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Announces procedures, deadlines, and minimum opening bid amounts for the upcoming auction of construction permits for full power television stations. Bidding in Auction 112 scheduled to begin June 7, 2022

What’s the longest interview that’s ever aired on a radio station in your community?

It ain’t got nothin’ on what a pair of Carroll University students just accomplished at the student-run radio station where they serve as budding air personalities.

Their stunt just landed them in the Guinness World Record book.

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From our Who’s Buying What page: CGI announced that the South African Broadcasting Corp. is using its dira system at eight of its radio stations and will roll it out to the other 11 this year.

Dira is a playout, production and music scheduling platform.

“The contract, won via a competitive tender process, has seen the SABC invest in CGI’s full dira Solution Suite, including Onair Player, Highlander, Scheduler, Startrack, Orion and Broadcast Report,” the supplier said in a press release.

“The proof of concept and subsequent implementation by CGI has achieved the SABC’s goal to enable dira’s use throughout the company’s radio environment, from sales, sport, news and current affairs to education and drama.”

The announcement was made by Nada Wotshela, group executive for SABC Radio, and Michael Thielen, vice president of radio solutions at CGI.

Wotshela said a feature of particular interest is a Commercial Player that plays radio ads within a specified window of booked time. “This will assist with accurate reporting and also ensure that skipping of advertisements, which leads to revenue losses, is a thing of the past,” Wotshela stated.

CGI acquired SCISYS Group PLC, the previous developer of dira, in 2019.

The post SABC Adopts CGI’s Dira Platform appeared first on Radio World.

First, it was CES 2022 where attendees of a major Las Vegas-based conference and expo learned the latest about NEXTGEN TV and all of its ATSC 3.0 features.

Now, 2022 NAB Show attendees are in line to explore the ongoing deployment of broadcast television’s new transmission standard.

NEXTGEN TV exhibits, demonstrations and sessions will take place throughout the conference, scheduled for April 23–27 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

NextGen Now, presented by Heartland Video Systems (HVS), will provide a “how-to” overview of Next Gen TV workflows as they are being used today. Featured within the CONNECT Implementation Zone in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, NextGen Now is designed to help broadcasters understand the challenges in implementing the standard in local markets. HVS will provide expert real-world guidance on implementing NextGen workflow and showcase broadcaster equipment from multiple manufacturers and explains their function within the air-chain.

“We are thankful to both our customers and vendors who enable us to be a part of ATSC 3.0 implementations,” Heartland Video Systems President Dennis Klas said. “This is an exciting time and we look forward to providing this NAB Show experience.”

The Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) will be showcasing the latest generation of NEXTGEN TV receivers at its booth in the Future of Delivery section of the West Hall, as well as providing an update on the implementation progress of the standard at stations throughout the country and advanced applications that broadcasters have been developing.

NAB will also demonstrate the scalable video coding feature of the standard, in which a base layer of high definition content is delivered through over-the-air broadcasting while an ultra high-definition enhancement layer is delivered via broadband, with the TV set combining the two layers into unified ultra high-definition content. The demonstration will take place in Futures Park.

Additionally, on April 24 the Broadcast Engineering & Information Technology (BEIT) Conference will feature presentations on technical papers regarding NEXTGEN TV, in addition to several panels on various topics related to the standard in the Connect Inspiration theater in the West Hall.

Other related panels include “What’s Now and What’s Next with NEXTGEN TV,” moderated by Pearl TV Managing Director Anne Schelle, on April 24, and a question-and-answer session designed to inform station managers and sellers about new opportunities available through the technology.

Additional Next Gen TV programing, activities and demos are in development and will be confirmed soon.

Tascam has launched three podcast system bundles for its Mixcast 4 Podcast Station with built-in recorder and USB audio interface. They were designed to streamline content creation for podcasts, live streaming, event production and voiceover work.

The three bundles can accommodate up to four people with four microphones and four headsets so users can tailor their setups to accommodate both show personnel and guests.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Key to each bundle is the Mixcast 4 Podcast Station, the TM-70 Dynamic Broadcast Microphone and the TH-02 Studio Headphones. The main difference between each of the three Mixcast 4 bundles is the number of TM-70 microphones and TH-02 headphones included — Bundle No. 1 includes one set of each; Bundle No. 2 includes two sets of each; and Bundle No. 3 includes four of each.

