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The Media Bureau and Carter Broadcasting, Inc. enter into a Consent Decree regarding compliance with political file obligations

The Media Bureau and Commonwealth Broadcasting, L.L.C. enter into a Consent Decree regarding compliance with political file obligations

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

Ad-Venture Media, Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

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

The Media Bureau and Fleur de Lis Broadcasting, Inc. enter into a Consent Decree regarding compliance with political file obligations

Teche Broadcasting Corporation enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

Radio Greeneville, Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

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West Central Broadcasting Co., Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

Princeton Broadcasting Co., Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

IP audio networking equipment developer Barix says that it is “bringing its IP paging and intercom expertise to large broadcast and emergency response networks with RackBox, a universal cloud-based, any-to-all platform for widespread delivery of critical messages.”

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

The 1RU RackBox can provide standard and emergency paging and intercom needs inside and outside the a broadcast facility. The IP backbone can facilitate messaging across a whole network, putting everyone on the same page. As a native IP device, it will be at home on standard IT networks.

A front-panel XLR connector allows for connection to a microphone. An onboard speaker provides for feedback. It uses a Linux-based heart while supporting major audio formats.

Info: www.barix.com

The post Barix Releases the RackBox appeared first on Radio World.

Michael Beach
(Photo by Allison Shelley)

As we’ve been reporting, the Federal Communications Commission has published a “cost category schedule” that describes potential expenses and costs that users of earth stations in the United States may incur as a result of the C-Band repack, and put in place a reimbursement program that includes a possible lump-sum payment to earth station owners including many radio stations.

We asked NPR Vice President, Distribution Michael Beach how this is playing out in public radio.

Radio World: Why should public radio stations know about this process now?

Michael Beach: To give some context, we’re talking about existing satellite services that will be repacked in the C-Band’s upper 200 MHz.

Here at NPR Distribution we serve public radio stations in two ways using C-band satellite-based technology.

First, we share the programming of more than 70 active, national radio-content producers with local public radio stations.

Second, we support distribution of content to more than 30 regional public-radio networks. Impact to each of these systems will be minimal because we are transitioning all our networks to the upper band. That move will protect our stations from interference by 5G systems entering the lower part of the band.

RW: Are there risks of interference?

Beach: Risk will occur if any of the new 5G facilities either transmit outside FCC limitations or are physically close to a satellite earth station. To help mitigate these risks, the FCC is providing funding to add a passband filter to each satellite antenna to guard against and lower the risk of potentially interfering signals coming from the lower part of the C-band that will be occupied by 5G.

RW: Are the proposed reimbursements fair?

Beach: The FCC has provided three options for earth stations that are registered and on the list of qualified antennas.

One: A station can take no action and allow its satellite operator to provide and install the filter at no cost. In the case of PRSS stations, Intelsat is the operator. If Intelsat does that work, it will seek reimbursement from the FCC.

Second: An earth station can purchase and install a filter on its own and seek reimbursement directly from the FCC. Details of reimbursement expenses are included in the guidelines of the FCC’s Cost Catalog.

Third:  An earth station can receive a one-time lump-sum payment. If a station chooses this last approach, it has a deadline [now extended to Sept. 14] to file its intention with the FCC. The election and electronic filing process is included in the FCC Public Notice.

[Related: Dawnco Urgest Stations to “Take the Lump Sum”]

RW: What if an earth station is not registered with the FCC or not on the list of qualified stations?

Beach: The FCC published a list of registered C-Band antennas on August 3, 2020. If a station is not registered, the station will need to purchase and install a filter at its own expense. The station will not be reimbursed, and the satellite operators will not provide the filter or installation.

RW: What is the lump sum amount that the FCC is offering?

Beach: The lump sum is $8,948 per registered and qualified antenna. FCC documents indicate the amount was derived after considering many different potential migration costs and averaging them.

RW: What are the downsides of either taking that lump-sum option or self-installation and seeking reimbursement?

Beach: By choosing the lump-sum option, an earth station operator assumes all costs and risks with no future option to change its mind. If for any reason an operator selects a filter that does not meet specifications, or installs it incorrectly, the operator’s recourse is to spend more money to correct the problem. This risk also exists if the operator does its own installation followed by seeking reimbursement.

RW: What else should radio engineers and managers know about how this process is going?

Beach: It’s not clear from the FCC’s currently available information what the timetable is for when an earth station can apply for reimbursement. Also unknown is when the filter specifications will be published. So, today, we also cannot identify for our PRSS stations the specific manufacturer part numbers that meet the specifications.

