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This document makes non-substantive, editorial revisions to the Table of Frequency Allocations (Allocation Table) and to various other Commission rules. The purpose of this action is to update the International Table of Frequency Allocations (International Table) to reflect the decisions made at an international conference, to update the Federal Table of Frequency Allocations (Federal Table) within the Commission's rules in those frequency bands where such an action would have no substantive effect on non-Federal licensees, to remove outdated provisions from the Commission's rules, and to ensure that the Allocation Table and related rules are consistent with the Commission's decisions in recent rulemaking proceedings.

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GeoBroadcast Solutions has a gripe today.

GBS is the company that wants the Federal Communications Commission to approve a special synchronized use of FM boosters to allow stations to offer geo-targeted content.

But as we’ve reported, a separate alliance of two dozen radio groups has said that if the commission approves of that idea, it also should let FM translators offer original content.

[Read: Should Translators Originate Content? FCC Is Taking Comments]

Now GBS wants to make clear that the two proposals are entirely separate.

“GeoBroadcast Solutions takes issue with the efforts by Broadcasters for Limited Program Origination to connect its own request with the FCC by attempting to join the petition we filed on March 13 for a simple rule change,” the company stated in an email.

“Our filing relates solely to FM boosters, and proposes no changes whatsoever to the FCC’s rules regarding translators. Our proposal thus reflects technological advancements in the same way that the 2017 FCC decision that allowed television broadcasters to use the Next Generation TV standard (aka ATSC 3.0), reflecting technological advancements. Our proposed minor rule change would add just two clauses in the rules (§74.1231) and does not call for any other change.”

GBS pointed out that its idea is to allow geo-targeted programming “during a fraction of the broadcast hour.” It says its technology has undergone “multiple field and lab tests” and been in development since 2011.

“Furthermore, our proposed rule change would capitalize on the original purpose of FM boosters and its ability to use the same frequency for spectrum efficiency,” GBS continued. “Proposals to use non-fill-in translators to transmit a week’s worth of key programming would skew this proceeding in an entirely different direction. It is so fundamentally different than what we proposed that it warrants an entirely different discussion, since it proposes a fundamental rewrite of rules on certain translators and is not driven by technology innovation.”

It said it supports innovation but that “each offering must stand on its own for its merit and market potential, and not create the misrepresentation that they should be connected in some way.”

 

The post GBS Emphasizes That Translator Proposal Is Separate From Its Own appeared first on Radio World.

Who earned the Radio World “Best of Show” Awards? What should radio people know about the Xperi/TiVo deal? Why does WWV still matter? Explore the answers in this issue — along with much more, including two stories related to artificial intelligence: a chat with Zack Zalon of Super Hi-Fi and a commentary by Ryan Steelberg of Veritone.

Read it online here.

Prefer to do your reading offline? No problem! Simply click on the digital edition, go to the left corner and choose the download button to get a PDF version.

Newsmaker

Super Hi-Fi Queues Up Streaming Music

Who is this company that has been grabbing headlines lately in music and radio technology?

Global Radio

Radio Méga Creatively Connects With Listeners

Community station in France runs a radio studio on an electric tricycle.

Also in this issue:

• State-of-the-Art Audio on an Octal Tube Socket
• On-Air Solutions During Coronavirus Quarantine
• College Radio: After the Shock, Resistance Is Now

 

The post Inside the June 24 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

After a few starts and stops, the Federal Communications Commission has approved a construction permit for a new FM translator in El Cajon, Calif. — after making clear its rules on issues like contour overlap, engineering errors and how best to calculate interference for translators that do not yet exist.

It was a back and forth battle for two licensees looking to get broadcast licenses approved. Last year Family Stations Inc. came out on top as the winning bidder for a new cross-service translator station in El Cajon, though it soon saw its application dismissed by the Media Bureau for potential contour overlap violations.

[Read: FCC Deletes Call Signs of Two California FM Stations]

While Family Stations went about filing a petition to amend that translator application, licensee Positive Hope filed a modification application seeking a new transmitter site for its low-power station KVIB. But that petition too was given a hard stop by the FCC when the Media Bureau dismissed the modification application due to a failure to comply with minimum distance separation requirements.

In the meantime, Positive Hope filed an objection to Family’s translator amendment and asked the Media Bureau to step in and reconsider the earlier dismissal of its own application.

