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Gordon Smith isn’t the only radio industry leader saying farewell to his longtime role come January 1, 2022.

The current CEO of Salem Media Group is stepping aside and will transition to the newly created role of Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Who will succeed Ed Atsinger III as Salem’s Chief Executive Officer? Look no further than its President of Broadcast Media.

With Atsinger’s transition, Salem’s Board of Directors has appointed David Santrella to become Chief Executive Officer.

There’s more shifting in the Salem C-Suite: David Evans, Salem’s President of Digital Media and Publishing, is being promoted position of Chief Operating Officer.

Meanwhile, the current Chairman of Salem’s Board of Directors, Stuart W. Epperson Sr., will resign and transition to the position of Chairman Emeritus on January 1.

As such, son Stuart W. Epperson Jr. will join the Board of Directors, filling the vacancy created by his father’s departure.

“These changes reflect the Board’s ongoing succession planning and are designed to provide leadership continuity as the company continues to execute its strategic initiatives,” the company says.

Since founding Salem in 1974, Atsinger, along with his brother-in-law, the elder Epperson, has grown the company from a single radio station into a multimedia company specializing in Christian and conservative spoken word content.

To be certain, Atsinger will continue to be engaged full-time and focus more of his attention on macro strategy and planning, M&A, external relationships, government affairs and leadership development. “This will allow the company to continue to benefit from Mr. Atsinger’s decades of experience and skills,” the company said on Monday afternoon.

“I am pleased to serve as Executive Chairman and to oversee the succession to the next generation of leadership of our company,” Atsinger said in prepared comments. “I am looking forward to working with the executive team to continue Salem’s vitally important mission of serving the media needs of the audiences interested in Christian content and public policy programming with a traditional conservative focus.”

Atsinger continued that, in his view, Salem is “well-positioned for continued growth into the future.” As such, he said, “now is the right time to take the next step in implementing our long-term leadership transition.”

He concluded, “Most of all, I am blessed to lead our talented and dedicated team. I am extremely proud of Salem’s employees and personalities who create and distribute the content that allows us to serve our loyal and dedicated audience of listeners, readers, and now viewers. It is this talented team that has allowed Salem to become the business it is today. Building and expanding this platform over nearly 50 years has been and will continue to be the focus of my life’s work.”

Commenting on his promotion, Santrella said, “I am deeply honored to have been appointed as Salem’s next CEO. I look forward to working in close partnership with David Evans to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that exist in today’s media landscape, to further the mission of our company and to grow our business. I am blessed that I will have Ed alongside me in my new role.”

Evans added, “I am looking forward to working together with Dave and the rest of our talented leadership team as we further combine traditional media and digital media in new transformative ways. We have a substantial and passionate audience that accesses our content and brands in many ways and we’re focused on ensuring they can enjoy it and engage with us across multiple platforms.”

The senior Epperson, who has served as Salem’s Chairman of the Board of Directors since going public, said, “Our Board of Directors has engaged in thoughtful long-term succession planning, and today’s announcement demonstrates the strength of that process as well as the depth of talent at the executive management level to drive the company’s continued growth and success. I am confident that David Santrella and David Evans are perfectly qualified to continue working with Edward and the rest of the management team to build on our success and drive Salem into the next phase of its growth.”

What is the status of the implementation of the Television Viewer Protection Act of 2019 (TVPA)?

The Media Bureau would really like to know, and is inviting comment from “interested parties” in regard to the latest in a series of Congressional actions that have revised the Communications Act of 1934 with the intent to “encourage competition and establish parameters for the carriage of television broadcast stations by multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs).”

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Want to chime in on MB Docket No. 21-422?

You have more time to do so, as the Media Bureau has just extended the comment and reply comment deadlines for its FM Directional Antenna Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).

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Gray Television is closing out 2021 with another deal. While it is hardly the size of its Quincy Media, Inc., or Meredith Local Media transactions, it is certainly worth noting.

The company co-led by Pat LaPlatney and Hilton Howell Jr. is scooping up five licensed low-power TV stations and a single Construction Permit. The seller: Jeff Winemiller.

