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Joe Roggin‘s podcast controversy had, until the Closing Bell on Wednesday, generated enough negative press to agitate investors in Spotify. On January 27, shares dipped to $171.32, a dip from nearly $235 per share seen on January 11.

While Spotify rebounded to $203.62 on Tuesday, the comeback fizzled. Then came Spotify’s fourth quarter 2021 results, sending SPOT down by more than 21% in early after-market trading on the NYSE.

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Performance royalties are back in the spotlight on Capitol Hill.

The House Judiciary Committee held a virtual hearing about the proposed American Music Fairness Act.

NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt said that four years ago, the same committee asked the broadcast and music industries to work together to develop a proposal on the terrestrial performance royalty issue. He said NAB “worked for more than 18 months and offered numerous proposals to our industry partners behind closed doors that aimed to achieve that goal. … When our concepts were rebuffed, we came back to the table with new ideas time and time again.”

LeGeyt said, “Unfortunately, the music industry was unwilling to do its part in these negotiations. … [A]s a result, we find ourselves in this hearing room today debating a performance fee proposal that is strikingly similar to its predecessors.”

[Related: Hybrid Radio and the Royalties Question]

He reiterated arguments that broadcasters have made before: that a new royalty on local radio is “financially untenable for broadcasters of all sizes and unjustified as a matter of policy,” that there is a lot of support among legislators for competing legislation called the Local Radio Freedom Act, and that artists themselves frequently acknowledge the importance of radio in their success.

Among those weighing in on the other side was singer and songwriter Gloria Estefan.

She described herself as “a very big fan of radio and its place in music.” But she told the legislators, “Each of the songs that are precious and meaningful to you was a labor of love for the songwriters, the artists, the musicians and producers that brought it to life. … But when their music is played on the radio, artists don’t get paid, only the songwriters do. The radio stations benefit from the advertising dollars. But the artists that breathed life into a song, the featured artists, the singers, producers and studio musicians, are left out.”

Estefan said this can be particularly problematic for older artists whose songs still get airplay.

“It simply doesn’t make sense that artists are not being paid when their music is played on one specific platform: AM/FM radio. Why hasn’t this been rectified sooner? … Every industrialized country except the United States provides a performance right. … Artists respect broadcast companies; all we are asking is for them to respect us back.”

And in a filed statement, Michael Huppe, president/CEO of SoundExchange, said the lack of performance rights to artists or labels “is one of the most egregious injustices that exists today in the U.S. music industry.”

He said the proposed legislation grants royalties to music creators “while protecting small broadcasters by limiting their annual payments for playing music to $500, less than $1.40 a day. And qualified public, college and noncommercial stations would pay only $100.”

Hopppe specifically criticized iHeartMedia for declining to appear. “If iHeart seeks to continue denying music creators fundamental respect, they should have the decency to do it to their faces and explain their justification.”

You can watch the full three-hour hearing online.

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

The post Radio and Performers Are Back, Arguing Over Royalties appeared first on Radio World.

While the House Judiciary Committee spent more than 2 1/2 hours debating the “American Music Fairness Act” on Wednesday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights held a hearing devoted to “journalism, competition, and the effects of market power on a Free Press.”

Among the witnesses seated in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill for the afternoon in-person session: the head of the highest-billing radio station in the U.S.

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Just before Austin Powers and Dolly Parton (or their close facsimiles) walk on stage to entertain attendees of the upcoming NATE UNITE conference, a more sobering discussion will be part of the educational sessions on tap during the convention.

On day two of the four-day conference at the Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, the NATE Unite 2022 show will bring together a series of sessions, courses and exhibits on safety and communication for those in the tower and wireless communications infrastructure, construction, service and maintenance industries.

[Related: NATE Unite 2022 Features FCC’s Carr, DISH’s Ergen]

This year, three tracks of educational sessions will be featured at the conference including an Administrative/Business track, Technical/Engineering track and Health and Safety track.

