Industry News

Morning host Bobby Jack Murphy posted this photo of the damaged WAKY tower to the station’s Facebook page Nov. 27, alerting listeners of the problem.

As if the day before Thanksgiving isn’t stressful enough, the engineering team at Kentucky’s WAKY(FM) had a nasty surprise when a strong storm snapped a small tower nearly in half, knocking the station off air.

Morning host Bobby Jack Murphy announced at 11:15 a.m. on Facebook: “WAKY Tower a victim of the high winds!” He also posted a photo of the damage, which he could see from inside the studio. It appears to be the station’s STL send dish.

103.5 FM was offline for nearly 12 hours; the station’s Facebook page announced its return to the air at 10:35 p.m. the same day. 

During the interim, the station used its social media presence to alert listeners of alternate ways to tune in, reminding locals of WAKY’s simulcasts on 100.1 FM, 106.3 FM and 620 AM, as well as streaming versions available at wakyradio.com and the WAKY app and TuneIn.

The post Kentucky FM Bounces Back From Wednesday Tower Break appeared first on Radio World.

 

The CBI National Student Production Awards recognize the best in student electronic media. CBI President John Morris congratulates the 2019 winners.

College Broadcasters Inc. said it hosted more than 350 student and faculty attendees at the three-day 2019 National Student Electronic Media Convention in St. Louis last month. 

The event centered on radio and television, but also featured workshops and sessions on podcasting and mobile multimedia storytelling. CBI said these were led by industry professionals, faculty advisers and students; some of the professionals were prior student NSEMC attendees themselves.

In a press release, CBI President John Morris said, “It impressed me to see nearly a hundred workshops presented covering a wide range of topics, including programming, leadership, news, sports, podcasting, promotion and more.”

According to CBI’s Morris, the Midwestern city was selected to host the event because St. Louis “is a top 25 media market, has incredible delicacies and includes a depth of history and entertainment options.” Next year’s host city, Baltimore, is ranked as the 26th media market, and has a similarly long history and plenty of its own fantastic food (crab cakes, anyone?). The 2020 event is scheduled for Oct. 21-24.  

The post Student Broadcasters Convene at The Gateway to the West 2019 appeared first on Radio World.

John Lyons has died. He suffered cardiac arrest at home Friday, according to his family. He was 71.

Lyons was assistant vice president and director of Broadcast Communications at The Durst Organization.

He was responsible for the communications infrastructure of Durst’s multimillion-square-foot commercial portfolio and played a major role in helping broadcasters return to the air in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack on the World Trade Center. Among his many accomplishments was leading the design and implementation of the redesigned master antenna at 4 Times Square and the new broadcast transmission facility at One World Trade Center.

In 2006 Lyons received the Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award; in 2017 he was honored with the NAB Television Engineering Achievement Award.

Earlier in his career he held engineering positions with several New York-based broadcast organizations and served two stints as chairman of the Master FM Broadcasters Committee at the Empire State Building. “He was a walking history of New York broadcasting,” said fellow New York engineer David Bialik. “In addition he changed the RF landscape of New York.”

Lyons is survived by his wife Natasha Lyons and sons Matthew, 26, and Constantine, 7.

He was former president and most recently treasurer of the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers; he was elected Fellow of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, and was active in the National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers, the NAB Broadcast Engineering Conference Committee and the Veterans’ Hospital Radio and Television Guild.

John Lyons, center, with David Antoine, left, and Tom Silliman at a recent NAB Show. Photo by Jim Peck

He was a devoted family man, and he made learning a lifelong pursuit. Among other things he was a licensed New York State Real Estate Broker and a member of the Real Estate Board of New York and the Building Owners and Management Association, and held a Certificate in Property Management from New York University.

Radio World described him in 2006 as “funny, brash, no-nonsense, unpretentious, sentimental … all characteristics we love in native New Yorkers.” He also enjoyed golf and competitive dancing; Lyons had met his wife in Siberia, while photographing a ballroom dance competition.

According to a biographical summary published earlier by Radio World, Lyons attended Brooklyn Technical High School and was a transmitter operator and studio engineer for radio station WRFM (later WWPR). He spent nine years as chief studio technical operator at WWRL and while there also worked as director of engineering at ZDK Radio in St. John’s, Antigua, a station he built and put on the air. He worked for WOR Radio as assistant chief engineer, then was moved by the company to WXLO (later WRKS) to be chief engineer, where he served for a decade.

