Radio World

Wayne Pecena addresses the 2020 SBE National Meeting.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has an incoming executive director, a new website and a pending new technical training program, among other notable changes.

Radio World caught up with Wayne Pecena, recently elected to a second term as president of SBE, to ask him about its priorities in coming months.

The non-profit society is based in Indianapolis, Ind. Pecena is associate director of educational broadcast services at Texas A&M University, which operates the KAMU(FM/TV) public broadcast stations. Appropriately for an SBE leader, he has a lengthy string of certifications including CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, DRB and CBNE; and he is a past recipient of the Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award.

Upon reelection, Pecena noted that the industry and broadcast engineers “have experienced change and challenge like never before. I want to ensure the society brings a sense of normalcy to our members,” through its professional development continuing education, certification and frequency coordination programs.

This conversation includes reference to the pending retirement of John Poray, SBE’s first and only full-time executive director since 1992. James Ragsdale, a former finance executive at Anderson University in Indiana, will succeed Poray in January.

Radio World: This has been a year like no other. Has there been an effect on the society’s activities?

Wayne Pecena: Certainly we have been impacted, while at the same time many things are normal.

The SBE office has remained open throughout the pandemic — granted, in a modified form, observing the restrictions placed by the state of Indiana and the city of Indianapolis. But the office is open and functioning, with all programs ongoing.

We’d been doing webinars for some time. Like a lot of organizations, we were already in that virtual environment, so it wasn’t necessary to hurry and ramp up. But certainly we have increased that.

We have seen phenomenal engagement from our members in the webinars. As of last month we had twice as many participants as the year before, and we haven’t gotten to the end of the year yet.

Obviously our in-person events have been canceled, whether it’s an SBE-only event or related ones — the NAB Show being the biggie that a lot of our in-person outreach is centered around.

Many of our local chapters have gone to a virtual meeting environment. That’s a blessing and a curse, in some ways; everyone probably prefers that in-person fellowship and networking at a chapter meeting. But [we’ve seen] increased attendance in some larger areas where it’s just not easy to get across town to a 7 p.m. chapter meeting; that travel can be significant.

I know I have enjoyed attending many local chapter meetings because of Zoom around the country.

RW: It seems like in the last year or two, there’s been a real mushrooming of resources made available to your members.

Pecena: Since day one of the SBE, professional development, continuing education, has been a priority. And as technology changes rapidly it creates opportunity for further programs.

Even before the COVID pandemic, we had been aggressively ramping up, particularly, our webinar programs. Those have been most popular with our members. You can attend at a prescribed date and time for that live presentation, but we see far more participation on-demand. Those are recorded and available to our members.

The feedback that we get from those programs is very positive.

RW: I understand you’ve got an updated IP networking series coming.

Pecena: That is just one of the webinars planned.

One of the things that we have seen, not just in IP networking, is a need for more in-depth content. There’s a limit to what you can do in a webinar session, which we try to keep to an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.

So for many topics — beginning with our RF 101 series and advanced RF series, a lot of the IP content — we’ve gone to multiple part webinars. There’s an AoIP series that, gosh, I’ve lost count of the number of parts, six to seven, maybe even eight parts.

That’s how we’re addressing more advanced topics, to have enough time to address those topics but at the same time break them into manageable chunks of time. You could offer a full-day, eight=hour seminar, but there’s not many broadcast engineers who have that kind of time to sit in front of the computer.

RW: You have a pretty big change with John Poray retiring as executive director, and Jim Ragsdale coming in. How do you feel about John leaving?

Pecena: Certainly his announcement was a surprise; at the same time it was not a surprise. From the board aspect, we knew that John was going to be retiring soon, but when that announcement came at the first of this year, it still was a shock now that we had a date in front of us.

John has been the face of SBE for 28 years. A lot of growth has occurred over that time, from the office staff that keeps everything running, to the number of programs that are offered. It’s never enjoyable to lose someone with John’s tenure and experience and of course his dedication to the society.

Early in his career, when he came to SBE, he thought he’d probably be at SBE for five years and then move on to the next step up. And here we are 28 years later and he’s still with us.

We offer John sincere thanks and congratulations for his dedication to SBE and everything that he has done. I think it’s safe to say there’s not a program offered through SBE that does not have his personal touch on it in one way or the other. He’s a very engaged leader.

I suppose if you’re going to retire, there’s probably a good time to do that: when things are pretty good. Yes, we have some challenges that the industry presents and the COVID situation has presented. But we have a society that is in sound financial shape. We have successful programs. We have a dedicated and supportive staff that takes care of all of that day-to-day stuff.

If you’re going to say goodbye to 28 years, this is probably a good time to leave, at the top of things.

RW: How did the search go and what struck you about Jim Ragsdale?

Pecena: Our response from potential candidates was a little overwhelming; I personally had felt that if we got maybe 10 applications we’re going to be good, and we had pushing 30. So then we had a different challenge in front of us. How do we weed through this?

We had a dedicated committee led by Joe Snelson, a former SBE president and [who has experience in] the corporate environment. He did a really good job in leading that effort.

We boiled things down to three candidates and engaged in face-to-face interviews in Indianapolis. The three candidates were uniquely different but all viable for the position.

Jim was chosen unanimously by the committee. He did his homework on the SBE. He brought the best perspective of looking ahead. Granted, he was from outside the industry, but at the same time, he had ties to the broadcast industry through family members who were engaged in broadcasting for many years, and he brought solid financial management strengths, particularly in a nonprofit environment, as well as solid reference evaluations from previous roles.

Everyone felt he was that right fit for SBE.

RW: What should we look for from SBE in coming months?

Pecena: I think we step back and take a new breath and give Jim Ragsdale a time to get acclimated. We have several new programs that are launching, I don’t want to remotely suggest we’re just going to stop doing things; but give Jim an opportunity to get up to speed, making his own evaluations. He brings a solid financial background and [can make] his own assessments with that.

And this is strictly a personal feeling, but we probably need to revisit our strategic planning efforts. In our last event about three years ago, we came up with a plan, and many of the aspects of that plan have been implemented. You’ve noticed the new website, for instance; the need for that was identified in that strategic plan.

What was also identified but frankly has not happened has been some of our expanded outreach activities engaging in other related organization’s activities — whether it’s a state broadcast conference or local chapter events. Of course with the COVID situation, that kind of stuff went away.

So I think once he gets a solid footing by mid year, we need to reevaluate our strategic plan. Not necessarily do it all over again, though maybe that’s the best way to do it. In today’s fast changing environment. I’m not sure doing strategic planning every five years is the right time. Maybe it should be shortened a little bit.

Our focus, I think, will continue to be on education certification, our frequency coordination activities that are going on. You don’t necessarily hear a lot about frequency coordination, because it’s going on in the background, but there’s a lot of work that goes into that, particularly with the Department of Defense contract that SBE is involved in.

RW: The direction of membership trends is down over time.

Pecena: Yes it is down, That was a big focus of our last strategic planning effort — ways to increase that membership, and that was the basis of our outreach program.

We still need to focus on the increasing membership.

RW: We’ve seen a lot of attention in the national discussion over diversity, and as we’ve reported, radio engineering in the United States certainly has not got a lot of racial diversity, or age diversity for that matter. What role, if any, does the SBE have in this discussion?

Pecena: That is an aspect that needs to be on our radar. I’ll just say, it honestly has not been a dedicated focus. We have been focused more broadly on increasing our membership by providing desirable, needed services to our members regardless of race or demographic background. I think we have some more fundamental things to work on before we dedicate our resources to a specific area. That’s my personal feeling.

We are working too on revamping our international program, with a new committee chair who is going to take a look at that aspect; that brings more of an international perspective.

RW: SBE has always kept a voice on Capitol Hill when there are technical issues being discussed. Are there things that SBE is following closely in Washington that we should know about?

