Radio World

Al Shuldiner, chief of the FCC’s Audio Division

Radio World talked with Al Shuldiner, chief of the FCC’s Audio Division, about how the commission was coping during the coronavirus shutdowns, as well as about various regulatory issues before the commission.

The commission effectively shut down its headquarters and moved to teleworking, like much of the radio industry. It sought to provide some relief to broadcasters, granting a series of waivers and extending the deadline for the quarterly issues and programs lists. It also eased the public file requirements placed upon broadcasters.

Chairman Ajit Pai said the commission was “acting quickly to make decisions” to help manage. During an online workshop in April, he said, “If there’s one area where bureaucracies struggle most, it’s doing anything fast. But during a pandemic, delays can be deadly. So the FCC has put a premium on making decisions as quickly as possible. We’re talking days, not months or years.”

Shuldiner said the chairman empowered the FCC’s division leaders to make regulatory decisions without the layers of review typically needed.

He spoke with Radio World’s Randy Stine in April.

Radio World:  You spoke with NAB members recently in an online chat about what the FCC has been doing publicly and behind the scenes in regards to coronavirus. Radio has been especially hard hit. What should radio broadcasters know?

Al Shuldiner: The FCC staff is very aware of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on broadcasters and the severe economic impact this is having on the radio industry. We are looking at ways that we can provide additional regulatory flexibility to help broadcasters navigate through this crisis.

Where stations have been able to provide us with specific information that the pandemic has impacted their operations, such as where stations have been forced to stop construction because key personnel have been infected and are quarantined or where parts have been delayed due to supply chain disruptions, we have provided regulatory relief where we can.

Similarly, we have worked with stations facing extreme economic problems to adjust their operations to save money. I encourage stations that are facing problems to contact us if they have approaches that might help save jobs or avoid taking a station off the air.

We have not provided relief in response to generalized requests based simply on unspecified impacts of the coronavirus, but we are prepared to respond quickly when broadcasters provide specific information and documentation that they have suffered a significant impact. And stations do not need to worry about making formal proposals. A number of stations have contacted me informally by email, and we have been able to provide prompt relief with minimal administrative delays.

RW: Will the FCC forgive or delay collection of regulatory fees, for radio stations hit by the economic downturn? How about the current license renewal process?

Shuldiner: We are looking at options to help broadcasters get through this economic downturn. I know there have been questions about regulatory fees, which Congress requires the commission to collect. While we are unable to waive these fees, the Media Bureau has been working with the commission’s Office of the Managing Director to help stations implement payment plans and to develop other relief to address cash shortages.

RW: Are there other postponements of deadlines or other regulatory processes? Are there Public File implications? 

Shuldiner: The Media Bureau delayed the deadline for stations to upload first quarter issues/programs lists to their online public inspection files. For stations that were required to file renewal applications by April 1, 2020, we did not grant a blanket extension of time, but we addressed extension requests on a case-by-case basis. We processed about 25 of these requests and in all cases, each was granted the day it was submitted.

We and the Video Division will monitor developments leading up to the June 1 renewal application deadline. I expect we will address any problems for that date on a case-by-case basis as well. Similarly, we have been able to handle a few construction tolling requests on an individual basis. I think the biggest current outstanding question about deadlines is the status of FM translator construction permits scheduled to expire in January 2021.

We are looking at the ability of AM stations to make those investments right now and understand the need to provide more guidance on this issue well in advance of the deadline. I hope to have input for broadcasters early this summer.

RW: Do the FCC modernization initiatives continue during the COVID-19 outbreak, like possibly streamlining the license renewal process?

Shuldiner: We are fully engaged in all our work, including ongoing rulemakings. I am not aware of any changes that have been proposed to the renewal process, but we are actively working to complete our rulemaking on the local public notices that broadcasters must provide for renewal and other applications. 

Our Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposed a number of changes designed to streamline our existing rules. We received a lot of supporting comments from interested parties and expect to release revised rules before the summer. In conjunction with the ongoing work in that proceeding and in recognition of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on broadcasters, we recently waived the requirement for broadcasters filing renewal applications in June 2020 to provide prefiling announcements of their renewal applications. 

We plan to continue to advance our important media modernization initiatives and to continue to provide the industry with regulatory relief where possible.

RW: The pandemic has led to a number of churches and other organizations doing local broadcasts to their parking lots. Have there been cases where you have relaxed Part 15 compliance?

Shuldiner: We have encouraged churches and other organizations that have asked us for permission to broadcast to an audience to use streaming or call-to-listen services, or to partner with an existing broadcaster rather than relying on Part 15 devices.

I was very interested to learn recently of an initiative where a broadcaster is working with local schools in the communities it serves to air lessons on AM and FM stations during part of the day to ensure children without access to the internet can continue to complete their schoolwork. Using existing stations for this effort avoids the need for special authorizations.

Also, often low-cost Part 15 equipment being offered to churches and other organizations is not legal for use in the U.S. A properly certified and labeled Part 15 device comes with a permanent, manufacturer-affixed label certifying that the device complies with Part 15 of the FCC rules and displays an FCC ID number. Those devices should be able to provide a service radius of up to 200 feet under ideal conditions. Anything claiming to provide service beyond that distance is likely in violation of FCC rules.

Although we have provided a very limited number of special authorizations for governmental entities and medical centers with a public health need to broadcast using power levels that exceed Part 15 criteria, we are not able to provide other organizations with licenses for larger coverage areas, due to the public safety and broadcast interference concerns.

RW: If the FCC allows that option, what can you say to radio broadcasters concerned about possible interference?

Shuldiner: We review all requests to ensure they are on channels that minimize the potential interference. Any special authorizations we provide are on a noninterference basis. And the stations we have authorized at this point are operating at power levels that are extremely unlikely to cause interference. However, we remain prepared to address any interference that arises and will work with broadcasters to address any problems they experience.

RW: New rules were put in place last year to streamline the sometimes contentious process of working out interference complaints around FM translators. Can you report on how that›s going? Has the frequency of complaints changed?

Shuldiner: We have seen some additional claims from stations, but my sense is that the volume is pretty consistent with what we have seen for the last few years. The new rules have not created a spike in complaints but have helped us weed out some of the less sustainable complaints.

In our experience, most interference problems can be resolved by the stations, and our new rules strongly encourage stations to attempt to resolve problems without the FCC. But there are cases where we have found real interference problems and taken appropriate action to remedy the problem.

In the most contentious cases, the parties often do not act reasonably and engage in an endless war of pleadings and accusations. This is not an effective way to work with commission staff or to resolve the matter. I encourage all parties to work with us to find productive solutions.

RW: We’ve seen at least one ruling where it appeared that the company raising a complaint had provided documentation but that the petition to deny was refused because they didn’t follow every letter of the process. Is it possible the system is too stringent now?

Shuldiner: I don’t want to comment on the merits of a particular case, but we think it is important for stations filing interference claims to comply with the procedural requirements we adopted. We believe that will help avoid invalid claims and avoid wasting time and resources for all parties.

RW: The comment period on allowing all-digital on the AM band has closed, and most of the comments were clearly in support. It seems likely that the FCC will confirm its tentative plan soon. What can you share with us?

Shuldiner: There were a number of comments and reply comments filed in that proceeding. It’s a little premature to share the staff’s thinking on the outcome of the proceeding, but the staff members responsible for that item are reviewing the comments and hope to have more guidance for AM broadcasters later this year.

“We do not view waivers as a workable solution for something as significant as a new class of service, particularly when there is an open rulemaking on the same topic.” — Al Shuldiner

RW: What is the status of the FM Class C4 proposal? Is it possible a waiver approach could be used in the interim for those FM stations interested?

Shuldiner: Although a number of broadcasters have expressed support for a rulemaking on Class C4, there also has been significant opposition from other broadcasters, particularly on the issue of Section 73.215 of the commission’s rules.

We do not view waivers as a workable solution for something as significant as a new class of service, particularly when there is an open rulemaking on the same topic. We will continue to study this issue to see if we can determine a way to proceed.

“We recognize the transition from CDBS to LMS has not been a smooth one. No one is more frustrated with the pace of the transition or the glitches we have experienced than me.” — Al Shuldiner

RW: We are told by broadcasters they feel as if they are struggling with regard to Media Bureau databases for FM. Many filings have transitioned to LMS, but many CDBS records and fields apparently have not made the trip. Some broadcasters have found it necessary to run searches using both databases to be sure they pick up on all potential records, allocations and applications. What is the plan for completing this transition?

Shuldiner: We recognize the transition from CDBS to LMS has not been a smooth one. No one is more frustrated with the pace of the transition or the glitches we have experienced than me. I can assure you the Audio Division staff has put in a lot of hours to design and test the system, but sometimes we cannot anticipate all the problems.

It is important to note that information flows from CDBS to LMS but not the other way around. CDBS is still the best place to find older information, but anything that has been filed in LMS will not appear in CDBS.

Even with all of us teleworking, we are making good progress on the next phase of the LMS transition and hope to have the assignment and transfer forms working in LMS in the second half of the year. After that, we plan to transition our AM forms and historical information. As we move more and more functionality to LMS, the need to check CDBS will go away. But right now, it is best to check both databases for completeness.

I say thank you to all our users who have shown tremendous patience during this transition. But please do not suffer in silence — if people are experiencing problems, they should let us know so we can address them.

RW: One of the important tasks the Audio Division does is to process assignment and transfer applications for station sales. In January, one of your well-known attorneys who was responsible for supervising station sales, Mike Wagner, retired. Who in the Audio Division is taking Mike’s place, and have there been any issues with the transition?

