Industry News

A Kansas broadcaster has agreed to a consent decree with the Federal Communications Commission that will allow the licensee to renew several of its stations’ licenses and to reassign one FM station to a different entity.

But the consent decree also includes a $7,000 civil penalty that the broadcaster must file before Jan. 1, 2022.

In a Memorandum Opinion and Order issued by the Audio Division of the Media Bureau, the bureau reminded Rocking M Media that FCC rules require broadcast stations to adhere to minimum operating requirements. And in cases where limited or discontinued operation has taken place, the licensee must request special temporary authorization to be permitted to be quiet longer than 30 days.

In addition, any station that is silent for 12 consecutive months will automatically forfeit its license, unless the commission is involved with extending or reinstating the station’s license.

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Rocking M Media filed six renewal applications, as required, before the stations’ licenses were set to expire on June 1, 2021. At the time, Rocking M revealed that each station had been off the air for substantial periods without an STA, although none of the stations had been silent for 12 consecutive months, the broadcaster said.

In 2020, Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner sent an inquiry letter after learning that some of the Rocking M stations might be silent without authority. Soon after, Rocking M filed a request for and was granted STAs for a six-month period.

The licensee also acknowledged periods of silence without authority, which it attributed to eviction from the stations’ shared studio location, a failed multistation sale, financial difficulties, and inadvertence by its manager and a contract engineer.

As part of its research, the bureau compiled a chart listing the dates and percent of time the stations were off the air — including the amount of time the station was off the air without an STA. According to the Media Bureau, time spent off the air during the discussed time period ranged from a low of 8 percent to a high of 38 percent. When it came to operating without an STA, one station was off the air 25 percent during that time period, adding up to a total of 329 days.

As part of the order, the bureau and the licensee adopted a consent decree that resolves issues related to the station’s failure to receive an STA. The bureau also agreed to a reassignment application that would grant the KKGQ(FM) renewal application to Pinnacle Media LLC.

The bureau also found that for those stations with a significant record of silence during its past license term — which included KKLE(AM), KIBB(FM), KLEY(AM), KVWF(FM), KWME (FM) and translator K262CQ — the FCC would only agree to renew the license for a one-year term due to a “record of failing to serve the public during [the stations’] substantial periods of silence,” the bureau said.

The bureau, however, concluded that the licensee still possesses the basic qualifications to be a commission licensee. As a result, Rocking M agreed to pay a civil penalty of $7,000 to finalize the consent decree.

The post Kansas Broadcaster Enters Consent Decree appeared first on Radio World.

An AM station in Arizona is experiencing first-hand what happens when a licensee fails to file a license renewal application on time.

Sonora Broadcasting was required to file a license renewal application for KAPR(AM) in Douglas, Ariz., on June 1, 2021, which was a full four months before the license was to expire. According to the FCC Media Bureau, the application was not filed until five days before the license was set to expire on Oct 1, 2021. According to the bureau, Sonora did not give a reason for the late filing.

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The commission’s Forfeiture Policy Statement establishes a base forfeiture of $3,000 for failing to file a required form, although the bureau may adjust that amount depending on the facts of the case.

While Sonora failed to file its application on time, the bureau said the broadcaster has not committed any other serious violations of FCC rules and did (albeit without explanation, according to the bureau) file the application before the Oct. 1 deadline.

As a result, the bureau notified Sonora it is now liable for a $3,000 forfeiture and must pay the full amount within 30 days. Within that same time period, the broadcaster also has the right to request in writing a reduction or cancellation of the proposed forfeiture.

The post Late Renewal Could Cost Arizona Station $3,000 appeared first on Radio World.

A station licensee faces a $17,500 monetary forfeiture after discontinuing operation of its station and translator without permission and for failing to upload items to its online public inspection file on time.

In January 2020, Southfield, Mich.-based Birach Broadcasting Corp. filed a license renewal application for KTUV(AM) in Little Rock, Ark., and its FM translator, K260DT. At the time, Birach certified that there had been no violations during the license term and that the stations had not been silent for any period longer than 30 days. The licensee also said the stations were currently on the air.

On March 6, 2020, due to what it called “catastrophic failure of its transmitter,” KTUV and K260DT went silent. FCC rules require radio stations to notify the commission within 10 days of temporarily discontinuing operations and must obtain commission authorization to stay silent longer than 30 days.

But an objection filed by an individual on May 20, 2020, revealed the stations were apparently still off the air. Birach balked at the objection, saying that although K260DT was silent, “requests for silent authority are on file.” And while Birach filed requests for a special temporary authority for its stations, those STAs were filed after the initial objection was filed.

The FCC Media Bureau reiterated in its Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture that Birach did not have the authority to remain silent between April 6 (a month after the transmitter failure) and May 22 when it filed the STA. KTUV resumed operations on July 29, 2020, and K260DT on Sept. 25, 2020.

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Among the missteps here: Birach should have notified the FCC of the discontinued operations by March 17, 2020, and it should have filed STAs for each station by April 5. As a result, the bureau found that Birach willfully and repeatedly violated FCC rules.

In a separate incident, the bureau also found KTUV failed to properly maintain its online public inspection file — specifically by failing to upload on time its issues/programs list for 2018, as well as lists for the first and fourth quarters of 2019. In addition, the bureau found several issues/programs lists were missing, including the third quarter of 2020 as well as the first, second and third quarters of 2021.

