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The author is chairman of the Digital Radio Mondiale consortium. Her commentaries appear regularly at radioworld.com.

Ruxandra-Obreja

The public broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) embraced radio digitization after 2010 delivering the largest radio digitization roll-out in the world. With just 39 powerful DRM transmitters (mainly mediumwave and shortwave) installed and operational, AIR can already cover a large part of the subcontinent and an estimated 900 million people with digital DRM signals.

Despite its staider programs, AIR is truly the one and only platform reaching all the corners of India and almost 100 percent of its population with news, Bollywood music, and more.

Speedy digitization decisions

The organization realized that the DRM all-band standard is the only option for bringing the large AIR AM infrastructure into the 21st century. DRM means additional digital radio services with reduced energy costs (40 to 80 percent for AM and up to 90 percent for FM). Pretty early on, it was recognized that the additional services can generate new revenue streams without compromising the existing content offer.

The creation by AIR of a more varied program content offer could maintain the interest of the listeners wooed by the nimbler news-free but music- and gossip-rich private FM stations prevalent in the big- and medium-size metros and cities (no more than about 60 percent of the total Indian listenership).

The better DRM content and active promotion of the technology can spur Indian listeners to buy digital receivers. Their increasing demand for receivers can then drive the industry to produce many such devices at decreasing prices as the volume goes up.

The primordial place held by radio in India, coupled with the rise of a stronger middle-class avid for new things like cars, delivered an interesting reality, despite the disruption of Covid-19.

Quick adoption in cars

With about five years of sustained sales, today there are more than 4.2 million cars on Indian roads equipped with DRM receivers as a standard feature. The Indian automotive market has achieved the fastest digital radio adoption, with 28 percent of new cars on the road currently equipped with a DRM digital radio receiver.

The automobile market enjoys the second highest share in the radio receiver market (after mobile phones and five-times greater than for standalone receivers). This achievement was recorded with most of AIR’s transmissions operating in digital-analog simulcast mode, but with the pure DRM transmissions slowly gaining ground. The figure of 28 percent within this short time frame after launching digital radio services is unparalleled in the world. The market share is similar with what has been achieved by DAB+ and, in the U.S., HD Radio over the past 20 years and with proportionally much greater investment from commercial companies.

A whole domestic automotive eco-system and digital radio lab incubation lab was developed around DRM by chipset manufacturers such as NXP, top receiver manufacturers and automakers, including Maruti Suzuki (the most popular brand in India), Hyundai, Toyota, MG Motor, Mercedes-Benz and others. These efforts have been supported by other major global companies, including NXP, RF2digital, Harman/Samsung, Visteon, LG Electronics, Hyundai Mobis, Fraunhofer IIS, StarWaves, Gospell, Inntot, CML Microcircuits, Ittiam Systems and Dolby, as well as organizations like the not-for-profit international DRM Consortium.

These companies have invested millions of dollars in developing and building DRM-related technology and know-how in and for India that can also be applied by the global automotive industry.

Digital FM decision

This development has run in parallel with the continuous examination of the next phase of Indian radio digitization — the FM band. While the AM sector is dominated by AIR, the FM band is shared between the public broadcaster and the many active FM stations that have brought listeners back to radio over the past 20 years. This has also created much more interest in the future digital FM radio decision.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the Indian broadcasting regulator, has recommended the in-band FM digitization with only two possible candidates — DRM and HD Radio. Private broadcasters are largely supportive of the process, but are looking for additional guarantees from the government before they must digitize.

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The public broadcaster has been asked to check, advise and decide. A “beauty contest” between DRM and HD Radio was organized last year and this year and the technical results are being examined and, according to some sources, being aligned with various criteria.

DRM on AM already works and is easy to extend to the FM band, as the VHF bands are part of the same DRM standard. DRM in FM was demonstrated successfully in cars in New Delhi and Jaipur in March. DRM seems the natural choice, as deviating from the all-band, open standard or even mixing two diverse digital standards to please everyone, brings with it heavy costs, significant time delays, a waste of money and energy, and confusion for both manufacturers and listeners.