The Mixcast 4 Podcast Station is available as a single entity for those already in possession of microphones and headphones. The company says the three available bundles create system packages that represent a cost-effective solution compared to the expense of acquiring the individual components necessary to form a complete system.

For more information, visit www.tascam.com.

The post Tascam Intros Mixcast 4 Podcast Station Bundles appeared first on Radio World.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers today said it will hold the 2022 SBE Leadership Development Course, a three-day intensive program focused on successful leadership and management for broadcast engineers, Aug.3-5, in Atlanta.

The course explores the nature of leadership, the difference between being a manager and being a leader, how to build a winning team, the importance of attitude in the leadership position and insights into communication.

Instructing the course will be Frank Pianki, Ph.D., a professor of management who has served at Anderson University since 1998. His balanced background blends academic ability and professional experience.

Pianki earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Arizona, an Executive MBA from Pepperdine University and a doctorate from Indiana University.

Before his academic career, Pianki had nearly 20 years of experience working in business and industry. He has worked as chief operating officer for a healthcare organization and vice president of operations for a manufacturing company.

The cost of the program is $670 for SBE members and $725 for non-members.

Registration is available online.

The post Frank Pianki to Teach SBE Leadership Development Course appeared first on Radio World.

Computer modeling allowed me to set up a new four-tower 50 kW array from scratch in just one day.

It wasn’t too long after I started fooling around with computers in the mid-1980s that antenna modeling became a thing. NEC and MININEC were the prevalent modeling engines, and the source code was out there in the public domain.

At some point, I began playing with models of medium-wave monopole antennas, simple nondirectional radiators. While those simple models were somewhat useful, they didn’t really do a whole lot for me. Now, if I could model a directional array and get an accurate prediction of the driving point impedances, that would be worth something.

And so it was that I started playing with directional models. The challenge was not in the physical geometry of a directional array. It was coming up with a set of drive voltages and phases. I experimented but had little to no success, and I eventually gave up, moving on to other, more pressing things.

Eureka!
Fortunately, some very smart people were working on the problem, people like J.L. Smith, Ron Rackley, Jim Hatfield, Jerry Westberg, Ben Dawson and others.

They figured out that you had to compute the individual tower current moments for unity drive, then with that information and the theoretical directional parameters, solve a set of simultaneous equations to get the normalized drive voltages.

Those drive voltages, each expressed as complex numbers, could be applied as sources in the model, and the resulting tower moments would equal the theoretical directional parameters.

After the brain trust figured that out, I was able to write some code and create a computer program that would do the whole thing, taking array geometry expressed in either X,Y,Z format or in distance/azimuth from a reference tower, then taking the theoretical directional parameters (ratios and phases) and turning that into a model that I could calibrate to real-world impedance matrix measurements and produce an output including driving point impedances, voltages and currents; element current distribution, and both near- and far-field E- and H-field values.

This tower serves Crawford station KBRT in Los Angeles. We caught the sunset on one of our security cameras. You might be able to make out a hawk sitting on a guy wire waiting for his dinner.

New FCC rules permitting “proofing” of AM directional arrays went into effect in 2008. I filed my first model-proof that summer, and I’ve never looked back.

The moment-method modeling proof option has been great for our industry. Aging arrays that needed a lot of very expensive fieldwork could be brought into adjustment very quickly in many cases, and new installations could be tuned up in days if not hours.

Today, you can look through the FCC database and you’ll see many occurrences of the telltale file number prefix “BMM,” indicating a moment-method proofed facility. Many of those are model proofs I have filed.

Needless to say, I’m still a believer.

The trap
Fast forward to 2021. Last year, a group of engineers and broadcasters (more really smart people) petitioned the FCC for a rule change that would allow model proofing of FM directional antennas. That rulemaking, at this writing, is in process.

FM directionals, which constitute a reported 20% of all full-power FM facilities, have long been a problem for engineers. I got caught in the FM directional “trap” back in the mid-1980s and had to petition the FCC for a variance to get a facility on the air.