The bureau also noted that Birach failed to provide accurate and complete information to its pending application. FCC rules state that within 30 days, an applicant must update a pending application if information is no longer accurate. In this case, the application was filed on Jan. 29, 2020, and remains pending. As a result, Birach should have amended its application — and it did not do so.

The bureau moved to propose a monetary forfeiture for each of the licensee’s apparent violations of allowing two stations to remain silent for two-and-a-half months without authorization, failing to update its pending application and failing to upload on time its issues/program lists for KTUV.

As a result, the bureau proposed a total forfeiture of $17,500. At the same time, the bureau did not find the violations serious enough to warrant an evidentiary hearing that could potentially impact approval of Birach’s application renewals. Given the importance of keeping a radio station’s online public files updated, however, the bureau said the application grant is conditioned on Birach submitting a report regarding KTUV’s compliance with public file requirements.

Birach has 30 days to pay the full amount or file a written statement seeking reduction or cancellation.

The post Arkansas Licensee Faces $17,500 Forfeiture appeared first on Radio World.

When it comes to serving Spanish-speaking audiences in Atlanta, iHeartMedia has worked hard to attract them against such local competitors as Davis Broadcasting Inc. Over the years, this has seen signal swaps, and format changes — including the May 2020 decision to simulcast Latin Pop WBZY-FM 105.7 “Z105.7,” following that station’s April 2020 move from 105.3 MHz.

Now, iHeart is re-entering a direct format battle with Davis by taking WBZY’s simulcast partner and returning to regional Mexican after a little more than three years.

As of Saturday (1/1/2022), WRDG-FM 96.7 in Union City, Ga., is now “El Patrón 96.7.”

The format? Banda, Norteño and Rancheras, putting its mix of music from such artists as Grupo Firme, La Adictiva Banda San Jose de Mesillas, Calibre 50, Los Dos Carnales, Banda MS and Christian Nodal against DBI’s genre-leading WLKQ-FM “La Raza.”

Serving as Program Director for El Patrón is Z105.7 PD Orlando Rosa. He says, “With the rapidly growing Hispanic population in Atlanta, as well as emerging musical tastes, this move puts us in a position to super-serve all of our Hispanic listeners, advertisers and the community.”

The lineup features Adrian Martinez in overnights, Rico Hernandez from 6am-Noon, Gina Ulmos from Noon-6pm and Luis Treviño from 6pm to midnight.

For iHeart, memories of the original “El Patrón” could benefit the company in luring listeners to the reincarnated offering. On Nov. 26, 2006, WBZY-FM 105.3 took on the branding and regional Mexican format. Twelve years later, iHeart scrapped “El Patrón,” bringing the “Z” brand to the market.

With the shift of “Z” to a different frequency and continued shifts in the market dynamics, regional Mexican listeners now a new choice — one iHeart hopes opens up more marketing and advertising opportunities in 2022.

The nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System last August showed improvement over the previous test in 2019, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

“Receipt and retransmission rates increased, while reported monitored source complications markedly decreased,” it stated in a new report.

But the commission said technical glitches that did occur highlight the importance of those EAS stations that are monitored by many others.

“It is critically important that those EAS participants that are widely monitored use testing to ensure their EAS equipment is in reliable working order.”

Some key data points from the report:

The national test message reached 89.3% of EAS participants, up from 82.5% two years ago. Its overall retransmission success rate was 87.1%, up from 79.8%. Seven Primary Entry Point stations experienced technical complications, fewer than last time. And test participants reported roughly half as many complications with receipt and retransmission this time around.

The FCC concluded: “As observed in 2019, the system would largely perform as designed, and it would reach the vast majority of the public, if activated without the availability of the internet.”

That last phrase is important because this particular test — performed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in coordination with the FCC — used only the broadcast-based distribution system, the so-called “EAS daisy chain,” and did not involve the internet-based IPAWS system. The goal was to check the system’s capability to deliver messages in event that the internet path was not available.

DIGGING INTO DETAILS

The FCC said the large majority of EAS participants reported successful receipt and retransmission. There are more than 25,000 EAS participants, including radio and TV stations, cable TV systems, direct broadcast satellite, SiriusXM, digital audio broadcasting systems and wireline video systems.

Where problems did arise, they involved equipment configuration, performance issues, audio quality, alerting source issues and clock errors. Audio quality issues were the most frequently reported on receipt. The test “shed light on challenges that impeded the ability of some EAS participants to receive and/or retransmit the test alert.”

There are 76 Primary Entry Point stations in the country; seven reported technical complications this time compared to 12 in 2019.

“We believe it is reasonable to infer that these improvements in PEP stations’ performance significantly contributed to the marked increases in receipt and retransmission rates,” the FCC concluded. “Additionally … many 2021 PEP complications resulted in low audio rather than total failure to transmit the nationwide test.”

The PEP stations with problems were in North Carolina, Michigan, Kentucky, Florida, Virginia and American Samoa. Premiere Networks, a satellite-based PEP station that is monitored in several states, also transmitted no audio.

Of those seven PEPs, three relayed low audio; two relayed no audio. One PEP was hit by lightning immediately prior to the test, and another had a communications issue and did not receive the test.

FEMA told the FCC it is taking measures to improve PEP performance. “In particular, FEMA is continuing its work with SECCs in several states to conduct state-level tests on a monthly basis and station-level tests on a weekly basis through the PEP stations.”

Among non-PEP stations, the number of reported problems “significantly declined.”