During most of that time he was chairman of the Master FM Broadcasters Committee at the Empire State Building, coordinating the operations of 13 city FM stations with the broadcasters at Empire and the World Trade Center.

In 1990, he left WRKS to join DSI Communications (later DSI RF Systems), where he was senior project manager, responsible for communications facility build-outs, including TV and radio station transmitter facilities, two-way communications, point-to-point microwave and satellite communications systems. In 1994 he took a consulting position at the new Sony Worldwide Radio Networks, where he worked to establish and set standards for a nationwide satellite-programming network, built the studios and developed its operations system. With that established, Lyons moved on to WLTW with Viacom Radio (later Clear Channel Communications) as assistant chief engineer, and was promoted to become chief of the recently acquired WAXQ. He resumed his position as chairman of the Master FM Broadcasters Committee at Empire for four more years and was design engineer for many of the Clear Channel New York operations including the pioneer backup FM transmitting site at 4 Times Square for the five Clear Channel NYC stations.

After the catastrophic losses of Sept. 11, 2001, Lyons worked with the Empire State Building, 4 Times Square, broadcasters and contractors to restore broadcasting operations for all of the orphaned WTC stations. He designed transmission line runs, laid out transmitter plants and assisted the stations to return to the air as soon as possible.

In 2002 he was named manager of communications and broadcast operations at 4 Times Square for The Durst Organization and was responsible for removal of a 132-foot master FM antenna tower and its replacement with a 385-foot master TV and FM antenna tower, capable of accommodating all the TV and FM stations licensed to the New York metropolitan area. This facility also was capable of point-to-point microwave, spread spectrum, broadband, two-way, STL/TSL, RPU and ENG services.

In 2005 he became responsible for the communications needs of the entire Durst portfolio.

He also helped establish a state-of-the-art communications system for first responders in Durst skyscrapers in the wake of 9/11.

“His thumbprint is all over New York radio,” Radio World wrote in 2006, even before the new One World Trade Center and its showcase transmission facility were built.

Funeral arrangements were not finalized as of Saturday evening.

Radio World is gathering reader comments about the passing of John Lyons. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post John Lyons Dies; Helped Shape New York’s RF Skyline appeared first on Radio World.

The Federal Communications Commission is ready to move on a new Report and Order that would make changes to the rules and processes surrounding licensing for LPFMs and noncom stations.

At its December meeting, the commission plans to consider an R&O that would tweak the licensing process for low-power FMs and noncommercial educational stations and build upon lessons learned from the most recent NCE and LPFM filing windows, said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a recent blog.

[Read: FCC Hopes to Streamline NCE Selection Rules]

“[The changes] are designed to improve our comparative selection and licensing procedures, expedite the initiation of new service to the public, eliminate unnecessary applicant burdens, and reduce the number of appeals of our NCE comparative licensing decisions,” Pai said.

The media item, part of Media Bureau Docket Number 19-3, is the next step in the commission’s ongoing efforts to reexamine licensing procedures for noncommercial education and low-power FM stations. The commission most recently tackled the issue in February 2019 when it adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the same issue in an effort to improve the rules and procedures to select and license competing applications for new noncommercial educational broadcast stations and LPFM stations.

At that time, many commenters called for changes that would streamline improvements to FCC’s point award criteria, mandatory time sharing rules and tie breaking criteria.

The Report & Order is up for discussion at the FCC’s December Open Meeting on Dec. 12.

 

The post FCC to Consider New Licensing Rules for LPFM/Noncom Stations appeared first on Radio World.

There have long been strong opinions on whether or not the Federal Communications Commission should modify — or maybe outright eliminate — the radio duplication rule.

Now, the FCC is looking for comment on that proposal, which currently prohibits any commonly owned commercial AM or FM station from duplicating more than 25% of its weekly broadcast hours a week if the community contours of the stations overlap to a specific degree.

[Read: FCC to Tackle Duplicative Programming Rule]

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was released by the commission on Nov. 25. Now the commission is asking whether the rule remains necessary to service the public interest goals of competition, programming diversity and spectrum efficiency.

It was back in 1964 that the commission first limited radio programming duplication by prohibiting FM stations in cities with populations over 100,000 from duplicating the programming of a co-owned AM station in the same local area for more than 50% of the FM stations broadcast day. The current version of the rule was adopted in 1992 and since there have been considerable changes in the industry since then, the NPRM is looking for comment on what modifications should be made.

