Industry News

Edison Research and NAB have jointly released their findings from a first-of-its-kind study on Radio.

The report identifies six segments of radio listeners, their listening behaviors and their attitudes toward advertising.

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May 10 at 10am will see the commencement of Saga Communications’ annual shareholders’ meeting. It won’t be a virtual affair, with the day’s events scheduled to take place at Saga’s suburban Detroit headquarters.

Daniel Tisch, head of key Saga investor Towerview LLC, could be in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., with Saga’s top leaders. What’s on tap for him and other Saga investors?

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On March 25, a FCC filing indicated that Marquee Broadcasting Group had agreed to acquire a trio of low-power television construction permits, two located in Albany, Ga., and a third licensed to Augusta, Ga.

It now appears the Augusta station is heading to a different buyer, a newly filed asset sale agreement from HC2 Holdings-controlled DTV America shows.

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Another battle between dissident shareholder Soohyung Kim and his Standard General, the owner of close Sinclair Broadcast Group partner Bally’s, and TEGNA is brewing. Kim has reached out to TEGNA shareholders asking them, once again, to support his board of directors nominee slate at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Calls of racism have been lobbed against TEGNA.

Yet, through it all, TEGNA shares haven’t been this high in nearly 14 years. And, that was technically when the company was known as Gannett. Now, TEGNA has released preliminary Q1 2021 revenue data and second quarter guidance that makes Soo’s sway that much more difficult.

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The author is owner/operator of WZPH(LP).

ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. — WZPH(LP) is a unique radio station in many ways. We hold the world record for 3 million songs in a row, nonstop oldies rock’n roll since March 24, 2005, commercial-free. We are locally owned and have been serving the community without the request of on-air donations.

Being close to the Tampa, Fla., market is challenging, we get crushed in the ratings, as well as coverage area.

For many years, our audio lacked the luster of the powerhouse stations, and it just didn’t seem to shine on the radio dial. The content of our material was good in quality, but by the time the audio was heard on a table radio, it just didn’t sound the same. Our audio chain consisted of an Aphex Compellor, followed by an Aphex Dominator passed into a stereo generator with peak limiter.

No matter what we did with hours of setting changes, the audio either sounded either squashed, or annoyingly raspy to the ear. We needed something different, but with the price tag of the processing of today, we weren’t able to afford the big-ticket processors any time soon.

Our station engineer advised us that there was a product recently released on the market, the JT Communications SEPsoniX processor. It featured simple installation and an affordable cost ($1,100). He said that it contained features such as split-band compressors (so that the low and high frequencies would be processed independently), AGC to maintain gain along with a stereo generator with peak composite limiter (to protect overshoots).

Being located “down the road” from Zephyrhills in Ocala, we contacted Jim Trapani of JT Communications, and he was very accommodating, explaining the simple operation and setup to our engineer. Since he was local, and with the new introduction of the product, he was willing to deliver the SEPsoniX personally and assist our engineer with the installation and settings.

After Jim’s arrival, the installation was rather quick. In the words of our engineer, “I have never had such a simple processor setup until now.”

The processor contains all the necessary adjustments from the front panel, including sufficient LED indicators to let you know how the unit is operating at a glance. Once the input levels were set, the unit performed nicely, and the audio quality seemed to be less squashed yet loudly competitive.

Increasing the audio input did not increase the typical fatiguing audio sound we were experiencing with our earlier processing combo; rather it sounded open and cleaner. The high-frequency limiter that precedes the stereo generator did a good job on the high frequencies, and we did not hear the smearing and “spitting” of the highs that our previous processing failed to resolve.

The composite clipper could be adjusted, from mildly functional to aggressively loud.

The stereo generator produced good separation at multiple frequencies, but we decided to keep the signal mono, as the increased noise that occurs when operating stereo was not beneficial to our already FCC-limited signal.

We spent the next few hours jumping around the dial, listening and comparing our audio to our competitors. Although we did not “jump off” the dial as some stations do, we were quite competitive to the audio quality, and longtime listening did not sound fatiguing to our ears. We wrote a check to seal the deal.

WZPH is in a small metallic building, directly underneath the antenna tower. Lightning is typical during the summer months, and we have added a good amount of grounding to our equipment to avoid casualties.

This past winter we took a hit. Although the transmitter survived, all audio wires that crossed paths were fused. Our engineer was able to replace the damage within a few hours and we were back on the air.

The SEPsoniX contains some lightning protection on the BNC output, and the only damage was the output IC (which is socketed). It is a common part which the engineer had some in his parts bin.

Overall, our investment into the SEPsoniX  has resulted in a great-sounding, competitive station without the emptying of the pocketbook. For startup and small-budget stations, this is an excellent choice, and it appears that the SEPsoniX will provide years of great results.

Radio World User Reports are testimonial articles intended to help readers understand why a colleague chose a particular product to solve a technical situation.

For information, contact Jim Trapani at JT Communications in Florida at 1-352-236-0744  or visit www.jtcomms.com.