SECC representatives in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Kansas and Washington did report some local broadcast distribution chain issues.

In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the issues were specific to one widely monitored source in each state that experienced equipment configuration issues on test day. “Each station engineer reports to have fixed the issue.”

In Georgia, the southern portion of the state relies on intermediary sources like local primaries and state relays to receive the test message. On test day, the FCC said, a state relay experienced a technical issue that disrupted transmission of the alert to parts of southern Georgia. The SECC reports that the issue has been fixed.

In Kansas, one widely monitored EAS participant received the alert from Premiere Networks and as a result retransmitted an alert that lacked audio. This participant was monitored by 41 others, of which 32 reported also retransmitting an alert that lacked audio.

In Washington, the SECC reported that several stations in the eastern part of the state received and retransmitted an alert message with low, and at times, no audio.

Some other findings:

-The overall participation rate of 75.3% was down from 78.6% in 2019. Radio broadcasters had a participation rate of 79.9%, down from 82%.

-The number of stations that apparently don’t know what participant type they are has increased. (Participant types include national primary, state primary, state relay and local primaries 1 and 2.) “Test participants need to better understand their role in the EAS and there is still room for improvement in this regard,” the FCC found.

-There were 2,550 test participants on receipt and 1,506 on retransmission that said their stations did not receive the alert due to audio quality complications. “Many test participants reported background noise, only tones and no message, and/or unintelligible audio.”

-There were 389 test participants that reported equipment performance issues on receipt and 565 on retransmission involving non-working equipment that required returning equipment to the manufacturer. “Participants cited that the equipment simply was out for repair, failed during the test, was missing or malfunctioned.”

-Participation by low-power broadcasters is an area of concern. Low-power stations are required to broadcast the alert, though not required to have equipment capable of generating the EAS codes and Attention Signal.  The commission had made an effort to improve low-power radio and TV participation, reaching out to offer targeted resources including a webinar just for them. Yet LPFM participation in the test was 49.5%, much lower than that of radio overall and down from 2019’s LPFM participation rate of 55.9%. Similarly, LPTV participation (47.4%) was lower than that of TV broadcasters overall and lower than 2019’s participation rate. Of the 3,700 or so radio broadcasters that were expected to file but failed to do so, more than 28% were LPFMs; and of the 1,500 or so television broadcasters that were expected to file but didn’t, almost 70% were LPTVs.

NEXT STEPS

For more details, see the full EAS report.

The commission reminded EAS participants that they can reduce complications by redundant monitoring. “We continue to emphasize the importance of multiple monitoring sources as required by our rules. We also recommend that stations located far from PEP stations consider the viability, technically and otherwise, of satellite sources of the broadcast alert, such as NPR Squawk Channel, Premiere Networks and SiriusXM.”

The FCC also  noted that it has launched a proceeding to improve the accessibility of visual content for alerts that are distributed via the EAS protocol and to explore other possible changes in the EAS system. “We encourage parties with an interest in these issues to submit comments in this proceeding in PS Docket 15-94.”

It also said it will continue to tweak the online forms that stations and others must fill out after a national test. It will explore how to use state EAS plan data to streamline and improve the accuracy of those ETRS filings “such as by educating EAS participants of their EAS designations and better ensuring that they monitor their assigned alerting sources.”

It said it will work with state emergency communications committees to help ensure that state EAS plans, which must be updated by July 5, 2022, assign monitoring sources to participants that ensure redundancy and coverage for areas that have difficulty receiving broadcast signals.

And “EAS participants can address some deficiencies with more education, continued training and improved communication with other broadcasters and their SECC to better understand their role and obligations as a participant in the EAS,” the FCC wrote.

“We encourage EAS participants to use this process to ensure their EAS equipment is in reliable working order, confirm that they are monitoring appropriate sources, and verify that the audio level of the alert is correct. Specifically, it is critically important that those EAS participants that are widely monitored use testing to ensure their EAS equipment is in reliable working order.”

It said participants that fail to receive an alert or note any issues during a scheduled test “should work swiftly and closely with their SECC to identify why and take all necessary steps for corrective action.”

The bureau separately released a report on the nationwide test of Wireless Emergency Alerts that was conducted the same day. It said the WEA test “demonstrates that, on the whole, WEA generally is performing reliably but there is room for improvement.” Many mobile devices erroneously received a duplicate nationwide WEA test message, it wrote, “and there may be opportunities to improve WEA’s reliability.” (Read the full WEA report.)

The post National EAS Test Showed Improvement, FCC Says appeared first on Radio World.

HD Radio evaluation – Test All India Radio

Xperi has been actively testing HD Radio in Delhi, India, in cooperation with All India Radio. HD Radio, which has been implemented in more than 4,700 digital channels around the world, reaching over 400 million listeners, utilizes existing broadcast infrastructure to add a digital transmission that delivers a more compelling and engaging over-the-air experience for listeners.

HD Radio testing in India begun in January 2020 was completed in Delhi in February 2021 following a 10-month interruption due to COVID-19 restrictions. Additional testing in Jaipur, India, was conducted in March 2021.

The testing is part of HD Radio’s initiative to fulfill India’s roadmap for digital radio through the Digital India initiative. HD Radio services can be key to establishing a much-needed, digital, world-class broadcast network to serve all the citizens of India.

While most other technologies are transitioning, or have already fully transitioned, to digital services, digital radio in India has lagged behind. In India, radio has a long history of providing critical public services and important information, in multiple languages to the population. Unfortunately, not everyone has ready access to internet and data services, especially in rural regions.