Shuldiner: Mike Wagner’s retirement was a big loss for the Audio Division, but I spoke to Mike recently and was pleased that he is enjoying his retirement. In March, we were very lucky to have Chris Clark join the Audio Division from the Media Bureau’s Industry Analysis Division. Chris is our newest assistant division chief and has taken over responsibility for the assignment and transfer application process. He also is involved in our ongoing license renewal process and other matters.

The staff’s move to full-time telework in March made the transition a little complicated for us, but the overall transition has been pretty smooth, and the feedback I have received from broadcasters indicates our processing has not been an impediment to completing transactions. We are fortunate to have a skilled group, headed by Annette Smith, that can keep the process moving forward, even while working remotely. Chris and Annette are available to the public to answer questions and resolve problems relating to pending applications.

“We were told the FCC’s move has been delayed from the end of June until the end of the summer, but we are waiting to see if the pandemic has any further impact on that schedule.” — Al Shuldiner

RW: The FCC was scheduled to move from the Portals to a location north of Union Station in Washington, D.C., this summer. What is now the status of that, and do you expect to have any attrition of Audio Division personnel from the move?

Shuldiner: We were told the FCC’s move has been delayed from the end of June until the end of the summer, but we are waiting to see if the pandemic has any further impact on that schedule. I don’t expect any significant attrition as a result of the move. I know we have a few people that are getting closer to retirement age, so we may see a few retirements in the future. But we have been fortunate to have had a few engineers and attorneys join the Audio Division over the past year and a half. With that additional staff, we are well positioned to continue to handle our work even if we experience a little attrition from the move.

RW: Reasonable, accommodating and flexible. Several communication attorneys have used those words to describe the FCC in recent weeks. Do you sense a change in how some broadcasters perceive the FCC?

Shuldiner: I like to think that the Audio Division is always responsive and helpful. We have a tremendous group of talented and dedicated individuals. We cannot accommodate every request we receive, and sometimes we have to deny requests or take enforcement action against bad actors. But we try to be fair and reasonable.

The pandemic has allowed us to have more detailed discussions with broadcasters about individual needs and situations. And it has given us the room to be creative to find solutions to unusual and extreme problems. I hope we will be able to maintain that approach when we return to regular operations and that the radio industry will continue to view us as a resource that is looking for reasonable solutions.

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Quick, how does the loudness standard used at Spotify differ from that of public radio’s PRSS?

The answer can be found in a new reference list put together by RTW. The equipment manufacturer gathered info about several dozen audio delivery standards for content used by streaming and broadcast organizations.

“While aligning the perceived loudness of content in broadcast and digital delivery platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and more is a good initiative, one of the consequences is a wealth of new delivery standards,” it stated in its announcement. “RTW sets out to provide an overview.”

[Read: A Quality Audio Crisis in the Music Industry]

It noted that loudness standards in broadcast have been in the news for the past decade but that many new digital streaming platforms have emerged in that time. “And in recent years, the companies behind these new platforms have also started to recognize the need for recommending specific loudness deliver specifications to its content providers.”

It noted that Spotify, Netflix, Apple, Sony, Amazon, Tidal and Google (YouTube) have their own loudness delivery guidelines. “Some of them are similar in terms of Integrated Loudness (LUFS), but may vary slightly with regard to True Peak (dBTP), and then again some are simply the same.”

The Public Radio Satellite System is one of the many organizations included, as are numerous global TV industry sectors. RTW said that it found nearly 50 specifications including 35 for broadcast.

The loudness delivery specifications on the RTW page include Loudness and True Peak targets. Depending on content type and destination, parameters such as Short Term Loudness, Momentary Loudness and Max Loudness Range may also be included, it said.

RTW’s Senior Director of Product Management Mike Kahsnitz was quoted saying that the list is aimed at content providers. “For instance, if you make music and would like to submit your content to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer, you should not just bounce one file for all of them.”

The guide is here.

 

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The Multicultural, Media Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) have provided an outline of strategies they believe the FCC should implement to ensure multilingual populations receive critical information during emergencies, including pandemic and natural disasters.

MMTC and LULAC made two specific recommendations for the FCC to ensure that they deliver and maintain emergency communications to multilingual populations.

[Read: Multilingual Emergency Broadcasting: A Moral Imperative for the Radio Industry]

The first is for communications during a pandemic, when systems are not adversely impacted. In this case, the organizations believe the FCC should survey communication providers’ resiliency, redundancy and multiple language capabilities before, during and immediately after the emergency. Based on the results, the FCC should design and implement a training regimen to assist providers in meeting the information needs of multilingual populations in the event of such an emergency.

The second recommendation focuses more on hurricanes and tornadoes that take down electric wireline or wireless grids for communication. For this MMTC and LULAC want to see the FCC adopt the “Designated Hitter” system, which ensures that at least one commercial or noncommercial full power radio station is able to remain on air during and after a hurricane with the responsibility of distributing critical multilingual information.

Here’s what the organizations wrote about the “Designated Hitter” idea:

“For communication during and after a hurricane or tornado that takes down the electric, wireline or wireless grids — as happened with Hurricanes Andrew (1992), Katrina (2005), Maria (2017), Florence (2018), and Michael (2018) — the commission should adopt a radio station ‘Designated Hitter’ system. When radio is the last resort for mass communication, the Designated Hitter paradigm contemplates that at least one commercial or noncommercial full power radio station, able to remain on the air during and after a hurricane, will have arranged in advance to broadcast life-saving multilingual information.

“Initially, these arrangements would be made in radio markets that have no more than one full service in-language station (defined as a commercial full power FM, or an AM with at least 1 kw day and night) and where there are more than 50,000 persons likely to speak the target language). This paradigm is necessary if one or more grids go down, leaving radio stations with generators as the only channels capable of mass communication. The ‘Designated Hitter’ concept is the only method that can prearrange and generally assure the provision of life-saving multilingual information during and after a hurricane or tornado.”

 

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A $4.7 million grant will help fund the creation of two more regional public radio newsrooms, NPR announced.

The organization said philanthropists Eric and Wendy Schmidt are donating to NPR’s Collaborative Journalism Network. Eric Schmidt held leadership positions at Google and Alphabet; Wendy Schmidt worked in marketing in Silicon Valley and started a residential interior design business; she is president of the Schmidt Family Foundation.

[Read: CPB Funds Noncom Election Reporting/Engagement Effort]

One newsroom will be in California, the other in the Midwest serving stations in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. The goal is to “increase local coverage across the states, especially in underserved communities” and expand investigative reporting capacity.

NPR announced the California regional newsroom in February. That collaboration will be led by KQED in San Francisco and includes KPBS in San Diego, CapRadio in Sacramento, KPCC/LAist and KCRW in Southern California, with NPR as the national partner. The newsroom will serve the 17 public radio stations in the state.

The 25 public radio stations in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska will have access to content from the Midwest regional newsroom, which will be led by KCUR in Kansas City, St. Louis Public Radio, Iowa Public Radio and NET in Nebraska with NPR as national partner.

NPR officials said these newsrooms will focus on investigative reporting, hiring small teams of investigative journalists to work with station reporters on their public service investigations.

The California news hub is the second regional collaboration with local stations under NPR’s Collaborative Journalism Network. The first was the Texas Newsroom. Separately public stations in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana joined to launch the Gulf States newsroom. The Midwest makes four, and NPR said more are in the works.

 

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It’s doubtful that any of the major radio broadcast groups in the United States included a pandemic on the list of emergencies they worried about when creating preparedness plans. Yet the coronavirus outbreak quickly demanded changes in operations at most stations.

The solutions that broadcasters have adopted are likely to have long-term implications. Managers say these new workflows will influence how stations operate after the pandemic ends.

Better Than Imagined

Maintaining critical infrastructure during the emergency, while coping with staff cuts, furloughs and medical absences, certainly challenged engineering leaders. Most broadcast groups also froze capital expenditure spending and placed numerous projects on hold.

One chief technology officer told Radio World his company’s build-out projects were “paused but not cancelled” pending a recovery.

The use of remote technology for air staff accelerated early in the crisis as broadcasters faced social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders.

One veteran broadcast engineer said in some cases, “Entire air staffs at radio stations are working from home, and working better than anyone imagined,” which leads him to believe “these short-term fixes could turn into long-term strategies.”

The versatility of the cloud also is being stretched in new ways, including ingesting production remotely through virtual private network capacity.

“This was like having a day or two to plan for a hurricane, since some studios were emptied out the same day a staff member tested positive for COVID-19,” said a corporate engineer. “We were mapping major technical changes that had to happen within 24 hours in many cases. It got ‘real’ really fast.”

Another engineering executive said it was “like going from 100 on-air studios to 4,000 home studios,” all with the same network security concerns. Most broadcasters established VPN or other remote access protocols for employees to connect to station servers from home.

Gaps in cybersecurity became a major focus of radio technical staffs worried that audio feeds could be hijacked from home computers protected by less-robust security systems, according to several engineers.

“Our first focus was getting everyone out of our buildings,” one said. “Beginning with sales then programming. Then you’re faced with moving the air staff to at home work and that’s the heavy lift, especially with live shows. Fortunately we can voicetrack the music stations. Everyone was VPNing in from distance. In some cases people just yanked the desktop from their work desk and took it home.”

It was a big job for many broadcasters. In Washington, WAMU Director of Technology Rob Bertrand said that by late April, “We finally got everyone out of the building. Hosts, producers, engineers, call screeners, editors, reporters … from national talk shows to regional podcasts … all from home,” he wrote in an email. “It’s been great to be able to breathe a sigh of relief that everyone is safe and we are able to keep going while the dust settles around the question of when and how to reopen everything.”

