Industry News

The author is editor-in-chief of the UNESCO Courier.

Is radio out of date? Is it time to bury this medium that entered our homes nearly a century ago? Far from it.

Certainly, the transistor of yesteryear has lived its life. Linear listening, ear glued to the radio receiver, has had its day. Radio has begun its digital transformation. Today, listeners are just as likely, if not more so, to tune in on their mobile phones or computers.

A major factor in reinventing the medium has been the production of podcasts — programs available on demand. Radio can sometimes even be watched, when programs are filmed and posted online. The listener has evolved too. Once passive behind their devices, they can now take part in broadcasts, and even help shape programs, by voicing their opinions on social media.

CRUCIAL ROLE

So it is a very different but thriving medium that we now celebrate on Feb. 13 each year, on World Radio Day. Proclaimed in 2011, the day reminds us of the crucial role of this medium, which reaches a wide audience, even in the most isolated areas or in emergency situations. Since UNESCO’s creation, the Organization has relied on this key medium to help fulfill its mandate to foster freedom of expression and the free flow of ideas throughout the world.

The Organization provided programs to radio stations around the world, supporting radio information campaigns — such as the 2016 information campaign on the Zika virus in Latin America and the Caribbean — something it continues to do today. UNESCO offers training in radio broadcasting and reporting, as it has done for young Syrian refugees in Lebanon since 2014. It also supports the creation of community radio stations, or those broadcasting in the aftermath of natural disasters.

The theme of World Radio Day 2020 is diversity. This remains a burning issue because the representation of women, minorities and people with disabilities on the airwaves is still unsatisfactory. We have come a long way since female reporters had to make way for men to read their reports on air, because male voices were considered more credible. But the challenge is real.

The lack of statistics in many countries makes it impossible to draw a global map of diversity in radio. But the data that does exist, speaks for itself. In France in 2018, women accounted  for 37% (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel, 2019) of radio broadcasters. They constituted 23% of political guests, and 37% of experts on radio.

In the United Kingdom, while 51% of radio staff were women, only 36% held positions of responsibility (Ofcom, 2019). Another example: in the United States, in 2017, only 11% of radio newsroom staff were from minority backgrounds (The Radio and Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and Hofstra University Newsroom Survey, 2018).

It’s important that radio reflects the audiences it serves more accurately, because diversity in radio is the key to fair and independent information. It is also a means of giving a voice to the variety of cultures and opinions that form the basis for critical thinking.

In spite of the evolution of radio in recent years, it remains that irreplaceable voice, which populates our solitude and seems to speak to us alone — even though it addresses the multitude. In a world invaded by screens, “paradoxically, one advantage of radio is that it is not accompanied by the image”, noted the UNESCO Courier in the editorial of its February 1997 issue devoted to radio.

This message is just as relevant today. “The chief quality of the TV image — that it seems so realistic — is actually its main flaw because it inhibits our imagination and our capacity to stand back and think,” the editorial continues. “We shall always need sound without image as part of our right to interpret for ourselves, as we tune in to the morning news, the meaning of world events.”

This article first appeared in the UNESCO Courier.

The post World Radio Day: Radio Is “Stronger and More Vibrant Than Ever” appeared first on Radio World.

The National Association of Broadcasters is closely monitoring the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in China, with an eye toward its potential impact on attendance and exhibitors at the 2020 NAB Show, April 18-22, in Las Vegas.

As of this writing, no exhibitors have pulled out due to the virus; however, NAB is currently reaching out to companies from China to assess their status, said Ann Marie Cummings, senior vice president of Communications for the broadcaster trade association.

According to NAB’s demographic breakdown of its 2019 show, 30% of non-U.S. attendees came from Asia.

This week, several large companies, including Amazon, Ericsson, Intel, LG, Nvidia and Sony, announced they were pulling out of the 2020 Mobile World Congress, April 24-27, in Barcelona due to the risk of coronavirus.

In Las Vegas, the city’s convention bureau has seen no cancellation of trade shows since the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, said Erica Johnson, director of communications of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. There are 16 trade shows with more than 5,000 expected attendees scheduled for Las Vegas between now and the beginning of April.

As of Feb. 12, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 45,171 with 1,115 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. NAB is following the advice of the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control as it plans its 2020 gathering, said Cummings.

