Radio World

Rob Atkinson, K5UJ, is an engineer out of Saint Charles, Ill., and one of the many readers who enjoy the DIY projects we feature from time to time in Workbench.

He writes in to say that he admires Frank Hertel’s ingenuity in home-brewing the LED dimmer circuit that we told you about in the May 26 issue. However, as a ham Rob is concerned about the RFI that variable square waves cause and that there was no mention of RFI mitigation measures in Frank’s submission.

Rob points out that any kind of control circuit based on square waves can be a terrible spectrum polluter, especially if the leads to the device being controlled are long and unshielded. His concern is that these ideas often end up on the internet, where they are repurposed by unsuspecting shortwave or medium-wave hobbyists.

Frank Hertel responded: “Since hams sometimes work with receiving weak signals” — which, by the way, Frank does when measuring distant AM and FM signals — “I can relate to Mr. Atkinson’s concerns.”

Frank says Rob is right. See Fig. 1, the dimmer schematic. The 555 Timer IC does produce a fairly square wave output, so filtering is important. However, the 6.8K resistor that is in a series with the 555’s output to the MPF102 MOSFET’s gate is bypassed to ground with a 1 MFD (nonpolarized) capacitor and does a pretty good job of turning the square wave into a semi-sine wave (non-symmetrical shaping).

Finally, an additional damping filter capacitor, the 100 MFD capacitor at the D718 emitter to ground that connects to the LED light fixture, does a bit more filtering.

Frank realizes that he could have fabricated a more sophisticated output filter network, but he found that any emissions from the dimmer circuit were consistent with the emissions of commercial dimmers and commercial dimmable LED lamps, so that is where he decided to leave it, as you see in the schematic.

In these scope photos and spectrum analyzer shots, the probe is connected across the 555 output/LED fixture at different LED intensities.

The Enemy of LEDs
San Francisco contract and project engineer Bill Ruck was interested in Frank’s dimmer circuit interesting, but even more so in the super-flexible silicone wire used. At Amazon.com, type “B07K9R9LBV” in the search field to find this 22-awg silicone electrical wire. Frank used 22 gauge but other gauges are available.

Bill inquired because most of the “zip” red/black cables that he has seen are relatively stiff. He points out that most LED fixtures have a built-in regulated current switching supply. If the fixture just had a current limiting resistor, it would dim gradually.

Bill related a personal experience in which he replaced his circular kitchen “dome” fixture with LEDs. It turns out the two round “Circline” fluorescent bulbs are no longer manufactured by GE, so Bill bought a “2600 Lumen 30W Super Bright Cool White LED” from MJPA (Item #31327 OP at mjpa.com) with the appropriate power supply. He then used the fixture can to build a LED-based lamp.

The lamp worked great for about six months, then failed. This time, he spaced the LED assembly below the ceiling with an extension box. This, too, failed in time. The repair saw Bill adding heat sinks around the LEDs.

The moral to the story? Heat is the enemy of long-life LEDs! Next time, Bill will rebuild the fixture and put the heat sinks on the outside of the can to better dissipate the heat.

John Bisset, CPBE, has 50 years in the broadcasting industry including 31 years writing Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance and is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award. Workbench submissions are encouraged and qualify for SBE recertification. Email johnpbisset@gmail.com.

The post Workbench: Capacitors Damp Square Wave Output appeared first on Radio World.

Studio Float is offering IsoRafts, a new line of wood and silicone vibration isolation products.

Intended to be an inexpensive sound-absorbing solution, the line is centered around simple “blocks” constructed from wood and silicone, which reportedly provide accurate predictive acoustic performance. The line is geared towards studio designers and builders for private or commercial production/performance venue projects.

According to Studio Float, IsoRafts are intended to make a space more acoustically efficient, and are to prevent sound from leaking into adjacent areas, in turn isolating a facility from the outside world.

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

During a facility’s construction phase, the IsoRafts get attached directly to the side of studs and joists using standard fastening techniques. The aim is to decouple floors, walls and ceilings from a main structure, effectively “floating” them and preventing sound transfer between spaces.

Three types are available: Deck IsoRafts (for floors) are available in three sizes ( 2-inch, 3-inch, 4-inch) and height options of low 1-1/4-inch height profile or high 2-1/4-inch profile for handling underfloor cabling. Meanwhile, Wall IsoRafts feature a 1/4-inch offset to provide an air gap, and Ceiling IsoRafts are available for use with hanging acoustical panels or with a threaded rod insert. The Wall IsoRaft may also be use in a ceiling application.

All IsoRaft products are designed and built in Hanover, Mass., and tested at Riverlab Acoustical Laboratories in Illinois. Prices per IsoRaft range from $7.65 to $11.70.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

Info: https://studio-float.com

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The Federal Communications Commission has released the latest broadcast station totals for the United States.

Notably, the number of licensed FM translators and boosters continues to grow; that category added more than 300 just in the past year.

Though the commission doesn’t separate translators and boosters in this report, the growth is understood to be mostly in translators. A Radio World analysis of FCC data shows that the number of translators and boosters has grown 40% over 10 years. That growth is due in part to the use of translators in rebroadcasting HD Radio multicast channels as well as the use of translators in AM “revitalization.”

The number of licensed stations in each broadcast category as of June 30 is shown below. The data in parentheses are one year earlier, for comparison.

