Aggregator

.

FCC adopts Report and Order expanding audio description requirements to 40 additional television markets over the next 4 years in order to increase the amount of video programming that is accessible to blind and visually impaired Americans.

The author is chief engineer at Minnesota Public Radio.

Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media are headquartered in downtown St. Paul, Minn. within sight of the state capitol.

It operates 49 public radio stations and 42 translators serving listeners in eight states. MPR delivers three services for broadcast via satellite. The APM program portfolio reaches nearly 20 million listeners each week. Notable programs delivered live include BBC World service, “C24” and “Marketplace.”

During my 10 years with the company I have seen the Gentner/Burk GSC system migrated entirely to Burk ARC Plus Touch, ARC Plus SL and ARC Solo at 37 sites.

Flying on AutoPilot

The decision to continue with Burk for a complete remote control system update was not automatic but made sense. The GSC-to-ARC transition was aided by using the Plus-X GSC Adapter which made transition at many of our sites plug-and-play.

While most of our sites are transmitting facilities, we also have a Burk system installed at our Network Operation Center in St. Paul, which monitors codecs, satellite uplink and downlink, building temperatures and UPS status, and at the Public Radio Satellite Systems (PRSS) NOC in Washington, where our live streamed network contribution is nominally uplinked.

Our St. Paul NOC uses AutoPilot to watch over sites on multiple computers. This gives our NOC operator a machine to use while a member of the radio network team is on another machine remotely. Sites I need to see regularly are best viewed with AutoPilot from my PC. ARC units reliably report to multiple AutoPilot instances. Additionally, the Warp Engine Polling feature minimizes processor load and IP bandwidth on computers running AutoPilot. I am aware of the smartphone options that Burk has but so far have not added that to my device. While we have the relative luxury of a full-time NOC operator, I will probably avoid that.

One of the AutoPilot custom views used at the American Public Media NOC in St. Paul, providing more than 175 status and metering indications from seven sites.

Transmitter sites require a primary and backup remote control connection, so most sites still have a POTS line to provide a modem connection in the event of an IP failure. We have recently seen situations where the POTS line will not work reliably with the modem and there are a couple of sites that use the Burk RSI voice interface for backup. Burk works well at sites that use wireless internet as well.

I am a big fan of Custom Views in AutoPilot. One red spot on a screen will stand out even among hundreds of statuses and meters. I have created small custom views for specific purposes, like switching between two transmitters sites or keeping a close eye on equipment experiencing issues.

We are getting more versed at employing SNMP, which is taking over transmitter M and C. Our GatesAir FAX transmitters and Intraplex IP Link codecs get along well with Burk SNMP Plus. Our XDS/ATX-Networks satellite receivers display lock status and Eb/No using SNMP on multiple AutoPilot Custom Views.

In conclusion I can say we are pleased with Burk Technology products and are consistently imagining new ways to use this system.

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 about this product contact Matt Leland at Burk Technology in Massachusetts at 1-978-486-0086 or visit www.burk.com.

The post User Report: MPR/APM Build Links With Burk appeared first on Radio World.

credit: Getty Images/MR.Cole_Photographer

 

Here’s some immediate reaction and followup to the announcement that the FCC will allow AM radio stations to use all-digital transmission if they wish.

THE CHAIRMAN LOVES AM

Ajit Pai hasn’t lost his lifeline affection for radio. In an official statement after the vote, Pai wrote: “Freddie Mercury memorably sang in Queen’s 1984 hit Radio Ga Ga, ‘Radio, someone still loves you.’ Thirty six years later, that remains true; I love radio, as do millions of my fellow Americans. And that love extends to the AM band.”

Pai repeated his frequent praise for stations that cover local events and sports, provide a forum for discourse, offer foreign-language programming and provide information in emergencies. He reminded us that in the AM revitalization initiative, more than 2,100 FM translators are on the air rebroadcasting AM signals, with another 700 pending. “Countless AM broadcasters have told me that their FM translators have given their stations a new lease on life.”

APai said that a transition to all-digital service “presents a singular opportunity to preserve the AM service for future listeners.” He also thanked Ben Downs of Bryan Broadcasting, the proponent of this proposal who hosted Pai at his stations in Texas years ago “and planted a bug in my ear about this idea.”

WHAT WILL BEN DOWNS DO?

Radio World reached Ben Downs this morning as the FCC was set to vote. “I’m glad we had a chance to be a part of this proceeding,” he told us. “David Layer at NAB conducted tests on the system over a period of years and Hubbard’s WWFD was the proof of concept.

“To me it just seemed we needed a slight push to take us to the next step. The FCC staff apparently agreed that this was a well-tested and proven system.  Regulator changes never happen as fast as you might like, especially with the burden of Covid, but the FCC staff moved really quickly to get this to today’s vote. The fact it was unanimous shows that the work done was based in solid engineering.”

I asked Downs if he will convert his own stations. “I have two of four that makes sense to convert,” he replied. “My decision tree says that if it’s a full-time station with a backup cross-band translator, then it’s an easy decision to choose to convert. Especially if you’re playing music.

“Two of my AMs have a very good sized footprint and would benefit from being able to broadcast without that noise and narrow bandwidth that defines today’s AM radio,” he said. “And, to the best I can determine, their RF facilities will require only minor adjustments.”

Just how many others will get on board is uncertain. The FCC sounded optimistic, writing that “AM broadcasters overwhelmingly support the proposal to allow all-digital AM broadcasting, as do broadcast engineers; technology companies, and some individual listeners.”

It said that “commenters believe that all-digital operation will increase the format choices that AM broadcasters can offer to their audiences, including the option of music programming (in full stereo if using enhanced mode). Hubbard asserts that all-digital operation will also allow AM broadcasters to provide program and station information along with the main audio stream more reliably than in hybrid mode. Finally, commenters note that the all-digital mode is designed to potentially support an HD-2 second programming stream.”