Specifically, the notice will:

• Ask whether the radio duplication rule remains necessary to foster competition and program diversity in light of significant changes to the radio broadcast industry since the current rule was adopted in 1992.
• Seek comment on whether the radio duplication rule remains necessary to promote spectrum efficiency, or whether current demands for spectrum now push radio broadcasters to maximize efficiency and supply varied programming to the local market.
• Seek comment on whether the rule should be modified or eliminated based on the changes that have occurred since adoption of the rule.
• Seek comment on whether and how the rule should be modified to reflect the current radio market if the commission determines that the radio duplication rule should be retained.
• Ask whether the rule should only apply to the FM band.
• Ask whether the 25% of total programming hours threshold should be raised or lowered.
• Ask whether the 50% overlap requirement should be raised or lowered.

“There are clearly circumstances in which some measure of program duplication in the same market is beneficial, such as rebroadcasting locally oriented programming that is often expensive to produce but is of particular interest to local listeners,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr when the NPRM was released. “At the same time, there aren’t always going to be compelling reasons to rebroadcast 100% of another station’s programming. But those decisions should be determined in the market by the listening public and not in the pages of the Code of Federal Regulations.”

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel concurred with the NPRM as well, but said that she hopes “any changes made do not lead listeners to find fewer voices and sources of local news the next time they tune in.”

Comments can be made via the FCC’s ECFS database using Media Bureau Docket 19-122.

 

The post Radio Duplication Rule Up for Discussion appeared first on Radio World.

MISHAWAKA, Ind. — In the summer of 2016, we launched our podcasting network to augment our growing linear and live streaming businesses. As our network grew, we had several opportunities to monetize our podcasting content with deeper sponsorships and requests to target ads across episodes and devices. While our existing podcasting solution was sufficient for basic functionality such as hosting multiple podcasts, organizing content by station, and uploading feeds to podcast directories, it lacked the advanced functionality to keep up with the growing popularity of podcasts and the associated demand from advertisers. Furthermore, our staff felt the existing monetization software was not intuitive or user-friendly and required complicated, manual ad insertion.

In 2019, after testing multiple alternate podcasting solutions, we decided to expand our relationship with our long-time media operations partner, WideOrbit. Their WO On Demand product could provide Federated Media the necessary advanced monetization functionality to scale our podcasting business immediately. Transitioning over to WO On Demand was simple because WO Streaming had been our live streaming platform for many years and, on the linear broadcast side of the business, WO Traffic was our system of record for some time.

[Read RW’s latest ebook on cybersecurity and studio disaster recovery]

Because our staff was already comfortable with the WideOrbit interface and workflow, training for WO On Demand was simple and quick. The workflow is a natural extension from WO Streaming for both our end users as well as our engineers. In addition, we have the flexibility to manage and monetize our content in many new ways. Today, we can offer: ad insertion for podcasts at the show, station or network levels; streamlined file management to update intros, promos and sponsorships; Dynamic station ID tag insertion for an enhanced listening experience; and “Broadcast-to-Podcast” ability to auto-create podcasts from previously recorded original content.

WideOrbit has been a trusted and reliable partner on many levels. They continue to evolve their products as the media landscape shifts and I’m looking forward to improvements such as repurposing on-air content into podcasts with separate dynamic ad insertion; adding an embeddable player for our website, blog and social media; and reducing ad load by optimizing ad placement and balancing with content.

For information, contact WideOrbit at 1-415-675-6700, Option 2, or visit www.wideorbit.com.

The post User Report: WideOrbit Provides Podcasting for Federated Media appeared first on Radio World.

We see it every few months: A headline that a radio group or station has been hit by the latest cyber attack.

What we don’t see are the emails that then fly out from radio CEOs to their IT and engineering teams: “How do we make sure this never happens to us?” The latest Radio World ebook is intended to help radio technologists answer that question.

Is your network adequately prepared to defend against cybersecurity incursions? Where are the vulnerable points in a broadcast radio and streaming operation? What has our industry learned from recent ransomware attacks on several large radio groups?

Also, more and more makers of critical radio content management systems are building cloud architectures or cloud backups into their designs. What should radio managers and engineers know about these new offerings?

