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Radio broadcasters have long feared that self-driving cars would threaten their dashboard dominance. A new optional infotainment system upgrade from carmaker Tesla proves that these concerns are well founded.

Some older Tesla Model S and Model X owners are now able to purchase a $2,500 update that the company says improves user experience, enables video streaming and supplies an expanded Tesla Arcade but will remove broadcast AM/FM radio and Sirius/XM reception. (Broadcasters will likely wince when they see “Removes AM, FM and Sirius XM radio” under the “Improvements” heading of its software breakdown.) 

Currently, the offer is available by emailed invitation only, according to Tesla Service. U.S. vehicles with Autopilot Computer 2.5 featuring Full Self-Driving Capability will be first in line, while those running Autopilot Computer 2.0 should be contacted later this month.

In response to this news, Strategy Analytics Global Automotive Associate Director Roger Lanctot wrote a LinkedIn article titled “Technology Tyranny and the End of Radio.” 

According to Lanctot, “Once again, Silicon Valley is asking us to surrender one thing in exchange for another. Yesterday it was our privacy. Today it is the radio. Tomorrow it will be our freedom.” Perhaps this conclusion is a bit hyperbolic, but Lanctot concedes that the strategy has a logical side. He writes, “it is quite possible that Tesla has leveraged user data from its own vehicles to determine that radio listening in its vehicles was sufficiently minimal to be worth risking some minor resistance.”

Additionally, it may be “a market research project” to determine customer demand for OTA radio. Why? Tesla is an international company dealing with a variety of broadcast standards while also preparing for 5G rollout; an attempt to simplify its technology offerings makes sense for the manufacturer, if not for the consumer, Lanctot reasons. Nonetheless, it’s clear that he believes radio should remain prominent in the car dash.

This isn’t the first time radio has worried about Tesla’s in-dash plans. As far back as 2017, rumors have circulated that Elon Musk’s tech-car company would remove radio. That fear proved to be overblown for the Tesla 3, but this time, it appears Tesla is indeed moving in a radio-less direction. The 2020 Tesla Model 3, for example, does not offer AM radio, according to Car and Driver. Note that Tesla isn’t the only car company experimenting with removing broadcast radio. In 2014, BMW removed AM reception from its electric i3 models, to the chagrin of organizations like the National Association of Broadcasters and AM enthusiasts.

RW has requested comment from Tesla and will report any reply.

 

The post Tesla Offers Infotainment Upgrade That Removes Radio appeared first on Radio World.

The FCC says it will be limiting access to the FCC as a preventative measure in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and will be suspending FCC participation in any large gatherings.

According to the commission, anyone who has been in any country in the previous 14 days that is subject to CDC level-three travel warnings will not be allowed to enter FCC facilities. Currently that would exclude recent visitors to China, Iran, Italy and South Korea.

[Read: What Radio Exhibitors at NAB Show Are Saying About Coronavirus]

That includes FCC employees and contractors as well as visitors.

The FCC has suspended all noncritical FCC domestic and international travel and for the near term is “suspending until further notice any FCC involvement in noncritical large gatherings that involve participants from across the country and/or around the world.”

An FCC spokesperson was checking at press time on whether that means the chairman won’t make it for his Q&A at the NAB Show next month or whether that is considered a “critical” gathering. That is still six weeks away, so there could also be a change in the virus status by then.

It is certainly a large gathering, drawing close to 100,000 people from home and abroad.

 

The post FCC Suspends Travel to “Large Gatherings” in Coronavirus-Related Move appeared first on Radio World.

The author is chairman of Digital Radio Mondiale.

Analog shortwave will celebrate about 100 years of existence in 2028 when many hope 5G will have been properly defined, tested and applied, though broadcasting is low on its long list of perceived advantages.

A screenshot of Dream software showing the technical evaluation of a DRM signal (BBC transmission) received from a transmitter located in Singapore. Photo courtesy of Dr. TK Rao.

It’s true that shortwave was typically a medium of the Cold War that peaked in 1989 and that afterward its listenership dwindled. Many international broadcasters gave up on it as the post-war transmitters got rustier and the energy bills kept mounting.