DRM in the FM band – the next step?

The DRM standard allows for the FM digitization with minimal investment. It is compatible with the existing Indian Common Transmitter Infrastructure (CTI) of India and does not affect the ongoing analog FM services during the transition period. Adopting DRM for local FM services gives India stability and certainty, resulting in a continued strong growth of DRM receiver availability as a default feature in Indian cars. Today every automotive company and manufacturer of DRM receivers has a solution to support DRM in all frequency bands, including digital FM. Most of the serious investment in R&D and testing is complete, and there is a single IP royalty for DRM receivers irrespective of the supported bands.

The Indian automotive industry has clearly expressed an interest in having the single DRM standard extended to all broadcast bands, as this can be done with minimum development, testing and cost, without any hardware modifications (software upgrades can be used).

The DRM India Automotive Group encourage the Indian government to mandate future cars to be equipped with DRM digital radio functionality including support for Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF) as a default feature, in line with what has been legislated in other parts of the world.

But getting the all-band receiver in the car, at no extra cost, is often just the beginning. Getting some very attractive content, whether it comes from public or commercial stations, or both, is the next requirement.

In-car digital radio — More gas, please

According to recent studies, radio is the primary entertainment source in cars for motorists, and they want it to remain free. The radio tuner, not the browser, is what people want to have easy access to, for now.

The availability of a car radio seems to be an important consideration for car buyers, although car manufacturers and distributors devote it little space to it in their brochures and training program.

Recently, DRM supporters launched a DRM awareness program, supported by AIR, targeting automobile showrooms, managers and dealers across India. All participants, whether in the showroom or on the road, were delighted with the DRM sound quality, lack of interference, variety of services, ease of switching from analog to digital and other services delivered through Journaline.

This grassroots initiative is commendable, but it is not enough. The various stakeholders need to work together to bring the desired content with metadata and extra information in the car without interference (a challenge to be solved for the electric vehicles), and, maybe, with voice control for station or program selection.

Educating the car manufacturers, distributors, advertisers and even broadcasters, on how best to use digital radio is a complex task. And to quote Deborah Wahl, General Motors Global chief marketing officer, who said in a recent interview: “There is also the need to tie outcomes — visits to a showroom, vehicle or service purchases to the radio media that is consumed.”

The mandatory introduction of digital radio in cars, a clear roll-out and communication plan and the meaningful outreach effort to the automotive industry is where the focus needs to be now.

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The post DRM Radios Going Strong in Indian Cars appeared first on Radio World.

The Federal Communications Commission is planning to vote on a proposal to improve the accessibility of the Emergency Alert System at its Open Meeting on Dec. 14.

In announcing the agenda for the meeting, Jessica Rosenworcel, chair of the FCC noted that “the Emergency Alert System (EAS) allows the President, FEMA, the National Weather Service, or state and local authorities to deliver warnings to TV viewers about dangerous weather and other imminent threats. Unfortunately, alerts sent using legacy broadcast technology have limited ability [to] relay text, which can create disparities between the information conveyed in the audio and visual alert messages, including during nationwide tests of the system. The Commission will vote on a proposal to improve the clarity and accessibility of EAS visual messages and tests, especially for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing or are otherwise unable to access the audio message.”

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the changes to the EAS system would “propose to require use of a predetermined script as the visual message for legacy EAS nationwide tests, and propose to revise the terminology associated with the codes for nationwide tests, in order to improve the clarity of these visual messages displayed to the public for Common Alerting Protocol-based nationwide EAS tests,” the FCC said.

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It would also “propose to require that stations check for and use the available CAP versions of all State and Local Area alerts (which includes alerts issued by the National Weather Service) instead of the legacy EAS versions, to increase the use of CAP in light of CAP’s superior visual messaging capabilities.”

The Notice of Inquiry would “seek comment on how the legacy EAS architecture can be modified, augmented, or redesigned to enable alert originators to relay visual text that matches their audio message in legacy EAS alerts, as well as to enable more functionality within the EAS as a whole.”