[Coronavirus: ABU Takes “Necessary Precautions” for DBS 202]

“The health and safety of our attendees and exhibitors is our first priority,” and to that end, the association is developing policies and procedures “to combat potential threats and ensure a safe and productive environment for all,” said Cummings.

Possible steps include “enforcing best practices to prevent the spread of flu viruses,” ramped up sanitation efforts and making sure medical personnel are present at the event, said Cummings.

While it is still too early to determine what, if any, effect the virus will have on the show, the trade association is “confident the NAB Show will convene as the world’s largest and most comprehensive media and technology convention,” she said.

“More importantly, our hearts go out to the citizens of China and all who have been directly affected,” said Cummings.

The post NAB Monitoring Coronavirus, Assessing Impact on 2020 Show appeared first on Radio World.

This year, World Radio Day is dedicated to diversity — diversity behind the mic and in the newsroom, diversity in the airwaves’ music and ideas. This focus comes at just the right time. Radio and radio-like audio are poised for growth, so long as they can woo younger listeners by reaching them where they are, via digital products like streams and podcasts.

Radio knows how to create value for listeners and sponsors. Radio is great for discovery, as trusted voices introduce us to new sounds, new artists and new thoughts on cultural or political developments.

New digital platforms and media are inspired by radio’s time-tested formats. Efforts on the part of streaming services to grow their user base, for example, draw on radio’s ideas, linking music, engaging talk, friendly conversation and other elements into personalized radio-like channels. 

PODCASTING

The podcast boom shows that the human element outweighs the algorithm in creating this value for listeners. The majority of broadcasters see podcasting as a good opportunity, one way or another.

We at BMAT see this as one of the largest global monitors of broadcasting for reporting purposes, carrying out 24/7 tracking of around 8,000 channels across 134 countries.

Podcasts offer potential listeners a chance to catch a beloved on-air personality whenever convenient for the listener. Podcasting lets broadcasters expand their offerings, curate experiences for specific audience segments and, importantly, experiment with new sounds, approaches and perspectives. Podcasts are a great springboard for diversity, allowing new voices to find and build an audience. 

We need to nurture these new voices in order to keep radio’s audiences youthful. For music radio in Spain, where BMAT is based, the average age of listeners is 40, which means there aren’t a lot of teens tuning in. Especially in first-world countries where there are so many other options, Gen Z and millennials are elsewhere. They’re still tuning in, still listening, but not as much. Broadcasters need to think about how to engage with these audiences. This doesn’t mean we should abandon terrestrial broadcasts, but instead, we could let new formats cross-pollinate with tried-and-true approaches. 

We need to nurture these new voices in order to keep radio’s audiences youthful.

These approaches endure and can flourish in the future, I believe, because they involve real human connection. Radio is the most widespread medium on the planet, and worldwide, its penetration is still higher than the internet. For many listeners, radio is still the best, if not the only, way depending on their location, to hear new sounds or catch up on news or important issues. 

For me and for billions of other people out there, there’s this feeling when you turn on the radio. You find your favorite station, and you come to trust the person’s taste you’re listening to. It’s a relationship between you and the presenter, a relationship that means something in this era of on-demand audio content. It’s a relationship that’s still going strong.

Jose Torrabadella is VP of broadcast at Barcelona-based BMAT. He works with the monitoring and reporting of song information, duration, audience and context for broadcasts on TV and radio channels across 134 countries.

The post Relationships Are Why Radio’s Future Promises to Be Strong appeared first on Radio World.

Getty Images/askmenow

It is the age-old question: What came first, the chicken or the egg? Arguments can be made for both, so the question remains unanswered, at least in the philosophical sense. But what does that have to do with broadcast radio? In that regard, I suppose we could ask whether the transmitter or receiver came first, and the answer would be that they both came at the same time.

In the early months of this year, we are faced with a similar question: What has to come first for all-digital AM to succeed: a critical mass of HD-Radio capable receivers, or a significant number of stations transmitting in the all-digital mode?

As the FCC considers allowing AM stations to convert to the MA-3 all-digital mode on a voluntary basis, broadcasters are faced with a choice as to which stations it makes sense to convert.