But Radio World is eager to hear from stations that are planning to make this move anytime soon. Anecdotal evidence has suggested to me that there may not be many stations ready to jump. I certainly have sensed no wave of pressing interest. And comments I have received personally have been doubting or downright negative. Now that the window is actually open, advocates can put their money where their mouths have been.

Email me at radioworld@futurenet.com.

MIKE RAIDE ON THE INVESTMENT

On the topic of what adjustments stations will need to make, Radio World also checked in with Mike Raide of Xperi. We asked him: If an AM station has HD Radio equipment installed, what technical changes and further investments will they need to make now in order to go all digital?

“They will need to make sure their antenna system is capable of handling an HD signal,” Raide said. “The antenna system will need to meet the required bandwidth to properly transmit an MA3 signal. This may require some additional components to properly increase the bandwidth, and some consulting work done by some familiar with AM antenna systems.”

What about stations that do not yet have any HD Radio gear? “They will need to reach out to the equipment manufacturers for the necessary equipment,” Raide replied.

“The required equipment at least would be an exciter or exporter and a transmitter capable of transmitting an MA3 signal. An MA3 signal places greater demands on a transmitter, even more so than an MA1 hybrid signal. A station would have to reach out to an equipment manufacturer to see if their solid-state transmitter is capable. A vacuum tube transmitter is not capable of any digital signal and would have to be replaced.”

On the subject of costs, the FCC wrote this in its order: “We note that all-digital broadcasting places fewer new demands on the transmission system than hybrid operation, therefore minimizing the technical and equipment costs of conversion. Kintronics sets out in detail the system parameters that would be needed for all-digital conversion, concluding that ‘the measures required on the antenna system for many sites will be minor, and the majority of antenna systems should be capable of digital transmission.’ The cost of conversion for AM stations that are already broadcasting in hybrid mode is likely to be minimal. For facilities requiring a major overhaul to accommodate all-digital transmissions, however, the costs will be considerably more.”

The commission noted that Xperi currently offers AM stations a perpetual license to use HD Radio technology with no initial or recurring costs, as we’ve reported.

FURTHER NOTABLE DETAILS

There are extensive technical discussions in the order under headings for nominal power, digital spectrum emission limits, power measurements, use of digital subcarriers, carrier frequency tolerance standard, prohibited interference and remediation procedures, night operation, EAS and other facets.

You can read the order here.

But here are a few notable takeaways:

-All-digital operation will be allowed both day and night.

-There’s a 30-day waiting period before converting to all-digital “so that transitioning AM stations can provide adequate notice to the commission, consumers and other potentially affected stations.”

-The order requires each all-digital station to “provide at least one free over-the-air digital programming stream that is comparable to or better in audio quality than a standard analog broadcast.” Beyond that though, digital subcarriers can be used for broadcast or non-broadcast services, including song and title information.

-Stations will be able to use their additional digital bitrate capacity for broadcast or non-broadcast services, with the capacity varying depending upon the mode of operation. “WWFD initially operated in core-only (reduced bandwidth) configuration while it modified its facility to enable transmission in enhanced mode (greater bandwidth),” the FCC noted. It will permit each broadcaster to select either mode as their situation dictates. (It opted not to require that additional digital data capacity be used only to enhance audio fidelity, particularly stereo audio, as some had requested.)

-Each digital station still must participate in the national Emergency Alert System. The station must ensure that any others that monitor it can still receive and decode an all-digital EAS alert, or adjust their monitoring assignments to receive EAS alerts from another station.

-The commission declined requests to consider Digital Radio Mondiale for AM digital operation, saying there has been no fully developed proposal or testing. “We approve the HD Radio MA3 mode, but do not foreclose the future consideration of alternative transmission technologies.”

-The FCC agreed to use average power of the all-digital signal (including the unmodulated analog carrier power and all of the digital sidebands) to determine whether the station is complying with the nominal power limits set out in the rules. This was a change from its original plan. “We find that this nominal power limit is technically feasible, as demonstrated in the NAB Labs experiments and WWFD’s experimental operation.”

-About interference, it wrote: “Although testing indicates that the digital signals may cause some increased degradation to analog signals, in most cases this will be masked by the noise floor, and in any case there is no evidence that interference will occur within service areas that are currently protected under our rules.”

-The FCC did not impose stricter spectral emissions limits as had been proposed in the NPRM. It said the consensus was that existing emissions limits will adequately protect stations on adjacent channels. Also, “the record indicates that these stricter HD Radio emissions limits may not be set at technically feasible levels and may need to be revisited in light of field data from all-digital experimental operation.” The FCC said stricter limits could hamper deployment of all-digital service but said it could revisit that later.

-The FCC declined to incorporate the NRSC-5D Standard by reference into its rules, for several reasons. Among them: “If we were to consider incorporating by reference the NRSC-5-D standard in the future, we would likely aim for consistency across services, and thus would consider AM all-digital, AM hybrid, and FM hybrid technical standards at the same time.” But it emphasized that it was not trying to undermine confidence in it as a voluntary standard.

-And the FCC declined to take certain other actions that had been urged upon it, saying these were beyond the scope of the proceeding. These ideas included increased enforcement to reduce noise floor levels; the sunset of AM translators; establishing a Low Power AM service; waiving regulatory fees for all-digital AM stations; allocating television spectrum for FM replacement facilities for AM broadcast stations on a primary basis; allowing translator rebroadcasting from an all-digital AM primary station to originate programming; disallowing use of HD Radio hybrid mode; authorizing AM programming on audio-only channels in ATSC 3.0 TV broadcasts; widening the FM band; other AM revitalization-related proposals, such as eliminating third-adjacent channel protections; and receiver standards.

 

The post Takeaways From the AM Digital Order appeared first on Radio World.

A low-power FM station in Jupiter, Fla., is facing a whomping $25,000 fine from the Federal Communications Commission — whomping, at least, for most LPFM stations.