Video Conference Tools

Video conferencing is the new norm, and remote broadcasting from home studios has become routine for many broadcasters.

“The Bert Show,” a syndicated morning show distributed by Westwood One, used BlueJeans video conferencing to bring members of the morning show together on air.

At least one broadcaster utilized StreamYard, a live streaming studio app, to allow for the simultaneous stream distribution of remote content to YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn and Facebook, which they hoped would stimulate listener engagement.

Mike Cooney, CTO and executive VP of engineering for Beasley Broadcasting, said the company’s immediate focus was getting everyone home, especially in clusters with employees that tested positive for COVID-19.

“The transition to home was fairly smooth. I would say probably better than I could have hoped. We have a lot of people working on their home computers, so we had to implement a lot of security changes and installed a lot of VPNs,” Cooney said.

Beasley was not immune to the job cuts that have affected many companies. It eliminated 67 positions, including five broadcast engineers, in early April, according to a company announcement. That included one “corporate-level IT person,” Cooney said.

Operations at stations have continued without much interruption, Cooney said, even though the overall “on-air sound at times hasn’t been totally smooth.”

Beasley utilized remote gear “from some of our largest sports stations currently not being used” to supply some air staff with home studio equipment, Cooney said. “We did purchase about 10 additional Comrex units for air staff to use from home,” he said.

Cooney said that in the future he expects to see more “reciprocal agreements” among radio competitors within markets, to work together during a crisis.

“I think radio needs to stop competing against each other during a crisis like this pandemic. The landscape changes when things like this happen. I see a day when resources are shared, and that maybe even means sharing studios. It could bring some further consolidation, but groups could share generators, towers and maybe even engineering staff. But radio stations could still compete,” he said.

“I see a few things coming out of this — a more collaborative environment between radio groups, more shared workspace for employees and many more staff working from home.”

“Radio needs to stop competing against each other during a crisis like this pandemic. The landscape changes when things like this happen.”

— Mike Cooney

Cooney chairs the NAB’s Technology Committee and says the developments lend urgency to the group’s work dealing with the cloud.

“We have spent a lot of time focused on the ability for broadcasters to do more in the cloud, and looking at EAS and PPM encoding. We know you can do automation and processing in the cloud, but we think being able to remote control EAS and PPM encoding is a logical step,” Cooney said. “It would give a broadcaster the ability to easily run a broadcast facility from another market during an emergency.”

A More Remote Workforce

Jason Ornellas, director of engineering at Bonneville International, said even though engineers typically look for “solutions and answers, it’s hard to imagine such a scenario” as a pandemic.

Bonneville, which owns 21 stations in six markets in the U.S., quickly transitioned all employees in administration, sales, marketing and digital to remote work through VPN and Microsoft 365 in the cloud.

“We ordered remote home studio broadcast kits to make the home studio as turnkey as possible for our on-air talent’s convenience to make them feel comfortable and safe from their home. Tutorial videos were produced to show unpacking and setting up the equipment as well as using RCS Zetta2Go,” he said. “The file servers are providing everyone with a sense of being on the network from home.”

The home studio kits included an EV RE320 microphone with stand, XLR cables, RodeCaster Pro Board, Tascam headphones and Comrex BRIC Link II. (The Sacramento cluster is one of the case studies featured in Radio World’s “Broadcasting From Home” webcast series.)

Bonneville said in a press release in April it did not anticipate staff cuts. Ornellas said technical staff is needed now more than ever.

“I think long term you will see a lot more remote workforce. When we rebound, which I believe radio and audio will, virtualization, software-based solutions and cloud initiatives will be the forefront. Our vendors recognize that,” Ornellas said. “There is nothing like a real emergency to get things moving in a creative way. Some of our technical priorities have changed.”

Some industry observers expect there will be newly discovered cost savings and efficiencies as a result of the new virtualization adopted by broadcasters, which corporate owners might be anxious to implement.

“When we rebound — which I believe radio and audio will — virtualization, software-based solutions and cloud initiatives will be the forefront.”

— Jason Ornellas

“This crisis is likely to change the way we think about every single radio position in the building, including sales and programming. It is likely owners and managers will take a hard look at what lessons we learned,” said one corporate technical employee.

Remote work in general “will likely increase for broadcasters because everyone is going to be accustomed to a new normal,” another engineer said

“This pandemic has forced everyone to think about how they do their jobs. Everything has been hyper-focused right now on how to do things as efficiently as possible and I think some of that will hold over once this is over,” he said. “So the first step is getting through this crisis and then putting everything back together.”

Bertrand of WAMU said, “It was remarkable, while working to transition the live products of our talk show teams and local hosts to their homes, to walk through a fully vacant newsroom and then hear a record volume of content on the air and see it on our websites. It does make me wonder if we might adopt a more distributed work model for our journalists in the long term.”

He said WAMU grappled with questions about how, why and when to deploy automation functions, but decided that emergencies are when a live and local voice is more important than ever to its audience.  “Even if that voice is simply checking in between network elements, they are a reassuring companion for so many people who are seeking a foothold in this time of crisis.”

For WAMU’s complex national and local talk shows, he said it was a feat to move to 100% remote production, but he doesn’t foresee that being a new normal.

“Similarly, we have now proven that complex live newscasts are possible from home; and while this model might be helpful in storm responses in the future, it has also been challenging. I’m not sure that we would attempt to permanently distribute our entire journalism operation to quite the extent that has happened; but we have proven that it is possible,” Bertrand said.

“It does make you start to think about the cost of real estate per square foot, versus the alternatives. My dream is that this opens up new collaborative opportunities across the public media ecosystem; that we might all be stronger together in the aftermath of this pandemic.”

How do you think our industry and its technical workflows will change in the long term due to the coronavirus crisis? Email radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

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John Wordock, executive editor of the Westwood One Podcast Network

On Westwood One’s blog, John Wordock, the executive editor of the Westwood One Podcast Network, offers some guidance for podcasters on how to produce content that engages and retains listeners.

He also details ways to utilize Apple metrics, a dashboard tool that provide podcast publishers and show producers a look at past episodes, duration, devices, total time listened, time per device, and average consumption. (To access the dashboard, log into the Apple ID account used to publish the podcast and select “Podcast Analytics” from the drop-down menu on the left.) “Think of the Apple dashboard as a digital focus group letting you track actual behavior,” Wordock says.

In his post, Wordock recommends:

• Focusing on storytelling and preparation: “Want to produce a great podcast? Then prepare, prepare, prepare,” he says. “If you publish an interview podcast, do your homework, know your questions beforehand, and anticipate the answers. If you produce a scripted show, do table reads with your producer, pick apart your episode, and look for ways to improve your story. If you fly solo, bounce your ideas off a spouse or friend.”
• Getting creative with preroll ads: “Because listening decisions are made so quickly, avoid starting an episode with ad copy if possible … tease what lies ahead in the episode,” Wordock continues. “Introduce the theme. Promote your guest. Telegraph what to expect ahead. Doing all this before the first ad will buffer the audience from being bombarded by a commercial early on.”
  
• Experimentation: “The beauty of having Apple metrics at your fingertips? You have instant insight into how content performs, how your listeners react, and how ads are received,” Wordock says. “You see what works — and what doesn’t. You can use that information to format your podcast moving forward and make tweaks … so test things out. Experiment.”
• Holding the audience: “Strive to hold 80% of your audience to the mid-roll [promotional] position and use it as a draw for advertisers,” he stresses. “Look at the percentages on the right side of the dashboard. They tell a story. Consumption rates under 70% are fair. Good listenership sits around 80%. If you have a podcast reaching 90% or higher, congrats! You’re my hero.”
• Dealing with dips: “Through the Apple dashboard, you will spot potholes in the listening pattern,” Wordock explains. “What is that dip? Oh, it’s where the host read the ad copy. So how can you stop your listeners from fast-forwarding through the ads and leaving large divots on your data screen? The best podcast reads are often seamless and connect with the topics being discussed. The transitions are smooth and easy.”

To read in more detail about each of Wordock’s points, visit the Westwood One blog entry.

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VALENCE, France — Radio Méga has been broadcasting from a fully functional, autonomous mobile radio studio since June 2019. Hosting three people plus a driver, the studio is equipped with a Focal PA system, a Digigram Iqoya Talk IP 4G codec and an iPad to play effects and other sound clips.

Radio Méga’s tricycle studio can be used on a public square to meet listeners more easily. All photos courtesy of Radio Méga.

Radio Méga is a community radio station based in Southern France. Since its establishment in 1981, its goal has been to “create links with listeners, wherever they are.” The station has a main studio in Valence, which features an Axia IQ audio console and WinMedia automation software Version 2.18. It also has a secondary studio in Romans-sur-Isère about 32 kilometers (20 miles) away, as well as a host of gear for mobile broadcasts.

TRYCICLE STUDIO

The “tricycle studio” idea came from Raphaël Terribilé, a former schoolteacher working at Radio Méga since 2003. He now has his own show, “Rock à la Casbah,” and is one of the five Radio Méga employees. The station also has 80 volunteers.

Radio Méga’s tricycle studio can also be used inside a building, like here in a museum — as long as the entrance doors are high and wide enough.

“We have always gone out to meet our listeners around Valence,” explains Terribilé. “We are generally hosted in office and state buildings such as city halls. But we noticed that many people didn’t dare come up to talk with us. So I had to find a way to eliminate this distance and encourage our audience to meet us.”

Instead of equipping a van or a caravan as a radio facility, Terribilé decided to use a three-wheel electric cycle to host the studio. The structure is designed to support the weight of the passengers and technical equipment.

