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Issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $3,000 to Imani Communications Corporation, Inc. for failure to timely file a license renewal application for WBFZ(FM), Selma, Alabama

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Aaron Farnham of Bonneville’s KSL with the Orban XPN-AM user interface on the monitor and the hardware in the rack to the left.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

WMGG is the 1470 signal listed in the 96.1 FM Caliente logo.

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

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

Neal Ardman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read it here.

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

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

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

[Read: Samuelsen Studio Dedicated at Entercom Detroit]

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Read more stories about the GBS ZoneCasting proposal.]

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