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The author is vice president of engineering for Spanish Broadcasting System.

MIAMI — As one of the largest Hispanic-controlled station groups in the U.S., the Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. operates 18 Spanish-language radio stations in top U.S. Hispanic markets including Miami, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Puerto Rico, along with the AIRE Radio Network, several TV stations and two internet portals. 

In the Miami area, we operate three FM stations — WCMQ(FM)/Zeta 92.3, airing salsa, WRMA(FM)/Ritmo 95.7, airing Cubatón/Reggaeton and WXDJ(FM)/El Zol 106.7, airing Bachata and tropical music — making it a particularly hot radio market for us. 

Last fall, we moved our transmitter facilities to the top of the Panorama Tower, a new 85-story skyscraper in Miami’s trendy Brickell district. Compared to our previous Miami high-rise site, this exceptionally high perch — the tallest south of New York — is especially advantageous for over-the-air coverage.

By December 2019, we completed the construction of our new transmitter building atop the Panorama Tower, which now houses three new GatesAir Flexiva FAX-20 kW solid-state transmitters, one for each of our Miami stations. Two of these units serve as main FM radio transmitters for WCMQ and WRMA, while the third serves as a backup for WXDJ. We procured the transmitters and additional gear through SCMS, which provided outstanding customer support and service through the entire process. SMCS also brought in the experts from Klein White Engineering of Phoenix for installation services.

After evaluating the top FM radio transmitters on the market, we chose the 20 kW GatesAir Flexiva FAX20 solid-state air-cooled transmitters, primarily because their inherent PowerSmart Plus architecture enables greater energy efficiency. Over time, we expect that this energy efficient design will result in substantial energy savings that will contribute to a solid return on investment. 

Since the rooftop transmitter building is only 26 by 15 feet, choosing transmitters that would pack all the features and functionality we needed into a compact size and footprint was paramount. In fact, we chose the air-cooled Flexiva FAX model because liquid cooling was not practical given that the site does not have sufficient space to accommodate the necessary plumbing.  

With the Flexiva’s low-maintenance design, we also find it easy to perform routine maintenance on the transmitters just by opening the front panel of their cabinets. Inside the transmitter, we can replace key components, such as power supplies and amplifiers, without having to interrupt the air signal because these modules are hot-swappable. 

EXCITERS

Our GatesAir package includes Flexiva software-defined exciters, which promote the reliability and stability that 24/7 operations require. With their inherent SNMP connectivity, this Flexiva transmitter model can be closely monitored from a remote location by our technicians. In fact, the system triggers alarms and notifications whenever immediate attention is required. 

While WXDJ is already airing in HD Radio on its main transmitter, located at another site, we plan to enable HD Radio on its back-up transmitter in the near future. The other two stations, WCMQ and WRMA, will soon offer HD Radio for the first time. To facilitate this, our new GatesAir equipment package includes the Flexiva FMXi 4g HD Radio platform, which comprises companion HD Radio Importer and HD Radio Exporter software. 

Our HD Radio programming originates from our broadcast studios in Miami’s Medley district, and the signals are transported to the transmitter site nine miles away via GatesAir Intraplex IP Link 200 codecs. These IP STL codecs use our two high-performance WAN services — AT&T and Atlantic Broadband — simultaneously, which permits signal failover to a redundant path whenever necessary. That is made possible by GatesAir’s Intraplex Dynamic Stream Splicing software built into the codecs.

Once transported to the Panorama site, the program signals first pass through an Orban audio processor, which feeds them to the GatesAir HD Radio Importer/Exporter software that is downstream. At the transmitter site, our stations share a Shively broadband panel antenna. With its two-input antenna panel design, this Shively antenna can broadcast RF signals according to two different profiles, such as omnidirectional and unidirectional, simultaneously.

COMBINATION

In order for our three separate stations to share the same antenna, their respective Flexiva transmitter outputs must be delivered to the antenna via a complex workflow that performs high-level combining and bandpass filtering. WCMQ and WXDJ combine into a single RF signal that is broadcast in an omnidirectional pattern radiating from the Miami metro and Boca Raton south to Key Largo. WRMA’s signal, which combines with the other two after passing through a bandpass filter, is broadcast from the antenna’s hybrid side in a single direction, north towards Broward County. 

