Industry News

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF. — For years, Sirius XM has turned to its customer retention department to keep its churn level as low as possible by offering existing customers deep discounts off the “rack rate” for an annual subscription. There are also free trials for new users of the satellite radio service.

For one California man, those promotional rates are unfair, as they don’t justify the “regular” pricing structure at Sirius XM. As such, he’s suing the New York-based company in Federal court.

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On August 30, the Construction Permit for a 250-watt FM translator serving a city in northern Louisiana expires.

Rather than rush to put it on the air, or risk losing the license, the mini-station’s owner has opted to sell it by hiring Kalil & Co. as its broker. The buyer? The nation’s second-largest licensee of radio stations.

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Dear Radio World,

The advice that appeared at the end of a March Workbench column about resetting a generator fault remotely is something I discourage strongly.

Besides clearing the fault and possibly the run-time and error logs, cycling the DC power to the controller may also clear the real-time clock and reset the exercise timer, and may leave the generator in an offline state until the clock and timer are manually set.

As stated in the tip, you have no idea why it faulted in the first place. Attempting a restart without an inspection or a person present could result in catastrophic damage to the genset, a fire (if there was a fuel leak), or even harm to a technician who might be working on the unit and could have even been the cause of the fault or shutdown.

If there was a mechanical failure, running the engine without repairing the damage first could make things even worse.

I bet a generator technician reading the tip would cringe. Of course your local generator sales person would love to take this opportunity to sell you a new generator.

My own home standby generator, a Kohler 14RESA, resets just the clock and exercise timer if the battery is disconnected; the run-time and error logs are maintained in nonvolatile memory. But it won’t run until those two items are set. For safety reasons they tell you to disconnect the incoming AC power as well as the battery whenever you service the unit, but I find it more convenient to do neither of those things but just press the OFF button when doing the annual maintenance (oil, spark plugs, and filter changes).

Radio World welcomes letters to the editor about any article or relevant radio industry issue. Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line.

The post Letter to the Editor: A Genset Reset Rethink appeared first on Radio World.

From Disco Duck and ruling Memphis’ morning show ratings in the mid-1970s to his long run across the 1980s and 1990s as the wakeup host at KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, Rick Dees is one of the most successful air personalities of his generation.

While Dees has largely focused on his syndicated Weekly Top 40 program in recent years, he’s about to get a new career boost that has nothing to do with radio.

Thank the nation’s No. 1 licensee of broadcast TV stations for its desire to rewind the clock with a segment of the viewing audience.

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He was an engineer and loved electronics and technology. That passion helped fuel a career as a cable television pioneer in Southwest Missouri, and the co-founding in 1993 with Stan Searle of the “Small Cable Business Association.”

That association is now known as ACA Connects, and it is being joined by others across the cable TV industry in mourning the passing of Alvin “Dean” Peterson.

Peterson died on August 8, two days shy of his 81st birthday.

His family built and owned cable and radio systems across the Springfield, Mo., region, while also serving in an advocacy role in Washington, D.C., to help advance cable TV industry issues at the FCC and on Capitol Hill.

Peterson served as president of Southwest Missouri Cable TV in Carthage, Mo., until its sale in 1999. At that time, Peterson stepped down from the board of what had become the American Cable Association (ACA).

“Everyone at ACA Connects is deeply saddened to hear the news of Dean Petersen’s passing,” ACA Connects President/CEO Matthew Polka said. “ACA Connects simply would not be here today without Dean’s vision and wisdom.”

Peterson and Searle created the Small Cable Business Association to create a voice in Washington, D.C., for independent, smaller providers in reaction to passage of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 and the FCC’s implementation of the rules associated with the legislation.

Services were held August 12 at at Knell Mortuary in Carthage, Mo., with a private burial following a service.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has chosen the individual who will succeed company sales veteran Dan Mellon, who retired on July 31.

It’s an individual with more than 25 years of experience in the broadcast and cable industry.

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As the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) reviews the results of a two-day attendee poll designed to help guide the nation’s biggest advocacy group for radio and TV stations on mask and/or vaccination protocols for its annual affair in Las Vegas, the organizers of the largest annual convention and expo to take place in the city has wasted no time in issuing a vaccination declaration for all in-person attendees.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) on Tuesday formally announced in an email communique that CES 2022, the world’s biggest technology event and an increasingly important convention for radio industry leaders, will require in-person attendees to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

What’s notable is that CES 2022 is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas on January 5-8, 2022. The NAB Show, which is eschewing a hybrid option, is scheduled to begin October 9, with the Radio Show events held October 13-14. As of now, it is reviewing its options while assuring the safety of participants will be stringent and per current guidelines.

