Industry News

The WorldDAB organization is urging European countries to “act immediately” to comply with an upcoming EU digital radio deadline.

The European Electronic Communications Code adopted in late 2018 contains a mandate that all new car radios should be able to receive digital terrestrial radio services.

Countries that are members of the European Union must turn it into national legislation by Dec. 21.

In a press release Monday, Patrick Hannon, president of WorldDAB, is quoted saying that the 2018 EU decision “has transformed the prospects for DAB+ radio in Europe. … We urge countries that have yet to implement the EECC to act imminently and help ensure that motorists in all EU Member States benefit from the advantages of digital radio: greater choice, clearer audio and enhanced data services.”

WorldDAB also provided a snapshot of how various countries are responding:

“In Germany, all radio receivers in new cars will be required to include digital radio capabilities from 21 December 2020. In the UK, all radios fitted in new passenger cars will come with digital radio as standard from 2021 following new regulations passed through Parliament.

“In Italy, all new (consumer and automotive) radio receivers sold from January 2020 onwards are required to include DAB+. In France, a proposal requiring all new car radios to include digital radio capabilities – in line with the EECC deadline – is being reviewed by parliament this month.

“Last week, Spain published a draft of its Telecoms Regulation, which also complies with the EECC. Other countries including The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Czech Republic, Poland and Malta have all initiated procedures to implement the EECC into national legislation.”

Read a factsheet about EEEC from WorldDAB including a longer update for various countries.

The post WorldDAB Urges EU Members to Meet Digital Radio Deadline appeared first on Radio World.

After about four months in all-digital mode, an AM radio station in northeast Indiana has turned off MA3 digital operations for now and returned to analog transmission.

WIOE(AM) in Warsaw, Ind., was the second station in the United States to conduct such an experiment on the AM band. The station serves the Fort Wayne market.

Owner Brian Walsh was enthused about the quality and coverage of the signal. But he told Radio World he ended the experiment on Sept. 11 because of a lack of interest from listeners.

“Fort Wayne just isn’t ready for all-digital AM at this point. It wasn’t so much complaints but just a lack of any feedback whatsoever (on the switch to all-digital),” Walsh says. “We invested heavily in the digital technology but it just wasn’t working out right now.”

WIOE had received experimental approval from the Federal Communications Commission and began digital operations in the MA3 mode of HD Radio in May. Walsh says it was “exciting to have a station to pioneer (all-digital AM) and help develop new technology to assist other broadcasters with similar radio stations.”

[Related: “Xperi Describes More Tests at All-Digital AM”]

WIOE, which also uses AM stereo, is a Class C AM operating at 1450 kHz with 1 kW of power and a non-directional antenna daytime and nighttime. WIOE used a Nautel NX 3 transmitter during all-digital operations, capable of a digital main channel and digital multicast channel, Walsh says, though the station did not utilize HD-2.

“Full MA3 mode didn’t disappoint. MA3 AM HD excels,” Walsh says. He compared the sound of all-digital AM to that of an FM HD-1 channel.

“The AM HD MA3 mode drastically improves your AM coverage in areas that before had interference from electrical or man-made noise. That impresses me most,” he said.

Any AM station using all-digital will, by definition, not be heard on analog receivers. For that reason, having an FM translator that continues to carry the station content is considered important. WIOE’s programming could be heard by analog listeners on FM translator W282CH during the test period, Walsh says.

“We didn’t want anyone deprived of the programming. We purchased a billboard to spread the news of the changes, but people seemed to think the AM station just went off the air, just static, which is not what we intended obviously,” Walsh told Radio World.

Walsh (who is slated to talk about his experience during next month’s virtual Radio Show “Channel B” technical track) says MA3 was “consistent both day and night over 20 miles from the 1450 transmitter site” near downtown Fort Wayne.

“Every market is different. I was ready to provide an improved service to clients and listeners more than they were ready to accept the MA3 AM HD,” he says. “I overestimated a bit. When the time is right and the Fort Wayne market is ready, so is WIOE.”

