Industry News

Bill Bennett is media solutions account manager at ENCO. This interview appeared in the 2021 ebook “Remote Radio Phase II: What We’ve Learned During a Pandemic.”

RW: How will workflows and infrastructure be different in the long term?

Bill Bennett: With the pandemic absolutely accelerating the deployment of broadly distributed multi-platform workflows, engineering and content creators alike learned they can maintain high levels of quality despite being spread all over the world. 

We’ve seen how prosumer technology — USB mics, video conferencing apps, open-source audio editing software, earbuds, iPhones, etc. — are high enough in quality for most users, and can be easy to use; so I think we’ll see more of these flexible software-only, IP-connected devices and products proliferate. 

The station (and cloud for backup, playout and stream hosting) will always be the central repository of content and house the playout logic; but how that digital stream of data gets to and from the servers has now become vastly more flexible as to distance and access. 

Transmitters will always be the critical super-physical link in the chain, but you’ll see more IP links, even at the loss of an STL, so you can route audio from any playout cluster, to the tower — from the station, cloud, even a laptop if you had to. 

Humans will always be social animals, and we will need in-person interactions for sure. But there’s immense content that can be recorded, edited, voiced and programmed remotely too, as we’ve all found. The “new normal” means more flexibility, resiliency and opportunity for innovation yet to come.

RW: Which products in your lineup have played critical roles?

Bennett: WebDAD Mobile Radio Automation and iDAD Mobile Reporting have grown to be very popular. They allow browser- and app-based access to a main DAD playout system back at the station (or cloud), to record tracks, control gear, manage content and more. You can run your playout live from your home office (aka your guest bedroom), a Starbucks or anywhere with an internet connection and VPN.

RW: How well do current automation systems support remote workflows?

Bennett: ENCO’s WebDAD pre-dates the pandemic, making it a recognized and proven go-to platform for native, IP-based remote connectivity and control of DAD playout systems in the studios (or cloud platform). 

WebDAD evolves past what you’d get from remote desktop software (which is just an interactive, dynamic screengrab of a distant, existing computer), and allows you full native control over playout, tracking and editing, playlists and so forth, all from an HTML5-compliant Web browser you can run on a laptop. We engineered it so folks either in the same building who don’t have a full DAD installation on their computer, or folks working from around the world with VPN access to the studios, have that same production capability. 

That opens up some pretty powerful remote workflow possibilities.

RW: What would you say is the required level of home connectivity and ISP support to create reliable work-from-home operations?

Bennett: Home internet speeds fluctuate during the day because your traffic is pooled with your neighbors, often coming in at speeds below (or above) the tier that’s provisioned. Your speeds can be further hindered if there are three students learning from home, all via their own Zoom video classroom session, or if another family member is taking a break and watching a 4K movie on Netflix, etc.

Considering these factors, it’s better to pay for more bandwidth, if you can afford it and if it’s available in your area.

If you have a choice, go with fiber. If DSL is your only option, perhaps make sure you’re the only user (and force-reduce your video bandwidth if your software allows — or disable it entirely). 

Don’t go overkill though. Even if all those demands I mentioned were in place, you still wouldn’t need Gigabit service. Just be sure to use a modern modem and router, all with ports of 1Ge or better. 

Finally, try to keep everything wired via Ethernet and avoid Wifi. The more it’s used, the less bandwidth is available for all wireless connections.

RW: What role do commodity remote products like TeamViewer and AnyDesk play?

Bennett: ENCO’s been using these remote desktop access applications for many years, since our products run on standard Windows machines and thus offer full remote access for us to train customers or upgrade software remotely. 

But ironically, while some on-air talent discovered these tools so they can “remote back into” their computers at the station, the growth of native IP and HTML API interfaces means there’s no need to “virtualize” access to your playout computer now, you can just open a Web browser and have direct, VPN-secured access and control of your playout, playlist management, voice tracking, etc. 

Further, with optimized software as ENCO has, you can even use a customized smartphone application to control what’s on-air — from the palm of your hand. No need to virtualize; it’s a direct connection.

RW: And how do Zoom and similar conferencing platforms figure in? 

Bennett: This is interesting because at ENCO, we saw Zoom taking off as a popular and easy-to-use platform for folks using our automated captioning system for TV and meetings, so we made the strategic decision early on to develop our own custom application that integrates our enCaption AI-based captions directly into the Zoom interface, sends out captions to SDI video, embeds them as closed caption data and sends them out as HTML data for embedding in websites.

RW: What other products or platforms have taken on new importance?

Bennett: It’s amazing what you can do in a Web browser these days. With our WebDAD product, it’s possible to directly control playout, record and edit voice tracks, manage playlists, and more — natively. No software or drivers to install, just be on the same network as your playout system, either down the hall or across the Globe via secure VPN.

