Industry News

Because of the ongoing chip shortage, General Motors will omit HD Radio from certain pickup models.

The change was first reported by the website GM Trucks. A GM spokesperson has confirmed the plan to Radio World. The change starts with vehicles produced on or after July 12.

HD Radio isn’t the only victim of the worldwide chip problem. According to automotive trade reports, GM said previously it would build certain trucks without Active Fuel Management and Dynamic Fuel Management technologies due to the global microchip shortage. And the Detroit Free Press recently reported about the broader impact of the chip shortage: “Car dealers have barren parking lots, consumers face limited options on new vehicle purchases and buyers must wait, and wait, for their new ride to be built.”

[Read: HD Radio’s History of Innovation and Future of Growth]

Kevin Kelly, senior manager, product and brand communications for General Motors, confirmed the HD Radio change in an email to Radio World. “Due to the global, industry-wide shortage of semiconductors GM is removing the HD Radio feature from certain 2021 model year Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 [vehicles] and all 2022 model year Chevrolet Silverado 2500/3500 HD and GMC Sierra 2500/3500 HD [vehicles].”

Kelly said this change to the availability of HD Radio “is currently expected to be permanent.”

Radio World invited comment from Xperi Corp. and will report any reply.

GM Trucks also reported that a window sticker will include the line “Not Equipped with HD Radio,” and a $50 MSRP credit will be applied.

The post Global Chip Shortage Hits HD Radio appeared first on Radio World.

It markets itself as “an invaluable free tool for residents to stay informed about major storms, health updates, local news, weather, and sports on local broadcast TV.”

As the NAB and the nation’s Big Four networks see it, it is illegally distributing local television channels to its users without a retransmission consent agreement.

Despite court efforts by the TV industry to shut it down, donation-based Locast continues to grow. It just added its 34th DMA — and it is in the Buckeye State.

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Digital Alert Systems has issued guidance to users of its equipment ahead of the next national test of the Emergency Alert System.

The test is scheduled for Aug. 11 at 2:20 p.m. EDT. The manufacturer released a preparation document to help users of its gear.

This test will be sent via the EAS broadcast-based Primary Entry Point (PEP) system, not the FEMA IPAWS CAP message system.

[Read: National EAS Test Will Focus on Broadcast Chain]

“The NPT is an occasion to perform essential checks on fundamental items, such as checking that the EAS equipment is operating, backup power is functional, the radio monitors are tuned and monitoring the appropriate sources from the state EAS plan, and the equipment’s software is updated,” the company said in an announcement.

It quoted Bill Robertson, VP of business development, saying that if a participant’s DASDEC has been maintained with current software, most steps to prepare for the test are already done. “All DASDEC software from version 3.0 onward will automatically and properly process the NPT code, using the six-zeros national-location code, by immediately forwarding the test alert in compliance with the FCC’s rules.”

But if a DASDEC has earlier than version 3.0, you should update it at least to 3.0 and preferably to V4.3, which he said is most current with security and operational features.

[Read: FCC Releases Results of 2019 EAS Test]

The company said proper configuration is important, especially regarding the system clock. Participants should confirm devices are synced to the correct time and time zone. “One way is to double-check if the device is properly synchronized to a network time source. If a DASDEC is not connected to a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server, then it is important for the user to ensure that the unit time is manually synchronized to an official time source.”

DAS also reminded stations that they must fill out forms on the online EAS Test Reporting System. Form One is due July 6. Form Two must be done after the test, by Aug. 12. Form Three is due Sept. 27.

The backup test date is Aug. 25.

The post DAS Has Guidance for DASDEC Users appeared first on Radio World.

Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio, the charitable organization dedicated to the advancement of female leadership in radio broadcasting, has revealed the recipient of the 2021 MIW Airblazer Award.

It’s being handed to DeDe McGuire, host of the nationally syndicated “DeDe in the Morning” program.

The MIW Airblazer Award stems from an alliance formed in 2015 between MIW (formerly known as the MIW Group) and Morning Show Bootcamp (MSBC).

