Industry News

FM antenna manufacturers and users may soon be able to use computer modeling to verify the patterns of directional antennas.

The Federal Communications Commission meeting agenda for November includes consideration of a proposal to do just that. As we reported earlier, antenna maker Dielectric has urged the FCC to take this action.

[Read: Dielectric Expects FCC to OK FM Pattern Modeling]

Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel describes the idea as regulatory relief for FM broadcasters.

“When seeking a license, FM radio stations using directional antennas are required to provide physical measurements to verify their directional pattern,” she wrote in a summary of the Nov. 18 meeting agenda.

“To do this, stations must either build a full-size mockup of the antenna or build a scale model. We will consider a proposal that would allow broadcasters to verify patterns using computer modeling rather than real-world testing. This will decrease regulatory costs and achieve regulatory parity between FM and other broadcasters.”

The Media Bureau has also opened MB Docket 21-422, “Updating FM Broadcast Radio Service—Directional Antenna Performance Verification.”

Read the Dielectric filing (PDF).

Dielectric has said that this would be the first directional FM pattern verification rule change in 58 years. Its petition was written with consultant Merrill Weiss. The company notes that TV stations have been able to do this for the past four years.

Dielectric VP of Engineering John Schadler says simulated antenna modeling will be more accurate, save time, reduce the impact of human error and facilitate the accuracy of designs.

The post Dielectric’s Proposal Is on FCC Agenda appeared first on Radio World.

The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council recently sent wrote to the acting chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission with “seven compelling initiatives” that it said the FCC could take to advance diversity and inclusion in mass media.

It noted that the FCC was the first federal agency to require its licensees to practice employment nondiscrimination, but continued: “At no time since 1968 has it been more important that the FCC immediately affirm that it cares about issues of racial justice … The FCC’s long and malodorous history of minority exclusion should both haunt and motivate all of us. … It is not uncommon for the agency to take 10 or 20 years, or more, to act on a proposal to advance opportunities for multicultural communities and consumers.”

This text is excerpted.

1. Access to more competitive technical facilities. Broadcasting has been the heritage technology for minority media entrepreneurs, and minority broadcasters have been the voices and conscience of their communities. Yet minority broadcasters generally must compete while using inferior technical facilities, such as AM daytimers, lower-powered outlets and stations unable to cover the full market due to the transmitter’s location in a distant suburb or exurb.

Within the administration’s first year, the commission should act on a host of pending proposals that would advance minority broadcast ownership, including granting an FM booster rule change that would authorize FM radio geo-targeting; creating a new station class (“C4”) that would double the power of hundreds of small FM stations; and repealing the “Rural Radio Policy” that needlessly deprives small broadcasters of the opportunity to improve their signal coverage.

1. Correct the Deficiency in the Radio Incubator Program. In June 2021, the commission established the Radio Incubator program. However, the program has one deficiency: Incubation of a station in a geographically vast but sparsely populated market with 45 stations would entitle the incubating company to a local ownership cap or subcap waiver in very large markets.

The commission should [allow] … incubation waivers only in similar-sized markets.

1. Ubiquitous Equal Procurement Opportunity. In 1992, Congress directed the FCC to create the Cable Procurement Rule to ensure that businesses owned by women and minorities would have a fair chance at winning major contracts. The regulation yielded solid results and drew no opposition. …

The commission should issue an NPRM in a fast-track new general docket, encompassing the industries regulated by the Wireline, Wireless and Media bureaus, and propose equal procurement opportunity across all FCC-regulated industries that is modeled after the Cable Procurement Rule.

1. Tax Certificate and Tax Credit. There is widespread recognition that the 1978–1995 Tax Certificate Policy was by far the most effective vehicle for advancing minority broadcast ownership. In its 17 years of operation, the policy quintupled minority broadcast ownership. Another desirable tax initiative, tailored for small businesses, would provide that a company donating a station to a training institution (e.g., an HBCU or HSI) would receive a tax credit equal to the station’s value.

The commission should request that Congress restore and improve the Tax Certificate Policy and create a tax credit for donating a station to a training institution.

1. Include Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Impact Statements in all rulemakings of general applicability. …

What gets measured gets done. The commission should seek comment looking toward adoption of a universal policy where every rulemaking of general applicability will contain a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Impact Statement.

1. Ubiquitous Equal Employment Opportunity. In the first decade of FCC EEO jurisprudence, and under the leadership of Chairman Richard E. Wiley and Commissioner Benjamin L. Hooks, 14 cases were designated for Section 309(e) evidentiary hearings over evidence of employment discrimination. Yet despite the continuing prevalence of low minority representation in influential broadcasting jobs, the commission has not brought a single discrimination prosecution since 1994.