The post User Report: SEPsoniX Brings Big Sound to Small Station appeared first on Radio World.

Drew Lane is living proof that if you develop a radio audience, if you’re willing to invest in yourself, and if you work hard, YOU CAN MAKE REAL MONEY PODCASTING.

How so?

After stops in Roanoke, Va.; Phoenix; Charlotte; and Boston, Lane made Detroit his home, working at legendary Rocker WRIF-FM from 1991 through 2013 and then crosstown “Sports Radio 105.1” until 2015. Teamed up with Mike Clark, The Drew and Mike Show was wildly popular in the Motor City and a ratings bonanza for the former Greater Media.

On October 17, 2015, the radio pink slip arrived.

Faced with the decision of choosing between a so-so radio offer and launching a Drew & Mike Podcast, Lane took the risk, invested $35,000 in professional-grade equipment, and launched the weekday three-hour podcast on May 4, 2016.

After a few months, Lane set up a donation tab on the podcast’s website; more than $75,000 flowed in over two weeks. Then, the advertisers came knocking.

Today, The Drew & Mike Podcast (which retains the name even as Lane’s co-host died in October 2018) is generating enough revenue to pay four full-time staffers, including Lane himself. In fact, he earned enough money to launch the Red Shovel Network and bring in other shows.

Combined, the shows on The Red Shovel Network generate 3 million downloads every month.

On Wednesday, July 14, Lane joins the “How to Make Real Money Podcasting” virtual symposium to reveal all of his secrets.

Want to hear more about what Lane has to say?

That’s just part of the three-day How to Make Real Money Podcasting virtual event, scheduled from 11am-2pm Eastern from July 13-15. REGISTER HERE.

A 30-day replay is included with your registration so you can watch at your convenience — again and again!

The media consumption data-focused company seeking to chip away at Nielsen’s dominance in the broadcast TV industry has just secured a renewal agreement with a broadcast online software and information provider — allowing it to use a platform to aggregate as-run television schedules from its affiliates.

BE SURE TO FOLLOW RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!

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Wheatstone said the Blade 4, its newest WheatNet-IP Blade, “clears out the rack room.”

The company highlights its integrated audio routing, control, codecs, processing, mixing, operating system and NMOS/AES67 interoperability that are all provided in a single rack unit.

Wheatstone said the new model offers interoperability with other manufacturers and network environments through SMPTE ST 2110 audio support and AES67 compliance. “Blade 4 supports NMOS [Networked Medio Open Specifications] device discovery, AES67 multichannel support and packet timing adaptability,” it said in the announcement.

[Read: Processing for Streaming vs. On-Air]

Each Blade 4 has its own OS. “No tablet, laptop or desktop PC needed. Run select broadcast applications and scripting routines direct from the network I/O interface, including IP meter, PC XY routing control, Screenbuilder, Navigator and LIO viewer.”

Opus, MP3 and AAC codecs are added to the AoIP network for remotes and home studios. Codecs are routable in native AoIP, with no additional hardware required.

Other features include easy resource sharing. Integrate audio codecs, processing, mixing and operating system into one native AoIP environment. It also has features found on other Blades including two 8×2 stereo utility mixers, routable stereo processor with parametric EQ/compressor/limiter, 12 physical universal logic ports and 128 programmable software LIO ports.

Dual Ethernet ports are provided and dual power supplies are available.

Wheatstone says that because this unit includes codecs, software apps, mixing and audio processing, plus AoIP networking, control and interoperability, users will save on rack room space, cooling and cabling.

The Blade 4 can be integrated into new or existing WheatNet-IP networks.

Wheatstone’s Director of Sales Jay Tyler introduced the Blade 4 in a recent Radio World webcast.

 

The post Wheatstone Rolls Out the Blade 4 appeared first on Radio World.

In exactly three months, listeners of audio facilities that most think are radio stations could be left scrambling, due to a “sudden” loss of an over-the-air signal they’ve tuned to for years.

That’s because these FM choices aren’t licensed as radio stations, but are analog TV stations using VHF Channel 6 — and benefiting from old-school transponding audio at 87.7 MHz.

On July 13, this is scheduled to end. While there’s chatter among the licensees that this won’t happen, a notable foe of these so-called “Franken FM” facilities has emerged.

It’s NPR.

Could there be new life for the ‘Franken FM,’ despite the long-known shutdown date of July 13 for analog VHF Channel 6 facilities? The RBR+TVBR Spring 2021 Special Report, distributed April 26 to all subscribers, offers an exclusive look at what’s predicted in three months’ time.

SECURE YOUR COPY BY BECOMING A RBR+TVBR MEMBER NOW!

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Simple hand and arm gestures may be more effective than emoticons to improve engagement during Zoom meetings.

Research from the University College London (UCL) shows that an intuitive set of hand signals can warm up the virtual meeting room and help participants communicate better, Rosemary Ravinal points out in this column.

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