Industry News

The author is business manager for Southern Stone Communications.

At Southern Stone Communications, we have a long history of delivering entertainment and content to communities across the southeast U.S. Over the past three decades, our stations have offered popular programming including top 40 hits, hip-hop, contemporary, news and talk radio.

We’ve evolved as the industry moved from records to digital streaming, and we’ve adapted and enhanced our services to offer our customers a data-driven approach to advertising. While we’re proud to provide top-notch programming for our listeners and a great customer experience for advertisers, we recently realized that a critical internal process was causing frustration and inefficiency for our business office.

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For years we relied on a manual process to accept credit card payments. In addition to being time-consuming, this process was vulnerable to error and sometimes flat out confusing for our staff. Credit card forms were often filled out incorrectly, and it wasn’t always clear how to apply the payment.

Needing to notify sales reps and clients of declined cards, or to handle a last-minute request to run or rerun a credit card, our team found it difficult to maintain an efficient workflow.

All of that changed when we implemented Marketron Traffic system coupled with its PayNow service. The online payment system takes the burden off our business office and gives our advertising customers a clean, clear interface for applying payments to their invoices.

Because setup is straightforward, we were able to shift customers onto the system quickly. And they appreciate being able to pay those invoices at their convenience and easily see where payments are applied.

By bringing payments onto a secure online platform, we’ve done more than simplify the process and reduce error. We’ve also eliminated paper forms and the exchange of payment information via email, thereby removing the liability and potential risk of credit card information being vulnerable at some point in the process. This level of security gives everyone, our team and our customers, greater peace of mind.

Of course, one of the most significant benefits we’ve realized has been time savings. While our average of 7 minutes per manual credit card payment might not sound too onerous, the time really added up across all our markets and stations. And every interruption for card processing took a staff member away from other essential tasks.

Now that we’ve shifted our customers onto Marketron Traffic with PayNow, we’re free from those interruptions. Our customers are happier, and we have reclaimed valuable time that we use to keep the rest of the business running smoothly.

For information, contact Todd Kalman at Marketron at 1-612-790-8464 or visit www.marketron.com.

Radio World User Reports are testimonial articles intended to help readers understand why a colleague chose a particular product to solve a technical situation.

 

The post Marketron Lightens Burden of Payment Processing appeared first on Radio World.

Photo: ATSC

A local San Diego low-power TV station is testing the broadcast of FM signals over ATSC 3.0 (aka “NextGen TV”).

KRPE-LD San Diego, low-power TV Channel 6, atop Mt. San Miguel, is the first station in its market to broadcast ATSC 3.0. The FCC granted a Special Temporary Authorization for a signal on TV Channel 6, 82–88 MHz, that includes an innovative analog FM carrier at 87.75 MHz. According to Director of Engineering Daniel Bissett, licensee Venture Technologies Group LLC completed construction of the new signal on Oct. 7.

Analog broadcaster KRPE(LP) and Channel 6 low-power TV stations nationwide had for years been marketing to audiences as an FM station, broadcasting aural subcarriers with high injection levels and 75 kHz FM modulation in order to attract listeners using conventional FM tuners.

Many industry engineers had derisively called these “Franken FM” signals on 87.75 MHz, the traditional Channel 6 visual carrier frequency. For their accompanying analog TV visual signals, they carried a static graphic, slide show, or limited video.

Venture filed an application with the FCC on Oct. 25 to license KRPE-LD as a NextGen station, confidently citing FCC rules regarding the adoption of NextGen without explaining the two-part signal.

“This is done because the License to Cover must be granted before the STA for the FM carrier can be requested,” Bissett said.

Venture filed like applications for their other stations earlier this year: KBKF-LD San Jose, KEFM-LD Sacramento, WRME-LD Chicago, and KZNO-LD Big Bear Lake (Los Angeles), and the FCC granted each.

Bissett says Venture broadcasts a signal at each of its Channel 6 stations fully compliant with the ATSC 3.0 standard, ingenious with its flexibility. He says the scheme should be adopted by the FCC without having to ask for temporary authority. And he adds that tests have shown the signal to be compatible both with current NextGen demodulation devices and analog FM tuners.

Venture first implemented NextGen TV at its station in San Jose, KBKF-LD. Bissett says that the station first tried to use 87.70 MHz as its FM frequency for compatibility with synthesized FM tuners but found many car tuners output unacceptable levels of distortion in their demodulated audio. When they moved to 87.75 MHz, the distortion cleared, so they adopted the old frequency in their FCC filings for their Channel 6 properties.

Bissett says the cause of this distortion so far remains a mystery unsolved by tuning their output filters. (On the other hand, my disciplined Sony XDR-F1HD tuner cannot demodulate an 87.75 MHz FM signal without this same distortion). Their ATSC 3.0 signal occupies 5.5 MHz of the TV channel.

