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TORONTO, Ontario — Some of the world’s best podcast creators and thousands of their avid fans will be in Toronto Nov. 6–11 for the 4th annual Hot Docs Podcast Festival.

The recurring event, which is being held at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema (named for the late Canadian media mogul Ted Rogers; son of Edward Rogers, who invented the “batteryless” AC-powered AM radio), demonstrates how popular the podcast has become in its short lifetime.

“This year’s festival features live events in which the world’s best podcasts perform live episodes for Toronto’s passionate community of podcast-lovers and a three-day industry conference (the Creators Forum) in which accomplished podcast professionals from across Canada and around the world come together for industry panels and networking events,” said Will Di Novi, the Hot Docs Podcast Festival’s lead programmer.

“Podcasting is, simply put, the hottest medium in nonfiction storytelling right now, with rapidly growing audiences, thrilling new creative developments under way, and huge potential from a business development standpoint.”

The Hot Docs Podcast Festival is structured to meet the needs of podcast creators (“the industry”) and the fans who adore this new medium (“the public”).

“On the industry side, we are offering exciting opportunities to hear the insights of some of the most important experts and decision makers in the international podcast industry — and to do so in an intimate setting where there are real opportunities to meaningfully engage with them and their expertise,” said Di Novi.

“At this year’s Creators Forum, we’re thrilled to be featuring panels, fireside chats and interactive workshops with brilliant folks like Mia Lobel, executive producer at Pushkin Industries (Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast studio); Sarah van Mosel, chief revenue officer at Stitcher; Leslie Merklinger, senior director of audio innovation at CBC; Mimi O’Donnell, executive producer of scripted content at Gimlet Media; David Stern, director of product development at Slate; Kenzi Wilbur, head of original programming at Luminary; and Steve Pratt, co-founder of Pacific Content.”

The public will participate in the Hot Docs Podcast festival by sitting in on a range of live podcast productions.

“We are offering the opportunity to see and hear some of the world’s most exciting audio storytellers live and in the flesh, such as Jon Ronson, Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham (from the New York Times’ Still Processing), former Daily Show correspondent Mo Rocca (presenting his Mobituaries podcast) and Canadian broadcasting legends like Ian Hanomansingh (Uncover), Jesse Brown (Canadaland) and Anna Maria Tremonti (presenting the exclusive world premiere of her new podcast More with Anna Maria Tremonti),” Di Novi told RWI.

The festival expects about 7,000 members of the public to attend this year’s event, plus hundreds of podcast creators and related personnel from around the world. It occurs at a time when podcasting has come into its own; fed by the public’s appetite for long-form nonfiction audio programs such as “Serial,” The New York Times’ “Caliphate” and Canada’s “Missing and Murdered.”

[Read: MXL Releases Podcasting Bundle]

Such podcasts “do for the audio space what the bingeable masterpieces at studios like HBO, Netflix and Showtime have been doing for prestige television,” said Di Novi.

The paradox is while “we’re seeing all this huge growth at the high-end, macro-level, emerging and mid-career podcasters — especially those who work as freelancers or for independent outfits — are still struggling to make a living in the industry and struggling to monetize their independently produced passion projects.”

 

The post Hot Docs Podcast Festival Features Nonfiction Storytellers appeared first on Radio World.

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Filing Window: November 1, 2019 - January 31, 2020

FEMA has approved the release of the new Federal Bridge certificate bundle designed for Digital Alert Systems DASDEC and OneNet CAP EAS devices to receive IPAWS messages. A deadline of Nov. 8 to install the certificate has also been announced.

[Read: Broadcasters Need to Keep Eye on Latest EAS Updates]

This was revealed through an email from Digital Alert Systems’ Edward Czarnecki, the company’s senior director of strategy & government affairs, to Society of Broadcast Engineers members.

The certificate is needed to ensure proper validation of CAP alert message from IPAWS. It is a free update and it works with software versions 2.6, 3.x and 4.x.

“We are aware that Nov. 8 leaves very little time — however, the final confirmation from FEMA to release the certs to EAS users was given a few hours ago,” said Czarnecki.

DAS has posted the certificate on its website, included with instructions and download links.

 

The post Updated IPAWS Certificate Released For DASDEC, OneNet appeared first on Radio World.

Now is the chance to recognize individuals and organizations that have significantly contributed to the television and radio industries by nominating them for the 2020 NAB Technology Awards. The nomination window is open between now and Jan. 13, 2020.

These four annual awards consist of the Radio and Television Engineering Achievement Awards, recognizing individuals for their outstanding accomplishments in each industry; the Technology Innovation Award, which acknowledges an organization showing an advanced technology or exhibit at the 2020 NAB Show that has not yet been commercialized; and the Best Paper Award, honoring the author(s) of a paper published in the Proceedings of the 2020 Broadcasting Engineering and Information Technology Conference.

The awards are presented each year as part of the NAB Show in Las Vegas.

“It is an annual highlight to present these awards to deserving individuals and organizations in celebration of our industry’s technical and engineering achievements,” said Sam Matheny, NAB’s executive vice president and chief technology officer. “I look forward to again recognizing the success that foster progress in broadcast technology and broadcaster innovation at the 2020 NAB Show.”