WWFD(AM) in Frederick, Md., owned by Hubbard Radio was the first U.S. station to turn off analog AM and continues to operate in full-time all-digital under special temporary authority.

[Related: “Broadcasters Get Behind All-Digital AM Option”]

The post Indiana AM Station Suspends All-Digital Transmission appeared first on Radio World.

A Radio World ebook recently explored trends in codecs and STLs. This interview is excerpted from that, which you can read here.

Eric J. Fitch is director of technical operations for Entercom New England. He has been a broadcast engineer for 35 years, working in Syracuse, Albany and Boston. Today he is responsible for 14 stations in five markets.

Radio World: What’s the most important trend in codecs?

Eric Fitch: Redundancy, backup and failover.

With more facilities being managed by fewer people, there is a huge need for systems to be able to recover from outages without human intervention.

Remote access via a web GUI, as well as having logging, SNMP and e-mail capabilities are critical for managing equipment at remote locations.

RW: How are these technologies helping you solve practical problems?

Fitch: We are able to connect our studios in Boston, Providence, Springfield and Worcester to their associated transmitter sites and the Westwood One Satellite NOC in Denver, which uplinks the WEEI Sports Radio Network and the Red Sox Radio Network, via GatesAir IPL-200 Audio over IP systems.

Our GatesAir IPL-200 systems have replaced our Intraplex T-1 STL systems. Each site has three ISPs to provide triple redundant paths for the audio streams.

We have a fiber-based MPLS system as the primary connection to each location. That is backed up by a wireless internet connection at the studio and cable modems at transmitter sites. We have a third connection to each ISP via our business network on a second fiber network from the studio.

The IPL-200 is able to have three separate audio streams that can failover if one or two of the streams drops, keeping the station on the air, while notifying us via e-mail or SNMP that there is a fault. The system has an optional redundant power supply, which is great if and when the UPS fails.

The ability to access all 28 nodes of the IPL-200 on our network from work or home makes configuring and troubleshooting a breeze. We can see when an ISP has a failure at any of our sites because there are multiple ways to log into the codec.

RW: What role are codecs playing in the new normal of at-home broadcasting?

Fitch: We are lucky that high-speed internet is available in most people’s homes. Just 10 years ago we were struggling with DSL and 56 kb dialup modems.

Now with cable modems and fiber service, we sometimes have better internet connectivity at our homes than we have at our studios and transmitter sites. The connections are so good that our listeners don’t notice that the hosts are doing the shows from home.

Consoles that are capable of doing multiple mix-minus feeds have been invaluable. We have been able to keep our staff healthy and sounding great on the air.

RW: What functions and features are being offered that engineers who haven’t bought a codec in awhile should know about?

Fitch: The ability to use multiple internet connections to back up the codec’s connection. The codec can use error correction and buffering to make sure that lost packets are recovered, which is a great asset. A cable modem can be backed up with a wireless hotspot to ensure a stable connection. The ability to remotely control the codec in the field from the studio and have the codec email if there is a problem.

RW: How many ways are there of making connections?

Fitch: We use whatever connection that is available to us: FIOS, cable modems, private MPLS networks, public and private WiFi and Plum cases that bond two cellular carriers.

RW: How have AoIP technology developments been reflected in codecs?

Fitch: Since we have 15 of our show hosts broadcasting from home due to COVID-19, ease of use and control is the most important function that I have seen. We have to make sure that the codecs are as simple as possible to set up and operate.

Three of our morning shows each have three co-hosts connecting to the studio before 6 a.m. That is nine simultaneous remotes using Comrex Access codecs. Having one-button pre-programmed connections is a necessity to make sure everyone can connect themselves.

We use Comrex Fleet Commander and Comrex Switchboard to monitor and connect all of the codecs that our hosts are using from home. We can see the quality of the connection and make changes on one app, so we don’t have to login to multiple codecs to check connectivity issues.