AM stations — 4,533 (4,570)

FM commercial — 6,681 (6,706)

FM educational — 4,214 (4,197)

Total — 15,428 (15,473)

FM translators & boosters — 8,614 (8,303)

LPFM — 2,093 (2,146)

[See how these categories have changed compared to 20 years ago.]

The post FM Translators Continue to Proliferate appeared first on Radio World.

Services that help a radio station manage its visual appearance in dashboards are becoming more and more important. An example is this announcement from Quu Inc. and Bonneville International.

Bonneville says it will use Quu software to publish synced programming and advertiser messages on vehicle dashboards in all of its markets. Those include Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Sacramento and San Francisco

[Read: vCreative Can Now Publish to Quu]

“These messages, called Visual Quus, boost station and advertiser branding, recall and retention,” the software provider said in the announcement. “Paired with on-air content, Visual Quus offer a better user experience and generate immediate incremental revenue by adding text, logos and images to on-air advertisements.”

The announcement was made by Darrell Brown, president of Bonneville International and Steve Newberry, CEO of Quu.

Quu was founded by Joe Harb in 2007. Beasley Media Group is among the company’s investors.

The post Bonneville Signs on With Quu for Visual Messages appeared first on Radio World.

NATE has a new face in Washington.

The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association — also known as NATE, from its former name the National Association of Tower Erectors — announced Todd Washam as director of government relations and wireless industry network, a staff position.

The organization’s veteran lobbyist Jim Goldwater is nearing retirement; he has signed a short-term extension through February and will assist in the transition.

[Read: Kathy Stieler Joins NATE]

“Todd Washam comes to NATE with an extensive background that includes serving as a congressional staffer for approximately 10 years, working in the executive branch at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and working for the Air Conditioning Contractors of America Association,” the organization said in the announcement.

“Washam, an Ohio native, possesses a deep network of contacts on Capitol Hill, has a keen understanding of issues important to small business contractors and has considerable experience advocating for workforce development issues and the important role that the skilled trades play in our communities and economy.”

In the announcement, Washam was quoted saying, “Our country is investing in communications infrastructure projects at historic levels, and we need to ensure we have the skilled workforce available to see these projects come to completion.”

The post NATE Names Its New Head Lobbyist appeared first on Radio World.

A new study from Australia has found that not only is adoption of smart speaker devices on the rise, but that the devices are extending access to radio to more places and demonstrating that consumers in that country are open to the increasing possibilities of voice technology.

These were some of the findings from the latest Smart Audio Report Australia 2021, which found that a growing number of households are investing in smart speakers, are planning to purchase another speaker within the immediate future and place a high value on audio programming.

All in all, the report found that smart speakers are encouraging owners to listen to more music and news from online audio and AM/FM/DAB+ radio.

[Read: Is the Smart Speaker Like a New Age Home Radio?]

Ownership of smart speaker devices is on the rise across the board in Australia. The survey found that more than one quarter of Australians aged 12 or older — which comes to 5.6 million people — now own a smart speaker, a 53% jump from 2020 when only 17% owned smart speaker devices.

Among those Australians that currently own a smart speaker, 24% of those households own three or more of those devices, up from 13% in 2020.

The survey also found that both smart speaker user satisfaction and the intention to purchase is high, with the report predicting that as many as 8.7 million devices will be added to Australian households.

Usage is also on the rise. Of those in Australia who already own a smart speaker, 67% use them on a daily basis while 88% use them at least once during the week. Among owners, 61% plan to purchase another device in the near future while 38% of non-speaker-owning households say they plan to purchase one in the next six months.

These figures are on par with American smart speaker ownership in 2021. In 2018, only 5% of Australians owned a smart speaker, compared to 18% in the United States. That gap narrowed in 2021 with 33% of Americans owning a smart speaker compared with 26% ownership in Australia.

The study also revealed how listeners were engaging with their smart speaker devices.

Forty-nine percent of Australians have used a voice assistant to interact with a brand or service. Sixty-seven percent of smart speaker owners listen to the device while multitasking, such as while cooking, doing chores or entertaining. Users are also reporting that smart speakers are changing the way that people interact with other technology — 49% say they’ve begun using their voice-operated assistant on their smartphone more frequently since purchasing a smart speaker device, with 40% saying they spend less time with other technology once they began using their smart speaker.

The report also touched on parental use of smart speakers. Fifty-one percent with children in the household said reducing screen time was a reason they purchased a smart speaker with 69% agreeing that the devices have made it easier to entertain children.

Among smart speaker brands, Google continues to dominate the smart speaker market in Australia with 24% owning a Google smart speaker, 3% owning an Amazon device and 1% owning an Apple HomePod.

“Smart speakers have fundamentally changed the way people interact with media,” said Megan Lazovick, vice president at Edison Research, who presented the results in a webinar. The report was conducted by Edison Research and was commissioned by Commercial Radio Australia, the Australian commercial radio broadcasting group, along with TalkVia, an Australian technology company.

“It is a good bet that the Australian population will continue to grow more comfortable with this technology and opportunities will grow for those in audio and advertising if they embrace smart audio, too,” Lazovick said.

