Industry News

The Federal Communications Commission initially dismissed a petition to reconsider the construction of a new FM translator station over issues of listener interference. But it was the licensee’s failure to read the fine print on how and when petitions can be filed that led to the outright dismissal of the translator application.

In 2018, Schwab Multimedia LLC submitted an application to construct a new FM translator in San Fernando, Calif. Soon after, LBI Radio License LLC, which is licensee of FM translator station KBUE in Long Beach, Calif., filed a petition to deny because seven listeners of KBUE were predicted to experience interference from the new translator. Soon after that, KBUE identified an additional seven KBUE listeners who were predicted to experience the same type of interference.

[Read: Media Bureau Changes Course, Revokes CP Grant for Oregon FM Translator]

That led the Media Bureau to dismiss Schwab’s amended application after determining that the proposed FM translator would interfere with those listeners. Schwab responded with a proposal to reduce power of the proposed translator to 1 Watt to eliminate interference for KBUE listeners. The bureau then moved to grant the reconsideration and the amended application in early February.

But LBI was not placated — it said the translator would still interfere with KBUE listeners despite the reduced power. That led the FCC to again dismiss Schwab’s amended application after determining that the proposed facilities, as modified, failed to eliminate the predicted interference. Schwab tried again, filing another petition for reconsideration in April 2020 along with an engineering amendment designed to eliminate any predicted interference.

This was a no-no in the FCC’s eyes and where the Schwab application was tripped up. The FCC dismissed Schwab’s second petition as “procedurally defective,” saying that there is no provision in the FCC Rules for an applicant to file multiple reconsideration petitions or multiple attempts to correct an application that is defective. Under the commission’s policy on defective applications, applicants are given one opportunity — and only one — to correct errors and seek reinstatement. The commission also clarified that these types of applications would only be considered in cases in which there was a relatively minor adjustment. Plus, that application must be filed within 30 days of the dismissal.

According to the commission, Schwab’s 2019 petition was its first and only permissible attempt to correct the deficiencies in the application. Plus its amendment failed to resolve a problem that appeared in the original application — that of potentially causing interference with KBUE listeners. Since the application can no longer be corrected, the Media Bureau moved to dismiss the petition filed by Schwab.

The post Rules on Filing of Petitions Trip Up California FM Translator appeared first on Radio World.

A new scholarship is available for women, people of color and people from small-market radio and TV stations who are starting their first managerial roles.

 The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation is accepting applications for the First Time Managers Fellowship. It will fund enrollment for 10 fellows in the First Time Manager Series, which is an online course of interactive sessions and resources “to help bridge the gaps in management training that can hinder professionals recently promoted to their first supervisory role,” the foundation said.

[Read: NAB Foundation Launches Diversity Resource]

The effort was announced by foundation President Michelle Duke and is funded by a grant from the Nielsen Foundation.

Fellows will be selected through a competitive application process. The deadline to apply is Dec. 18. Details are at NABFoundation.org.

The post “First Time Managers” Get a Boost appeared first on Radio World.

Another trade show makes the virtual choice.

Radiodays Asia has announced its 2021 event will be virtual, March 24–26. Note that will take place on Kuala Lumpur time.

[Visit the Radio World Calendar]

The virtual event will be a mix of conference sessions, meet ups and advanced training including master classes and workshops according to organizers. The show is taking suggestions for additional speakers and suggestions.

Announced sponsors are RCS and Triton Digital.

Send your show news and updates to radioworld@futurenet.com

The post Radiodays Asia 2021 Goes Virtual appeared first on Radio World.

Users of DTS Connected Radio will be able to access a big catalog of lyrics in 28 languages while listening in their cars, thanks to a partnership with LyricFind.

DTS Connected Radio is a hybrid radio system that combines over-the-air radio with IP-delivered content; the company and its subsidiary Xperi are promoting it as a global hybrid radio solution and say it will launch in a range of 2021 vehicles. (They recently announced that DTS Connected Radio will be in the Daimler MB User Experience (MBUX) infotainment system.)