The commission should conclude its 23-year-old broadcast EEO proceeding and start to prosecute licensees that recruit new employees primarily by word of mouth to the friends and family members of their homogeneous staffs … Further, the commission should consider several additional broadcast EEO regulatory reforms that are fully pled and endorsed by 44 national organizations, and ready for adoption. …

1. Universal Access to Multilingual Emergency Information. Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, MMTC and the League of United Latin American Citizens … have repeatedly asked the commission to ensure that basic, lifesaving information in widely spoken languages such as Spanish will be available in the wake of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane that could take down the electric and wireless grids. … It is simply unconscionable that a person’s lack of English fluency can become a matter of life or death in an emergency situation. …

Read the full letter in PDF form at https://tinyurl.com/rw-mmtc-now.

The post Seven Initiatives for Racial Justice in Media appeared first on Radio World.

Forget about that Halloween Night Non-Stop Dance Party sponsored by a local or regional advertiser you can grow a relationship with, Audacy Inc. CHR/Pop programmers.

A hot Young Adult actress known for her roles on Mad Men and Netflix’s just-concluded Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is taking over your airwaves Sunday evening as part of a company-wide takeover tied to Cadence13‘s new podcast movie studio division.

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If investors truly want to gauge the financial health of the broadcast media industry, all they need is a full day of undivided attention to no less than eight CEOs.

Thursday, November 4 has emerged as a monster day for Q3 2021 earnings releases for publicly traded radio and television companies.

The latest company to add their third-quarter conference call to the day’s calendar: Univision Communications.

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COLONIE, N.Y. — On February 22, one of the most successful AM radio stations in the Northeast will celebrate 100 years of service. Today, it remains a vital link to consumers, and to the advertisers who wish to connect with them.

That said, the Capital District of New York State is home to a vibrant mix of radio stations, both locally owned and operated and under the control of the nation’s largest licensee of radio properties.

How powerful these stations can be for a local, regional or national advertiser was made known earlier his week at a gathering co-presented by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB).

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Over the last three years, a Minnesota-based nonprofit corporation tied to a private evangelical Christian college has been an active buyer and seller of radio stations.

Now, the entity comprised of religious noncommercial full-power FM stations and FM translators is growing again.

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What will radio infrastructure and workflows will look like when the pandemic is done?

It’s safe to assume that the landscape of radio will never be quite the same than it was before the pandemic. Remote and hybrid approaches will be much more common.

But what does that mean for radio workflow and infrastructure?

We asked a range of engineers to talk about which changes are permanent; how their own organizations have been affected; whether they have projects planned where the pandemic has caused them to change course; whether they are applying cloud solutions or other types of virtualization; and what constitutes a typical “hybrid” radio operation now.

Find out what technical leaders at Audacy, Salem Media Group, Alpha Media, VPM, Cogeco Media, Educational Media Foundation, Second Opinion Communications, Burk, Shively and MaxxKonnect Group told us.

Read it here.

The post After the Masks Come Off appeared first on Radio World.

There is power in impressions, particularly for the radio industry, according to a new Nielsen study.

The study, commissioned by the Southern California Broadcasters Association, found that ad agencies are increasingly relying on impressions to evaluate media. According to the study, impressions provide a brand-safe environment for advertisers looking for premium impressions at the local level.

[Read: Local Radio Ad Revenue to “Rebound Somewhat”]

And the interest in impression-based buying is on the rise. The study found that the shift to buying on impressions is accelerating: more than 50% of agency professionals are buying media this way.

The study looked at the benefits of impression-based buying and found that this purchasing style offers more granular, detailed information to those who are trying to evaluate radio advertising and digital buys using a common metric. In addition, the study found that impression-led buying also adds value to more dayparts and offers easier comparison across different markets.

“The importance of combining radio and digital advertising effectively cannot be overstated, and impressions are clearly where the industry is headed,” said Miles Sexton, president of the Southern California Broadcasters Association. “As radio continues to evolve within the digital ecosystem, the building blocks of a successful cross-platform campaign will include impressions.”

According to the study, impressions allow radio to add scale in a cross-platform environment. Impression-based selection also can be used to recommended best practices for converting to cost per thousand impressions (CPM) for radio buyers and sellers. The study also found that buying on impressions not only works regardless of market size but gives buyers and sellers an easier means of comparing one market to another.

More information on the study can be found here.

The post Study Looks at the Power of Impressions for AM/FM Ad Buys appeared first on Radio World.

For the majority of our readers, winter is approaching.

I was privileged recently to deliver a Society of Broadcast Engineers webinar. I heard from a number of engineers afterwards who shared some great tips and comments.

One came from longtime Workbench contributor and New England contract engineer Stephanie Donnell.

She noted my suggestion about posting pictures from your transmitter site adventures in the staff break room. She usually shared them via an all staff mailing list; these days you could do so on Slack or the station’s private social media group.

[Read: Workbench: Readers React to Frank Hertel’s “Outtaphaser”]

It’s both amusing and sad that so many station colleagues don’t have any idea what transmitter sites look like, how we keep them running or what it might take just to get there at all.