The Smart Audio Report Australia study was conducted via a national online survey of 5,000 adults aged 18 and older in Australia in April and May 2021. Additional data was taken from the Infinite Dial Australia from Commercial Radio Australia, Southern Cross Austereo/LiSTNR, Triton Digital and Edison Research.

The post Smart Speaker Usage on the Rise Down Under appeared first on Radio World.

Radio program provider American Public Media Group has named Heather Riddle as its new senior vice president and chief development officer.

She previously was vice president of institutional advancement and alumni relations at Augsburg University in Minneapolis. She starts on July 22.

Riddle succeeds Randi Yoder, who has retired.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

A release said Riddle will be responsible for “leading the vision and developing the strategy for APMG’s philanthropic support. She will direct the fundraising teams, cultivate lasting and mutually beneficial relationships with donors, oversee major campaigns, and implement innovative plans to inspire and secure essential contributions.”

In addition, “As a member of the executive team reporting to APMG’s CEO, Riddle will help to accelerate APMG’s ‘Audiences First 2025’ strategic plan, prioritizing the changing needs of the people and communities APMG serves while elevating the role of philanthropy in the organization’s future growth.”

She said, “I’m thrilled to join the APMG community of exceptional staff, loyal listeners, and members who believe in the mission of public media.”

Send news of engineering and executive personnel changes to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post APM Picks Riddle appeared first on Radio World.

In a rare move, the Federal Communications Commission cancelled a liability that it had levied against an FM translator, despite the fact that the licensee failed to file its license renewal application on time.

The Media Bureau sent out a Notice of Apparent Liability to Gerard Media LLC, licensee of FM translator station W294CY in Valparaiso, Ind., because the licensee failed to file a renewal application on time. FCC Rules state that these type of applications must be received on the fourth calendar month prior to the expiration of the station’s license, which for W294CY would have been on April 1, 2020, four months prior to an Aug. 1, 2020, license expiration date.

[Read: LPFM Facing $3,500 Forfeiture]

Instead, the licensee didn’t formally file the application until July 23, 2020. At the time, the bureau proposed a forfeiture of $1,500 and gave the licensee 30 days to either pay the full amount or submit a statement seeking cancelation of the forfeiture.

On March 10, 2021, the licensee responded, saying that it had been unable to file its application on time due to a technical issue with the commission’s Licensing and Management System (LMS), the commission’s filing database. The licensee said that when the station was initially licensed on Oct. 28, 2019, LMS listed the wrong expiration date, saying the deadline was July 9, 2021, instead of the correct date, which was April 1, 2020.

In February 2020, the station’s engineer reached out to Media Bureau staff to apprise them of the error, noting that despite his efforts, LMS would not accept a license renewal application for the station. The staff informed the licensee’s engineer, Larry Langford, that the error was corrected.

All was not resolved, however. Langford reached out again in July 2020 saying the dates had not been corrected. The problem was finally resolved on July 23, with Langford filing the renewal application that same day.

While the FCC was to blame for the initial mix up, the Media Bureau still had admonishments to hand out to the licensee.

The bureau chastised the licensee for waiting too long to retry filing the renewal application again. The station’s engineer did not attempt to file the application until July 2020, even though he reached out to bureau staff back in February 2020. “Therefore, the failure to timely file the renewal application was due to licensee’s own lack of diligence,” the bureau said in its notice, formally admonishing the licensee for its violation of FCC Rules.

However, given the fact that bureau staff did not adequately correct the LMS issue in February 2020, the bureau made the rare decision to cancel the Notice of Apparent Liability, absolving the licensee from having to pay the $1,500 penalty.

The post FCC Nixes $1,500 Liability Against FM Translator appeared first on Radio World.

The Federal Communications Commission has officially opened an NPRM aimed at changing certain technical rules covering broadcast radio.

This was expected; as we reported earlier, a draft notice of proposed rulemaking had been released. The commissioners have now approved it, which means the FCC will take public comment on the proposed changes for final action later. Comment deadlines are not yet set.

Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has said the changes are intended to fix rules that are “redundant, outdated or in conflict with other rules.”

The commission wants to change section 73.1665(b) to remove the maximum rated transmitter power limit for AM stations.

It also wants to change two rule sections that were adopted in 1997 to “harmonize” with the NCE FM community coverage standard in another section, which was adopted later.

A third change would eliminate section 73.316(d), “which we tentatively conclude is an unnecessary burden on applicants.” This involves FM transmitter interference to nearby antennas.

Also, the FCC wants to change a section that sets out signal strength contour overlap requirements for NCE FM Class D stations, “to harmonize the requirements with the more permissive standard applied to all other NCE-FM stations.” It said it wants to be consistent across different NCE FM station classes.

It also wants to delete a requirement that radio stations in the 76–100 MHz band protect common carrier services in Alaska. It said there are no such services remaining. Earlier, existing common carrier operations had been grandfathered in with the understanding that they would gradually move to other parts of the spectrum

The FCC also wants to tweak the definition of “AM fill-in area” in one part of the rules to conform to the requirement in another part. The goal is consistency across the rules for fill-in translator transmitter siting.

Last, the commission wants to amend the allocation and power limitations for broadcast stations within 320 kilometers of the Mexican and Canadian borders to comply with current treaty provisions.

The full proposal is posted on the Radio World website.

The post Changes to Radio Technical Rules Advance appeared first on Radio World.