Sessions this year will take a close look at safety measures in several sessions including “Climbing Safety: Beyond the ABCs,” that will delve into those safety topics that are sometimes skipped during a typical tower climbing safety course. Led by the safety equipment company Ergodyne, the session will highlight a series of strategies and solutions that can be used to build a comprehensive safety planning program.

A second safety session — titled “Capstan Hoist Applications and Safety” — will bring together a product specialist, equipment demonstrator and an engineer to discuss the common uses of capstan hoists in the telecom industry with a focus on safety strategies like rope selection, fleet angle and rigging techniques.

While one educational session will discuss include proper communication between safety groups and communications firms, another will give an update on NATE’s new Climber/Rescuer Training Standards (CRTS), which were updated and released in January 2022. Staffed by a group of technicians, consultants and members of the tower industries, the panel will look at the newly revamped CRTS document, which evolved from the former NATE Course Training Plan/Course Training Standards (CTP/CTS) document. The session will give an overview of the changes in this new standards document and how these changes might impact future trainings.

The NATE Unite conference will also include networking receptions, an exhibit floor and a keynote luncheon where the aforementioned Austin and Dolly will entertain alongside Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

The conference will span four days — Feb. 21 to 24 — and will be held at the 300,000-square-foot Caesars Forum conference center that opened across the street from Caesars Palace in October 2020.

The post Tower Safety at Forefront of NATE Unite appeared first on Radio World.

This story is from RW’s sister publication TVTech; given the interest among radio stations in this topic, we share it here.

This spectrum plot depicts the relative positions of digital television and analog FM radio signals within a 6-MHz TV broadcast channel. (Courtesy of Jampro)

It’s been more than a decade since the first so-called “Franken FM” radio stations took to the air—stations licensed as Ch. 6 TV operations, but using their 87.75 MHz audio carrier to create a standalone FM broadcast service receivable by most FM radios.

Frankens have long been a thorn in the side of legitimate FM operators, and during their existence, the FCC has heard plenty about them. However, as the commission has been pre-occupied with more pressing matters such as spectrum auctions and repacks, little, if any action has been directed at these “mongrel” FMs, with regulators perhaps hoping that they would vanish last year when all LPTVs were forced to either “go digital or go dark.”

However, just like the hydra in Greek mythology, cutting off the head proved not to be the answer in eradicating the beast — others soon grew back, or in the case of Franken FMs, some creative RF engineering work allowed LPTV Ch. 6 licensees to retain analog audio services despite their move to digital broadcasting.

The first of the “next-generation” Franken stations — KBKF-LD, a Venture Technologies property in San Jose, Calif. —  took to the air in the spring of 2021, with an FCC-issued STA to operate an ATSC 3.0 TV channel with a “tagalong” FM carrier. In applying for the STA, the station opined that such hybrid digital/analog fashion was covered by the ATSC A/322 standard, with its 3.0 signal “pulled in” to occupy 5.509 MHz of its 6-MHz berth and the rest given over to an FM carrier.

Reaction to ‘NextGen’ Frankens
Currently, there are at least half-dozen of these “second-generation” Frankens, and given the FCC’s apparent willingness to grant STAs coupled with the number of Ch. 6 TV authorizations, others may soon appear.

As such hybridized use of a U.S. DTV channel was not on the table when the NextGen TV standard was being drafted, the arrival of this new wave of Frankens has raised some eyebrows — and questions, just as when the first of the quasi-legal 87.75 FMs popped up back in analog Ch. 6 days.

Several individuals who have been closely involved with the ATSC 3.0 standard were polled for their opinions on this new wave.

[Related: San Diego TV Station Broadcasting Hybrid FM-ATSC 3.0 Signal on TV Channel 6]

“During development of ATSC 3.0, a number of use cases were discussed; many were documented,” said ATSC President Madeleine Noland. “I can’t recall this being one of them. ATSC 3.0 was designed to be flexible and to accommodate a wide variety of use cases and business plans. Beyond that, we cannot say whether this use case falls within the intent of ATSC 3.0, as authorized by the FCC for the U.S.”