The usual process is first to determine the maximum ERP in every direction of interest, whether a target service area or toward a protected station or border, then develop a theoretical antenna pattern based solely on the coverage and protection requirements.

That ideal or “envelope” pattern then is specified in the construction permit application. When the CP is granted, the envelope pattern is sent to the antenna manufacturer, who will do range measurements using a model based on detailed information about the mounting location provided by the permittee. The manufacturer will make tweaks, adding and moving around parasitic elements to get as close as possible with the measured pattern to the supplied ideal or envelope pattern.

The “trap” occurs in that zone between meeting all the protections and making the required RMS, which by law must be 85% of that of the authorized pattern. Sometimes the measured pattern will meet all the protection requirements but come up short on RMS. That’s what happened to me way back when.

The sure-fire way to avoid this situation is to have the antenna manufacturer develop a buildable, measured pattern and file that pattern instead of the envelope or ideal pattern with the CP application.

Then, when the time comes to file the license application, that same pattern is filed as the “proofed” pattern. All protections are met, and the RMS is 100%.

But that entails some financial risk. You have to pay the antenna manufacturer to develop and fully proof a pattern, with no assurance that the FCC will grant the application. That risk can be minimized with careful attention to detail in the application process (and leaving some white space between interfering and protected contours), but if there’s one thing I have learned from 40+ years of filing FCC applications, it’s that anything can happen.

Remember those smart people I mentioned, the ones who have petitioned for a rulemaking that will allow model-proofing of FM antennas? Their proposal will solve the problem of the “trap” as well as saving all the time, trouble and cost of FM directional antenna range measurements.

In the latest issue of RW Engineering Extra, we feature a white paper on computer modeling of directional FM antennas by John Schadler of Dielectric. John provides some compelling arguments for this, and I think you’ll find it interesting.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that the FCC will very shortly enact the requested rule change in some form to permit model proofing of FM directional antennas. While there are differences, the engineers at the Media Bureau have certainly seen the benefits and reliability of AM model proofing, and that undoubtedly carries some weight.

The result for broadcasters will be no more RMS/protection traps, no more range measurements, and a reduction in time between order and delivery of custom directional antennas. Patterns can be fine-tuned to fit the application with engineering time being the only cost.

I think that’s pretty doggone cool.

The post FM Directional Computer Simulations — Why Not? appeared first on Radio World.

John Robinson, P.E., has been named the new vice president of structural engineering for Electronics Research Inc.

This is his second stint with the company, where he worked for 23 years and was senior engineer of the Structural Division.

“Robinson rejoins ERI from Hodge Engineering, a structural engineering consulting firm where he was the principal engineer for their Tower Engineering Group,” ERI said in its announcement. Robinson succeeds James Ruedlinger, who left to pursue other interests.

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He is a registered Professional Engineer in Indiana and 17 other states. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the TIA TR-14 Engineering Committee for Structural Standards for Communication and Small Wind Turbine Support Structures.

The announcement was made by President/CEO Tom Silliman, who welcomed Robinson back and added, “We also value and support his participation on the TIA TR14 Committee as its work is critical to our installations subsidiary.”

Robinson is a graduate of the University of Evansville and holds undergraduate degrees in civil and mechanical engineering as well as a master’s degree in mechanical engineering.

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

The post John Robinson Rejoins ERI appeared first on Radio World.

Some 49 weeks ago, the Jeff Andrulonis-led Colonial Radio Group moved forward with the sale of Class A WMIR-FM 93.9 in Conway, S.C.

Now, Andrulonis, who shifted his assets from Western New York to the Carolinas in late 2020, is saying goodbye to an AM and three associated FM translators serving the Myrtle Beach, S.C., market.

What are the new owners plans? A gallo could soon be ruling the roost.

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According to people familiar with the matter, Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) has emerged victorious as the buyer of Rhythmic Top 40 WPYO-FM 95.3 in Maitland, Fla., serving the Orlando market, and Alternative WSUN-FM 97.1 in Holiday, Fla., serving metropolitan Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater.

Staff at each of the stations, respectively branded as “Power 95.3” and “97X,” were reportedly told of the transaction in a meeting just before the lunch hour on Thursday (2/10).