Steve Kirsch is president of Silver Lake Audio, which produces multi-station radio remotes including renting the equipment and providing tech support. This interview is from the 2021 Radio World ebook “Remote Radio Phase II: What We’ve Learned During a Pandemic.”

RW: How did the pandemic change workflow for you and your clients? 

Steve Kirsch: A lot of my smaller clients called in March 2020 as they were beginning to figure out how to have their morning show do their thing from their house. “Look, I’d like to rent a Comrex. We’re going to feed the audio back to the studio, but they’re not going to be there.” 

At the beginning they’d say, “Well, we need this for two weeks.” You remember? It seems crazy now to think about, but in the beginning we thought all this would be over. In March last year, you had [events] on the books for June that you knew were still going to happen. “By then, we’ll have this all sorted out.” 

A year later I had some clients who still have the equipment. I said, “Look, just keep this stuff until the pandemic’s over.” We shut the meter off, they’re not renting it any longer. They’re just borrowing it at this point. 

We were supposed to do a job in April 2020 for the Academy of Country Music Awards. They kicked that down the road from April to September, and they moved the venue from Las Vegas to Nashville; but they still wanted to do this radio multi-station broadcast. 

Now in a typical year, we would build a booth for each radio station on the floor of the convention center or wherever they were basing the show. We would set up the equipment in every booth, and the DJs would just show up and sit in the booth. We’d have a small crew. We’d show the guys how to use the equipment that we put out there; and then the artists, Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, would move through from one booth to another.

So keeping that format in mind, [the ACM] decided that they were going to go ahead and do this virtually last fall. They decided that as opposed to having the talent from the radio stations fly in, they would set up video monitors in each booth. The artists would move through the booth, but they would look at a video screen, and they would see the DJ back in their home studio. So they came to us and said, “How are we going to do this?”

By September, everybody was familiar with doing Zoom calls and Microsoft meetings. Whatever platform the radio station was accustomed to, we adapted that booth for their format, for their platform. 

We brought in computer monitors and put Focusrite Scarlet sound cards on those things, so you didn’t sound like those CNN interviews where the guy sounds like he’s in a garbage can, using the microphone that’s built into the computer. The Focusrite Scarlet is pro level in and USB out, and they interface with the computer. 

Then we used our regular setup, Mackie 1202s and headphone amps, and interfaced everything into the Zoom call. 

I would say half the stations still wanted Comrex or Tieline audio going back. The Zoom audio is pretty good. We never expected to use the Zoom audio, because most of the things that you’ve seen on TV have sounded so bad. We were surprised with these sound cards and how good the audio with the Zoom call actually was. 

RW: Did it work out well?

Kirsch: It worked great. 

We always provide Sony 7506 headphones as studio monitors for those events; the artist comes in and put the headphones on, they can listen to questions from the studio or whatever. [But] the academy didn’t want that look. 

They knew that the DJs in the studio were going to see the artists. They didn’t want the artists wearing headphones; and they were worried that the women wouldn’t put them on because it would mess up their hair. These are some of the things that we had to deal with. 

We debated going to IFB type earpieces like they use on TV. But then we just ended up looking for the least obtrusive earbuds that we could find, and they really loved those. I don’t know that we’re ever going back to the headphones because even though it’s radio, there’s so much of this stuff gets put on the social media platform now, with video streaming. 

RW: What about hygienic considerations, where you’ve got talent going from booth to booth.

Kirsch: We threw out all of our windscreens. We were using WindTech, they’re like six bucks a windscreen instead of 50 cents that you could get at B&H Photo if you buy 20 of them. We took all our WindTech windscreens off and bought new windscreens with the idea of throwing them out. 

We also bought those earbuds, and used alcohol wipes and put new tips on for the next event. 

We washed down the mics, we put new windscreens on; and we have a Seal-a-Meal heat sealer for bags. We heat sealed these mics, these windscreens and these earbuds in a bag; and we put a label on the outside. We knew the artist lineup so we’d write the artist’s name on the outside of the bag; and when they checked in to do the interviews, we handed them this bag.

Also my guys, in addition to being tested every day, they had to wear a plastic shield as well as a mask to sit in the booth and do the engineering.

The post Lessons of Radio Row at the ACM Awards appeared first on Radio World.

The AFCCE is urging the White House to nominate a fifth FCC commissioner — and to make it a person with a technical background.

The Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers is made up of engineers who serve clients with matters under the purview of the FCC. They provide comments, guidance and recommendations on rule interpretation, technical collaboration and FCC technical policy.

The group has sent a letter to the Biden administration and to Senators Maria Cantwell and Roger Wicker of the Commerce Committee, recommending that President Biden appoint a fifth FCC commissioner to help resolve anticipated deadlocks on pending matters. It also urges that the president to consider appointing a commissioner with technical, scientific or engineering background.

“At the FCC’s origin, commissioners were appointed based as much on their technical merit as other factors,” wrote AFCCE President John George.

“In recent decades, however, commissioners have relied upon the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology and the FCC’s staff engineers for technical advice, but those technical resources have suffered massive attrition over the past two decades with few positions backfilled. As the FCC itself has reduced its technological depth, the technology inherent in the industries regulated by the FCC — including broadcasting and multicast, personal wireless, and Wi-Fi — have become infinitely more complex.”