With the Flexiva’s compact, energy-efficient design, GatesAir enabled us to transition from our older, tube-based transmitters to this next-generation solid-state technology. And coupled with the other GatesAir RF products we’ve installed, this solution saves valuable space, streamlines routine maintenance, supports our HD Radio roadmap, and boosts overall signal quality and reliability.

For information, contact Keith Adams at GatesAir in Ohio at 1-513-459-3447 or visit www.gatesair.com.

The post User Report: SBS FM Stations See Efficiency With GatesAir appeared first on Radio World.

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Orban describes its XPN-AM/HD is its state-of-the-art AM/MW/SW processor.

The company says that it uses the latest generation MX limiter and provides unparalleled processing capability.

The processor is software-driven and controlled. One instance of XPN-AM software realizes a stereo AM and stereo HD Radio/netcast audio processor.

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

Each processor consists of the following cascaded processing elements: input DC removal, stereo synthesizer, mono bass, left/right phase skew corrector, stereo enhancer, two-band defeatable AGC with window gating, ratings loop-through, equalizer/high-frequency enhancer, subharmonic synthesizer, multiband compressor, peak limiter, automatic loudness controller (HD only), transmitter equalizer (AM only) output.

The AM and HD processors split after the ratings loop through. An input/output delay allows for correlating processing delays. Processing handles 44.1, 48, 96, or 192 kHz sample rates.

Orban had planned to demo XPN-AM/HD with a Nautel NX-5 transmitter running MDCL (Modulation Dependent Carrier Level) with AMC of 6 dB at the NAB Show. In recent field tests with Nautel and TownSquare Media, Orban demonstrated that through aggressive processing with the XPN-AM, they were able to significantly reduce the transmitter’s power without impacting fringe coverage and without adding significant distortion to the signal. In one test, the NX5’s power consumption was reduced by more than 50%.

Info: www.orban.com

 

The post Orban Offers AM Processor appeared first on Radio World.

GatesAir says it is extending the proven operational benefits of its liquid-cooled UHF transmitters to VHF and DAB digital radio with the global debut of its Maxiva VLX-OP Series.

The high-efficiency, frequency-agile transmitter line covers DAB/DAB+ radio, low-band VHF (Channels 2–6) and high-band VHF (Channels 7–13). The VLX-OP Series offers the same software-defined modulations as Maxiva VAXTE air-cooled transmitters to support global analog and digital standards.

According to the company, like the Maxiva ULXTE liquid-cooled UHF transmitters, the VLX-OP Series integrates redundant, liquid-cooling pumps that efficiently move transmitter-generated heat to building exteriors. The system minimizes cooling requirements inside RF shelters, and especially reduces utility bills at medium-to-high power levels. It also offers the power density of Maxiva transmitters to reduce size and weight, and hot-swappable modular designs to streamline maintenance, according to the company.

Info: www.gatesair.com

 

The post GatesAir Rolls Out New VHF and DAB Transmitter appeared first on Radio World.

Techsurvey 2020 from Jacobs Media is out, and as usual some trends are as expected, but there are always surprises. Overall, the future looks bright for AM/FM radio.

The media pyramid shows AM/FM with 90%, surpassed only by smartphones with 92% and TV/video with 95%. The bad news is radio has dropped by 1% for the past two years. The pyramid also shows radio’s popularity almost evenly divided between men and women.

What’s the main reason for listening to AM/FM radio? At the top of the list with 69% is easiest to listen to in the car. The next most popular reasons — it’s free, DJs/hosts/shows, hear favorite songs/artists and feeling a connection with radio.

“One of radio’s primary advantages is its local feel.” Forty-five percent of Techsurvey’s respondents strongly agree with this statement, while 42% agree. Even more interesting, the percent that strongly agree and agree has risen from 77% of respondents in TS 2016 to 88% in TS 2020.