Family responded in a petition for reconsideration by arguing that its translator amendment is permissible under FCC Rules. It quoted the section of the rules that defines an application for minor change any application seeking to make a channel change to any same-band frequency “upon a showing of interference to or from any other broadcast station.”

Family pointed to interference with station KKLJ(FM) in Julian, Calif., as the basis for its translator amendment and said it has identified at least 83 individuals who are located within or very close to the area in which the 60 dBu contour of the translator overlaps the 45 dBu contour of station KKLJ. These individuals would “likely experience interference if the translator were to operate on the frequency proposed in the initial application,” the licensee said.

Not so fast, argued Positive Hope. In its informal objection and petition, the licensee contended that Family is not eligible to apply for a non-adjacent channel change under FCC rules because Family cannot demonstrate interference because “no interference can exist for a translator that cannot exist.”

Plus, Positive Hope said, if a nonadjacent channel change were allowed in this circumstance, “any translator applicant that gets dismissed for any fatal translator engineering error would simply find any nearby FM broadcaster that would appear to interfere with the translator applicant’s original proposal, then pull together a petition for reconsideration.”

Positive Hope also argued that the translator amendment was unacceptable at the time it was filed because the specified facility conflicted with co-channel station DKRSA(LP) in El Cajon, Calif.

But the FCC has very specific rules on when it can consider certain petitions. In these cases, the Media Bureau said that it will consider a petition for reconsideration only when the petitioner shows either a material error in its original order or new facts are raised that were not or existing at the time. The commission said that Positive Hope failed to meet either burden.

The commission clarified that yes, in fact, Family is eligible to seek a non-adjacent channel change for the station because the channel change rule set out in the FCC rules applies to amendments to long-form applications. Furthermore, the commission said it would favorably consider petitions for reconsideration of an initial dismissal when the applicant submits an amendment within 30 days of dismissal.

In the case of Family, the licensee made a proper showing of interference to justify a non-adjacent channel change under the FCC rules; such a showing may consist of a simple engineering statement of mitigation of interference at the requested frequency, the bureau said.

An unbuilt station, by necessity, must submit a showing of predicted rather than actual interference. In this case, the commission found a significant zone of potential interference within the contour overlap of the translator’s 25 dBu contour and KKLJ’s 45 dBu contour — that indicates a substantial possibility of interference to KKLJ listeners in this area. No such zone of potential interference would be created with another broadcast station at the proposed frequency. Therefore, the commission accepted Family’s showing that the proposed non-adjacent channel change would avoid predicted interference.

The bureau did not buy Positive Hope’s argument that Family’s translator application should have been dismissed for failing to protect DKRSA. In this case, the filing of a petition for reconsideration does not automatically stay the decision for which reconsideration is sought. Instead, a bureau action remains in full force and as a result, there is no basis for reconsidering the staff’s decision not to dismiss the translator application due to the status of the cancelled DKRSA facility.

As a result, the bureau granted the petition for reconsideration filed by Family Stations, it reinstated the new translator application and denied the objections filed by Positive Hope.

 

The post California FM Translator Gets Green Light appeared first on Radio World.

U.S. local radio advertising this year will total about $12.8 billion, according to a new forecast from BIA Advisory Services.

It’s not a welcome number, though it’s unlikely to surprise any radio sales managers. If it holds, it would be a drop of about 9% overall compared to last year’s $14.1 billion, whereas BIA’s original 2020 projection had anticipated slight growth for this year.

The research company said it is reducing its forecast due to the impact of the pandemic on the economy.

Broadcast ads still make up the biggest piece of radio’s revenue pie, and unfortunately that’s the segment where the pandemic is really taking its toll. The BIA estimate projects $11.4 billion for over-the-air revenue — which would be a decline in spending of more than 10% from 2019 — and $1.4 billion for digital revenue, including local ads sold by streaming companies.

The digital component is notable, holding at last year’s pace.

[Related: “This Is the Time to Make Connections”]

SVP and Chief Economist Mark Fratrik noted that radio’s digital spending number passed $1 billion only last year. “For 2020, our ad forecast shows that digital sales, including streaming, will stay steady. Then by 2021, radio online revenue will start to climb back up again. On the over-the-air side, we see a bigger COVID hit, with a steep drop in 2020 and some recovery back by 2021.”