“The ‘fun’ factor is huge and people are curious — our studio is really open to the world, there’s no obstacle, and listeners are not afraid to meet us anymore,” he added. “Sometimes, I drive right in the middle of the road, disturbing car or truck drivers, but they rarely honk at me. I usually get a thumbs up! Moreover, this mobile approach is fully environment-friendly.”

Radio Méga always prefers, when possible, to deal with local suppliers. The Urban Arrow Tender 1500 three-wheel electric tricycle is a Dutch model that is 3 meters (10 feet) long and 1.2 meters (4 feet) wide, weighs 230 kilograms (507 pounds), and has an autonomy of 40 kilometers (25 miles). It’s fitted with a wooden structure purpose-built at Lycée Amblard, a Valence vocational high school.

“Assisted by Mr. Gallot, the wood crafts teacher, and Ms. Lombard, the applied arts teacher, first-year students designed and built the box, engraved with Radio Méga logos. They stepped up to the challenge and pushed the project further than the first drawings we gave them to explain our concept.” The total cost was more than €20,000 (US$21,622).

A Radio Méga project in Sénégal offered the station the occasion to test the new Digigram Iqoya Talk IP 4G codec.

TECHNICAL SETUP

The wooden structure, which hosts three announcers, has gooseneck microphones and four speakers from French company Focal. It also features a Digigram Iqoya Talk IP codec/mixer. Sounds are triggered from an iPad mounted on a special support. The students successfully resolved all issues, including weight and cable-run problems.

Radio Méga acted as a beta tester for the Digigram Iqoya Talk IP 4G codec. “The company was about to release it, and they lent us a unit, to get our input — we asked them for modifications on the mic preamps, for example. We were even able to use it in harsh conditions,” he said. “In the Sénégal desert, for example, for an operation we had there. The system works fine: we use it with two different SIM cards simultaneously, as double streaming, for redundancy. It also automatically switches when a problem appears, and total latency is usually less than 60ms.”

The three-wheeler uses a camping/car battery to power the amplifiers; the Iqoya Talk has its own batteries (two of them, plus a third one, for spare, they are hot-swappable). In addition, there is a lockable wooden trunk above the right wheel arch, to put headphones, microphones and cables in when they are not in use. The Iqoya Talk codec and the iPad have their own briefcase.

Driving the tricycle studio from location to another between shows.

Built from January to June 2019, the tricycle/studio was inaugurated on June 23, for the “Hors les murs” show (“Outside the Walls”). It then was presented to the Nantes Festival de l’Info Locale, and was seen (and heard) on the Drôme roads at least once a week during the summer and the fall. The station has also used the mobile studio in the winter, for example during the “Jazz sur le Gril 2020’ festival; even if it’s harder to manage the broadcasts with the cold and rain.

ATTENTION

The Radio Méga three-wheeler was on show during the Salon de la Radio event in Paris last January, and attracted a lot of attention, including that of CSA President Roch Olivier-Maistre.

“We mainly use the studio outside, but we can also get into specific places if needed,” said Terribilé. “Sometimes, entrance doors are not high enough, and once at a museum, for instance, I had to deflate the tires to get the trycicle into the venue.”

People now expect Radio Méga to come to them with the three-wheeler, even for a “simple” interview… A major project took place during four weeks in May last year. This was the first ‘Traversée de la Drôme à vélo.’ (“Crossing the Drôme With a Bike”).

In collaboration with regional and national education organizations, Radio Méga trained a total of 500 middle school students as radio journalists. As part of the project, they were required to prepare and host their shows on-air, to interview people in villages, dealing with cultural aspects, patrimony or local initiatives.

Radio Méga then aired the shows and also made them available as podcasts. They also taught the students how to build a related multimedia website with text and pictures. Some pupils even created short videos about the crossing. All this is perfectly in line with Radio Méga’s philosophy: To be close to its listeners in a spirit of sharing and openness.

The post Radio Méga Creatively Connects With Listeners appeared first on Radio World.

KXSU(LP) at Seattle University is heard on 102.1 MHz.
Photo
: KXSU Seattle University

The FCC in April modified the technical rules covering low-power FM stations. It expanded the permissible use of directional antennas; permitted waivers of protections of television Channel 6 by a specific group of reserved channel stations; expanded the definition of minor change applications for LPFM stations; and allowed LPFM stations to own boosters. Read more about the changes here.

Michelle Bradley, founder of REC Networks, is an engineer and longtime LPFM advocate.

Radio World: What’s your overall assessment of the outcome and the scope of its impact in the LPFM community?

Michelle Bradley: While the FCC did not address three major issues that are impacting LPFM stations right now —the ability to address building penetration issues, the ability to reach “local” listeners in rural areas and the disparity in how LPFM stations protect FM translators vs. how translators protect LPFMs — the changes will benefit current LPFM stations by giving them more flexibility in moving locations, reduce the need for waivers and improve LPFM service in the southern border region. It will also open some additional opportunities for new LPFM stations in the next filing window.

RW: A concern was raised during the process that LPFMs might be required to conduct a proof of performance in order to use directional antennas, which would would be too costly for most of these stations. What was the outcome?

Bradley: The proof of performance issues came up as a result of concerns that LPFM stations would not properly install directional antennas correctly. The need for this language was a carryover from our proposals that involved the use of contour protection to protect other stations (which in most cases were rejected in the commission’s decisions to not allow for 250 watt LPFM stations or the use of contours to protect translators).

Michelle Bradley, founder of REC Networks

As we were getting very close to the adoption of the Report and Order, I did work very closely with the commission to address the issue of the proofs and verification, especially since the commission had previously allowed directional antennas for state highway public safety departments (there are currently no stations using directional antennas) and second-adjacent-channel waivers.

In those specific cases, staff stated that because the public safety stations still had to meet minimum distance separations and second-adjacent channel short-spacings had a remediation policy, those concerns were already addressed, such as the rule language around second adjacent channel interference remediation.

I had stated that in the case of stations near Mexico, recourse was already available through international notification process and that directional antennas installed for that purpose were not to protect specific stations. The FCC staff agreed. This is what resulted in the three exceptions to the proof rule for public safety, second adjacent and international agreement.

I do note though that for the previous concepts of LP-250 and proposed rules to allow LPFMs to use contours towards translators, I asked for a similar remediation rule to the one that FM translators use right now for LPFMs that decide to use contours. That was never addressed in the Report and Order.

RW: How many LPFMs do you think are likely to take advantage of the directional antenna option?

Bradley: Very few LPFM stations would benefit from directional antennas. This includes a subset of LPFM stations near the Mexican border and those where the directional characteristic of the antenna would benefit in a second adjacent waiver. New or modified LPFM stations proposing operation in the “reserved band” (88.1–91.9 MHz) could use a directional antenna to protect a full-service or low-power TV station on Channel 6. Despite that, the FCC is now allowing LPFM stations to obtain consent from the affected Channel 6 TV station, consistent with the current rules for FM translators.

Directional antennas could also be engaged in very rare cases of mutual interference between two properly spaced stations and could serve as a method for LPFM stations planning to use solar in order to reduce their transmitter power output (power consumption).

The use of directional antennas overall should be few and far between.

RW: What is the benefit of permitting waivers of protections for Channel 6?

Bradley: The waiver for Channel 6 puts LPFM on a more level playing field with FM translators. I originally proposed that LPFMs use the translator rules for Channel 6. The FCC’s original proposal to eliminate all Channel 6 protections was a complete surprise. The rejection of the total elimination of Channel 6 protection was spearheaded by ABC (WPVI) in ex parte after the comment period closed. I also note that the issues of FM to Channel 6 protections (and vice versa) are also being discussed in a separate proceeding for “Franken FM” stations. The waiver process is consistent with what I originally asked for. ABC also asked that any LPFM station seeking a waiver send a notification letter to the affected Channel 6 station. This was supported by NAB. After consideration of the issue and the number of potential waiver requests, I agreed it was a reasonable request. FM to Channel 6 will likely be revisited at a later date.

RW: The mention of boosters stands out; is that something you see a lot of demand for? 

Bradley: Boosters in LPFM only impact an extremely small subset of stations that have large lobes in their protected service contours due to what I call “foothill effect,” but because of terrain are unable to put service into those areas.

Currently, there are only four stations, all in Southern California, that have been authorized boosters, all of which I was involved with. One of those boosters is already on the air.

Boosters are very complex, especially in areas where terrain is not has “hard” as Southern California, where synchronization would need to be used. In addition, most of the country has much smaller service contour lobes and it would be impractical to squeeze a second signal inside the LPFM service contour. My request for codification was to assure the stability of the existing Southern California LPFM boosters and to have a process in place and in those rare cases where a booster would help fill in coverage for a terrain challenged LPFM, the option is available without waiver.

RW: What else should we know?

Bradley: I do remain concerned that the FCC does not want to pull the “training wheels” off of LPFM and let those who with the resources to have access to the more flexible methods allowed to other secondary users of the broadcast spectrum while still remaining in compliance with the statutory requirements of the Local Community Radio Act.

“The LPFM service has evolved and matured, and it is not the same service that former Chairman William Kennard pictured back in 1999 when LPFM was first proposed.” — Michelle Bradley

At one time, getting a contour study done normally involved a high-dollar engineering firm. In this day and age, with the use of various resources including those provided by the FCC, the ability to do contour studies has become more accessible, with less dependence on topo maps, slide rules and five-figure software packages.

While I understand that they want to keep LPFM simple, it’s important to realize that more than half of the LPFM applications filed in the 2013 window were assisted with “hired help.” This tells me that the resources to do contour studies are out there and within reach of LPFM applicants.