Pecena: Certainly I think that “spectrum grabs” will continue, and we continue to comment.

When the December SBE Signal newsletter comes out, there’ll be a piece that Chris Imlay wrote regarding some actions questioning the ethics of broadcast engineers in general. I think he’s done a really good job of responding to that.

We’ll continue to do our best to help the SBE make good decisions. A lot of times decisions are made without the true technology impact [being considered]. We’ll do our best to keep our opinions in front of those FCC staffers.

RW: The 2021 calendar already looks different with no spring NAB Show. How are your events and meetings affected?

Pecena: Historically the SBE has two major in-person events a year, the first centered around the NAB in the spring, and then the national meeting, which occurs in the fall, typically in conjunction with a regional broadcasting event. This year it was to be Chapter 22’s Broadcast and Technology Expo in Syracuse, N.Y.

With everything shuffling around and the NAB moving to an October show next year, it was not felt we could do both of those within three weeks; so the 2021 NAB will feature our traditional “NAB events” with that national meeting and awards presentation, which of course this year were done virtually.

It looks good on paper today. We’ll see how things work out.

Everyone is hopeful that we can get back to some in-person events at some point. One of the things we’re always excited to do is our regional Ennes workshops. Outside of one early this year, they were all canceled, so I’m hopeful that at some point in 2021, we can get back to those in-person regional Ennes workshops around the country. We have several chapters or state broadcast associations that are interested in that.

The post Online Resources Blossom at SBE appeared first on Radio World.

One in a series of commentaries about how radio’s technical infrastructure will look in the future.

Michael LeClair is chief engineer of WBUR Boston and former tech editor of RW Engineering Extra. 

I recently moderated a roundtable interview with five leading technologists for the Radio World ebook “Virtualizing the Air Chain.”

Radio World’s free ebook explores next-gen radio architecture. Read it here.

We discussed whether the industry is ready for a fully virtual air chain, what kind of obstacles exist, and the implications for radio managers and their suppliers including a discussion of cap-ex vs. op-ex philosophies. You can read that very interesting discussion at radioworld.com/ebooks.

Radio World’s Editor in Chief Paul McLane then posed a related question to me: “All this is happening in an industry that, at least in the United States, suddenly is not required to maintain a physical studio in every city of license,” he asked. 

“This combined with the possibilities in virtualization seems to open some pretty remarkable implications for what a studio air chain looks like in a few years. Am I right in thinking that this is an important angle to this story?”

I replied, and Paul asked me to share my thoughts with readers.

Stretching the meaning

Yes, there’s an angle there; and the engineers in our ebook roundtable were clearly coming from groups that all would find that angle to their advantage.

But I note that satellite distribution already has consolidated the studio into one location if desired. 

The removal of the main studio rule simply codifies the lack of having any presence in a particular market that is associated with their license, except the physical transmitter and their EAS monitoring. 

Stations had already been stretching the meaning of the main studio rule for years of course, both in the commercial and NCE worlds. With music automation, we’re already at the point where the studio portion of the radio station has been virtualized into computers and it happened a long time ago. 

To take EMF and Cox as examples, they appear to be well along in building out the centralized “cloud” infrastructure, but not in the commonly understood sense of moving all their infrastructure into the hands of someone like Amazon, which handles web services for all kinds of web-based businesses

Neither appears to be enthused about the idea of moving their air chain content into a rented site with IT support, no matter how good it is. They are going to model their centralized IT operations like a content distribution site. They may even purchase the support for it if the price is right (as in the concept of “hybrid cloud” that we discuss in the ebook). 

But they don’t seem on a track to ditch all their assets and rent them from suppliers whose primary expertise is web site hosting. For the multiple streams and formats they generate, it could all be done in one location and then spread out across the country to fill in at a selection of stations that works for them. Assembly of localized advertising could be done over the web from anywhere. 

Much of what is streaming on the web has been shown to be aimed at listeners to legacy programming from radio stations. The volumes there are so large that most (if not all) large streamers have already moved to the model of renting out capacity from a CDN, a content distribution network. The station creates a stream they hand off to the CDN, and the CDN arranges the necessary parts and pieces like different versions of the stream (higher or lower bitrate), ad insertion and variable bandwidth upon demand to support a changing number of listeners. Individual stations don’t really have to do much except hand off the content and that could be coming from or going to anywhere in the continental United States. 

Creating live content would still require a studio somewhere — I’m imagining a large and uninteresting warehouse somewhere in the Midwest with 40 voice booths, cranking out the announcer bits and producing local ads when needed. Add in music assembly by automation at the CDN and you are ready to build as many feeds as you need for the broadcast side, using a few successful templates as a start. 

Cloud thinking

I would argue that we’ve already reached this model with existing distribution networks and there’s really nothing new there. 

The new part of the discussion is the idea of moving all the other aspects of the air chain that might normally reside at a transmitter site into this common studio for assembly so that a single stream could be deployed to meet the unique characteristics of a particular station: HD, multicast variations, processing, PPM, RDS metadata, HD PAD and EAS insertion. 

On the other hand, as Alan Jurison of iHeart said during our roundtable, this might be an attractive option to smaller broadcast groups or ones that serve low population areas that have limited local advertising revenue available. 

In order to get 24/7 support they might want to build the automation and the rest of the chain in an actual cloud center, then ship it off to the transmitter. As Philipp Schmid of Nautel said: All you need is an Ethernet jack and you’re all set. 

But it’s true that the pandemic has moved our entire industry into learning the techniques required to assemble a broadcast program largely, if not entirely, from home. These newly learned skills would be at the core of transitioning the industry further to a centralized data center model. 

What do you think the radio air chain of the future looks like? Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

The post Groups Will Model I.T. Like a CDN appeared first on Radio World.

Gene Autry performs at KMO in Tacoma, Wash., 1949.

John Schneider’s annual salute to radio’s golden past is back with a new edition for 2021.

The highlight of The Radio Historian’s 2021 Radio History Calendar is, as always, the pictures, usually originally black & white and now colorized by John himself.

These pictures include Gene Autrey singing at KMO in Tacoma, Wash., in 1949; bathing beauties on radio and, always eagerly anticipated views of old equipment and radio practices. Some of these are even more interesting in the age of COVID.

Especially fun is the cover shot of NBC Radio’s master control console at Rockefeller Center. It looks like something from the cover of a pre-World War II science fiction book.

Besides the eye candy, the calendar has a seemingly neverending list of important historical radio dates; at least one for almost every day.

Makes a great Christmas gift for that special radio engineer in your life. The price is $24.95, including shipping, in the United States. Foreign purchases are more.

The post 2021 Historical Radio Calendar Now Available appeared first on Radio World.

iCON Pro Audio has released its new Duo44 Live portable/desktop recording interface, intended for podcasting, home recording, live streaming applications and more.

The Duo44 Live is a four-input/four-output USB recording interface allowing full duplex simultaneous recording and playback. There are dual mic/instrument preamps accessed via front-panel combi connectors alongside potentiometers to control the input level of each of the associated analog microphone/instrument inputs, while the rear panel also includes MIDI I/O on standard five-pin DIN connectors.

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

A master level potentiometer is available on the front panel, while the topside-sited monitor knob allows for direct monitoring when turned clockwise and “computer” monitoring (complete with effects while recording by using low-latency ASIO monitoring) when turned anticlockwise. The unit sports D/A-A/D convertors delivering 114 dB dynamic range and provides 24-bit/192 kHz conversions.

The Duo44 Live is equipped with a +5 VDC power supply connector, enabling external power to be supplied when working with a USB-connected iPad, for example, so no need, necessarily, to work with a computer-hosted digital audio workstation. Beyond that, iCON Pro Audio’s (Windows-only) proprietary ProDriver 4 software lets users redirect audio from any source on their computer and also hosts VST or DirectX plug-ins without a DAW.

iCON Pro Audio’s Duo44 Live is available at $169.99.