Richard Chernock, a long-time contributor to the ATSC 3.0 initiative, stated that “the assumption going forward in the design of ATSC in the U.S. was to establish a full 6 MHz channel. Anything less would reduce 3.0’s capabilities. In my opinion, to use 3.0 for the Franken FMs is to actually lower spectral efficiency.”

However, Chernock added “using ATSC 3.0 technology to carry radio audio is a lot more efficient than to use FM. You could go into any big city with a lot of FMs and you could put them all into one 3.0 channel.”

Chernock said that he would have to do the math to get a precise figure of the number of discrete audio program streams that could be digitally transmitted within an ATSC 3.0 6-MHz channel, but he speculated that it could easily approach 1,000 given the efficiency of today’s codecs.

S. Merrill Weiss, who has been deeply involved in both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 standards work, feels the jury is still out regarding hybrid DTV/FM transmissions.

“After reviewing all the publicly available technical material that I could obtain on the proposal to combine ATSC digital signals with FM analog signals in a single Ch. 6 emission, I found a dearth of information on either practical operating parameters and systems, or testing of equipment beyond very rudimentary prototypes,” said Weiss.

He expressed several concerns, one of them being the possible impact on 3.0 reception associated with the necessary “squeezing in” of DTV transmission bandwidth to accommodate an FM carrier. “The center frequency of the digital signal would be about 160 kHz below the channel center, and it is not known to me whether consumer receivers being sold can be pulled that far,” said Weiss. “The system may work and be useful, but the information is not available yet to prove it. Once this is released, a judgement on the practicality and utility of such a system may become possible.”

Mark Aitken, ATSC 3.0 “evangelist” and Sinclair Broadcast Group’s senior vice president of advanced technology, remarked that he was not surprised at all about the “second coming” of Franken FMs after last July’s mandatory shutoff of remaining analog LPTVs.

“Actually, I think I played a role in getting them in business with 3.0,” said Aitken, explaining that his own involvement into “stretching” a TV channel’s utility “came about quite some time ago” when he was asked if it were possible to accommodate multiple services within a single television channel’s spectrum allocation.

“The question posed to me several years ago was ‘if I had 6 MHz of spectrum and wanted to offer a narrowband 5G service, could I do that in conjunction with ATSC 3.0?’” said Aitken. “I thought about it and said ‘yeah.’ I demonstrated it later. This was with a narrowband Internet of Things service. I showed that we could carry two separate RF services within a single channel. I probably should have taken out a patent!”

Putting Spectrum to ‘Good Use?’
Asked whether he thought a Franken FM was a legitimate application of the ATSC 3.0 or a misuse, Aitken took a neutral stance.

“I’m not going to argue against folks who want to use technology to their advantage,” he said. “The large number of Franken FMs that existed are from people who are not in the TV business. With the limitations of FM spectrum, they are making use of the FCC rules and channel segmentation philosophy. They’re putting it to good use.”

He explained that by its very nature, ATSC 3.0 is designed to be extremely flexible and extensible. “Numerically — and this is not understood by most folks with regard to ATSC 3.0 — you can get to any number of bandwidths,” Aitken said. This is the reason that the [3.0] bootstrap itself is only 4.5 MHz wide. We wanted to make sure that in the future 5 MHz raster spectrum could be used by others by using the 3.0 standard. This is not ensconced or codified in the standard, as it was feared that the FCC might do an ‘about-face’ and reduce [U.S.] TV channel bandwidth to 5 MHz, so this was dropped out of the specification. A channel bandwidth of 8 MHz is, in fact, codified within the ATSC 3.0 standard and is being tried in India.”

As Sinclair owns a number of Ch. 6 TV stations that could potentially become Franken FMs, Aitken — when asked about such a possibility — said that he didn’t see this happening anytime soon, although the possibility of gaining more utility from television broadcast spectrum is always intriguing.

“I would think there’s no current interest [in Franken FMs],” he said. “Sinclair is not really interested in radio, as its core business is video. I don’t want to preclude this possibility in the future, but right now we’re focused on rolling out ATSC 3.0.”l

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

The post Next-Generation ‘Franken FMs’ on the Rise appeared first on Radio World.

