, followed by streaming, and automatically switching between platforms if the car moves out of coverage,” Radioplayer stated.

“The unique Radioplayer User Interface is powered by official broadcaster metadata from the Worldwide Radioplayer API and is fully compliant with Google’s Android Automotive Design Guidelines and the WorldDAB User Experience Design Guidelines.”

Radioplayer said its hybrid app is now available to car manufacturers to use in Android Automotive cars and that the UI can be customized.

“Radioplayer is also seeking to partner with Google to ensure hybrid capability for all radio apps and help improve the current standard radio experience in Android Automotive,” it stated.

“Further development of the app will see on-demand and podcast content, enhanced now-playing visuals such as artist images, as well as station recommendations, added early next year.”

 

The post Radioplayer Demos 3-Way Hybrid App appeared first on Radio World.

Kaylee Good is one of the hosts and student management leaders at WLTL Radio.

Illinois’ WLTL Radio has been named Best High School Radio Station in a program that recognizes excellence in high school radio broadcasting.

The John Drury High School Radio Awards are named in honor of ABC-Chicago news anchor John Drury. They are presented by North Central College and WONC Radio in Naperville, Ill.

WLTL Radio at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Ill., has won numerous awards in this program in the past, and in 2020 it was named to the top award during an online ceremony. It also won in individual categories for news feature story, specialty music program, on-air promotion, social media campaign and best website.

WLTL Radio is a student-run volunteer station that launched in 1968. It celebrates its history and its alumni at www.wltl.net.

Chris Thomas is faculty advisor and general manager. “Despite everything that 2020 has thrown at our students, they still did their best to produce quality content and entertaining programming for our community listening on 88.1 FM and streaming around the globe on WLTL.net, and today’s honors recognize their hard work and dedication. I am immensely proud of them,” Thomas said in a press release.

Read the list of nominees.

 

The post WLTL Is Named Best High School Station appeared first on Radio World.

The 2021 National Religious Broadcasters convention will be postponed after all.

Planners of NRB 2021 had been optimistic that they could have a physical event in March in Grapevine, Texas, and had reconfirmed that intention to Radio World in late November.

But today CEO Troy Miller wrote in an email to potential attendees that “our team came to the conclusion that while we could host an in-person event safely in March, many of you would be limited in your plans to attend or hold meetings during the event.”

NRB has moved the event to June 21 to 24.

“These additional three months will enable more opportunities to network and fellowship without as many of the current restrictions and limitations. With the additional time, increased effectiveness of treatments and widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines, June will be much closer to a full return to normal,” he wrote.

Any hotel reservations at the Gaylord Texan will automatically be updated.

 

The post NRB Postpones March Convention After All appeared first on Radio World.

iHeart announced a partnership to provide holiday music stations to viewers of the Roku Channel.

“America’s most popular iHeartRadio holiday music stations will be easily accessible to all users of The Roku Channel, available on Roku players and TVs, The Roku Channel mobile app, web, Samsung Smart TVs and Amazon Fire TVs,” according to iHeartRadio blog.

[Read: iHeart Lists Top 10 Overall Songs of 2020]

That includes iHeart Christmas, iHeartChristmas Classics, iHeartChristmas Country, iHeartChristmas R&B and iHeartChristmas Rock.

The company said the integration is free to Roku viewers “and marks the first time iHeartRadio’s hit music stations can be enjoyed in a video-focused experience.”

iHeartRadio’s content catalog remains available on the iHeartRadio channel on Roku devices.

The post iHeart Holiday Stations Are on Roku Channel appeared first on Radio World.

Ben Poor

The author is project manager, radio, on the Technology and Innovation team of the European Broadcasting Union, an alliance of public service media with 115 member organizations in 56 countries. 

For almost as long as radio and television services have existed, a large amount of effort has been expended on measuring the audiences that listen to them.

Largely driven by the boom in U.S. commercial broadcasting in the 1930s, measurements were necessary to define the advertising models that were to sustain these new services.

Although audience measurement on television would come to dominate what is understood to be “listening figures,” audience measurement is still a vital part of radio both for commercial and public service broadcasters.

In Europe, methods of audience measurement for radio vary between countries, but three methods have been generally adopted across industry: diaries, interviews and electronic measurement.

These give periodic snapshots of listening (e.g. ranging from daily to twice yearly), which does not give a clear picture of individual usage, either being driven purely from device usage, or being more based off brand recall, as such providing a broader picture of performance.

More detailed information about real engagement with specific programs, special events, segments and topics is lost in the aggregation. An experienced manager will know that a good radio station is the sum of all these parts yet relies on “craft” that can sometimes be hard to justify to those who control budgets.

An alternative arrived in the 1990s with the rise of online measurement. This introduced a number of new metrics but also provided analytic data that could be available instantly.

Thus, those publishing on the web could have a live view of how audiences were reacting to their content. For newspaper publishers, this has fundamentally changed their business; and although this has led to a rise in “clickbait,” it is notable that audiences still place value in “trusted sources.”

