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Futuri Media has named Jason Sosa as its chief technology officer.

The company offers audience engagement and sales intelligence technology for media. It cited Sosa’s experience in artificial intelligence as an important part of his background.

It said he has worked in emerging technologies including computer vision, mobile analytics, wearables, IoT and cloud. He was CEO and founder of Blackbox AI and has participated in TEDx several times as well as the MIT Enterprise Forum, Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley and other prominent platforms.

The announcement was made by Futuri CEO Daniel Anstandig. Sosa is the company’s first CTO.

Clint Marsh, its SVP/Product, recently departed the company.

Send information for our People News coverage to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Futuri Names Sosa as CTO appeared first on Radio World.

Organizers of next week’s Pro Audio & Radio Tech Summit reported strong advance registration for the free event. And Radio World has announced a number of new panelist participants.

Here is a summary of the expanded radio track, still subject to final additions. It now includes:

Welcoming Remarks: Editors’ Roundtable — The editors of Mix, Pro Sound News and Radio World will discuss recent trends and emerging technologies in pro audio and radio including virtualization, remote workflows, podcasting, digital technologies and more to open the day’s agenda.

Trends in AoIP — Edwin Bukont of E2 Technical Services, Michael LeClair of WBUR Boston and Chris Crump of Comrex explore current issues and “what’s next” now that AoIP has become well accepted in the industry.

Radio Keynote: Hybrid Radio & Android Automotive — David Layer of NAB PILOT takes attendees behind the wheel of a new Audi A4 to show what Audi’s hybrid radio platform looks like, and his colleague John Clark explains why radio managers need to know what’s going on with the Android Automotive OS, which is expected to create more powerful, modern infotainment systems.

Building the Virtual Air Chain — Radio World returns to the topic of a very popular recent ebook with a discussion about the meaning and the implications of a “virtual airchain” and what it will mean for radio. Roz Clark of Cox Media Group, Philippe Generali of RCS, Alan Jurison of iHeartMedia and Greg Shay of Telos Alliance share their expertise.

Critical Trends in Transmission — Geoff Mendenhall of Mendenhall Engineering and John Kean of Cavell Mertz & Associates talk with RW Editor in Chief Paul McLane about the impact of the DTV spectrum repack in radio, the opening of all-digital as an option on the AM band, audio streams on ATSC 3.0, the transport of FM composite baseband via IP networks, growing interest in single-frequency networks and the possible impact of hybrid radio.

Get the Most Out of Your Station’s Streams — Attendees will hear from veteran engineer and streaming expert David Bialik about loudness and upcoming AES guidelines, as well as the use of metadata and the importance of audio processing. Then John Passmore of New York Public Radio, which recently embarked on a journey to upgrade its digital streaming architecture to create more efficient, cost-effective and better-sounding streaming audio. John will talk about lessons learned and key considerations when building a streaming architecture for public radio.

Additional content is on the agenda including a radio track presentation by Wheatstone and pro audio track sessions on podcasting, house of worship projects, networking for music studios and other topics.

Registration for the summit is free. The event will take place April 1 and be available to registrants on demand for 30 days following.

The post Summit’s Radio Track Expands appeared first on Radio World.

The National Association of Broadcasters wants speaker proposals for the upcoming NAB Show, which this year will be held in October.

“NAB Show seeks submissions regarding expert-led discussions from prospective presenters with fresh ideas and unique perspectives on key trends and technologies driving the future of media and entertainment,” it announced.

For the Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference it hopes for proposals on technology trends including IT- and IP-based systems and the incorporation of artificial intelligence and machine learning, “as well as on next-generation systems throughout the media-delivery ecosystem.”

The deadline for speaking proposals is April 30.

The post NAB Issues a Call for Speakers appeared first on Radio World.

Investors appear a tad nervous about the full reopening of the U.S. economy from the year-long COVID-19 pandemic.

And, if any setback occurs, companies with the most fragile profit plans are the most vulnerable. Is Entercom Communications among that group of companies? Tuesday’s Wall Street performance suggests the answer is yes.

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Following Monday’s Closing Bell on Wall Street, ViacomCBS shares topped $100 a share — an incredible feat for a company whose stock bears a 52-week low of just $11.85.

Now, the powers that be at Spongebob’s employer are responding to the incredible growth of ViacomCBS stock by initiating a mammoth $3 billion equity offering.