[Read: Taking the Fear Out of Hybrid Radio]

The agreement with LyricFind provides features like lyrics display and search, synchronized lyrics “for in-cabin sing-along,” translation of song lyrics and lyrics for “Now Playing” music on all sources.

Bob Dillon, senior vice president, Connected Radio at Xperi, said automakers want this feature. He was quoted in the announcement, “We are pleased to be the first and only digital audio solution in our industry to offer this feature globally, which has emerged as a critical automaker requirement.”

“The new DTS Connected Radio lyrics feature, which is available in 28 languages, is fully integrated and immediately available to OEMs within the DTS Connected Radio platform,” the company announced.

The post DTS Connected Radio Adds Lyrics appeared first on Radio World.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks is continuing to voice support for the idea of allowing limited geo-targeting of content on FM boosters. He says it’s a way to encourage economic opportunities for marginalized communities.

Speaking to an online media symposium of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund, Starks, who is currently one of two Democrats on the five-member commission, said the Federal Communications Commission “must meet its obligation to promote ownership by women and people of color,” according to text released by his office.

He noted that a pending notice of proposed rulemaking would allow GeoBroadcast Solutions to implement its idea for geo-targeting content. He said this would “allow for stations to provide hyper-localized content including alternative language news, weather, emergency alerts and advertising periodically during the broadcast day.”

“It has the potential to provide a method for stations owned by socially disadvantaged groups to better serve their communities, create opportunities for small businesses to advertise in a more cost-effective manner to a targeted audience, and for FM stations owned by people of color and women to increase advertising revenue,” Starks said.

Several major radio groups earlier this year expressed concern that the idea hasn’t been sufficiently trialed. They worry about possible listener confusion and station “self-interference.” They called it an unproven technology.

GBS has said its field tests showed no “harmful interference” and that the technology can be managed to minimize disruption.

The National Association of Broadcasters so far has given qualified support though it too said the FCC should “vet the technical issues” first.

Also, some broadcasters have told the FCC that if it were to allow this practice with boosters, it should also allow translators to original content,, potentially a much bigger change in rules covering the FM band. But the notice at the FCC only addresses proposals in the GBS petition, Radio World has reported.

The post Starks Keeps Spotlight on GBS Proposal appeared first on Radio World.

A new technical organization has been set-up to assist broadcast radio industry stakeholders looking to implement DAB+ in the Asia-Pacific region.

The creation of the new Asia-Pacific Technical Group was announced by WorldDAB, an industry broadcast association responsible for defining and promoting DAB digital radio.

[Read: Metadata: Keeping Radio Strong in the Car]

The new technical group will give participants a forum in which to discuss, learn and collaborate on all technical aspects of DAB+ digital radio; will ensure activities are aligned with DAB standards; and will refer select new ideas back to WorldDAB Committees.

Access to membership to the WorldDAB Asia-Pacific Technical Group is open to broadcasters, governments, regulatory bodies, network providers, equipment and receiver manufacturers whether or not they are currently members of WorldDAB.

“The launch of the Asia-Pacific Technical Group is a testament to the growing interest in DAB+ across the APAC region,” said WorldDAB Vice President and Asia Pacific Committee Chair Joan Warner.

Warner said the group will give radio stakeholders in the region the opportunity to meet and strategize on a regular basis as well as share knowledge, expertise and experiences on how to successfully implement and rollout DAB+ digital radio.

“Importantly, through this group, WorldDAB will be able to plan and deliver practical, on-the-ground assistance to countries moving forward with DAB+,” Warner said.

The WorldDAB APAC TG will meet up to four times per year, with most meetings held virtually. The group’s first meeting will take place online on Dec. 2. For information and to register, the organizers suggest contacting the World DAB project office at projectoffice@worlddab.org.

The post New Technical Group Aims to Assist in Rollout of DAB+ appeared first on Radio World.