The Enforcement Bureau issued a notice of apparent liability against Jupiter Community Radio and its station WJUP(LP).

It said Jupiter operated the station at the wrong power level, with the wrong antenna and from the wrong location; that it failed to make the station available for timely inspection as required; and that it didn’t have EAS equipment in place.

Agents from the Miami bureau found that WJUP was broadcasting from the roof of a multi-unit residential building more than a quarter mile from its licensed site and that it was using a two-bay antenna rather than its authorized one-bay model.

After some problems reaching Jupiter President Wayne Manning, the agents eventually were able to do an inspection and reported that the station also had a transmitter power output of 100 Watts and effective radiated power of approximately 177 Watts, compared to the licensed TPO of 45 Watts and ERP of 20 Watts.

They also said the station did not appear to have any EAS equipment. Manning told them that the EAS equipment was at the studio, which is on the premises of a local church that has its own LPFM station, WOIB; but despite several requests the agents said Manning provided only logs for WOIB, none for WJUP.

The bureau noted in its summary of the case that Manning had sent them e-mails and letters to advise that Jupiter had “turned down” the station’s transmitter, replaced the antenna with the correct model and “taken care of the violations.” But the FCC said none of these included a declaration attesting to the accuracy of its responses, as required by its earlier notice of violation.

Thus it says the station violated four sections of FCC rules. “These types of violations make it difficult for the commission to manage the radio spectrum, to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the technical data in its licensing databases, to fully investigate violations and to ensure compliance with the commission’s rules by entities subject to the commission’s oversight,” it wrote.

“At any time, Jupiter could have cured these violations or could have sought authority from the commission, such as through an application for special temporary authority or an application to modify the station’s license; yet it did not.”

The licensee has 30 days to reply or to pay the fine.

Read about the case here. DA-20-1248A1.docx

 

The post LPFM Station Faces $25,000 FCC Penalty appeared first on Radio World.

The Federal Communications Commission will allow U.S. AM radio station owners to convert their stations to all-digital HD Radio transmissions if they choose to do so.

The commission voted unanimously in favor today at its October open meeting.

Industry observers will be watching to see if any owners large or small take this step. All HD Radio receivers in the market are capable of receiving the MA3 signals; but making this switch would end analog listening on the given frequency.

[Related: Special Report: AM Advocates Watch & Worry]

The order establishes technical rules to protect existing stations from interference. Stations that want to convert will be required to notify the FCC and the public 30 days in advance.

“These stations must provide at least one free over-the-air digital programming stream that is comparable to or better in audio quality than a standard analog broadcast,” the FCC wrote in a summary. “They also must continue to participate in the Emergency Alert System. The order envisions that AM broadcasters will decide whether to convert to all-digital operation based on the conditions in their respective markets.”

The Texas broadcaster who pushed the FCC to allow voluntary all-digital transmission on the AM band has said this would be a “uniquely positive” one in AM revitalization.

Ben Downs, VP/GM of Bryan Broadcasting in Texas, petitioned the FCC in March 2019 to make this move. “The option to convert to all-digital isn’t a magic wand for an AM station, but it is a tool we can use to compete,” he told Radio World today in expectation of the vote to approve. “Those of us with AM stations have been limited to spoken word and niche formats because AM is just not suitable for mass appeal music formats. This changes that fact, and gives us many more options.”

He said there are 70 million radios in the marketplace that will receive AM digital now.

“I’m certainly happy about this. For AM stations that couldn’t find spectrum for a cross-band translator, this is a great option. It will probably benefit large markets with a crowded radio dial that still have the need to compete using an AM signal.”

This change is the latest in a series of “revitalization” steps that the commission has taken to help broadcasters that operate in the AM band, which is troubled by declining listenership, noise and changing consumer habits.

As we’ve reported, three AM stations have received experimental authority to operate in all-digital. Hubbard’s WWFD in Frederick, Md., has actively promoted the format and made presentations about its experiences. Another, WIOE in Ft. Wayne, Ind., experimented but ended its digital transmissions. A third, WTLC in Indianapolis, owned by Urban One, wanted to rebroadcast multicast channels of the AM test signal over FM translators, but the commission didn’t allow that.

The National Association of Broadcasters praised the decision. “Radio broadcasters are grateful to Chairman Pai for championing AM radio during his tenure at the FCC and thank him for successfully implementing policies to help revitalize AM stations.”

 

The post FCC Approves All-Digital Option for AM appeared first on Radio World.

The FCC has picked the companies to operate the clearinghouse for payments to those affected by the C-Band spectrum repack in the 3.7–4.2 GHz range.

Radio and TV stations will be able to finally recoup costs incurred in changing equipment as the result of spectrum changes and elimination.

[Read: SES Offers Some Answers to Radio’s C-Band Questions]

CohnReznick, an accounting and business services company, will lead with Squire Patton Boggs LLP, a Washington law firm, and Intellicom Technologies, a satellite communications specialist, supporting.

The FCC had stakeholders such as satellite companies such as Eutelsat, Intelsat License, SES Americom and other interested parties such as the NAB, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, American Cable Association, CTIA, Competitive Carriers Association, and Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, form a committee for the selection process.

The companies will collect claims for the costs from entities such as radio and TV stations and make apportionment decisions for the claimants. It can also resolve disputes.

 

The post FCC Chooses C-Band Repack Money Clearinghouse Operators appeared first on Radio World.

Shure has launched its new MV7 Podcast Mic. As the company’s first hybrid XLR/USB microphone, the MV7 is aimed at content creators who are involved in podcasting, VO and more. As an entry-level microphone, the MV7 is designed for a simplified user experience, while providing audio quality commensurate with pro users’ expectations, the company says.

An integrated touch panel optimizes control for quick adjustments, allowing users to adjust the gain, headphone volume, monitor mix and mute/unmute, with an option to lock customized settings. Also onboard the mic is Auto Level Mode, which sets gains in real time, so the output levels stay consistent. This enables creators to focus on the content, and not on their mic technique. Auto Level Mode also acts as a virtual audio engineer and adjusts audio levels on the fly, giving audiences a more consistent listening experience.