“The recipient is carefully selected, as is tradition, by the prior year’s winner and is recognized for her dedication and contributions to the broadcast industry and to the communities she serves,” MIW notes.

The 2021 Airblazer Award will be presented to McGuire on August 12, during MSBC Chicago.

“It’s an honor and I’m completely blown away,” says DeDe McGuire, one of only a few women nationwide to have her own nationally syndicated morning show.

After ten successful years co-hosting the nationally syndicated program “The Doug Banks Show,” McGuire went on to host her own show, syndicated through Compass Media Networks via Service Broadcasting. It can be heard in over 55 markets.

MIW Board President Ruth Presslaff commented, “What a joy to celebrate DeDe and her many accomplishments. Her non-stop work in radio is impressive enough, but it’s her support of so many organizations, and her commitment to mentoring that makes her so special, and so deserving of this award.”

Previous MIW Airblazers include Kellie Rasberry (2019), Mercedes Martinez (2018), Roula Christie (2017), Angie Martinez (2016), and Ellen K (2015).

To register for 2021 MSBC Chicago visit: http://www.morningshowbootcamp.com.

Cordless television consumers are on track to become the predominant TV consumer in the next year.

That’s the primary finding from the fourth Future of TV survey from The Trade Desk.

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Here’s an upcoming event from one of our sister publications that will be of interest to radio people who also work in AV, education and other related fields.

With InfoComm 2021 coming up in October, Systems Contractor News and AVIXA, the association that produces the show, are teaming up for a virtual event on Sept. 23 called InfoComm Sneak Peek.

Attendees will get previews of education sessions on topics including digital signage trends, emerging audio solutions and classrooms of the future. The event will also feature sneak peeks from manufacturers of products they’ll be launching at InfoComm, in addition to networking opportunities.

Rochelle Richardson, CEM, senior vice president of expositions and events at AVIXA, said the virtual event “will pull back the curtain to reveal new and cutting-edge solutions and technologies and give a glimpse of what the industry can expect to experience at the big show.”

InfoComm Sneak Peek is free to attend for qualified integrators, consultants, content creators, technology managers and others. To register or learn more, visit www.infocommsneakpeek.com.

For sponsorship opportunities, contact Adam Goldstein at adam.goldstein@futurenet.com.

InfoComm also is giving readers a free Exhibit Hall pass to the show. Use VIP Code “FUTURE” to redeem your free pass during registration. And for show updates, visit the InfoComm 2021 hub.

The post SCN and AVIXA Launch InfoComm Sneak Peek Virtual Event appeared first on Radio World.

FORT PIERCE, FLA. — The future of a noncommercial voice of the African American community across a three-county region of Florida that enjoys a simulcast partner in the important agricultural communities of Belle Glade and Clewiston is now in question, thanks to an agreement  reached last week that sees the FMs heading to a new owner.

Upon closing, ownership will be handed to the local institution of higher learning that owns and operates the NPR Member station serving Florida’s Treasure Coast.

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If you’ve ever been to North Florida Christian School, you can’t miss the large broadcast tower that sits between the school’s athletic field and North Florida Baptist Church in the Macon Community that sits between Interstate 10 and the state capital of the Sunshine State.

Until now, it has relayed a low-power FM’s Spanish-language religious programming. That could change very soon, as the FM translator is being sold.

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Digital Alert Systems, the New York-based emergency communications product developer for broadcast media, has released its guidance ahead of the next National Periodic Test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS).

That’s scheduled for August 11 at 2:20pm Eastern, and all broadcast and cable operators must participate in the test.

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The author is head of Audio and Innovation at Eurovision Sport, part of the European Broadcasting Union. EBU commentaries appear regularly at radioworld.com.

Rewind your memory, if you dare, to March 2020 and the start of the global pandemic. For radio broadcasters, there was a sudden need to adapt to new workflows from their sofas and closets.

But for one group of resilient and hardy journalists, this transition was relatively painless. Sports commentators have something in their DNA that allows them to easily connect to their studio centers from anywhere in the world and to start broadcasting.