The full agenda is available here.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post FCC Plans Vote on Improving Accessibility of Emergency Alerts appeared first on Radio World.

Tascam Portacapture X8 Recorder Top View

Tascam has launched the Portacapture X8, a new portable eight-track audio recorder. The unit can record with up to 32-bit floating point resolution, offers sampling rates up to 192 kHz and sports a 3.5-inch touchscreen.

Aiming to help users who might be unsure of what settings to use in a given situation, the unit offers a Launcher feature, which allows users to pick from a series of presets (“recoding apps”), with a half-dozen settings offered at press time — multitrack recording, interview, podcast, music recording and field recording.

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The Portacapture X8 has two detachable microphones with 14.6 mm diaphragms that can be mounted in either AB or XY orientation. Also onboard are Tascam’s proprietary HDDA preamplifiers, along with four XLR/TRS combo jacks, and Aux In and Line Out, which can optionally serve as audio input and output for a camera. The level of the camera output can be adjusted to the requirements of the respective model, while functions for marks and slate tones are also available.

DSP options on the Portacapture X8 include compressor, limiter, low-cut filter, noise gate, reverb, automatic level adjustment and more. Settings can be made via simplified or advanced pages within the user interface. Users can also control the unit remotely via Bluetooth and the Portacapture Control app for Android and iOS.

Tascam Portacapture X8 Recorder Side View

In total, the eight-channel recorder (six tracks + stereo mix) includes a USB interface, eight inputs and two outputs; additionally, for monitoring, a built-in loudspeaker is available. The Portacapture X8 can be used with microSD, microSDHC and microSDXC cards with up to 512 GB capacity.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Tascam Portacapture X8 Recorder Debuts appeared first on Radio World.

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(Freepix/starline)

The FCC’s full-service noncommercial educational (NCE) filing window earlier this month could result in the displacement of an existing LPFM station if there is an interference complaint from the proposed NCE station.

REC Networks is advising eight LPFM licensees to “closely watch the progress of new NCE applications and be prepared to take remedial action to change operations to a different channel as the result of a potential complaint by a new NCE station or highly intolerable incoming interference.” Low-power FM is considered a secondary service.

The NCE filing window, the first since 2007, included 20 reserved-band channels from 88.1 to 91.9 MHz.

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Michi Bradley, founder of REC Networks, stated on her website the FCC will not immediately shut down any LPFM as a matter of course once the full-service stations application is granted. However, if a complaint is sent to the FCC, the LPFM licensee must discontinue operations within 24 hours and only resume operations when directed to do so by the FCC, according to REC Networks.

“Unlike commercial stations, which must include a significant portion of the community of license within the 70 dBu City Grade contour, NCE FM stations operating on the reserved band channels (88.1– 91.9 MHz) are only required to place a 60 dBu contour over at least 50 percent of the designated community of license,” REC stated.

Here’s the list of potentially displaced LPFM stations:

• KAKU-LP Kahului, Hawaii
• KCWB-LP Crown King, Ariz.
• KEQQ-LP Grand Forks, N.D.
• KQLO-LP Clarksville, Ark.
• KTHN-LP Texarkana, Texas
• KWRK-LP Fairbanks, Alaska
• KXWR-LP Tsaile, Ariz.
• WKMP-LP Eastman, Ga.
• WYTC-LP Hyde Park, Vt.

LPFMs on second-adjacent channels of proposed NCE stations are not subject to displacement, according to REC.

The consulting group also placed another 19 LPFM stations on their “encroachment warnings” list for their co-channel and first-adjacent relationship with a proposed NCE FM. Those LPFM stations do not face displacement, but could potentially be operating within the interfering contours of a newly proposed full-service station. REC Networks notes those LPFM stations may or may not suffer incoming interference from the new NCE FM.

“The LPFM station must accept any incoming interference from those full-service stations, and they have no grounds to complain about a full-service station operating with their authorized facilities,” according to REC.