In some situations, the choice would seem to be fairly clear. If an AM station’s programming is 100% duplicated in the coverage area by an FM signal, whether from a sister full-power station or a translator with good market coverage, chances are that the majority (if not all) of the listeners are tuning into the FM signal anyway, and there is no downside to converting the AM to the all-digital mode, at least in terms of audience impact. The all-digital signal will give listeners another high-fidelity means of getting the station’s programming.

But in other situations, there may be some FM duplication of coverage and programming, but is it enough that no listeners are disenfranchised if the analog AM signal goes away? That is a decision that each licensee will have to make; only those who are intimately familiar with the market, their radio stations and audiences have sufficient information to make that determination.

I suspect that this is where the vast majority of AM stations are — in a situation that is anything but clear-cut one way or the other.

WHERE TO START?

Standalone AM stations would seem to be poor candidates for all-digital conversion. If you believe the HD Radio penetration data, that means as soon as the all-digital switch is flipped, at least 50% of the station’s listeners will get nothing but white noise. And while the statistics on receiver proliferation are undoubtedly correct on the whole, I imagine that the real numbers vary widely depending on region, demographics, the local or regional economy and other factors. All this is part of what amounts to a very local decision as to whether all-digital conversion is right for a particular AM station.

And then there is the elephant in the room: cost of conversion. Since the MA-3 mode primary digital carriers fit within the spectrum occupied by the analog signal, it is likely that most stations have sufficient antenna bandwidth to handle the all-digital spectrum.

This is in contrast to the demands of the digital hybrid mode that is authorized at present. A lot of stations that got on that bandwagon had to do a significant amount of work to get their antenna systems in shape to pass the digital sidebands. I did a bunch of those myself some 15 years ago, and it wasn’t easy.

So assuming few or limited antenna issues, all-digital conversion costs are primarily the Xperi licensing, and the signal generation equipment, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Figure in some needed infrastructure changes for many stations and the costs will be even higher. That may not be a huge thing for a fully-duplicated AM in a profitable local cluster, but for the ma-and-pa AM with a translator in a small market, it may be a deal killer.

And that brings us back to the “what comes first” question.

SO MUCH NOISE

As Ben Downs so eloquently argued in his petition for rulemaking that eventually resulted in the all-digital AM NPRM, the AM broadcast medium is in trouble. In decades past, the issue was interference. In the here and now, it is man-made noise. The interference issue remains, but in many cases it is eclipsed by the noise problem.

The interference issue is, if you will pardon the pun, static (the adjective, not the noun). By and large, other than as a result of normal ionospheric variations, interference for a particular station’s signal is what it is … and what it was. The FCC’s rules and international treaties tend to keep interference from increasing significantly beyond current levels.

Many modern transmitters are all-digital ready.

But the noise problem, now that’s anything but static. It is ever increasing. I encountered an excellent example of this at my home a few months ago.

I began experiencing a lot of new noise on the AM band as well as on the lower HF bands. The noise produced such a roar that I could not listen to any AM signals at home without at least some underlying noise. The big 50 kW signals were at least listenable, but they weren’t clean. Lower-powered signals were completely unlistenable.

I tried everything I could think of to track down the noise source without success, walking around the house with a battery-operated portable radio, listening for an increase or decrease in the roar as I moved from room to room. The noise seemed to be ubiquitous. I eventually concluded that it must be coming from my neighbor’s solar charge controller or inverter.

Then one day, I happened to have a radio on when I turned off the switch for the front exterior lights. We normally leave those lights on all the time, but for some reason I turned them off that day … and instantly the noise disappeared! AM reception was clear and clean, and the S-9 noise floor on the 80, 60 and 40 meter bands dropped to S-2! I turned the exterior lights back on, but the noise remained gone.

I left the lights on, thinking that the noise would eventually come back and I could investigate further, but it never did. And then later that day, as I was backing the car out of the garage, I noted that one of the front exterior lights was out. I opened the fixture and looked at the LED bulb, and I found it discolored. Clearly it had been hot. Most likely it had been arcing internally, and when I turned off the switch, the arc extinguished, and the spacing was sufficient that it did not return when I turned the circuit back on. I replaced that bulb with a new GE LED bulb, and all was well. Still no noise.

The point here is that what happened at my house with one noisy LED bulb (in a house that has 100% LED bulbs) happens all the time in other homes and businesses. It may not be an LED bulb. It may be the motor controller in a high-efficiency HVAC unit. It may be the microprocessor in a washing machine or refrigerator. Or it may be solar charge controllers and inverters. Each noise source adds to the RSS interference level at every receive location, and as more and more devices are added, the noise floor goes up and up and up. Each device is okay by itself, but each one adds to the total.