The Montclair State University students at college radio station WMSC(FM) 90.3 MHz have proven that limitations created by the current pandemic will not keep them from getting back to the business of radio. In fact, they were pretty busy on the evening of the recent presidential election. Radio World spoke with Anabella Poland, general manager of WMSC at Montclair State University about the radio station and program available to the students.

Radio World: Please describe your media operations, including the physical plant. How many studios, and how are they equipped? Where is the transmission facility? How is it equipped?

Anabella Poland: There are three studios, as well as performance space and control room. There is also a Foley studio, which students have used to create radio dramas. The station is located on the second floor of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University Montclair, N.J. You can take a quick tour of the facilities here.

The studios are equipped with Axia Element boards with 12 POTS line bridge; Comrex Access codecs; Electro-Voice RE20 microphones; Sony MDR 7506 headphones; VoxPro workstations, Nautel transmitter; Telos Z/IP One; and Telos Zephyr ISDN codecs. Software includes: RCS NexGen automation and music library; Pro Tools, Hindenburg and Audition; VPN access to remote into the station; and StreamGuys streaming services for ACC and MP3 streams.

[Read: College Media Spotlight: University of Nebraska, Omaha]

RW: Who makes the executive decisions for the station? What role do the students have in station operations? What types of programming do they produce?

Poland: As the general manager, I oversee the station’s budget and make executive decisions. The station is not under the student government association but within the School of Communication and Media.

The student management team consists of 11 directors in the roles of station manager, program director, news director, sports director, music director, production director, engineer, digital marketing director, web director, business director/office manager and morning show producer. Most directors also have an assistant. These leadership roles are designed to train students and give them an opportunity to work in a real-world situation giving them room to explore, discover and learn. The student directors make decisions about programming, promotional activities, award submissions, staff and show scheduling. The format is alt-rock and talk, but we also have a few specialty shows (metal, classic rock, Broadway and standards).

RW: Are students on campus now or learning and operating remotely?

Poland: Currently, the radio station is operating in a hybrid, high-flex modality, with some students on campus and some students operating remotely.

Students who work on news and sports shows have access to the live studio as their programming has a short shelf life, while all other programming is prerecorded and scheduled for air. There is a limit of two students max in-studio at any given time; masks are mandatory; and we set strict sanitation guidelines that include disposable headphone covers, vinyl gloves, sanitizer and disinfectant wipes for electronics. Newscasters, sportscasters, contributors and guests connect to the station for live shows via Zoom.

RW: Is the station currently on the air? What means and products (software or hardware) are being used?

Poland: Yes, the station is on air and has been on air since March 23. During the stay at home orders, we used VPN to remote into the station for live shows without needing a board op in-studio, and we used Zoom to connect with students at home to take them to air.

Once the fall semester began, we transitioned to live, in-studio board ops for live shows to free up resources that took us to air for the previous five-plus months, but also because students were eager to be back in-studio.

For live shows we use Zoom. For recorded shows, students use Cleanfeed, Discord and Zoom. For podcasting, we use Zoom and Cleanfeed, but students can also reserve the production studio for which they must follow COVID-19 protocol and guidelines. Students working remotely use a variety of USB microphones such as the BLUE Snowball and Yeti microphones and a variety of gaming headphones.

Recent example of live programming: This link takes you to the five-plus hours Election Night show, which was also live on the station’s YouTube page. The two hosts were in-studio and the contributors and guests joined over Zoom. The broadcast included prerecorded and live interviews with experts in the field of politics, education, communication and economics. The show also featured reports from student reporters at sister stations located in battleground states: Pennsylvania (Neumann University), Wisconsin (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Michigan (Michigan State University) as well as a student reporter from sister station in Sweden (K103 Goteborgs) and a student from sister station in Texas (University of Texas Arlington).

RW: What impact has COVID-19 had on the station? Challenges due to social distancing?

