Industry News

“This is a great tool for TV reporters to easily capture, save and share their notes.” That’s the pitch from the makers of the THINKERS Notebook, a new product designed for cloud-based creation and sharing needs.

It comes from Dallas-based THINKERS Manifesto, and it’s been build with the expressed purpose of allowing users to capture ideas on paper and share them in the cloud.

“Designed for thinkers from the boardroom to the classroom, the THINKERS Notebook combines a uniquely designed, 256-page, 5mm dot grid, lay flat journal with an intuitive mobile app for quickly capturing and collaborating on pages from the notebook,” the company notes.

CEO and co-founder Sean Jackson adds, “The THINKERS Notebook is an elegantly crafted, premium quality notebook unlike any on the market today, and what makes it truly special is the way the THINKERS App is optimized to seamlessly capture pages from the notebook and makes collaborating on those ideas effortless.”

The notebook uses a unique page design; optimized for capturing notes using the free companion THINKERS App for iOS (Android version coming soon), that does not require a QR code or special symbols on the page.

At the top of each page is an area for writing page titles and tags. Users may take a photo of each page and using machine learning technology, the app automatically detects handwriting on the pages and converts written titles and tags into organized notes within the app.

Beyond handwriting recognition, the app also includes an advanced web-based collaboration system for sharing ideas with others on the web along with built-in cloud storage capabilities and a unique location feature for finding notes on a map.

“Most smart notebooks require a QR code or a special pen,” says Daniel Reiling, co-founder and lead iOS developer. “By building our own machine learning algorithm, we are able to automatically detect pages from our notebook and convert handwriting into titles, tags and searchable text without having to add anything to the page or require you to use a special pen.”

ABOUT THIS PRODUCT The THINKERS Notebook is available for $29.95 at https://thinkersnotebook.com/ and is the perfect solution for consultants, students, and creative professionals that want to unlock their creative ideas – from paper to the cloud. The THINKERS Notebook is a sophisticated journal with 256 numbered pages using 120 gsm off-white paper (suitable for any type of pen or pencil) with thread-binding that provides a perfect lay flat design that is convenient to use in front of the computer. The cover consists of black bonded leather with soft touch coating and colored edging that provides a remarkable 360º design that stands out from other notebooks. As a bonus feature, the THINKERS Notebook includes a special access code to the THINKERS Workshop. Normally $99.99 per year, this special access code allows any notebook customer to join the Workshop for free. The THINKER Workshop includes a wide variety of tools, presentations and insights to help individuals learn the most effective techniques to maximize the results of their own thinking.

Heartland Video Systems has recently completed over a dozen successful NextGen TV system implementations with several major TV station groups.

The preparation for these started 20 years ago with work done on ATSC 1.0.

Dennis Klas, CEO of Heartland, recalls, “When we were integrating ATSC 1.0 there was always a rush to get stations on the air quickly. This was a challenge because everyone was working with new technologies with little integration history. As ATSC 3.0 came into view, Heartland made a commitment to build an integration lab where we could test connectivity between different ATSC 3.0 products.”

By the time ATSC 3.0 implementations began, Heartland Video had products from most prominent suppliers under one roof enabling them to run product combinations and predict results. “Just as with ATSC 1.0 we find that the order dates for product installations were not far from the station turn on dates,” he adds. “With this time crunch, being able to test possible integration combinations in advance is invaluable.”

Heartland was introduced to DigiCAP through their involvement with Pearl TV, where they heard DigiCAP had proven itself useful to some members.

Mike Schmidt, Senior Systems Engineer at Heartland, notes, “Because we like to test all available prominent suppliers, we evaluated their technology.”

Klas adds, “We found DigiCAP had a product some of our clients could use. We also found DigiCAP to be very responsive to our requests, and has a forward-looking technology view, especially in app development. We have implemented their air chain technology with several station groups with very positive results.”

Sang Jin Yoon, SVP Business Development at DigiCAP, was excited to be working with Heartland Video Systems in implementing ATSC 3.0 station launches. “When we saw their integration lab, we immediately recognized a like-minded commitment to proactively work with new technology,” he says.

DigiCAP built their lab ATSC 3.0 integration lab in 2017 to enable Korean TV stations become ATSC 3.0 ready to transmit live 4K TV for the 2018 South Korean Winter Olympic games.