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For more than 75 years, a Chandler, Ind.-based company has served the broadcast industry with products such as television and FM transmitting antennas; RF filters and combiners; guyed and self-supporting towers; grounding and lightning protection; installation, structural analysis, inspection services; rigid transmission lines, and UHF waveguide systems.

Now, the “Broadcast Master Distributor” for CommScope HELIAX, accessories, pressurization, and terrestrial microwave products is welcoming a new VP of Structural Engineering.

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MIAMI — An individual lauded by Telemundo Global Studios EVP of Production and Development Karen Barroeta as “a highly regarded production executive with decades of experience bringing premium, culturally relevant narratives to Latino audiences” has just been given the role of SVP/Scripted Production at Telemundo Studios.

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It appears a Central California school district didn’t realize that the FCC won’t accept a tardy slip.

As a result, it is on the line for a fine for its untimely submission of a license renewal application for the low-power radio station it operates.

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He assumed the role of CEO for one of the world’s biggest entertainment companies on February 25, 2020.

Nearly one year later, the leadership of The Walt Disney Company by Bob Chapek is getting praise from one of the top financial analysts on Wall Street.

Only, it’s not so much for Disney+ and Hulu growth, along with international OTT consumption that excites Michael Nathanson. Rather, it’s theme park revenue that’s eye-popping to him.

Bob Chapek’s Magic Kingdom that is Disney under his leadership appears to be a bigger success than anyone on Wall Street, including the Senior Analyst at MoffettNathanson, imagined.

That’s because Disney’s fiscal Q1 2022 results are in stark contrast with its fiscal Q4 2021 performance. With the release of that financial health report, Disney “meaningfully missed” MoffettNathanson’s Q4 2021 revenue and EBIT estimates. The company had also warned about its near-term profit outlook and all-important Direct-to-Consumer subscriber momentum.

In response to that report, MoffettNathanson “significantly cut” its fiscal 2022 EBIT estimates for Disney “with across the board reductions in profits.”

Then came a SEC filing from Disney disclosing their decision to invest some $33 billion in content during fiscal 2022, compared to $25 billion in fiscal 2021. The announcement came alongside “weak” fiscal Q1 2022 subscriber guidance from Netflix, which temporarily torpedoed stocks in the OTT subsector.

Yet, Disney+ is showing signs of life, with Secrets of Sulphur Springs cleared for a third season and feature films including Encanto enjoying strong audience response beyond in-cinema screenings. Furthermore, Hulu and ESPN+ are attracting consumers, while Disney’s international OTT offerings continue to magnetize viewers.

Then came the “massive surprise” from Disney late Wednesday, even with lackluster results from its linear networks.

The theme parks are the driver, and Nathanson is amazed at the performance. In an investor note distributed Thursday, he said, “When we reflect about the massive surprise that Disney delivered in Fiscal Q1 2022, we are primarily focused on the incredible beat in Parks profits that came from the most amazing set of drivers that we have ever seen. Consider this: from the September quarter (Q4 2021) to the December quarter (Q1 2022), domestic park revenues increased by $1.33 billion while domestic park profits increased by a nearly identical $1.31 billion. In other words, in a period of rising inflation, the domestic park business added zero incremental costs as revenues surged. The recovery was driven by a stunning rebound in both volume and price.”

In short order, Disney’s domestic parks are back to 2019 levels and poised to put up “a massive recovery in profits” over the next three quarters.

While the Parks segment will drive the earnings revisions for Disney, will the DTC results cause a further re-rating in the shares? Here, MoffettNathanson is less convinced. “DTC revenue growth of 34% was just slightly (-100 basis points) below our forecast,” Nathanson said. “Two million of these subs were driven by an automatic bundle with Hulu Live and another 2.6 million came from Hotstar, which we tend to ignore given the $1 monthly RPU. Netting that out, despite more markets to pull from, the 7.1 million in quarterly adds was about 60% of the net subscriber additions of the same quarter last year. With Fiscal Q2 2022 expected to be down from this 7.1 million net subscriber rate, our second half estimate is assuming 15 million during the April to September time frame, which have been historically seasonally slow months to add new SVOD subscribers.”