Specifically, ViacomCBS commenced concurrent offerings of $2 billion of its Class B common stock and $1 billion of its Series A Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock.

Furthermore, ViacomCBS granted the underwriters separate 30-day options to purchase up to an additional $300 million of Class B common stock and up to an additional $15 million of Series A stock. In the latter, such a transaction would occur solely to cover over-allotments, if any.

ViacomCBS says it intends to use the combined net proceeds from the offerings for general corporate purposes, including investments in streaming.

Each share of Series A stock will have a liquidation preference of $100.00 per share.

And, unless earlier converted, each share of this Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock will automatically convert into a variable number of shares of Class B common stock on April 1, 2024 — subject to postponement for certain market disruptions or other events.

The conversion terms, dividend rate and other terms of the Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock will be determined at the time of pricing of the Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock offering.

ViacomCBS intends to apply to list the Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “VIACP.”

Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are acting as joint book-running managers for the offerings.

The announcement cooled off ViacomCBS’s hot growth on the Nasdaq market, with shares in VIAC off 5.7% at 2:50pm Eastern, to just below $95 a share.

Still, it was February 26 when shares were trading at $61.35. Across September and October 2020, VIAC was mired in the $28 range.

Then came the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, and slow, steady improvement. When VIAC really began to rocket ahead was at the start of 2021.

Viacom’s shares are up 154% year-to-date, should today’s closing price remain in the $94.50 range.

Thus, The Motley Fool‘s reporting that ViacomCBS shares “crashed again today” is simply false, when one looks at the full trajectory of the company’s performance since Viacom and CBS Corporation reunified.

He’s been the VP/GM of the NBC affiliate serving Colorado Springs and Pueblo for the last decade.

Starting April 12, he’ll be overseeing a co-owned FOX affiliate in the fastest-growing portion of the Sunshine State, a place where he’s spent much time across his 30-year career.

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You’ve seen it. Your morning show hosts have likely discussed it.

That horribly embarrassing Zoom gone wrong has become the stuff of lore, likely to represent an indelible look at COVID-19 times in the decades to come.

How can you and your colleagues prevent a repeat of these Zoom fails? Veteran public relations executive Rosemary Ravinal has some great advise to share on preventing you — or perhaps your more well-known team members — from becoming the latest social media humor vehicle.

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The Audio Engineering Society will conduct a series of webinars explaining how its audio standards process works.

The series is hosted by its Standards Committee. It promises to “illuminate the inner workings of the often complex, yet necessary, set of rules by which engineers and equipment manufacturers abide and the increasingly important role of the AES and its work to establish audio standards and practices that ensure interoperability worldwide.”

[Read: AES’ Prez Wyner Starts Term]

AES members can register for live interaction with the presenters, while non-members can watch a live stream of the event on the AES YouTube channel.

“The webinar will also provide opportunities for individuals to become involved in the ongoing proposal and establishment of working audio protocols,” AES stated.

The announcement was made by AES Standards Committee Chair Bruce Olson, who said the series should help demystify the standards development process.

A webinar on March 29 will discuss the current development of a procedure for loudspeaker test and measurement using a music simulation test signal called M-Noise.

On May 17, Nicolas Sturmel will discuss using AES67 over wide-area networks, the focus of the SC-02-12-M Task Group.

On July 26 Bill Whitlock will discuss ongoing initiatives on analog system interconnection standards in the SC-05-05 Working Group.

In the fourth webinar on Sept.20, Anthony Kuzub will discuss the new AES72 standard from SC-05-02 for transporting either analog or digital audio over quad twisted pair cable, including documentation of RJ45 connector pin-outs.

The post AES Webinars to “Demystify” Standards Process appeared first on Radio World.

The company founded by Daniel Anstandig devoted to AI-driven audience engagement and sales intelligence tech platforms for media, has selected a new Chief Technology Officer.

Now in the CTO slot at Futuri is Jason J. Sosa.

This puts Sosa in a leadership position in which he will oversee Futuri’s product team and work cross-functionally to develop new features, technologies, and products.

Sosa is the founder and, most recently, CEO of Blackbox AI, an innovation advisory for platform development, remote work, and strategy. Sosa is also a recognized speaker, having participated in TEDx (4 times), MIT Enterprise Forum, and Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Buried within an asset purchase agreement filed Tuesday (3/23) with the FCC is the usual information reflecting the legal counsel representing both buyer and seller. For the buyer, the lawyer’s name is a very familiar one. However, there was one major eye-popping difference from prior filings featuring this attorney’s name — she’s at a new law firm.