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Should a low-power TV station Construction Permit be able to relocate without any restrictions, making them as lucrative as ever to potential buyers?

One licensee says yes, and has filed a Petition for Reconsideration with the Commission with the intent of undoing a special condition given to his LPTV’s CP that must keep it in place for at least one year before any possible move can be made.

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BIA Advisory Services has released its 2020 list of the top-billing radio stations in the country.

The chart is below. Again this list is for last year; BIA’s list is usually issued earlier but like every other business, the company has seen its normal routines disrupted lately. Its list for 2021 won’t be out for a while.

At $62 million, Hubbard’s WTOP(AM) in Washington leads the 2020 list of estimated revenue by a whopping margin, way ahead of the No. 2, iHeart’s KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, and more than twice everyone else’s number.

Compared to 2019, WLTW(FM) moved from fourth to third in the rankings, but KBIG slid from third to seventh. WSB(AM) in Atlanta entered the 2020 rankings in fourth place, and WCBS(AM) in New York City was knocked out of the top ten.

The top 10 in 2019 were:

1. WTOP(AM)
2. KIIS-FM
3. KBIG-FM
4. WLTW(FM)
5. WHTZ(FM)
6. WFAN(AM)
7. WINS(AM)
8. WCBS(AM)
9. WBBM(AM)
10. WBZ(AM)

The post WTOP Was Top Biller Again in 2020 appeared first on Radio World.

With 11 days remaining in the 2021 calendar year, the busy team at BIA Advisory Services on Monday (12/20) released its list of the top billers in broadcast radio for the 2020 calendar year.

To the surprise of no one, Hubbard-owned all-News WTOP in Washington is No. 1.

The data came at the same time as a report showing nearly 800 licensees as having left the radio broadcasting industry since 2019. As one broker sees it, however, it’s much ado about nothing.

RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION: Hundreds of licensees over the last 24 months that had perhaps one or two stations in their stable cashed out and are no longer radio broadcasters. But, isn’t this exactly what the NAB and many industry leaders want — a smaller ownership pool driven by even more consolidation?

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Travel between Macon and Valdosta, Ga., along Interstate 75, and you’ll pass through the tiny town of Cordele. Here, an FM translator is being spun.

But, it’s originating AM isn’t a part of this end-of-year deal.

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A FM translator station in Rhode Island that allegedly failed to file a license renewal application on time is being told to pay a $5,000 monetary forfeiture, down from an original amount of $7,000.

Federal Communications Commission rules state that broadcasters must apply for a license renewal no later than the first day of the fourth month before the expiration of the license. If a station has not filed a license renewal application on time, the station has no authority to continue operation past the expiration date unless it receives a Special Temporary Authorization (STA) from the commission.

In the case of DiPonti Communications, licensee of FM translator W276DF in Westerly, R.I, the license was set to expire on Nov. 8, 2017. The issue was complicated by the fact that the station’s prior licensee — Harvest Broadcasting Association — received a one-year, short-term renewal on Nov. 8, 2016, as part of a consent decree with the bureau. (Harvest and DiPonti filed an application for consent to assign the license from the former to the latter on Nov. 3, 2016, several days after the consent decree and several days before the short-term renewal grant.) The Media Bureau also granted Harvest’s request to relocate the station from Vermont to Rhode Island so the station could rebroadcast DiPonti’s station, WBLQ(AM).

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The next steps moved smoothly: DiPonti constructed at the new Rhode Island location, filed a covering application to license the new facilities and received a covering license by the bureau that reminded the licensee that the station license would expire on Nov. 8, 2017. The bureau made clear that the covering license the station received did not extend the station’s license term — even though the license substituted the new Rhode Island facilities for the prior Vermont facilities.

That meant that DiPonti should have filed a license renewal application by July 1, 2017, which would have been the first day of the fourth full calendar month prior to the Nov. 8, 2017, expiration date. But DiPonti did not do so — not until three years later on Sept. 11, 2020. It also did not request an STA to continue operating under terms of the expired license until Sept. 16, 2020.