The use of consultants and/or engineers became necessary in 2012 when in implementing the Local Community Radio Act, the FCC allowed LPFM stations to use the Living Way method of waiving second adjacent channel protection rules. As I told the commissioners a while back, the LPFM service has evolved and matured, and it is not the same service that former Chairman William Kennard pictured back in 1999 when LPFM was first proposed. Yet, for some reason, the current FCC seems to want to hold it back.

The post FCC Tweaks LPFM Technical Rules appeared first on Radio World.

The author is a senior development engineer at Wheatstone. He worked at Audion Labs helping Charlie Brown co-develop VoxPro. Audion Labs was purchased by Wheatstone in 2015.

I suppose that for all of us there are inflexion points in our lives where you meet someone or experience some new thing that changes your life thereafter. Charlie Brown was such a turning point for me. He was also my introduction to radio.

At the time we met, Charlie had been retired from a successful 33-year career in broadcasting where he had worked at Seattle’s top stations as a morning man, holding court and ruling the airwaves in a top 40 format. His love of radio and wanting to bring the best content to his listeners drove him to create the VoxPro DAW in 1992, bringing it to market in 1994 (as a Mac application). Replacing reel-to-reel machines with computer software was at the time a hard-sell, but his own and other early adapters’ use of the product made it a reality.

Charlie and I were brought together through two degrees of mutual friends — he was looking for a programmer to complete the rollout of VoxPro to the Windows platform, and I was freshly unemployed from my third dot-com implosion in a year.

It was the summer of 2001. The venue, Audion “Laboratories,” was a 12-foot x 20-foot cabin on the back of Charlie and Kimberly’s property on an island in Puget Sound. A 40-minute ferry ride involved in getting there. I thought, “How amazing, perhaps even impudent, to think that you can develop a new product with a skeleton crew and no budget and bring it to market.” I had been burned at several venture capitalist-funded start-ups but I was willing to take a chance with Charlie.

So Charlie led me through that process, and he introduced me to the radio family. He wasn’t technical, but he had excellent instincts about technology. He was unfailingly kind, generous, optimistic, and infinitely forgiving of my many shortcomings and missteps. We had a wonderful journey together at Audion (“Audion-and-on-and-on …”) for 14 years, during which time I got to see his idea, VoxPro, become the preeminent audio editor in radio. He was a model of the well-lived life, an example of what persistent hard work and the willingness to take a risk can bring. I will miss him greatly.

Charlie is remembered by a city that loved him in this Seattle Times article published on Friday, May 15.

 

The post Remembering Charlie Brown appeared first on Radio World.

Though impassioned letters were sent pressing the Federal Communications Commission to outright waive regulatory fees for media companies in 2020, the proposed regulatory fee schedule for the fiscal year 2020 has duly been released — although the door has been left open (thanks due apparently to the FCC chairman) for those wanting to express their thoughts on the proposed regulatory fees for FY 2020.

Those proposed fees were released as part of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes to collect $339 million in FCC regulatory fees for fiscal year 2020 — the exact same amount that the commission proposed to collect in FY 2019.

Each year the commission is required by Congress to assess fees to cover direct costs, indirect costs and support costs. These regulatory fees also cover costs for entities that are exempt from paying regulatory fees (like amateur radio operators and noncommercial radio) and entities whose regulatory fees are waived.

But 2020 has been a year unlike any other.

Discussions about the FY2020 fee schedule have been in the headlines for months, with attorneys and state agencies pressing the commission to consider the impact of regulatory fees on media companies.

Radio stations can expect two key items when reviewing this year’s proposal. One is a familiar regulatory fee schedule where fees are broken down based on media classification and size of the population that the station serves. The other is that proposed fees for 2020 are either exactly the same or slightly higher than the fees collected in 2019, with some fee hikes only $25 higher year over year.

At one end of the spectrum are proposed fees for an AM Class C radio station that reaches less than 25,000 listeners. The proposed fee for that station type in 2020 is $620 — exactly the same amount as it was in fiscal year 2019.

At the higher end — specifically an FM station with certain Class B or Class C definitions that serves more than 6 million listeners — the proposed regulatory fees will be $21,375, which is $875 higher than the 2019 regulatory fee of $20,500.

(See the chart for the proposed fees for FY2020 for all classes of stations, which can also be found on page 42 of the NPRM).

[Read: Hayes Urges FCC Not to Collect Mass Media Regulatory Fees This Year]

Earlier this year, attorney Richard Hayes told Radio World that in his 37 years as a communications attorney he’d never witnessed anything like the “almost-total business shut-down occasioned by the coronavirus. This crisis is an existential one for many broadcasters.” Hayes pressed Congress to request that the FCC suspend the collection of the 2020 mass media regulatory fees outright to help stations struggling from complications related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similar concerns were expressed by the New Jersey Broadcasters Association, which called on the commission to hold off on any regulatory fee increases. President and CEO Paul Rotella said that an increase in annual fees for broadcasters is not warranted. “[T]his is certainly not the appropriate time to put any further financial burdens on broadcasters,” he said in a letter to the commission.

[Read: “This Is Not the Time to Raise Fees”]

NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith was blunt about the struggles that broadcasters are facing — from taking out loans to make payroll to cutting staff — during the virtual opening of the 2020 National Association of Broadcasters Show on May 13.

In a subsequent online conversation with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, even the chairman himself said the commission has been exploring regulatory relief for media companies, including changes to fee structures.

When the NPRM was released, FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly issued a statement saying that he sympathized with those who have filed comments opposing increased fees. He also thanked Chairman Pai for including questions in the FY2020 fee proposal to allow commenters to offer suggestions for mitigating the burden of regulatory fees during the pandemic.

“Determining regulatory fees is a somewhat delicate matter, with the need to balance statutory requirements and constraints with the realities of the marketplace, where increasingly higher fees continue to squeeze licensees,” he said. “At the same time, we need to do our part to meet the requirements set in place by Congress, while being mindful of how federal spending affects our licensees and seeking ways to keep costs down within our own operations.”

Comments on the FCC’s proposed regulatory fees can be left in the FCC electronic comment database using Docket 20-105. The comment deadline is June 12.

 

The post FCC Proposes Regulatory Fees for 2020 Amid Uncertain Media Marketplace appeared first on Radio World.

Legal, unlicensed broadcasts under Part 15 are a buzz topic right now about radio engineers.

Here’s what Larry Wilkins, director of engineering services for the Alabama Broadcasters Association, writes in his e-newsletter this week:

Broadcast engineers have been approached lately by churches and other organizations about setting up a low-power transmitter for use during COVID-19. The question of legal operation is covered in FCC Part 15.

The quick answer allowed coverage area is approximately 200 feet for an FM transmitter. The full answer is much more complicated than that: 250 µV/meter @ 3 meters (also measured as 48 dBuV/m). The same is true on the AM broadcast band, where devices are limited to an effective service range of approximately 200 feet (61 meters).

[Read: Part 15 Broadcasting Is Not Without Problems]

Although an operator does not have to obtain a license to use a Part 15 transmitter, the transmitter itself is required to have an FCC authorization before it can be legally marketed in the United States.

Be careful with the type of antenna used with the unit. The standards in Part 15 are not based solely on output power but also take into account the antenna characteristics. Thus, a low-power transmitter that complies with the technical standards in Part 15 with a particular antenna attached can exceed the Part 15 standards if a different antenna is attached.

Wilkins added to make sure you are on a vacant frequency in your area and verify the audio level feeding the transmitter is correct (not too high or too low).

Below are recent related articles from Radio World:

Look for FCC Certification When Choosing a Part 15 Transmitter

Low-Power Radio in the Parking Lot: What You Need to Know

Check Out These Unexpected Uses for Low-Power Radio

 

The post Low-Power Transmitter Guidance From Larry Wilkins appeared first on Radio World.

The author is chief engineer for KOZY(AM), KMFY(FM) and KBAJ(FM).

As has been addressed in previous articles in Radio World, many churches and other groups are starting to broadcast “drive-in church” services and other events.

As a local contract broadcast engineer I have received several inquiries about how to do this. As Radio World has pointed out in your recent articles, the only option is under the FCC Part 15 rules, which allow for low-power signals in the AM or FM band. After explaining rules and limitations, those I’ve talked to have instead opted for live streaming services.

[Read: Look for FCC Certification When Choosing a Part 15 FM Transmitter]

Clearly, most, however, don’t seek out advice of local radio professionals, and instead seem to simply be searching the internet for “Drive-in Church” etc. This is where the trouble lies, as this search brings up thousands of churches that are doing this, countless articles published in church and religious magazines and websites telling how easy it is, along with a raft of YouTube videos of pastors, ministers, church assistants, youth ministers and others showing how easy it is. Basically they tell you to order an FM transmitter from eBay, or Amazon, and plug it into the church’s audio board and you’re on!

One problem with this approach is the FCC’s lack of ability or desire to stop the sale of illegal FM transmitters in the USA via these sellers because so many of the transmitters being sold are illegal in the USA. Many use misleading advertising “Long Range FM Transmitters,” “No License Required,” “FCC Compliant,” “Perfect for Churches,” so forth and so on.

An FM Part 15 transmitter sold in the USA must be certified by the FCC. Most sold are not.

Over the years I have done testing on many of these transmitters and found that not only are they substantially over the legal limit (sometimes by a hundred times and more) but they also generate spurs and harmonics. This, of course, causes interference to other, licensed stations on the FM band, as well as into public service frequencies and most often into the aviation band causing interference with aircraft communications and navigation. In fact interference in the aviation band is one of the common ways these illegal transmissions are discovered and tagged by the FCC. Airport tower operators contact the FCC to complain!