Nominations are due by Jan. 13, 2020. Nomination forms and award rules are available at www.nab.org/events/awards.asp.

The 2020 NAB Show will take place from April 18–22, 2020, in, as always, Las Vegas.

 

The post NAB Accepting Nominations for 2020 Technology Awards appeared first on Radio World.

The Media Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission is asking two licensees to clarify why they haven’t paid years’ worth of regulatory fees — in one case, for more than a decade — and warned the owners that the next possible step could be loss of the stations’ licenses.

In both situations, the backgrounds are similar. Cox Broadcast Group and La Favorita Inc. are being questioned by the FCC over allegedly unpaid regulatory fees. For Cox station WCGA(AM) in Woodbine, Ga., the FCC said that the licensee allegedly failed to pay regulatory fees for fiscal year 2010, 2103, 2016, 2017 and 2018 resulting in unpaid regulatory fees totaling $11,531.21. Despite the fact that demand letters have been sent to Cox, no payments have yet been made, the Media Bureau said.

[Read: Virginia FM Handed $15,000 Forfeiture for Alleged Filing Violations]

A similar situation has occurred with three AM stations in Georgia licensed by La Favorita Inc. The Media Bureau said the licensee has unpaid regulatory fees stretching back more than a decade — from 2007 through 2018 — for stations WAOS(AM) in Austell, WLBA(AM) in Gainesville and WXEM(AM) in Buford. The amount of unpaid fees totals $79,457.69 for those years. The bureau said that demand letters have been sent to La Favorita but to date have not been paid.

In both cases, additional charges will continue to accrue on these debts until they are paid in full, the bureau said, which includes a penalty equal to 25% of the amount of the original fee.

The commission also has the authority to revoke a station’s license for failing to pay regulatory fees and penalties. As a result, the commission has asked Cox and La Favorita to file documented evidence within 60 days to show that that it has paid or to show cause why payment should be waived. The FCC warned that failing to provide such evidence within the next two months may result in revocation of the stations’ licenses.

 

The post FCC to Two AM Licensees: Pay Fees or Nixed Licenses Could be Next appeared first on Radio World.

The Federal Communications Commission said it may be time to tackle the issue of duplicative programming in commonly owned radio stations.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a blog post this week that the commission will seek comment on modifying or eliminating a rule that limits the amount of duplicative programming that can be aired by commonly owned radio stations in a market.

This rule was originally adopted in 1992; since then the number of radio stations has continued to grow. In his blog post recapping the issues set for the November FCC meeting, Pai said that number of AM and commercial FM stations has increased to 19,500 (up from 11,600 in the 1990s) while the number of noncommercial FM stations has more than doubled and more than 2,000 low-power FM stations have been launched.

[Read: Groups Call on FCC to Waive First-Term Fees for Incubating AM/FM Stations]

And as the number of stations proliferate — and those stations continue to offer content over the air, on websites and through mobile apps — the commission is seeking comment on how to ensure competition and program diversity, which were the objectives of the radio duplication rule when it was set. As a result, the commission will seek formal comment on whether the rule is still necessary and whether it should be modified or eliminated.

Comments on that notice, known as Media Bureau Docket Number 19-310, can be found in the FCC’s ECFS database under the formal title of “Amendment of Section 73.3556 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Duplication of Programming on Commonly Owned Radio Stations.”

The November commission meeting is set for 10:30 a.m. Eastern on Nov. 19.

 

The post FCC to Tackle Duplicative Programming Rule appeared first on Radio World.

Graham Lay has joined the GatesAir team as its new regional sales manager representing the Middle East and Africa. One of his key responsibilities is to build GatesAir’s market share and brand visibility in those regions.

Graham Lay

Lay has more than a decades’ worth of experience in sales and account management for broadcast and communications. He previously worked for electrical cable distribution company IEWC, moving to Dubai in 2015 to serve as the business unit leader, MEA for Argosy Cable, an IEWC company.

“I look forward to working with the greater EMEA team to strengthen our brand in the Middle East and eastern Africa,” Lay said. “We see enormous opportunity to help broadcasters refresh FM radio infrastructure, and drive large, national digital TV and DAB radio transitions that generate new revenue and service opportunities for customers.”

Lay is based in Dubai and reports to Andy McClelland, managing director, EMEA.

 

The post GatesAir Taps Graham Lay for MEA Region appeared first on Radio World.

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The Media Bureau announces that it has opened MB Docket No 19-310, captioned "Amendment of Section 73.3556 of the Commission's Rules Regarding Duplication of Programming on Commonly Owned Radio Stations."

Media Bureau announces that it has opened MB Docket No 19-311, captioned "All-Digital AM Broadcasting."

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Equipment dealer Progressive Concepts has announced an agreement with RVR Electronica of Italy to become an authorized dealer and service center.

Progressive will be handling RVR’s current stereo FM transmitter line: TEX30, TEX100, TEX150, TEX300, TEX502, TEX702 and TEX1002. These range from 30 W to 1 kW in power and can be controlled remotely via the web.

All of the TEX models feature a stereo encoder with left and right analog audio inputs, mono inputs, and MPX composite signal and auxiliary inputs for SCA/RDS signals. They utilize a Power Factor Correction power supply.

They are also FCC- and Industry Canada-approved.

 

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