But, because HD Radio can easily and inexpensively be integrated into mobile handsets for ease of use, it can digitally provide real-time emergency and disaster notifications through cellphones across India’s multilingual population, as well as enabling access to national, regional, and local information and entertainment programs.

Key metrics

Xperi partnered with leading industry experts to demonstrate the HD Radio digital FM system in India.

HD Radio receiver with All India Radio logo

An HD Radio transmission system was configured on 100.5 MHz from the Akashvani Bhawan transmission tower in New Delhi. The digital FM broadcast operated in a simulcast mode (hybrid analog–digital operation) between Jan. 13, 2020, and February 2021 (with interruptions due to COVID-19 lockdowns). All India Radio conducted additional combiner tests in Jaipur in March 2021.

The tests successfully addressed the key performance metrics established by All India Radio. The HD Radio system tests in Delhi and Jaipur were consistent with operations of the HD Radio system in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. All service modes met predicted performance metrics for signal quality, coverage, and adjacent channel interference protection.

Commercial receiver products were used in the field test to demonstrate the capability of consumer-grade receivers for the general public and to evaluate the following performance metrics for All India Radio:

• Digital broadcast signal quality
• Digital broadcast coverage
• Host analog interference
• Adjacent channel analog interference
• Building penetration and indoor reception
• Audio content quality
• General receiver performance

HD Radio Signal from Nautel VS2.5 transmitter

Outdoor and indoor reception for all consumer-level radio products were successfully achieved in the test. Each of the products tested featured the key components of the HD Radio system. Of note, the BeatBoy feature phone demonstrated the potential digital radio offers when integrated into a mobile handheld device.

The positive results of the testing in Delhi clearly strengthen the case for HD Radio operations on FM stations in India. That being said, the success of a new digital broadcast service depends on four main points:

• Providing regulatory agencies with solutions to address spectrum and frequency allocation needs
• Providing consumers with a variety of cost-effective products
• Providing radio broadcasters with new business opportunities to realize a return on investment
• Providing future technology integration to remain relevant as new services emerge

The HD Radio testing successfully demonstrated each of these points.

Today, the HD Radio FM broadcast solution is well positioned to support digital FM transitions in India. Xperi’s HD Radio team continues regular dialogue with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the government broadcaster Prasar Bharati (the parent company of All India Radio), and private broadcast groups, while showcasing the success of HD Radio in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Broadcasters in these markets have experienced increased revenue through HD Radio features such as multicast audio programs, Artist Experience and advertising, and data services to devices and cars. Public safety and digital alert warnings have also benefited HD Radio listeners.

These applications can be quickly implemented in India and will increase access to information and diverse content across all socio-economic groups.

In short, the future for digital radio in India is bright.

The test report is published at www.hdradio.in.

The post Xperi Completes Successful HD Radio Tests in Delhi appeared first on Radio World.

Terry Baun, an influential and award-winning engineer who worked in both commercial and public broadcasting and was deeply involved with the Society of Broadcast Engineers including two terms as its president, has died at age 74.

His passing was announced by his wife Linda Baun.

Terrence M. Baun was born in 1947 and began his broadcast career in 1967 at classical music station WFMR(FM) in Milwaukee, according to a summary of his career she shared.

After 10 years, he began a series of jobs in corporate engineering and also soon formed consulting firm Criterion Broadcast Services. Employers over the years included Sudbrink Broadcasting, Multimedia Broadcasting and Cumulus Broadcasting.

He finished his broadcast career at the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board, where he oversaw engineering and operations of the delivery system for Wisconsin Public Radio & Television throughout the state. He retired in 2017.

[Related: “Baun Retires After 50 Years”]

Baun had a close and longstanding relationship with the Society of Broadcast Engineers, which he joined in 1976 and which he served at various times in Chapter 28 Milwaukee and Chapter 25 Indianapolis. But his profile was national. Baun was elected to the national board in 1987 and went on to serve as vice president and then two terms as president starting in 1995.

“During his terms as national president, the society instituted the Leadership Development Course,” according to the obituary. “Terry worked to develop stronger ties and awareness of the SBE by the state broadcaster associations nationwide; he initiated a significant upgrade of the society’s national office data management capability. The society successfully transitioned from the multi-association World Media Expo, which ended in 1996, to the SBE National Meeting concept that we still use today.”

The SBE published the EAS Primer, written by Leonard Charles, during his term, and held its first strategic planning meeting during his presidency. Linda Baun said that during his years as president, SBE’s membership and financial strength grew.

He also was active as a mentor and proponent of the SBE Certification program, serving on its national Certification Committee for 21 years, three of them as chair, and he was instrumental in creation of the SBE Certified Broadcast Networking Technologist (CBNT) and AM Directional Specialist (AMD) certifications.

He was named SBE’s first Broadcast Engineer of the Year in 1991, an SBE Fellow in 1999 and SBE Educator of the Year in 2003. In 2010, he received the SBE’s John H. Battison Award for Lifetime Achievement.

He also worked to support the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. He was an original member of its Summer Engineering Conference Steering Committee, and he founded the WBA Media Technology Institute in 2011. “He played a key role in developing the self-inspection program within the broadcast industry and is considered a leader in this field,” Linda Baun wrote. “Terry was one of the architects of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association’s Alternative Broadcast Station Inspection Program, serving as the WBA’s chief inspector for more than 10 years, beginning with the program’s inauguration in 1995.”