REC said a handful of low-power FM operators are seeking to secure a full-power noncommercial FM and in “most cases those LPFM stations have proposed their own channels.”

The FCC, which had more than 1,200 applications filed in the November NCE window, said it has begun to process NCE applications and is expected to announce winning bids that faced no competing applications. The FCC then will reach out to competing applicants with mutually exclusive applications and urge them to reach a settlement prior to completing the award process.

The FCC has said once the licensing of noncommercial FMs is completed, it expects to open another filing window for low-power FMs.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post REC Networks Warns LPFMs of Potential Displacement appeared first on Radio World.

BOSTON — American Public Television (APT), the syndicator of content to U.S. public TV stations nationwide, is preparing for leadership changes in its Exchange, Syndication and Premium Service programming divisions.

The changes are prompted by the retirement of its Vice President of Syndication & Premium Service, and are effective December 17.

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For a generation of radio listeners, thanks to the programming influence of Bill Drake and a woman described by the Detroit Free Press as a “golden-eared tastemaker,” CKLW — “The Big 8” — became the dominant Midwest and Central Ontario Top 40 station of its day.

From taking a part-time job as a weekend switchboard operator to her rise in 1967 to Music Director, there’s perhaps been no person more influential to popular music and its dissemination via broadcast media than Rosalie Tromblay.

Now, former listeners of The Big 8 and radio industry veterans from across North America are pausing to pay tribute to Tromblay, who has died of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease at the age of 82.

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Just days after President/CEO David Field snapped up more shares of his company’s stock, Audacy Inc. stock on Wednesday continued its month-long downturn.

As the clock struck 1pm Eastern, AUD was down to a price last seen in late December 2020.

The price: $2.7250, reflecting a 4.4% dip from Tuesday’s trading.

If the closing price holds at this level, it would solidify a complete erasure of all 2021 share growth for the audio content and distribution company.

The latest dip sees Audacy Inc. shares fall by $1 per share since November 5, with AUD closing on that date at $3.75 per share.

Audacy’s market cap at 1pm was $385.5 million, and analysts maintain a $4.10 per share target price for AUD.

It was July 5 when Audacy stock was last at or near that price.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Media Bureau, together with the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, will co-host a forum on December 2 to explore the state of closed captioning availability for online video programming.

The event will also see participants discuss ways to enhance accessibility, including the Commission’s authority to adopt new rules.

Furthermore, the Forum will explore current and prospective best practices and other existing or possible voluntary efforts that could enhance the availability of closed captioning online.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is scheduled to welcome Forum participants, while Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will deliver keynote remarks.

The Forum will include two panels that will feature speakers such as television, cable, and online video programming distributors, academics and consumer advocates.

Additional details about the December 2 forum, including a full event agenda, can be found
here: https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2021/12/video-programming-accessibilityforum-online-closed-captioning.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the nomination of Jessica Rosenworcel to formally take the Chair of the FCC unchallenged, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is expected to move forward with setting up a full Senate vote on President Biden’s pick to succeed Ajit Pai in a Committee markup session scheduled for Wednesday, December 1.

Once that markup concludes, get ready for some fireworks: Contentious FCC Commissioner nominee Gigi Sohn and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information nominee Alan Davidson will be teed up for consideration.

Their nominations are be among the most politically polarized and heavily scrutinized in ages.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — As promised on November 19 by noted Houlihan Lokey media broker Elliot Evers, administrator of the “CXR Radio Station Trust, lawyers representing Apollo Global Management-controlled Cox Media Group and the trust have filed its Reply Comments in what’s officially “Media Bureau Docket No. 19-98” in “a timely fashion.”

To little surprise, the stance that CMG, and Evers, are taking is largely defensive, expressing the belief that poor economic conditions present an opportunity with precedent for the Commission to extend a divestiture deadline tied to Apollo’s majority ownership acquisition of Cox Media Group.

Making the argument on behalf of Evers? David Oxenford.

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