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

The microphone works in conjunction with the new, free Shure MOTIV app for desktop, which offers a variety of preset modes. Users can select a tone (dark, natural or bright), depending on if they want a deep “radio” voice, or a crisp and clean sound. These settings are available in Auto Level Mode and can be selected in the MOTIV app. Similarly, users may select their mic distance from the MV7 (near or far), depending on how they are positioned. The Shure MV7 is also certified by VoIP technology developer TeamSpeak.

The mic offers an XLR output for use with interfaces, mixers and professional audio equipment, but also supports a USB-A and USB-C output for Mac and PC. When mobility and on-the-go recordings are needed, the MV7 works with select Android devices. A Lightning cable is available separately for use with iPhones and iPads.

The Shure MV7 Podcast Microphone comes in two colors (black, silver) and is available for US$249.

Info: www.shure.com

 

The post Shure Launches MV7 Hybrid XLR/USB Podcast Microphone appeared first on Radio World.

.

Franklin Communications, Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

.

.

FCC adopts NPRM proposing rules to require specific disclosure requirements for broadcast programming that is paid for, or provided by a foreign government or its representative

.

Crocodile Broadcasting Corp., Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

.

On-screen during the virtual event, clockwise from upper left, are moderator Stephanie Ruhle of NBC News; Bob Pittman of iHeartMedia; David Field of Entercom Communications; and Mary Berner of Cumulus Media.

CEOs from three of the largest U.S. commercial radio groups believe their industry is well positioned to move past the COVID-19 pandemic when the time comes.

Mary Berner, president and CEO of Cumulus Media; David Field, chairman, president and CEO of Entercom Communications; and Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia participated in a group conversation for the recent 2020 Radio Show, which was produced online by the Radio Advertising Bureau and the National Association of Broadcasters.

The business leaders gave their views about the massive business disruption and the challenges and opportunities it has presented.

They described a phenomenon that many Radio World readers have experienced directly: The pandemic has accelerated some aspects of the industry’s technological evolution through forced adoption of work practices that increase efficiency and flexibility.

And their conversation touched on further possible changes as more of the radio air chain moves into the cloud.

“Reliable companion”

The conversation never steered far from the economic environment caused by COVID-19, but the CEOs sought to project a positive attitude.

“Radio has persevered as it always does during times of crisis. This has provided us an opportunity to be stronger and better. The audio industry is in great position to thrive and move ahead faster than when we went into it,” Field said.

In some ways, said Bob Pittman, “We’ve actually strengthened our relationship with the consumer. We have seen this before. Following a disaster or tornado, radio come outs of it with a stronger relationship with the consumer because we are a reliable companion.”

An iHeartRadio promotional image highlights the multi-platform nature of its audio offerings.

Cumulus describes itself as “an audio-first media and entertainment company,” and Berner’s choice of words in the conversation echoed that theme.

She says the industry’s ability to serve listeners from “anywhere and everywhere” has made the medium stronger during the crisis. “The audio platform has been extraordinarily resilient. Consumer behavior radically changed during the shutdown but yet audio has remained a vibrant part of the day-to-day lives of our listeners,” she said.

“People weren’t in cars as much, for broadcast radio listening dipped a bit, but that was more than set off by increases in streaming, listening on at-home devices and podcasting. Listening just shifted as opposed to going away.”

As Americans started getting back on the road, Berner said broadcast listening had rebounded to over 90% of pre-pandemic levels.

“The economic uncertainty is probably the biggest challenge the industry is facing. Nobody has a crystal ball. We are not sure what is going to happen. We all have to be very focused on the generation and preservation of cash and building up liquidity and shore up our balance sheets,” she said.

Shedding some insight into their power-player relationship, Berner disclosed that in the early phase of the pandemic, she spoke with Field and Pittman by phone “several times a week” as broadcasters began modeling what-if scenarios for operating in their new normal.

“We came together as an industry — for instance, in working together with Nielsen to determine a fair measurement of listening during this time of so many unknowns,” she said.

“I think we need to keep working together. We are all making decisions very quickly that may have taken months and months to consider. Some of them might have been uncomfortable in the moment, but they will be beneficial to the business in the long run.”

She also noted that “broadcasters won’t need the real estate footprint they thought” once they go back into their physical spaces.

Technological change coming

David Field of Entercom said the company is focused on what it will be when it emerges from the economic malaise of the pandemic.

“There is technological change coming, and the competitive dynamic is evolving. Consumer trends are evolving. Our companies have enormously powerful audio platforms of local and national celebrities, podcasting and digital audio,” he said. “We need to harvest that and become growing vibrant organizations on the other side” of the pandemic.

Accelerating the use of data analytics and attribution is crucial, Field said, to ensure that radio can become a more meaningful part of advertisement spending.

“Radio has often been the kids in the other room trying to get in. We were being held back by several things. One of those reasons has been scale. We didn’t have the scale as organizations in a highly fragmented industry,” Field said.

“Now Bob and Mary and our company can go to advertisers and to play at a much different level. We all have deep podcasting lineups and strong digital audio platforms. Our offering is much more robust and impactful. Now we have the data to go in and demonstrate how radio advertising works.”

Revenue hit

All three companies reported significant fall-off in revenue as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic during the second quarter of 2020.

For example, for the three months ended June 30, Cumulus reported net revenue of $146 million, a decrease of 48% from a year ago. iHeartMedia Q2 revenue also was down by nearly half.

All three broadcasters were forced to institute cuts that included layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts earlier in the year. In addition, Cumulus and iHeartMedia recently sold off a number of broadcast tower holdings to raise cash.

The roundtable, moderated by Stephanie Ruhle of NBC News, briefly touched on possible policy changes regarding ownership rules and further deregulation of the broadcast industry.

