Industry News

Technical Services Group, a Baton Rouge, La.-based broadcast engineering and commercial AV consultancy, designer and integrator, moved into new, much larger facilities to accommodate growth in business. At 36,000 square feet, the new digs are said to be six times larger than their previous home.

TSG CEO Bo Hoover said, “Both our commercial AV and broadcast integration, RF, and field services teams are busier than ever. The transmission business continues to grow, too, even as we draw closer to the end of the FCC Repack.”

The new site includes a 25,000-square-foot warehouse; climate-controlled sections for fabrication, integration and training; staging areas for projects; and a loading dock.

Hoover added, “This new facility is an important move forward for TSG and our clients. Now, we have more space to stage, store, and prepare equipment in order to respond faster to what our clients demand. We’ve also incorporated advanced technologies to manage inventories and provide better facility-wide communications.”

The post TSG Moves Into Larger Facility appeared first on Radio World.

Since 2016, she has served as the Director of Sales for the Nexstar Media Group-owned FOX and The CW Network affiliates serving the second-largest market in Colorado.

Now, she’s being promoted to VP/GM.

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Behind Atlanta, it’s the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. South.

And, its residents now have access to ATSC 3.0-powered next generation broadcast TV signals.

NEXTGEN TV is now available in Charlotte.

Those with select new TV models manufactured by LG Electronics, Samsung, and Sony are now able to tune to ATSC 3.0-powered signals for Cox Media Group’s unaffiliated WAXN-64 and ABC affiliate WSOC-9, Nexstar Media Group’s FOX affiliated WJZY-17, Gray Television’s CBS affiliated WBTV-3 and TEGNA-owned NBC affiliate WCNC-36.

Its spoken word stations are among the most listened-to commercial radio properties in North America.

Now, the company formerly known as Entercom is moving forward with taking its news brands further into the digital realm. To do so, it’s committing to journalists in 8 newsrooms across the U.S. to help shepherd a “multiplatform transformation” for Audacy.

This, Philadelphia-headquartered Audacy says, allows it to offer more original digital news content as well as in-depth reporting. This will complement breaking news broadcast coverage.

And, it undoubtedly adds to the exclusive content on the Audacy app, which had been Radio.com.

A centralized digital team dedicated to news is taking shape. This will see Audacy add more than 50 journalists in eight of its newsrooms across the country.

“This coordinated, multi-platform focus will allow the company to produce an array of fresh audio and local reporting that will be distributed across the Audacy network,” the company said on Wednesday (7/7).

Is Audacy hiring the journalists, or are they adding duties to their current responsibilities at all-News and News/Talk radio stations the company owns? RBR+TVBR’s request for clarification was not immediately responded to.

What is clear is that Audacy will create original podcasts and “other specialty digital content” that will add to the local reporting at Audacy all-News and News/Talk stations.

Audacy EVP/Programming Jeff Sottolano is overseeing the initiative.

“The past year has underscored the crucial role of journalism and the demand for trusted quality content has never been higher,” Sottolano said. “Audacy’s local news brands have been delivering on-demand news and information for decades and are now poised to build on that foundation. While other news organizations are downsizing, this further investment will allow us to leverage the credibility of our news brands to expand our reach and engagement while continuing to deliver the premier coverage our audience is accustomed to and relies on.”

Plans also call for an original national weekly podcast that highlights “the most pressing story of the week” and draws on reporting and interview content from across the Audacy network of news brands; daily in-depth podcasts and on-demand audio that explore local stories and issues that most affect listeners’ lives; as well as custom newsletters and in-app experiences that offer audiences a chance to explore areas of interest and interact directly with Audacy brands.

Additional details will follow in the coming months.

It markets itself as “a first-of-its-kind” cloud-based television advertising
tool that requests and receives ads from programmatic digital ad exchanges to
enable linear cable television ad insertion by using existing cable and broadcast TV
infrastructure.

Now, it is one step closer to closing the gap between linear TV and digital advertising, as this Viamedia-owned division has just snagged its third patent — a move that the company says solves “last mile” challenges for marketers.

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A series of FCC filings made late Tuesday confirm that West Virginia Radio Corp., the entity owned in a partnership between Dale Miller and David and John Raese, is about to get a complexion change in its attributable interest visage.

One of these partners is cashing out.