I suggest that local engineers keep their eyes and ears open for churches and other organizations advertising drive-in broadcasts. We have a local arts center starting live broadcasts of concerts with no live audience in the theatre to an audience in cars in the parking lot.

If there are any, do a bit of legwork with a field intensity meter and spectrum analyzer and see if those broadcasts are legal. The Part 15 limit is 250 uV/m at 3 meters from the transmitting antenna. Basically if you can hear them more than 250–300 feet from the site they’re not legal.

Then look for harmonics, spurs and overmodulation. Usually these transmitters either have no modulation indicator, or it amounts to a blinking LED, and are horribly inaccurate. Operators with no experience tend to overmodulate substantially causing splatter to adjacent frequencies. Usually if they’re illegal it’s blatantly obvious. Then reach out politely and let them know they are violating FCC rules. If it’s in your ability and desire offer to help them make their broadcast legal.

Based on my observation there may be thousands of brand new illegal FM transmissions on the air over the past few weeks.

 

The post Part 15 Broadcasting Is Not Without Problems appeared first on Radio World.

I wrote a list of cyber best practices that appeared in a Radio World ebook in November, “Cybersecurity and Studio Disaster Recovery,” before the current global crisis. RW asked me to revisit and update it given that broadcasters have rushed to find new ways of doing business centered around remote operations and heavy use of the internet.

There are thousands of announcers, account managers, inventory and scheduling staff, programming and music directors, operations directors, engineering managers and other station personnel operating from their homes. How are we handling the IT security and defenses of our operations?

Many of us had to scramble to facilitate multiple work-at-home solutions. Safe practices may have been ignored because the priority was saving businesses or informing our communities.

[Read: Is Your EAS Equipment Secure?]

So now is a good time to assess and reassess. Remember, holes may exist now where they didn’t before, because of emergency actions you took to allow for outside access to systems in your building or transmitter site.

As I wrote in the original version of this article, cybersecurity is a top priority for businesses of all sizes; a lack of readiness and defenses can lead to serious financial and operational consequences. Cyber extortion (ransomware) is big business and is not going away anytime soon. The following questions and thoughts are a place to start in hardening your broadcast organization’s infrastructure and preparing for the worst case.

#1. 

Do you have a security-aware culture in your facility? In your organization? Be honest. Knowing that your IT staff or outside contractor installed a new firewall or virus program last year doesn’t mean you are fully prepared. It does not necessarily mean you have a constant security-aware culture that involves regular routines such as:

Backing up crucial data to both a local machine and the cloud and ensuring at least one of the backups is *not* connected to the network source it is backing up.

1. Updates and patches are run regularly on all devices such as firewalls, switches, PCs, IOT, etc. We say this all the time but so many facilities do not do it.
2. An ongoing awareness and training program for all existing and new employees across all departments. Many attacks arrive via a simple email. Educate everyone about what to look for.
3. Antivirus and antimalware software installed on every machine — sounds like Security 101, right? I find machines all the time that are not running both and/or not updated recently with the latest security databases.
4. Implemented security restrictions and locked all outside access except where needed. Don’t laugh. I find VPN and Remote Desktop active on machines often, and no one remembers who they were for or what the original purpose was.
5. Block all known malicious IP addresses and keep that list constantly updated.
6. Keep track of every employee or contractor to whom you gave outside access. Make sure you have a list of their names, systems given access to, and method (VPN, TeamViewer, VNC, public IP, etc.)

This is just a sample listing of key things a security-aware organization should be doing. There are many more. IT trained professionals in cybersecurity know what to do. There are also many excellent sites online with guidelines that dig deeper than we can here.

[Read: IP Security Considerations for Radio Broadcasters]

#2.

Along with #1 above, when was the last time you had a serious sit-down with your IT team, administrator or outside contractor to discuss cybersecurity? How often do you meet? In that meeting, did you know what specific questions to ask? If not, it is time to put together a list of questions. This article can help you get started.

Given the current COVID-19 situation and the fact that you’ve made changes internally to allow for remote access, now is the time for a video conference with the team to inform and discuss any weaknesses. As a team, you can decide what loopholes should be closed now — prioritize any risks should they exist.

#3.

Have you considered hiring a third-party outside security consultant to help with assessing your internal and external systems for their penetrability? Have you asked a trusted security expert to attempt to penetrate your network and systems to ensure you are defended properly?

I know several broadcast-related companies that send phishing emails with fake viruses and ransomware to employees to test their cyber training; see 1(C) above. If the employee clicks on the suspicious attachment, they are provided further training on how to spot these things. The email gateway still ranks as one of the top arrival vectors for attack, so it is critical that everyone have some training on how to spot that one email which can cause you untold hardships.

#4. 

Is your network segregated to minimize the damage if something should get through? I often find that networks within the station are combined, on purpose or by mistake. I’ve been in several facilities where they claim their networks are segregated, yet we find that’s not the case.

For example, a PC with a double-NIC (two network cards for separate networks) can be compromised and certain viruses can jump from one network to the other. So the machine that handles traffic but must connect to the automation system — and it is using two network cards — might not be as safe as you thought. Or that one PC that has Remote Desktop on it so someone can get into the network but only though that one “external” machine … well, it may not be the “firewall” you think it is.

There are ways to handle remote access properly and securely. Your trained IT staff or outside security contractor can help you with this.

During the COVID-19 crisis many stations have found themselves needing remote access to their automation playout systems. Normally, as a cyber best practice, these machines are locked down and disconnected from the public internet. If remote capability existed, it was usually through very secure login and VPN methods. I’ve seen many stations in the past month or so that did not have remote access set up allowing their client and server playout machines to be connected to the outside internet. This was done in a hurry and under emergency conditions; some buildings were cleared out almost overnight. If you are one of these facilities, follow #2 above. Make sure management is aware of these temporary weaknesses and address a plan to close the gaps looking forward. You may need this capability in the future, but now you’ll have time to prepare better with more secure access procedures.

#5.

Backup, backup, backup. I mentioned this, but it is so important to preventing disaster that it deserves its own reference. It is imperative that you regularly backup all critical files, and do so to locations that cannot be reached by the virus. There are several cases where ransomware found its way to a network backup and encrypted the very files that were supposed to protect the operation!

Do you backup every 24 hours? Do you maintain backups offsite? (That’s not only a good idea for protection against the virus but also for events such as fire, hurricanes, other things that could keep you from accessing the studio or transmitter location). With backups you can reinstall critical software and data and potentially alleviate the need to pay a ransom. Or it may simply be less costly in time and resources to restore a machine using a recent backup then using a decryption tool. Therefore, very regular backups are crucial.

If for example, you need to restore your music and spot commercial database and audio files quickly, you’ll want that backup to be very recent. Otherwise, you may lose the past several days or weeks of new material — and this could cost the station financially.

I often come across TOCs that supposedly are making backups but are not. The backup tape machine hasn’t worked in who knows how long, the NAS drive is full, the software that runs the backups hasn’t been running for weeks or months, or perhaps the directories selected for backup are not correct.

The takeaway here is that you should ask yourself or your IT administrator for proof that backups are being run, and run often, on a regular recurring basis.

#6.

If you are attacked, do you have the tools in place to quickly detect and determine its origination point within your facility? Do you have the tools (and instructions to staff) in place to isolate the virus or ransomware quickly? Do you use a security event manager? What is your “first 15 minutes” plan?

As mentioned, network segregation is critical in situations where you become infected. If the business network is infected, for example, do you have a way to prevent this attack from spreading to other business networks in your building or within the company (for larger networks or group operators)? Do you have different offices tied together using a WAN/MPLS or other means that might allow the virus to hop over and then start spreading again in an entirely different location?

If you believe a virus is crawling through your network, do you have a plan in place to stop it immediately from moving further along to the next server or PC? Do you know how to kill your network shares immediately? Do you have a plan to yank users and machines from the network in seconds?

What if an attack happens at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning? Do you have the technology or people in place to alert the proper team leaders? And do you have a response go-team on call including holidays?

This is not make-believe or a far-out fantasy. These attacks are happening regularly to small and large operators, and of course, in all industries.

#7.

If your data becomes encrypted, do you have a plan of action filed away so you know what to do? Have you thought about whether you would pay a ransom if presented with such a demand?

There are different schools of thought on whether to pay. Many have paid, and many have not. It is reported by Symantec that only 47% of those who pay the ransom to the bad guys get their data back. It is also claimed by several reputable security firms that if you do pay this time there is a chance you will be hit again because the data kidnappers know you will give in. (Of course, we all know you will be fully protected after the first successful ransom, right?).

Let’s say you don’t pay; better have your recent backups ready to go. Do you have a backup system that provides for restoral easily and quickly? Do you have a go-team put together who will be ready to restore systems and a chain of command to direct team members on what to do and when? (See #6).

If you decide to pay, most ransoms are paid with bitcoin; do you know how to purchase bitcoin? Do you know from where? It can take a few days to obtain bitcoin, depending on how you buy it. Major cities have bitcoin-capable ATMs that can speed this up. The average ransom ranges from a few thousand to much higher. Do you have a source for that kind of money in a hurry should you need it?

Now is the time to think about these things and have a plan written down. If you don’t, you may be scrambling at the last minute while your critical systems are down. That kind of delay can cost you money because your operations are down. If you work with an outside security expert or have such staff internally, and you are not sure what your plans are should you get attacked, ask for one. Do not be unprepared.

On a positive note: Did you know that some ransomware attacks use a software variant that has a free cure? There are free decryption tools out there that might work in your case. Something to check first.

