Industry News

Have you recently stopped to think about how much energy your radio broadcasts use?

That was the question the BBC has attempted to answer about both its radio and TV energy consumption in a  recently published research report, “The Energy Footprint of BBC Radio Services: Now and in the Future.” The report, which explores the energy footprint of BBC radio services, was initiated to try and understand and improve the environmental impact of BBC services.

The study considered energy use across all available platforms — AM, FM, DAB, digital television and internet streaming — to discover which ones had the largest footprints. The BBC also compared energy use at various stages in the radio chain, including playout, encoding, distribution and audience consumption of content.

“This highlighted the key energy hotspots in the BBC radio system and where best to focus our efforts if we want to reduce our energy footprint,” the BBC said in its announcement.

The research was meant to discover how much electricity is currently used by BBC radio services, the comparative energy use per platform, how this use may change over time and which parts of the system are consuming the most energy.

The BBC found that the total energy required to prepare, distribute and consume radio in its 2018 baseline test was estimated to be 325 GWh, equivalent to 0.1% of U.K. electricity use that year. Of all five platforms, FM was found to have the biggest footprint overall at 100 GWh (31%) and AM the lowest at 25 GWh (8%), with IP (79 GWh; 24%), DAB (65 GWh; 20%) and DTV (56 GWh; 17%) falling in-between.

Not all radio platforms are consumed equally, however. The research found that listening hours on FM and DAB were up to 11 times higher than on AM and DTV. The BBC also calculated the electricity consumption per device hour to find the energy intensity of each platform. This painted a slightly different picture where DTV had the largest footprint at 81 watt hour per device-hour, followed by AM (29 watt-hour/device-hour), IP (23 watt-hour/device-hour), FM (13 watt-hour/device-hour) and lastly DAB which had the smallest at 9 watt-hour/device-hour.

Overall, the BBC found that consumption had the biggest footprint, quite a bit larger than preparation and distribution. Consumer devices used around 73% of the total energy in 2018 compared to 27% for distribution, with preparation using less than 0.1% overall.

“Despite similar findings in our television research, we were again surprised by this result as the transmitter networks for radio services collectively use more power than that for digital terrestrial television,” the BBC said in its report. “However, with the tens of millions of consumer devices which can access radio across the U.K., even low-power audio devices add up.”

According to BBC R&D, the research is the first of its kind to analyze radio energy use. The work piggybacks on the research the company released earlier this year about the environmental impact of BBC television.

The BBC attracts more than 30 million listeners in the U.K. per week through live stations, podcasts and on-demand content. Those radio services are being accessed on a range of consumer devices including smart speakers, smartphones and car audio.

The post BBC Quantifies How Much Energy Needed to Deliver and Listen to Radio appeared first on Radio World.

Here’s the latest pic from our “Engineers at Work” feature:

The National Association of Broadcasters and Xperi Corp. are working to test the performance of HD Radio’s MA3 mode in electric vehicles. As part of that effort, Russ Mundschenk of Xperi and Dave Kolesar of Hubbard’s WWFD(AM) took this selfie while driving around to help document the Core and Core+Enhanced coverage of the station. (Clearly, these guys are NRSC-5 RF Mask Compliant!)

The two were in a gasoline-powered control car, a Hubbard-owned 2015 Subaru Crosstrek.

WWFD is the all-digital AM station in Frederick, Md., that has been operating under experimental authority. The FCC this week opened the all-digital option to all AM stations in the United States.

Mundschenk and Kolesar also are the two most recent recipients of the Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award.

Radio World wants photos of yourself and your interesting radio facilities, projects and adventures. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post A Different Kind of Digital Radio Mask appeared first on Radio World.

In the Oct. 14 KDKA feature the question is twice asked — including in a Page 21 photo caption — “Did engineer Donald Little invent and fabricate the world’s first transducer for turning record groove modulations into a varying voltage?”

The answer is: Decidedly not. The honor for that advance goes to Gianni Bettini, an Italian army lieutenant who made his fortune in the U.S.A but died and remains back in Italy, having patented electrical recording in 1902.