[Read: EBU’s New Head of Radio Sees Opportunity, Peril]

The problem though was that often there was nothing for them to commentate on! The UEFA Euro2020 tournament was to be the big football event of the year, but that was quickly postponed as nations headed towards local lockdowns.

UEFA Euro2020 was set to be the first edition of the tournament to take place across many different countries — an idea conceived back in 2012, in more innocent times, to help celebrate the 60th anniversary of the event.

Football has a remarkable ability to unite nations and to serve as a wonderful distraction in difficult times, something that made its absence in 2020 even more evident.

So, after a long year of waiting, fans collectively breathed a sigh of relief as the first match kicked off in June 2021 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

The tournament, played across different European countries, as originally planned, was to prove challenging for broadcasters dealing with travel restrictions.

The European Broadcasters Union represents and unites broadcasters across Europe and the rest of the world, and around 40 of our radio members delivered coverage of the tournament to millions of listeners worldwide.

Many of those broadcasters deployed commentary teams to cover matches inside venues throughout Europe, while others decided to work from home, commentating off TV monitors in their studios.

For those working “off-tube,” UEFA Bookings provided a “radio international sound streaming service” over the public internet, delivering high-quality sound with watermarked TV pictures specifically for radio commentators.

The rights-protected service was delivered over the SRT and WebRTC streaming protocols to provide high-quality, reliable and low-latency pictures to broadcasters, freeing them from the traditional reliance on expensive satellite downlinks.

Another popular innovation introduced at this tournament was the Eurovision Sport AudioFoot AirCheck platform, designed for EBU radio members to share near-live emotions.

Football delivers raw and passionate moments that cross language barriers. For example, the Portuguese broadcaster RTP celebrates each and every goal with their iconic “Goooaaaal” shouts. Radio Nacional de España sounds dramatic, punctuating their commentary with music and sound effects. The BBC in the U.K. and ARD in Germany deliver a considered commentary style.

Yet no broadcaster can hold back their emotions when their team is about to drop out of the tournament or progress through to the finals.

All of these moments, no matter their language, can prove incredibly useful to producers and journalists looking to build a story of a tournament that stretches far beyond their own radio station’s boundaries.

Swiss start-up deliver.media developed a platform, dubbed AirCheck, to provide access to near-live recordings of the audio output from many of our members.

The platform is unique in its ability to scale using a distributed cloud architecture, currently recording over 240 radio stations. Mathieu Habegger, who established deliver.media, has years’ of broadcast experience behind him.

He created a simple and efficient user interface that does its best to abstract away all of the technicalities involved in the backend, allowing the producer to mark-in, mark-out and download any section of audio for use in their own features or live broadcasts.

We worked with the developers to further customize the platform to support the specific needs of sports journalists working in a pressurized environment.

Live sports data was ingested and embedded onto the digital audio files, making it incredibly easy to locate and download goal commentary.

In addition, a player was developed that could synchronize, display and download audio from multiple broadcasters at any one time.

For broadcasters, it is now incredibly easy to locate a goal from a particular match and to have instant access to the commentary from all of our broadcasters — this makes it so easy for us to reflect the emotions of football across Europe.

It also had some unintended uses. For example, on the second night of the tournament, Denmark’s Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch.

Our Senior Sports Producer Micky Curling was able to locate DR’s highly emotional commentary and make it available to other broadcasters within minutes of the incident. This would have been impossible without the new tool.

The platform also has a flexible data backend that allows users to ingest any type of additional metadata and commentary. deliver.media aims to make linear and audio content searchable in the future and are looking to use AI and deeper audio analysis to really enhance the user experience.

With deliver.media’s AirCheck tool, the innovation from UEFA, and of course the ongoing dedication from radio sports journalists across Europe, UEFA Euro2020 proves once again that football is an opportunity for nations to unite and celebrate a shared human experience.

The post AirCheck Tool Aids Sports Journalists appeared first on Radio World.