LET’S GET MOVING

At this late date, I daresay that there is nothing that can be done about the noise issue. That train left the station a long time ago, and there is a lot of momentum. In my opinion, this noise issue spells doom for most of the AM broadcast medium. Only the strongest stations that produce a field of 10 mV/m or more throughout the coverage area have a chance at survival.

This is where all-digital comes in. It has a demonstrated immunity to noise. It’s not a panacea, but it does perform well in our 21st century noisy environment.

So I’m going to go out on a limb here and agree with proponents that if AM is to survive for the long term, it has to make the jump to all-digital.

But what comes first? Do we wait for a critical mass of receivers before making that jump, or do we go now? Do we drive the demand for digital receivers by going all-digital now, or is that a pipe dream? Or … is it way too late for any of this, making this a pointless discussion?

I don’t have a Magic 8-Ball that I can shake and get answers, but I do believe that the AM broadcast medium has both value and a future — if we get moving now, in at least a limited way, with conversion to the noise-immune all-digital MA-3 mode. Receiver proliferation will independently continue, driven by the auto industry and FM. AM can ride that wave. But if the AM medium dies while we wait … well … it won’t much matter if there are plenty of digital AM capable receivers out there.

It’s certainly something to think about.

Watch a Radio World webcast about all-digital on the U.S. AM band on Feb. 19. Info is at https://tinyurl.com/rw-sunrise.

Cris Alexander, CPBE, AMD, DRB, is director of engineering of Crawford Broadcasting Co. and technical editor of RW Engineering Extra. Email him at rweetech@gmail.com.

The post Is the Time Right for All-Digital AM? appeared first on Radio World.

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Director of Technology & Innovation, Ahmed Nadeem, said in a statement that, despite the Coronavirus outbreak, the organization plans to go ahead with DBS 2020.

Nadeem reassured industry professionals the union is “monitoring the situation and following guidelines from local authorities and agencies.” He added that it is “taking all necessary safety precautions to create a safe environment for all concerned.”

SPECIFIC MEASURES

A few of the actions the organization is applying include working closely with Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur to ensure specific safety measures; increased disinfection across all high-volume touch points (e.g. catering areas, surfaces, handrails, WCs, entrances/exits, public touch-screens); availability of hand sanitizer around the event and main entry-exit points; and signage onsite reminding attendees of hygiene recommendations.

In addition, he emphasized that organizers would implement a “microphone disinfecting and change protocol” for all speakers. They are also encouraging a “no-handshake policy” for attendees and will provide advice to exhibitors on effective cleaning and disinfection of surfaces within their stands as a means of prevention.

Nadeem also pointed out that the hotel has devised a special protocol for anyone feeling unwell and that the hotel’s chief safety officer will be on hand to provide assistance to anyone who needs medical attention.

“We will continue to monitor the situation following the guidelines from local authorities and take the necessary precautions for the safety of everyone involved,” he said. “While we note that a few exhibitors and participants have informed us that they will not be able to join due to travel restrictions and advisories, we highly appreciate their support and continued partnership.”

According to the ABU, the following sponsors/exhibitors have withdrawn from the event for health and safety reasons: DVB, Elevate Broadcast, Eutelsat, Sony, LS telcom and Rohde & Schwarz.

The post Coronavirus: ABU Takes “Necessary Precautions” for DBS 2020 appeared first on Radio World.

A new Raspberry Pi project, six basic audio measurements and Ben Dawson on collocating your AM with a cell tower. All those stories and more are among the technical topics ready for your perusal in the latest edition of Engineering Extra.

Read it online here.

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

DIGITAL RADIO
Is the Time Right for All-Digital AM?

Cris Alexander, our technical editor and one of the industry’s most respected engineers, weighs in on this timely question.

BAKING WITH PI
Get Email Alerts From an RFEngineers Watch Dog Receiver

Ain’t projects like this fun?

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

• Collocating AM Transmitter Facilities With Cellular Monopole Towers
• Introduction to the Six Basic Audio Measurements
• Be Smart When Thinking About UPS

The post Inside the Feb. 12 Issue of RW Engineering Extra appeared first on Radio World.