Info: https://iconproaudio.com

 

The post iCON Pro Audio Debuts Duo44 Live USB Audio Interface appeared first on Radio World.

The author is chief engineer, Broadcast Operations Division, at Learfield IMG College.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — As the chief engineer of the Learfield IMG College broadcast operations division, my team and I spend our days assuring that all of our broadcast facilities, equipment, remote connections, satellite uplink and internet streaming systems are all operating correctly.

One of the sports production studios at the Learfield IMG College broadcast operations facility in Jefferson City, Mo. A Comrex sits on the center shelf in the rack.

In addition to these tasks, also make sure that our remote crews have all of the equipment and cabling they need to do a complete broadcast. As time has gone on, my expertise has grown to include doing this work for our podcast-creating networks as well.

Learfield started dabbling in the podcasting world a few years ago, and in the last two years we’ve gotten deeper into podcasting and Facebook Live streaming with many of the networks we work with. At this point, we’re using the Comrex Opal for several podcasts.

For example, we use it for a weekly coach’s interview podcast with Kansas State Network, North Carolina State Wolfpack Network and the Wisconsin Badgers Network. Some Learfield IMG College sports networks use podcasting platforms to provide a weekly 10-minute insight into the coming week’s football/basketball game, where the play-by-play hosts often interview an opposing team’s coach.

We primarily use Opal to acquire audio from our play-by-play host talents, who are usually connecting from a home office or from the broadcast studio at their university. We also often use Opal’s second connection to patch in either our coach, or an opposing coach that could be located states away.

We utilize Opal by sending a connection link to guests, who can then connect to it on a laptop or mobile phone with just a click. Because some of our recurring weekly podcasts are streamed live, we use Opal in a live context as well.

When we think about doing an interview, whether with a governor or with talent or maybe even a sports icon, there is nothing better than using Opal to obtain a rich, full fidelity-high-quality audio feed.

We recently used Opal to do an interview on a COVID response with Kim Reynolds, the governor of Iowa. We sent the link, the governor’s team clicked it and connected to the Opal, and we connected our talent. With no extra fuss, we did a three-way call and recorded it.

Wyatt Thompson, right, the voice of the Kansas State Wildcat Network, interviews Courtney Messingham, Kansas State football offensive coordinator.

The audio sounded incredible — much better coming through the Opal — than we would have had on a standard telephone coupler line.

In our experience, connecting talent and individuals with Opal is very simple. We’ve been able to use this platform across many talent levels — from folks that are not technically inclined all the way to people who are extremely tech-savvy. We’re able to walk most people through it, and once they do it the first time, they’re like “Wow, that was really easy.” And to me, that’s the beauty of this system. We send you a link, you get it on your laptop or on your smartphone, you press the button and talk into it, and you’re basically done.

Comrex Opal is a fantastic solution. We’ve found multiple uses for it: everything from doing a podcast to a phone interview or a three-way call. It’s affordable, and the audio quality sounds like everybody is sitting in the same studio. For anyone in the broadcasting world who wants to put up a high-quality audio stream or audio feed, there’s no comparison to anything else in the market. Opal sounds 150% better than just a standard phone call.

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 Chris Crump at Comrex in Massachusetts at 1-978-784-1776 or visit http://www.comrex.com.

 

 

 

The post User Report: Comrex Opal Polishes Podcast Interviews appeared first on Radio World.

Extending its investment in podcasting, iHeartMedia announced a partneship with European podcast platform Podimo to translate and adapt podcasts “across the globe in different languages.”

The announcement was made by Podimo Chief of Strategic Relations Eva Lægdsgaard and iHeartPodcast Network President Conal Byrne.

They’ll start with the true crime podcast “Forgotten: Women of Juárez,” or in Spanish, “Olvidadas: Muertes de Juárez” in Spanish, German and Danish.

The podcast investigates theories about the disappearance of hundreds of young women in the city of Juárez, some found with symbols carved into their bodies or their wrists bound.

The adapted series will be released early next year in 20 countries in Latin America, Spain and the United States, with Germany and Denmark to follow.

 

The post iHeartMedia, Podimo to Translate Podcasts appeared first on Radio World.

Interconnects hardware manufacturer SoundTools has introduced its new WallCAT 8, a two-gang wall plate with four female and four male XLR connectors.

The plate utilizes eight connectors, allowing the choice of either input or output across four XLR channels. A pair of RJ45 connections in the back of the plate transmit analog audio, AES3, DMX and interCOM signals to multiple locations with a Cat-5e, Cat-6, or Cat-7 cable. All connectors on the WallCAT 8 come preinstalled — ready to go without a need for soldering.

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

Noting that “The WallCAT 4, male and female, have been wonderfully popular products for us,” Dave Rat, designer of SoundTools products wondered if the company could fit eight connectors on to a standard 4-inch x 4-inch wall box plate, and then set out to design it. “The WallCAT 8 is exciting because it allows the same panel to be used as either inputs outputs or any combination,” he says.

As with all SoundTools products, the plate is guaranteed for life by the company’s Happy Human Warranty, he said. “If you need a replacement during the unit’s lifetime, give our team a shout.”

Info: www.soundtools.com

 

The post SoundTools Launches WallCat 8 Wall Plate appeared first on Radio World.

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

When a manmade or natural disaster strikes, we are reminded that radio broadcasting can be considered the most resilient and most widely available tool to reach out to people and save lives.

We know how this works in the analog world; on-air services are interrupted for short audio announcements and typically restricted to a single language.

The DRM digital radio standard (www.drm.org) retains all the basic strengths of radio broadcasting for alarm dissemination, adding a whole set of modern features that can establish DRM’s Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF) as part of any modern national alert network.

How does DRM work in case of disasters?

When a disaster situation strikes, an explicit alarm signal is triggered by the emergency authorities and sent by broadcasters to receivers indicating where to find the actual emergency program.

This allows radio receivers to monitor DRM’s dedicated alarm signaling channel in the background (e.g. while in deep standby mode) and to wake up on demand; or, while playing, to automatically retune to the indicated emergency program.

In practice this means that temporarily emergency services are inserted and available on air instead of interrupting ongoing services. This allows listeners to retune to the previously selected station as soon as they discover that they are currently located outside the affected area.

On various levels, a well-designed DRM network for EWF will ensure that an active alarm is limited to the extent possible for listeners in the area affected by the disaster. The Journaline component of the emergency program provides an accurate definition of the affected area as a region, so that a receiver can automatically switch back to the previously tuned service once it has established that the alarm is no longer relevant to the listener.

Digital radio’s unique capability of transmitting detailed and structured textual information using the advanced Journaline text application allows digital radio-based EWF services to reach a wider audience with different needs, like users with hearing impairments as well as non-native speakers or tourists who would not be able to understand audio-only announcements in the local language.

RRI implements DRM EWF

Where has been EWF on DRM been demonstrated? In one of the most disaster-prone areas of the globe.

The Indonesian public broadcaster Radio Republic Indonesia (RRI) has recently taken the final step towards implementing the DRM Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF) in its five DRM FM transmissions recently commissioned in the Java island, the most populous of the 14,000 in the Indonesian archipelago.

This is shaping into the first-ever large-scale implementation of the EWF service in DRM in the Asian region.

A recent in-depth evaluation of the technical parameters and coverage of the DRM FM transmissions was carried out by the Indonesian Ministry of Information and Communication (Kominfo), arriving at some very favorable conclusions on the performance of both DRM in FM and EWF.

This is part of the commitment made by RRI to providing comprehensive emergency warning services to the public in Indonesia, using the DRM infrastructure.

But the public broadcaster alone cannot deliver it and a proper command chain needs to be set up involving the authorities providing the information, the transmission including the specific emergency path and the relevant and suitable receivers.