The parent of the three main PBS Member stations serving the New York Tri-State Area will become the first operator in the nation’s No. 1 market to bring NEXTGEN TV service to those with an ATSC 3.0-equipped television set.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) today has revealed its updated slate of board leaders and board members.

Andrew Russell, President/CEO of PBS SoCal and KCET in Los Angeles, has been re-elected Chair.

At the same time, Susi Elkins, Director of Broadcasting and General Manager of WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Mich. has been re-elected Professional Vice Chair. David Steward II, Immediate Past Board Chair of Nine PBS in St. Louis, has been re-elected Lay Vice Chair.

The newly-elected trustees are:

• Annette Herrington, Commissioner of Arkansas PBS in Conway, Arkansas, as a lay trustee.
• John D. Zeglis, Retired Chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services, former President of AT&T, and a member of the board of WNIT Public TV of South Bend, Ind., as an at-large trustee.

Re-elected to the APTS Board of Trustees are:

• Carolyn Edwards, Lay Trustee of Vegas PBS in Las Vegas
• Susi Elkins, Director of Broadcasting and General Manager, of WKAR Public Media/MI State University in East Lansing, Mich.
• Franz Joachim, General Manager and CEO of New Mexico PBS in Albuquerque
• Garrett King, Board Member, Friends of OETA in Oklahoma City
• Vickie Lawson, President and CEO of East Tennessee PBS in Knoxville, Tenn.
• David Steward II, Immediate Past Board Chair, Nine Network of Public Media in St. Louis

Zeglis began his board term on January 5. The officers and other trustees will begin their terms on February 28.

 

If you thought the COVID-19 pandemic would halt, or reverse, cord-cutting trends for MVPDs, think again.

While 40% of Americans still pay for cable services, a shift in viewing habits and streaming services is leading more consumers to say no to cable TV.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A multimedia initiative that enables Members of Congress in cities where Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned stations have a local news department to speak directly to their constituents on a regular basis has returned.

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NEW YORK — Comcast-owned FreeWheel has officially launched a new Certified Partner Program.

Its purpose is to certify and organize buyers, sellers, data partners and technology partners within FreeWheel’s platform to create a more efficient and effective media supply chain for the TV ecosystem.

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Focal recently expanded its Alpha Evo studio monitor line with the new Alpha 80 Evo and Alpha Twin Evo powered monitors, joined by the additional debut of its Sub One subwoofer, designed for the Evo and Shape monitor lines.

Like the original Alpha 50 Evo and Alpha 65 Evo, released last year, the Alpha 80 Evo and Alpha Twin Evo are based around a Slatefiber cone, made by Focal in France from recycled carbon-fiber. Alpha 80 Evo and Alpha Twin Evo offer a new 1/4-inch (6.35 mm) TRS jack input, a user-disengageable automatic standby power mode and, on the Alpha 80 Evo, inserts for wall and ceiling mounting. The fully analog monitors are equipped with two class D amplifiers whose high-current capacity reportedly allows full control of signal dynamics.

The new monitors feature a 5/8-inch thick (15 mm) MDF cabinet and incorporate internal braces. The bass-reflex design, with a new larger cabinet vent, has been designed aiming to ensure acoustic integration in a variety of studio spaces. Offering integrated mounting points, the new Alpha Evo line can potentially be incorporated into an immersive mixing system.

The Alpha Twin Evo sports dual 6.5-inch Slatefiber woofers and a 1-inch Aluminum inverted dome Tweeter, while the Alpha 80 Evo has a 8-inch Slatefiber woofer and 1-inch Aluminum inverted dome Tweeter.

Meanwhile, the Sub One, with its 200 watts (RMS) amp, is intended for partnering with any of the monitor models from both the Alpha Evo and Shape powered monitor lines for a 2.1 system, as well as multi-monitor immersive sound setups. For the Sub One’s speaker drivers, Focal engineers have chosen double-skinned Slatefiber cones.

Currently shipping in North America, the three models have SRPs of Alpha 80 Evo $549 each ($1,098 a pair), Alpha Twin Evo $659 each ($1,318 a pair), and Sub One $999 each.