The good news is there is some time; potential interference is not imminent. The FCC auction won’t happen until later this year, and the lower part of the band only has to be cleared in certain cities by the end of next year (2021). The auction for the remaining part of the band and additional cities will be even later. It also means the FCC will not have funds for reimbursements until sometime after the auction, and likely not before June 2021.

The post How the C-Band Repack Affects Public Radio appeared first on Radio World.

Below are the recipients of the 2020 Service to America Awards from the National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation. These awards recognize outstanding community service by U.S. broadcasters.

Descriptions are as published by the NABLF and include links to multimedia presentations about each station’s efforts.

Recipients were announced during the Celebration of Service to America Awards program, which was conducted virtually this year.

Service to Community Award for Radio – Ownership Group
Zimmer Radio of Mid-Missouri, “Miracles for Kids Radiothon”

Raising awareness and money for the University of Missouri’s Children Hospital is personal for the Zimmer Radio & Marketing Group, considering members of the staff have needed this hospital for their own children. Radio stations KCLR, KTXY, KATI and KSSZ came together to host the 13th annual Miracles for Kids Radiothon to tell the hospital’s story and raise money to benefit sick kids in mid-Missouri. The 2019 event raised $309,000, bringing the total amount raised for this local hospital to $2.81 million. The team at Zimmer Radio is committed to doing their part to make sure kids have the best doctors, nurses, staff and equipment when it comes to battling illness.

Service to Community Award for Radio – Major Market
KIRO-AM Seattle, Wash., “710 ESPN Seattle and Coaching Boys Into Men”
Bonneville International

With a goal of ending domestic violence, KIRO decided to take the issue back to where it starts, focusing on homes, schools and role models within a local community. In partnership with Coaching Boys into Men, this campaign aimed to prevent domestic violence by teaching high school coaches and athletes how to be community leaders. The station hosted a training program for winter sports coaches, offering incentives for those who completed the program. Through this partnership, KIRO has reached more than 33,000 students with a 42% implementation rate throughout the Seattle area. Thanks to the team at KIRO and the Coaching Boys into Men training, this local community is closer to developing leading examples of role models and athletes for the next generation and putting an end to the cycle of domestic violence.

Service to Community Award for Radio – Medium Market
WSGW Saginaw, Mich., “WSGW’s Sharing Hope Radiothon”
Alpha Media

To help curb increasing homelessness in the area, 100.5 and 790 Newsradio WSGW hosted the 14th annual Sharing Hope Radiothon to raise money for the Rescue Ministries of Mid-Michigan and its local shelters. With cross promotion from sister station 94.5 The MooseWCEN, this 12-hour campaign exceeded its fundraising goal and raised more than $47,000 while also educating the community. To show continued support for their sister station, WSGW partnered once again and helped raise awareness and donations for the two-day St. Jude Kids Radiothon to raise another $83,250. These two campaigns strengthen the ties of local radio and continue to better the community through the sharing of hope and resources.

Service to Community Award for Radio – Small Market
WKXW-FM Trenton, N.J., “New Jersey Judges”
Townsquare Media

In July 2019, WKXW launched a series of reports highlighting misconduct within the New Jersey Family Court regarding rape and sexual assault cases. These investigative reports included the shocking details of local judges blocking prosecutors’ requests to try juveniles as adults as well as a pattern of victim blaming. This news series encouraged the community and local lawmakers to respond to these injustices. As a result of this series of investigative reports, the state Supreme Court accepted the resignation of one of the judges, took action to remove another from the bench and implemented mandatory sex crime training for all judges.

 

The post Radio Service: Listen to Award-Winning Stations appeared first on Radio World.

The offices of equipment manufacturer Inovonics are closed temporarily due to fires in its part of California.

“For those of you who have read about the CZU Complex Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, we wanted to let you know that we are fine,” wrote company President/CEO Ben Barber in an email to customers today. “Thankfully, everyone at Inovonics is healthy and safe from harm.

“The Inovonics factory in Felton is also fine although located in the evacuation zone. As a result our offices are closed temporarily.”

He thanked industry colleagues who had expressed concern, and said the company will respond to communications remotely through email for the time being. Tech support issues should be sent to tech@inovonicsbroadcast.com while sales inquires are being answered at sales@inovonicsbroacast.com.

“Order Processing: For those with pending orders, we will ship as soon as we are able and will keep you informed as information becomes available,” Barber wrote. “Stay tuned as they say in the radio biz…”

 

The post Inovonics Factory Affected by Evacuation Zone appeared first on Radio World.

It’s a good thing that U.S. radio stations now have a couple of extra weeks to explore their reimbursement options for tweaking their satellite infrastructures. Those options are part of the C Band repack supporting national expansion of 5G, and there are plenty of questions flying around about it, which is natural because there are thousands of dollars involved.

