Industry News

CP Communications, known for its products and services for live event productions, has brought to market two new products for those focused on live production needs.

Now available are the Virtual Media Center and FastReturn secure video management platform.

Both products are built around WebRTC – the cloud-based technology used by Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other popular videoconferencing platforms – and have been used at such events as the 2021 editions of the TCS New York City Marathon and Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

“People have been struggling with the latency of live video in remote production workflows,” says Kurt Heitmann, CEO of CP Communications. “Announcers can’t be way behind the action with play-by-play or analysis. With FastReturn, we use the power of the cloud to deliver streaming return video with ultra-low latency, so you can view your live production from anywhere on any device in real time.”

FastReturn’s base package includes five streams and supports up to 100 users, but can be scaled to accommodate additional sources and larger crews. Users access FastReturn content via a web browser on smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops, as well as through Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick digital media players. Content is accessed through a secure client portal (optional custom user pages and templates are also available).

The platform can ingest any H.264 baseline profile RTMP stream, supporting HD resolution and 128kbit stereo audio with bitrates up to 10 MBps with less than 400ms of latency. FastReturn can also spin up edge servers around the world that are geographically closer to the production to provide even lower latency and better reliability.

Available as an ad hoc service, the Virtual Media Center is a browser-based multi-viewer designed for monitoring, not retransmission, of live video signals. Designed for use by remote journalists, it features a variety of multi-viewer templates, from simple 2-box and 4-box displays to more extensive layouts based on the number of signals being shared. Through a browser-based interface, media personnel can select which video feeds to monitor. All templates deliver video feeds with secure, two-step authentication and less than 400ms of latency.

Beyond event coverage, the Virtual Media Center can also help with multi-camera remote production. For example, a two-day commercial shoot was recently produced across three sound stages in Atlanta. The on-site crew used multiple Red House Streaming (RHS) CamSTREAM systems along with the Virtual Media Center to provide the California-based producers and director with real-time, behind-the-scenes views of the production. Developed by CP Communications, RHS CamSTREAM systems are all-in-one, cost-efficient video production and streaming solutions that are quick to configure and deploy for any live production.

“For members of the media who are not able to travel to an event, or for video production crew members who can’t be on site, the Virtual Media Center provides an effective and efficient way to monitor the live action from multiple cameras,” Heitmann explained.

FastReturn is available as a monthly service or can be licensed for specific events. CP can also provide RHS CamSTREAM units and RTMP encoders for rental.

— Brian Galante

The future of a forthcoming FM radio station at 88.1 MHz, serving the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, is now a bit clearer.

A settlement agreement has been signed by one hopeful licensee and the second-largest licensee of radio stations in the U.S. that paves away for the latter organization to build a station at that frequency.

Once complete, Educational Media Foundation will have a Garden Isle outpost.

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Here’s something noteworthy as the push to bring additional financial support to recording artists through new royalty fees for radio continues on Capitol Hill: four co-sponsors of the “American Music Fairness Act” are also co-sponsors of the “Local Radio Freedom Act,” the resolution that as of today has resounding support.

Even so, the musicFIRST Coalition is confident that the “AMFA” will win over Congress.

Or, is that a statement that’s a bit unfair to make as musicFIRST, led by the Congressman who lost his seat in a primary race to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, continues to push “AMFA” — something musicFIRST calls “actual legislation that has a real path to becoming law this year?”

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In the coming year, media and entertainment will continue to evolve quickly, not only reckoning with ongoing trends and disruptions within the industry, but also in its continued response to pandemic-led behavioral changes. That’s according to Deloitte, which has released a 2022 M&E outlook that explores “five attention-grabbing trends.”

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Combining OTT with linear television opportunities is a topic of increased importance for broadcast media companies across North America. That’s why learning how to combine broadcast television with Connected TV for optimal reach, performance and profit is knowledge you’ll certainly use in the coming and years.

The Radio + Television Business Report is pleased to offer insight and intelligence on the power of combining OTT and linear television opportunities on Thursday, February 10 in a webinar presentation in partnership with Compulse.

This live event, scheduled for 2pm Eastern, features a discussion between RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson and Compulse Regional Sales Director Paolo Romanacci.

Romanacci will share the rise of “CTV” — not the Canadian broadcast TV network, but Connected TV. He’ll also provide details on how marketers can use CTV and Over-The-Air TV in combo to reach viewers that “cut the cord” and will never see a spot cable-booked ad. Romanacci will even share a client success story with participants before participant questions will be addressed.

Registration is open now. Save your virtual seat by signing up for this complimentary webinar, presented by Compulse, today!

By law, Dish on January 12 blocked its customers from receiving The CW Network in Louisville, WDRB-41 and WBKI-TV; NBC affiliate WAND-TV in Decatur, Ill.; and all four network affiliates serving tiny Lima, Ohio.

It was the latest retransmission fee impasse to surface in recent years. Now, it has ended. But, there’s chatter that another carriage dispute has just been resolved, hours before a “blackout” by law was to take place.

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Example of an HD Radio visual alert on a Harman receiver.

Xperi believes its HD Radio technology is an efficient methodology for wirelessly broadcasting alert messages in the United States. Now it has submitted a report to the FCC in support of that argument.

The report includes information about the performance of HD Radio digital emergency alerting during the recent nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System.

“Digital emergency alerts delivered through HD Radio broadcasting offer diversity, reliability and resiliency of public safety messages,” the company told the commission.