A recent webinar explained this and detailed the many agencies that need to work seamlessly together for this. So, disasters are terrible and averting them is not for the faint-hearted as without cooperation and coordination such a system is unworkable.

 

 

In August RRI carried out a special trial and demo in  Jakarta  highlighting and proving that the DRM EWF is an extremely versatile and dependable warning system; the trial proved that it can be configured to reliably and accurately generate appropriate warning signals to be delivered to the specific affected areas.

 

 

RRI had already decided to implement the EWF service in its new five DRM FM transmitting stations, which have become operational since June — currently operational in Java (the first DRM FM transmitter to be commissioned in the Asian region), Timor and West Sumatra.

 

The location of these initial DRM FM transmitters has been selected so that these transmitters could be efficiently deployed for EWF warnings (including tsunami warnings) in the western and southern coastal areas. More such transmitters are planned in the near term to cover many such critical areas.

As detailed by Sharad Sadhu in a recent DRM article, currently, all the DRM FM digital radio stations that can deliver EWF are broadcasting audio services RRI Pro 1 and RRI Pro 3, plus a Journaline text service with news and current affairs information in textual form (in writing) in Bhasa Indonesia (national language all without the need for Internet connection.

The Official Ministry of the Communications, or Kominfo, conducted extensive measurements in West Java and later at RRI Jakarta. Kominfo concluded that the test results in the field are consistent with ITU-R Recommendation BS.1114 and BS.1660.

These conclusions, now publicly available, include that DRM digital radio in the FM radio band can be implemented side by side (coexistence) with analog FM radio using 200 kHz frequency spacing from existing FM radio; full DRM implementation can be emitted with a frequency space of 100 kHz between adjacent DRM FM radio transmissions; DRM technology can also be used for EWF very effectively.

With this the stage is set for the first-ever large-scale implementation of the EWF service in DRM in the Asian region. This will surely set an example for other countries in this region to use DRM EWF technology to save people’s lives.

 

The post Does Emergency Warning Really Work on DRM? appeared first on Radio World.

One in a series of articles about the careers and experiences of Black engineers in radio broadcasting.

Rodney Belizaire (Photo by Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)

Rodney Belizaire has worked in engineering in New York City for 37 years, work that allowed him to travel to points across the globe as a specialist in remote radio engineering.

Belizaire is senior engineer in Media Operations Engineering at Disney Direct to Consumer International. He provides technical management for the New York radio stations of ESPN and tech support for ESPN’s and DTCI’s audio initiatives, which cross over into TV and video.

Radio World: You started early in the field, showing notable initiative for a teen.  

Rodney Belizaire: When I was 13 years old, I gave myself a summer project of writing all of the CEs of all the major radio facilities I wanted to visit in New York.

I didn’t realize until years later how seeing one African American engineer, the only one I saw in my visits, made an impact on me. In seeing him do his job running the board, I saw someone who looked like me. It was at that point I realize that my dream was possible. I charted and planned my course from there.

RW: Has the acceptance level as a Black man in radio engineering changed since then?

Belizaire: I stand on the shoulders of mentors, colleagues and benefactors who paved the way for me throughout my career.

Due to the lack of diversity in broadcast engineering, there have been only a handful of those African Americans who I met coming up in the New York City community who were staff engineers, who by the way never even had aspirations to be more than that because they never felt the opportunities would come their way. Only one who was a CE, David Antoine, who I could look to for guidance and what I realized later was mentorship, on how to navigate the broadcast engineering field.

That said, there’s no way I’m in this industry without being given the opportunities by non-African Americans to prove myself. I’d like to think that my work ethic, commitment to excellence and good fortune to have crossed paths with the right people at the right time have kept me in the industry all these years.

I’d like to think that due to the diverse racial makeup and melting pot that New York City is, that as time went on, being an African American in media in general wasn’t like being a unicorn.

I’ve often wondered if I hadn’t been born and raised in NYC whether I would’ve have had the same opportunities. The cream of the crop in engineering talent works here, so I felt like I was playing catchup my whole career. I knew that I had to bring excellence to everything that I did every day.

There was also the silent but ever-present knowledge and burden that if I screwed up, I wouldn’t only be seen as just a bad engineer but I could jeopardize things for anyone who looked like me moving forward. My goal was and is every day to break stereotypes and biases that non-African Americans have about people who look like me.

[Related: “Is Diversity in U.S. Radio Engineering Possible?”]

RW: We’ve heard from other Black engineers about how they felt or were treated in certain employment circumstances. Have there been awkward situations?

Belizaire: I’ve run out of fingers and toes to count how many times that vendors, industry colleagues, etc., who have met me for the first time after dealing with me by email or phone, can’t even hide their shock that I am African American. Whatever they were or weren’t expecting when they do finally meet me, I knew that it wasn’t me.

At conventions, my attendee badge and the company I work for have opened many doors that I’m pretty sure would’ve otherwise been closed to me.

Most people tend to forget my skin color once they get to know me. I treat people the way I’d like to be treated and have been fortunate to be treated extremely well for the most part.

I’ve definitely done remotes, worked on job sites or entered buildings where I’ve experienced the standard extra level of scrutiny and circumspection.

I’ve also been stopped by the police for driving while Black in the middle of the night, on the way to a morning show remote prep, and had to have a White colleague vouch for me before I could enter a work site, because it was impossible, in the gatekeeper’s mind, that I was there to do what I said I was there to do, even if my name was on a list.

So sure, I’ve been made to feel like I don’t belong; but I don’t let that stop or define me. What defines me is that I’m there to do a job to the best of my ability and my employer’s satisfaction.

RW: What does it feel like to be in your shoes right now? What emotions do you have about the current social movement?

Belizaire: Let’s face it, most senior executives who run broadcast stations or operations don’t live in areas where they see many people or interact socially with anyone who look like me. Once they leave work, they may never see another African American unless they are at work.

Whatever they may feel about African Americans, whether it’s conscious or unconscious bias, they may not want to place anything as important as the technical reins, directly tied to their revenue, in the hands of someone who looks like me.

In general, every decision I make outside of my home is usually rooted in avoiding situations that could need or cause me to justify my existence based on someone else’s bias, prejudice, stereotypes, etc.

Someone said to me after the George Floyd incident that racism never really went away. It was only dormant. That’s a powerful statement inasmuch as even with the societal progress that’s been made, it may easily take a couple of more generations before enough biases have been put aside.

I’ll admit that I was caught off guard and dismayed by the events that led to the powder keg and frustration of the national movement, because I mistakenly thought we were more evolved as a society.

That said, I and my family do our part to dispel stereotypes, defy negative expectations and do the best we can to be part of a society that changes for the better. And I do believe this will get better with the awareness brought on by the events that put a spotlight on biases and still-pervasive racism. I pray that the conversations that have begun will continue.

RW: What can broadcasters do to improve recruitment protocols in order to bring more diversity into the technical side of radio?

Belizaire: The issue isn’t just recruitment. It’s pay parity. And education about career options since most kids don’t even see radio as a viable medium anymore.

I know that the SBE [Society of Broadcast Engineers] and others do their best to evangelize broadcast engineering, but broadcast engineering is seen as a dead end. I am guilty myself about not evangelizing for it, but the jobs are minimal, require a lot of work due to reduced staffing and are thankless in any markets outside of the top 10.

I mentor younger folks, but I can’t get them interested in engineering. The few I’ve tried to interest don’t have the fire in the belly and aren’t interested. There’s a reason why most recruits are coming from IT, which works on the studio side of things. Who’s teaching RF? Those are mostly contractor jobs now.

RW: On that topic, what would you say are the most important issues or trends in U.S. radio engineering?

Belizaire:  Relevancy, adaptability and trendsetting. The issues loom larger than ever with the exponential changes in technology year over year, instead decade over decade.

How do engineers use technological trends to reach the audience wherever they are, using whatever methodologies are necessary? More than ever, the radio engineer needs to continually adapt to be media technologists, staying ahead of the curve through continual education.