So is a former colleague, as both communications law experts have set up shop at BakerHostetler.

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Its mission is simple: To re-purpose 600 MHz and other spectrum and rapidly deploy a world-class 5G network in the United States.

This could explain why the individual behind Landover Wireless, a 30-year veteran of the global wireless telecommunications industry, has decided to part ways with 20 unbuilt LPTV construction permits.

The buyer? An individual with a presence stretching from the Grand Strand through Georgia’s Coastal Empire.

Laurence Zimmerman and his Landover 2 LLC have struck a deal to send the unbuilt LPTVs to Jeff Winemiller, and his Lowcountry 34 Media.

The stations trading hands are as follows:

Winemiller, who is based in Beaufort, S.C., near Hilton Head Island, is paying $850,000 for the CPs; a $150,000 deposit has been made by the buyer.

The broker involved in this transaction: Greg Guy of Patrick Communications.

The legal counsel in this deal has its own bit of newsworthiness: While veteran Aaron Shainis of Shainis & Peltzman represented Landover 2, Davina Sashkin served as Winemiller’s attorney at her new firm — Baker Hostetler. She had been with Fletcher Heald & Hildreth as recently as January 2021.

The sale of the LPTV CPs for Zimmerman concludes a spectrum license play for Landover Wireless; Zimmerman acquired and developed national and regional footprints of 38 GHz, 3.5 GHz, 2.6 GHz and 1600 MHz/MMDS licenses across the last three decades and developed strategic relationships creating additional value in the spectrum assets.
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Zimmerman is also known for founding Advanced Radio Telecom Corp., which became Fiber Tower and was ultimately sold to AT&T; and National Wireless Holdings Inc. He was also an early seed investor and one-time largest individual shareholder of Winstar Communications, which became StraightPath and was ultimately sold to Verizon.

Programmatic video platform Tremor Video is close to bringing to market a new data-driven TV Intelligence offering that builds on the company’s Connected TV (CTV) and addressable TV measurement and cross-platform targeting efforts.

The product, the company says, allows advertisers to reach “the most relevant consumers with precision using a greater breadth and depth of audience data assets.”

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Impressions-based buying and selling in the television universe is an imperative for marketers today. And, broadcast TV is responding. But, what of the measurement needs for the media buyer and media planner putting the cross-platform mix together based on reliable data?

Comscore is devoting its short-term and long-term future to local cross-platform and says groups and agencies are shifting from talk to action.

EVP of Commercial Steve Walsh shares how Comscore is driving the way media and marketers are mastering the ability to match homes with the actual purchase behavior seen in those homes in this fresh InFOCUS Podcast, presented by DOT.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Steve Walsh, Comscore” on Spreaker.

As of today, the CEO at Nielsen is no longer holding double duty as the company’s Chief Diversity Officer.

That’s because the dominant audience measurement and consumer data company in the U.S. has selected a woman who joined the company in January 2020 to direct diversity and inclusion initiatives to hold the position.

Sandra Sims-Williams will take over CDO duties from CEO David Kenny, who has held the CDO title in addition to CEO since February 2019.

She will continue to lead Nielsen’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) team, working to develop a more inclusive culture for the company and increase diverse representation, while rising from Senior Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I).

Prior to joining Nielsen, Sims-Williams led diversity and inclusion efforts at Publicis Groupe as Chief Diversity Officer and has a deep background in diverse leadership development, retention programming, analytics and effectiveness, supplier diversity, multicultural talent acquisition, and corporate initiatives that drive diversity and inclusion cross-functionally.

NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association has announced that with the addition of Summitt Cellular, based in Cleveland, Ga., the tower industry group has more member companies than ever before.

NATE Member Services Chairwoman Jordyn Ladner, of tower maintenance company MILLERCO in Gulfport, Miss., said. “I am proud of the fact that NATE’s membership continues to grow in the face of a global pandemic and that point serves to demonstrate the essential contributions that the association’s member companies play to enable connectivity in the United States and throughout the world.”

[Read: NATE Announces Scholarship Recipient]

NATE Member Services Coordinator Jill Rethke pointed the benefits package for members. “The marketplace is clearly responding to the membership benefits that have been offered by the association over the course of the last several years.”

The post NATE Sets Membership Record appeared first on Radio World.