To MoffettNathanson, the biggest DTC surprise is the drop in Hulu SVOD RPU from $13.51 in fiscal Q1 2021 to $12.96 this quarter. It was driven by slower Hulu ad revenues per user and Black Friday price discounting that added lower RPU subscribers. “By our math, the growth in Hulu SVOD revenue has now slowed to low teens revenue growth,” Nathanson said. “It will be interesting to see if this deceleration and ad weakness is systematic to the AVOD/SVOD hybrid market.”

Still, those concerns are dwarfed by the theme parks business. As such, MoffettNathanson is raising its FY 2022 EBIT by $500 million (4%), led by the upside at Disneyland and at Walt Disney World. It is also hiking Disney’s total company revenue estimate by 1% to $85 billion again, and raising its FY 2022 segment EBIT estimate to $13.3 billion “due to a much faster snap back in profitability” at the parks.

Unfortunately, this is offset by lower EBIT at DMED driven by $465 million negative revision at DTC.

Lastly, MoffettNathanson updated its pricing model and is maintaining its Neutral rating for DIS, along with its $165 target price.

At 10am Eastern on Thursday, DIS was priced at $156.50 and rising, with more than a 6% climb on strong volume.

As veteran public relations executive and “Zoom expert” Rosemary Ravinal sees it, some of the most memorable lines from speechwriting use “the rule of threes” to emphasize ideas and increase retention. How so? By taking advantage of the way our brains cling to patterns. Good news: You can harness the power of three for your speeches and presentations with three simple techniques.

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Stephen Dubner (left) and Dr. Steven Levitt

You’ll be able to get your freak on at the NAB Show this year.

Stephen Dubner and Dr. Steven Levitt, co-authors of the “Freakonomics” book series and podcast hosts on the Freakonomics Radio Network, will keynote the session “Why the Media & Entertainment Industry Should Think Like a Freak” on April 27.

Described by NAB as some of the “leading minds in next-step thinking,” the duo has insight into “leveraging new and transformative perspectives to boost innovation and implement measurable business applications.”

NAB Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Global Connections and Events Chris Brown said the media and entertainment community is learning how to navigate the evolving ways of interfacing with data, content and networking.

[For More News on the NAB Show See Our NAB Show News Page]

Dubner and Levitt were approached in 2003 to co-author “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.” The book, which applied economic theories to questions about everyday life, has sold 7 million copies and been translated into 40 languages.

Dubner is an author, journalist and radio and TV personality. He is host of the “Freakonomics Radio” podcast, which airs on NPR stations and receives 8 million monthly downloads. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker and Time.

Levitt is an economist, author, researcher and podcast host. He is a tenured professor and the director of the Gary Becker Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics at The University of Chicago. He hosts “People I (Mostly) Admire” on the Freakonomics Radio Network.

The post Freakonomics Co-Authors Want You to Think Like a Freak appeared first on Radio World.

Digital sales for local U.S. radio stations generated $1.5 billion in 2021, a growth of 33%, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau’s annual report on digital activities.

The findings highlight efforts of stations to drive results for local advertisers, said Erica Farber, RAB president and CEO. “The focus on the importance of digital training has produced dividends for stations and sellers alike,” she said.

The report showed that the average station made $36,250 in digital revenue in 2021 with the average market cluster making $1.6 million. Top-performing market clusters made more than $10 million, even in some of the smaller markets, RAB said.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

“I’m happy to report that we underestimated radio’s digital determination when we published last year’s report,” said Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, which compiled the report and predicted that radio sales would increase 18%.

“It’s quite impressive, especially when you see that little stat that shows how digitally savvy radio sales reps are in the eyes of local advertisers,” Borrell said in the RAB’s announcement.

The 47-page report covers the activity of some 3,000 radio stations. The findings are part of the RAB and Borrell’s 10th annual report “Finally, A Digital Bounty: Radio’s Digital Sales Rise 33%.” That annual report analyzed online ad revenue from 3,645 radio stations, survey responses from 1,107 local radio buyers and comments from 256 radio managers.

The post Radio Stations’ Digital Sales Increased by 33% in 2021 appeared first on Radio World.