Radio World is featuring a series of Q&As with various participants around the industry. (Read recent background here).

We asked John Joslin, director of sales and marketing at satellite hardware supplier Dawnco, for his take on it.

Radio World: For the typical U.S. radio station, what is the lump sum amount that they’re being offered?

John Joslin: Most radio stations will get [approximately] $9,000 or $17,000 per registered satellite antenna.

Email a picture of the feedhorn on each dish to Dawnco, and we can identify which amount makes sense for each dish. You can make the determination yourself by looking up in the front of each dish, to see the feedhorn that the C Band LNB bolts onto. If the feedhorn has only one port with one CLNB bolted to it, your lump sum is $9K; when the feedhorn has two ports with two CLNBs bolted to it, your lump sum is $17K.

Sometimes, the feedhorn has two ports with one CLNB bolted to it and a cover plate over the second port; this is a dual-polarization feedhorn and may qualify for the $17K lump sum.

RW: Do you think these amounts are fair, too much, too little? How does it compare to the hardware outlay for a typical station?

Joslin: The vast majority of dish-registered radio stations will have tons of money left over with the lump sum, if their existing dishes are good. And even if they buy a new dish they’ll have money left over after getting the lump sum. The 5G C Band repack will require most radio stations to install less than $2K of new filters and parts per dish, if the current satellite antennas are in good condition with plenty of signal quality margin.

If the old dish is not performing well now, you’ll probably need to buy a new 3.7 meter dish package for less than $5K. For a small number of radio stations with roof-mounted dishes that need to be replaced, the lump sum may cover most but not all expenses, due to the high cost of roof-mounting structures.

RW: Do you think most stations will choose the lump option?

John Joslin

Joslin: When they know all the facts, nearly all radio station decision-makers will choose the lump sum payment, which gives them surplus money after buying all needed filters and parts. The only other option is to have the big satellite owners (SES and bankrupt Intelsat) provide filters and gear to them, which leaves no opportunity for surplus money for the radio station.

The $17K lump sum even makes sense for the few stations that need expensive roof structures to hold new dishes on the roof.

Some stations may miss the lump sum opportunity because their dishes were not previously registered, or they missed the lump sum filing deadline [now Sept. 14], or they weren’t given enough time to learn all of the facts.

RW: What happens next if a qualified station chooses the lump sum option?

Joslin: Radio stations must act quickly to decide they want the lump sum, then immediately make their lump sum filing with the FCC before the Sept. 14 deadline.

Call Dawnco or email us a picture of the dish-feedhorn, and we can help determine if the dish qualifies for $9K or $17K lump sum. We put all stations in touch with a respected Washington, D.C. area firm, who has the experience and connections to handle the lump sum filing, priced at $1,250 plus $75 per dish. Our recommended firm is very familiar with this FCC filing process. They are very likely to get stations the amount they are entitled to.

If you file yourself and make an error, you may not get what you need.

RW: What happens next if a qualified station does not opt for the lump sum option?

Joslin: When a station doesn’t take the lump sum or misses the filing deadline, their only other option is to have the big satellite owners (again, SES and Intelsat) provide filters and gear to them.

They will need to log onto the website for the big company that owns the satellite they are receiving signals from (usually SES for radio), navigate to the 5G C Band repack page, and enter a request for filters and equipment. There will be procedures to follow, questions to answer, and a wait time for obtaining answers.

At some point the big satellite company will ship the needed filters and gear, for the station to install themselves. Upon request, the big satellite company can schedule a roving crew to pass by the station for a quick installation of the filters.

RW: What option if any is available to stations that did NOT register their earth stations in the earlier window for that?

Joslin: The FCC documentation makes clear that the lump sum is not available to sites that did not previously register their satellite antennas with the FCC.

Unregistered sites can make a request for free filters to the big satellite company that they are receiving signals from (usually SES for radio). It is not clear if the big satellite company will provide filters or other gear to unregistered sites (time will tell).

Hundreds of radio stations did not register any of their dishes, or improperly registered for only some of the dishes they own. [Related: “SBE Issues Reminder for C Band Dish Users“]

Many unregistered sites are only finding out now that they made a big error, which may cost them thousands of dollars for new equipment needed to cope with the mandated 5G C Band repack. [Related: “C Band Repack Could Be Costly for Many Radio Stations“]

Many stations have expressed how they didn’t know they had to register, or didn’t realize that not registering would expose them to big costs. I guess the unregistered sites can talk to their congressmen to try for some political pressure on the FCC to extend the registration date.

RW: What support if any are the satellite operators, radio syndicators like Westwood One or networks like NPRSS providing to these stations?