“I really feel a sense of connection to the station that sent me this survey.” Seven in 10 of those surveyed strongly agree or agree with this statement, again suggesting how important localism is. There is a slight gender difference, with 69% of men and 74% of women agreeing.

There is some very revealing information for commercial radio in the Net Promoter Scores (NPS). This number is derived by asking respondents on a scale of 1 to 10, how likely they would be to recommend the station that sent them the survey. Christian and public radio lead the NPS scores with 77% and 71% respectively, even though they are not commercial radio, and not part of this Jacobs survey. Rock is the top commercial NPS radio format, trailing with 55%. Whatever Christian and public radio are doing, commercial radio might be well advised to do more of it as well.

Finally, the survey asked about station bumper stickers. They generally fell out of favor during the 1980s, but maybe it’s time to bring them back. More than one in four say they would put their home station’s bumper sticker on their car if it were available. Of that group, most listened to rhythmic urban, 49% and rock, 47%. Clearly, some stations haven’t given up on bumper stickers, because 3% of respondents said yes, they already have one.

 

The post AM/FM Holds Fast in a Volatile Media Landscape appeared first on Radio World.

Zach Wiedenfeld of Sound Devices shows off one of the new shields.

Sound Devices manufactures portable and installed production sound and video products for professional applications. Now the Wisconsin-based company also has begun to make face shields for healthcare workers to help protect them from the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is selling them at cost to hospitals. Radio World asked co-founder Matt Anderson about it.

Radio World: What kind of gear is involved, and how did this come about?

Matt Anderson: We’re making disposable face shields to help protect the health care workers who are on the front lines taking care of patients. The design for this shield is an open source project, which can be read about here. Luckily, we’re right near the University of Wisconsin, and these are local businesses are friends; we are indebted to them for the design.

We got on board after I read about the shortage of these in the news. I came in last Monday and asked our sales folks to call some hospitals and they verified the need, so we started buying materials that day and were producing them en masse 32 hours later.

RW: Radio station engineers know Sound Devices for audio equipment. How hard is it to adjust your capital plant and workforce to produce these types of products?

Anderson: Converting our lines was not too difficult, in that our workers and the folks who run the plant are phenomenally flexible and hard working. At present the assembly of these items is all manual, and we’re able to produce about 5,000 per day. We’re working on tooling up the assembly process to dramatically increase these numbers.

One of the most difficult aspects of making high volumes of this product is procuring enough material, especially in this unique business climate. Fortunately our purchasing folks are very determined. Last week two of them were driving from store to store throughout Wisconsin buying up all of the elastic they could find. And added to this, we have longstanding relationships with the suppliers of the foam and the plastic material as these are suppliers we use every day for gaskets etc. for our audio products.

RW: How will these products be sold or distributed?

Anderson: We are selling these products direct to hospitals at our cost to make them. Hospitals can reach out to sales@sounddevices.com. We’re also now selling them on our web store at www.sounddevices.com.

RW: What else should we know?

Anderson: It’s been a humbling experience to see everyone step up and pitch in for this cause. My engineers and I worked this entire weekend each day via Zoom, from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. on designing tooling to ramp up production. I’m happy to say that I emerged from my garage with all digits still intact and with a fully functioning “shield press.”

Though the workers at our company are normally very hard-working, they are really going to the next level — from sales, to purchasing, to production, to engineering — and absolutely no complaining, just dedication. Though this situation we’re in is terrible, it is gratifying to see how much positive human spirit can come out of such a situation.

The post Q&A: Sound Devices Now Making Face Shields for Health Care appeared first on Radio World.

The author is vice president of engineering for Riverbend Communications.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — One of our stations was operating with an older Harris transmitter, which was no longer supported, and it was due for replacement. We have two transmitters operating in the room, and it was so noisy you couldn’t have a conversation in there. I was interested in replacing the transmitter with something that would run quietly. I have experience with one brand of solid-state transmitter, and it is definitely not quiet. And, naturally, I expected a new transmitter to bring cost savings in terms of using less electricity, reduced air conditioning costs and not having to purchase replacement tubes. The Harris needed a tube which would cost nearly $3,000 rebuilt.