George wrote that having at least one FCC commissioner with a substantial technical background and a fundamental understanding of RF and communications technologies “would be in the greater public interest and would provide an additional measure of balance and robustness to the FCC’s overall decision-making process.”

The FCC currently has four members, two Democrats and two Republicans, and is led by acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

[Related: “Radio Technical Rules to Be Cleaned Up”]

The post FCC Needs a Tech-Savvy Commissioner, AFCCE Says appeared first on Radio World.

iHeartMedia named Kevin LeGrett as president of iHeartMedia Sports.

The portfolio includes the iHeartSports Network, which provides sports content and updates on 500+ stations; the Fox Sports Network, with syndicated names like Colin Cowherd and Dan Patrick; and 80 sports talk stations. It also crosses over into the iHeartPodcast Network, with 40 national and 100 local sports podcasts and a recently announced podcast deal with the NFL.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

LeGrett currently is division president and president of the L.A. region for iHeartMedia.

The announcement was made by Greg Ashlock, CEO of the Multi-Platform Group at iHeartMedia.

Alexis Ginas becomes president for Los Angeles, its largest revenue region, and will report to LeGrett, who retains his role of division president for the Markets Group. Ginas was involved with two IPO leadership teams and most recently was at Madison Valley, a media and technology consulting practice that she founded.

Send news of engineering and executive personnel changes to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post iHeart Names LeGrett President of Sports appeared first on Radio World.

The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation named the recipients of its Celebration of Service to America Awards over the weekend, recognizing community service by local broadcasters.

Below are the radio recipients of the Service to Community Awards for Radio, with details of their service campaigns and the announcement text from the NABLF describing them:

Ownership Group
Zimmer Radio of Mid-Missouri, “Miracles for Kids Radiothon“

For the Zimmer Radio & Marketing Group team, the annual Children’s Miracle Network radiothon is personal. Raising money and awareness for MU’s Children’s Hospital to help sick kids is the main reason “why we do the radiothon,” but this radiothon also happens because many staff members have needed this hospital for their own children at some point. As the self-proclaimed “crown jewel event for the company,” this radiothon showcases the power of radio and love for local communities. The 14th annual 2020 Miracle for Kids radiothon raised over $248,000 and awareness for the phenomenal work of the doctors, nurses and staff every single day at the local Children’s Hospital.

Major Market
KTMY(FM), St. Paul, Minn., “KTMY Rebuilds the Neighborhoods,” Hubbard Broadcasting

Minority-owned businesses in Minneapolis and St. Paul that were already disproportionately affected by COVID-19 restrictions were dealt a brutal blow during the uprising that took place in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. During the civil unrest across the cities, many of these places were vandalized, looted and burned to the ground. In partnership with the Neighborhood Development Center, KTMY launched “10 Stories in 10 Days” to tell the stories of these local businesses hurting and inspire the community to lend a hand. Their show hosts turned their mics over to these business owners, many of whom came to this country chasing the American dream, so they could share their stories with the audience. As a result of this partnership and campaign, KTMY raised over $145,000 for these businesses to rebuild and highlighted the local community’s power and small business owners’ resilience.

Medium Market
WYCT(FM), Pensacola, Fla., Hurricane Sally Relief Efforts, iHeartMedia Inc.

In September 2020, Hurricane Sally meandered into the Gulf of Mexico and 36 hours out, this slow-moving storm was forecast to make landfall 200 miles away from Pensacola. Instead, it took a slow right turn and became the first direct hit for Pensacola in 16 years. Following the devastation of this hurricane, the team at WYCT(FM) wanted to do something to help the community rebuild and recover from the storm. In partnership with United Way of West Florida and their TV partner WEAR(TV), this local station launched “Mission Restore Hope” to raise over $300,000 to help local organizations fund rebuilding efforts and help the community feel at home again.

Small Market
KNDE(FM), College Station, Texas, “136 Charities, $794,573, One Day and the KNDE Team,” Bryan Broadcasting Corp.

Amid canceled events and poorly attended virtual fundraisers, many local nonprofits found themselves on the brink of extinction. In partnership with the Community Foundation of the Brazos Valley, the KNDE team decided it was time to showcase local radio’s power. During the 18-hour virtual giving event held on Oct. 27, 2020, this local station educated its audience on the work of 136 charities and solicited donations to help keep the community members afloat. In one day, this team raised $794,573 and proved that local broadcasting does matter.

Television stations and groups were honored in similar categories. Recipients included the E.W. Scripps Company; WISN(TV), Milwaukee; WMC(TV), Memphis, Tenn.; and KTVB(TV), Boise, Idaho.

The post Broadcasters Honored for Community Service appeared first on Radio World.

The author is founder and VP digital technologies at All in Media, a supplier of radio station applications and part of Xperi.

 There are, more or less, 131 FM radio stations in New York. And only 75 AM stations.

That’s it — that’s the expanse of a content choice that is advertiser-supported and has a built-in limit to how broadly it can get its message out.

Now compare this to the wonderful, sometimes wild, world of apps.

In the iOS world, you can listen to 40,000 radio stations in your car, accessible through your phone or CarPlay. It’s hands-down the sector with the biggest growth — and has been for a long time.