He also conducted alternative station inspections for broadcast associations in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. “His desire was to have stations comply with the rules, rather than simply looking for reasons to cite them for noncompliance.”

In 2000, Baun initiated a 24-hour hotline for engineers in the state of Wisconsin through the WBA, and he manned the phone 24/7. “Based on his program model, other state broadcast associations have adopted the 24-hour engineering hotline.” Baun was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation Hall of Fame in 2004.

Terry Baun in an undated photo published in Radio World at the time of his retirement in 2017.

“Terry Baun is the consummate example of servant leadership,” said Wisconsin Broadcasters Association President and CEO Michelle Vetterkind upon his retirement in 2017. “He has dedicated his career to meeting the needs of students, scholars, colleagues, broadcast stations and the broadcast industry. His approach has been to look beyond what is wanted and to assess what is needed. Through his actions and initiatives Terry has been a game changer for the broadcast industry.”

Linda Baun said one of Terry Baun’s great skills was his ability to share engineering expertise as a communicator and teacher. She quoted his comments upon entering the Wisconsin Broadcasting Hall of Fame (which can be viewed here): “Engineers are a critical part of the broadcasting enterprise. They’re technologists who bring broadcasting to life. I’ve always thought of myself as a broadcaster. Period. And within the scope of broadcasting, I feel that my contributions have been primarily in the technical side, the engineering side. …  I guess the educational aspect of what I’m doing is probably going to be my proudest moment when it’s all said and done.”

He spoke at industry events and seminars on technical topics; and his articles appeared in Radio World, Broadcast Engineering, Milwaukee Magazine and the Milwaukee Press Club Annual. He co-authored a chapter on Facilities Documentation in an edition of the NAB Engineering Handbook and applied for a patent on an internet media streaming delivery system.

For the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board, Baun played an important role in the transition of Wisconsin Public Television to digital broadcasting. He also implemented a planning process with ECB staff for the next generation of the Broadcast Interconnect, which delivers Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, EAS and Amber Alert programming.

Among work he oversaw were a WHHI tower project, the WHAA(FM) Coloma Radio project, the University of Wisconsin System build in 2011, and the Chilton Gap Filler tower, a joint project with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. He also watched over HD Radio installations at ECB’s FM stations.

Baun was also a member of the Audio Engineering Society, the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers and the IEEE. He served on the Milwaukee Area Technical College Broadcast Communications Engineer Advisory Committee.

Among his non-professional interests were reading, trains, classical music and the Green Bay Packers.

Terry Baun married Linda Godby in 2002. Linda worked for 15 years for the SBE including as its certification director and later was a key executive at the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.

Survivors include her two daughters Leslie and Stacey and five grandchildren.

“Terry wanted a party, a big one,” Linda Baun said in an email. “Therefore we will celebrate his life with food, friends, drink and music and many other surprises on Sunday, Jan. 16 at the Madison Marriott West.” Details are to follow.

The post Terry Baun Dies at 74 appeared first on Radio World.

The Consumer Technology Association is going ahead with its CES 2022 convention this week, but has decided to shorten the schedule.

The in-person event in Las Vegas now will run Jan. 5­–7.

“The step was taken as an additional safety measure to the current health protocols that have been put in place for CES,” the CTA announced Friday.

Although news accounts have carried word that some notable companies recently have withdrawn from the event given the omicron surge, CTA said more than 2,200 exhibitors were confirmed as of Dec. 31.

“In the last two weeks, 143 additional companies have signed up to exhibit in person. Construction of exhibitors’ show floor space is well underway and soon attendees will be able to see and experience the latest tech innovations.”

President/CEO Gary Shapiro said in the announcement, “We are shortening the show to three days and have put in place comprehensive health measures for the safety of all attendees and participants.”

All attendees must be fully vaccinated and have proof. The show website has updated health protocols.

The post CES Show Is Shortened by a Day appeared first on Radio World.

The author is a development engineer for Wheatstone Corp.

This article is based on a paper prepared for the 75th NAB Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference. Conference videos and proceedings are available at https://nabpilot.org/beitc-proceedings/.

(Getty Images/natrot)

The broadcast industry is in a transitional phase, heading toward a world in which a large portion, perhaps even a majority, of listeners will receive the station’s program via an internet stream rather than terrestrial radio broadcast.

Many accomplished engineers and station managers, while experts in traditional radio technology, find themselves feeling like neophytes once again when it comes to internet streaming. This paper aspires to present an instructional overview of what’s involved in this generation of an internet audio stream, as well as a better understanding of where standards and practices are still developing.

Signal flows

Streamed content starts out on the same path as broadcast content, typically originating from the automation system if it’s music or from the studio microphone if it’s voice, or both.

One, however, goes to the broadcast chain and the other goes to the streaming encoder, and that one difference introduces new considerations in both processing and metadata for streaming. To understand these considerations, it helps to get a closer look at the signal flow of each.

Broadcast signal flow

For broadcasting purposes, content is fed into an automation system, which sends its audio output to an FM (or AM) processor, where it is processed and multiplexed, and then passed on to a transmitter that disseminates the program to the public.

As a side channel, the automation system has also been stocked with metadata (artist, title, album, duration, label, ISRC, etc.) for every piece of audio in its playlist; this metadata is also transmitted to the FM processor, where it is turned into an RDS signal that rides as a sideband on the MPX output.