While DiPonti acknowledged that the 2020 application was late, the licensee did not realize that the license had expired when it did.

On Sept. 21, 2021, the bureau released a notice of apparent liability proposing a forfeiture of $7,000 — $3,000 for failing to file the renewal application on time and $4,000 for operating without authorization.

Soon after DiPonti asked the bureau to consider reducing the amount because that there was a discrepancy between expiration dates in the consent decree and in the FCC’s Licensing and Management System (LMS) database. But the FCC disagreed and said that an LMS error could not have caused the violations because that database did not come online until 21 months after DiPonti missed the renewal filing deadline.

DiPonti filed another petition for reconsideration and argued several new points, including that DiPonti was not responsible for Harvest’s misconduct that resulted in the short-term renewal; DiPonti’s broadcasts after the expiration date provided a public service without causing interference to any other stations; DiPonti had a clean record of compliance; the bureau incorrectly discounted the LMS database error since the same incorrect information appears in the existing Consolidated Database System; the violation was for a shorter period of time than the bureau suggested; and DiPonti was unaware that its license had expired because the commission continued to assess regulatory fees that showed the station as properly licensed. To support these arguments, DiPonti submitted copies of regulatory bills, database printouts and a covering license document.

After assessing DiPonti’s second petition, the Media Bureau agreed with some of the licensee’s arguments, including the suggestion that the station was serving the public interest and that DiPointi’s violations do not constitute serious violations.

As a result, bureau adjusted the forfeiture in light of DiPointi’s history of compliance and admitted that there is a remote possibility that a database error might have contributed to the confusion. As a result, the bureau said DiPponti is now liable for a forfeiture of $5,000.

The post FM Translator Issued $5,000 Forfeiture for Late Filing, Unauthorized Operation appeared first on Radio World.

Twenty-two years after launching Digital 1, the first U.K. national commercial DAB license, the Arqiva DAB multiplexing platform now runs 60 multiplexes across the United Kingdom. Recently, the company tapped Paneda of Norway and 2wcom Systems of Germany to re-engineer the platform.

2wcom is providing technology to bring audio from the studios into the multiplexing centers, as well as for EDI-to-ETI standards conversion. Paneda is providing a virtualized computing platform of DAB audio encoding and multiplexing.

“Arqiva is confident that in 2WCOM and Paneda, Arqiva have trusted partners to help Arqiva to respond to Arqiva’s Customer’s needs as DAB continues to grow in the U.K., taking pride in safely delivering hours and hours of painstakingly crafted radio content to millions of listeners,” stated Simon Mason, Arqiva’s head of broadcast radio technology, in a release announcing the agreement.

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The post Arqiva Taps Paneda, 2wcom for DAB Network appeared first on Radio World.

The increased focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Corporate America is not going unnoticed among Black, Hispanic and other diverse audiences, a new Horowitz Research study shows.

As such, to resonate with the multicultural, “brands need to step up,” Horowitz advises. Does the concept of “brand” extend beyond the advertiser to the media outlets themselves?

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Audacy has named its first chief technology officer, promoting Sarah Foss to that position.

“Foss will spearhead the company’s efforts to innovate and differentiate its products and services via new technological capabilities,” it said. “She will continue to report to Rich Schmaeling, chief financial officer and executive vice president of strategic initiatives.”

Foss has been Audacy’s CIO since coming to Audacy in 2020. Before that she was senior vice president, strategic initiatives for FreeWheel Advertisers. She also has held executive roles at Imagine Communications, Yangaroo, Encompass Digital Media, VCI Solutions and Harris Corp.

She also is co-founder of Tech Bae, networking and mentoring organization for women in media and advertising.

Her job will be to manage “key technology initiatives” including software development, ad tech, business intelligence and analytics and data solutions. She also will oversee the live and on-demand audio streaming business, AmperWave, which it recently acquired from WideOrbit. The CTO role does not oversee broadcast engineering.

The post Audacy Promotes Foss to CTO appeared first on Radio World.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has announced new health protocols for CES 2022 in Las Vegas and is reporting that it will offer complimentary COVID-19 rapid testing kits.