It expects the biggest spending on radio will come from the finance/insurance, retail, auto and tech sectors. “These industries may benefit from the continuing shift in radio listening from the car to the home as at-home audio environment features give consumers multiple opportunities to consume promotions,” the company said.

It calls streaming “a major growth opportunity for broadcasters to maintain existing audiences and attract new, younger listeners,” noting the popularity of streaming and podcasting compared to before the pandemic and saying these trends are “likely to take root.”

Earlier BIA projections anticipated that 2020 would be a relatively decent year for radio and other media thanks in part to it being a big election year.

The post Broadcast Radio Ads Tank While Digital Holds Up appeared first on Radio World.

Joe Pags, center, news anchor Cari Laque, left, and technical director Polo Cuellar

Author Joe Pags is host of “The Joe Pags Show.”

I began my broadcasting career 31 years ago, working in local radio. My career took a detour into television when I became the main news anchor at the local NBC affiliate in Saginaw, Mich. I stopped doing radio for a while and did television news anchoring for about 13 years.

But radio is my first love, and I especially love talk radio. So I found a way to get back into it — first in Albany, N.Y., then on a morning show in San Antonio, at WOAI(AM) 1200 kHz. I took a big pay cut, but I did it because I love radio.

I’ve been there for 15 years now, and in that time, I’ve been able to shape the show into something that felt right for me. We shifted to an afternoon spot and more toward talk radio, and we started syndicating. “The Joe Pags Show” (www.joepags.com) is now heard on 130 stations through Compass Media Networks.

People love our show because we don’t fit into a traditional talk show mold. I’m in this industry because I’m an entertainer, so we focus on that first and foremost. We integrate music and other segments to maintain a lighthearted tone but also bring straight news and information expected by our core listeners. We offer a morning show feel in the afternoon, one that appeals to people in demographics that aren’t typically consumers of talk radio.

About 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I wanted to get back to work as quickly as possible, so I began building out my own studio, which is closer to my home. Since then, I’ve been doing the show primarily from my studio.

For about nine years now I connect to WOAI by using my Comrex BRIC-Link codec. So much of my career has depended on me being able to connect quickly to affiliate stations or for doing fill-in spots for other nationally syndicated hosts, and BRIC-Link has made this possible. In the last several years, I’ve only had to set foot in the WOAI facility a handful of times.

I’ve always believed it was possible to be a broadcaster, in the truest sense of the term. I’ve never been a TV guy or a radio guy or an internet guy — I’m a guy who wants to broadly cast what I do. I think that all of broadcasting can be utilized in one show. Given that belief (and my experience in television), I’ve always wanted to incorporate a visual element into our show. I want people to have the option to listen to “The Joe Pags Show” live and also as a podcast, and to make it possible for them to watch it as a live video stream. Letting people see the inner workings of the radio station while I’m doing the show is pretty cool.

Several years ago, I purchased a Comrex LiveShot to do live video broadcasts with NewsMax TV. It has worked very well for us — we experienced very little delay and found the video quality to be amazing. It was easy to set up. Granted, I am a technical person, so I more or less know what I’m doing, but I think LiveShot would be easy for someone with less experience too. There’s a video/audio input, an output, and once it’s connected, that’s it — you’re ready to go. Plus, the LiveShot Control App has made it easy for me to monitor connections from my smartphone, so I could make adjustments without fuss.

We did a show from the studio with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz as a guest, and I found it to be startlingly easy to use. We were live on the radio, and also connected with live video to NewsMax TV. I hooked up two cameras — one for me, and one for the two-shot. The broadcast went off without a hitch.

I think it’s vital that we, as radio broadcasters, don’t lock ourselves into one format, because we’ll be left behind by technology if we do. We have to be thinking about how to play to a new, younger audience — a more diverse audience than we traditionally expect to have. How do you keep them connected? Fifteen year-old kids spend much of their time on TikTok and Snapchat, which are heavily video-based. There’s constant visual stimulus, and I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t provide that also. I appreciate that Comrex technology has given me the flexibility to work from home and explore more of these avenues.

For information, contact Chris Crump at Comrex in Massachusetts at 1-978-784-1776 or visit www.comrex.com.

 

The post User Report: Pags Uses Comrex LiveShot to Break Barriers appeared first on Radio World.

