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The author is membership program director of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. NFCB commentaries are featured regularly at www.radioworld.com.

Amid tensions with Iran simmering, the ongoing impeachment impasse in the national consciousness, and the election season looming, radio listeners are turning to stations as never before. They want coverage from their trusted source: noncommercial radio.

New demands may create stress at stations, but this interest offers incredible opportunities as well.

How significant is all the attention? Radio Research Consortium, the nation’s purveyor of audience data for noncommercial radio, issued a study this week into impeachment broadcast listenership. RRC’s numbers show a spike in audience for stations airing impeachment hearings and analysis.

[Read: Community Broadcaster: The Last 2019 To-Dos]

“[F]or 50 full-time noncommercial news stations across 44 PPM metros, the six days containing special coverage saw more total AQH listening than any of the 14 days absent of special coverage,” the team notes. “Not only did the six days with special coverage outperform the 14 days without special coverage on a day-by-day basis, listening was higher for this set of stations on an hour-by-hour basis, as well.”

Off to the side, many stations are skittish about interrupting their regularly scheduled programs, especially their most popular ones, for what can seem like dry Robert’s Rules of Order procedurals or blatant grandstanding by lawmakers. Nothing could be further from the truth, it seems. Audiences love their regular programming but in times of urgency and uncertainty, the numbers indicate these listeners crave more the context and clarity your station can provide.

“All well and good,” you may say, “but how can a lightly staffed or an all-volunteer station compete with the giants in doing this breaking coverage?”

My encouragement to everyone in community radio in these moments is to stop thinking about competition and focus on, realistically, what you can provide to your community. That’s a hard pill to swallow for many of us, because we have been raised around the idea of outdoing others, beating others to whatever we’re racing toward, and with winning. Noncommercial radio should always assert itself, of course, but community service is really our goal. Unlike for-profit media, community radio does not need to chase whatever winds the markets are blowing in. In fact, no matter what you do, collectively or individually, you will discover someone is always bigger, better, more resourced and quicker. So why not instead place your energies in how your station can serve its listeners and signal area best?

Perhaps your station can collect voices in your community with area reactions to the issues of the day. Candidate forums or one-on-one visits with candidates in a given race might give your audience a chance to cast an informed vote, or even to find common ground with perceived opponents. How are your Congressional representatives responding to the matters facing the nation now? These are all avenues your station can take to deliver coverage that do not demand tons of resources.

Some nonprofit media organizations are seeing tremendous returns with partnerships that pool resources and deliver coverage jointly to everyone. Especially for thinly resourced stations, collaboration is a fantastic way of delivering what audiences want without undercutting the rest of your operations.

2020 is shaping up to be a tremendous year for radio. The presidential election, races for House and Senate seats marked by several prominent retirements, and natural disasters mean community radio still has a big role to play. We can make a real impact, but such will require fresh thinking and commitment.

 

The post Community Broadcaster: Community Radio Relevant as Ever appeared first on Radio World.

Logitek has added Ravenna-compatibility to its JetStream Plus and Jet67 AoIP audio routing engines, according to a press release.

In the announcement, Logitek President Tag Borland says the company “has always looked for better ways to manage audio” and described Ravenna’s solutions as “world-class” in terms of quality and performance standards.

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

JetStream Plus and Jet67 AoIP can already use Dante, AES67, LiveWire and, of course, Logitek’s own JetNet solutions to connect to other broadcast equipment, the company says. The company also touts the devices’ small footprint and high-density routing technologies.

Ravenna is an open networking standard developed by ALC NetworX for real-time distribution of audio and other media in IP-based networks.

 

The post Logitek Beefs Up AoIP Engines With Ravenna appeared first on Radio World.

Jeff Welton

A recent RW ebook asked, “Have You Bought Your Last Tube?” It included a Q&A with Nautel’s Jeff Welton, a recipient of the Association of Public Radio Engineers Engineering Achievement Award and the Society of Broadcast Engineers James C. Wulliman Educator of the Year Award.

These are excerpts; read the free ebook at https://www.radioworld.com/ebooks.

 

RW: Do you find that many users are attached to their tube systems, both because of familiarity as well as cost factors? 

Welton: Very, very few — and it’s a rapidly decreasing number. 