“We are always navigating policy,” Pittman said. “It’s hard for policy to catch up with technology. Today we are still regulated as if all the technology is in one radio station and all that we do is with a transmitter and tower. The idea that we have all of the equipment in one location ignores that fact that the cloud is where everything is going.”

He continued: “If I have the studio in the cloud, then what do we have left in the building? And what regulations are related to that and which ones are not? It’s the inertia of what it was, and we have to change it to what it will be.”

Berner said broadcasters are still “really limited by policy to what we can do with consolidation and other moves we could make to strengthen the industry.”

The Supreme Court recently announced it would hear an appeal by the FCC and NAB seeking to reinstate several updates to the broadcast ownership rules. In November 2018 the commission decided to abolish the newspaper-broadcast and radio-TV cross-ownership rules and rework the radio AM-FM subcap regulations. However, those changes were blocked when the Third Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the commission had not thoroughly analyzed the potential effect of the changes on female and minority ownership of stations.

Field said ownership rule changes would help ensure the long-term survival of the industry.

“The ownership rules around radio continue to be reflective from a different era from a competitive standpoint. We must preserve the sanctity of the AM/FM band.”

The panel chafed a bit when asked if innovations have been derailed because of the pandemic.

“I don’t think we stopped (innovating),” Berner said. “In fact, in some ways we have accelerated our adoption of new technologies and work scenarios. We want to be where the listeners are. We need to deliver great audio content wherever and whenever it’s needed. We have doubled down on smart speakers and invested in our podcast platforms.”

[Related: “How Will iHeart’s Centers of Excellence Strategy Play Out?”]

iHeartMedia is leveraging its stations to promote its iHeartPodcast Network, typically one of the top podcast publishers in the United States each month. In fact, the network had the most downloads and streams in September as measured by Podtrac.

“Nothing has the growth rate of podcasting,” Pittman said. “Our podcasting revenue grew 100% in the second quarter of this year (from 2019). Our usage is up 35% to 40% in that same quarter.

“It’s no secret that radio is having success with podcasting because it is very much a radio experience. It’s a host chatting about something,” he said.

“And the silver lining right now to this terrible situation we are in is that we have an opportunity to get people to try our new products like podcasting.”

The state of the economy is the ultimate challenge, Berner concluded.

“While better, it’s certainly not to the level pre-pandemic. We have a long road ahead of us, but fundamentally I think we are well positioned.”

And Field added a bright note, saying the pandemic disruption for now has lessened. “We have seen a substantial amount of pickup in demand for advertising into the fall. I’m optimistic we are climbing out of this.”

[Related: “Radio’s Infrastructure Spending Is Slammed by Pandemic”]

 

The post CEOs Look Beyond Pandemic appeared first on Radio World.

Fig. 1: This photo of KDKA’s first “broadcast center” offers some detail about the in-house manufactured 100-Watt transmitter used for the Nov. 2, 1920 broadcast. A six-volt lead-acid car battery behind the rig likely provided tube filament voltage.

Much has been written about the program, performers and setting of KDKA’s “big broadcast” of Nov. 2, 1920, including our recent story “Radio Broadcasting Becomes a Reality,” but precious little is documented about the technical aspects of the equipment package that made it possible.

With the aid of detailed photographs; magazine articles about the station and its progenitor Frank Conrad; and a published account by an eye/ear-witness to what transpired, it’s possible to piece together many of the missing details.

Perhaps most useful is a 1955 American Heritage article by Donald Little, a Westinghouse engineer who helped to construct that first KDKA transmitter.

“During the fall of 1920, Dr. Conrad had me design and help the model shop at the works build the transmitter. The transmitter had a power of about 100 watts. They built a room on the roof of one of the taller buildings at the East Pittsburgh works and put up an antenna and counterpoise from a steel pole on that building over to one of the powerhouse smokestacks. The antenna and transmitter were completed only a few days before the presidential election of November 2, 1920.”

The association between Little and Conrad extended back some three years when Little, who had been working for what was then called the National Bureau of Standards (now the Institute of Standards and Technology) was dispatched from Washington to East Pittsburgh to oversee the development and production of transmitters and receivers by Westinghouse for the U.S. Signal Corps.

(While Little consistently refers back to “Dr. Conrad,” it was not until 1928 that the University of Pittsburgh bestowed an honorary doctor of science degree upon Conrad.)

THE TRANSMITTER

No schematic diagram or construction details of the Westinghouse “broadcast” transmitter exist. Based on the “state of the art” at the time, coupled with knowledge of the radiotelephone rig constructed by Conrad for his ham station, it doubtless employed the “constant current” system of modulation developed earlier by Western Electric’s Raymond Heising.

The radiotelephone transmitter Conrad constructed for his amateur radio station is documented in a Sept. 1920 article in amateur radio publication, QST. It’s believed that the one constructed at Westinghouse was more or less a scaled-up version (100 Watts output versus the 50 stated for the ham station rig).

Fig. 2: Although no circuit diagram can be located for the 100-Watt transmitter, this drawing, based on a published partial schematic of Conrad’s ham station “radiophone” transmitter, is probably representative of its inner workings. (The resistor and capacitor values shown were shown in the ham rig circuit.) It’s likely the modulator and power oscillator tubes were doubled (parallel-connected pairs) to deliver the 100 Watts claimed for the KDKA transmitter.

Conrad (and Little) would have employed state-of-the-art power triodes developed by General Electric and manufactured by Westinghouse’s “lamp works” during the First World War, when patent and licensing issues had been temporarily tossed aside to ensure a plentiful supply of “strategic materials.”

Lud Sibley, a vacuum tube expert and editor of the publication Tube Collector, opines that the power oscillator was likely “the humble AT-50, Westinghouse’s production of GE’s UV-211.”

Sibley also believes that Westinghouse’s AT-21 (equivalent to a GE UV-203A) could have served admirably as the modulator.