#8.

Some ransomware attacks are widespread. We’ve all heard about them. You’ll see them on TV and on most credible news and IT websites quickly. In some cases, these large-scale attacks are shut down and decrypted within 24 to 48 hours by law enforcement or white hat hackers. If you are affected by one of these large-scale attacks, check with your security provider, consultant, vendor or IT staff to see if there is a fix before paying any ransom.

#9.

If you are in the United States, contact the nearest field office of the FBI or Secret Service and report your ransomware event and request assistance. They may be able to help you. If you are in Europe, go to the Europol website and it will direct you to the local agency in your country. If in Australia, report your event to the Australian Cyber Security Centre. Most countries have a governmental agency that wants to hear from you.

#10.

Ask for help. I say this often. Do not be afraid to ask for help. Whether you are a managing director or engineer and IT director, it is OK to ask for resources to assist you with cybersecurity. You have friends who know things. You have vendors who know things and who have internal resources to assist you with this. There are local IT firms with experts. Consultants. Lots of free advice on the internet. The United States and many other governments provide free information on ransomware, viruses and other forms of malware.

Now, more than ever, we are all coming together to help one another. I’ve seen hundreds of posts online (on the various broadcast-related social platforms) from broadcast engineers, offering advice and asking questions on every imaginable topic related to COVID-19. If you need help with setting up a SIP connection to a mobile phone, there are plenty of people who will help you. Do you need help with remote access to a specific playout system? Just reach out to your vendor or another engineer. Some vendors are offering free versions/use of their remote packages. Every manufacturer and engineer are working together to help one another. I’ve said this before: This is what we do every day; we help stations stay on the air. Even from home!

I walk into too many facilities that are not prepared defensively and that starts at the top. Go back to #1 above. Make sure you have a security-aware culture. Many stations have had to make tough decisions recently on what rules to relax and where the cost/benefit/risk balance lies. This is a decision that is unique to every facility. We are all having to do things differently now than before. Make sure you’ve kept track of what you’ve done so you can go back and close the loopholes. Prepare a list of necessary hardware/software that you can present for approval for things you may need to do this again but with additional security (if needed).

Gary Kline is a broadcast consultant who has held technical positions with several major broadcast organizations, most notably as senior VP of engineering at Cumulus Media. He has provided engineering support and consulting in the United States, Canada, China and several South American countries. He is a past recipient of the Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award.

 

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GatesAir in cooperation with channel partner New-Tek, has signed a deal for the delivery and installation of Flexiva FAX transmitters to Bulgaria broadcast operator NURTS.

Part of the broadcaster’s continued FM modernization initiative, the upgrade consists of 11 transmission sites.

As per the accord, New-Tek will install Flexiva FAX air-cooled 5-kW and 10-kW FM radio transmitters in redundant 1+1 or 2+1 configurations, depending on the technical requirements of each site.

GatesAir says the Flexiva transmitters will deliver two national channels for Bulgarian National Radio, replacing tube transmitters in operation for more than 30 years.

New-Tek has already completed several site installations since the rollouts began in 2018, with installations continuing through 2020. The company specifies that all Flexiva transmitters in the network will share the same hot-swappable power supplies and amplifier modules.

GatesAir has been working with NEW-TEK and NURTS since 2003.

The post Bulgaria: NURTS Modernizes With GatesAir appeared first on Radio World.

Croatia has renewed its DAB+ trial for the third year.

Network operator OIV first launched the trial in November 2017 with public broadcaster HRT later joining the efforts.

Photo credit: United Nations Cartographic Section.

Confirmed at the end of 2019, the first phase of the expansion began in March with the launch of DAB+ transmitters on Mount Srd, near Dubrovnik and Psunj, in the east of the country.

A month later in April, the cooperation launched another transmitter on the island of Ugljan covering Zadar and the surrounding area.

There are currently 12 stations broadcasting in DAB+ as part of the trial, with outdoor coverage standing at 88% and indoor reception at 53%.

“OIV sees DAB+ as the main future platform for radio. Our goal is to build a quality future-proof network and to start commercial services as soon as possible,” said OIV CEO, Mate Botica.

“Future plans include expansions of the network and, depending on the interest of the broadcasters, we are considering the launch of a second multiplex.”

Radio continues to be an important medium in Croatia, with over 45% of people listening to the radio on a daily basis.

“The EECC Directive, which requires all new car radios in the EU to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio by the end of 2020, has encouraged DAB’s growth in Eastern,” said Bernie O’Neill, WorldDAB project director.

“In Czech Republic, population coverage stands at 85% and is set to reach 95% following the launch of several new DAB + transmitters later this year. Poland is also stepping up the expansion of its DAB+ network, with new multiplexes across a number of locations. DAB+ services have also recently launched in Slovenia, Serbia and Bulgaria.”

The post Croatia Expands DAB+ Network, Extends Trials appeared first on Radio World.

MONS, Belgium — RTBF officially opened new studios on Jan. 21 at its regional center in Mons.

RTBF’s in-house specialists designed, decorated and cabled Classic 21’s new studios. All photos courtesy of RTBF

With the existing radio studio infrastructure dating back from 2006, the broadcaster decided to construct and modernize its new broadcast studios with a view toward future visual radio operation.

“The project consists of four radio studios,” said Hélène Ronveaux, RTBF Radio project manager. “A first studio serves the VivaCité’s DAB+ channel Viva+. A second operates as production and interview studio for Classic 21. We finalized both studios in September last year. This allowed us to use the new Classic 21 studio as stand-in during the renovation of Classic 21’s main on-air landscape.”

Classic 21’s on-air studio has a strong brand identity.

In addition to the new Classic 21 on-air studio, the Mons site will also accommodate a brand new on-air studio for VivaCitéMons, expected to be operational this fall. 

THE CLASSIC 21 UNIVERSE

The first plans for Classic 21 were for a functional studio, but without the station’s identity. “So we started designing from scratch — we wanted a visitor to know that he or she enters the Classic 21 studio without seeing the logo or hearing the music,” said Etienne Dombret, editorial director of Classic 21.

“The input from our staff was essential, everybody had to feel well in the studio — some presenters have to work five consecutive hours in the same room. This studio was also the broadcaster’s first studio that was completely designed, assembled and cabled by RTBF’s design, integration and engineering specialists, both from radio and television.”

The hallway between the main “Laforge” studio and the production and interview studio is decorated with autographed pictures from artists who have visited Classic 21.

Classic 21’s radio team brought in record covers and instruments to decorate the studio walls, creating a cozy “bar” atmosphere, enhanced by a Chesterfield sofa.

“Our presenters and engineers also wanted to have windows looking out on the city of Mons from the main ‘Laforge’ (honoring the station’s morning drive presenter Eric Laforge who passed away Feb. 15) studio,” continued Dombret.

“In view of our visual radio plans, we installed sliding glass doors. Also, some walls were covered with brick strips over the existing acoustic elements like bass traps.”

The smaller production facility was equipped as an interview studio with room for a presenter and three guests.

“Both the studios and hallway between them breathe the same atmosphere — the hallway is decorated with photographs of artists that have visited us, like Joe Cocker or Aerosmith. Everything is part from the same universe,” Dombret said. “The whole is visually very attractive and, when COVID-19 is over, this studio landscape will offer us many more possibilities for visual radio content. Classic 21 has become very telegenic.”

IP CONNECTIVITY

The new radio infrastructure uses a DHD XC2 platform, a single backbone serving the four 52/MX consoles in the new studios with separate XC2 cores. An extra XC2 core is used for the functionalities in the master control room and the Dante connections with the production and editing cells.

Presenter Marie-Amélie Mastin is at work in the production studio.

“In 2016, with the renovation of the La Première radio studio, we issued a rulebook for technical installation,” explained Ronveaux.

“Based on these specifications, RTBF decided to invest in DHD radio systems. Today, we use the brand in various on-air studios and regional centers. The fact that we’ve implemented the same philosophy in all studios increases our technical staff’s mobility. They can work from different studios with an identical technical setup.” RTBF has continued to use the Netia AirDDO playout system.

Both the Viva+ and Classic 21 production facilities were designed as self-op studios, with 12-fader 52/MX desks, the (also self-op) Laforge studio has a 14 fader desk — every studio offers room for a presenter and three guests.

The Mons radio site is now directly connected over IP with the main RTBF broadcast center in Brussels using AES67/Ravenna technology.

Serge Van Haelewijn interviews singer Frédéric François on Viva+ in the new on-air DAB+ studio.

“This is really unique — in the past, we had four 2 Mbps links with Brussels, each for the equivalent of five mono sources or two stereo and one mono source. With AES67/Ravenna connectivity, and DHD’s XC2 AES67/Ravenna interface, we have drastically boosted our transmission capacity. Today we have 64 channels plus an extra 64 channels as backup,” said Ronveaux.

“Every console uses multiple channels. All signals from the four studio’s are routed to master control room in Brussels. It’s equipped with a Lawo AES67/MADI converter to connect  with our central Mandozzi IDEA audio router.” In the main matrix in Brussels, the Mons signal is mixed with advertising and time signal and aired on the RTBF transmitter park.

VISUAL RADIO OPTION

Serge Van Haelewijn presents from Viva+’s new DAB+ studio in Mons.

Bearing in mind the future visual radio option, RTBF paid a lot of attention to the imaging and decoration of its new on air studios.

“The studios were conceived as ‘visual ready,’ with video as part of the design. Pending the installation of fixed cabling and cameras, Classic 21 is using a handheld camera in the new studio landscape,” Ronveaux continued.