There are some who are quite apprehensive about the cost of acquiring a new box, as it’s a big number. However, in a lot of cases, especially if you amortize it over the period of a lease or bank loan, the overall savings can actually outweigh the acquisition cost. 

I’ve had situations where a station leased a solid-state transmitter to replace a tube rig, and the savings in operating costs actually made the lease payments. Obviously that’s not always the case, but it’s something to consider, especially if the current rig is eating you out of house and home, electrically speaking!

RW: What considerations then should an engineer or manager use to assess the ROI on a new purchase?

Welton: It’s not enough to just look at purchase price. Look at the power bill now — and get the manufacturer to use that to provide you with a ballpark of what it would be with the new rig. Remember that this will just be an estimate — demand costs and overage charges can be hard to calculate without an intimate knowledge of the specific utility.

Also factor in the amount of time your engineer spends doing repairs — or if you have a contract engineer, what it’s costing in emergency calls. Don’t expect engineering costs to go away; if you’re not doing maintenance, it’s the same as owning a car and never changing the oil … it’s not if you’ll have a failure, but when. However, you can factor in the cost of emergency repairs and tube costs; those alone can make up several thousand dollars a year. 

Also look at air handling; if you’re air conditioning, you’ll need less of it as a rule. Forced air is less a concern. Obviously you should look at extra costs that may come with a new rig, also; liquid-cooled systems, for example, tend to have much higher installation costs associated with the plumbing. That’s a one-time thing, but it does need to be considered. 

If you are using air cooling, you may decide to switch from forced air to air conditioned; that’s also an impact on ROI. 

Remember that manufacturers will typically be leaning toward the solutions they provide, so get a couple of different opinions, even if you already think you know what you are leaning toward.

RW: What’s the expected life of a tube these days?

Welton: It varies, a lot. Some of the more popular systems out there are lucky to get 11 months out of a tube anymore, even with careful filament voltage management. Others are still good for a couple of years. I think the days of seeing 50,000 or more hours on a tube are pretty much gone. Part of that is systemic — the folks who know how to manage tuning for maximum tube life are slowly leaving us — and part of it seems to be related to material factors, but that’s not an area I’m proficient in, for obvious reasons.

RW: How much more efficient are solid-state designs?

Welton: For the most part, overall efficiency of a solid-state FM transmitter is around 72% these days — that’s AC to RF. For tube transmitters, efficiency can vary from less than 50% for a grounded grid design, to 65% or higher for some of the other designs, so the efficiency of a solid-state design will be somewhere between 10 and 50% higher than that of the tube system, as a rule.

The post Factors to Weigh in Your Tube Talk appeared first on Radio World.

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Digigram has released a firmware update to its IqoyaX/Link and Iqoya Serv/Link IP audio codecs that will enable them to manage up to 32 mono or stereo full duplex IP streams during remote broadcasts.

The company says it added new graphical interfaces specific to the configuration and operating phases. In two clicks, users can place calls to the field or the studio. With the update, the codecs support SIP, direct SIP and symmetric RTP connections using the address book.

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

In remote broadcast mode, FluidIP integrates stream redundancy functions such as forward error correction or dual streaming with spatial or time diversity to establish reliable and resilient connections on unmanaged networks.

Additionally, Digigram says the updated firmware features low-latency audio connections and EBU/ACIP compliance for third-party codecs and SIP infrastructure interoperability.

Iqoya Serv/Link has the highest codec density in 1U, according to Digigram. In remote mode, it can manage up to 32 mono or stereo full duplex IP streams regardless of the audio encoding format and the audio connectivity; and when in the “program distribution” configuration, it supports up to 128 mono input and output channels and able to simultaneously encode, decode and transcode IP audio streams.

The post Digigram Adds Remote Capabilities for Iqoyas appeared first on Radio World.

One of the biggest stories so far in the year 2020 is the continued changes to radio integration in the car dashboard.

At the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in Las Vegas, iHeartRadio announced a series of major auto integrations for the company’s digital music, podcasting, and on-demand/live streaming radio service.

“[In] 2020 we will continue to expand our audio offerings and connect with more and more marquee technology companies to provide a seamless, unmatched audio experience to consumers,” said Michele Laven, president of the Strategic Partnerships Group for iHeartMedia.