Newer consoles are able to provide multiple mix-minus feeds so multiple hosts and phone callers can all be on the air simultaneously. We used to struggle with one remote and one caller, now we do three remotes and two callers without batting an eye. No echo or “I can’t hear you” complaints any longer.

The board can be set up by anyone, since the mix-minus in done by the consoles automatically.

The post Codecs Offer Redunancy, Backup and Failover appeared first on Radio World.

Zipporah Mondy completed the Technology Apprenticeship Program run by the National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation in September of 2018. Her family owns KJIW(FM), which is licensed to Helena, Ark.

“My goal was to understand every aspect of the business so I could be an effective owner whenever my dad passed the baton to me,” she says.

Mondy answered our questions via e-mail about the apprenticeship experience and her experience of being young, Black and female in the field of radio technology:

Radio World: Where did you serve your apprenticeship?

Zipporah Mondy: I did two apprenticeships. I shadowed Ed Czelada, CEO of the Smile FM chain of stations in Michigan, and the consulting engineer for KJIW(FM) in Helena, Ark. I also job-shadowed Alonzo Pendleton at iHeartMedia in Memphis, Tenn.

RW: Describe the experience and what you learned.

Mondy: My experience was an awakening! I grew up in radio and was always around the technology of it, but when I got in the program, the dots connected and the lights came on for me.

We received a crash course on broadcast engineering from top industry professionals. The experience showed me so much about myself because I was not the super-smart math or science whiz with a strong background in electricity. I didn’t see myself as being able to do certain things.

However, Mr. Ed had my brother and I assist him in building radio antennas from scratch, which now sit at the top of my family’s 499-foot radio tower pushing 50,000 watts of power toward Memphis, Tenn. This was a huge deal!

I saw that I could build something … anything. I just needed to understand what I was doing. I realized that I could learn anything if I listened, focused and followed a master. I got to see firsthand the process of building a radio tower, and I had too much fun helping paint the tower before it went up.

I also learned a lot about artificial intelligence in the broadcast field. Our TAP class was assigned the task to research this topic and complete the program by presenting a live webcast on AI in broadcasting from the NAB headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The life of an engineer is so unpredictable. My brother and I loved going to the different tower sites and watching them troubleshoot and solve problems. We even had a random out-of-place chicken walking around the transmitter building one morning.

The program also exposed me to the Society of Broadcast Engineers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. I later had an opportunity to be a founding member of the new SBE Arkansas chapter.

RW: Where did your interest in pursuing a technical career in radio come from?

Mondy: I grew up working in my family’s radio business. When I reached a certain age, I wondered what I would do if something happened to my parents. I realized how much I didn’t know in the business.

I started seeking to learn whatever I could in every area. I always liked the idea of getting more in the engineering part of it, but I spent most of my time helping where I was needed.

When I learned of TAP, I felt like this was my opportunity to dive in radio engineering completely focused. It was so exciting for me because it was the one area I didn’t know very well. I felt like I was starting a new career in the same place.

RW: Could you share some thoughts about why you think broadcast engineering has a low percentage of Black professionals?

Mondy: When I first saw Alonzo Pendleton, my eyes bucked wide. I was so surprised because he was a Black man and so was his assistant, Tony Guy. I had never seen black radio engineers, if I’m honest.

I think there are two main reasons for why there are few Black broadcast engineers: lack of exposure at a young age and the absence of fathers’ influence.

[Read: “Blacks Are Few in U.S. Radio Engineering”]

When I was growing up, my dad was constantly telling me and my siblings to learn computers. He got us books and software and always made sure we had a computer. He also had us hold the light while he would solder something, or would always tell us about pieces of equipment, even if we weren’t interested at the time. He drilled in our minds the idea of entrepreneurship.

This is not an uncommon story. Fathers or father figures play a huge role in exposing their kids to things. I’m not saying that to negate the mothers and grandmothers that do this too, but the absence of fathers really has an impact.

RW: What will it take to change that? Are programs like the NAB’s a positive step?