Photo Courtesy Dick Taylor

Twelve year ago, radio broadcast engineer Tom Ray, penned these words: “Unless we give Joe Consumer a reason to go out and purchase an HD Radio for his car – until he can obtain it easily and at a reasonable cost, and a device that works – I fear HD Radio is going to go the way of FM quad and AM stereo, relegated to the scrap pile of history.”

Tom Ray wrote his article for Radio World when he was the vice president/corporate director of engineering for Buckley Broadcasting/WOR Radio in New York City. He was a strong and vocal supporter of HD Radio and his WOR was one of the first AMs on the air with an HD Radio signal. So, any broadcaster that read Tom’s article, “HD Radio Shouldn’t Be This Hard,” should have taken it as a wake-up call about steps the radio industry needed to take to stay relevant in their listeners’ lives.

Buying a New Car in 2010
Tom is a loyal Ford customer, so when his Explorer went to the automobile graveyard with 230,000 miles on it, Tom wanted to get a new Ford Escape, equipped with HD Radio. The only problem was, Ford wasn’t putting HD Radios into their Escapes, instead, they were pushing Satellite Radio. (Tom noted that his wife listened only to Satellite Radio in her car, saying “in her opinion there is nothing worth listening to in New York’s Hudson Valley, 50 miles north of New York City.)

This should have been yet another radio industry wake-up call about its future.

I encourage you to click on the link and read what Tom Ray wrote a dozen years ago about how difficult it was to put an HD Radio into a new car which, at that time, didn’t offer OEM HD Radios and how he, as a broadcast engineer, was totally frustrated trying to install an aftermarket one.

Streaming Radio at Home
Since Christmas 2017, when my wife gave me my first Amazon Echo smart speaker, our Echo family has quickly grown to four of these devices. There is nowhere you can be in our home and not ask Alexa for something.

Since 2017, all of our in-home radio listening is via streaming.

While we also occasionally streamed radio in the car, on all of our road trips from 2018–2021, SiriusXM always seemed to be offering a 3-month free listening trial that I can honestly say we enjoyed the listening to. But, I’ve never been a subscriber, because other than road trips I spend very little time in the car.

Streaming Radio in the Car
In October, while enjoying my latest free 3-month trial for SiriusXM radio, I decided it was time to bring my in-house streaming radio habit into both of our cars. We own a 2006 Subaru Forester and a 2009 Honda Accord.

The Subaru doesn’t have an AUX input, the Honda does.

Streaming in the Subaru was accomplished with a Bluetooth receiver that will broadcast on any FM frequency (88.1 works best). In the Honda, this same device’s output was plugged into an AUX receptacle.

The result is, as soon as either my wife or myself enters one of our cars, the Nulaxy KM18 immediately pairs with our iPhones. I installed the AINOPE Car Phone Holder Mount to hold our phones, and keep them easily accessible to control whatever we would like to listen to.

Total cost for each car: $33.43. Time to install, virtually nil. I just plugged the Nulaxy KM18 into a power port and it was operational. The AINIOPE holder easily clamps to an air vent on the dashboard and holds any smartphone.

Unlike the nightmare that Tom Ray experienced back in 2010 trying to put HD Radio into his car, this installation by me, a non-engineer, was a piece of cake.

A Call to Action
I recently sat in on a Radio World webinar called “A Call to Action, radio’s existential battle for the dash.” Paul McLane, Managing Director of Content/Editor in Chief of Radio World at Radio World/Future U.S., hosted the webinar and did an excellent job. However, one particular piece of information shared during the presentation that I thought was crucial was, how Mercedes-Benz was equipping their vehicles’ radio screens with the following pre-sets: SiriusXM, FM, AM and TuneIn Radio.

TuneIn Radio is the App I use for most of my radio listening, but why was it chosen by Mercedes-Benz? Turns out the answer is, “TuneIn’s radio stations can be accessed worldwide in 197 countries on more than 200 different platforms and devices.” TuneIn says it “provides the displaced radio listener a connection to home with local, national, and international stations anywhere they go and on any device.”

In other words, why would any audio consumer need DAB, DAB+, Digital Radio Mondiale, HD Radio, AM or FM when they can receive any radio station in crystal clear audio via streaming?