The Federal Communications Commission said it needs $481.59 million to conduct its operations next year, up just 0.3% from the current fiscal year and reflecting an expected boost in revenue from spectrum auction fees. Among the notable lines items in the Fiscal Year 2021 budget plan that the FCC unveiled on Monday (Feb. 10) was a $134.5 million request for spectrum auction authority, an increase of nearly $2 million (about 1.5%) from the current year.

The FCC’s 2021 budget request coinciding with the release of the White House’ $4.8 trillion proposal to Congress for next year’s spending plan. The administration’s plan includes increased funding at Commerce Department agencies to accelerate 5G and artificial intelligence.

As part of its budget proposal, the FCC listed four “strategic goals for 2021,” starting with objectives for “Closing the Digital Divide” and “Promoting Innovation.” Its goals also include “Protecting Consumers and Public Safety” and “Reforming the FCC’s Processes,” which it defines as efforts to “modernize and streamline the [agency’s] operations and programs.”

[Read: FCC Proposes Record-breaking Forfeitures to Pirate Radio Operators]

Overall, the FCC said it will conduct its business with the same staffing level (1,448 people) that it currently employs. It broke out its proposed budget levels for major bureaus and operations as follows:

As for its primary strategic goal (closing the digital divide), the FCC said it will “develop a regulatory environment to encourage the private sector to build, maintain, and upgrade next-generation networks so that the benefits of advanced communications services are available to all Americans.” It vowed to “employ effective and efficient means to facilitate deployment and access to affordable broadband” where the business case for infrastructure investment doesn’t exist.”

Counting On Auction Revenue

The commission pointed out that its to-date auction program “has generated over $117 billion for government use” at a cost of “less than $2.1 billion or 1.7% of the total auctions’ revenue.”

The budget plan cited the Trump administration’s legislative agenda items “that pertain to the FCC” and “are designed to improve spectrum management and represent sound economic policy.” In particular, it points to plans for “new authority to use other economic mechanisms, such as fees, as a spectrum management tool.”

“The FCC would be authorized to set user fees on unauctioned commercial spectrum licenses based on spectrum-management principles,” according to the 163-page FCC budget document. “Fees would be phased in over time as part of an ongoing rulemaking process to determine the appropriate application and level for fees. Fee collections are estimated to begin in 2021 and total $4 billion through 2030.”

The commission explained that it needs funding at the requested levels “to continue post-broadcast incentive auction (BIA) work related to repacking and reimbursing broadcasters and MVPDs [multichannel video programming distributors] for their relocation costs to implement the results of the BIA, as well as expand that program to include new requirements included in the Reimbursement Expansion Act.”

It also said that the funding level will “improve its auctions program infrastructure in preparation for future auctions” and thus help it to conduct additional auctions to make more spectrum available for next-generation wireless services.” It also cited the need to implement RAY BAUM’S Act (Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services) of 2018, which will make more spectrum available for mobile and fixed wireless broadband.

Preparing for HQ Move

The FCC confirmed that it intends to move to new headquarters at 45 L Street NE (north of Capitol Hill) in June of this year, as authorized in previous budgets. The cost of the move (about $68 million) will come from “both regulatory fees and auctions program funds.”

Separately, the Department of Commerce section of the White House budget plan singles out the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, allotting it $25 million “to modernize spectrum management systems,” and thus enable the U.S. “to more efficiently satisfy industry’s need for additional spectrum and preparing the nation to transition to 5G.”

NTIA’s sister agency within DoC, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be allotted $718 million “to advance U.S. innovation and technological development” as part of an “all-of government approach” to establish U.S. leadership in next generation communications (especially fifth generation 5G) wireless, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing. This sum doubles NIST’s prior AI funding “in order to accelerate the development and adoption of AI technologies.”

 

The post FCC 2021 Budget Plan of $482 Million Built Around Spectrum appeared first on Radio World.

Satcaster SiriusXM continues to explore other areas of media. This time it has announced a $75 million investment in audio portal/platform SoundCloud.

According to a release, “SoundCloud will use this additional investment to accelerate its product development and enhance the services that fuel its global community of creators and listeners.”

SoundCloud in the past has worked with internet audio streamer Pandora, a subsidiary of SiriusXM.