[Related: National EAS Test Showed Improvement, FCC Says]

Xperi said it evaluated the reception of test alerts via HD Radio broadcast, ATSC broadcast and Wireless Emergency Alerts cellular service.

“The HD Radio alert system performed as well as the other digital alert services and demonstrated significant market coverage and low-latency delivery,” Xperi wrote.

HD Radio coverage area and test site for KOIT(FM) 96.5 MHz, San Francisco.

It points out that broadcast radio is not subject to network congestion delays and outages imposed by natural disasters associated with cellular standards such as LTE and 5G.

“Furthermore, anecdotal observations indicate that wireless alert latencies can vary across cellular carriers. While HD Radio alerts may have latency in different markets, the message notification to devices is generally consistent within a geographic region. Therefore, it is presumed that HD Radio alerts may, in many cases, be detected before wireless alerts are detected.”

Though acknowledging that the test was not “exhaustive or comprehensive,” Xperi wrote: “The tests confirmed that the latency for alerts to reach an HD Radio receiver was comparable to the latency for WEA alerts. There generally was a 10 to 20 second difference between the receipt of the emergency alert on the HD Radio receiver and on a mobile device — with the HD Radio emergency alert arriving first in some instances and the WEA arriving first in others. In some cases, no WEA alert was received at locations where an alert was received on the HD Radio device.”

It concludes that HD Radio emergency alerts “provide needed redundancy and corroborate messages received from other sources.”

It plans more testing to include “a wider distribution of digital radio markets and a deeper evaluation of digital TV (ATSC and ATSC3.0) message delivery.”

Here’s the Xperi presentation as filed with the FCC, including detailed observation data.

Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Xperi Files Data on HD Radio Alerting appeared first on Radio World.

In November 2012, Bruce James and his Vermont Broadcast Associates engaged in a transaction that saw the sale of a 100-watt FM serving a small town some 100km south of Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Just over nine years later, the FM is officially defunct. Rather than try to find a buyer, the owner surrendered the station’s license.

Without comment, the FCC on January 19 moved forward with the cancellation of the license of WQJQ-FM 100.1 in Barton, Vt.

The station, which is now “DWQJQ” in the FCC database to reflect the call letters’ deletion, was owned by Capital Broadcasting Associates.

Led by Michael Percy, Capital had been using the station to simulcast WGMT-FM 97.7 in Lyndon, Vt., covering the St. Johnsbury, Vt.-Berlin, N.H. regional area.

No reason is known for Percy’s decision to surrender the property. He paid $25,000 for WQJQ nearly a decade ago.

However, WGMT has partial coverage of the Barton area, which is fairly rural. It is serviced by Vermont Public Co. stations and by Adult Contemporary WMOO-FM in Newport, Vt., while a host of out-of-region stations can be heard, including those from Canada broadcasting mainly in Quebeçois French.

The decision to turn in WQJQ’s license is a rarity, as it is an FM station. In recent months, a host of companies have turned in their AM radio station licenses to the FCC, for various reasons.

Cumulus Media did so in 2020; Beasley Media Group also opted to do so with one South Florida AM. Saga Communications did so in fall 2021. Additionally, in September 2021 KPHP Radio — an entity tied to Donald B. Crawford and Crawford Broadcasting — voluntarily surrendered the KKPZ license to the FCC. The Commission, as such, immediately cancelled the license of KKPZ.

Meanwhile, in May 2021 Fort Myers Broadcasting Company surrendered to the Commission the licenses of WAXA-AM 1200 in Fort Myers, Fla. and WNPL-AM 1460 in Naples, Fla.

Given the focus on the FM translators and not the AMs, and the ability to feed FM translators from a digital multicast signal in HD Radio led Fort Myers Broadcasting Company to simply give up the WAXA and WNPL licensees.

But, in other cases, the programming heard on the deleted station disappeared altogether.

In Vermont, what was heard on WQJQ will continue on the originating station.

Audacy named JR Ammons as operations manager of KQRC(FM) “98.9 The Rock,” KRBZ(FM) “ALT 96.5,” WDAF(FM) “106.5 The Wolf” and KZPT(FM) “99.7 The Point” in Kansas City.

He’ll also be brand manager of 106.5 The Wolf and 99.7 The Point. He starts Feb. 1.

The announcement was made by Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Audacy Kansas City Roxanne Marati.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

It is a return to Audacy, the former Entercom, for Ammons. For 11 years he has been operations manager for three stations in Indianapolis that were owned by Entercom until their sale to Cumulus three years ago.

Send news of engineering and executive personnel changes to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Ammons Is Back With Audacy appeared first on Radio World.

He’s spent the last seven years as VP/GM of the internal digital agency of WEHCO Media.

Starting today (1/24), he’s the new VP of Digital Sales at Beasley Media Group.

Pat Eastburn joins the audio content and distribution company from WEHCO’s Flypaper Digital Marketing.

He reports to Beasley Media Group Chief Digital Officer Todd Handy and focus on leveraging his experience across the entire digital sales team. Eastburn will also have a focus on new products, services and key verticals.

“Pat was the consensus choice as the top candidate for this role given his extensive background in leading digital agency sales teams and disrupting traditional media channels,” Handy said.

Eastburn expressed excitement in joining a company that is “so well-respected.” He commented, “I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the entire team. I believe that digital marketing has significant potential as an industry relative to current and future opportunity. Combine that opportunity with top level talent and the sky is the limit.”

From 1989-2007, Eastburn held various sales and training positions for BellAtlantic, which became Verizon. From there, he spent nearly six years as a RVP of Sales for YP Holdings, a division of AT&T Advertising Solutions.