Mondy: Honestly, the way our culture is today, offering mentorships and apprenticeships would have to be a way of life for industry professionals. It would take master craftsmen (and women) caring enough of the next generation to take a young person under their wing and say, “Let me teach you how to do what I do.” That means real commitment from industry professionals, regardless if they’re a part of a school or program.

Again, I believe exposure is key. Young people have to be exposed to something before they can cultivate a desire for it. If there is no exposure, there is often not much interest.

For example, how many Black hockey players are currently on the NHL rosters? Not too many, since they are not exposed to it growing up.

I think education is a factor — more specifically, I mean developing skills. My dad always told us “learn a skill.” When I listen to the stories of engineers, I hear the skill sets they learned in school and they had the confidence to try certain things and fix broken things.

Schools used to have subjects like electric shop and carpentry. That’s how my dad learned fundamentals. Learning to work with one’s hands, build things, and solve problems does so much for that individual.

So there has to be a foundation of skill-building, a recruitment mechanism, or sphere of influence, to develop an interest in these fields early while young minds are impressionable.

To answer your second question, I definitely think the NABLF TAP program is a positive step. It gives a boost to those who desire to get into this field. NABLF will take a college graduate and link him or her to the professional industry. They bridge that gap for the graduate. I love that! I also think there should be more programs like this but geared to a younger age.

I think there would be a larger pool of applicants for TAP if young people were catching the bug earlier. This is also important because a lot of college students don’t know what they want to do. Broadcasters need to be more intentional with allowing young people in their communities to be exposed to every part of their business more frequently. It may be inconvenient on the front end but broadcasters have to think about the future.

RW: Where are you working today and what types of jobs are you performing?

Mondy: I still work for my family at KJIW(FM) in Memphis. I like to say my title depends on who calls and what’s needed. I work in sales and marketing, production, programming, and my brother and I tag team in IT. I guess you could say I’m the assistant general manager who enjoys going to the tower site.

RW: What are your future goals?

Mondy: Well, definitely on my bucket list: I want to climb to the top of our tower one day and change the light bulb! Ha ha ha! I want to extend my parents’ radio network. I would love to own a Christian-Spanish radio station and have stations in other countries. I want to have afterschool (or in-school) media boot camps, where I give kids in underserved communities an opportunity to have hands-on exposure to media and technology broadcasting. I would like to build a production and broadcast content-generating company. And I want to obtain a pilot’s license.

[Related: Read a free ebook about the radio engineering profession and the challenges of developing new engineers: “Engineering in Crisis.”]

The post “I Saw That I Could Build Something … Anything” appeared first on Radio World.

The author is membership program director of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. NFCB commentaries are featured regularly at www.radioworld.com.

With Election Day just six weeks away, radio’s attention will be squarely on the many federal, state and local contests our audiences are watching. Racial equity, COVID-19 and the economy are front and center, and interest seems high. It is time to let our coverage roll.

However, there are some key issues that stations should be aware of, especially if you are in the noncommercial media space.

[Read: Community Broadcaster: Mask Off]

The first of the election matters every noncommercial station needs to pay attention to is documenting your election engagements. From candidate appearances on the air to interview requests to station decisions on said interview requests, your records should be meticulous. You’ll want to make note of dates and times, issues covered, and why requests were rejected. The exact terms of the recordkeeping are spelled out by the FCC, but Cornell’s Legal Information Institute has a readable explanation online.

For a full-power station, you will need to upload those within a day or so to your Electronic Public Inspection File. While noncommercial low-power FM stations do not have the same requirements as far as EPIF is concerned, LPFMs are still required to keep a political file on paper. Records need to be retained for two years.

The second big issue is related: underwriting. Many noncommercial stations rely on underwriting. This is the season when stations are approached by interest groups, candidates and unions to make underwriting buys. The FCC’s underwriting rules give stations discretion to decide from whom they will accept underwriting, and what rates they will charge. Someone being a candidate for public office does not automatically disqualify him or her from being acknowledged in an underwriting spot. However, the rules are strict related to opportunity. NFCB’s Underwriting Guide spells out some of these instances.