Cloud-based software provider Radio Workflow is initiating a change in leadership that will see an industry veteran who became a partner in 2020 lead the company as CEO.

The Director of Sales and Director of Product will also hold key management positions at Radio Workflow, working in collaboration with chief executive Fletcher Ford.

Those individuals are Robert Maschio and Shane Zammit, respectively.

There’s other news from the “all-in-one radio management platform” maker.

Radio Workflow is expanding its operations with the opening of a sales and support office in two U.S. cities to go along with its existing centers in New Jersey and in Australia.

Offices in Billings, Montana; and Davenport, Iowa, are being added to the mix.

Radio Workflow says it is moving in this direction “to adapt to the growing need and success of the company’s browser-based traffic and billing platform.

Among the products Radio Workflow offers broadcasters is MyRadioDeals.com.

“I am very excited and proud to work with Shane and Bob every day,” Ford said. “They each have a level of commitment that is often overlooked in business. We all share a common goal, that goal is quite simple. Make the tools for broadcasters represent the real-world situation in which our industry is typically slow to adapt, apply, and execute change.”

The regional office for iHeartMedia in northern Ohio is on the move.

A 10-year lease agreement has been signed, and the company’s nine Cleveland radio brands will soon enjoy a state-of-the-art street level facility also housing iHeartMedia’s local sales, marketing, digital and Total Traffic operation.

By the time 2022 arrives, iHeartMedia/Cleveland will be housed on the ground floor of Six Six Eight at 668 Euclid Avenue in the heart of a downtown area that’s as hip as ever. The seven-story building is mixed use, and includes urban residential dwellings. It’s walking distance from Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Major League Baseball club; Cleveland Public Square is just to the west. Its also close to a major commuter rail station, with direct service to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

The move to Six Six Eight is thanks to a lease arrangement with K&D Group. 

The iHeart/Cleveland cluster includes Sports Talker WARF “AM 1350 The Gambler”; News/Talk WTAM-AM 1100; Rocker WMMS-FM; Classic Hits WMJI “Majic 105.7”; Country WGAR-FM; Adult Hits WHLK “106.5 The Lake”; and Top 40 WAKS “96.1 KISS FM.” There’s also a pair of translators serving the African American community: Hip-Hop “Real 106.1” and BIN: Black Information Network at 99.1 MHz.

This move will bring more than 100 employees into the heart of Cleveland’s downtown business landscape.

“We are thrilled to return our broadcast and digital operations to the heart of our city,” said Keith Hotchkiss, President of iHeartMedia Cleveland. “Connecting our influencers, marquee talent and operation staff with the downtown business district will further drive the passion to serve the community we all call home.”

New office features will include five conference rooms, 11 studios featuring cutting-edge technology, eight service booths for news, traffic, and podcast creation, and phone audio sound via Sound+.

A marquee broadcast studio and mixed use podcast content creation room both face street level on Euclid Avenue. Studio designs are by Beneville Studios and AUX1 design.

“We are delighted that iHeartMedia will be locating their regional headquarters in downtown Cleveland,” said Joe Marinucci, President and CEO of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance.

It marks a return to downtown Cleveland for the stations “after many years,” and signals another Ohio renaissance that includes Dayton’s core downtown area, which has sprung to life since 2017 thanks to a restoration and rehabilitation project.

When anchor Shepard Smith joined CNBC in July 2020 to host The News With Shepard Smith, the network took the opportunity to completely renovate its 3,600 square-foot Studio B set.

This included the need for complete Martin LED lighting, on a rig. Ferri Lighting Design & Associates (FLDA) fulfilled that desire.

The new set is dominated by two massive LED video walls, including a five-panel display opposite the host’s desk that can be used to show multiple video feeds for remote guests and correspondents or combined to display one large image.

Additionally, the center screen can be moved up to 17 feet away from the wall via a motorized arm to draw focus to a specific element. In order to complement the light from the displays with precisely-calibrated illumination and reduce electricity costs, CNBC opted to replace the studio’s incandescent lighting with a modern LED solution. The network hired Ferri Lighting Design & Associates to equip Studio B with a complete Martin lighting solution including more than 200 Martin ELP CL ellipsoidal profile fixtures and 50 RUSH PAR 2
CT Zoom wash fixtures.