SIDEBAR: Hello From Venice

We asked Belizaire to share an interesting career project memory:

“One of the pinnacles was helming the first ISDN remote originating from Venice, Italy,” he wrote.

“In 1995 while being a staff engineer at WQXR-FM in New York, America’s foremost and most listened to classical station, I was afforded the opportunity to be the remote engineer for week-long live broadcasts originating from Venice.

“There were many challenges surrounding the use of an external Adtran NT-1. Outside of Italy or to non-visitors, it’s not universally understood that Venice is many little islands that make up two larger sections separated by the Grand Canal, making up one larger island not on the Italian mainland. The Venetian telecom central office had never done or had an ISDN use request off the Italian mainland, so their telco central office wasn’t even entirely equipped to accomplish what was needed.

“Between my broken — really, nonexistent — Italian, a dedicated Italian telecom professional, our benefactor’s political connections and clout and a miracle or two, we were able to become the first broadcasters to originate a live remote from Venice using ISDN in 15 kHz mono.

“All the broadcasts were done from the Safe Venice Society’s offices next to the Grand Canal, which provided great ambient sound and views for the host, who was giving play by play descriptions of the breathtaking views down the Canal and having the listeners view Venice from his mind’s eye.

“An attempt to originate a couple of the broadcasts from one of the hotels never happened because they could not move or provide ISDN in time to the second location. Whichever central office configurations that worked in the offices did not work at the hotel.

“Imagine traversing the Venetian streets with a cart full of equipment on almost cobblestone-like streets, rushing to make it back to the offices in order to get the broadcasts on the air. I will never forget that.”

The post Belizaire Reflects on Race, Success appeared first on Radio World.

Cranborne Audio has introduced its new Camden EC1, a desktop preamp with analog saturation and a headphone amplifier with a discrete line mixer built-in, all fit in a half-rack chassis, making it aimed at musicians, engineers, podcasters and voice-over artists.

The Camden EC1’s preamp design provides up to 68.5 dB of gain, allowing the preamp to pair with low-gain dynamic microphones and ribbon mics. Also onboard is a headphone amp with a dedicated line mixer to provide zero-latency monitoring of the preamp mixed with playback from a DAW.

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

At the turn of a dial, the Camden preamp takes on the persona of vintage transformer or tube-based preamps using its “Mojo” analog saturation control and “thump” and “Cream” styles. Users can split the Hi-Z signal using the link output to record both the DI and a processed amped signal, allowing for re-amping workflows. The unit’s connectivity includes balanced XLR and 1/4-inch impedance-balanced preamp outputs and a 10 dB pad to prevent clipping converters.

VO artists and podcasters can monitor their vocal channel directly using headphones connected to the preamp itself, and apply Mojo analog saturation control to apply different characters to one’s voice — Thump can be used to create a sense of intimacy or Cream to underline excitement. Podcasters will be able to apply 68.5 dB of gain to low-sensitivity microphones, such as a Shure SM7b or EV RE20, reportedly without adding noise or coloration.

The Camden EC1 features the same reference-grade design developed for the 500R8 audio interface, and its headphone amps deliver up to 1.2 watts of clean power per ear and a flat frequency response from 5 Hz to 70 kHz.

Info: www.cranborne-audio.com

The post Cranborne Audio Debuts EC1 Preamp appeared first on Radio World.

Streaming technology platform Radioplayer is launching in France, Sweden and the Netherlands, bringing its country total to 14.

Organizers are taking particular note of the importance of France as an automotive market, accounting for 14% of European car sales and more than a quarter of European car production.

[Read: Radioplayer Italia App Is Now Available]

Radioplayer started as a nonprofit collaboration of the BBC and the commercial radio industry of the United Kingdom. “Unlike other radio aggregation models, Radioplayer is nonprofit, and each system is specific to the country in which it is launched,” according to its latest press release.

“There are shared technical standards for the Radioplayer web-player, the radio discovery apps, and the back-end systems which power them, but broadcasters retain control over their own branding, streaming, and commercial deals.”

The organizers of Radioplayer say the effort is important so that “the international radio sector can speak to all car manufacturers with one voice, to keep radio strong in the dashboards of the future.”

The three countries will add metadata (station information, logos, streams, podcasts etc.) to the Radioplayer data feed that supports “hybrid” radio interfaces in a growing number of new cars. “These smart devices can switch automatically between DAB+, FM and streaming, to keep listeners locked-in to their favorite radio stations. Almost a million cars are already driving around Europe with radios powered by metadata from Radioplayer stations.”

Radioplayer France is supported by broadcasters Radio France, Les Indés Radios, M6/RTL, Lagardère, NRJ, and NextRadioTV. “The new partnership will provide 67 million French people with improved ways to listen to their favorite radio stations in the car, and via apps, smart speaker, and smart TV integrations,” according to the announcement.

Radioplayer Netherlands will operate as a partnership between public service broadcaster NPO and Dutch national commercial broadcasters. Radioplayer Sweden is backed by a consortium of major broadcast groups Sveriges Radio, Bauer and Nent.

 

The post Radioplayer Expands in Europe appeared first on Radio World.

The 2021 NATE UNITE convention has been cancelled.

NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association said its trade show, planned for Memphis in February, is off. It made the decision after reviewing COVID trends and safety guidelines from local and state officials in Tennessee.

“As an organization founded on the core tenet of safety, the health and well-being of the Association’s members and staff is a top priority,” it stated in an announcement. The most recent show had about 2,400 attendees.

The organization said it is now focused on planning NATE UNITE 2022 in Las Vegas in February of 2022.

It did not announce a virtual version of the 2021 show, but meetings of the NATE board and related committees will be held virtually.

The schedule of 2021 conventions in the U.S. telecom and broadcast industry had already been disrupted when the National Association of Broadcasters made the call to postpone its 2021 NAB Show from April to October of next year.

Another staple of the annual industry calendar is the convention of the National Religious Broadcasters. An NRB spokesperson told Radio World today that it is still planning a full-in person gathering in March.

 

The post NATE Cancels 2021 Annual Tradeshow appeared first on Radio World.

The author is Tieline’s U.S. codec expert. This is one in a series of articles about how to get the most out of various popular broadcast products.

The past few months we have been busy helping clients prepare for their fall sports broadcasts here in North America. Customers are always looking for ways to help them broadcast live play-by-play and to assist with interviewing players remotely during the pandemic.

When it comes to producing audio for sports broadcasts Tieline is like State Farm Insurance: “We know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two.” From the local high school Friday night lights to the NFL and everything in between, when it comes sports broadcasting we have seen it, and prepared solutions to assist.

To assist you with broadcasting live sports from home, I’d like to explore a few of these areas with you.

Multiple streams from remote sites

The most common need we have seen has been the ability to have a single codec stream to multiple remote studios. This is due to the increased number of sportscasters calling their games from their home studios, with maybe a single person at the game for crowd noises, game sounds and sideline interviews, while still maintaining the final mix at the flagship studio.

With Tieline’s remote field equipment, you can transmit multiple streams as they feature multiple encoders and decoders. Each encoder and decoder has the ability to stream unique or similar audio sources going to multiple locations, all running in different formats to conserve bandwidth.

With a little bit of network configuration or the use of Tieline’s Traversal Server, TieLink, you can have your on-air host at home be a “remote” studio with the ViA codec. Then your reporter at the game, with another ViA, can dial into your “remote” studio like a normal connection.

Once the on-site ViA and the “remote” studio ViA connect, both ViA units can then establish a secondary link back to the master control center at the flagship. Allowing the studio to have the ability to adjust the final mix before it goes on-air, as well as maintaining the level of content your audience wants.

 

Feeding multiple IP audio streams

Another common solution request that we get, particularly with high school broadcasts, is the ability to feed audio to both an online video stream as well as a traditional radio remote back to the studio.