They’re using transmitters assembled by Italian manufacturer Syes and by American Amplifier Technologies of Sacramento. Com-tech of Italy makes their output filters, and Bissett says the ATSC mask filters use eight cavities.

Fig. 1 Photo: KBKF

It hasn’t been lost on Bissett that there is great potential in multicasting digital audio signals on Channel 6 ATSC. Ignoring for a moment the enormous political hurdles to doing this, he says mobile reception tests of NextGen on Channel 6 have been disappointing. You can see on the spectrum diagram (Fig. 1) that the average visual signal is at least 24 dB below the level of the FM carrier, so the signal tends to drop out behind terrain.

Bissett doesn’t see much future in mobile broadcasting with the present broadcast model of few, prominent transmitters. However, Qualcomm’s implementation of Forward-Link-Only TV (“FLO TV”) digital broadcasting in the late 2000s took this into account with its synchronized, multiple-transmission-point system for each of its metro markets.

For now, Venture provides only a direct response shopping channel on their visual NextGen TV signals. They are looking for additional revenue opportunities.

The post San Diego TV Station Broadcasting Hybrid FM-ATSC 3.0 Signal on TV Channel 6 appeared first on Radio World.

With its Q3 2021 earnings set for distribution early Tuesday morning, Audacy has moved forward with the selection of a new SVP of Digital Business Operations.

Taking the post is Palak Forbes. She reports to Audacy’s Chief Digital Officer, J.D. Crowley, and will with the leaders of Audacy’s podcast studios and sales teams.

“Forbes will provide commercial and operational leadership for the company’s podcast business, while working across Audacy’s entire digital portfolio and with key strategic partners to enable continued strong growth in Audacy’s digital and podcast businesses,” the company said.

Speaking of her appointment, Crowley remarked, “As we make consistent strides to evolve and enhance our digital and podcast businesses, Palak is a perfect choice to lead our day-to-day efforts to provide a world-class experience for our customers, creators and consumers. Her deep experience launching and scaling innovative new businesses, and expertise managing strategic relationships with companies across the media and technology sectors will enable us to continue delivering robust growth.”

Forbes most recently Head of Business Development & Operations at The New York Times, where she oversaw the development the company’s audio business and spearheaded their foray into virtual reality with the NYT VR app.

Previously, Forbes was The New York Times’ VP Corporate Strategy & Development leading new ventures, off-platform relationships, and M&A; and programming the Board of Directors’ special committee on Technology & Innovation.

Prior to that, Forbes was Vice President of Strategy at Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational media company, where she advanced the company’s EdTech initiatives and led international expansion in India. She has also held digital advertising strategy and subscriber marketing roles at Viacom and HBO, respectively.

Should the FCC be required under Federal law to ‘modernize” reporting requirements related to political advertising aired by broadcasters by making reports machine-readable?

That’s the goal of the newly introduced Fair and Clear Campaign (FCC) Transparency Act.

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The company formerly known as Entercom on Tuesday morning will host a conference call to review its third quarter 2021 results.

What can investors and analysts expect to see from Audacy Inc.? Seeking Alpha offers its take on what could come from the audio content creator and distributor that in addition to radio stations owns big podcast producers Cadence13 and Pineapple Street.

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A 3-1/8-inch tunable stub, mounted at the transmitter output (and identifiable by the long slot at center top), diligently guards against damaging voltage spikes.

In addition to pumpkin pie, Halloween and Thanksgiving, this is the time of year to focus on budgets. Even if your station is one of the few that doesn’t use a budget process, it makes good sense to prepare a list of physical upgrades that may be needed in 2022.

As you review the equipment that may need to be upgraded, also consider acquisitions that can reduce your risk. A surge protector or UPS, for example, can save not only money but headaches, and you can’t beat the cost/benefit ratio.

[Read: Workbench: Time to Plan for Old Man Winter]

Another piece of protection equipment you may want to consider is a shorted quarter-wave stub. One can be placed on the output of an FM exciter, ahead of a tube transmitter, so that any tube arcing is shorted to ground and will not be fed into the exciter.

Our Radio World colleague Mark Persons has an interesting article on his website www.mwpersons.com describing its use. Select “Tech Tips” and look for “Stub Protector for FM Exciters and Transmitters” under the FM Tips column.

This concept can be used in higher-power applications, though you may not want to cut rigid line yourself.

Enter Fred Francis, an RF consultant, who manufactures tunable shorted stubs in both 1-5/8-inch and 3-1/8-inch rigid line under the company name Xenirad.

The quarter-wave shorted stub connects between your transmitter and your antenna system to short the center conductor to ground. This provides lightning protection for your transmitter. Should lightning strike your tower, the high-voltage pulse travels down your transmission line and meets the stub, where it is shorted to ground.

The stub is virtually invisible to your transmitter and offers 0 dB of insertion loss and an input VSWR better than 1.01. Return loss values are typically greater than –50 dB. Both fixed and frequency-agile models are available.

A real benefit is that the stub is maintenance-free, even after a discharge. There are no parts to replace.