The author of this commentary is manager of the EBU’s Media Intelligence Service.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating across the world, but it has also brought out the best from many people and institutions. This is also what we have observed at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), with our public service radio members transforming their working procedures and their output radically to serve their fellow citizens.

The responsiveness of public service radio during this crisis and the way citizens have turned to it in search of trusted news shows that radio at the service of the public is part of the essential infrastructure of any modern society. Any infrastructure requires the major use of technologies, and this has also been the case for radio.

SUPPORTING CITIZENS AS A PRIORITY

In tough times, citizens have been able to experience anew how public radio plays a vital role in society. Initially, this meant providing and curating trustworthy information to deal with the uncertainties of a completely new situation for most citizens. But this role quickly expanded to encourage people to stay at home and keep safe in many creative ways.

An image from the report “Public Radio Response to the Pandemic”

Staying at home also meant a completely new situation for citizens but also for broadcasters. And based on its abilities, radio found new missions, namely providing release during the lockdown, supporting a sense of community by bringing people together, supporting citizens in need and encouraging solidarity, supporting kids and parents at home through special educational and entertainment programs, providing emotional support in an spiral of negativity, and giving voice to citizens’ experiences, creating a common arena and documenting the state of the nation.

Examples abound. Classical music station France Musique made a very creative use of technology by organizing three participatory living room concerts with 600 amateur musicians and 46 members of the Orchestre National de France playing the famous Waltz No. 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich and demonstrating that music was alive during lockdown. In Viva l’Orchestra à la maison (Viva the orchestra at home!), videos showing the musicians joining from their homes were published online as well as on social media, with amateurs invited to send in video recordings of how they played at home. Professionals from the national orchestra instructed the amateurs through video tutorials. In fact, video has become a key tool during this period, adding to audio on public radio’s platforms but also on social media platforms which have been heavily used during this period.

Generally speaking, public radio stations have been more open to participation from the audience, including not only videos but also voicemail or via the broadcasters’ apps. In Belgium, VRT honored the heroes of COVID everyday life such as nurses, bus drivers or supermarket cashiers. During the campaign Helden van de dag (Heroes of the day), VRT’s Radio 2 received more than 1,000 messages a day through its app from listeners wishing to celebrate their baker or postman.

SUPPORTING CULTURE AND ARTISTS ALSO A PRIORITY

A big part of this support to citizens included bringing arts and culture direct to their homes, as all cultural venues were closed. This also had the beneficial effect of supporting the much-needed cultural sector, heavily affected by the lockdowns.

To support artists and the creative sector, public radio increased their exposure in their broadcasts, for instance by increasing the rotation of national musicians, including many newcomers and less well-known artists, or creating dedicated online events. In the Netherlands, for instance, NPO Radio 2 organized two online festivals aiming to promote freelance artists from the Dutch music scene by giving them a free platform and technical support, e.g. by setting up audio and video livestreams to air their music. The sessions were broadcast live on visual radio.

[Related: “EBU Members Work to Ensure News Continuity”]

As a logical next step, they also stepped in for cancelled cultural events, including not only music, strongly associated to radio, but also theater, cinema, literature, or performing arts. For example, BBC launched its Culture in Quarantine virtual festival of the arts by creating a dedicated platform for British culture. This cross-platform initiative features most intensively across BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, TV channels BBC Two and BBC Four, and digital platforms BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer.

In cooperation with Arts Council England, the platform includes performances, guides to shuttered exhibitions, quarantine diaries from creative visionaries, but also advice on how audiences can themselves be creative at home or readings from fictional and non-fictional books.

Supporting creators in need was also a shared goal, by launching and accelerating new commissioning processes or, in general, supporting audio creators.

Finally, public radio stations have also provided a forum for artists and their experiences, for instance by kickstarting the discussions about the aftermath with different cultural parties.

RECONSIDERING PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES

All this fantastic output has been produced in many cases by journalists, producers and technicians that did not have access to their stations’ facilities. The use of everyday technology, usually thought not to have the required quality, was considered good enough in these highly atypical circumstances. The value of their flexibility increased in harsh conditions and made some organizations move further in their digital transformation in a few weeks than in the last few years.

With many broadcasters already back in their facilities, it will be interesting to see how much of those reactive crisis management processes consolidate in the long term. Beyond the technical possibilities, the crisis may have impacted more deeply on the culture regarding technology within radio stations. Time will tell.