SoundCloud Chief Executive Officer Kerry Trainor said, “We’ve built a great relationship with SiriusXM through our highly successful Pandora ad sales agreement, and their investment gives us added capital flexibility to accelerate our vision and take advantage of strategic opportunities as they arise.”

The post SiriusXM Invests in SoundCloud appeared first on Radio World.

(L–R) Frank Montero, Joel Oxley and Paul McLane.

The American Academy of Radio is celebrating this week’s World Radio Day (Feb. 13) by naming WTOP in Washington, as the first U.S. station to receive its World Radio Day Award.

The award was presented Tuesday to Senior Vice President and General Manager Joel Oxley at WTOP’s new studio facility by two members of the jury, Frank Montero, an attorney with Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, and Paul McLane, the editor in chief of trade publication Radio World.

Other jury members included Heather Cohen of the Weiss Agency, Michael Harrison of Talkers Magazine, longtime broadcaster Bob Kieve, consultant Mike McVay, Deborah Parenti of Radio Ink and Paul Rotella of the New Jersey Broadcasters Association.

The announcement was made by Jorge Álvarez, president of the Spanish Academy of Radio, whose advocacy for World Radio Day helped prompt U.N. recognition of the day. The date of Feb. 13 was settled on because it also marks the anniversary of the founding of United Nations Radio in 1946.

WTOP is Hubbard Radio’s all-news flagship station in Washington, which is Nielsen Radio Market #7. Five million people age 12+ live in the metropolitan area. The city is a globally important national capital and a vibrant local media market, with crowded suburbs and a city government and two state governments to cover; a severe traffic situation; variable weather; and a vibrant pro and college sports environment. WTOP is one of the most recognizable media brands in the city and is also the top-earning commercial station not only in Washington but in the country, according to BIA Kelsey.

[Related: “World Radio Day Organizers Raise U.S. Profile”]

World Radio Day was adopted in 2012 by the United Nations General Assembly, highlighting radio as “a powerful medium for celebrating humanity in all its diversity [that] constitutes a platform for democratic discourse,” according to a UNESCO website.

In making the presentation, McLane said WTOP was chosen in part for its notable success at building and sustaining a media business around core concepts of localism and service to a specific and unique marketplace of listeners.

Last year’s recipient of the award was Gordon Smith, president/CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, recognizing Smith’s help in establishing World Radio Day.

All radio stations can find assets to celebrate World Radio Day at its UNESCO website.

Watch a short video message about radio from the U.N. Secretary General António Guterres.

 

The post WTOP Receives World Radio Day Award appeared first on Radio World.

The author is field service engineer for Wheatstone, Audioarts, and PR&E products.

I’m often amazed at what engineers will do to keep older consoles on air.

If you’re currently supporting analog and/or digital consoles designed in the 1990s and the aughts (2000-2009), I don’t need to tell you of the challenges! Here are five proven steps for transitioning your facility to AoIP, whether that takes place this year or next.

Richard Maddox

STEP 1

Convert Existing Wiring One Device at a Time

Almost all new between-equipment wiring uses unshielded CAT5e or CAT6 cables. It’s possible to use these two CAT cables, which have identical specs for our usage, to connect analog audio, AES-3 audio, AoIP audio streams, ethernet for KVMs and VoIP/SIP phones as well as your facility’s LAN connections.

CAT6 has a thicker sheathing and tighter twists in its four wire pairs than CAT5e. This makes it more resistant to crosstalk but also slightly harder to handle. Many broadcasters have standardized on using UTP (unshielded twisted pair) CAT5e as their interconnection cable of choice.

A typical AoIP configuration showing all sources available to console surfaces and devices.

When moving to category cables to connect up just about everything, there are two main approaches. Either buy pre-made “patch cables” in various common lengths like 6-foot, 15-foot, 25-foot, etc. Or buy reels of raw CAT5e cable and bags or boxes of RJ45 plugs so you can create your own custom-length cables. It really boils down to how much time you have and how much you like crimping RJ45 plugs onto cables.

Since the IT industry uses CAT5e and CAT6 cables by the truckload, the price for category cabling and plugs means your cabling cost (whether making custom length cables yourself or using off-the-shelf “bagged” cables) is a fraction of what it would be to run shielded balanced audio cables around your facility.