The post Focal Augments Alpha Evo Studio Monitor Line appeared first on Radio World.

What do the longtime Miami-based singer known for “Conga” and “Coming out of the Dark” and a longtime Inside the Beltway figure who once worked on antitrust litigation and merger reviews as an associate with Howrey LLP have in common?

Both have thoughts worthy enough for sharing at a House Judiciary Committee hearing conducted virtually on Wednesday morning. The subject: the American Music Freedom Act, which would implement a royalty payment scheme on top of what broadcast radio already pays for the right to play recorded music on its AM and FM stations.

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Of the witnesses that appeared in a virtual House Judiciary Committee hearing held Wednesday morning to debate the “American Music Freedom Act,” NAB Chairman/CEO Curtis Legeyt perhaps provided the most objective commentary as to why the proposed legislation is unjust and would impose financial burdens on radio stations of all sizes across the U.S.

In particular, Legeyt slammed the world’s recording industry goliaths for failing to come to the table after four years of opportunities to work with the NAB and broadcast radio in the U.S. on a “win-win” royalty scheme.

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The leader of CNN Worldwide has abruptly tendered his resignation, a decision largely tied to his revelation that he developed an improper relationship with his “closest colleague” — an individual he had worked with for more than two decades.

Jeff Zucker, the president of the entity that oversees CNN and CNN International, is out, effective immediately.

In an employee memo shared by CNN.com, Zucker said, “As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo‘s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years. I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong. As a result, I am resigning today.”

While Zucker did not reveal the name of that longtime colleague, CNN reports that it is with Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust, who is remaining at CNN.

Gollust issued a memo of her own. She said, “Jeff and I have been close friends and professional partners for over 20 years. Recently, our relationship changed during COVID. I regret that we didn’t disclose it at the right time. I’m incredibly proud of my time at CNN and look forward to continuing the great work we do everyday.”

The memo was dispatched shortly after 11am Eastern, taking employees by surprise.

Shortly thereafter, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar sent an internal email to all at CNN stating that an interim leadership plan will be revealed shortly. “Both of these organizations are at the top of their respective games and are well prepared for their next chapters,” he said.

Zucker has been associated with CNN since 2013. He is widely known for his tenure at NBC, where he rose from a TODAY producer to network president.

Workbench explores how an Octopus can help you check components.

The FCC continues its recent explorations of how to improve EAS while, separately, a campaign is underway to encourage more countries to use Common Alerting Protocol.

Fred Baumgartner says ATSC 3.0 could be a radio content provider’s Holy Grail.

Thresa and Michael Gay offer a growing line of problem-solvers. And Dan Houg samples the joys of semi-retirement.

Read it here.

The post Inside the Feb. 2, 2022 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

It’s known for “Michigan’s Positive Hits,” with 21 radio signals across the Mitten State offering Worship Music to fans of the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) genre.

Now, it is agreeing to purchase the property and license associated with a Class A FM licensed to the city of West Branch.

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As first reported by Communications Daily via Twitter late Tuesday, considerations of the nomination of Gigi Sohn to serve as a Democratic Commissioner on the FCC — along with two other nominations — were removed from the agenda for today’s Executive Session of the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee.

With confirmation of the report yet to arrive as Midnight struck in Washington, daybreak brought the reason for the last-minute agenda change: An influential Senator had suffered a stroke, but is expected to fully recover.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N. Mex.) on January 27 suffered a stroke. He underwent brain surgery and is expected to fully recover, representatives of the legislator said Tuesday.

According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Luján was diagnosed with a stroke in the cerebellum, which is in the back of the brain. “Decompressive” surgery was performed to relieve pressure on the brain at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque. A full recovery can take from a few weeks to a couple of months.

Luján is 49 years old and in his first term as a U.S. Senator.

Given the timetable for Luján’s return to Washington, the FCC’s 2-2 leadership will likely be in place through at least May. That’s because the support of Sohn is far from bipartisan, with Democrats largely supporting her nomination by the Biden Administration to take the final seat on the Commission and Republicans in unison against her nomination.

