Industry News

The DRM Consortium reported the conclusion of its demonstration and trial of the DRM digital radio standard for proposed use on India’s FM band.

“It was highly successful and generated a lot of interest,” the consortium said in an announcement.

Trials in New Delhi and Jaipur were done for Prasar Bharati (All India Radio). Digital radio advocacy organizations are competing to be chosen for the digitization of the FM band in India; DRM argues that it is the best common solution for all radio bands there, in part because DRM is already used in India on the AM band.

“In Delhi, the [FM] trial demonstrated excellent results when transmitting a single DRM signal, multiple pure digital DRM signals side-by-side from the same transmitter (‘Multi-DRM’ configuration), and also using DRM’s simulcast option by putting on air both an analog FM and a digital DRM signal from a single transmitter,” the organization said.

“The Multi-DRM option proves DRM’s highly economic potential when it comes to frequency and equipment upgrades: A single FM-band transmitter with a bandwidth of 600 kHz can transmit six independent DRM signals (blocks) carrying up to 24 DRM services, e.g. 18 audio and six multimedia services. These can represent up to six independent broadcasters who remain in full control over their individual content and signal configuration.”

In Jaipur, the consortium sought to demonstrate that multi-DRM configurations with four or five DRM blocks, each capable of carrying three audio services plus a multimedia service like Journaline, can use white spaces between two existing analog FM services, while not affecting their reception.

It said the demonstration showed that the DRM standard, used in the FM band, is backward compatible and that the receiver ecosystem for both AM and FM band services is ready for India’s mass market, “based on in-country know-how buildup and chipset design and production over the past years, which in turn is enabled by DRM being an open standard with all specifications published. Even DRM receiver models made in China today are based on Indian technology and DRM chipsets.”

It also sought to show DRM’s capability of being received on off-the-shelf Android phones using the Fraunhofer DRM MultimediaPlayer Radio App.

The organization has posted a summary of the project and comments on its outcome.

The post DRM Concludes FM Trial in India appeared first on Radio World.

The CEO of Urban One and the EVP/Chief Diversity Officer of NBCUniversal have been appointed to the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Board of Directors.

Both of their terms will begin April 1.

“We’re very pleased to welcome Alfred Liggins and Craig Robinson to the BMI Board of Directors,” said Caroline Beasley, Chairman of the BMI Board of Directors and CEO of Beasley Media Group. “Both Alfred and Craig have achieved incredible success at their respective companies, and they each bring innovative leadership, unique perspectives, and key expertise that will make them invaluable additions to the Board. The entire Board looks forward to working together with Alfred and Craig as we continue our mission to protect and grow the value of our songwriters’, composers’ and music publishers’ creative work.”

Liggins’ leadership at Urban One led to the company’s diversification beyond radio into the cable television and digital media spaces, as well as casino gaming resorts. He is the son and business partner of Cathy Hughes, the Urban One founder and chairperson who today remains a BMI Board Director. In October, however, her role will change to Honorary Director.

At NBCUniversal, Robinson works to define and build a culture that embraces and values diversity in its workforce, culture, content and perspectives.

Robinson earned the role in August 2011, and was formerly President/GM of KNBC-4 in Los Angeles. He joined NBC in 1996.

Audacy, the company formerly known as Entercom, has made another deal related to its growing investment in sports betting. It signed an agreement with sportsbook BetMGM.

The deal designates BetMGM, a sports betting and gaming platform, as a preferred sports betting partner of Audacy across its sports broadcast stations, apps, digital platforms and the BetQL Audio Network.

“Key partnership details include integrated content across Audacy’s broadcast sports stations, customer acquisition opportunities, and talent endorsements across Audacy’s wide spectrum of local and national sports betting content,” the companies said in an announcement.

[Related: “Entercom Expands Gambling Radio to Chicago”]

The BetMGM mobile app is available in 10 states. BetMGM will provide betting content to fans who tune in to Audacy’s stations, podcasts and shows. BetMGM also will receive preferred access to Audacy talent.

Audacy recently acquired QL Gaming Group and launched the BetQL Audio Network, which it called “fundamental components of this deal.”

Mike Dee is president of sports at Audacy. He made the announcement with Matt Prevost, BetMGM’s chief revenue officer, who described the former Entercom as “a leader in sports radio, digital audio and now the direct-to-consumer betting analytics space.”

The post Audacy/Entercom Signs Deal With Big Sportsbook appeared first on Radio World.

No, it’s not a wind-down of its TV operations. But, HC2 Holdings is paring down its assets as part of a capital-raising initiative. This explains why the company has been dominating the deal-making universe of late.

As part of that divestment of non-essential assets, it is agreeing to spin a pair of LPTV construction permits to Larry Morton, the prominent Little Rock broadcast media veteran.

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SAVANNAH, GA. — Travel west of Columbus, Miss., and you’ll reach the city of Starkville. Here, a low-power TV station’s construction permit is being spun.

The buyer? The Columbus-based owner of the market’s CBS affiliate.

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Cumulus Media on Monday made a “DEF 14A” proxy filing with the SEC that revealed the date the audio content and distribution company will hold its annual shareholders’ meeting, in virtual form.

At the meeting, the election of seven board members will be held, along with the ratification to appoint PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP as Cumulus’ independent registered public accounting firm for 2021.