There are, of course, variations in this flow path. For example, the metadata from the automation machine may be routed instead to an “aggregator” that cleans and ensures the accuracy and consistency of the metadata before it is forwarded to the FM processor. Or it might not even go to the processor, but to a separate RDS encoder, the output of which is then mixed with the MPX from the processor.

The exact details may change, but the steps along the path remain essentially the same.

Typical broadcast signal flow.

Stream signal flow

For streaming purposes, content enters the automation system as before, but in this case the output is routed to a stream encoder (also called an “origin server,” for reasons that will be clear later), and from there to a CDN, or Content Distribution Network.

The stream encoder has three jobs:

1. Process and condition the audio signals, optimizing it for the compression algorithms;
2. Encode, packetize and transmit the program over the public internet to the destination server (the CDN);
3. Handle the reformatting and forwarding of metadata from the automation system on to the CDN.

Typical stream signal flow.

CDN streaming and add-ons

Before looking at the inner workings of the stream encoder, let’s examine the Content Distribution Network. The CDN plays the role of the transmitter in the streaming paradigm, but its unique position in the program flow path actually gives it a bigger and more important job.

The main function of the CDN is to serve your stream to thousands or tens of thousands of listeners. But the twin facts that A) your program and all associated metadata passes through the CDN’s servers; and B) they know who is listening, from what location, and for how long — gives them an opportunity to provide a whole suite of add-on services.

A big one is ad replacement, which is usually geographically based but could also be tailored to whatever can be deduced about the individual listener’s tastes and habits.

Geo-blocking, logging, skimming, catch-up recording and playback, access to additional metadata (e.g. album art, fan club URLs), listener statistics and click-throughs, customized players, royalty tracking, redundant stream failover, transcoding from one format to another — these are some of the services that CDNs typically provide.

Thus, the CDN basically controls the distribution of the stream to the listening public. It is the responsibility of the stream encoder — the origin server to the CDN’s ingest and distribution servers — to make sure that the CDN gets the right data at the right time and in the right format.

Especially with regard to metadata, the CDN determines what the format will be. The stream encoder is therefore also a mediator/translator between the automation system and the CDN, as it must be able to transform the format of whatever it ingests into the format that the CDN requires. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the stream encoder.

Job 1: Data compression

The stream encoder performs various functions. The central function, which all others are designed in relation to, is to apply data compression to the audio stream, thereby reducing the bandwidth required both to transmit the stream up to the CDN, and for the listener to receive it.

By far, the most widely used compression codec for high-quality audio storage and transmission is AAC, but its predecessor MP3 is still used for legacy streams (to support legacy players). All compression algorithms operate by reducing the information contained in the audio signal to as few bits as possible; you therefore want to maximize the value of those bits by removing extraneous artifacts from the audio signal before it hits the compression codec. That cleansing and conditioning of the raw audio signal is the job of the DSP section at the input.

The encoder’s central function is data compression.

Encoder handoff to CDN

The compression codecs produce periodic output in the form of chunks of data, each of which represents a small segment (typically 5 to 20 milliseconds) of the continuous audio signal. These chunks are wrapped in a transport format and transmitted to the CDN’s ingest server as discrete, time-stamped packets. Common transport protocols include Icecast, RTMP, HLS, MPEG-DASH and RTP.

Metadata is typically received by the stream encoder on a TCP or UDP socket, and most commonly arrives formatted as XML. What happens after that depends on the transport protocol being used.

For Icecast streams, metadata updates (including ad triggers) are sent to the server out-of-band, as separate HTTP messages. For RTMP, the metadata update is embedded in the transport stream itself, as a special INFO type packet. For HLS, metadata may be reformatted as ID3 data and embedded into a separate channel of the underlying MPEG2 Transport stream, and ad triggers can be woven into the manifest file as SCTE-35 “program replacement opportunities.”

[Read More Tech Tips Here]

For all of these methods, the exact details can differ from one CDN to the next since there are no universally accepted standards for handling metadata, so setting up a stream and getting the metadata to update correctly and in sync with the audio stream often requires a short period of trial and error while negotiating protocols with the CDN.

RTP is a special case. RTP is the only stream format that is commonly used to carry uncompressed, full-bandwidth audio (in the form of AES67, for example), although it can be used to carry virtually any kind of data, including AAC, Opus or MP3 audio.

RTP is typically used in a studio-to-studio or studio-to-transmitter link, rather than as an ingest feed to a CDN.

Metadata formatting

The final area we want to examine is the metadata itself. We’ve been talking about transforming it from one format to another, but what does that mean, and why do we need to do it?

To answer, let’s look at some examples of raw metadata received from various automation systems. (Names and numbers have been changed to protect the innocent.)