This additional measure builds upon the previously announced requirement that all in-person attendees must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Upon arriving at designated badge pick-up locations, CES attendees will be provided with Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Self Test kits. Each BinaxNOW Self Test kit contains two tests, which can be used twice while attending the show.

The CTA noted that the test is easy to use, requires only a shallow nasal swab, takes 15 minutes and can be done from the convenience of a hotel room. It strongly encourages all participants to test for COVID-19 before they leave home and within 24 hours before entering a show venue.

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“CES is a global event, and we continue to see strong momentum with new exhibitors signing up every day,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA. “In August, we announced that every CES attendee must be fully vaccinated. CES will also provide complimentary COVID-19 rapid tests, onsite at badge pickup locations, as an additional step to protect the health and safety of all our attendees, exhibitors and staff.”

The organizers also reported that CES 2022, which returns to Las Vegas Jan. 5-8, 2022, has attracted more than 2100 exhibitors, including brands like Abbott, Amazon, AMD, Autograph, Damon, Goodyear, Hisense, Hyundai, IBM, Intel, LG Electronics, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Qualcomm, Revival Health, Samsung Electronics, Sierra Space, Sony, Waymo and more.

The updated list of health protocols planned for CES 2022 is:

• Testing – All CES attendees MUST be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The organizers also request that attendees test for COVID-19 within the 24 hours period prior to entering a CES venue.
• CES will provide complimentary PCR testing for non-US based attendees who require testing prior to their return flight home.
• Vaccination Requirement – CES attendees MUST show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to attend CES. Detailed information on the proof of COVID-19 vaccination process can be found here.
• Attendees must be fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or World Health Organization (WHO). A list of approved vaccines can be found here.
• U.S. based attendees are encouraged to use the CLEAR complimentary mobile app and Health Pass feature to expedite vaccine validation.
• Non-U.S. based attendees, as well as U.S. based attendees who may be unable to use CLEAR, will need to provide their proof of vaccination at designated locations on-site.
• Mask Requirement – Masks are required for large indoor events in the State of Nevada.

CES attendees will be required to wear masks as follows:

• In exhibit booths and indoor exhibit facilities.
• In conference and keynote rooms.
• CES shuttle buses and any CES transportation services.
• Safety ambassadors will be walking the exhibit floor to offer masks to those who may need one.

Additional health protocols include:

• Venues – Enhanced ventilation systems and cleaning protocols in CES venues.
• Conference programming and meeting rooms – Set to enable social distancing.
• Show floor design and flow – Wider aisles and one-way traffic flows in certain areas.
• Food and beverage – Sanitizing stations and guidance on attendee best practices.

Detailed information for all CES 2022 health protocols can be found here. Those unable to travel to Las Vegas will be able to access CES digitally.

The post CES 2022 Adds New Health Protocols; Will Offer COVID-19 Tests appeared first on Radio World.

She’s been the Chief Information Officer for Audacy Inc. since joining the company then-known as Entercom in September 2020.

Now, the former FreeWheel and Imagine Communications executive has been promoted to the newly created role of Chief Technology Officer — a move that comes just as RBR+TVBR readers for the first time are honoring Broadcast Media’s Top Tech Leaders.

Who are Broadcast Media’s Top Tech Leaders? Is Audacy represented on this first-ever, reader-generated honor roll? Find out on January 24, exclusively in the all-new Winter 2022 Radio + Television Business Report print edition. It includes a cover story on the future of broadcasting and OTT for over-the-air TV, and interviews with a wide array of broadcast technology leaders — including GatesAir CEO Bruce Swail, Qligent’s Brick Eksten and CP Communications’ Kurt Heitman. It’s available to RBR+TVBR subscribers and as a digital download to all MWC Barcelona 2022 attendees.

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SUNRISE, FLA. — The warning signs started on Thursday, when headliner Megan Thee Stallion withdrew from the Atlanta “Jingle Ball” concert staged by iHeartMedia for its “Power 96.1” in the market, elevating The Black Eyed Peas, Tate McRae, Tai Verdes and Bazzi in rank of must-see acts on the bill.