The shorted stub acts as a broadband filter, and in sites where FM is collocated with AM, the latter signal is reduced by more than 30 dB.

An installed tunable stub is shown in the first image. It can be identified by the long slot, which provides fine-tuning across the FM band.

Models of the Curly-Q stub can be used on exciters and RPUs.

In addition to providing a DC short and broadband filtering, the stub recently was used at Black Diamond Broadcasting in Michigan by Del Reynolds, director of engineering, and his assistant Brian Brachel.

Brian was referred to Xenirad by Nautel’s Jeff Welton after Brian discovered a spur on their Continental 816R-4 transmitter. The spur was located on the GPS channel at 1.575 GHz. Installation of the shorted stub knocked out the spur. This particular stub was customized using two tunable stubs, one quarter-wave shorted and one quarter-wave open to remove the specific harmonic.

A miniature version of the rigid stub protects the STL.

Shorted stubs also can be used on STL RF links and RPUs. The Curly-Q stub in the second image lists for $250 and is available from Broadcasters General Store. A rigid version for your STL is shown in the third photo. All protect the equipment to which they are connected.

An Update He Didn’t Want
I wonder how many other readers have experienced this: Dan Slentz writes that Windows 10 shoved another unrequested update down the “throat” of WDNP(LP)’s on-air computer the other night. Unfortunately, he says, the Win10 non-pro version doesn’t give you good options to block updates.

Previously a Win10 update had forced the audio card and computer audio to 48 kHz instead of the standard 44.1 kHz. This is a major problem for some software that wasn’t designed or have settings to change to 48 kHz.

After fighting with his Simian automation and ASI soundcard for weeks, Dan did find where and how to force the system back to 44.1 kHz.

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But the most recent Microsoft update did something new. When it forced the update, it apparently decided that it didn’t like the licensing dongle or the approval of the software, so it “unlicensed” the station automation — which went into demo mode, timing out every hour. This update took the station off the air for two hours!

The experience takes Dan back to why and how Microsoft can (or should) be allowed to do this. What if we’re talking health care equipment instead of radio or TV, he asks. They should not have the right to force any updates without our choice to accept them.

Dan wonders if they realize they had interfered with a federally licensed broadcast facility by knocking it off the air.

John Bisset, CPBE, is in his 31st year of the Workbench column. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance and is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award.

Send your tips to johnpbisset@gmail.com.

 

The post Workbench: The Beauty of a Shorted Quarter-Wave Stub appeared first on Radio World.

The NAB has filed reply comments to the FCC in connection to the assessment and collection of regulatory fees for FY 2021 by stating that the Commission “must recognize that it is patently unfair to require broadcasters to absorb significant fee increases year after year to not only pay for the costs of regulating broadcasters but also for Commission activities that are primarily for the benefit of other entities in the telecommunications ecosystem.”

Those “other entities,” as the NAB sees it, are the ones that directly benefit from the Commission’s broadband activities.

SAY GOODBYE TO GORDON SMITH NEXT WEEK AT FORECAST 2022. As Gordon Smith exits his role at year’s end as NAB CEO and Curtis LeGeyt prepares to take the helm, what is the state of the broadcast industry from the Beltway view? Steve Newberry, who worked closely with both executives during his own tenure at the NAB, sits down with Smith and LeGeyt in an exclusive Forecast 2022 session covering legal, regulatory, and legislative initiatives under the former Oregon senator’s leadership that have impacted the broadcast industry. It could be your only chance to see Gordon Smith before he retires. There’s still a seat with your name on it! Reserve your spot now by visiting RadioInkForecast.com.

 

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Salem Media Group, which beat the street with positive growth in the third quarter of 2021, has confirmed that it will be one of a list of presenters at the event formerly known as the MicroCap Conference.

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The broadcast media company that among its holdings includes Bally-branded regional sports networks has just purchased and assumed the rights and obligations under an accounts receivable securitization facility of Diamond Sports Finance SPV.

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Audacy named Palak Forbes as senior vice president of digital business operations, a newly created position. She most recently held a business development and operations role at the New York Times.

The announcement states that she will “provide commercial and operational leadership for the company’s podcast business, while working across Audacy’s entire digital portfolio and with key strategic partners to enable continued strong growth in Audacy’s digital and podcast businesses.”

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She will report to Chief Digital Officer J.D. Crowley.

Forbes was the head of business development and operations at the Times, where she oversaw the development its audio business and spearheaded its move into virtual reality. “Forbes also led strategic and commercial partnership teams to broaden and deepen reader experiences from Apple News to the digitization of millions of historic photos with Google Cloud,” Audacy wrote. “With her leadership, the sales team drove multi-million dollar deals and beat goals.” Before that she was the Times’ VP corporate strategy & development.

She also is a former vice president of strategy at Sesame Workshop and has held digital advertising strategy and subscriber marketing roles at Viacom and HBO, respectively.

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