Some systems export simple tagged text:

artist=Sonny Rollins
title=God Bless the Child
length=00:07:29

More commonly, metadata arrives in XML or XML-like form. Note that many fields may be empty:

<nowplaying><sched_time>220200</sched_time><air_time>402000</air_time><stack_pos></stack_pos><title>TheSkyIsANeighborhood</title><artist>FooFighters</artist><trivia>*</trivia><category>MNJ</category><cart>R585</cart><intro>14000</intro><end></end><station>93.5HD1</station><duration>243300</duration><media_type>SONG</media_type><milliseconds_left></milliseconds_left><Album>ConcreteandGold</Album><Field2></Field2><ISRC>USRW9170028</ISRC><Label>RCA</Label><Tempo></Tempo><Year>2017</Year></nowplaying>

The HTML ampersand entity in this one will require special handling:

<audio ID="id_3155460704_30756200">
<type>Song</type>
<status>Playing</status>
<title>JINGLE BELL ROCK</title>
<artist>Hall &amp; Oates</artist>
<length>00:02:03</length>
<category>Classic</category>
</audio>

Here’s a station ID and a liner from the same source. Some CDNs may want this data, some may not:

<audio>
<type>Link</type>
<status>Playing</status>
<artist></artist>
<title>ROCK91.7 | LEGAL ID2</title>
<number>120002</number>
<length>00:00:11</length>
</audio>

<audio>
<type>VoiceTrack</type>
<status>Playing</status>
<artist></artist>
<title>VT TLA3 - Rock: 2021-03-25 08:37</title>
<number></number>
<length>00:00:06</length>
</audio>

Here’s a sweeper and an ad from another source, below. Notice that the <media_type> tag distinguishes one from the other. The arrival of a SPOT is often used to trigger an ad replacement by the CDN. Durations shown here are in milliseconds.

<nowplaying><sched_time>67199000</sched_time><air_time>67267000</air_time><stack_pos></stack_pos><title>CYQTONEQUICKSWEEP#12DRY</title><artist>201971108:06:28</artist><trivia></trivia><category>IM5</category><cart>BIBE</cart><intro>0</intro><end></end><station>95.7KQED</station><duration>3900</duration><media_type>UNSPECIFIED</media_type><milliseconds_left></milliseconds_left><Album></Album><Field2></Field2><ISRC></ISRC><Label></Label><Tempo></Tempo><Year></Year></nowplaying><nowplaying><sched_time>33716000</sched_time><air_time>33721000</air_time><stack_pos></stack_pos><title>ShopLocalAWestfieldMerchantsFriday</title><artist>WestfieldMerchantsJune</artist><trivia>shoplocalgreencountry</trivia><category>COM</category><cart>4652</cart><intro>0</intro><end></end><station>95.7KQED</station><duration>30000</duration><media_type>SPOT</media_type><milliseconds_left></milliseconds_left><Album></Album><Field2></Field2><ISRC></ISRC><Label></Label><Tempo></Tempo><Year></Year></nowplaying>

None of the metadata messages in these examples can be transmitted to the CDN ingest server in the form they are in. Instead, the relevant data must be stripped out and reformatted into a protocol that the ingest server can understand. This protocol often requires that additional information, which is not available in the original metadata received from the automation system (such as login credentials, the server URL, and query parameters) be woven into the message. For an Icecast stream, that might take a form like this:

http://source:abc123@ice5.streamnet.com/admin/metadata?mount=/BRAVOFM1im&mode=updinfo&song=Foo%20Fighters|The%20Sky%20Is%20A%20Neighborhood|00:04:03|SONG

Likewise, an ad trigger might look like this:

http://source:abc123@ice5.streamnet.com/admin/metadata?mount=/BRAVOFM1im&mode=updinfo&song=|Shop%20LocalA%20%2D%20WestfieldMerchantsFriday|00:00:30|COM

In the stream transmitted by the CDN, the local ad from the origin server might be replaced with another ad targeted to the geographic location of the listener. The CDN may use the duration of the ad (30 seconds in this example) as the queue for switching back to the original program, or it may wait for the next SONG update to switch back.

For RTMP and HLS streams, the metadata is reformatted in a particular manner and “injected” into the stream as in-band data. For example, for RTMP, a “setDataFrame” message is assembled, typically containing an array of three strings: title, artist and “url” (a container for everything else). With the Foo Fighters example from above as our input, the schematic form of the output, ignoring the header bits demarcating the various sections, would look more or less like this:

@setDataFrame
onMetaData
title:The Sky Is A Neighborhood
artist:Foo Fighters
url:http://www.blaze105.com?autoID=R585&autoCat=SONG&cat=MNJ&album=Concreteand Gold&label=RCA&ISRC=USRW9170028

Note that the mapping of the tags in the original message to some of the query parameters in the output “url” string is neither obvious nor predictable, and in this case was in fact determined by the CDN. The underlying implication is that the manufacturer of the stream encoder cannot know ahead of time what format either the incoming or the outgoing metadata will look like.

A common solution for effecting the transformation of arbitrary input to arbitrary output is a programmable, embedded scripting language, such as Lua. Current stream encoders often provide a menu of Lua filters that are able to transform common patterns of metadata input into similarly common output patterns. Usually all that is required to customize the transform filter for the station’s own particular needs are a few tweaks to the script.

In closing, we’ll show an example of one of the pitfalls of relying on metadata for accuracy, and why many stations are now employing metadata cleaners and aggregators in their flow path. This is a real message received from an automation system (which shall remain anonymous):

<audio>
<type>Song</type>
<status>Playing</status>
<artist>Beyonc�</artist>
<title>Crazy in Love</title>
<number></number>
<length>00:03:56</length>
</audio>

Obviously, Beyoncé is the intended artist, but how would a computer know that? The odd character sequence at the end of her name is actually a single character: the Unicode Replacement Character /uFFFD, or one representation of it. (The lozenge-question-mark � is another representation of the same character.) How did it get there? Some automated transcription program back in the day encountered a character it wasn’t designed to handle (in this case the é), and replaced it with a wild card. The problem for any metadata transform filter is that the wild card can refer to anything — there’s actually no way to know except from the context what the original character was supposed to be.