I surveyed the market for a solid-state transmitter that would check all my boxes. This meant considering liquid-cooled transmitters — a leap of faith for a guy used to working with forced-air cooled transmitters for 40 years. I knew the high-power UHF TV guys have been using liquid cooling with their high-voltage tubes for years but most of them seemed nervous. It was an attitude adjustment.

I reviewed the details for two brands of liquid-cooled transmitters, one of them the Rohde & Schwarz THR9, as well as the air-cooled transmitter I was already familiar with. I obtained price quotes for both the liquid-cooled units.

I did not pursue the air-cooled transmitter because it did not meet one of my requirements, since it exhausts all its heat into the room, it does not reduce the need for cooling. It required the same amount of air conditioning that the previous Continental tube rig needed.

The liquid-cooled transmitters have an external heat exchanger that installs outside the building, and the heat goes there. There is no need to draw in outside air or provide tons of air conditioning. I ended up selecting the R&S THR9 20 kW transmitter, based on three factors: the splendid worldwide reputation of Dr. Ulrich Rohde and his company which includes high-end test equipment and VHF TV transmitters; the favorable price quotation; and warranty coverage that provided peace of mind.

The THR9 comes with enough coolant hose to install the heat exchanger up to 60 feet from the transmitter cabinet- it can be located further if necessary. I decided to locate it just outside the front of the transmitter building, and the THR9 sits in the middle of the room. It is compact and I wanted to retain access to all four sides of the cabinet, a decision I do not regret. The old Harris remained in place as a backup transmitter. It wouldn’t have been possible to remove it anyway — it must have been installed before the walls went up.

R&S assigned a factory tech to support our installation, and he contacted me by email. He gave me a useful tip or two, but I did not find it necessary to contact them further during the install, which took me about one day after the electricians finished the AC hookup. I did read the factory manuals thoroughly before proceeding — they are translated from the German, and Google Translate was my friend.

Now that the THR9 is in operation, the transmitter room is much quieter than it was. The only sound in the room is the soft whoosh of the forced-air cooling in the grounded-grid transmitter of our other station at the site. The R&S transmitter is virtually silent. The only way to tell if it’s running or not is to read its meters. And it has no physical meters. The front panel has an LED touchscreen with metering and control, which retracts inside the cabinet when not in use. This screen is available remotely and we can view it anywhere. The transmitter has two network connections available to use.

There are two coolant pumps inside the single cabinet. If one is removed from service the remaining pump will carry the load. Similarly, the heat exchanger has two cooling fans and if one fails, the remaining fan is sufficient to carry the load. There are four power amplifier modules in the 20 kW transmitter, and if one fails, the remaining amps pick up the load and operation continues uninterrupted. Amps can be easily and quickly removed without losing a drop of coolant.

We have two years of experience with the R&S THR9 transmitter now, and I am thrilled with its performance and reliability (and silence). And when the grounded grid transmitter is replaced, it will be with another THR9.

 

For information, contact Rohde & Schwarz in Maryland at 1-410-910-7800 or visit www.rohde-schwarz.com.

The post User Report: Rohde & Schwarz THR9 Is Cool and Quiet appeared first on Radio World.

Lawo Power Core MAX is a new version of the Power Core AoIP mixing engine that can support multiple physical or virtual mixing surfaces — two, three, or even four mixing interfaces per engine, depending on mixing requirements.

Power Core has 96 available DSP channels, 80 summing busses, an internal 1,920 x 1,920 routing matrix, plus 128 dual-redundant MADI channels and 128 AES67/Ravenna channels, standard.

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

Operators can use the eight rear-channel I/O expansion slots to accommodate more analog, digital, AES67 and Dante audio signals. There’s also ST2022-7 Seamless Protection Switching for dual-redundant AoIP network connections, and ST2110-30 compliance for seamless interoperability of audio and video equipment in combined radio / TV broadcast plants.

Lawo says that these capabilities, plus the ability to connect to as many as four independent Ruby mixing surfaces, makes Power Core MAX perfect for large multi-studio projects. In addition, broadcasters with medium-size or smaller facilities can use it as an I/O gateway and mixing engine for an entire radio station.