This massive and noisy environment is, today, the cornerstone of a broadcaster’s digital strategy: The infrastructure that a radio station invests in to deploy mobile apps dictates its ability to innovate user experiences, leverage metadata and expand into new integrations such as Amazon Fire TV, Android Auto, Sonos, Bose and Amazon Alexa.

[Read: RadioFX Provides Apps to El Dorado]

Indeed, the right digital infrastructure helps to ensure an expanding and evolving experience across many digital ecosystems.

Expanding the Ecosystem

About a decade ago, the drive for apps was arguably a curious “me too” trend, with little upside.

Since then, as it has morphed into a driver of affordable, scalable innovation, it has, frankly, become a survival imperative for broadcasters to stay ahead of a competitive and constantly evolving digital content landscape. And in the process it has changed the game.

But while good app infrastructure is critical to cost-efficient innovation, it can be a tall mountain to climb.

On the surface it looks easy: Apps are user-friendly and simple (that is the whole point of an app); but as seen in Fig. 1, behind the curtain is a complex set of systems and moving parts that must be integrated into a single API in order to open up that innovation efficiency for broadcasters.

A great example of how good app infrastructure opens up new opportunities is Commercial Radio Australia’s app, which brings together different radio stations into a single aggregator app, owned and operated by the radio industry.

At AIM, we worked for years with Australia’s big commercial and public service broadcasters, so we understood their specific needs and requirements. When the industry evolved and an app was needed, we were able to create an app and app infrastructure that enabled Commercial Radio Australia to have control of the platform.

This work also helped build support for new platforms, such as Google Home and Alexa.

For example, a key issue radio stations were having was with the accuracy of station matching on Alexa. Radio is one of the most used features on Alexa but, in Australia, Alexa would get the right station just 23% of the time. That could be because Alexa misunderstood the name, or a station had changed name, or there were multiple stations with the same name, and Alexa wasn’t matching.

Supported by the app infrastructure, AIM was able to work with Commercial Radio Australia and Amazon to enable a smarter, more sophisticated way of searching for radio stations and improved the accuracy to close to 100%.

Affordable Innovation

Any broadcaster can innovate, but innovation takes a lot longer and more resources without the kind of adaptable, end-to-end platform that a centralized digital app infrastructure offers: It can make innovation more time- and cost-efficient, and easily scaled, for example to allow the launch of an Alexa service, Siri, Sonos or any number of digital extensions.

But is it possible for broadcasters to DIY app infrastructure to reach this affordable innovation? Maybe — if they have the resources for a permanent team of developers to keep the apps fresh enough to engage listeners, to build infrastructure that can integrate multiple disparate elements — from scheduling to third-party content to live streams, podcasts, user login, ad systems, analytics, listening systems and more.

The reality? Most broadcasters don’t have the resources, time or focus to develop this infrastructure. “Buy vs. build” truly makes sense when it comes to app strategy.

At AIM, we do it for broadcast customers with RadioAPI, which enables simple distribution of content to platforms including broadcast, mobile, web, hybrid cars and smart speakers, while keeping content within the broadcaster’s control.

A Personalized App Experience

Online listening, mobile listening, listening via smart speakers is growing in popularity; and radio stations are at its heart. Not being available via app means missing out on an exponentially expanding audience through the sheer volume of listeners and through access to analytics.

Apps can track listener behavior, from listening times to played tracks. People often search for a local radio station in the App Store, presenting a golden opportunity: Broadcasters can surface additional content, including on-demand to podcasts, catch-up content or new stories.

Being in control of the gateway to listeners — because you own the app — means full control of the user experience. That’s when your listeners come to your app and start listening to your content.

A good example is Bauer, which rolled out its subscription service with two things: a strong base of mobile app listeners and access to analytics (Fig. 2).

The listener base helped Bauer monetize new options and features, while expanded analytics told them who, and when, users were consuming content — down to what tracks people were tuning into … and out of.

Revenue Opportunities and Control

This all opens up revenue opportunities. Subscription radio for an enhanced experience is one example, as is targeted audio advertising.

Ultimately, great content underpins it all. Good infrastructure and tools mean that content produced for the live broadcast stations can be easily repurposed for the app, then for a smart speaker or connected car platforms. You go into a system and do it once — and the content gets published across the range of platforms that matter to radio stations.

And because good app infrastructure gives the broadcasters complete control, and enables tight access management, their high-value content and unique intellectual property are protected from hijacking aggregators.

Ultimately, apps are a conduit to increased monetization, analytics, efficiency, content and interactivity. And that’s something that makes everyone happy, from listeners to broadcasters and technology providers.

Comment on this or any story. Email mailto:radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

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The Society of Broadcast Engineers has completed its latest salary survey. “Once again, the survey shows that individuals who hold SBE certification on average earn a higher salary than those who do not hold SBE certification,” said President Wayne Pecena. “In short: SBE certification pays.”

The survey finds that the average radio engineer who responded and who holds SBE certification earns a salary of about $81,700 (compared to $78,000 in the 2020 study) while those without certification averaged $72,700 this year (compared to $70,400 last time).

[Read: SBE Drive Nets New Members]

TV engineers and those who work in both radio and TV were grouped together for the purpose of reporting average salary. This group averaged about $90,000 with certification, and $78,600 without.

About 40% of respondents received a salary increase in the past 12 months.