Other than video equipment and a PC to upload a live stream to broadcast to the local community, you also need to worry about the audio for play-by-play. For those who have our remote codec field equipment, like the ViA or i-Mix they are in luck as they offer a mixer with multiple outputs.

For example, the ViA could be programmed to have bidirectional audio with the studio and also have a unique secondary output through a USB port to plug directly into your video streaming rig. This allows the user to have fewer devices to control and manage in the field, as well as maintain audio quality to the broadcast studio.

As restrictions have been put in place by some teams and/or companies, it has become more important to be able to assist without having physical access. In comes Tieline’s HTML5 web management interface that comes built-in to all modern Tieline hardware.

With the right type of network and codec configuration, an engineer can obtain remote control of a Tieline codec to assist talent. But this comes at a price and that price is exposure to the public internet, posing a security risk.

The way to tackle this is to use a VPN or Tieline Cloud Codec Controller. A VPN would give the studio and engineer the ability to access the equipment remotely as if they were on the same local area network. Cloud Codec Controller doesn’t create a VPN. Instead it creates an SSL Socket between the Tieline hardware and Tieline’s Cloud Codec Controller Hub Network.

The network establishes a secure path between the codec and the PC to provide remote control of the equipment. With the Cloud Codec Controller, you can reduce equipment costs for remote access and also give your talent the peace of mind to broadcast without having to worry about technical issues.

When it comes to broadcasting events remotely, regardless of the situation or the requirements in the field, Tieline has a solution prepared for you. Whether you are looking to feed multiple studios, or you just want to split and share the codec’s audio to another broadcast team, Tieline is there to help you.

Tieline has also created a range of support videos to support different setups and you can view them on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/TielineSupport.

The post Using Tieline ViA for Play-by-Play appeared first on Radio World.

Avid has introduced Pro Tools | Carbon, a new hybrid audio production system intended to create an improved tracking experience as it integrates Pro Tools with HDX DSP acceleration and the native CPU of the user’s computer.

Using Carbon’s onboard HDX DSP, the new Pro Tools Hybrid Engine simultaneously allows users to access on-demand, low-latency channels to record through AAX DSP plug-ins in real time — with sub-1 ms latency monitoring performance. Going between Native Mode and DSP Mode requires only a single button press per track in Pro Tools, allowing users to simplify their workflow for recording and mixing.

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

AAX DSP, at the core of the Hybrid Engine, delivers the same sound quality in both native and HDX DSP Acceleration domains, enabling users to toggle in and out of DSP Mode while maintaining sound quality. This also enables music creators to disconnect Carbon and physically take their mix elsewhere or collaborate with others who don’t have the interface.

Carbon features double resolution clocking, and what Avid says is its most transparent mic preamp design to date. With four headphone outputs to send individual monitor mixes, eight preamps combined with 16 channels of ADAT inputs and an onboard talkback mic, the unit can handle tracking a full band. Carbon requires an Ethernet connection to the host computer, aiming to preserve the highest possible sound quality from input to output, as well as “futureproof” the unit.

In addition, Pro Tools 2020 introduces a much-requested “Dark Mode”-style UI, as well as a new ability to analyze audio and render it as MIDI notes. For audio post professionals, Pro Tools 2020 includes native integration to export ADM files for Dolby Atmos, a new space clips function that lets users arrange a multitude of clips in a fraction of the time, and a reintroduction of the ability to bounce sessions to QuickTime formats in macOS Catalina.

Pro Tools | Carbon is available now, starting at $3,999 — that includes a one-year Pro Tools subscription and partner plugins from Arturia, McDSP, Plugin Alliance, UVI, Native Instruments and Embody.

 

The post Avid Launches Pro Tools | Carbon appeared first on Radio World.

Meyer served in the Signal Corps during World War II. In Hawaii he was involved in the testing of radar and high-frequency communications systems.

When Arno Meyer passed away in the spring of last year, it marked the end of a notable chapter in radio broadcast engineering.

There’s a good chance that virtually every experienced broadcast engineer, whether working in AM, FM or TV, has used Belar monitors for transmitter testing or proof of performance measurements at some time in their career.

If so, they are the beneficiary of the wisdom, knowledge and kindness of the founder of Belar Electronics Laboratory.

Meyer passed away at age 90 in May of 2019 at his Malvern, Pa., home, following a prolonged illness.

He’d been a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Society of Broadcast Engineers. And while he is best remembered for his long career in broadcast monitoring and RF engineering, Meyer was a skilled woodworker and craftsman of stained glass windows.

ITA

Arno Mark Meyer was born in Munich, Germany, and emigrated to America with his mother when he was less than a year old. He spent his youth in Pittsburgh, where he soon developed an interest in electronics through the repair and construction of radios. He later graduated from Greenbrier Military School in West Virginia.

During the Second World War, he continued to develop his electronics knowledge by enrolling in the Signal Corps. He spent the duration stationed in Hawaii, where he was involved in the testing and development of radar and high-frequency communications systems.

After the war, Meyer lived in California, where he earned an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He later moved to Philadelphia and attended classes at the Moore School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and worked part-time for local electronics companies B&W and Jerrold.

Meyer’s first job after school was at ITA, which was involved at the time in industrial, military, broadcast and shortwave electronics. The first project he worked on was developing a transmitter for NASA’s Project Nimbus, which involved remote sensing of the Earth with satellites.

As he recalled in a Radio World interview, “It involved modifying a 5 kW FM broadcast transmitter to operate at 150 MHz with AM modulation. Eimac had no test data for the transmitter’s 4CX5000 final tube with those parameters, and basically said ‘Let us know how it works out.’” With some careful design and tweaking, the transmitter worked and was accepted by NASA.

Triangle Publishing, a media conglomerate that owned TV Guide and a host of radio and TV stations, eventually purchased ITA, and the company’s focus shifted more towards broadcasting; Meyer’s work projects changed accordingly.

Enter FM

His first assignment was to develop the Documentor, one of the industry’s first program audio logging devices.

Meyer recalled, “It would record 24 hours of audio on a 9-inch disc. Ten years’ worth of these Micro Discs could be stored on a bookshelf five feet long.”

One of the most challenging aspects of the design was creating a ceramic cartridge with a 1 mil stylus. Meyer worked with ITA’s mechanical engineer Buddy Wagner on the project.

By the mid 1950s interest in FM stereo was heating up. Eventually a standard was adopted, and the FCC authorized FM stereo broadcasting on June 1, 1961. Meyer was tasked with designing a stereo generator that could be paired with the ITA FM-10D exciter.

His SG-1D was a 15-tube device that used a fully saturated, balanced bridge modulator to achieve separation greater than 40 dB from 50 to 15,000 kHz, with distortion below 0.25%. This low distortion worked to good advantage with the Serrasoid FM exciters of the day, which themselves had distortion below 0.25% from 100 to 15,000 kHz.

The success of the SG-1D led Meyer to propose to Roger W. Clipp, vice president of Triangle/ITA Electronics, that the company pursue the wide-open market for FM stereo monitors.

Clipp responded that he had no interest in continuing in broadcast electronics, and in fact, wanted to sell the company.

Despite the setback, this was a defining moment for Meyer, as it set the direction for the rest of his career. Soon after his meeting, he handed in his resignation at ITA.

No buyers were found for the firm, and ITA went out of business shortly thereafter.

Isobel+Arno=“Belar”

In 1964, Meyer founded Belar Electronics Laboratory Inc. in the basement of his Drexel Hill, Pa., home.

The name Belar was formed by combining parts of the names of wife and husband Isobel and Arno, thus providing future customers with a great trivia question with which to challenge colleagues at trade shows.

Meyer set to work and released the company’s first product in 1965. The FMD-1 tunable FM detector addressed the need by broadcasters to visualize components of the FM stereo signal.