If these tubes were used in paralleled configurations, the transmitter could have easily delivered 100 Watts of modulated RF.

Fig. 3: A pair of Westinghouse’s version (AT-21) of this very early power triode likely Heising-modulated the carrier of the “election night” transmitter.

It appears from one of the surviving pictures of the rig that filaments may have been heated with pure DC from an automobile storage battery. (It’s likely that the battery was continuously “float charged” to ensure that the heavy filament current drain didn’t deplete it before the broadcast ended.) Three “brick” type dry cell batteries are visible behind the transmitter and just to the right of the six-Volt storage battery. These could have served as a source of bias voltage for the triodes, and due to the size and number, also as a plate voltage for the transmitter’s “speech amplifier” (audio input stage),

The picture of the radio room, sans people, also sheds some light on the high voltage supply for the power tube anodes.

Immediately to the right of the transmitter panel board, a heavy-duty pushbutton switch is visible. It’s safe to assume that this controlled a motor-generator set located remotely so that its very audible operating noise didn’t get transmitted along with the election commentary. (Later, Westinghouse manufactured a line of motor-generators for broadcast transmitter applications, as I described in my 2011 Radio World article “How Transmitter Power Supplies Evolved.”)

A more comprehensive description of the KDKA transmitting antenna — at least as it existed less than two years after the 1920 broadcast — was offered by Little in a 1922 article in Radio News about the station’s technical facilities:

“[It consists of six wires] 90 feet in length on 20 foot spreaders. This antenna is supported 210 feet above the ground by a brick smoke stack at one end and by a 100-foot pipe mast on a nine-story building at the other end. A counterpoise [elevated radial] which is a duplicate of the antenna in construction is placed 110 feet beneath the antenna. The down lead from the antenna and the counterpoise lead are made up of eight strands of No. 14 copper wire equally placed around 1.5 in. diameter wooden spacers. The natural period of this aerial system is approximately 412 meters. A condenser … in series with the antenna and sufficient loading inductance [was] added to obtain the desired wave length of 360 meters.”

Conrad used a similar antenna/counterpoise system at his ham station.

The microphone was essentially a telephone “transmitter” (carbon mic) backed up by the necessary battery and a one-stage triode pre-amplifier, most likely the newly developed UX-201, which later, along with a lower filament current version, the UX-201A, became the tube of choice for many 1920s commercial and homebrew receivers.

PROTOTYPE BROADCAST “TURNTABLE”?

The transmitter room picture does present something of a mystery.

A windup phonograph was used as a source of “fill” music so there would be no dead air when announcer Rosenberg was waiting for election results to be updated; in the photo from that night it can be seen to the right of the transmitter panel, its crank visible next to John Frazier as seen in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4: A detail from the promotional photo of the historic broadcast that we showed you in an earlier article. Visible below John Frazier’s chin is the crank of a windup phonograph used to play fill music. Announcer Leo Rosenberg is at left. (Getty Images)

What makes this otherwise nondescript record player interesting is a length of “twisted-pair” lamp cord that connected the transmitter to an object (electrical phonograph pickup?) attached to the “arm” on the phono. The cord is visible in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5: Closeup of phonograph arm and “pickup” in the radio room in Fig. 1. Did Donald Little invent and fabricate the first transducer for turning record grove modulations into a varying voltage? Others had placed a mic in front of a phonograph’s horn or graphed a microphone element onto a portion of the phonograph’s acoustical linkage (tube) between the diaphragm and horn. (Getty Images)

History tells us that the first electrically recorded records (and electrical pickups for reproducing them) didn’t appear until 1925, stemming from research at Western Electric and Bell Labs.

Did Conrad and Little somehow jump the gun and invent an electrical pickup half a decade before Bell?

In his 1955 writing about the 1920 inaugural broadcast, Little seems to clear up this mystery:

“It was thought that election news would not occupy the whole time so a hand-wound, spring-driven phonograph and a selection of records were provided for fill-in purposes. I arrived at the station about 6 P.M. the night of November 2, 1920, in plenty of time to be sure all would be in readiness to start the program at, as I remember it, 8 P.M. To my dismay, I found that the gooseneck of the phonograph tone arm had disappeared. It was never found and to this day I do not know whether it was maliciously stolen or simply mislaid accidently. It was obviously up to me to provide some sort of substitute which I did by rushing down to our laboratory and putting together a clamp and hinge gadget that hinged the microphone to the tone arm. It was quite satisfactory and was used for the opening program and several later ones.”

What Little cobbled up that evening may have been much more complex, however.

A careful examination of a blowup of the phono portion of the photo indicates that Little may have manufactured a true “electrical” pickup.

Clearly visible is an “outrigger” bar with a clamp for the microphone that has been attached to the phono horn’s acoustic coupling “stub,” with the “stub” only serving to support Little’s contrivance above the record grooves and allow it to track across the record.

Seen at the bottom of the device are a chuck and a thumbscrew for holding the “needle” (stylus). Quite prominent in the photo is a “U”-shaped rod that appears to be used for coupling needle movement to the microphone element.

I don’t claim expertise on early mechanical (acoustic) phonographs, but the conventional “diaphragm” that was coupled to the needle and translated needle movement to sound pressure waves “amplified” by the phono’s horn (actually an acoustic transformer) is not visible in this photo.

I shared the photo with a restorer and conservator of early recording and reproduction apparatus. He said, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

If the device that Little fabricated was really a carbon mic driven directly by the needle, the audio reproduction of the recordings would have been considerably better than that achieved previously by just placing the mic in front of the phono horn. (It would have also prevented pickup of conversations and other background noise in the radio room while the records were played.)

I leave it to others to decide exactly what did or didn’t happen in this respect.

The author thanks Rick Harris, chairman of the Conrad Project at the National Museum of Broadcasting, for his help with this article.

[Related: “What, Exactly, Was ‘First’ About KDKA?”]