Poland: The greatest challenge is that prior to COVID-19, the station did all its shows live and there was not a system or even the infrastructure in place to upload recorded shows. Doing radio became significantly more cumbersome especially for the programming team in charge of reviewing all recorded shows for content and quality but also uploading and scheduling. This procedure taxed our time exponentially. This modality also entailed training DJs on producing recorded shows, and some of them did not have any audio editing experience. The program and engineering directors put together quick video tutorials to guide everyone. That said, occasionally we get shows that need to be treated by our production team, an area that can quickly become a bottleneck operation.

RW: If the students are operating remotely, how are you making that happen? Can you give examples?

Poland: Specific example: The morning show “The Morning Buzz” pre-COVID-19 gathered five students in the studio (co-hosts, newscaster, sportscaster and contributor) During stay-at-home orders, we connected everyone from home via Zoom and then we connected into the station via VPN. Students at first used gaming headphones to do radio and they slowly transitioned to USB microphones (BLUE Snowball Black Ice, Yeti, etc.). This changed with the fall semester, and now a student board op is in the studio for live shows, and uses Zoom to connect to co-hosts, contributors, producers, etc.

We created a virtual radio station on Discord mirroring the quantity of physical space at our station, and “hired” a Discord bot to assist with recordings over Discord voice channels. The bot is summoned to the virtual studio with a written command and records multitrack/multichannel recordings. Once the recording is done, the bot provides a link with the recording for download.

Student management meetings, general meeting and team building activities take place via Zoom and Discord server. We use Google Suite for collaborating on scripts, show schedules, surveys, prerecorded shows logs, etc. We collaborate on Canvas for digital marketing efforts. Students exploited the video capabilities of Zoom taking live video to our social media pages.

RW: Is there anything else our readers should know?

Poland: The day N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy announced restrictions due to COVID-19, we were at a collegiate broadcasters’ conference in New York City and we had just visited SiriusXM headquarters where I was director of talent and industry relations between 2008 and 2015. To say the students were on Cloud Nine would be an understatement. The mood quickly soured that evening when, upon hearing the news, I made the decision we would not be going to the second day of the conference the next day. Although we had a dozen award nominations and were scheduled to present at the conference the next day, the risk was simply too high. Instead, we met at the radio station and offered the presentation over our Instagram Live.

We headed into an extended Spring Break (two weeks). On the first couple of days of the second week of Spring break, it became apparent students were experiencing high levels of anxiety caused by the uncertainty of the pandemic. Many lost their jobs on campus. Some had their parents lose their jobs. Although the station could have continued in automation, I felt it was imperative and natural to provide a link back to campus and to one of the activities they love the most, radio.

I spoke to Chief Engineer of Broadcast and Media Operations Adam Goldberg and I asked: “What can we do?” Within a week we had a plan and the necessary software to take students to air. The ability to stay engaged and continue broadcasting has been quoted by several of the DJs and directors as the “true north” in the midst of so much chaos and many unknowns.

WMSC was nominated for the prestigious Marconi award twice in the last four years: In 2017 for Best Non-Commercial Station of the Year and 2019 for Best College Radio Station of the Year.

The post College Station Spotlight: Montclair State University appeared first on Radio World.

Nautel has issued an updated release of its free Nautel Legacy AUI Access application for Windows and macOS.

“The app enables continued access to your existing Flash-based AUI without concern for the end-of-year removal of Flash support from commercial browsers,” the company said in a customer service memo to clients.

“No changes are made to the transmitter and no site visit is needed.”

This version eliminates the need for Adobe AIR and Adobe Flash Player to be installed on a user’s computer; it runs as a standalone executable. Information and download are provided on the Nautel website.

The app is intended as an interim solution that will function throughout 2021 so users can choose when they want to migrate to Nautel’s new AUI, according to its website.

Nautel’s AUI or Advanced User Interface provides local and remote monitoring and control for its transmitters; Nautel is replacing the Flash-based AUI with an HTML5 version because Adobe will stop distributing and updating Flash Player at the end of this year, as announced in 2017. The Nautel support page has more info about that and about the impact on major browsers.