[Read: Constructing the First “Real” Radio Station]

Bettini took a Berliner microphone, manufactured by Bell’s Western Electric Co. and of the type that went into all the world’s telephones for 100 years (which includes KDKA’s in 1920), pushed a needle through the center of its diaphragm and turned it into a phonograph pickup. Bell, Edison and even disc record “revolutionizer” (no pun intended) Emile Berliner missed it. Had any one of them paid attention we’d have had electrical recording two decades before Western Electric introduced it when they created motion picture sound in 1926 (or was it ’25?).

For Radio World readers it should be noted that the broadcasting business quickly adopted WECo’s 33 1/3 rpm 16-inch disc which inaugurated the quarter-century era of recorded-program dissemination on discs. Interestingly, the four networks — NBC (Red), NBC-Blue, CBS and Mutual (the least heralded yet with the most affiliated stations of all) — engaged my friend Harry Bryant’s Radio Recorders in Hollywood to create what came to be called “transcriptions” for delayed broadcast on the “coast” of shows coming in “live” from New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit.

The post Filling Out a Gap in Radio Tech History appeared first on Radio World.

Nielsen PPM encoding is now built into the Optimod XPN-AM processor from Orban Labs, at no additional charge, according to the company.

Users who already have an Optimod XPN-AM can contact the company for information on a free upgrade.

Orban Labs issued a press release saying that stations that are now handling Nielsen PPM encoding via XPN-AM include KHTK in Sacramento, KSL in Salt Lake City, KKYX in San Antonio and WSB in Atlanta.

The announcement included endorsements from Bonneville’s Jason Ornellas, director of engineering for Sacramento, and Aaron Farnham, its DOE in Salt Lake City.

[Read: User Report: Orban XPN-AM Improves Coverage for Rural AMs]

“We are broadcasting HD Radio AM using MDCL that gives us additional power savings [at KSL],” Farnham told Orban, highlighting cost savings of having Nielsen encoding built in. “It gives you the ability to process and then encode so you don’t damage the quality of the encoding.”

The XPN-AM Audio Processor is based upon an AM-optimized version of Orban’s MX limiter technology. Orban highlights its ability to generate greater density with lower distortion, saying this can significantly reduce power consumption for users of transmitters equipped with Modulation Dependent Carrier Level. The processor is available in AM and AM/HD Radio versions.

The post Orban Ships XPN-AMs With Nielsen PPM Encoders appeared first on Radio World.

A Florida AM radio station plans to go all-digital soon, now that the Federal Communications Commission has allowed such transitions.

WMGG is owned by NIA Broadcasting; it’s a Class B station in Egypt Lake, Fla., near Tampa, airing a directional signal via a diplexed array. It has 2.8 kW power by day and 800 watts at night, and airs on 1470 kHz.

The company also owns several other AM, FM and TV properties.

President Neal Ardman told Radio World he is in the process of ordering a Nautel HD Radio transmitter to make the change.

“It is time,” he wrote in an email, adding that he is “not worried” about losing analog listening.

WMGG has an FM translator on 101.9 MHz. Both signals are part of “96.1 FM Caliente,” the radio home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Spanish-language network.

The post Florida AM Station Plans to Go All-Digital appeared first on Radio World.

Radio World’s new ebook explores trends in processing for radio, including the management of over-the-air and streamed signals.

Broadcasters now prepare and deliver content over numerous platforms, to listeners in numerous environments including far beyond their local markets.

What are the most important developments in the design of processors for radio’s needs? Have we reached a state of unchanging hypercompression for OTA signals? How will the concepts of the cloud, virtualization and software as a service affect the processing marketplace?

Find out through Q&As and commentaries from a dozen industry users, engineering leaders and manufacturers.

It’s free … and our new streamlined registration process makes it simpler for you to access this material!

Read it here.

The post Trends in Audio Processing for Radio appeared first on Radio World.