(Do you have photos of your own transmitter sites that would serve as good examples of images suitable for educating your co-workers? Pix that show what it’s like at the site, and why it can be challenging or fun? Share them with us!)

Keeping an Eye on Things
As the cost of IP-based security cameras have dropped dramatically, Stephanie offered thoughts about the usefulness of these cameras at sites.

First, consider spending the money for cameras that have remote control of pan/tilt/zoom. These features provide a much wider range of viewing. If the model has a built-in a microphone, that’s even better.

One incredibly useful application is monitoring the weekly generator tests. In the office, Stephanie would bring up the camera on the PC and be able to not only see but also hear the generator as it did its initial cranking to start and while it ran.

You may want to rethink being alerted for motion detection, depending on the amount of wildlife around your site. Instead, Stephanie set the camera to store captured images. It has captured lots of deer, a bear and many hikers and hunters. The point is, you’ll have the images if a problem occurs but you’re not getting pinged every time an animal walks by.

On the subject of cameras, Stephanie encourages engineers to purchase a dashboard camera for the company vehicle. This can be a great personal protection tool as you drive to remote sites.

Winter Tips
My SBE presentations have included preparing an RF site for winter as well as how to keep a generator in good health. These topics overlap.

Besides conducting annual preventive generator maintenance before the cold arrives, Stephanie added a simple but important tip: Be sure to top off your fuel.

Depending on where you are located, getting refills after a certain point in the fall may not be an option; and in certain parts of the country, spring fuel delivery may not be possible until the mud dries up.

You’ll also want to keep a quart or more of extra oil around, in case that needs to be topped off following an extended power outage.

I’ve mentioned using Bonide’s “Mouse Magic” packages, which emit a peppermint odor that mice detest; mothballs are also an inexpensive way to keep mice away from generators and transmitter buildings.

If you use a C-Band dish as an STL, be sure to check the dish heater. Use an AC current clamp to make sure all legs of the heater are drawing adequate current.

One of the strangest things that Stephanie saw to cause a heater to fail wasn’t a mouse, it was tiny black ants. They like to keep warm and dry, just like mice and bees.

Inside the heater control box she found an ant colony. Some of the ants had been crushed on the contacts of the heavy duty relay that supplied power to the heaters. Enough dead ants had built up on the relay contacts so that it wouldn’t fully engage to power the heater.

In another instance, a heater controller showed a GFI fault, most likely from a nearby lightning strike during the summer. Stephanie reset the fault and the heater functioned as needed. But if it had not been checked, it would not have activated when it started to snow.

Also routinely check the dish for signs of cracks, both on the front and rear.

Stephanie once found what appeared to be a .22 bullet hole in a dish. Fall is hunting season, so wear orange when you’re at a site. LL Bean sells a warm orange fleece vest.

It can also come in handy if you break down on the side of the road. But you can avoid those breakdowns by ensuring your vehicle has been serviced before winter arrives.

To find webinars from the Society of Broadcast Engineers visit http://sbe.org/education/webinars-by-sbe. Also check out info about its valuable Technical Professional Training Program at http://sbe.org/tpt.

John Bisset, CPBE, has more than five decades in broadcasting and is in his 31st year of Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance and is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award.

Helping others makes you feel good, so why not send your tips to johnpbisset@gmail.com.

The post Workbench: Time to Plan for Old Man Winter appeared first on Radio World.

“We’re shuffling a few things around to make room for even more great content.”

That’s how the SiriusXM Listener Care center explains a significant realignment of some of its music and sports talk channels — a move that will put an end to its “50s on 5” and “60s on 6” channels with their relocation far up the channel lineup.

At the same time, “SiriusXM Love” is coming off the satellite radio dial.

The changes take place on Wednesday, November 3. “Same awesome programming, different home,” SiriusXM says.

Yet, that’s not entirely true, as SiriusXM Love will become an online-only offering, at Channel 708.

Meanwhile, a flurry of channel shifts are set to occur, as follows:

• The Pulse: Ch. 5 (formerly 15)
• The Coffee House: Ch. 6 (formerly 14)
• Siriusly Sinatra: Ch. 70 (formerly 71)
• 40s Junction: Ch. 71 (formerly 73)
• On Broadway: Ch. 77 (formerly 72)
• Kidz Bop: Ch. 79 (formerly 77)

However, the biggest move will see the 50s tunes rebranded as “50s Gold,” taking Channel 72. The 60s, with veteran hosts “Shotgun” Tom Kelly and Pat St. John alongside Dave Hoeffel as air personalities, will be branded as “60s Gold,” taking Channel 73.

The “70s on 7” remains on Channel 7; corresponding decade-specific channels remain on Channels 8-11.

Channel presets on Sirius XM radios should automatically change, the satellite radio company says.

The biggest unanswered question: Where’s the “even more great content” tied to the channel shifts?

SiriusXM was mum as of Thursday evening (10/28).