 

Fig. 6: Donald Little is at far right in this mid-1920s photo of KDKA’s second transmitter plant in the Forest Hills Borough west of Westinghouse’s East Pittsburgh operation. The individual in the middle is unidentified; the man at left may be C.W. Horn, who supervised Westinghouse’s radio operations. The facility was referred to as the “Hill Station” and also served as a transmitter location for the company’s early shortwave and television experimentation. (Rick Harris and National Museum of Broadcasting)

The post Constructing the First “Real” Radio Station appeared first on Radio World.

Much of AM radio has been in dire straits for some time. It has seen profits decline when faced with new competition from streaming broadcasters and better-quality FM signals.

At the same time, many stations are losing their long-established transmitter sites and being forced to relocate. For them, the options usually don’t include finding another high-quality site, but instead locating a space where they can put a minimal signal into their city of license.

It’s no wonder that the number of licensed AM stations is declining. Over the past decade, their numbers have decreased by 224 — to 4,680 as of September 2020 — while both commercial and NCE FM totals have increased, according to FCC data.

The driving force behind many AM relocations is the rising cost of real estate in what was once farmland or a swamp in the middle of nowhere. Environmental restrictions involving aesthetics, radiofrequency exposure and local zoning restrictions can also be contributing factors.

For some stations, co-locating with other AM broadcasters on a common tower and connecting via a diplexer or triplexer can work, provided the common location will provide adequate service.

Another option is “Co-locating AM Transmitter Facilities With Cellular Monopole Towers,” which is the title of a paper by James A. Dalke of Dalke Broadcast Services, Inc. in Bellevue, Wash., and Stephen S. Lockwood, P.E., of Hatfield & Dawson Consulting Engineers in Seattle.

It was to be presented at the spring NAB Show this year before world events intervened.

DIFFICULT RELOCATION

The plight of many AM broadcasters is typified by KARR, 1460 kHz, licensed to Kirkland, Wash.

Fig. 1: The cell tower used for the KARR project.

On Feb. 28, 2014, after nearly 50 years of broadcasting, KARR went dark and seemed to have little prospect of returning to the air.

The station had begun broadcasting in 1965 as a 5 kW daytimer with a three-tower array in the rural residential Rose Hill area of Kirkland, Wash., across Lake Washington, east of Seattle. When it was built, Kirkland’s population was about 10,000 and the six-acre transmitter site was on farmland.

In the 40-plus years since, the area has developed into a dense residential area, with the transmitter site one of the only significant areas zoned for residential development but not developed. The population of Kirkland is now 85,000. The property had become far more valuable for residential use.

Because of the residential development, relocating the transmitter site became increasingly problematic. The Class B license requires co-channel protection for KUTI, a 5 kW Class B in Yakima, Washington, a hundred miles southwest of KARR, and adjacent channel 1 kW Class C stations KONP, Port Angeles, 70 miles northwest, and KSUH, Puyallup, 34 miles south.

Protection required for these stations required a traditional array of least three towers on six plus acres of suitable land. In order for KARR to return to the air, a more non-traditional solution needed to be explored. Fortunately, there was help available from the FCC.

In the commission’s ongoing “AM revitalization” effort, three rules in particular affected the KARR relocation.

The FCC relaxed the minimum daytime Community of License (COL) coverage standard from 80 percent to 50 percent of the COL, and for nighttime operations, eliminated the coverage standard for existing AM stations, and reduced the standard to 50 percent for new stations.

The FCC found that these changes would make it easier for stations to cover a community that has expanded beyond the reach of existing facilities, as well as relocate antenna facilities to improve coverage.

Second, the FCC eliminated the “ratchet rule,” which required AM stations to reduce their signal strength when they make facility changes to modify their signal. They found that the rule has not achieved its intended goal of reducing interference.

The commission has generally granted waivers when a station was forced to relocate because of circumstances out of its control, such as the loss of transmitter site lease; the recent rule change simplified the relocation application.

Third, the rules allow authorized AM owners to acquire and move an FM translator up to 250 miles from the AM station’s location to rebroadcast the AM station programming.

While the new rules have enabled an FM translator to rebroadcast KARR, it does not provide any advantage in relocating the AM transmitter facilities. The AM broadcaster with an associated translator must still maintain the licensed AM broadcasting facility.

SLANT AND SHUNT

Cellular monopole towers with a slant or shunt feed have been a solution for AM broadcasters facing the same challenges as KARR, and the slant wire method has been the subject of several research papers.

Ten years ago Ben Dawson of Hatfield & Dawson Engineers in Seattle authored a paper titled: “The Slant Wire Shunt Fed Monopole: A Neglected but Invaluable Technique.” It is available on the Hatfield & Dawson website at https://tinyurl.com/rwee-slant.

In this paper, he concluded that the slant wire feeds are simpler electrically than other ways of feeding grounded based structures. The slant wire technique also imposes far less structural load and is less susceptible to weather related damage in hostile climate conditions.

Dawson also concluded that the shunt fed monopole provides convenient impedance matching, good bandwidth, and efficient radiation patterns.

A viable ground system is also a key component of AM antenna systems.

For many years, it has been apparent that the standard ground system for AM radio using 120 quarter-wavelength ground wires was excessive to providing an effective ground system. This was covered in a paper by Dawson & Lockwood. Using NEC-4 it was possible to model ground system with each individual ground wire.

The FCC has allowed a simplified model for a ground system using an equal area model, which uses a circular model that has an area that is equal to the irregular area of the property. This is useful if the tower is offset from the center of the land or there are other obstructions that require use of a shortened ground system. Where a more detailed simulation is desired, the location of each ground wire can be calculated and the antenna system can be modeled to learn the effects of the compromised ground.

As part of the AM revitalization proceeding, the antenna efficiency requirements have been reduced. These changes have enabled more options for using electrically short antennas and sites that have less area to provide a standard ground system.