There were 320 qualified respondents. Forty-two percent work just in radio, 31% in TV, and 20% work in both.

The complete results are available free to society members and the survey is available for purchase by others through the SBE Bookstore.

The survey included 23 questions about job titles, broadcast market size and compensation in dollars and offered benefits. It sought responses from both members and non-members. Responses are anonymous. It was conducted April 1 to June 15.

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The author is manager of the Media Intelligence Service at the European Broadcasting Union.

In these days of flashy audio innovations — with professionals, the trade press and dedicated events and conferences often focusing on podcasts, vocal assistants and social audio — we tend to forget the central role that old-fashioned and resilient broadcast radio plays in peoples’ lives.

At the EBU, we estimate that broadcast radio still represents between 85 and 90% of total radio consumption, which remains the bulk of audio consumption.

[Read: The Great Unbundling of Radio]

To understand the situation of broadcast radio, we have recently conducted research on the distribution networks used by radio services in Europe and the northern African territories that form part of the EBU, i.e. in 56 countries with a total population of more than 1 billion.

Many readers will no doubt be surprised to learn that our census found more than 12,000 radio services across the area. These are services operating each under their own brand, independently from the number of frequencies or transmitters.

Less surprisingly, 95% of those services broadcast in FM. This sends out a strong signal showing how prevalent FM remains.

Of course, the picture on the ground is more diverse, from Southern Europe where dials are typically overcrowded to Algeria, the sole remaining public radio monopoly in the area, and on to Norway, the only country to have shut down analog FM radio nationwide. Although some countries still grant FM licenses, the total number of services in this band is on the decrease.

The future looks darker for other analog networks, medium- and longwave. There are already 19 countries with no medium-wave services, although the U.K. still operates 69 services in that band, nearly as many as all 27 countries of the European Union taken together, where 74 services were identified.

There are only 12 services available in longwave, down from 21 in 2017 and 18 in 2019. Those originate in 10 countries, with public radio in Algeria and Iceland broadcasting two different signals. The LW band is only used for radio in Region 1 of the ITU, and outside the area covered by our study, in Mongolia and Turkmenistan.

As the reader may guess, digital radio broadcast networks are the fastest-growing. In 2021 nearly 2,000 different services were identified, a 23% increase in only two years, with no sign of slowing down short term. Again, the U.K. is an outlier here, with 80% of the 265 DAB stations identified. Meanwhile, DAB+ continues gaining ground.

And what about international radio? More shortwave services are appearing, but often at a high cost: large, well-known broadcasters are turning away from a bandwidth that is increasingly being taken over by religious denominational and other niche services. DRM, for its part, has not been embraced so far as a viable digital alternative to shortwave.

Comment on this or any story. Email mailto:radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

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REC Networks founder Michi Bradley is criticizing the National Association of Broadcasters for running what she describes as a conspiracy campaign against her petition to increase the maximum power for low-power FMs to 250 watts.

NAB has been a vocal opponent of REC’s “Simple 250” proposal, telling the FCC it has concerns about potential interference to existing FM signals, in particular to translators. The association also has questioned the capabilities of some LPFM stations to address interference complaints adequately.

The petition would amend Parts 73 and 74 of the rules to create an LP250 class of service with an effective service contour of about 4-1/2 miles, in addition to the current LP100 service. The NAB has been vigorous in opposition, and last week we told you about its latest reply comments.

REC Networks too has filed replies, alleging that NAB relies on several “conspiracy theories.”

One, Bradley says, is the “crowded spectrum” argument: “NAB continues to [revel] in this ongoing conspiracy theory that claims that LP250 would result in ‘further congestion’ of the already crowded FM band, yet provides absolutely no technical data to support their claim.”

REC continues: “[C]ontour overlap between commercial stations already exists because of the use of distance separation instead of contours in order to space stations apart. The NAB does not seem to have any problem with that kind of spectrum crowding and interference as it would likely involve its own membership. If anything, it is REC and not the NAB that has been the most transparent in disclosing isolated incidents of interference with the upgrade to LP250 and as we will explain, that upgrades to LP250 follow the same accepted standards that currently allow full-service commercial FM stations to be able to be spaced, without regard to contour overlap.”

REC Networks proposes that an upgrade from LP100 to LP250 be allowed as a simple minor change application.

It acknowledges the potential for an LPFM to create or increase overlap with an authorized facility due to specific geographic situations, and says it understands comments from ABC-Disney expressing concern over LP250 and its potential impact on WPVI(TV), a legacy Channel 6 station in Philadelphia.

However, REC says the possibility of any new LP100 stations near Philadelphia is extremely small. “ABC-Disney should not need to be concerned about the outcome of this proceeding as it will have no impact on WPVI operations.”

NAB also portrays LPFM stakeholders as “having no regard for the rules,” Bradley wrote, but this generalizes to the entire service from a small number of situations, she argues.

Further, she argues that “NAB tries to play the COVID sympathy card.” The association, she wrote, “claims that radio stations had to quickly reconfigure their systems to comply with social distancing guidelines and remote operations, newsgathering and reporting. It would be completely pathetic to assume that these reactions and precautions to protect and inform the local community were exclusive to full-service broadcast stations.”

And NAB says the economic downturn caused by the pandemic has severely impacted the radio industry and that advertising dollars which sustain radio were among the first business cuts when businesses contract during downturns, according to REC.