There’s also a non-binding vote on executive compensation. Just how much are Cumulus’ top executives poised to earn?

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The “Tiny Desk Concerts” audio and video podcast series, National Public Radio’s flagship music program, has produced more than 1,000 musical performances with billions of streams on YouTube and audio podcasting platforms since 2008.

But once the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in March 2020, three months of scheduled tapings dropped from the books and left staff wondering what to do next.

As a temporary fix to continue delivering performances to its audience, the Tiny Desk team pivoted to a home recording arrangement that they dubbed “Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts.”

Audio engineer Josh Rogosin and the Tiny Desk Concert team put together a one-sheet rider for guests, with instructions and tips for getting a well-recorded signal at home, and jumped into producing the show remotely.

“What’s happening with a lot of the home concerts,” says Rogosin, “is we’re relinquishing a lot of our control-slash-demands. When everyone comes into the office, there’s no wiggle room when it comes to, ‘Hey, we really want you to try this without monitors, at least to start.’”

The result runs the gamut from simple recordings made on a smartphone or an app like Photo Booth, which is how Norah Jones recorded her performance, to produced, live-in-the-studio recordings.

[Related: “Engage With Listeners Stuck at Home”]

The roots of the series go back to NPR’s “All Songs Considered,” which Bob Boilen began as an internet radio program in 2000.

At a SXSW showcase in 2008, when Boilen couldn’t hear singer-songwriter Laura Gibson over the crowd noise, he invited her to perform at his desk at NPR headquarters in Washington. She called his bluff, and the Tiny Desk concept was born.

Rogosin notes that this was before podcasting really took off. “‘All Songs Considered’ was an internet-only radio show, which, in my opinion, paved the way for podcasting.”

The ethos of the Tiny Desk Concert is to strip musical performances of the studio polish and return them to their core elements, as if the musicians were playing around a campfire. Artists who perform on the program generally don’t get in-ear or wedge monitors, and those whose performances rely on electronics and effects are given a short leash.

“It forces musicians to play quieter and more dynamically, and it also forces them to listen to each other in a much different way,” he says.

“That lends itself to a much different vibe and performance that you’re not used to hearing. Before all this technology existed, musicians got together in a room and they had to play dynamically enough so that they could hear themselves and each other.”

When recorded at NPR, every performance at the Tiny Desk revolves around a stereo shotgun mic — it’s so integral, in fact, that it makes a cameo in the preroll for every video.

Chosen for its “bright, airy and realistic” characteristics, the Sennheiser MKH 418-S picks up speech, vocals and musical instruments from a distance, well outside of the camera shot. Rogosin has evolved the production to include additional shotgun mics, as well as the ability to run direct-outs from keyboard and bass amps. He records to up to three Sound Devices 788T (24-bit/48 kHz) eight-channel recorders for eight, 16 or 24 channels of audio.

From there, Rogosin imports the raw files into Pro Tools for light treatment from Waves and iZotope plug-ins before mastering in iZotope Ozone.

“Every Tiny Desk Concert, in terms of level, is mastered and matches every other Tiny Desk Concert, so if you go into a binge situation, hopefully you’re not fiddling with your volume dial between concerts, because everything is mastered to the same specifications.”

Rogosin also ensures the podcast has the same specs as the video version of the program, with a target of –16 LUFS with a peak at –2.

“NPR has [NUGEN] audio software, so I try to master as close as possible to what the robots are going to do to it once I upload it to our CMS. [The] audio robots analyze the file and level it, basically, so when it pulls up in our podcast feeds across the network, it will match.”

Although Boilen never intended for the series to leave his actual desk at NPR, by adapting to the constraints of the pandemic, Rogosin and team have been able to deliver new performances to music-hungry audiences.

“You’ll see in some of the comments, ‘This is really cool and thank God we have this, but we can’t wait to get back to the real Tiny Desk,’” Rogosin says.

“There’s something about that space, the live-audience aspect — it’s just NPR employees — and also what we have them do by not relying on any sort of crutches.”

The post Tiny Desk Series Works From “Home” appeared first on Radio World.

A decade ago, the first U.S. video marketplace report from Comcast-owned FreeWheel was released. Now, its 10th anniversary edition has been released, with a detailed look at viewership trends for an industry in transition.

FreeWheel’s key takeaway from its latest report? “As people’s consumption of media has fragmented across devices over the past 10 years, many have returned to the living room …”

But, are they watching your TV station?

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Telecom Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI) and the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) have signed an agreement to enable adoption of ATSC standards for broadcast services on mobile devices in India.

It’s an important-enough pact for Sinclair Broadcast Group’s President/CEO to have issued a congratulatory comment.

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On Oct. 27, 2020, T-Mobile President/CEO Mike Sievert delivered a bold prediction in a video presentation recorded at the company’s Bellevue, Wash., headquarters. It was the latest “Un-carrier” move for the company, one that sought MVPD cord-cutters. “Just like we changed wireless for good, now we’re going to change TV … for good,” he proclaimed.

Just five months later, Sievert and T-Mobile have abruptly abandoned the heavily promoted T-Vision VMVPD service. As of today, it’s yielding that segment of the wireless carrier’s business to Alphabet Inc.

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