Many of the techniques used in colocations of other radio facilities with AM stations have been standard processes, and there are many techniques used to accomplish this. These changes, along with the change in FCC policy to allow slant wire feeding of an AM antenna, allows for use of a tower without a base insulator or a skirt wire arrangement.

Slant wire feed systems were somewhat common before 1960. After that, FCC policy did not allow use of this feed system because it was assumed that there was some asymmetry of the field produced from a slant wire shut fed tower.

These policy changes have greatly expanded the options for dislocated AM stations. While these facilities are a compromise from an ideal facility, they remain a viable option to continue to provide service, and may be the only feasible option for some licensees.

BACK ON THE AIR

Utilizing the slant wire feed and improved ground system modeling, Jim Dalke, the current owner of KARR, along with Stephen Lockwood of Hatfield & Dawson, obtained the construction permit to install the Hatfield & Dawson-designed slant wire fed cellular monopole.

Unfortunately, the COVID crisis hit before construction was complete. Installation will continue as soon as restrictions are lifted. The station is licensed to operate with 740 watts daytime, and provides good coverage for the Kirkland area.

In order to obtain approval from the commission, the engineering application had to demonstrate that the facility meets the FCC requirements for a non-directional antenna.

This is best done by using NEC-4 to model the ground system to calculate the efficiency and radiation pattern above the horizon. All AM antennas have radiation patterns that produce fields that are directed above the horizon. The antenna system must also comply with the f(θ) curves provided in the familiar Fig. 8 of FCC rules (47 CFR § 73.160 and 73.190).

This also will model the effects (if any) of the slant wire feed system on pattern circularity. As pattern circularity was better defined in moment method rule making process and the use of moment method for re-radiation analysis from other communication towers, this is defined at ± 2 dB.

The tower can be modeled to include the cellular antenna platforms and other changes from a uniform cross section guyed tower. This helps to account for any additional “top-loading” that these fixtures provide. There could be situations where the sectionalized tower and top-loading flags used in the FCC database to describe unusual antenna might be employed. This was not the case for KARR, as the modeled radiation pattern was enclosed within the f(θ) curves for a tower height of 80.2°. The modeled elevation pattern in several pertinent azimuths is compared to the standard pattern and f(θ) curves to assure that it does not exceed these limits.

The H&D drawing shows how the shunt feed is connected between the transmitter and the 150-foot monopole antenna (see Fig. 2 at bottom). The cellular antenna array at the top actually provides some “top loading.”

While the AM coverage from the new site will be significantly less than the original site abandoned in 2011, KARR has an FM translator associated with the AM license under the FCC’s revitalization rules.

Click to open and download Fig. 2, a PDF profile of the cellular tower used in the project. A slant-wire was used to shunt feed the cell tower with KARR’s 740-watt signal.

 

The post Co-locating an AM With a Cellular Tower appeared first on Radio World.

I read with interest the debate over the KDKA centenary. I appreciate that many individuals and organizations were involved in the origins of what we now know as broadcasting. But I feel that a few important facts have been overlooked.

Radio depended up a number of technically sophisticated inventions. The vacuum tube was essential. The three leading industrial organizations with the research capability and certainly the patent portfolio to address the complicated and multifaceted process of radio communications were Western Electric, General Electric and Westinghouse.

Through World War I, each made significant progress in the art of electronics.

[Read: What, Exactly, Was First About KDKA?]

Western Electric was responsible mainly for land-based telephone equipment and their development of the high vacuum tube was essential for telephone repeater equipment.

General Electric provided the Fessenden alternator constructed by Ernst Alexanderson. Alexanderson proceeded to design larger RF alternators for point-to-point radio communications. Their sale of these machines to American Marconi for international communications led to the creation of the Radio Corporation of America in 1919.

Westinghouse was well known for providing the first successful alternating current generation and power distribution systems and through Westinghouse employee Nikola Tesla, provided the induction motor.

All three companies were engaged providing radio equipment under contract to the military during World War I. It was after the war and returning to civilian life the technology was to be put to use elsewhere.

Western Electric dabbled in radio but proceeded to provide public address systems and shortly technology for the first successful electronic audio recording technology. RCA meanwhile was exploring worldwide point-to-point communications. Westinghouse first attempted to enter this market but was thwarted by RCA’s monopolizing the market. So here was Westinghouse with a considerable degree of expertise and a large patent portfolio looking to apply it to a profitable business need.

Radio broadcasts in 1920 were intermittent, often highly publicized events for radio amateurs and experimenters. These broadcasts were often crudely done and I am not aware of any serious effort to sustain such efforts as there was no business plan.

The importance of Nov. 2, 1920, and KDKA was that it was the first time an industrial manufacturer with a business plan conceived of the entire process of creating regularly scheduled news and entertainment programming they could “broadcast” to the public, financed from the sale of consumer receivers, which were manufactured in large quantities by Westinghouse. Vice President of Westinghouse H.P. Davis saw that there was an interest in Westinghouse Chief Engineer Frank Conrad’s amateur broadcast activity, and Davis thought there was a business in it.

The question of how to adequately finance this business was a tricky one in radio’s earliest days. Westinghouse in 1921 joined the “Radio Group” that comprised General Electric, and shortly, Western Electric along with others. To finance broadcasting the sale of receivers and perhaps a tax or license was considered. When Western Electric New York station WEAF experimented in 1922 with “toll broadcasting” or allowing payment to WEAF in return for advertising over the airwaves, the revenue garnered by toll broadcasting allowed Western Electric to secure better talent and more listeners. That is another interesting story in itself and you can see where this is leading.

I would like to assert that Westinghouse therefore began the “business” of broadcasting on Nov. 2, 1920.

The author worked for PBS member station KAET and PBS/NPR stations WSIU/WUSI as chief engineer, and was director of engineering for the PBS member station NY Joint Master Control.

Comment on this or any story to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post Westinghouse Began the “Business” of Broadcast appeared first on Radio World.