After all, when budget cuts are needed, no transmitter will go on strike or write to the press, as happened when the BBC World Service tried to unsuccessfully close its Hindi shortwave transmissions in 2011. In 2020 these broadcasts stopped, when committed BBC Indian listeners, writers and thinkers who opposed it in 2011 did not protest too much.

The slow death of shortwave has been blamed on the internet and satellite. As technology and content are inextricably linked, shortwave created its type of content that is no longer favored by the savvy FM listener, internet user and cellphone obsessed.

WHAT HAPPENED?

First, came the great partnership of international broadcasters with local FM stations. International programs could be suddenly heard in big cities in very good sound quality. The drawback was that the programs were often very short, often scheduled at unreasonable hours.

“Radio should address each and every one in cities and far away rural communities, whether to inform, entertain or alert to emergency situations.”

Branding was also an issue for the big international broadcasters now piggybacking on a local station with its own identity. There was also the danger that the local station could object to this partnership for political or content reasons and drop the international program at very short notice.

In some European cities, international broadcasters have also become local ones as they have gone on DAB multiplexes, more of a prestige move than an audience growing measure.

Photo courtesy of Encompass Digital Media.

Most of these international broadcasters are streaming and throwing their lot with another 30,000 or more stations that listeners have to choose from but only if they have electricity, a laptop, an internet connection and sometimes the patience to cope with buffering.

So, shortwave and its long-range advantage were replaced mainly by the one-to-one sophisticated internet and the cheaper, clearer but very local FM or the DAB+ option in band III, in this way undermining the very essence of their wide coverage and appeal.

At first, it might seem that these are cheaper and more modern options. But, in reality, energy-hungry FM and the multiplexed DAB+ are not that cheap either. Streaming uses an expensive digital electronics setup for something that broadcasting, as one-to-many, can do more cheaply, preserving the anonymity of the user, an advantage that is becoming increasingly relevant in many societies.

NEW REALITY

The greater danger of replacing wide-range coverage with local broadcasting is a different one, though: Radio that should address each and every one in cities and far away rural communities, whether to inform, entertain or alert to emergency situations, becomes patchy and leaves those, who need it most, out of range.

Some international and powerful public and state broadcasters still opt for wide-range coverage, however. One example is China, which might be still pursuing its local digital broadcasting version but to give full coverage on the roads and in the areas between large cities, it has opted for DRM shortwave.

China National Radio broadcasts 80 hours a day from five existing and upgraded sites with seven or eight transmitters sending shortwave DRM to most areas of North China, East China, South China and Southwest China. Russia is also airing DRM in shortwave over huge areas of Siberia.

India has three DRM shortwave transmitters and is looking at increasing this number for national and international reach. There is also interest in Indonesia and renewed questions are coming from Brazil that has been using analog shortwave to cover mainly its Amazonian region.

Vanuatu, a small country in the Pacific, has recently gone for DRM shortwave to save lives in disaster situations by using its integrated emergency warning capability. And a site in the United States has recently started broadcasting in DRM the popular Radio Marti programs toward central and Latin America.

It thus appears as if a few big up and coming countries are rediscovering the value of shortwave radio, unlike much of the Western international broadcasters who dropped it 10 or 20 years ago.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE?

DRM was the big hope for shortwave when the excellent engineers with vision first invented it. In its digital variant, DRM, shortwave becomes a new modern platform using up-to-the minute coding, which produces a very clear sound. In effect, DRM shortwave is like FM over very large areas. More than one good audio channel is available and can be accompanied by data and other digital services.

In digital shortwave the energy bill is cut drastically as compared to the analog invoice, and the new transmitters are very efficient. Even the not so old transmitters can be upgraded. Some broadcasters saw these opportunities and went this route while patiently waiting for receivers to become available and affordable.

Now together with the extra shortwave DRM transmission services we are seeing the rise of DRM receiver solutions (with shortwave support as well) from countries like China, India, Germany, the United Kingdom and France.

Some of these solutions are inexpensive and energy-efficient designed to serve a whole community by using a digital shortwave station receiver disseminating the broadcast via Wi-Fi.