[Read: Radio Seeks Its Future in the Vehicle]

Among the key integrations is a new standalone app for vehicles powered by Android Automotive OS. The app will be available for integration in the Volvo XC40 Recharge SUV and the electric performance car Polestar 2. The company is also linking up with BMW and General Motors to release a new app for the BMW ConnectDrive system and a new integration for future Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicle models.

While iHeartRadio currently offers an in-vehicle experience for GM cars, the new app will be expanded to include access to podcasts and playlists in addition to live radio and a custom artist radio channel.

At the CES show, iHeartRadio also announced its status as an ecosystem partner with several new third-party auto integration companies. iHeartRadio plans to join forces on the Harman Ignite Marketplace, which links together in-vehicle apps and offers services like navigation, messaging, and media, as well as with LG on its webOS Auto platform, a rear-seat entertainment system.

The company also plans to work with SoundHound to bring iHeartRadio’s content to SoundHound’s Houndify voice AI platform and app and with Panasonic, by which iHeartRadio will be integrated into several next-generation in-vehicle experiences via the Panasonic infotainment platform experience SkipGen.

The 2020 CES show runs from January 7–10 in Las Vegas.

 

The post iHeartRadio Announces New Auto Integrations at CES 2020 appeared first on Radio World.

Radio companies want to be cool and hip, but they’re competing in a dramatically changed audio competitive environment.
Getty Images/Avesun

“The blood of the local radio industry will be on everybody’s hands if we do not get relief from these archaic and rusty shackles.”

That comment about regulation was made by Jeff Warshaw, the CEO of Connoisseur Media; and while the sentiment may be familiar to many in commercial radio, it was delivered in an unusual setting: the chamber of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington.

The FCC hosted a symposium in late 2019 to ask industry representatives about trends and challenges facing the radio industry. Anyone who wanted to compile a list of business challenges heard plenty to be worried about. 

The discussion, led by Fred Jacobs, president of Jacobs Media, covered topics like music licensing fees, the future of AM radio, new revenue sources and minority ownership. And you knew regulatory relief was going to come up too.

UNLIMITED CONTENT

The speakers certainly were in agreement that the ways in which Americans watch, listen and read to content are evolving fast. 

“People are consuming media in different ways and in different places. There is an unlimited amount of content available now, but is it quality enough to attract listeners and in the places they need it?” said Hartley Adkins, president of Integrated Revenue Strategy for iHeartMedia. 

“If you have good content but someone can’t access it, or if you have poor content to begin with, it doesn’t work. … Even when you look at smart speakers, radio needs to be in position to deliver quality content in 2020 and beyond.”

At the FCC event (shown in a captioned webcast), Caroline Beasley emphasized the need for radio broadcasters to diversify their revenue streams. At left is Karen Slade, vice president/general manager of KJLH(FM) in Los Angeles.

Caroline Beasley, CEO of Beasley Media Group and former joint board chair of the NAB, told the symposium that radio must commit further to its local communities while exploring new platforms, as her company is doing with gaming and other initiatives.

“We’re providing great local content via our local signals, but we need to be everywhere our listeners are. That is a business model significantly different than the over-the-air model. So we are making decisions on where to spend our resources. We are facing and making some very challenging decisions, especially now during budget season, thinking about next year.”

Beasley said radio revenue in its radio markets has declined 30% over the past 10 years. “Our piece of the advertising pie is shrinking. It is going to digital, so if we want to stay in business we have to diversify our revenue streams. At the same time our costs are going up because we are being forced to distribute our programming over multiple platforms.”

[Learn about Media “Efficiency” Vs. Media “Effectiveness”] 

The panel visited the question of whether such companies are in “radio” or simply “media.”

Jeff Warshaw, CEO of Connoisseur Media, said he considers himself in the radio business but that its definition has broadened. 

“The [traditional] radio business, the business of broadcasting over the air and monetizing that service to advertisers, is shrinking, and will continue to shrink until it becomes an unviable business,” he said. “Just because we can now take our content and try to monetize it against a myriad of competitors on multiple platforms, doesn’t mean that the radio business isn’t shrinking and getting more difficult each it year. It is,” he said.