This device demodulated an FM signal to baseband for display on an oscilloscope or other measurement device. It also functioned as an AM detector to indicate AM noise and synchronous AM noise. The initial price was $89.50.

In fact, the FCC lab used the  FMD-1 to verify their measurement of commercial FM broadcast stereo performance standards in the mid-1960s.

Sales of the FMD-1 were brisk, and Meyer used the revenue to fund the design of his first FM monitors, the FMM-1 and FMS-1. Fingers crossed, he sent the working prototypes off to the FCC.

“At that time, all RF monitoring equipment had to have type approval from the FCC before it could be sold to broadcasters,” he later told Radio World.

“I received a call from Larry Miller at the FCC’s Laurel, Md., labs who confirmed that our monitors  not only passed the tests but were better than the commission’s own measuring equipment.”

Shortly thereafter, Meyer developed the SCM-1 SCA monitor and RFA-1 FM RF amp to round out the initial FM product line.

Then another stroke of good fortune occurred.

Ramping up

By the time Belar’s FM monitors were approved by the FCC, it had already approved monitors from McMartin Industries and Collins Radio, and a deadline had been set for all FM stereo broadcasters to have type-approved stereo monitors installed.

But Meyer spotted a problem. He did the math and discovered that the FCC’s deadline was, at best, unrealistic.

“We had an attorney present our case to the commission — that two manufacturers could not possibly build enough monitors to meet the deadline, but three manufacturers, with more time, could.”

The FCC concurred, and the deadline was moved back.

Ramping up to meet this demand meant it was time for Belar to move out of Meyer’s basement into real manufacturing facilities, so the company relocated to a plant in Upper Darby, Pa. His first big project in the new space was expanding the company’s product line to include AM and TV monitors.

In the 1970s, interest in an AM stereo broadcasting heated up, and Belar partnered with RCA to develop their standard. The two companies already had a longstanding relationship, since Belar was private-labelling AM and FM monitors for RCA. Using an RCA Ampliphase exciter as a test bed, Meyer developed both the generator and decoder, which was first shown in 1974 at the NAB Show in Chicago.

RCA eventually dropped out of the AM stereo race, but the standard continued as the Belar AM-FM stereo system.

Mark Grant, Belar CEO, said the company has always worked closely with audio processor and transmitter manufacturers. “They use our monitors in the development of new products, and they are always pushing the state of the art forward. Questions would sometimes arise as to whether anomalies were in the monitors or the company prototypes. Arno was always heavily involved in the process because a lot of what he learned was used to advance the capabilities of Belar monitors.”

Meyer was presented with the NAB’s Radio Engineering Achievement award in 2001. Letters of nomination came from Bob Orban, recipient of the 1995 NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award; Geoff Mendenhall, recipient of the 1999 NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award; Larry Cervon, former president of Broadcast Electronics; and Steve Hemphill, founder of Solid Electronics Labs.

When asked in 2010 about the secret to his success, Meyer chose one word: “Care. Care in design, care in manufacture, care in testing and care in customer service.”

All about accuracy

Colleagues recalled Meyer not only for his relentless pursuit of excellence in developing products, but also for the generosity of his time and knowledge and the fairness with which he treated customers.

Jeff Keith, senior product development engineer at Wheatstone, recalled an early encounter.

“Around 1975, I was CE of an AM/FM combo in Altoona, Pa. We’d been notified by the FCC that our FM was 3,600 Hz high, while our year-old Belar FMM-1 said we were –220 Hz. Measuring the FM carrier with two other means confirmed that we were indeed about 3,600 Hz high.”

Keith called Belar and was surprised when Meyer answered the phone.

“I explained the situation. His reply was, ‘Give me your shipping address and I’ll send you a new crystal.’ When I asked how much it would cost he said, ‘I’m not going to charge you for the part. The monitor shouldn’t have been lying to you.’”

When Keith began attending the NAB Show in 1980 he looked Meyer up to say hello and thank him for the support five years earlier.

“To my surprise, he actually remembered that incident. Every NAB thereafter, Arno was the very first person I’d go find to say hello.”

Greg Ogonowski, president of StreamS/Modulation Index, LLC, has devoted considerable energy to addressing FM overshoot problems; Belar monitors were one of his key factors for success.

“In the early ’80s, Gregg Laboratories developed a precision overshoot-compensated low-pass filter for AM and FM audio processing, which later became the Orban ‘0’ Card for Optimod-FM. Belar monitors were instrumental in this design because of their accuracy,” he said.

Meyer prepares to cut the cake in celebration of Belar’s 50th anniversary at the 2014 NAB show.

“Shortly thereafter, using Belar monitors in our laboratory, Modulation Index LLC, we  discovered some serious peak modulation control issues with many popular studio-to-transmitter links and FM exciters, as well as other monitors, which basically ‘undid’ the precision peak control your expensive audio processor was providing. Modulation Index then developed several modifications for these systems.”

“The accuracy of the Belar monitors helped us achieve all these goals, allowing broadcasters a loud, legal signal, and became a very important part of our arsenal of trusted test instruments. There was never more truth in advertising than their slogan, ‘When Accuracy Counts, Count on Belar.’”

A fascination with problems

Geoff Mendenhall, retired VP of Harris Broadcast and now consulting at Mendenhall Engineering LLC, had a close relationship with Meyer across several decades.

“After graduating from Georgia Tech, I wound up going to work for the Gates Radio Division of Harris Corp., where I became a long-term customer and reseller of Belar equipment,” Mendenhall said.

“Arno was very personable and always willing to help with engineering challenges. We collaborated over a span of many years, constantly improving the design of FM exciters and FM modulation monitors, which had to be matched in measurement capabilities as the state of the art evolved and improved over time.”

Mendenhall and Meyer often lent equipment to each other to verify measurement results, and in the process, Mendenhall said, he learned a lot about designing better and better FM modulators.

“When we needed a composite FM demodulator that was capable of measuring the analog FM signal to noise ratio down to and beyond 100 dB and distortion to less than 0.02%. Only the Belar FMM-2 could reliably do the job,” he continued.

“I remember Arno’s major involvement in the AM stereo initiative with the RCA/Belar AM+FM system, then later in the design of TV/BTS-TV stereo modulation monitors, and more recently, in the design of digital HD Radio modulation monitors. … Arno had a major impact on the technical evolution of FM broadcasting.”

Bob Orban, consultant to Orban Labs, recalls that Meyer was instrumental in helping him to understand FM overshoot issues, and to bring his premiere product to market.

“In 1972 I built a custom stereo limiter that had no low-pass filters and relied on clipping for peak control. Without filtering, the clippers produced a lot of energy above 15 kHz,” Orban said.

“A mystery arose when, with some program material, modulation peaks that were clearly well controlled at the studio produced egregious over modulation on the air as read on the FMM-1. A call to Arno revealed the reason: While removing the above-15 kHz energy produced by the clippers, the 15 kHz low-pass filters in the Collins stereo generator were overshooting and ringing. I took a scope up to the transmitter and, sure enough, Arno was right, that was exactly what was happening.”

With that in mind, Orban next designed non-overshooting low-pass filters and packaged the compressor, limiter, high-frequency limiter, filters and stereo generator together, as a system.

“I proceeded to design and prototype a single channel of this processing and build it on a perf-board. Upon consulting with Eric Small about package design, transmitter interfacing and regulatory requirements, I proceeded to prototype a stereo version of this processing, including built-in stereo generator. I called the result Optimod 8000A.”

Again, Meyer stepped in to help. He offered space in Belar’s 1975 NAB booth to Orban Associates to demonstrate the prototype 8000A, and how well it controlled modulation as indicated on Belar monitors.

“With this demo, Orban was off and running in the broadcast marketplace,” Orban said.

Circuit design consultant Bill Gillman recalled a relationship with Meyer that spanned 40 years. “I met Arno at my first NAB convention, April 1980 in Las Vegas. I was a 21-year-old chief engineer at an AM/FM in Provo, Utah.