With the exception of the proprietary content offered by SiriusXM, everything else is available via streaming at no charge.

Cellular Plan
Now it goes without saying, that streaming consumes data. Each cellphone service provider offers different plans and different price rates. My wife and I are on Verizon’s unlimited phone/text/data plan. We have no landline phone in our home and our iPhones are our lifeline to being connected with each other, our family, our community and the world.

I’ve found streaming radio in our cars provides us with audio quality that is pristine. There’s no buffering or dropout, and it’s been a more reliable signal than AM, FM or SiriusXM radio, especially when traveling through tunnels.

Streaming Apps
I thought you might be interested in knowing what streaming Apps I have on my iPhone, here’s the current list:

• TuneIn Pro
• Audacy
• Pandora
• Spotify
• Amazon Music
• NPR ONE
• YouTube
• Simple Radio
• StreamS
• Apple Podcasts
• AccuRadio
• 650AM WSM
• Stitcher

Why I Prefer Streaming My Radio
We live far enough away from Washington, D.C., that radio signals for WTOP or WETA experience lots of noise and dropout, depending atmospherics, sometimes making them totally unlistenable. However, their streams are always crystal clear.

This fall Sue and I escaped to Cape Cod for a week and when I get on the peninsula, I love turning on WFCC – Cape Cod’s Classical station – 107.5 FM. Now with streaming radio, I can dial up WFCC on my TuneIn radio App and listen when we’re back home in Virginia.

Full disclosure, I am the midday DJ on WMEX-FM in Rochester, N.H., But even if I weren’t on the station, WMEX-FM would be my No. 1 pre-set for streaming. Gary James, the station’s morning man and program director, puts together a music mix that I find absolutely fabulous. It’s the music of my life.

Which brings me to another important point, radio today is global. No longer is your radio station competing just with other local stations, but radio that is streaming from anywhere on planet Earth.

Streaming also makes it possible for ON DEMAND spoken-word radio, also known as podcasts, to be easily available in the car.

Simington on Streaming
FCC commissioner Nathan Simington recently addressed Ohio broadcasters saying, “content delivery power had shifted away from broadcasters – stations and networks – and toward ‘online platforms,’ something he thinks the FCC needs to recognize in its quadrennial review of media ownership regs.”

He warned that: “Online media platforms are growing rapidly and threaten dominance over traditional media platforms; and Broadcast advertising revenue has flatlined, having been siphoned off from higher margin online platforms.”

The Future is Streaming
88% of the world’s population now uses mobile broadband as its main source of internet access, and nearly 90% of homes in the United States now have internet streaming. 2021 saw an estimated 22% ad industry growth rate, which Magna Global said was “the highest growth rate ever recorded” by this agency, beating a 12.5% growth rate recorded in the year 2000. The caveat however is, digital dominated traditional advertising raking in 64.4% of the growth in ad spending.

RAIN reports “The U.S. recorded music industry will exceed a 48-year revenue record set in 1999 (based on current estimates),” all coming from revenues paid by streaming music services.

The Harvard Business Review recently published “4 Principles to Guide Your Digital Transformation,” by Greg Satell, Andrea Kates and Todd McLees. In it, the authors wrote, “digital transformation is not just about technology. We’re desperately in need of a shift in focus. Leaders must inspire and empower their entire organization to boldly reimagine their work environment, customer needs, product offering, and even the purpose of the enterprise.”

Tom Ray was the proverbial “canary in the coal shaft” back in 2010, with few paying attention. Sadly, based on the early news coming out of the 2022 CES in Las Vegas, nothing has changed.

We’re living in a communications revolution,
bringing about changes that will be both
permanent and irreversible.
Revolutions never maintain or preserve the status quo.

This article originally appeared on Dick’s blog, DickTaylorBlog, where you can find more of his musings.

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

The post Why I Stream ALL My Radio Listening appeared first on Radio World.

In this document, the Commission updates the political programming and recordkeeping rules for broadcast licensees, cable television system operators, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) service providers, and Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) licensees. The revisions conform the political programming and recordkeeping rules with statutory requirements, reflect modern campaign practices, and increase transparency.