The above insights come from a report recently published by the EBU on Public Radio Response to the Pandemic.

Comment on this or any article by emailing radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line.

[Related: “On Its 70th Anniversary, EBU Maintains Initial Vision”]

The post Public Service Radio for Lockdown: Citizens and Technology appeared first on Radio World.

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Grants petition for reconsideration filed by Family Stations, Inc. and accepts for filing construction permit for new FM translator, El Cajon, California

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The author is general manager of KNRL/KNLX in Oregon.

Paul, regarding the article “How WOGO Helped a Wisconsin School Graduate Seniors”:

I don’t know if you want any more graduation stories but I’ll give you ours.

It began when Pastor Jerry Kaping of Wellhouse Church in Sisters, Ore., called the station and wanted us to broadcast a drive-in church service for Easter, which we did as churches were closed.

A scene from the graduation event. Photos courtesy Principal Joe Hosang

Since the schools are closed due to the pandemic, the Sisters High School was looking for a way to honor their graduating seniors. Principal Joe Hosang called Pastor Jerry and asked if he thought the Christian station would broadcast their drive-in graduation. And Pastor Jerry generously committed his church to pay for the broadcast.

Graduates and families drove to the Sisters Rodeo grounds, where vehicles were parked, spaced appropriately. They could then turn to KNLX 104.9 and listen to the ceremony while watching seated in their vehicle.

The ceremony started at 6:15 p.m. with graduates singing songs that were pre-recorded. Valedictorian speeches also were pre-recorded. It culminated with seniors walking across the platform, appropriately spaced and wearing masks.

Family members cheer from a social distance.

I’m not sure how many times we played “Pomp and Circumstance” but it was more than several. We concluded around 8:30 p.m.

I’ll say just a little about the technical aspects.

In this day and age of digital I suspect many of the younger broadcasters do not have a clue about the man Marti or the equipment which bears his name. But drive-in church services and drive-in graduation will not work well using streaming devices due to the delay even where an internet connection exists.

In our case this was a three-hop Marti radio link due to terrain (see photo at bottom). One shot to a mountain, a second shot to our main transmitter site and then a shot to the studio. In all, over 60 miles. And it sounded very good.

Yes this was a break in format, but it was something we could do for the kids and the community, and that is what broadcasting is all about … right?

 

The graduation dais is at center. The antenna feeding the radio station is faintly visible at far right above the bleachers.

The post Letter: Helping Sisters High School With a Three-Hop Marti appeared first on Radio World.

All plans for the C-Band auction will remain on schedule for now, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied a motion to stay the auction by a group of satellite operators.

The motion was officially filed under PSSI Global Services LLC, but was also supported by ABS Global Ltd., Empresa Argentina de Soluciones Satelitas S.A., Hispamar Satélites S.A and Hispasat S.A. They argued that the FCC initiated a chain of events — starting with the election by space station operators to relocate from the C-Band on an accelerated schedules — that would harm them by “benefitting competing space station operators that are eligible for relocation and accelerated relocation payments and depriving them of spectrum access rights without compensation.” In addition, they said the FCC did not have the authority to modify their spectrum rights, gave out to much money in accelerated payments and arbitrarily excluded them from getting those payments.

[Read: C-Band Spectrum to Be Cleared on Accelerated Timeline]

The court ruled that the “[a]pellants have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending appeal.” This means that the C-Band auction will currently continue as planned until the court hears the challenge on its merits and gives a judgement at that time. The court has asked both parties to submit a briefing by June 29.

“Today’s ruling is great news for American consumers and U.S. leadership in 5G,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “I am very pleased that the D.C. Circuit rejected this attempt by small satellite operators with no U.S. operations in the C-Band to delay our efforts to repurpose critical midband spectrum. The FCC will continue to defend our order on merits, and I look forward to our C-Band auction beginning on Dec. 8.”

The FCC had denied a similar petition to delay the start of the auction by the same group of international satellite operators two weeks ago, according to Radio World’s sister publication Multichannel News.

The C-Band auction will see the transition of current C-Band operators move from the top portion of the spectrum as the FCC frees up 280 MHz for 5G. More information is available on TV Technology’s C-Band hub page.

 

The post C-Band Auction on Track as Court Denies Sat Ops’ Stay appeared first on Radio World.