“We are now competing with companies that are hundreds of times larger than the biggest radio broadcaster. They are selling subscriptions, they sell data and they sell devices. They are unregulated, and we are stuck with regulations that could have never foreseen the types of competitive pressures we are facing.”

NEW VENTURES, NEW COSTS

 Karen Slade, VP and GM of KJLH Radio in Los Angeles, said her view was not from “30,000 feet up like the other members of the panel, but more like 10 flights up,” which gives her a different perspective. 

“We have about 500,000 listeners; but I’m also trying to reach more through local programs across platforms. It becomes almost cost-prohibitive for me, because every new venture and every new platform comes with a cost,” Slade said. “When can I get a return? There is additional licensing involved. Sometimes the better you do, the more expensive it gets.”

Mark Fratrik, senior VP for BIA Advisory Services, said radio must press ahead to roll out additional digital services. “It’s really the only potential for growth they have.”

Fratrik, in charge of BIA’s advertising forecast, predicts radio will never return to the OTA ad revenue levels it saw before the recession ending in 2009. “It just won’t ever get back to that; and when you consider inflation, radio revenue is really down 30 to 40% from just over a decade ago,” Fratrik said.

Delivering quantifiable results is crucial, according to the panelists. “Digital makes that a lot easier. ‘Last-click attribution,’ if you will,” Adkins said. “Radio was a little slower to that new reality, but now that we are doing it, advertisers are more comfortable giving us their money because we can prove our performance.”

iHeart’s new AdBuilder platform aims to help advertisers, especially smaller businesses, use online tools to order audio commercials and then target deployment, without talking to a sales rep.

Adkins said iHeartMedia continues with efforts to make the buying of advertising “friction-free” for advertisers.

[FCC Takes Your Questions on AM All-Digital]

“We have something in beta right now called AdBuilder that includes a user experience similar to Facebook and Google and allows advertisers to share information about the business and spits out a commercial for them. Then they can purchase time on the formats targeting the audience they want without spending any time with a sales rep. That’s the sort of modernization we are doing,” Adkins said.  

Alfred Liggins, CEO of Urban One, said FCC regulations often leave radio broadcasters at a disadvantage in the current marketplace. 

“Basically, technology [companies] right now are eating traditional media. And they are eating traditional media from a standpoint of making media become a loss leader,” he said. “You [have] Amazon and Apple entering the business, and their core business is not to provide audio to provide local news and information, they want to sell more product and devices.”

Liggins said he is not under the illusion that radio can compete with Google and Facebook and Yelp. “They are technology platforms, and we cannot offer all of the services, even with our digital products, that they can. However, scale will be necessary in order to survive the onslaught of new competition,” he said.

The problem with digital for radio, Liggins said, is it “turns analog dollars into digital dimes, since there are so many entities taking a slice of the pie it makes it unprofitable. Yet consumer consumption patterns demand that we are serving that space. We have to modernize.”

Liggins realizes terrestrial radio listenership continues to drop. “Persons using measured media is dropping significantly each year. There are so many more options. The time spent listening has significantly dropped,” he said. 

“A NEW MARKETPLACE OUT THERE”

The panel discussed AM radio and its future amid the possibility of future deregulation. 

“If ownership restrictions are loosened on FM, then what we expect to see is some of that content that you can only get on AM moving to FM,” Adkins of iHeartMedia said. “That could be the death knell for AM radio. AM is too important to us though. We feel there are plenty of opportunities on AM, the diversity is incredible whether it is sports play-by-play, Rush and Hannity and other content.”

Liggins of Urban One, though, was emphatic in answer to a question about AM’s survivability in the current marketplace: “I think it’s done. It’s just a matter of time. The fact of the matter is that AM content is already moving to the FM band, either on full-power FM stations or FM translators. Kids don’t know what the AM band is. It’s just an inferior listening experience.”      

When Fred Jacobs asked Caroline Beasley if her broadcast company is shopping for AM properties, she replied with a simple “no” and chuckled.

There was ample sentiment on the panel for further deregulation.

[Community Radio Seeks More Engagement]

“The blood of the local radio industry will be on everybody’s hands if we do not get relief from these archaic and rusty shackles,” said Warshaw. “It’s not fun and games. Radio is the one who provides local services. Spotify is unregulated. They are not going to promote anything locally. Pandora is not doing local news. Sirius FM is not raising money for local shelters. We couldn’t even get Apple to turn on the FM chip in the iPhone.”