Entercom Communications and FanDuel recently announced a six-year partnership that designates FanDuel, the online sports and entertainment betting company, as the official sportsbook partner of Entercom.

According to the announcement, as Entercom’s official sportsbook, FanDuel will receive preferred and increased category access to all Entercom talent in every market where Entercom and FanDuel both operate. As part of the deal, listeners to Entercom’s sports broadcast stations will have access to FanDuel’s sports betting content, products, and risk and trading expertise. These new features will be integrated into Entercom sports audio platform.

[Read: Samuelsen Studio Dedicated at Entercom Detroit]

Entercom and FanDuel will also collaborate on in-depth integrations and co-produce new formats and content. “The partnership brings together America’s #1 sportsbook with the #1 sports audio company in the United States,” the companies said in a statement.

The goal of the strategic partnership is to unite two companies in a shared mission to entertain, engage and inform sports fans around all aspects of the game, the companies said. In addition to creating a new model between a sports gaming operator and sports media platform, Entercom also called it the largest advertisement commitment made in radio industry history.

“We are focused on delivering the best sports betting experience for our audiences in markets where legalized sports betting will be pervasive,” said David Field, president and CEO of Entercom. “The marketplace is growing exponentially and FanDuel is an ideal partner to take full advantage of the influence and reach of Entercom’s robust sports platforms to deliver an even better audio sports experience to our listeners.”

FanDuel CEO Matthew King said that in the two years that it has been doing business with Entercom, it became clear to FanDuel that Entercom’s authentic connection with sports fans is one of the best ways for it to engage FanDuel customers.

“We will work together to offer sports fans access to information wherever, whenever and however they consume content, providing them with the tools to learn and win,” he said.

The post Entercom and FanDuel Ink Partnership appeared first on Radio World.

The author of this commentary is chair of Digital Radio Mondiale.

As widely expected and now reported, the FCC has adopted rules to allow AM radio stations in the United States to broadcast an all-digital signal using the HD Radio in-band on-channel MA3 mode.

At the same time, as a small nod to those who either object or would like FCC to consider DRM as well, the commission noted the interest in “alternative technologies,” aka DRM.

All the arguments in favor of DRM — audio quality, coverage, flexibility, extra services, lack of interference or link to one single proprietary company and the extensive proven record — were not enough for the FCC. They considered that looking at other technologies was beyond the scope of the 11-month consultation.

Some might argue that this was more about endorsing one technology rather than examining in detail what can be done to save AM proper. A fuller DRM dossier was required with laboratory and field results, and this request seems reasonable.

There is one snag though: DRM for mediumwave has been tested and documented about two decades ago. It has been recommended by ITU in 2005 and all the tests carried out all over the world are available openly and freely for anyone to see.

Moreover, 35 stations, soon to be increased to 41, in India, are on the air every single day Their coverage is about 800 million people, and this is slightly more than the one and a half station proving the advantages of MA-3.

The DRM Consortium can monitor every second of these live transmissions every day and this can be checked by FCC whenever they want.

These are facts and not more assertions by DRM proponents. A U.S. lab and real test of DRM in the country, as mentioned by the FCC, would be useful but would not change the laws of physics. With FCC support and that of North American broadcasters and broadcasting bodies this could be easily achieved.

In conclusion we feel that, for now, FCC has taken a positive step and sent a good sign about mediumwave revitalization and not only in the U.S.

We know that confrontation has never helped any technology assert itself. Cooperation and fairness have. And DRM is ready to prove its advantages using the opportunity offered by the FCC in their statement.

The DRM consortium remains ready to assist bodies in the USA keen to adopt the system that is finding success in many other countries around the world. This will allow radio on the AM bands to thrive in the digital age using an open competitive system.

The post Who’s Afraid of DRM? appeared first on Radio World.

GeoBroadcast Solutions is welcoming news that the Federal Communications Commission is taking a close look at its geo-targeting proposal.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks this week announced that Chairman Ajit Pai is circulating a draft of a notice of proposed rulemaking.