Then, with just hours to go before the final scheduled “Jingle Ball” concert for iHeartMedia’s “Y-100” in South Florida, the event was scratched.

The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus is to blame. Is this a warning sign that event revenue for broadcast radio remains shaky for an industry that has experienced a much slower recovery from the depths of the pandemic than broadcast television?

News of the Y-100 Jingle Ball cancellation, following announcements of similar cancellations and postponements of Broadway shows and Saturday Night Live in New York and sports matches in the NFL, NHL and NBA, brings a new wariness to the in-person mass gathering for radio. At the Audacy Beach Festival, held December 4 and 5 on Fort Lauderdale’s main beach, headliner Swedish House Mafia pulled out within 24 hours of its festival-closing performance due to COVID-19.

For the Y-100 “Jingle Ball,” the venue was the FLA Live Arena, home of the Florida Panthers pro hockey club. In a Tweet from the official Jingle Ball account, “the increased transmission of the new COVID-19 variant” led to the event’s cancellation.

In a follow-up post made by WHYI “Y-100” on Twitter, the longtime iHeartMedia Top 40 station said, “Our ticketing partners have relayed that refunds may take between 3 and 30 days to be reflected in your account.”

The Tweet was in stark contrast to the last one made by Y-100, which advised, “Everyone better hydrate and stretch before the #Y100JingleBall tomorrow because we’re gonna be shakin’ it, twerkin’ it and boom boom pow’in it all night with @Saweetie, @Anitta, @BEP, and @duttypaul.”

Megan Thee Stallion was being promoted as a performer on Saturday by iHeartMedia and Y-100 despite the act’s withdrawal from the December 16 Atlanta show. Meanwhile, artists Doja Cat and The Jonas Brothers had already withdrawn from the Jingle Ball series of concerts originated by WHTZ “Z100” in New York due to COVID-19 concerns.

At iHeartMedia, Events revenue is calculated under the rubric of the iHeartMedia Multiplatform Group, which is also comprised of the company’s broadcast radio, networks and sponsorships businesses. For the three months ending September 30, 2021, sponsorship and event revenue for iHeartMedia came in at $42.66 million, rising rom $28.9 million in Q3 2020.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel was the first local news organization to widely distribute news of the Y-100 “Jingle Ball” cancellation. The newspaper cited that 30% of new COVID cases in Florida are “breakthrough” cases, while quoting Dr. Anthony Fauci, who spoke Sunday morning on a national television newsmagazine and noted the Omicron variant is “just raging around the world.”

With CES 2022 just two weeks away in Las Vegas, one of the world’s biggest conferences and vendor expos is now suddenly in the COVID-19 crosshairs. “As many people are not attending CES, NAGRA is scheduling virtual meetings to share their news,” the portable audio recorder manufacturer shared in a press release released Monday.

Then, there is NATPE Miami, which begins January 18 at the Fontainebleau Resort on Miami Beach and traditionally attracts a large international crowd of program suppliers and vendors.

While these major events with global reach are very much on-schedule, and fully vaccinated attendees are not expected to be impacted, Omicron’s spread could very well cloud what transpires come January.

Just past 7:20am local time on Monday, a trio of FM signals serving a popular Colorado ski resort region were heard playing tunes from Post Malone and The Weeknd; Todd Rundgren; and Zac Brown Band.

Will this continue in 2022, as the three radio brands are being spun to a new ownership group?

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As the clock struck midnight on Friday, December 17 in New York, all Disney-owned channels, including ESPN and local ABC stations, became unavailable on YouTube TV. A monthly price reduction from $64.99 to $49.99 for its customers went into effect, a sign that a long-term retransmission consent impasse between the Alphabet Inc.-owned vMVPD and The Walt Disney Co. had come to fruition.

By Sunday evening, it was all over, with all Disney-related live channels and on-demand content back on YouTube TV.

“We’re happy to announce that we’ve reached a deal with Disney and have already started to restore access to channels like ESPN and FX, and Disney recordings that were previously in your library,” YouTube TV’s Twitter minders posted in the 3pm Eastern hour on Sunday. “Your local ABC station will also be turning on throughout the day.”