A third discussion point is about equal opportunity. A common question from stations is whether they must give equal time to all candidates, even write-in candidates. To be clear, equal time rules are a relic of the Fairness Doctrine, a policy eliminated in 1987. The policy around now is focused on equal opportunity. Equal opportunity is a right to reach the same size and type of audience, rather than a right for “equal time” on the same program. Judgments against stations tend to be the result of failures by the stations to extend invitations to matters like debates, or excluding those running for office.

And finally, there are the lines that supersede the FCC. Regardless of your broadcast license, IRS rules prohibit 501(c)(3) organizations from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign, either in support of or opposition to any candidate for elective political office. Federal Election Commission rules prohibit corporate contributions (including free air time) and regulate political debates and selection of debate participants.

Elections are an exciting time for radio, but it is critical to stay within regulations. In addition to avoiding possible enforcement actions, these policies helps us maintain trust and integrity with our communities.

The post Community Broadcaster: Four Election Day Issues to Avoid appeared first on Radio World.

Dear Editor:

I totally agree with Jeff Keith of Wheatstone that most broadcasters have an issue with processing for their streams vs. on-air chains. He makes excellent points.

My question is, what’s his advice for resolving these level and quality issues?

Most broadcasters put a lot of work into perfecting their on-air sound, but ignore the obvious issues with streams.

Given that premise, what are his recommendations to address these issues? What equipment does he recommend? Are there any easy solutions that don’t require a complete overhaul of the main studio to transmitter audio chain?

— Joel Widdows, Jacksonville Beach, Fla.

We invited Jeff Keith to reply; he wrote:  One of the messages that short article was trying to get across is that on-air processing is unsuitable for streaming, even though our experience has shown that many stations have chosen to use their main on-air processor, or a retired one, for processing audio for their web streams.

The best streaming audio quality always results from using purpose-built processing designed for that very specialized task, whether that processing is based in software or hardware.

When Wheatstone set out to develop our dedicated streaming product, Streamblade, we designed what we believe is the ideal combination of algorithms for streaming.

They accomplish the multiband gain-riding and spectral balance management of an on-air processor, but instead of pre-emphasis and heavy clipping for final peak control, Streamblade is equipped with extremely sophisticated final limiting and stereo width and bass management tools to ensure codecs always see ‘codec-friendly’ audio.

User feedback about Streamblade’s audio quality has been extremely positive, even when operating with streams at very low bitrates.

You can take a peek at Streamblade and read about its capabilities here: https://bit.ly/32Dw30h

[Related: “Audio Streaming Quality Matters” by David Bialik]

The post Letter: Processing Streaming vs. On-Air appeared first on Radio World.

Read about the early days of WWJ, which just celebrated its 100 anniversary; Ben Hill’s perspectives on being Black in radio engineering; and an experiment with dismal sounding audio featuring Michael Bolton.

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.

News Maker

“I Saw That I Could Build Something … Anything”

Zipporah Mondy talks about her TAP technology apprenticeship and her perspectives on the role of engineering today.

Do It Yourself

My Vacuum Tube Headphone Amp Project

Curt Yengst rummages in his discard stash and finds he can build something interesting.

Also in this issue:

• Codecs Offer Redundancy, Backup and Failover
• How Michael Bolton Can Be 300 Times Worse
• WWJ in Detroit: A Centennial Station

The post Inside the September 16 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

We’ve been touching base with various technology suppliers about the pending end of support for Flash.

Here’s what Radio World heard back from GatesAir; the reply is from Ted Lantz, vice president and general manager, radio and Intraplex Products:

“GatesAir has never operated in the Flash world, and that has long been a key differentiator of our transmission and codec products,” he said.

“HTML has been the primary language supported within the portfolio, which has been developed over the years to evolve and scale with the needs of the broadcaster as a whole.

“Today, HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript are all core parts of a standardized, brand-agnostic web infrastructure available on virtually every browser and web-capable device. It has proven to be a wise path for GatesAir to follow both from a product development standpoint, and for our customers that demand secure and reliable systems.”