Veteran broadcast IT and networking expert Wayne Pecena provides a primer on the subject. We interview Chris Tarr of Entercom about best practices for cyber and ransomware protection. Consultant Gary Kline provides a list of questions that smart managers should be asking themselves. RCS and ENCO provide their perspectives as suppliers of mission-critical station systems.  Read it here.

The post Cybersecurity and Studio Disaster Recovery appeared first on Radio World.

LONDON — The United Kingdom’s Radio TechCon Conference covered a diverse range of topics this year. Taking place on Monday Nov. 25 at the IET [Institution of Engineering and Technology] in Central London, individual sessions covered subjects, ranging from the strategic to the practical.

The audience at TechCon 2019. All photos: Radio TechCon/Vincent Lo

Supported by the IET and by various specialist broadcasting companies, including: Broadcast Bionics; Arqiva; Broadcast Radio; RCS; and Calrec, more than 100 people from the U.K. broadcast radio industry attended the event.

PERTINANT TOPICS

Over the years, Radio TechCon has developed a strong reputation for the range of content it offers and this year was no exception. From moving major broadcasting studio complexes, such as Virgin Radio, TalkSport and the famous BBC Maida Vale music studios, through to improving the user experience for broadcasters and coping with change in professional situations, there was something on offer for just about everyone.

Dr. Lawrie Hallett explains how to build an SS-DAB MUX to the audience.

Perhaps one of the most strategically important topic covered this year was that of platform development and the challenges and practical implications of delivering broadcast audio via IP and mobile platforms (5G), as these become increasingly important for listeners.

Broadcast delivery via IP delivery is, as one of the session presenters, Simon Mason, head of broadcast radio technology at Arqiva, points out, far more expensive than FM delivery, which in turn is similarly more expensive than equivalent DAB delivery. The core on-going difficultly for broadcasters is the need to deliver via multiple platforms, each with its own incremental costs.

Since the demise of the Sound Broadcasting Equipment Show (SBES), some years back, Radio TechCon has increased the number of trade stands open across the day and situated in the main refreshment area. These companies, including HHB; Vortex; and Luci were busy showing equipment and discussing services over lunch and between sessions.

ON SHOW

Dino Sofos, editor of Brexitcast (left) and Robin Pembrooke, director, content production systems, BBC speak about the ‘The Technology Behind Brexitcast.”

At least one company, Systembase, used Radio TechCon for the public launch of its latest product.  It has developed “SIPit  pro” to allow SIP compliant codecs from a variety of manufacturers to easily communicate with each other.

The product not only removes many of the networking issues associated with AoIP connectivity, but also it provides one-time configuration, such that a SIP configured device can be moved from location to location whilst still retaining the same fixed ID, rather like a roaming mobile phone.

As part of its remit to support the U.K. radio and audio industry, the company behind Radio TechCon (TBC Media Ltd.) also runs a master class for those potentially interested in a technically-based broadcasting career and organizes a bursary scheme for attendance of the main Radio TechCon event.

This year a wide range of industry organizations supported the various elements of the bursary scheme. These included Cleanfeed; Bauer Media; The UKRD Group and the European Broadcasting Union, along with further support from the main event sponsors.

With such wide-ranging support from across the U.K. radio broadcasting industry, and a sell-out full house, quite clearly Radio TechCon remains an essential event in the U.K. radio calendar.

The post Radio TechCon Talks Tech appeared first on Radio World.

Fraunhofer IIS has signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Administrative Bureau of Radio Stations of the Chinese National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) to strengthen the cooperation for the advancement of Digital Radio Mondiale in mainland China

From left to right are Yanzhou Wang, NRTA radio division; Guido Leisker, Fraunhofer IIS; Guoqiang Li, NRTA radio division; Bernd Linz, Fraunhofer IIS; Lida Zhang, NRTA radio division; Frederik Nagel, Fraunhofer IIS; Binbin Luo, Deputy Director, NRTA radio division; Bernhard Grill, Director of Fraunhofer IIS; Marc Gayer, Fraunhofer IIS; Toni Fiedler, Fraunhofer IIS; Shanshan Fu, Fraunhofer IIS, Thimmaiah Kuppanda Ganapathy, Fraunhofer IIS. © Udo Rink – Fraunhofer IIS.

According to Fraunhofer IIS, the MoU, which was signed at its headquarters in Germany, is based on “long-term mutual trust established in previous collaborations, and aims to further develop the cooperation with regard to the open terrestrial DRM standard, including technologies substantially developed by Fraunhofer IIS, such as the xHE-AAC audio codec and the Journaline text service.”

