Industry News

The Alabama Broadcasters Association won’t hold their annual conference this month after all.

The event was planned for Jan. 21–22. The association is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

“With the Covid Omicron variant spreading like wildfire across our state and already having an impact on many of your stations, we believe it is in everyone’s best interest that we not gather in large numbers just yet,” wrote ABA President Sharon Tinsley in an email.

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“We will begin contacting our speakers immediately to arrange to provide the content we had planned in a virtual setting over the next six weeks. Please watch for upcoming announcements about a schedule of news, engineering, sales and management topics to be offered via webinar or Zoom.”

People who paid for registration will receive a refund and will not be charged for any hotel nights. ABA will present its awards virtually this month.

Sam Matheny, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at the National Association of Broadcasters, was to have been the keynoter of the Friday engineering sessions.

Submit news about your event to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Ala. Broadcasters Cancel Annual Conference appeared first on Radio World.

On Saturday, the organizers of CES 2022, in a nod to the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, decided that closing the event in Las Vegas one day early would be a prudent plan of action — even as more than 200 of the world’s biggest electronics brands pulled out of live in-person events at the conference.

In contrast, a state broadcasters’ association is taking no chances in ensuring the safety and health of their members by canceling its annual affair, scheduled for later this month.

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Josh (left) and Tom King are shown at a transmitter site in South Korea.

The third generation is ready to play a larger role at family-run Kintronic Labs.

The firm started to take shape in 1949 when Louis King left the Radio Corporation of America to pursue his own business in RF, and took its current name in 1962.

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Joshua King began work with Kintronics in 2018 as a project engineer and was named a vice president in 2019. Earlier he was a project engineer for systems integrator Affinity Energy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Clemson University.

According to a bio on the company website, “Joshua is excited to be involved in RF (‘really fun’) engineering and looks forward to finding Kintronic Lab’s niche in future technologies like 5G and IoT, while building on the traditions of quality work and great customer service.”

Tom King has led the company since 1983 and is considered one of the industry’s leading experts on AM radio transmission technology. He received the Radio Engineering Achievement Award from the National Association of Broadcasters in 2015 (read our profile). Louis A. King received the same award in 2007 (read our profile).

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Joshua King Named President/CEO of Kintronic Labs appeared first on Radio World.

With the shift of TV audiences to advertising-free video platforms, local advertisers are turning to audio — not simply radio — to build their brands and drive sales.

How can a CMO and brand manager help build a successful local audio plan? Pierre Bouvard, the Chief Insights Officer at Cumulus Media and its Westwood One arm, offers up five strategies he believes will yield success.

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In 2017, she became the News Director for Gray Television’s NBC affiliate serving the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa. Now, a promotion has been given to Stephanie Hedrick.

She’s now the GM of a Gray-owned NBC affiliate not too far to the north.

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As 2021 came to a close, KRRiT, the Polish broadcasting regulator, announced plans to tender licenses for a nationwide DAB+ multiplex. The multiplex would support a dozen channels.

According to the KRRiT’s announcement, three of the channels will be reserved for public service broadcaster Polskie Radio’s national channels; three will be for nationwide extension of existing program services; and the remaining six will be for new or extended “broadcasting licenses of a universal or specialized nature.” The announcement was made in Polish on Dec. 29.

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According to wirtualnemedia.pl, the licenses for three existing services are expected to go to private broadcasters RMF FM and Radio Zet, as well as to the religious station Radio Maryja. All three stations currently are heard nationwide on FM. The six other slots could go to other regional or local broadcasters, or to new players in the industry.

Polskie Radio currently operates DAB+ multiplexes reaching about 67 percent of the nation’s population, although it aims to expand this to 80 percent of the population in early 2022. The three slots on the new national multiplex could expand the reach of existing Polskie Radio programs or could be used for new services, according to wirtualnemedia.pl.

The post Poland Opens Tender for National DAB+ Programs appeared first on Radio World.

It’s the No. 5 MVPD by size in the U.S. It also sells advertising and production services under the OnMedia brand.

Now, this cable television service provider has a freshly inked carriage agreement in place with the owner of the NBC affiliate serving an area of Kentucky recently battered by fierce twisters.

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From 1989 through 2012, he was widely known for his sales roles and leadership of the AM and FM radio stations once owned by ABC Radio serving the New York Tri-State Area. He’d later join WOR-AM in New York as Station Manager before taking a post with Times-Shamrock Communications in the Poconos.

Now, there’s a Shamrock back in Steve Borneman‘s professional life.

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Thirteen days ago, RBR+TVBR was first to share the news that Gray Television had agreed to purchase a low-power TV construction permit and five fully built LPTVs from the licensee led by Jeff Winemiller.

It is now known that this transaction was just a taste of bigger trading to come between the Gray and Winemiller’s Lowcountry 34 Media.

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“This update offers a free, updated version of Infinity’s Dashboard software, enhanced compatibility options, and includes firmware for Infinity panels, desktop stations and beltpacks,” the company announced.

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VP of Business Development and Infinity Product Director Martin Dyster was quoted: “Infinity has always been plug-and-play due to the design principles inherited from its Livewire+ AES67 heritage, but these v2.0 integration enhancements open up new possibilities for users and make it easier to control Infinity using the broadcaster’s preferred method.”

The update makes Infinity Dashboard Software free for all Infinity users, eliminating a licensing scheme and giving users access to Dashboard’s full feature set.

It also makes Infinity hardware systems compatible wi5th the new Telos Infinity VIP Virtual Intercom Platform. “By adding seamless integration of Infinity VIP with the hardware-based Infinity IP Intercom system, users have a wide range of deployment options for diverse applications; whether on-prem, site-to-site, in the cloud or as a hybrid of these.”

Telos said Axia users also will find the update useful because it contains enhanced integration with the new Axia Quasar AoIP Mixing Consoles. And integration with Elgato Stream Deck is included, making it easier to control the intercom system with that third-party device.

The free download is available via the Infinity portal.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

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