RW: And other considerations to mention?

Bennett: Definitely consider a dedicated PC / laptop just for video tiles, so you and your guests and collaborators can see each other (and it’s not taking up your main computer’s resources). Waving at colleagues goes a long way in keeping in sync. 

If you’re using our DAD system back at the studio, consider using X-Keys to control basic functions such as liners, beds, sound effects, etc. Those can be configured to have local home playout communicate and control the remote system.

RW: How about security? 

Bennett: When connecting to your studio (or transmitter), it’s imperative to use well-known VPN solutions for end-to-end encryption. Change ALL your default passwords to something hard to guess, and use two-factor authentication whenever it’s offered. It’s a mild added step, but well worth it.

RW: And how can talent at home assess and improve audio quality of room acoustics?

Bennett: Lots of walk-in closets became home studios too. Sure these aren’t the properly tuned for flat (or resonant) studio spaces that you’re used to, but they help. As for pets — when I had my curious cats, I’ve found two sets of doors worked best: the bedroom hallway door, and then the closet door.

The post A World of Broadly Distributed Multi-Platform Workflows appeared first on Radio World.

Solid State Logic (SSL) has brought to market the latest V3.1 feature release for the System T broadcast platform with key developments providing significant production flexibility and expansion.

Core to the release is support of the next generation TE1 and TE2 Tempest audio engines. These engines provide a flexible model for managing production capacity, allowing users to expand their processing requirements with the addition of new software “processing’ licenses.

With the inclusion of an agile “pay as you go” model, users can increase their production capability for user-defined project periods such as large one-off sporting or entertainment events.

The new Tempest engines will be available to customers as of August 2021.

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One has been promoted. The other is returning to the fold.

Put them together, and they’ll be the latest Affiliate Sales leaders for Cumulus Media-owned Westwood One.

Rising to VP/Affiliate Sales for 24/7 Formats is Neal Weiner  — a 26-year veteran of Westwood One who has been a part of the Affiliate Sales team working with 24/7 Formats, Music and Entertainment Shows, Sports, and Prep Services. Weiner began his professional radio career at Westwood One Radio Group, in particular at the former KQLZ-FM “Pirate Radio 100.3” in Los Angeles.

Taking the post as Director of Affiliate Sales for the Music & Entertainment division is Sue Falco.

She spent six years at Westwood One in her first stint, as part of both the News/Talk and the Country affiliate sales teams. She spent the last decade as Director of Affiliate Sales with United Stations.

Both Weiner and Falco report to Senior Vice President of Affiliate Sales Stuart Greenblatt.

Chris Tobin of Brooklyn, N.Y., is being honored posthumously with this year’s Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year award, the Society of Broadcast Engineers announced Tuesday.

The award honors the SBE member who has excelled in his or her career while furthering the mission of the society. Candidates are nominated by their peers. Tobin died in December 2020 of a heart attack.

Tobin, an SBE member for 22 years, has taken on several roles with SBE Chapter 15, the New York City chapter.

Beginning at an early age, Tobin became fascinated with radio. “As a small tot, I enjoyed the magic of the box on the kitchen table in my house,” he said in a YouTube interview. A little later Tobin got involved in broadcasting through a school radio station.

He was a self-taught engineer but also spent time behind the microphone, SBE said.

During his career, Tobin worked at ABC Radio Network, CBS Radio and Westwood One. In 2015 he became chief engineer at WBGO in Newark, N.J. He helped to develop the station’s video capacities, streamlined its operations and handled the logistical curveball thrown by the 2020 pandemic lockdown. He died while installing a new HVAC system at the station.

SBE also announced other award recipients, including:

• Telos Alliance — Technology Award for the conversion of the Axia iQ AES67 mixing console into a software version that does not require a physical surface. It is controlled by a full HTML5 interface;
• SBE Wisconsin chapters and Wisconsin Broadcasters Association — Best Educational Event for the Wisconsin Broadcasters Clinic in October 2020;
• SBE Chapter 17, Minneapolis — Best Chapter Communication for its sbe17.org website.

SBE also presents Statistical Awards in two classes: Class A for chapters with 26 or fewer members; Class B for those with 27 members or more.

• Percentage growth of new members: Chapter 106, Florida Panhandle, Class A; Chapter 17, Minneapolis, Class B.
• Highest percentage of certified members: Chapter 7, Jacksonville, Fla., Class A; Chapter 24, Madison, Wisc., Class B.
• Highest percentage of member attendance at meetings: Chapter 85, Central Western, Class A; Chapter 56, Tulsa, Okla., Class B.

The society will recognize winners at the SBE Membership Meeting and Awards Ceremony, Oct. 11, during the SBE National Meeting in Las Vegas. Award nominations for 2022 will open in February 2022.