Until Luján’s ailment, a 14-14 vote — something that would signal Democratic approval as they are the majority party in the Senate — was anticipated on Sohn’s vote. Luján has been a supporter of Sohn, and without his vote her path to the Commission would most certainly be derailed.

Also off the hearing agenda are considerations of the nomination of Mary Boyle to serve as a Commissioner on the National Product Safety Commission and that of Alvaro Bedoya to serve as the Federal Trade Commission’s Commissioner.

The February 2 hearing was to be Sohn’s second in front of the Senate Commerce Committee, and comes following the Biden Administration’s reaffirmation of its nomination of the “net neutrality” advocate.

Sohn’s role with Locast, where she served as a board member of the “virtual Over-the-Air” television services provider that purported to be a non-profit before a New York Federal judge’s decision led to its demise, remains a bone of contention with Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). However, Sohn has agreed to excuse herself from two specific matters because of a potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

First, Sohn would recuse herself from matters involving retransmission consent or television broadcast copyright for the first three years of her term. Second, Sohn agreed to recuse herself for four years from a docket concerning the rules governing retransmission consent.

That led the NAB to give its affirmative nod to Sohn’s seating as a FCC Commissioner. In contrast, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association is still concerned, wondering why she won’t recuse herself from other matters she has spoken out against. The NCTA’s concern has not let to its formal objection of Sohn’s nomination, however, as it takes an approach similar to that of the NAB.

A Groundhog Day shadow is passing over the nomination of Gigi Sohn to the FCC, but it likely has to do with another shadow that passed over the committee this week.

Signaling that there would not be enough Democratic votes to secure a favorable report of her nomination to the full Senate, it has been stricken — literally — from the agenda for Wednesday’s (February 2) vote on a host of nominations.

That is according to a note late Tuesday from the committee. Also pulled was the nomination of Alvero Bedoya to the open seat on the Federal Trade Commission and Mary Boyle to be a commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The reason appears to be the absence of committee Democrat Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who suffered a stroke and is in the hospital, though he is expected to make a full recovery. “[T]he speedy recovery of Sen. Luján remains first and foremost priority,” said the committee before reporting the dropped nomination, all likely to need every Democrat to get approval.

“[T]he list of nominations to be considered at tomorrow’s Commerce mark-up has been recalibrated to take into consideration the need for all Democratic votes in order to move certain nominees forward,” said a committee spokesperson.

Perhaps the delay is so legislators can contemplate the issues raised by cable and telecom ISPs Tuesday. Both NCTA President Michael Powell and USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter wrote the committee to raise concerns about Sohn’s recusal offer related to broadcast copyright and retrans.

A version of this story appeared first in our sister publication Broadcasting & Cable.

The post Gigi Sohn Nomination Pulled from Confirmation Vote appeared first on Radio World.

Dan Houg, right, jokes around with Jobie Sprinkle during a break at the 2016 Public Radio Engineering Conference. Both are past presidents of APRE.

Dan Houg made an unusual entry into the field of radio engineering in 2004. He was in his mid-40s, having never even been in a radio facility before.

That did not prevent him from working successfully on several major projects, nor from becoming president of the Association of Public Radio Engineers. But after 17 years he has moved on to a different venture.

Radio World asked him about that and about his tenure as chief engineer of Northern Community Radio in Minnesota, a two-station network consisting of KAXE(FM) in Grand Rapids and KBXE(FM) in Bagley, near Bemidji.

Radio World: Dan you posted on PubTech that you were about to “cease to be a broadcast engineer and become a semi-normal human being.” How does it feel to have made that big decision?

Dan Houg: I knew about a year ago that I wanted to wrap up my 18 years in broadcast and work on restoration projects of vintage electronics, motorcycles and vehicles at home.

However, KAXE had a construction permit for increasing tower height that was expiring soon. I had always intended to see that project through to completion, but funding delays kept pushing construction back until this April [2021], when I could finally start purchasing.

In May, I made the decision to leave at the end of October, hoping the project would be done but needing to set a date for myself to leave.