“They fail to recognize that LPFM stations were in a similar situation during the pandemic,” REC told the FCC.

There are 2,159 licensed LPFM 100 stations in the United States, according to the latest data from the FCC. The approximate service range of a 100 watt LPFM station is 3.5 miles radius.

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Broadcast equipment manufacturer BW Broadcast has shut down, at least temporarily, after the death of its co-founder Scott Incz, according to BW’s U.S. distributor SCMS.

The manufacturer’s other co-founder, Roger Howe, died last year.

SCMS President Bob Cauthen said he was notified last week by BW Broadcast that Incz had died but that he had no further details.

Cauthen said he expects BW “will be reopened at some point under a new ownership.”

“As the U.S. distributor, we will continue to provide service and parts to our U.S. customers as well as offer service at our North Carolina corporate facility and provide parts as they are available,” Cauthen said. “We have a significant stock of finished product and parts to accomplish this. Additionally, we will be able to work closely with several BW employees for worldwide service support.”

BW Broadcast makes transmitters, audio processors, monitors and other equipment. It was founded by Roger Howe and Scott Incz in 1997. Howe died in early 2020.

“Scott was a valued business partner for many years,” said Matt Cauthen, vice president of SCMS, “and more importantly, a friend. He will be missed.”

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Don Backus has announced his retirement.

He is well known in broadcasting for his equipment sales and marketing roles at companies like Rohde & Schwarz, ENCO, BE and Audio Broadcast Group. And for two decades before that, he came up through the station side, in management, on-air, news, sales and ownership.

Throughout his career, he has maintained close ties to the state of Michigan.

Backus attended Michigan State University in East Lansing, where he worked at the carrier current radio station. His early career included programming, production and on-air positions at WVIC in East Lansing, doing mornings and middays; WITL in Lansing doing afternoons; and WSJM in St. Joseph doing middays and FM programming.

From 1983 to 1993, he was co-owner, president and general manager of FM station WDBI in Tawas City, Mich., where he also worked on-air and as chief engineer. His final station role was as general sales manager of the Williams Communications stations in Longview and Tyler, Texas.

His career in technology sales started at Audio Broadcast Group, another Michigan firm, which he joined in 1994 and where he was a sales engineer and digital systems manager.

“I moved into the technology side when I realized that my passion for broadcasting could be channeled into enabling broadcasters to use the newer technology coming onto the market to both improve programming and profitability,” he told me. “I felt then, and still feel, that my experience as a station manager provided me with an empathy all too rare in equipment sales.”

He later joined radio automation provider ENCO Systems in 1999 and held the position of VP of sales and marketing. A highlight of his time there was winning a contract with National Public Radio as part of its ContentDepot rollout to provide 125 automation systems to affiliate stations.

After that he became the eastern U.S. sales manager for Broadcast Electronics, where he sold automation systems, broadcast transmitters and mobile and social media platforms.

And for the past four years Backus has been North American Account Manager, Radio Transmitters for Rohde & Schwarz, where a key responsibility has been to be that company’s face to the U.S. market for its liquid-cooled solid-state FM transmitters.

He estimates he has traveled a half million miles in that position. “The R&S people are great and were a dream to work with,” he said.

Backus has been part of the fabric of the radio technology side of our biz. He has been a member of the National Radio Systems Committee, active in several of its subcommittees and working groups. He also has been a member of the NAB Radio Technology Committee, working on its Next Generation Architecture Digital Radio Working Group.

He’s a director of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation and he served two terms as associate director of the MAB itself. For 25 years he has helped plan the engineering content of the MAB’s annual Great Lakes Broadcast Conference.

“Since Michigan State college radio in the fall of 1972, I’ve always considered myself a broadcaster,” he told me. “I have never had a job that wasn’t interesting, challenging or fun, and most of the time, all three.”

He and his wife of 48 years, Nancy, live in Grand Rapids. They plan to travel and spend time with their five grandchildren.

“The technology, however powerful, isn’t the point,” he told me in a career summary. “The point is the benefit that you, your people and your listeners get out of it.”

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Eleven radio stations in Texas face the loss of their licenses if they fail to apply for renewal by the end of this month. They include three full-service FMs, three AMs and five low-power FMs.

The Federal Communications Commission released the list of stations that it says haven’t filed yet. “Their licenses will expire as of Aug. 1, 2021, provided no renewal application is received by midnight on the date of expiration.”

The stations are:

KDSH(LP), Borger, Texas; Living River Ministries Inc.

KKFH(LP), Conroe, Texas; Fuente De Vida – Conroe Inc.

KRKF(LP), Corpus Christi, Texas; Stedfast Ministries

KBRA(FM), Freer, Texas; Cobra Broadcasting LLC – KBRA

KTEZ(LP), Killeen, Texas; Kates Media Group Inc.

KJJT(FM), Los Ybanez, Texas; Jesus Pena Acosta

KIRT(AM), Mission, Texas; Bravo Broadcasting Company, Inc.

KLBW(AM), New Boston, Texas; Chapel of Light

KOZA(AM), Odessa, Texas; Stellar Media Inc.

KPHS(FM), Plains, Texas; Plains Independent School District

KHDJ(LP), San Antonio, Texas; Educacional MTY

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