Audience measurement for radio services has been changing in similar ways with the rise of internet streaming and connected devices. Being able to measure how many people are listening to a stream, during what times and for how long can, in theory, give us the analogy to traditional measurement, with the benefit of being near-instantaneous.

Broadcasters have been trying this for the best part of two decades, although currently largely only for internal use. The reason is that much of this data relies on inference from server logs, by using proprietary methods from the broadcaster’s own applications or through third-party applications. A lack of shared technical standards and methodologies has limited development.

By contrast, traditional methods may not be sophisticated or granular but they have the advantage that they have been accepted as valid and largely transparent. Additionally, the different actors that sit between a broadcaster and their listeners can obfuscate the situation, resulting in the broadcaster not getting the full picture.

With a distribution chain that now includes increasing number of layers, each with opportunities for aggregation and caching, numbers are harder to rely on. For newer connected platforms like smart speakers, acquiring comparable figures can be challenging both for live and on-demand listening and again reliant on the platform (e.g. Amazon, Google) granting access. Importantly, the only party with access to the whole picture is the platform provider itself.

While internet streaming for radio has previously been a minority proportion of overall listening, dwarfed by use of broadcast, this will perhaps change as audiences consume more on-demand and personalized content, as well as with the further rollout of connected cars.

A clearer view of consumption across all platforms will become more and more important. Having a standardized method that can directly carry analytics for both broadcast and broadband, live and on-demand — the full spectrum of hybrid radio — is needed.

Such an effort has started as a collaboration among several organizations, led by the RadioDNS Technical Group, which I chair. The body is responsible for developing and maintaining open standards for hybrid radio, involving representatives from broadcasters and associations across three continents (including the National Association of Broadcasters and the European Broadcasting Union) as well as device manufacturers and service providers.

The goal of the project is to develop a free and open standard for the gathering of analytic data from the connected devices themselves, as well as the definition of a basic set of data to be gathered. By optionally using RadioDNS Hybrid Lookup, the broadcaster can define and control where the data is sent regardless of whether the listening is happening over broadcast or broadband.

Having the ability to determine how a listener moves between platforms (e.g. FM and IP), the broadcaster’s own radio services and live/on-demand during a session, in an anonymized way, is key to revealing the real value of hybrid radio services.

This can act as proof to broadcasters of their value, in a way that supports future investment. This benefits device manufacturers, increasing the coverage and quality of hybrid radio services that can be offered free-to-access for their own customers.

Ultimately, the winner will be the listener. Regardless of the means and mode of listening, enabling measurability for the connected era can improve radio, keeping it vibrant and exciting in an increasingly competitive space.

 

The post Collaboration Seeks a Radio Analytics Standard appeared first on Radio World.

Just in time for the studio-that-has-everything is something the studio doesn’t have — a black Electro-Voice RE20 microphone for under the radio station Christmas tree.

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

EV calls it a “low-reflection dark charcoal finish” for the venerable radio broadcaster standard. Ideally, besides being stylish it should provide use in radio studios with video cameras (not that the traditional putty-colored finish was particularly shiny).

The RE20 Black is really a horse of another color with the EV Variable D design, integrate pop filter, humbucking coil and a mid-bass filter.

Info: www.electrovoice.com

 

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A unique combination of an unsupervised tower structure and a radio contest gone awry led the Enforcement Bureau to levy a $125,000 civil penalty against a Florida broadcaster as part of a consent decree.

Magic Broadcasting II LLC was the subject of two investigations by two units within the Federal Communications Commission — the Enforcement Bureau and the Investigation and Hearings Division (IHD).

In 2018 the IHD began investigating a complaint that alleged that Magic Broadcasting’s station WILN(FM) failed to conduct radio contests in a fair manner. In the first instance, a complainant suggested that winners of an on-air radio contest were preselected. A scavenger hunt-like contest called Troll Tracker was initiated by WILN and ran for several weeks, even though the bureau alleged that a female listener allegedly solved the puzzle early on and was asked to sign nondisclosure agreements so that the station could continue the contest and entice the broadcast audience to keep listening through a long, drawn-out competition.

[Read: Contest Missteps Slip Up Two Texas Stations]

Likewise, in a second contest called Alexa Almighty, the station offered callers the chance to win prizes if they called into the station at certain times of day. But according to a complaint filed with IHD, it was impossible for the station to have conducted the contest as advertised because there was no live DJ on-air at the time the listeners were asked to call in. “Instead the station allegedly aired prerecorded calls between station employees and their friends posting as contest participants,” the IHD complaint states.

In these two cases, even though the Enforcement Bureau issued a letter of inquiry to Magic Broadcasting to seek more information, Magic Broadcasting could neither confirm or deny the truth of the allegations. The bureau said Magic also did not provide any evidence to rebut the issues in the complaint, although the broadcaster was repeated asked about these matters.

A second, unrelated issue appeared when, in September 2019, the Enforcement Bureau received an anonymous field complaint that an antenna structure had not been properly lit for more than a year. An agent from the bureau’s Miami Field Office investigated and determined that Magic Broadcasting station WVFT(FM) was licensed to operate from that antenna structure.