[Read: The Power of Digital Radio in Emergencies]

Therefore, today shortwave is positioned differently. While the interest of most Western countries has waned, other parts of the world have stuck with the platform and are adapting it for their own use.

In fact, we are at a point where shortwave may just be ready to turn the corner, especially if digital shortwave can be made available in cars. Surprisingly, electric cars might be better suited to receiving the digital signal than the current cars on the road.

Questions remain though: Is it too little, too late for shortwave? Or is this a new digital platform that we should simply call “digital radio” and that we can confidently and courageously embrace and use?

The post What Is Replacing Shortwave? appeared first on Radio World.

The National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2019 amended the Communications Act of 1934 to require all U.S.-based foreign media outlets submit reports every 6 months to the Commission regarding the outlets' relations to their foreign principals

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Jeff Welton

Jeff Welton is on a roll: At this spring’s NAB Show, the Nautel regional sales manager will receive the 2020 NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award.

The National Association of Broadcasters created the the Engineering Achievement Awards in 1959. The program highlights peer-nominated radio and television professionals who have helped to advance broadcast engineering.

This is the third major industry award Welton will receive in as many years. In 2019, the Association of Public Radio Engineers chose Welton as the APRE Engineering Achievement Award honoree. In 2018, the Society of Broadcast Engineers named Welton as the James C. Wulliman  Educator of the Year.

At Nautel, Welton is in charge of transmitter sales and customer support for the central U.S. He has been with the company for three decades, first joining as customer service technician. 

Welton is also known for his internal and external educational efforts. He has developed training materials and webinars and also writes and speaks about digital radio and broadcast engineering. His byline has appeared in the 11th edition of the NAB Engineering Handbook (he wrote the “Facility Grounding Practice and Lightning Protection” chapter) as well as in Radio World and its ebooks, including our latest on transmitter trends.

Additionally, NAB will recognize Jim Stenberg with the 2020 NAB Television Engineering Achievement Award. (Learn about Stenberg on TVTechnology.com.) Both will receive their awards during NAB Show at Tuesday’s We Are Broadcasters Celebration.

Last year’s Radio Engineering Achievement Award honoree was Garrison Cavell, who was recognized alongside his wife Cindy, who took home the TV version of the award.

The post 2020 NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award Goes to Jeff Welton appeared first on Radio World.

EEO debate, cybersecurity precautions, Italy’s digital radio, tips in AoIP, Promo Power and lots more.

Read it online here.

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

FUTURE OF AM RADIO “Digital Sunrise” Webcast Available on Demand

This issue of RW includes a sampling of what we covered in our recent webcast (which you can also watch at any time).

 

PRODUCT EVALUATION AKG K275 and K371 Headphones

Rob Tavaglione slips on two new closed-back models and tells us what he heard.

 

Also in This Issue:

• Cybersecurity: Most People Don’t Have a Plan
• A Look Inside Italy’s Digital Radio Rollout
• How to Transition to AoIP in Five Steps

The post Inside the March 4 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

With the 2020 Radiodays Europe just about four weeks away, organizers have announced that the conference will go ahead as planned in Lisbon, Portugal, even with concerns regarding the spread of coronavirus. The conference plans to institute a number of actions to ensure its attendees’ safety.

Radiodays Europe is working with the Portuguese Health Authorities Direção Geral de Saúde, the Lisbon Congress Centre and host venues to meet the guidelines set by the World Health Organization for COVD-19.

It also has provided key practices to try and prevent the spread of COVID-19, which include:

• Keeping a social distance, avoiding handshaking and kissing, etc.;
• Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth;
• Wash hands regularly, well and for at least 20 seconds;
• Practice respiratory hygiene; and
• Seek medical care immediately if you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing

To date, there are no travel restrictions for entering the Portugal. Authorities are asking that people with fever or symptoms check their health status before leaving their countries.

2020 Radiodays Europe is schedule for March 29–31.

The post Radiodays Europe Moving Ahead Amid Coronavirus Concern appeared first on Radio World.

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