[Related: “Broadcast Devices Preps for End of Flash Support”]

The post At GatesAir, No Worries About Flash appeared first on Radio World.

The author is technical manager of National FM. This article is part of our recent Buyer’s Guide series on codecs and STLs.

BUCHAREST, Romania — National FM is a Romanian national FM radio network consisting of 40 frequencies covering most of the nation.

In 2007, at my yearly visit to the IBC show I met Simon Daniels from APT, a company that I knew nothing about.

At the time, we were using a software solution from another company to broadcast a morning show from one city to another. Simon told me that they had a hardware solution for “every now and then” audio transmissions.

One of APT’s tech wizards, I believe it was Willie Woodside, warned me that he wouldn’t recommend a 24/7 transmission via plain internet but that I should still try out a pair of their encoders. A couple of months later I received a message saying that a pair of APT Horizon codecs (renamed as APT IP Codec) were on their way to me for testing purposes … no strings attached.

After a few days of indoor testing I decided to put them on the air so I sent one of the units to another city 500 kilometers/300 miles away from the main studio.

Even knowing that the internet in Romania is one of the best in the world, I still had my doubts about the stability of the connection during a three-hour show. Remember that this was happening in 2008!

After a buffer increase, creating bigger delay but better stability, the Horizons became the main signal transport between our studios and we kept the software solution as a backup.

A few years later APT became part of WorldCast Systems and I was delighted to see that Simon and Willie were still there … answering my occasional emails.

In the meantime, we bought more encoders for our infrastructure. We are now using a pair of APT IP Codecs with MPX over AES to transport music from the main audio processor to our Bucharest transmitter site. The transmitter there is an Ecreso Helios FM 2000 (now named Ecreso FM 2000W).

Another pair of APT IP Codecs connect Bucharest and Oradea via the public internet.

Our sister network, Favorit FM, uses the APT Silver “simplex — one-way solution” to bring the signal from the studio to the satellite uplink site.

And … the big surprise … the pair of APT IP Codecs that started it all are still in service.

In this pandemic time, we built a mobile studio in our off-road Rover. It is able to broadcast from anywhere where there is an LTE (4G) signal. We are currently doing the morning show from outside, in a natural environment, until the situation stabilizes or winter comes.

The old Horizons are still doing an excellent job, over 4G or public internet, depending on what’s available in different locations.

We are very pleased also with WorldCast Systems’ Ecreso family of transmitters. We have in service more than 10 units, 100W, 300W, 750W, 1000W, 2000W and 3000W models. The web interface works like a charm and the options can be very helpful (sound processor or Smart FM option).

The company’s only products that we haven’t used so far are the Audemat monitoring equipment that look to be quite exquisite. But the Ecreso transmitters have great onboard monitoring tools for modulation, audio and other parameters.

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

For information, contact Tony Peterle at WorldCast Systems in Florida at 1-305-249-3110 or Christophe Poulain in France at +33-5-57-92-89-28 or visit www.worldcastsystems.com.

The post User Report: WorldCast Secures National FM appeared first on Radio World.

The MultiCam Airbridge+ is a hardware-based video controller, call-in manager, character generator and streaming engine. The company calls it a complete “all-in-one” video package.

According to MultiCam it can handle four live feeds and manage up to 12 guests in the waiting queue. Programming can be live or recorded for later use.

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

Airbridge+ provides operators scale and picture position controls of guests along with mix-minus and audio delay. There are also PTZ camera remote controls.

Would-be participants are sent an exclusive link for entering the system. MultiCam visual radio systems are compatible with audio consoles made by Axia, DHD, Lawo and Wheatstone and software automation from companies such as ENCO, RCS, WideOrbit and WinMedia. It works with video platforms and social media such as Dailymotion, Facebook Live Kaltura and YouTube.

Info: www.multicam-systems.com

The post MultiCam Releases Airbridge+ appeared first on Radio World.