Magic Broadcasting admitted that it failed to monitor the state of the lighting system over a period of 453 days as required by FCC Rules, that it failed to immediately notify the Federal Aviation Administration that a light was out on the antenna structure as required by FCC Rules and that it failed to notify the commission of its acquisition in 2012 of the entire antenna structure itself.

Both of these two issues were resolved when Magic Broadcasting and the Enforcement Bureau agreed to enter into a consent decree. As part of the deal, Magic agreed to comply with several stipulations including that it create internal procedures to ensure compliance of the lighting system rules of the antenna structure, create internal procedures to ensure compliance with contest laws and live broadcast rules, and develop a compliance manual and training program for all employees to ensure the company complies with FCC Rules.

As part of the consent decree, Magic is also required to report any noncompliance with the aforementioned rules within 15 days of discovery of such noncompliance. Magic must also file compliance reports with the commission several times over the next five years.

In addition to following compliance procedures, Magic also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $125,000 in 20 installments of $6,250, the first of which is due 30 days after the effective date of the consent decree. If Magic defaults on any of the payments, the unpaid amount will accrue interest and the remaining amount will become immediately due.

 

The post Broadcaster to Pay $125,000 as part of Civil Penalty and Consent Decree appeared first on Radio World.

Business software tools developer Veritone has announced several changes for the good in its Discovery and Attribute advertising analysis software platforms.

According to the company, the Discovery ad campaign and analysis application now has more thorough campaign analysis; improved usage of Nielsen data, for those who subscribe; better report customization options; and new AI models for improved performance.

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

The Attribute broadcast advertising attribution program now offers deeper analytic capabilities; better management and campaign prep along with improvements in administration and user management as well; and better understanding of broadcast integration with the internet; media.

Veritone President Ryan Steelberg said, “Our already comprehensive campaign search and analytics applications keep evolving as we work closely with our customers to continuously identify opportunities to help automate their processes. Further, we’re improving the interface to make it easier and more intuitive to deliver actionable intelligence that helps drive ad revenue and advertiser satisfaction.”

Info: www.veritone.com

 

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These transmitters seem like silent sentinels but they tell very good time.

It is nestled in a farmer’s field in southwestern Ottawa, Canada, in a protected area known as the Greenbelt, surrounded by miles of sprawling suburbia.

It is CHU, Canada’s own automated time station.

Operating from a 1940s-era transmitter building and three vertical antenna towers, CHU broadcasts automated voice time signals in both English and French 24/7.

Its broadcasts are transmitted on 3.33, 7.85 and 14.67 MHz, and are heard through central/eastern Canada and the eastern United States, plus many other areas of the planet on a regular basis.

The unassuming exterior of CHU in southwestern Ottowa.

CHU’s time service is operated by Canada’s National Research Council, with the station being remotely controlled from the NRC’s Montreal Road headquarters central Ottawa some 12 miles away. The time signals are based on CHU’s trio of atomic clocks on-site, which are constantly checked against the atomic clocks at NRC headquarters.

“We are equipped with 1960s-era 10 kW transmitters that have been highly modified over the years,” said Bill Hoger. He is the Research Council officer who maintains the unmanned station as part of his overall duties along with two other off-site technicians.

One of CHU’s three towers.

“Before we moved to 7.85 from 7.335 MHz in 2009 due to an ITU frequency reallocation, we ran 7.335 MHz at 10 kW, our highest output power at CHU,” said Hoger. “But after the move we got complaints from a person in New Zealand who said we were causing interference, so we cut our power to 5 kW peak.” (CHU’s other transmissions run at lower powers.)

CHU was launched as experimental station 9CC at the Dominion Observatory in downtown Ottawa. Regular time broadcasts began using the callsign VE9OB in 1929.

In 1938 it became CHU, and in 1947 the station was moved to its current flat rural site in a project to boost its transmitting power, enlarge its antenna farm and extend its reach.

Faraday cage blocks unwanted electromagnetic fields.

The idea behind VE9OB/CHU was to provide accurate time-keeping information to people across Canada, especially those in rural and remote areas who needed accurate time and didn’t have local access to it. The country’s vast spaces and its government’s determination to bridge them is why it has been a pioneer in national microwave and satellite communications for decades.)

Atomic clocks inside the cage.

“Initially our service was just a constant frequency with patterns of Morse Code pulses in it to indicate the time,” said Hoger. More Morse Code information such as station identification was added in the 1930s, with recorded voice time messages coming from a mechanical “speaking clock” starting in 1952. This system used recorded time announcements on film whose playback was controlled remotely by the clocks. “We then went to digital playback in the 1990s,” he said.

Generation and measurement of signals in the CHU control room.

In its early days, CHU had personnel on site, but today the station runs itself with occasional human intervention. Still, it has a following: “We receive listener reports from around the world, and send out QSLs (reception report cards) on a regular basis,” Hoger said. Meanwhile, the NRC keeps this 1940s-facility maintained and repaired.

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