The tower crew finished up Friday afternoon, Oct. 29. I turned the new plant on at 3 p.m. and drove home for the very last time at 6 p.m. after a 13-hour day.

It feels incredible to finish this project that started over three years ago, get it on the air and be able to retire the day it is operational. It is exactly the right time to leave.

RW: What are your plans?

Houg: Well, I joke with staff that I need to be like the 17-year cicada and go underground and not be seen nor heard from. Being a small shop, I’ve been in 24/7/365 contact for the last 18 years, literally not having my phone off for close to two decades, so I need to hide for a while to shed some stress. My wife knows all too well the 2 a.m. voice of the Sine Systems and Davicom remotes.

Financially, I still need to bring in some income, so I call this “leaving radio” more than retirement. When I’m in my home shop I’m in my “happy zone” and will earn a few dollars fixing things.

RW: What is the FixIt Workshop?

Houg: The Fixit Workshop (thefixitworkshop.com) is my new venture to switch gears away from broadcast.

As with so many of us engineers, I’m good at fixing things whether it is diagnosing a fire-breathing 25 kW tube transmitter, setting up a microwave link or repairing the HVAC system. Now I’ll turn to restoration of vintage guitar amps, I have a pallet of 1960s European tabletop tube radios that need refurbishing, and I enjoy working on the big Sansui, Fisher and Marantz solid-state receivers from the 1970s.

I have two VW Westfalia camper vans to restore getting ready to sell one of them, and all sorts of projects have come my way from putting a new engine on a log splitter, welding up a maple syrup stove and sap evaporator to repair of an old slot machine. I have a particular fondness for 1980s Mercedes Benz diesels and am always on the hunt another one.

Our service as “do it all” engineers really reflects a skill set that is apparently in short supply in a small community. I nostalgically like to think of myself as Luis, the Fixit Shop owner on the children’s television series “Sesame Street.” Working on well-made appliances like the Sunbeam T20 Automatic Radiant Control Toaster, an incredible piece of American engineering, is so rewarding for me.

RW: Is it true you’d never been in a radio station when you started your KAXE job in 2004?

Houg: Yes. My friend, Maggie Montgomery, was the general manager of Northern Community Radio, and the previous engineer had left. I decided to leave a very nice government job that was sucking the soul out of me and try my hand being KAXE’s engineer. Straight up learning curve. I have so much respect and admiration for the folks that have been in radio their entire lives and have such a good grasp on the technology. I’m just getting to the point where I feel like I have a handle on some things!

RW: And here you were doing a buildout of a 100 kW FM.

Houg: This last project was a complete replacement of our tower, transmitter plant-plus-shelter, and microwave link.

Dan Houg at the KAXE job site.

KAXE went on air in 1974, but the original tower went down in 1984 when a truck was putting a load of Class V on our tower road, and the raised gravel box snagged the lowest guy spanning over the road and brought the tower down.

When it was replaced, I don’t think the management at the time communicated to Pirod that in addition to our 100 kW 12-bay antenna with radomes, there would be ANOTHER 100 kW tenant with a 10-bay with radomes, all interleaved in the top 100 feet of the tower.

We had a tower analysis performed a few years back, because every tower maintenance crew that came out would say “Man, that tower looks overloaded.” The engineering report stated the tower was in danger of failing, even if bare with no antennas, and that it did not pass current standards for a 40 mph wind!

So as part of a long-term infrastructure improvement project, we knew it had to be replaced. We got a construction permit to go from 315 to 499 feet, and got to work raising money.

The new tower is on the same site as the old tower, 15 feet away, and the new tower was used to destack the old tower.

Now we have an ERI guyed tower that meets current standards and I sleep much better. I worried every night with high winds that the old one would come crashing down.

We have a Nautel NV30LT-N transmitter being supplied program material using a GatesAir IP Link 200 with dual IP paths of land fiber and a licensed 11GHz link, an Orban 8700i processor and a gorgeous Tunwall switch controller for the Dielectric 6000 series switch that eliminates an old patch bay (which was mounted at the perfect height that every generation of engineer has bonked his head on).