Info: www.lawo.com

 

The post Lawo Powers Up appeared first on Radio World.

The Congress has approved and President Trump has signed a $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill aimed at offsetting the economic impact of the spread of COVID-19. In that package was an additional $75 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting “to maintain programming and services and preserve small and rural stations threatened by declines in nonfederal revenues.”

This support is very welcome among the many rural stations the National Federation of Community Broadcasters interacts with. Yet the reality is stations across America need much more.

How serious is it? COVID-19 is the sort of financial calamity that threatens to wipe out community media.

[Read: Community Broadcaster: To Pledge or Not to Pledge]

Many of our country’s most vital stations rely on local underwriters, community events and listeners for the means to provide news, culture and education. What happens to these stations when businesses shutter, donors lose their jobs and our towns’ traditional gathering spots are no more? And, as critically, what happens to the life of a city when a community radio station dies?

Right now, there is not simply anxiety about the coronavirus cases stations are hearing about in their respective states. The stress about local economies is quite evident. There is hope the stimulus package will boost many communities. Hope, however, is not a promise. And in a pivotal year, where illness and elections bewitch the public consciousness, noncommercial media needs that promise now more than ever.

The cynic might say people can find their news on the internet. Still others would question whether these outlets playing music and local talk shows are relevant today. Yet the truth is that radio remains crucial to the overwhelming majority of Americans. Why? If the argument about ubiquity holds, wouldn’t hundreds of millions of people just be satisfied with getting their online channels of news and music?

A few are, but more are not, because they agree with people like Free Press’ Craig Aaron. Choice, localism and democracy are dear to all of us. “People need trustworthy news and information that isn’t hidden behind a paywall and more educational resources for kids who will be home from school for the foreseeable future,” Aaron writes. “This money isn’t for ‘Downton Abbey’ reruns. It should be earmarked specifically for emergency support, education, and especially local journalism.”

What’s more, increased federal and state attention on community radio stations should come with an appreciation for its effect on a city. Stations contribute to local creative economies and spark employment. The art galleries, restaurants, bars, live music venues and public spaces that find fellow travelers in community media make towns into destinations. Like businesses, noncommercial media must stay around.

CPB is incredibly valuable in this dialog, and its standards are an important starting point. However, as necessary are concerted investments by states and federal agencies into stations around matters like emergency preparedness and core infrastructure. In addition, the attitude of institutional and regional funders must change from the strictly transactional – you do this news story, you get this money, and somesuch — and more toward longer lasting community partnerships and investments that go 10 years and longer. Finally, I echo my colleagues who believe local journalism deserves greater support. The problem with an unnuanced approach is that media organizations with significant monies such as universities, or the networks disproportionately get major journalism funding while community radio is left to fend for itself. This is why long-term investment is necessary.

The coronavirus pandemic affects everyone and this situation is not changing soon. Emergency funding is excellent. It is also the prompt for new conversations on how states and regional leaders can fund on-the-ground media where it is much needed.

 

The post Community Broadcaster: COVID-19’s Threat to Community Radio appeared first on Radio World.

Delay in Filing Deadlines to Give Broadcasters Flexibility

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Henry Engineering’s SuperLight is a logic/control interface for controlling low-voltage studio tally lights. It can directly power 12 V DC LED tally lights that draw up to 500 mA. SuperLight includes a flasher circuit, as well as a DPDT relay output that can be used for any low voltage switching, speaker muting, or other utility use.

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It is compatible with WheatNet Blade, Axia xNode and similar network protocols. Cat-5/Cat-6 interface can control multiple units using one cable.

The LED output can supply 12 VDC at up to 500 ma; it can also “sink” up to 2 amps if used with an external power source. The LED output can be set to “flash” when on for use with on-the-air warning lights. All control, relay output, and LED output connections are via plug-in Euroblock connectors. Two RJ45 connectors are also provided for control wiring compatibility with WheatNet-IP Blade and similar installations that use Cat-5/Cat-6 wiring.

Info: www.henryeng.com

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