Joslin: We speak to many radio station owners and engineers each day. At this point in mid-August, many individual stations are just now hearing about the 5G C Band transition, and realizing that it will affect them. The vast majority of radio stations do not realize that 60% of C Band for satellite will be removed within three years, or that filters will need to be installed in front of every single C Band LNB.

Management at the big station groups are aware of the 5G C band transition, but some are not aware of all of the details of Lump Sum compared to getting filters from the satellite operators.

RW: What recommendations are you making to radio stations about this decision?

Joslin: File for the lump sum if it is available to you. Don’t choose the option of using the big satellite companies, unless it is your only option.

RW: You mentioned confusion in the marketplace.

Joslin: Here is an interesting conversation I just had with a radio station that addresses one of the questions you asked me earlier. We presented our customer with an explanation of the lump sum opportunity. He had recently called to Westwood One, asking what he should do, regarding the 5G C Band repack. They told him to do nothing. We told him that because he had already registered his two satellite dishes, he was qualified for a $26K lump sum payment for his radio station ($9K + $17K).

Both of his dishes are in great shape, so his only cost for his rural site is $1,600 for two filters. He walks away with a surplus of $24K that he can put in his pocket. If he had taken the advice of the Westwood One representative, he would have been entitled to two free filters but zero surplus money. There seems to be some misinformation out there.

[A Westwood One official told Radio World on background that the syndicator is “not advising people/stations on what they should do on the lump sum decision. That’s their own decision to make.”  Radio World shortly will publish a Q&A with Westwood One’s Eric Wiler about the company’s perspectives on the reimbursement program.] 

RW: What else should we know?

I just saw a Radio World article stating that stations have the ability to get reimbursement from the FCC Clearinghouse using the cost catalog, which is not exactly true. Stations can ask the big satellite companies to provide needed filters and equipment.

SES or bankrupt Intelsat can file with the FCC Clearinghouse using the cost catalog, to obtain reimbursement for the cost of equipment they give to the stations. For example, SES and Intelsat will be reimbursed up to $900 for each C Band bandpass filter they provide to stations.

By the way, think what would be possible if that $8 billion bonus money to the big satellite operators, was instead equally divided by the 15,000 satellite antennas in the USA. It would be $533K for every dish!

[Related: “Lump Sum Option May Not Be Best for All”]

 

The post Dawnco Urges Stations to “Take the Lump Sum” appeared first on Radio World.

Engineers discuss the impact of the ’Rona on capital expenditures. Alfred Liggins explains why Urban One isn’t moving ahead on tests for all-digital AM. Linda Baun retires from the WBA. RadioDNS pursues a consistent look for radio in the dashboard. And Buyer’s Guide explores codecs and STLs.

Read It Online Here.

Prefer to do your reading offline? No problem! Simply click on the digital edition, go to the left corner and choose the download button to get a PDF version.

Tech Management

Infrastructure Spending Is Slammed by Pandemic

The impact of the crisis on the radio technology marketplace in the United States has been severe.

New Gear

Summer of Products!

A dozen new and recent offerings from companies like Inovonics, Moseley, AEQ, Angry Audio and Digigram.

Also in this issue:

• Snippets From “World Audio Day”
• Build This XLR Cable Tester
• RadioDNS Aims to Establish Metadata Consistency

 

The post Inside the August 19 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

Is your radio station’s online political file in order? If not, don’t expect the FCC to believe later that you didn’t see enforcement coming.

The Federal Communications Commission Media Bureau has just cranked out yet more consent decree agreements with owners of seven stations whose license renewal applications have been held up because of investigations into management of their online political files.

This continues a recent broad campaign by the FCC that seems intended to raise awareness of the rules without yet imposing financial penalties.

The spate of consent decrees, which comes in a national election year, could also be read to suggest that many broadcasters had been out of compliance in the past before new online systems made it easier for the FCC to keep track.

The consent decrees all involve owners acknowledging that their stations were not in compliance and promising to implement programs and to report to the FCC about them over a limited period of time. The FCC in turn removes its “hold” from the license renewal applications.

Roughly 30 such announcements have been made. The FCC began last month by announcing six “big name” companies that had numerous station renewals in process. The most recent have involved companies with one or a handful of current renewals.

This batch includes Third Partner Broadcasting, Acadia Broadcast Partners, Stannard Broadcasting, Radio Hendersonville, and Dr. Pepper Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of Dyersburg.

[Updated: As of Aug. 24 the FCC has also announced settlements with licensees Mitchell Community Broadcast, Rose Ann Marx, Ad-Venture Media, Lafayette Broadcasting, Fleur De Lis Broadcasting, Midwest Communications and Princeton Broadcasting.]

The post Yet More Settlements in Political File “Derelictions” appeared first on Radio World.