In late April, RBR+TVBR first reported on the sale of a group of radio stations serving the Albany, Ga., market.

As 2020 comes to a close, this $450,000 deal — which involves one of the nation’s biggest broadcasting companies — has closed.

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Here’s your 2021 Radio World Source Book & Directory, a cross-indexed guide to the manufacturers and suppliers of technology products and services for the global radio broadcast industry and digital audio marketplace.

This free reference includes an alphabetical list of industry companies with their contact information, as well as a cross-index that tells you which companies offer which kinds of products. Also learn about spotlighted new products from our sponsors who make this directory possible.

Read it here.

 

The post Radio World’s 2021 Source Book & Directory appeared first on Radio World.

U.S. broadcast media companies saw widely disparate activity on Wall Street Monday, with companies such as Townsquare Media seeing a healthy jump from Friday, while TEGNA and Urban One were also up.

Every other company on the RBR+TVBR Wall Street Report ticker was down.

This includes Nexstar Media Group, which finished below $100.

For Sinclair, an 84-cent dip to $27.80 was seen.

 

Nielsen Audio’s 2020 radio market survey rankings by frequency, type and population — by rank and by market — are now available for public viewing.

There’s also Total Survey Area Population data, and Television DMA regions, for those interested in this information.

What are the key takeaways?

Atlanta has moved up in the Top 10 and is now No. 7, with Washington, D.C., dipping to No. 8.

Meanwhile, Charlotte is just below the Top 20, and Detroit slips to No. 14 from No. 13.

To view the above document, please click here to download.

 

A collection of full-power and FM translator stations serving communities in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are being transferred into an irrevocable trust, according to a filing on the FCC’s LMS made Friday.

If approved, this will see a prolific New England broadcaster and 2010 U.S. Senate candidate shift ownership of the properties to an irrevocable trust that he’ll directly oversee.

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As RBR+TVBR tweeted on Sunday afternoon (12/20), a roughly $900 COVID-19 federal relief package was approved by the U.S. Senate, paving the way for $600 stimulus checks for adults earning up to $75,000 and additional $600 one-time checks for each dependent.

It turns out the coronavirus relief legislation includes expanded eligibility to local media outlets for the Paycheck Protection Program — a victory for many broadcast radio and TV companies.

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In an unprecedented year, the sports industry has had to take creative steps to generate all of the excitement of a live game while battling the reality of empty stadiums due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The solutions varied from cardboard cutouts of fans to digital audiences and artificial fan noise. To learn what sports fans thought about fan noise, as well as to ask about their other sports opinions in a year unlike any other, Westwood One teamed with media buying giant Horizon Media and commissioned market research insights firm MARU/Matchbox to execute a two-wave study on the subject.

The key findings are now available.

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I read the article “Community Stations Share COVID Stories” and thought you might like our perspective from New Zealand.

When the COVID virus struck here in New Zealand, the government and health authorities were very quick to act.

Everyone in New Zealand was put in Level 4 lockdown immediately within 24 hours of the first cases being identified. Stay at home, work at home, no visits, no travel.

Studio at Radio Woodville

Everyone had to stay in their bubble except for essential services. Only supermarkets, hospitals and radio and TV were allowed to operate under very strict rules. Community stations like our Radio Woodville were allowed only two people on station.

Hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes were abundant. The outside door was closed and locked. Anyone who was sick with no matter what stayed away. “Alph,” our automation computer, played on 24/7.

The community council had emailed me and asked we broadcast public health and safety messages if needed and requested by them. We were to stay positive and stay in touch with the community.

That’s how it was for four weeks of Level 4 and three weeks of Level 3. Staying isolated in bubbles was how it was. No going out to work and no school. Those who were nonessential workers were only allowed off their properties to shop for food and walk for exercise but maintaining a strict 2 meter social distancing.

Supermarkets were a nightmare because only 10 people were allowed in at a time, queues were long and delays were longer. Once in Level 2 social distancing was still required. The public had to keep a contact register whereever they went. We did this in our station logbook. Under this level the commercial world was starting to get back to normal.

We are not free of COVID yet, however all the cases are in managed isolation. This bug is sneaky. We got cases from people working in a cool stores unpacking imported meat. Again by quick action and tracing the source was identified and isolated.

We have a very resilient audio and transmitter chain and had no technical issues. The power supply also carried on without any outages.

Eric Bodell, QSM, is station manager of Radio Woodville.

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