For “Members,” the monthly subscription will revert to $64.99. However, “all impacted members will still receive a one-time $15 discount,” YouTube TV said.

And just like that, a potentially bruising battle between two multimedia giants came to an end.

At 2am Eastern Saturday, that was hardly a prediction one could have safely made. In an e-mail communique to its Members, YouTube TV said, “We have held good faith negotiations with Disney for several months. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an equitable agreement before our existing one expired.”

As such, anyone relying on YouTubeTV to watch such stations as KTRK-13 in Houston or “ABC7” in San Francisco, Chicago, New York or Los Angeles were out of luck. Furthermore, a “blackout,” by law in lieu of a retransmission consent agreement, prevented YouTube TV Members from accessing any previous library recordings from the impacted channels, including 4K content that is available as part of the 4K Plus add-on.

“We know this is frustrating news, and it is not the outcome we wanted,” the Google sibling said early Saturday. “We will continue conversations with Disney to advocate on your behalf in hopes of restoring their content on YouTube TV.”

It turns out that a swift resolution could be had after all.

The impacted channels off of YouTube TV for approximately 18 hours are:

Disney-owned channels no longer available on YouTube TV:

• The local ABC channel
• ABC News Live
• Disney Channel
• Disney Junior
• Disney XD
• Freeform
• FX
• FXX
• FXM
• National Geographic
• National Geographic Wild
• ESPN
• ESPN2
• ESPN3 (by authentication to the ESPN app)
• ESPNU
• ESPNEWS
• SEC Network
• ACC Network

When you hear the name “Ocean Way,” you probably picture the iconic studios that bear, or once bore, the name, where countless hit records have been recorded. Allen Sides, the legendary engineer behind those studios, also makes high-end studio monitors through his Ocean Way Audio brand.

In commercial studios, you’re more likely to find the company’s three-way monitors with horns, often soffit-mounted in a control room. With large footprints and price tags north of $10,000, they’re not practical for all but the most elaborate personal studios.

But recently, Ocean Way Audio released the Pro3, which is the latest in its smaller (and less-expensive) OWA monitor line. The company refers to the Pro3 as its “most affordable” monitor pair yet. At $3,000 for a pair, some might quibble with the term “affordable,” but it is within the range of many studios and recording musicians; to many, its high-end, pro-level sound quality makes it an exceptional value.

Not baffling at all

The Pro3 monitors are the smallest that Ocean Way makes. The cabinets are designed to reduce baffle reflections and low-frequency resonance. Each monitor features a circular port at the top of the back panel.

With dimensions of 9 × 14 × 13.5 (W × H × D) inches and weighing 23 pounds each, the Pro3 is small enough to fit in any-size room. They’re two-way active monitors with plenty of power — 125 watts per side for the aluminum low-frequency driver and 90 watts for the silk fabric dome–type tweeter.

Compared to most studio monitors these days, you could call their control set “minimalist.” What there is resides on the back panel. The front of the Pro3 has only the woofer and tweeter. The power indicator light is on the rear, not the front. I’m not sure I understand that design choice; to me, it makes more sense if you can see it from the listening position.

Back panel

The Pro3s offer two input options: Analog and Digital AES/EBU, both on XLR connectors. An AES/EBU digital XLR output is also included. The monitors can be switched between four different presets: Preset 1 is the default, with the analog inputs active. Preset 2 is also analog, for use with a subwoofer. When it’s on, a fourth-order high-pass filter rolls off at 85 Hz so as not to get in the way of the low frequencies coming from the sub. The other two presets are for digital input. Preset 3 sets the monitor to digital left input and Preset 4 to digital right.

The process for changing presets is not what I’d describe as user-friendly. Each monitor features a small recessed button on the back panel called the LED Selector. Near it is a series of four LEDs: two white and two red. The manual recommends using a “small blunt tool” or breaking off the end of a cotton swab to make adjustments. Pressing and holding the LED Selector for a second or more switches the white LED from 1 to 2, which toggles the active status of the analog and digital inputs.