“We had previously talked about converting Studio A to LED, but budgets and COVID put that project on the back burner,” said Bruce Ferri, owner of Ferri Lighting Design & Associates. “When the Studio B project came up, I decided to move forward and make it an all-LED installation. The big reason is that most of the set is dominated by displays. When you use incandescent light, you have to color-correct the displays down to 3,200
degrees, but most displays are not designed to operate at that color temperature. The Martin fixtures allow us to work at a higher color temperature to match the displays.”

FLDA selected Martin ELP CL fixtures as the main light for illuminating talent and scenery, deploying a total of 226 in Studio B’s lighting rig. The leading color LED ellipsoidal fixture in its class, the Martin ELP CL delivers up to 6,900 lumens with a broad color temperature range of 2,000 to 10,000 degrees Kelvin and an RGBAL Luxeon Rebel LED engine for vibrant, saturated hues. A maximum Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 90 allows
the ELP CL to reproduce color naturally on camera, making it an ideal fixture for television studios.

ELP CL fixtures are configurable for beam angles of 19, 26, 36 or 50 degrees and compatible with third-party lens tubes as well as a wide range of accessories.

“The nice thing about the ELPs is that in addition to using them as lights for talent, we can use them as scenery lights because they’re full-spectrum,” said Ferri. “I’ve done other installations where the talent lights have been variable white with no color mixing, but as things change and all of a sudden you have too many talent lights and not enough scenery lights, you’re at a huge disadvantage. So, the nice thing about the ELPs is that I can
use them for both.”

To augment the main lighting, FLDA selected Martin RUSH PAR 2 CT Zoom fixtures as fill lights. Featuring 12 10-watt warm and cold white LEDs, the RUSH PAR 2 CT Zoom provides pre-mixed white light ranging from 2,700 to 7,800 degrees Kelvin with a CRI value of 90 for natural on-camera looks. The fixtures’ motorized 10-to 60-degree zoom allowed Ferri to achieve rich, balanced wash illumination even from long distances.

“The throw distances in that particular studio make using a traditional fill light impractical, because we’re trying to keep all of the lighting on the grid,” Ferri added. “I don’t like to hang lights down into the picture if I can avoid it, because I hate when you see lighting instruments break the plane of the set. So, in order to create a softer fill light, I turned to the RUSH PAR 2 CT Zooms. The fact that they can zoom means that we can tailor the beam
spread for the throw distance.”

Thanks to the ultra-efficient, all-LED Martin lighting rig, Studio B reportedly consumes only 10% of the power used by the neighboring Studio C, where Mad Money is broadcast from.

This eases the burden on the facility’s backup power system in the event of a power failure.

“They’re set up for incandescent fixtures, so they have plenty of power, but they’re still really happy with the fact that we’re working at a fraction of that capacity,” said Ferri. “And whenever there’s a hint of bad weather, they switch over to a generator backup so that they don’t lose power, which has happened in the past. Having an all-LED rig lets them devote less of the generator power to the lighting.”

After a short stint in a temporary studio, The News With Shepard Smith broadcast its first episode from the new studio on October 28, 2020. Shortly thereafter, viewers across the nation saw FLDA’s work during Smith’s coverage of the 2020 United States presidential election.

— Kirsten Spruch

A company known for cloud-based SaaS technology powering both broadcast and streaming TV is now making its cloud solutions available on Google Cloud’s platform.

It’s a promise from Amagi, and the partnership allows customers to deploy Amagi’s flagship cloud playout platform, CLOUDPORT, on Google Cloud to spin up 24×7 linear programming.

“By partnering with Google Cloud, we are expanding the choices for our industry to implement best-in-class cloud solutions,” said Srinivasan KA, co-founder of Amagi, which operates from New Yrok. “This partnership has come at a time when the industry is increasingly looking to virtualize operations and adapt to multi-screen viewing. Amagi and Google Cloud present an attractive option for customers to choose from, as they transition to cloud.”

Amagi manages 400+ channels with deliveries in more than 40 countries across cable, DTH, and OTT platforms. The company has a state-of-the-art cloud broadcast operations center that can support 1,000+ linear channels. Amagi clients include A+E Networks UK, beIN Sports, CuriosityStream, Discovery Networks, Fox Networks, NBCUniversal, Cinedigm, Tastemade, Tegna, VENN, Vice Media, and Warner Media, among others.

Last year alone, Amagi added close to 200 streaming channels on its platform. It has technical integration with leading Free Ad Supported Streaming TV (FAST) platforms: The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, Pluto TV, Xumo, STIRR, Redbox, VIZIO, Plex, Sling, Tivo and more.