[Related: “Broadcast Tools Preps for End of Flash Support”]

The post Nautel Updates Legacy AUI Access App appeared first on Radio World.

Manufacturer Inovonics is saluting longtime employee Wolfgang Rietz on his retirement.

Founder Jim Wood described Rietz as “the helpful and happy financial wizard of Inovonics.”

“Inovonics has been both a short-term and career home to many fine people over our history, but in the almost 50 years we’ve been in business, this is the first formal retirement we’ve celebrated,” Wood said.

Rietz — known to many as Wolf — has been with the company more than 20 years.

The company celebrated his retirement recently with a “socially-distanced” barbecue at its headquarters in California. He and his wife Marge are relocating to Idaho.

President/CEO Ben Barber said Rietz instituted formal bookkeeping and accounting processes that provided clear indications of the firm’s financial direction and tendencies.

“From the very first day, Wolfgang strove to move Inovonics and its procedures forward. He streamlined processes with the goal of making all aspects of accounting more concise, measurable and controllable,” Barber said.

He’s shown in the photo at bottom with co-workers at the 2004 NAB Show.

Send People News items to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Inovonics Salutes “Wolf” Rietz appeared first on Radio World.

Pam Johnston is the general manager for news at GBH in Boston.

Like all of our stations east of the Mississippi River, GBH’s radio and TV call letters started with a “W.” WGBH recently rebranded to GBH to reflect the growing reality of the digital era beyond broadcast.

Today, more than half of GBH’s total impressions are digital. As the world moves from the age of broadcast to the era of streaming, we’ve decided to drop the W from our name to reflect this shift in how we connect with our audiences.

[Related: “Public Media Biggie WGBH Drops the ‘W'”]

Why should traditional radio broadcasting adapt to this digital era?

As we all know, the broadcast audience is changing. Largely due to the pandemic and a marked decrease in commuter listening in the last six months, overall broadcast listeners have shifted habits. At the same time, the streaming audience is growing and the social media audience is exploding.

How can we get radio listeners to know about and consume broadcast content online?

Although many of the things associated with broadcast are evolving, one thing remains constant, and that is high-quality content.

Here are three ways to pivot to multiplatform radio while keeping quality storytelling at the core:

1. Focus on a long-term tentpole project that involves multimedia components. For instance, GBH News has created an in-depth series, “COVID and the Classroom.” Its content appears on radio and online but it can also easily become a virtual forum, social media posts, a digital story or an email newsletter — all increasingly vital ways to consume radio content.

1. Double-down on digital content by posting news stories on your website and investing in photography. Adapt broadcast programs into podcasts such as GBH did with “In It Together,” our nightly newscast on how COVID-19 is affecting our community. Livestream your radio shows on Facebook (as we did with “Early Edition” and “Lunch Hour Live”). Create a YouTube channel for your audio stories. People are listening to audio more than ever, just not necessarily on the radio. You need to find audiences where they already are.

1. Focus on community building by positioning your station as a community partner. How are you elevating voices in your community on the air, online, through virtual events? Create virtual town halls or news forums on Zoom or other digital platforms. Collaborate with other journalists on digital content. (GBH is partnering with our cross-town rival WBUR to produce content for the NPR “Consider This.”)

Long gone are the days when we could count on our audience to seek us out on the dial at a specific time.

Now, we must go out there and find them, which is a tricky business. But if we want our stations to have meaningful reach and have an impact, we need to embrace this digital moment, especially if our programming involves news.

It has never been harder to be a journalist in America than it is right now.  But the need for incisive, inclusive and high-quality journalism on the issues facing our communities, our nation, and our world has never been greater. As local newspapers and commercial outlets are forced to close, radio programming is often the last local news source.

Broadcast radio will still be around for years but we can maximize its reach with these simple steps and a digital-first mindset.

GBH is the leading producer of content for PBS and a partner to NPR (via GBH 89.7 FM in Boston) and PRX. Comment on this or any story. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

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