Quicker presses set the two red LEDs, which blink when you first adjust them. The combination of white and red LEDs that are lit determines which preset is active. Fortunately, you probably won’t have to adjust them very often, if at all. I never thought I’d find myself wishing for dip switches, but I did in this case.

Each speaker also features a Master Volume control for trimming the output. It’s recessed and requires a small screwdriver or a tweaker to adjust it. It’s not detented, but has 10 position indicators printed around the recessed area, making it pretty easy to set the left and right evenly if you need to lower the volume.

That’s it for the controls, save for the power switch and voltage selector. Ocean Way Audio includes IEC power cables for each monitor.

Somewhat surprisingly, there’s no room correction filtering or EQ that you can deploy on the Pro3s other than the high-pass filter for subwoofers that’s available with Preset 2.

Taking them for a spin

I set up the Pro3s in a nearfield configuration, placed on speaker stands on top of Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizers, which are thick and heavy monitor pads. The Pro3s don’t have rubber feet, so you’ll want to use pads or decoupling stands. I connected the Pro3s to the outputs of my Cranborne Audio 500R8 interface, opened Ableton Live and hit Play on a song I’d been working on.

My first thought was, “These monitors are really bright.” But I soon realized that what I was reacting to was clarity. Everything in the mix sounded clearer and more present— the drum loops, the bass, the guitars and the keyboards. The transient reproduction was beyond impressive.

When I switched back and forth between the Pro3s and my regular monitors (I’m not naming names because it’s an unfair fight), which I like a lot, the contrast was enormous. Not only are the Pro3s excellent for mixing, their sonic clarity makes them extremely helpful in adjusting mic placement when setting up for a tracking session.

The bass response on the Pro3s is extremely tight and defined. The specs show that it goes down to 45 Hz. Mixing on the Pro3s, I found it easier to accurately gauge the level of the kick drum and bass than with my regular monitors. The imaging on the Pro3s is also impressive. According to the company, the frequency response between the two speakers is within ±0.5dB.

Crank ’em up

I was curious how the Pro3s sounded at higher levels than the 70–80 dB range I’d been listening in. I cranked the music up to over 90 dB — which, with the speakers less than three feet from my ears, was quite loud. I expected to hear the clarity diminish, but it didn’t. The monitors sounded louder but otherwise no different than at lower volumes.

If by chance you push the level up too high, the monitors are equipped with overload protection circuits that would prevent damage to the drivers and other components.

I mixed a couple of full songs on the Pro3s and got excellent results. I noticed less ear fatigue than I was used to on either pair of monitors that I use regularly in my studio. The ability to listen longer before you have to stop for a long break, or until the next day, could be a real boon for mixing productivity.

The last thing I tried was hooking up a subwoofer. I own a KRK 10s sub and connected its left and right outputs to the inputs of the Pro3s. After switching the monitors to Preset 2, to activate the high-pass filtering, I let it rip. With that extra bass, the overall sound of the system was magnificent.

Ocean Way Audio makes a couple of subs, the S10A and the S12A, which would probably sound better matched with the Pro3s than what I tried out here. But even with a sub from another manufacturer, the results were stunning.

Quality and consistency

Doing this review has been an eye-opening, or rather, an ear-opening experience for me. The Pro3s are hands-down the best-sounding monitors I’ve used in my studio. I’ve reviewed quite a few, but these stand above.

As noted, I have a few small issues. One is the lack of room correction features. Incredible as the Pro3s sound, if you have acoustical issues in your studio that you need to compensate for, they’ll be there no matter which monitors you use. I also wish they would add a front-panel power LED and that the switching system for the Presets was easier to use.

But when weighed against the stunning sound quality and performance of these monitors, those issues pale to insignificance. The headline here is that from a sonic standpoint, the Pro3s are a revelation and definitely worth every penny. If you’ve never considered spending three grand on a monitor system, you might want to change your mind.

This article originally appeared in our sister publication Mix. Radio World invites both users and suppliers to tell us about recently installed new or notable equipment. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

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