Miller, who serves as President/CEO of the Morgantown, W. Va.-based owner of 32 radio stations, is selling his equity interest in the company to the Raeses.

It’s a sign that Miller may be ready to retire, concluding a storied 44-year career at one of the region’s strongest and most influential audio media companies.

Miller joined West Virginia Radio Corp. in 1977. At that time, its holdings were comprised of WAJR-AM & FM in Morgantown. In 1981, the FM shifted to Contemporary Hit Radio, taking the call sign WVAQ. The station remains a nationally recognized success story, known as the home of the late programming executive Lacy Neff.

West Virginia Radio Corp. would grow substantially under Miller’s leadership, growing to 28 radio stations between 1993 and 2014. A former past president of the West Virginia Broadcasters Association, Miller was awarded the association’s highest honor when he was named the WVBA Broadcaster of the Year in 1993.

But, it is the Raese family that has been tied to Radio since 1940. That’s when John and David’s grandparents, Agnes and Herbert Greer, signed WAJR-AM on the air. The Raese brothers assumed control of the company following Agnes Greer’s 1972 death.

Three filings seeking Commission approval show that Miller’s decision to hand his shares of West Virginia Radio Corp. to the Raese brothers came in early June.

Terms call the Raese brothers acquiring Miller’s shares in West Virginia Radio Company of Raleigh; of the Alleghenies; and of Salem; for a combined value of $314,000. The allocation is as follows:

West Virginia Radio Corp. today continues to own WAJR-AM and WVAQ-FM, plus WKKW-FM in Morgantown. Its holdings also include stations in Beckley, Charleston, Clarksburg, Berkeley Springs, Martinsburg and Elkins, W. Va.; and Cumberland, Md.

Meet Curtis LeGeyt, the next president/CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, in our special expanded newsmaker interview.

Also, Buyer’s Guide looks at consoles, mixers and routers, featuring products from Arrakis, Broadcast Tools, Calrec, Henry Engineering, Lawo, Logitek, Telos Alliance and Wheatstone.

And read about market research from the European Broadcasting Union that finds that nearly 90% of radio consumption is to linear stations transmitted via broadcast networks.

Read the issue.

The post Inside the July 7, 2021 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

Codec maker Tieline has announced a firmware update for its Gateway and Gateway 4 codecs which the company describes as “significant.”

The short description of v3.02.06 is: support for NMOS IS-04 and IS-05 audio channel mapping features in the ST 2110 specification; phase-locking for multichannel event production; dynamic range and EQ on all inputs; SmartStream Plus redundant streaming support for multi-unicast streams; and support for Euro ISDN connection.

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

Tieline VP Sales APAC/EMEA Charlie Gawley said, “This is a significant release which supports features like NMOS, and up to eight channels of phase-locked multichannel IP audio, which will excite broadcast engineers.”

He also added, “Processing features like input compression and EQ that can be adjusted from anywhere online using the Toolbox web/GUI interface, also take remote control to another level.”

The AoIP stream phase-lock allows for allows broadcasters to stream live events like concerts and major sports in stereo and surround sound simultaneously, or distribute live phase-locked audio between studios or network affiliates. For instance the company illustrates, “a 16-channel Gateway codec supports sending 2 x 6 + 2 channels of phase-locked streams, or 2 x 8 channels of phase-locked streams, or 4 x 4 channels of phase-locked streams.”

Support for NMOS IS-04 and IS-05, Tieline explains, “ensures that components of a networked media system can find each other and delivers connection management and audio channel mapping to device I/O channels. Combined with support for 16 AES67/ST 2110-30 AoIP streams, NMOS brings a new level of interoperability and control with networked equipment throughout the broadcast plant.”

This is a free upgrade for existing customers. Learn more and download at www.tieline.com/support.

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

Info: www.tieline.com

The post Tieline Releases Firmware Update for Codecs appeared first on Radio World.

What is real? How do you define real?

When it comes to true and false information spread on the internet, or via word of mouth, TEGNA believes it has a brand-new brand that can help the public distinguish the two.

And, it’s hired a trio of journalists to help disseminate fact from fiction.

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It’s a Fargo, N.D., based media company that does business as Flag Family Media.

And, it is the latest buyer of radio stations — and one of just a handful of non-religious, for-profit entities that have emerged as investors in additional AM and FM stations in the last 18 months.

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