The ability to “consolidate and have economies of scale has absolutely helped us increase news programming and increase public affairs programming,” he added. 

Fratrik of BIA Advisory Services summed up the tenor of the discussion: “For radio to grow and remain viable, it does need some level of relief from regulation that was fostered during an earlier period. We are in a different audio and entertainment environment, and certainly in a different advertising [one], and there has to be some recognition of that by the FCC and the DOJ that there is a new marketplace out there.”      

You can watch the video archive of the symposium at https://tinyurl.com/rw-fcc-symposium.

The post Audio Explosion Reverberates in Radio appeared first on Radio World.

 

Radio seems likely to keep up with the digital revolution in 2020. But can it attract younger listeners?

James Careless asks this question and others in the article “2020 Looks Good for Digital Radio, Smart Speakers.”

Also in this issue we look at what’s on tap for the European Radio & Digital Audio Show taking place this month, highlight recent NABA initiatives, unveil our 2020 European Radio Product Source List, and more.

Read the January issue of Radio World International here!

PRODUCT SOURCE LIST

2020 European Radio Product Source List

Your 2020 source for everything radio is ready! Find information on companies worldwide that offer products and services to media facilities

DIGITAL RADIO

Can an App Solve the DRM Receiver Problem?

Software solutions developed in South Korea may facilitate access to Digital Radio Mondiale

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

2020 European Radio & Digital Audio Show Unveils Program

WorldDAB GA: Collaboration Well Done, But More Is Necessary

Buyer’s Guide: Antennas, Transmission Line & Support; Power Protection 

The post Inside the January issue of Radio World International appeared first on Radio World.

The Digital Radio Mondiale standard for digital broadcasting in long, medium, and shortwave bands offers the possibility to transmit audio, text and pictures.

At work on the DRM app in AlgorKorea’s offices. Images courtesy of Dr. Soon S. Jarng, CTO, AlgorKorea.

A few broadcasters use DRM for both domestic and international transmissions. DRM’s largest problem is lack of receivers, especially affordable standalone ones.

Some listeners use an SDR, computer and free Dream software to receive the DRM signals, but this audience doesn’t make up the mass audience that broadcasters are looking for.

A FEW ISSUES

In addition, the Dream has two serious limitations: It can’t receive the latest DRM codec (xHE-AAC) and its current version is unable to receive MOT Slideshow.

Many international broadcasters will not commit to DRM transmissions because of the lack of receivers. There is an effort by some broadcasters to coordinate the purchase of thousands of standalone DRM receivers in the hope that this will jump-start the market for receivers. This effort is rather capital-intensive, however.

There are millions of Android and Apple smartphones and tablets already in use. What if they included an app that could receive DRM? What if that app could be coupled to the SDRs already in the hands of listeners?

A South Korean company, AlgorKorea, has developed a series of apps to do just that. AlgorKorea is best known for developing hearing aid firmware, according to Dr. Soon S. Jarng, CTO and founder.

HOW IT WORKS

AlgorKorea didn’t develop the apps with the intention of solving the DRM receiver issue. They developed them to resolve a problem with FM hearing aids used in classrooms.

So how do they work? The DRM+SDR version couples the popular and inexpensive RTL-SDR to an Android device with a USB OTG adapter.

The diagram shows how the DRM+ app connects to a phone or tablet.

The DRM+ app is compatible with both Android and Apple devices and couples to the SDR using audio cords. A common and inexpensive resistor/capacitor needs to be soldered into one of the cords.

The app can receive MOT Slideshow, DRM texts and Journaline, a text news/information feed. AlgorKorea says it’ll continue to develop DRM apps. “We’re working on another new app (an inexpensive SDR dongle) for the Msi SDR Panadapter, added Dr. Jarng.

Apps will play an important role in solving the DRM receiver problem and Algor’s offerings appear to be just the beginning.

Hans Johnson has worked in the shortwave broadcasting industry for over 20 years in consulting, frequency management, and sales.

The post Can an App Solve the DRM Receiver Problem? appeared first on Radio World.

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