Bill Hieatt, CTO of GeoBroadcast Solutions, called this encouraging news.

“We look forward to working closely with the commission and other stakeholders during the upcoming comment period on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to provide any additional information or modeling on the effectiveness and implementation of this technology.”

The National Association of Broadcasters and Xperi have backed the idea of an NPRM. But four of the most prominent radio groups in the United States said earlier this year that more research is necessary before the FCC can seriously consider allowing zoned FM broadcasting.

GBS argues that radio is the only medium that lacks the ability to geo-target content. “This rule change would put radio on par with television, which now has that ability due to the 2017 FCC decision that allowed television broadcasters to use the Next Generation TV standard (also known as ATSC 3.0), one of the many features of which is geo-targeted programming.”

[Read more stories about the GBS ZoneCasting proposal.]

The post GBS Welcomes FCC Progress appeared first on Radio World.

The author is assistant director of integrated broadcast systems for WAMU 88.5.

WAMU is an NPR public news/talk station that services the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

I came here a little over three and a half years ago from an all-Axia plant in Atlanta. When I arrived, they already had Telos Alliance gear and legacy Pathfinder, which made my transition smooth.

Over time, as I settled into the organization and assessed its workflows, we began to look at its Pathfinder system, which was a bit out of date and needed some love. We put together a grand plan to build a whole new Axia network with Pathfinder Core PRO to freshen everything up, clean everything out and get all the systems nice and neat.

Just as we were about to begin our switchover and start making changes — in fact, only about a week before — the pandemic shutdowns began across the country. This, of course, blew all of our plans out of the water.

Ambitious remote operations

Our station decided very early on to transition to a full remote workflow, and having Pathfinder Core was a big part of reacting accordingly.

We run a national talk show for two hours every day of the week and a local talk show for an hour after that. During these shows, we run through codecs quickly, and in the studio, we had a dedicated person to get people on, connected and checked. We realized that our remote codec position needed some custom help.

For that we turned to Pathfinder Core to build what are called “panels.” A panel is a graphical and functional representation of equipment, signal flows and other functions such as monitoring and internal communication.

We built a panel that allows our codec manager to work remotely and test all 30 to 40 codecs we’ve got, doing line checks and making sure everyone is good to go before show time, and to troubleshoot issues. This was a large panel that I built, and it was a massive help to our operations.

We also built panels for our producers to remotely produce their shows, giving them a real-time feed of the show over a telephone hybrid and the ability to talk to the host, engineer or codec manager as they need to. The fact that Pathfinder Core allows you to do this with web panels makes distributing them to a ton of producers very easy.

We had 35 people “pitching” during our week of remote fundraising, and web panels allowed our pitch producers to speak to the pitchers to coordinate and cue their segments quickly. We turned our panels pages into a series of short links that make onboarding easier than before.

New way of thinking

The most powerful new feature in Pathfinder Core PRO is the relay combiner in Logic Flow events.

With the codec panel I built, we needed to update Logic Flows with new codec sources and destinations actively. When the codec manager opens a panel, they can choose their current codec, which gets written to the “Talk” button’s logic.

I could have accomplished this flow in the old system but with many more steps. When I started using the new system, it took me a little while to get used to the new way of thinking about Logic Flows, but once I got up and running, I was amazed at how much I enjoy using the system.

Right now, we are running a hybrid system of legacy Pathfinder and Pathfinder Core. Any new panels we need are built on Pathfinder Core, while the legacy system is still handling all of our studio switching and air chain events. We are getting close to the point where we will begin migrating over the rest of the systems, and I’m looking forward to having it all up to date.

Radio World User Reports are testimonial articles intended to help readers understand why a colleague chose a particular product to solve a technical situation.

For information, contact Cam Eicher at The Telos Alliance in Ohio at 1-216-241-7225 or visit http://www.telosalliance.com.

The post User Report: Web Panels Make Virtual Studios a Breeze appeared first on Radio World.