And so there we are, at the interface of data and chaos. Even in the age of digital streaming, keeping entropy at bay is still the constant battle.

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

The post The Politics and Protocols of Streaming appeared first on Radio World.

For radio stations, streaming of our programming has changed considerably over the past decade.

In the early days, it was a novelty. It represented just another way for listeners to “tune in” to their favorite stations. There was little in the way of value in an internet-delivered stream, but many stations got on the bandwagon for various reasons, including (and perhaps especially) because the competition was doing it.

Those early streaming efforts were … primitive (to put it nicely). Bit rates were often low because bandwidth costs were so high in those days, and the streams sounded, well, not great. They were full of artifacts, and many exhibited that watery sound that was and is so common to low bit rate streams. Most were either unprocessed or poorly processed — wrongly processed is probably a better descriptor, and that didn’t help matters much on the listener’s end.

Special low-bit-rate processing algorithms properly used can make your stream sound great.

As time went on and bandwidth costs came down, bit rates were improved and things stated sounding better. We began to figure out how to monetize our streams to make them pay for themselves at the very least and be somewhat profitable at best. This roughly coincided with reduced costs for mobile data plans, making it possible for listeners to connect to our streams using their mobile devices.

Squeaks and chirps

We started figuring out how to process our streams right, using processing algorithms specifically created for reduced bit rate audio.

This made a big difference in our 32- and 64-kbps MP3 and AAC streams; they became downright pleasant to listen to. Gone were the watery sound and chirpy, squeaky artifacts. And because we weren’t trying to beat the guy(s) across town in a loudness war, our streams could actually have some dynamic range.

With the advent of hybrid radio, the quality of our streams has taken on a whole new level of importance. When the blend to the stream occurs in the listener’s radio, we want to avoid big difference in sound quality. It should be imperceptible, or almost so. The challenge is much the same as it has been for hybrid HD Radio for the past 15+ years: The blend has to sound good.

Streaming encoders have come a long way, too. Most, as far as I can tell, are still software encoders running on the station’s own hardware, but both the encoding software and the hardware are getting better and better.

In addition to traditional sound cards ranging from under $50 to over $1,000, stations with AoIP studio infrastructure have the option to feed their encoders via IP using PC drivers compatible with whatever AOIP system they are using.

Hardware like this Dell Precision rack-mount workstation using an AOIP driver can handle multiple stations with multiple streams each.

In the bigger markets, my company employs Dell Precision rack-mount workstations with some horsepower, dual-port NICs and employing multi-channel AoIP drivers to produce the streams. These machines can easily handle streams for multiple stations with multiple streams for each station. Streaming service for our stations is provided by Triton, and we use their proprietary encoder software on these workstations.

Purpose-built hardware encoders are now available from various manufacturers that will accept a variety of input sources, including AoIP. These encoders will produce multiple streams in different formats and with different data rates. Some include integral audio processing, providing a “one-stop” encoding solution.

Making it pay

As noted, monetizing our streams is important in many stations. Preroll and midroll audio or video ads, ad replacement and programmatic ad sales are elements that we have to deal with in many cases. Some of those things require special triggers from our playout systems, and that can be really tricky.

RIAA reporting for royalties is another important element that we have got to get right. Underreporting or missed reporting can get us in hot water legally; overreporting can cost us in unnecessary royalties. This reporting is a function of metadata export from our playout systems.

Some of the same metadata export is used to provide title/artist display on media players, and even to trigger lookup of album art for player/app displays, another reason to get it right. Listeners get irritated when incorrect information — or no information — is displayed. I know I do.

On a related note, stream listeners who don’t show up in the Nielsen data don’t count, so we’ve got to get our watermark encoding right. Program directors and station managers get really irritated when PPM doesn’t pick up on listeners that we have.

In the current issue of RWEE, Rick Bidlack, a development engineer at Wheatstone Corp., walks us through the building blocks of a stream.

There’s a lot at work here, from the playout system, the encoder, audio processing, metadata aggregation and conversion, and transmission to the masses. There are plenty of places for things to go wrong, but the better our understanding of the signal flow, the better equipped we as broadcast engineers will be to deal with it.

I remember a decade or more ago pulling out my iPhone and describing it to the president of our company that this was the “transistor radio” of the future. In a lot of ways, I missed that prediction by quite a bit; nobody walks around with an iPhone in their shirt pocket audibly playing a radio station stream. But in some ways I was right. There are plenty of folks using their smartphones to stream audio to their Bluetooth earbuds, and there are just as many that play streams through a Bluetooth-connected audio system, in cars, homes, even airplanes. And listeners in cars equipped with hybrid radio will sometimes listen to our streams and don’t even know it.

The bottom line for us is that more than ever, our internet streams have got to be right. They have to be reliable, meaning that someone (or something) has got to monitor them to be sure they are up. They have to sound good, be artifact-free and carry the correct metadata. Ad replacement has to be smooth and seamless, with overlays fitting exactly. And watermark encoding has got to be done right, too.

There is a lot at stake. We can’t afford to be anything but diligent.

Read more about streaming trends and best practices in Radio World’s free ebook “Streaming for Radio in 2021.”

Cris Alexander, CPBE, AMD, DRB, is director of engineering for Crawford Broadcasting and technical editor of Radio World Engineering Extra.

The post A Stream of Thought … on Streaming appeared first on Radio World.