In addition, it says, the two parties will intensify their exchange of information on DRM technology, work on jointly promoting DRM technology, hold workshops on DRM technology, and conduct field trials to successfully drive the deployment of DRM in China.

“This MoU will further strengthen the relationship of Fraunhofer IIS with China’s broadcasting organizations and help both parties to collaborate even more closely on setting up the digital transmission ecosystems in TV, radio and the internet, introducing standards that deploy technologies driven by Fraunhofer IIS,” said Toni Fiedler, general manager of Fraunhofer IIS China.

“A new generation of information technology for the development of the radio and TV industries has brought unprecedented, profound changes and serious challenges,” said Binbin Luo, deputy director of the NRTA’s radio division.

“To drive the industry forward, we focus on cutting-edge technology and promote the development of best-in-class core technologies in key standards. The cooperation with the world’s leading standard research institutions such as Fraunhofer IIS will ensure the deployment of reliable, future-proof technology in China’s digital radio ecosystems.”

The post Chinese Broadcasters Collaborate with Fraunhofer IIS appeared first on Radio World.

The author is communications manager for WorldDAB.

BRUSSELS — Addressing the audience at the WorldDAB General Assembly, VRT’s Paul Lembrechts acknowledged the changing nature of the radio industry in Europe, stating that the “digitization of the radio market is now a fact — it will replace the analog era in the foreseeable future.” He also highlighted VRT’s shifting focus toward DAB+ as the successor of FM.

Paul Lembrechts is CEO for VRT.

RTBF CEO Jean-Paul Philippot echoed this view, explaining RTBF’s vision of an alliance-like approach in which all industry players take an active part in digital distribution.

COOPERATION

Referring to cooperation on distribution and competition on content, Philippot stressed the market’s need for collaboration between public and commercial radio, the retail and automotive sectors, as well as international bodies and organisations such as WorldDAB and RadioPlayer Worldwide.

According to Philippot, this new “competitive cooperation” is what led to the creation of maRadio.be, a cooperative consortium bringing together RTBF and most of the private players, large and small, from the French-speaking Belgian radio sector. It also opened the doors to regular DAB+ services in French-speaking Belgium — a launch that was officialised and celebrated at the start of November.

Wallonia joins its Flemish counterpart in launching DAB+ digital radio, with VRT having done so at the end of 2018. Commenting on the current state of the radio industry in Flanders, Lembrechts highlighted the growing popularity of DAB+ among Flemish people, explaining that 55% of the population has already heard of DAB+ and 9% of all listening in Flanders happens on DAB+. This, he said, is three times more than when the technology was launched 12 months earlier.

According to Lembrechts, the increasing popularity of DAB+ in Flanders is primarily the result of good cooperation between the major Flemish radio stations and the Flemish government. But, he added, it’s also related to the general popularity of radio as a medium, pointing out that people in Flanders “listen to the radio for about 3 hours and 31 minutes a day.”

VRT’s CEO also stressed the importance of DAB+ in relation to the EECC directive, which requires new cars across the European Union to include digital radio capabilities from 2021 onward. According to Lembrechts,

Jean-Paul Philippot is CEO for RTBF.

NATIONWIDE SUPPORT

DAB+ in the car forms an important part of VRT’s digital radio strategy, given that 39% of the 600,000 new cars are already equipped with a DAB+ radio.

As for RTBF, the public broadcaster for Belgium’s French-speaking community has been a strong supporter of DAB+ for the past decade. RTBF currently operates two DAB+ layers, broadcasting a total of 25 DAB+ radio stations (11 public radios and 14 private networks, which is an exception in Europe) — 10 of which are only available on DAB+. The broadcaster’s mobile coverage stands at around 98% of the population.

On stage at the General Assembly, both CEOs stood side by side to reiterate the various benefits of DAB+ digital radio, placing particular emphasis on the wide range of content available on DAB+, the improved sound quality offered by the technology, and its subscription-free model.

As DAB+ in Belgium continues to develop and reach maturity, it’s clear that Belgium’s French and Dutch-speaking public broadcasters are making sure that listeners across the country are able to reap the benefits of DAB+ digital radio.

The post Belgium Unites in Driving DAB+ Forward appeared first on Radio World.