I reused our old Electro-Impulse 25 kW dummy load, having cleaned it, replaced the power cord and fixed the air flow switch. It works great except it smells like mice when it gets hot.

RW: What other accomplishments are you proud of from the past 17 or 18 years?

Houg: Through the financial genius of our former general manager, we’ve built new studios at KAXE in 2005, and added the new station KBXE in 2012 with full studios at 50 kW with a new ERI 499-foot tower.

I’ve done three towers and two studios now. My first tower, a 90-foot self-standing, taught me the importance of soil borings I’d neglected to obtain; it became the “STL tower from hell” after they found 6 feet of muck below the surface that required much excavation and foundation support.

Then with the KBXE 499-foot tower I learned that every large project takes a serpentine path, despite laying out the process linearly. It nearly killed me with stress with twists and turns in everything from siting, property acquisition and construction.

This last tower project I knew there’d be twists and turns. When an obstacle would come up I tried to say “Okay, let’s figure this out.”

There’s an old adage that every engineer should return to the first studio they built and apologize. So true with KAXE. There’s things that I was able to do much better on my second studio for KBXE including my own plan for sound isolation that a very highly paid architect did so poorly at the KAXE studio.

RW: Briefly tell us about your career before you came to this job.

Houg: Well, I started working running carnival rides, so don’t disparage those folks!

I worked for the Minnesota Department of Health for 17 years doing health care facility inspections, food and lodging inspections, and ended up in water quality doing testing and providing technical assistance for public water supplies.

I have a degree in social work, one career in health and another in broadcast; and I’ve just now figured out what I want to do in retirement!

RW: You mentioned a couple of people in your post as having been helpful in the radio part of your career.

Houg: Having zero radio background when I started, I needed a lot of help building a new studio within eight months of starting employment. I was in over my head.

A former engineer of KAXE, Shane Toven, was a font of information for the studio build and programming of our Logitek and ENCO systems. Many know how brilliant Shane is, and he had installed KAXE’s first satellite system, an SOSS, at age 14 as a nerdy kid looking for a place to hang out after school.

As projects kept coming and I was buying equipment, I ended up with a career-long relationship with SCMS salesman Jim Peck. Jim steered me to good equipment decisions and helped me think through projects to account for all the pieces. Having the ability to talk to a knowledgeable sales rep versus scrolling through web pages was so crucial in making the right decisions.

And I’d met Gray Haertig of Haertig and Associates at my first Public Radio Engineering Conference. I noticed this loud man in an Aloha shirt in the front row brilliantly interacting with speakers who then got up and gave a stunning presentation himself.

I’ve used Gray for our RF engineering and FCC filing since that time and am indebted to his generosity and knowledge as well as friendship. Shane, Jim and Gray have told me to breathe when needed, gotten me out of jams and given great advice, some of which I’ve taken and foolishly disregarded the rest. They are great friends.

RW: You’ve been active in the Association of Public Radio Engineers. How is the organization holding up, through the many months of the pandemic?

Houg: The APRE Board comprises station staff, industry reps and organization members, all of whom saw their workload and workflow drastically change over the last two years.

The APRE has two very important strengths that keeps it thriving. First, the board members themselves are incredibly committed radio professionals who are task-oriented and work together as a cohesive group. It has been my great pleasure to be part of this organization with such highly functional people, including our current Board President Victoria St. John as well Jobie Sprinkle and Paxton Durham.

The second strength is that being a volunteer organization unlike a manufacturer or vendor, the APRE doesn’t HAVE to make money or put on conferences to stay afloat. As they negotiate conference postponements and cancellations due to the pandemic, the assets and resources are not depleted.

The APRE is meeting actively all through the pandemic and is ready to bring the Public Radio Engineering Conference back in full.

RW: What else should we know?

Houg: If I could impart any passing wisdom to engineers, it would be to feel free to ask the stupid questions. Seek help, ask advice and admit you don’t know something as there are brilliant people willing to help you.

Dan Houg invites hearing from readers by email to thefixitworkshop@gmail.com.

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