The post SBE to Honor Tobin Posthumously as SBE Engineer of the Year appeared first on Radio World.

The financial pros at Zacks Equity Research have taken a magnifying glass to American Tower‘s potential earnings report for Q2, due Thursday morning prior to Opening Bell.

They very much like what they see. In fact, the projections suggest the company will beat Street estimates.

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There are thousands of stories all around you.

You simply need to understand what makes for good stories and how to use them for strategic communication, veteran public relations executive Rosemary Ravinal notes in this column.

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“Our second-quarter results demonstrate remarkable, continued growth across our business.”

Those were the opening words from Sirius XM CEO Jennifer Witz, who had many great highlights to offer before even starting her second sentence during the company’s earnings call held Tuesday for analysts and investors.

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On Monday (7/26), Democratic leadership at the FCC moved forward with the adoption of a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking to refresh the existing record regarding the statutorily mandated collection of data on FCC Form 395-B — the paperwork used for EEO data collection by the Commission until the D.C. Circuit asked it to stop doing so 20 years ago.

Twenty-four hours later, Pew Research Center released statistics from the RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University that paint the present-day portrait of the local TV newsroom staff. What’s the diversity among those employed by TV news departments across the U.S.?

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For the 97 news outlets whose primary domain, its website, averaged at least 10 million unique visitors per month, traffic rose 11% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

That’s according to a fresh Pew Research Center analysis of the state of the U.S. news media.

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When the popular podcast “WTF with Marc Maron” (www.wtfpod.com) debuted 11 years ago, the iPhone was only on its third iteration and couldn’t muster downloads larger than 20 MB.

That’s an important fact in understanding the evolution of podcasting fidelity from tinny and flangey in the early ’00s, as the podcast’s producer Brendan McDonald describes, to the comparatively crystalline audio available from podcasts today.

“When podcasts were a fairly young medium, there were a lot of data concerns about them from users,” says McDonald, “people with early data plans or devices that did not hold particularly a large amount of data and did not have cloud storage plans yet. So, you had to be very mindful.”

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As MP3 compression technology progressed and the show upgraded to a server whose bitrate was 128 kbps, he found some listeners still preferred the original 22.05 kHz mono file, which was 32-bit at a constant 40 kbps.

Those longtime listeners can still find that format on the podcast’s website, while podcatchers and platforms like Spotify get a modern formatted file.

“I was like, if the default setting is [128 kbps] and I’m compressing down, [then] we’re getting like a VHS copy of a copy here,” he says. “Now we’re using a more standard, almost stereo MP3 style setting of 44.1 [kHz] stereo, 16-bit and 128 kbps — which is a much bigger file, but in the style that people are generally listening to podcasts now.”

No Pretense
McDonald has been with “WTF with Marc Maron” for all 1,200-plus episodes, and worked with the host in terrestrial radio in New York and Los Angeles before transitioning to the podcast format.

While he can hear improvements in the quality of the show and audio over that time period, the equipment he used to get the show to today has changed very little.

Maron, in his home studio, still tracks with a Shure SM7 microphone and a Samson MDR6 tabletop mixer with GarageBand. McDonald edits in Adobe Audition, the latest version of what was once known as Cool Edit he used in the show’s earliest days.

The only measurable changes to the show’s production, in fact, came with COVID-19. Maron and McDonald had to ease off their policy of only taping interviews in person, but maintaining the easy, conversational vibe that comes from conducting face-to-face interviews was a top priority during the upheaval of 2020.

“These interviews, and this show in general, really connect with people because the conversations feel so intimate,” says McDonald. “Marc, over the course of a decade, has gotten very good at that — basically creating an environment for people to feel like they’re comfortable and they can share with him. It doesn’t have a lot of pretense, it doesn’t have a lot of roadblocks to actual conversation, as opposed to feeling like it’s stilted or a list of Q&A. He wanted it to be personal; he wanted it to feel like two people connecting. And so that was really important to us.”

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Social distancing protocols meant that videoconferencing became a necessity. For interviews in which the subject has a home recording setup, McDonald is able to get a tape sync recording, but most audio now comes through Zoom with the Audio Hijack extraction tool by Rogue Amoeba (www.rogueamoeba.com) added to the mix. In the software’s Voice Chat mode, McDonald can select Skype, Zoom or another videoconferencing platform as the audio source and tweak the audio on the fly while Maron conducts the interview.

“It’s actually brought me back to my early days of live radio production, in that now I can actually sit on the live call with Marc and I can tinker with the sound if I need to,” he says. “It’s been more work in the last year, but we’ve been able to make it work and largely have been very satisfied with the way things have sounded.”

The post How Marc Maron’s Podcast Adjusted to COVID appeared first on Radio World.