“Explaining that I had ran into difficulty completing the required annual proof of performance measurements on my FM, Arno carefully proctored me on the interconnection and grounding of the Belar FM Stereo Monitor and my associated test equipment. His advice delivered a set of excellent measurements. I admired his gentle, quiet and expert manner, a truly competent engineer and business owner,” Gillman said.

“Years later, I held the position of vice president of Engineering at Gentner Communications, a broadcast equipment supplier. The Gentner and Belar NAB convention booths were often in close proximity. When booth traffic was low, Arno and I would get together and compare notes on everything in our respective designs and on everyone we knew at NAB.

“He was generous with his intellect and had a superior dry wit that I both admired and enjoyed. I am better and happier at my craft today because of Arno Meyer.”

Mark Grant recalls his years working with Meyer as the company’s monitors transitioned from analog to DSP devices. “Arno was always contributing, even though he wasn’t a DSP guy. He saw the big picture and was always shooting for better specs. The concepts of broadcast monitoring are the same as always, they’re just done with digital filters and firmware,” Grant said.

“Arno also had a fascination with problems. If you injected a signal into a device and the response wasn’t what you expected, he would pursue it to the very end to find out why. He saw it as a lesson to be learned.”

Grant concludes that the culture that Meyer nurtured at the Belar plant was a testament to his values and leadership.

Perhaps the life and career of Arno Meyer may best be summed up by Steve Hemphill, who said, “Unlike his monitors, Arno’s effect on the broadcast industry was truly unmeasurable.”

 

The post Arno Meyer: A Story of Accuracy and Integrity appeared first on Radio World.

The Federal Communications Commission initially dismissed a petition to reconsider the construction of a new FM translator station over issues of listener interference. But it was the licensee’s failure to read the fine print on how and when petitions can be filed that led to the outright dismissal of the translator application.

In 2018, Schwab Multimedia LLC submitted an application to construct a new FM translator in San Fernando, Calif. Soon after, LBI Radio License LLC, which is licensee of FM translator station KBUE in Long Beach, Calif., filed a petition to deny because seven listeners of KBUE were predicted to experience interference from the new translator. Soon after that, KBUE identified an additional seven KBUE listeners who were predicted to experience the same type of interference.

[Read: Media Bureau Changes Course, Revokes CP Grant for Oregon FM Translator]

That led the Media Bureau to dismiss Schwab’s amended application after determining that the proposed FM translator would interfere with those listeners. Schwab responded with a proposal to reduce power of the proposed translator to 1 Watt to eliminate interference for KBUE listeners. The bureau then moved to grant the reconsideration and the amended application in early February.

But LBI was not placated — it said the translator would still interfere with KBUE listeners despite the reduced power. That led the FCC to again dismiss Schwab’s amended application after determining that the proposed facilities, as modified, failed to eliminate the predicted interference. Schwab tried again, filing another petition for reconsideration in April 2020 along with an engineering amendment designed to eliminate any predicted interference.

This was a no-no in the FCC’s eyes and where the Schwab application was tripped up. The FCC dismissed Schwab’s second petition as “procedurally defective,” saying that there is no provision in the FCC Rules for an applicant to file multiple reconsideration petitions or multiple attempts to correct an application that is defective. Under the commission’s policy on defective applications, applicants are given one opportunity — and only one — to correct errors and seek reinstatement. The commission also clarified that these types of applications would only be considered in cases in which there was a relatively minor adjustment. Plus, that application must be filed within 30 days of the dismissal.

According to the commission, Schwab’s 2019 petition was its first and only permissible attempt to correct the deficiencies in the application. Plus its amendment failed to resolve a problem that appeared in the original application — that of potentially causing interference with KBUE listeners. Since the application can no longer be corrected, the Media Bureau moved to dismiss the petition filed by Schwab.

 

The post Rules on Filing of Petitions Trip Up California FM Translator appeared first on Radio World.

A new scholarship is available for women, people of color and people from small-market radio and TV stations who are starting their first managerial roles.

 The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation is accepting applications for the First Time Managers Fellowship. It will fund enrollment for 10 fellows in the First Time Manager Series, which is an online course of interactive sessions and resources “to help bridge the gaps in management training that can hinder professionals recently promoted to their first supervisory role,” the foundation said.

[Read: NAB Foundation Launches Diversity Resource]

The effort was announced by foundation President Michelle Duke and is funded by a grant from the Nielsen Foundation.

Fellows will be selected through a competitive application process. The deadline to apply is Dec. 18. Details are at NABFoundation.org.

 

The post “First Time Managers” Get a Boost appeared first on Radio World.

Another trade show makes the virtual choice.

Radiodays Asia has announced its 2021 event will be virtual, March 24–26. Note that will take place on Kuala Lumpur time.

[Visit the Radio World Calendar]

The virtual event will be a mix of conference sessions, meet ups and advanced training including master classes and workshops according to organizers. The show is taking suggestions for additional speakers and suggestions.

Announced sponsors are RCS and Triton Digital.

Send your show news and updates to radioworld@futurenet.com

The post Radiodays Asia 2021 Goes Virtual appeared first on Radio World.

An image from the DTS website.

Users of DTS Connected Radio will be able to access a big catalog of lyrics in 28 languages while listening in their cars, thanks to a partnership with LyricFind.

DTS Connected Radio is a hybrid radio system that combines over-the-air radio with IP-delivered content; the company and its subsidiary Xperi are promoting it as a global hybrid radio solution and say it will launch in a range of 2021 vehicles. (They recently announced that DTS Connected Radio will be in the Daimler MB User Experience (MBUX) infotainment system.)

[Read: Taking the Fear Out of Hybrid Radio]

The agreement with LyricFind provides features like lyrics display and search, synchronized lyrics “for in-cabin sing-along,” translation of song lyrics and lyrics for “Now Playing” music on all sources.

Bob Dillon, senior vice president, Connected Radio at Xperi, said automakers want this feature. He was quoted in the announcement, “We are pleased to be the first and only digital audio solution in our industry to offer this feature globally, which has emerged as a critical automaker requirement.”

“The new DTS Connected Radio lyrics feature, which is available in 28 languages, is fully integrated and immediately available to OEMs within the DTS Connected Radio platform,” the company announced.

 

The post DTS Connected Radio Adds Lyrics appeared first on Radio World.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks is continuing to voice support for the idea of allowing limited geo-targeting of content on FM boosters. He says it’s a way to encourage economic opportunities for marginalized communities.

Speaking to an online media symposium of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Citizenship Education Fund, Starks, who is currently one of two Democrats on the five-member commission, said the Federal Communications Commission “must meet its obligation to promote ownership by women and people of color,” according to text released by his office.

He noted that a pending notice of proposed rulemaking would allow GeoBroadcast Solutions to implement its idea for geo-targeting content. He said this would “allow for stations to provide hyper-localized content including alternative language news, weather, emergency alerts and advertising periodically during the broadcast day.”

“It has the potential to provide a method for stations owned by socially disadvantaged groups to better serve their communities, create opportunities for small businesses to advertise in a more cost-effective manner to a targeted audience, and for FM stations owned by people of color and women to increase advertising revenue,” Starks said.

Several major radio groups earlier this year expressed concern that the idea hasn’t been sufficiently trialed. They worry about possible listener confusion and station “self-interference.” They called it an unproven technology.

GBS has said its field tests showed no “harmful interference” and that the technology can be managed to minimize disruption.

The National Association of Broadcasters so far has given qualified support though it too said the FCC should “vet the technical issues” first.

Also, some broadcasters have told the FCC that if it were to allow this practice with boosters, it should also allow translators to original content,, potentially a much bigger change in rules covering the FM band. But the notice at the FCC only addresses proposals in the GBS petition, Radio World has reported.

 

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