Furthermore, those that are unable to travel to CES 2022 will have access to a digital event that will run in parallel with the in-person program. While this will not offer the same experience, the CTA says digital audiences “will have the opportunity to share the spirit of the in-person event.”

CTA President/CEO Gary Shapiro explains, “Based on today’s science, we understand vaccines offer us the best hope for stopping the spread of COVID-19. We all play a part in ending the pandemic through encouraging vaccinations and implementing the right safety protocols. We are taking on our responsibility by requiring proof of vaccination to attend CES 2022 in Las Vegas.”

CTA is also assessing the acceptance of proof of a positive antibody test as an alternative requirement and will share more details on this later.

In Las Vegas, CES 2022 attendees will be able to interact with representatives from some 2000 companies — including companies in the nascent space tech, food tech and NFT categories.

The show will undoubtedly highlight advancements in AI, AR/VR, gaming and computing, digital health, automotive and transportation, home entertainment, and the smart home.

Live keynotes from GM Chair/CEO Mary Barra and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert remain on the schedule.

Several organizations that push for diversity and civil rights are urging Congress to reinstate the minority tax certificate program.

“Supporting these pieces of legislation would eliminate barriers and create new opportunities for women, people of color and socially disadvantaged individuals to own local TV and radio stations,” they wrote to congressional leaders.

The letter supports H.R. 4871, the Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act of 2021 introduced by Reps. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Steven Horsford of Nevada, and S. 2456, the Broadcast VOICES Act, introduced by Sens. Gary Peters of Michigan and Robert Menendez of New Jersey. All four are Democrats. Menendez has been pushing for reinstatement since at least 2008, when he introduced a similar bill.

The bills would authorize the Federal Communications Commission to reestablish what would now be called a Diversity Tax Certificate Program.

Individuals who donated broadcast stations for the purpose of training socially disadvantaged individuals in the management and operation of stations would be eligible for a tax credit equal to the fair market value of the station.

[Read: NAB Gives Thumbs Up to Minority Tax Bills]

The joint letter is from the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, the National Urban League, United States Black Chambers, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Hispanic Federation.

“From 1978 to 1995, when the diversity tax certificate was instituted, it was an effective mechanism for bringing more people of color into station ownership,” they wrote.

“During this time, broadcast ownership by people of color increased by more than 550%. The elimination of the diversity tax certificate in 1995 disproportionately affected that rate. According to data from 2017, women make up less than 6% of broadcast TV station owners, and people of color account for less than 3%. Similarly, women own just 7% of broadcast radio stations, and people of color own less than 3%.”

The post Minority Advocates Speak Up for Tax Certificate appeared first on Radio World.

PreSonus has launched its new Revelator io24 USB-C audio interface, designed for both recording and streaming.

The unit is built around high-headroom mic preamps, a two-channel loopback mixer, and extensive processing with the aim of providing professional-sounding results for streaming, podcasting and music production.

The Revelator io24 sports a pair of analog mic/instrument/line inputs with PreSonus’ XMAX-L microphone preamps which can be stereo linked, as well as two balanced 1/4-inch line outputs, a headphone output, professional metering, and zero-latency monitoring. Users can record up to 24-bit, 96 kHz audio to the included Studio One Artist or other recording and production software.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The Revelator io24’s loopback mixer allows users to add backing tracks to live stream performances or conference in a Zoom caller to a podcast. With two dedicated stereo channels for loopback audio on Mac OS or Windows, users can simultaneously mix and record the audio from two different applications, along with the two analog input channels.

Each input channel can be processed using PreSonus’ Fat Channel DSP, which provides a high-pass filter, 4-band parametric EQ, compressor, gate and limiter. Effects include detuner, vocoder, ring modulator, filters and delay, while a dedicated reverb bus is also available.

Revelator io24 locally stores two presets per channel, and eight more factory presets can be loaded from PreSonus’ Universal Control software. Revelator io24 comes with Studio One Artist and Studio Magic Suite, which includes Ableton Live Lite, various virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, and more. The interface is currently available for $179.95.

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

Info: www.presonus.com

The post PreSonus Revelator io24 USB-C Interface Debuts appeared first on Radio World.

Two companies with significant radio assets have announced a digital content distribution partnership. Audacy signed a deal with Urban One under which the latter will provide live and on-demand audio content to the Audacy digital platform, including Urban One’s 57 radio stations.

Corey Podolsky, VP of business development for Audacy, described Urban One in the announcement as “a power player in the audio space” and said the agreement underscores Audacy’s own “unwavering commitment to amplifying diverse voices and delivering premier audio content to the communities in which we serve.”

Audacy, the former Entercom Communications, said its app now has more than 2,000 stations including its own 230 outlets. The app also includes podcasts and other audio programming. It is available on the Apple Store and Google Play, and via social media channels.

The post Urban One Joins Audacy App appeared first on Radio World.