STEP 2

Adapt, Adapt, Adapt

Most audio and broadcast equipment has not transitioned to adding an RJ45 jack for their analog or AES signals, therefore you’ll still need XLR or TRS plugs on your cables. This means you’ll need to terminate your CAT5e cabling at one end to something other than RJ45. You could solder the plugs directly to the category cable wire pairs, but that’s messy and time-consuming.

An easier solution that will cost about US$20 (approximately €18) is to use RJ45-to-XLR and RJ45-to-TRS adapters to connect new equipment using CAT5e without having to solder anything.

RJ45 adapters are available for just about every connector type, but not for the AMP MOD IV plugs used since the mid-90s on all PR&E consoles (except Oasis). No one makes an RJ45-to-MOD IV adapter, but there are RJ45-to-pigtail adapters, so with a bit of hand crimping of the MOD IV terminals onto the pigtails, you can roll your own MOD IV-to-RJ45 adapters.

By the way, it’s possible to repurpose any custom MOD IV adapter you make later as an RJ45 adapter for a satellite receiver or other equipment using D-sub and other non-standard jacks.

STEP 3

Add I/O Devices

You’re likely already familiar with the concept of distributed I/O, where one “I/O interface box” is mounted in each rack to connect all the equipment within that rack. Each I/O box then connects to a main router using a single CAT5e cable.

An AoIP system is configured in much the same way. For example, a WheatNet BLADE is an AoIP I/O box with eight stereo inputs and eight stereo outputs on RJ45 jacks to connect local signals.

The BLADE then connects, again using a CAT5e cable, to a gigabit Ethernet switch to network it with the other BLADEs in the system. So any discrete local input can be streamed to any other BLADE or console in the plant, and any other system signal can be streamed to any local output on that BLADE.

If you have a VistaMax system, or any brand of TDM router, with some spare I/O (like eight unused AES ins and eight AES outs), then you’re prepared to begin the transition to AoIP. Connecting that spare AES I/O to an AES Blade (using 16 CAT5e cables) means you now can convert one or two studios to AoIP consoles while continuing to use your existing router.

These eight “tie lines” allow signals from the new consoles (PGM, bus-minus, etc.) to feed the existing router, and the router system to send common signals like off-air-tuners, EAS, satellite feeds, hybrids, etc. to the AoIP consoles. A couple non-dedicated tie lines allows users to change signals from one system to the other as necessary.

AoIP Advocates Snag Technical Emmy

STEP 4

Add An AoIP Console or Two

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Adding an AoIP console in the main studio, for example, offers a world of features, like source selection, bus-minus, and audio processing on every fader, which were not available on any twenty-year-old console. AoIP consoles typically cost about the same, or even less, than a 20-year-old console did when new. For example, you can obtain an eight-channel AoIP console like the Audioarts DMX for under $8,000 (about €7,250), pretty much the price for a NetWave-8 console from the early 00s.

STEP 5

Plan for Obsolescence

An analog exit strategy is crucial, whether you can do it all at once in a complete studio rebuild, or by updating one studio at a time.

Start by looking at all the activities that take place in your facility. Consider how you feed your air chain and your internet streams. Just about everything can be simplified by moving to AoIP. For instance, what type of playback system are you using? If it supports AoIP streaming, then you can kiss your audio cards and Bob boxes good-bye forever.

Same for your VoxPro and other PC-based audio editors. When you move to AoIP, it’s possible to network each server and PC that handles audio directly into the AoIP system. To do this, use a dedicated NIC and one CAT5e cable. There is no other hardware necessary beyond an available port on a network switch. Once you make the switch to AoIP, you open up so many other doors.

Adding appliances like the PhoneBLADE allow you to integrate your VoIP phone system into your AoIP system. Other AoIP appliances, like StreamBLADE, give you the codec and processing tools for managing multiple streams. Still other appliances can extend AoIP beyond the studio so you can connect with other studios or remote locations.

Even if you can’t jump into AoIP with both feet, taking these steps will give you some, and eventually, all the benefits of an AoIP facility.

Richard Maddox joined PR&E in 1993 as their Digital Product Specialist, with later stints in the Engineering, Systems Design, and Customer Service departments. When Wheatstone purchased PR&E assets, he joined Wheatstone to continue supporting legacy PR&E products. He now supports the full line of current Wheatstone-designed products from his location in Southern California.

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