DHD distributor Amptec managed the installation and basic configuration of the DHD 52/MX system and the tailor-made studio furniture. “The challenge was, in close collaboration with the RTBF’s network and radio technology experts, to parameterize the DHD configuration for ease-of-use and stability, in a thorough and advanced IP-setup,” said Bart Lamberigts, Amptec project manager.

For the visual radio aspect, Amptec also supplied customized, visually attractive microphone arms and Yellowtec components. “Classic 21’s new studio is one of the most beautiful on-air facilities we’ve worked on,” Lamberigts continued. “RTBF is extremely strong in designing and building appealing studio environments with internal staff.”

Classic 21’s editorial director Etienne Dombret welcomed singer-songwriter Typh Barrow to the inauguration of Classic 21’s new studios.

Etienne Dombret is confident about the future. “Personally, I think consolidating our current market share is crucial. We have grown from 3.9% to an overwhelming 10.9% in 15 years — 2019 was a record year,” he said. “I’m happy to see that we have succeeded in winning over a new and younger audience. With an enthusiastic team in spacious, efficient and visually appealing studios and new technology, we are also devising new program concepts.”

At press time, the VivaCité on air studio was still under construction, and expected to be operational this fall.

During renovation, VivaCité is broadcasting from a provisional studio with a Studer setup.

The post RTBF Inaugurates New Studios in Mons appeared first on Radio World.

Mother Nature is amazing. Vegetation will find a way to grow almost anywhere, including places at your transmitter site that can be problematic.

Fig. 1: One reason to inspect remote site equipment thoroughly.

You can bet the satellite signal from the dish in Fig. 1 gets even worse when the leaves come out. The problem gets worse the closer you get to the dish. We can see in Fig. 2 that the sections of the dish have actually been deformed by the vines.

Yet another reason why site inspections need to occur regularly.

***

We’ve gotten encouraging comments from engineers reading Frank Hertel’s and Bill Ruck’s suggestions on rodent control.

Fig. 2: A close-up shows that the vines are growing right up through the dish.

Bill pointed out that raptors provide “free” control, and offers this blog from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to back up the claim: https://tinyurl.com/raptorfood. Here’s an excerpt (edited for style):

“Nonbreeding adults eat about a quarter-pound of food daily, or a tenth of their body mass — that’s about five small mammals. Nestlings start feeding themselves (swallowing lemmings whole) at about 16 days old. It’s estimated that a brood of two nestlings requires 26 pounds of food during the 40 days between hatching to fledging.”

[Read: It’s Time To Inspect That Air Conditioner]

Various vole and mouse species average about 1 ounce in weight (lemmings in the Arctic weigh a little more), so, if you do the math, every adult Roughie eats four to five small mammals every day (about 1,460 annually), and two nestlings consume roughly 278 rodents in only their first 40 days. Clutch size is usually three to five eggs, so the actual number of rodents consumed by nestlings is often much larger.

Red-tailed hawks are more common and are around all year long. They have about the same eating habits. Can anybody trap 1,500 mice a year using another method?

***

Among the many “take-aways” from the NAB Show each year are various useful promotional items that vendors offer attendees.

Fig. 3: Inovonics will send you a free Radio Hero Swag Bag (modeled here by Travis Tibbot of BGS). Just email sales@inovonicsbroadcast.com.

Since this year’s show was canceled, Inovonics Broadcast President and CEO Ben Barber is offering an Inovonics Radio Hero Swag Bag, pictured in Fig. 3, to broadcast engineers who request one by email to sales@inovonicsbroadcast.com. Just reference the swag bag mentioned in Workbench.

I won’t spoil the surprise, but you will find the contents useful.

***

With so many station voices operating from remote locations, Rob Atkinson, K5UJ, reports on an inexpensive equipment rack from, of all places, IKEA.

It’s called a Lack Rack. It’s a short table, the legs of which are placed at the perfect distance for mounting rack equipment. The flat table top provides a shelf top. It’s nothing fancy, but for 10 bucks, it might solve the question of how to mount several pieces of rack equipment for a temporary lash-up.

Find specifics at https://tinyurl.com/ikealackrack, and the IKEA product is here: https://tinyurl.com/ikearack.

***

James Potter owns Cutting Edge Engineering, which provides radio station technical service. James tried the free Paint.net software that we described in the March 4 issue. He writes, “Super-duper! Much more functionality than MS Paint, and — best of all — it’s free! Thanks!”

Thanks, James, for letting readers know. Dan Slentz, who told us about the free image and photo editing software for PCs, likes the innovative and intuitive user interface, which includes special effects. Glad the column could help.

***

In a previous Workbench column, I referred to transmission line “hot spots” detected by infrared camera inspection. Many of these hot spots occur at rigid line junctions, or 90-degree elbows where a bullet is overheating and ready to fail.

Fig. 4: Myat’s 3 1/8 bullet. The blue ring shown on one end of the bullet is Myat’s anti-split device.

I received a message from an engineer wanting to know more about this — specifically, what is a “bullet”?

For those who need an explanation, simply put, a bullet joins the two center conductors of transmission line together (see Fig. 4 to get a better idea). Because of its cylindrical shape, it looks like a big piece of ammunition, hence its name.

Each end of a bullet fits inside the corresponding center or “inner” piece of transmission line. Improper bullet installation, wide temperature swings or movement of the line over time can cause the bullet to weaken and not make a good tight connection. The result is heat buildup and eventual failure.

Keep in mind, there’s usually a lot of power passing through this center conductor. The whole point of periodically measuring the temperature of these junctions is to spot a potential failure before catastrophic damage occurs.

John Bisset has spent over 50 years in the broadcasting industry and is still learning. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance. He holds CPBE certification with the Society of Broadcast Engineers and is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award.

 

The post Mother Nature Can Both Hinder and Help Your Station appeared first on Radio World.

The House has passed the HEROES (Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions) Act, which would count individual TV and radio stations as small business in terms of forgivable loans ever if they are part of larger broadcast groups that, as a whole, would not qualify.

Broadcasters and newspapers have been pushing for that access to funds, but the victory is likely only symbolic since Republicans in the Senate have said it was DOA there, and the President has signaled he would likely veto it if the $3 trillion COVID-19 aid bill, of which the small business loans for media outlets is a tiny part, made it so his desk.

[Read: NAB Says C-Band Cost Structure Should Await Satellite Transition Details]

“NAB applauds House passage of the HEROES Act that includes expanded access to Payroll Protection Program loans for local media outlets,” said National Association of Broadcasters president Gordon Smith “As local radio and TV stations and hometown newspapers struggle with historic advertising losses, it is critically important they have access to resources to support lifesaving journalism that keep families and communities out of harm’s way.”

While the HEROES Act is unlikely to become law, separate, standalone bills that would create the expanded PPP access and that have bipartisan support, have been introduced in both the House and Senate.

 

The post NAB Applauds HEROES Act appeared first on Radio World.

You may have noticed that a lot of new audio coming from record companies and music services sounds heavily compressed, distorted or clipped. When you look at these audio files as a waveform, you can see the clipping, especially when comparing it to music from just 10 years ago, whether from the record company or a service like TM Century.

This article is about the quality of audio radio stations are receiving from music providers today.

To put this together, I spoke with numerous people in our industry, including three experts at well-known audio processing companies mentioned below, to get their take on what’s happening and how we can provide great audio to listeners.

What I found is that there is no single answer. But these experts agreed that it’s a problem and that quality is an issue.

Everyone has their own take on how to process audio that is (to put it plainly) either recorded too hot and clipped or processed out the wazoo to begin with.

Part of the problem with dealing with audio is not simply the fact that it’s frequently hot and clipped, but we are intermixing great audio with full dynamics (from older content) to our own studio material along with newer, highly processed content.

Where do you start and how do you set your processing when your source material is so inconsistent? If you process for new content, your old stuff could sound lifeless. If you process for old content, your new material may have no dynamic range (or feel processed out that wazoo).

Challenges

If we start at the beginning, we know that getting music for radio stations can be a challenge, unless you’re a major-market station with record companies still interested in getting that airplay.

Smaller stations may have to be creative in finding music including subscription services. This isn’t to say that music isn’t available all over the web, and there are some “non-paying” ways to acquire music (not recommended) from posted videos and download sites.

These are not necessarily legal ways to find music; they also may be compressed or have had multiple types of compression reducing the quality to that of a “personal MP3 player” … or even worse.

In the past, there were some great music providers that are no longer in the game (like the old TM Century), and record companies provided music with great dynamics and counted on the radio station to really do their processing on the playback end. Today, there are DJ music service and paid content download sites, but I believe most of us find these files highly processed or even clipped (see examples).

As a bit of an audiophile, I pay attention to quality. I truly want to see dynamic range and peaks that more resemble analog audio than a file with a minimal amount of dynamics and an apparent “flat lining” or clipping of the peaks.

For one thing, I always recommend staying true to “CD quality” with WAV-only files that come from CDs or uncompressed as original WAVs and never converting an MP3 to a WAV. As in life, you will not get something for nothing by turning an MP3 into a WAV. It’s still MP3-quality with just a different suffix to it.

In radio, we process (some more than others) for a multitude of reasons. First, since radio is often listened to while driving we want to overcome the background sounds or “road noise” by bringing up quiet passages without completely destroying the song’s dynamics. We also want our music to have “more punch” than other stations or other sources available to the listener.

Basically, many of us want bigger, brighter, louder and more punch. Considering FM’s own high-frequency limitation of 15 kHz, we have a slight disadvantage to the quality of a stream, but the advantage of something a little more “pure” or “real” in the fact that it’s not being “squashed” for streaming (plus the lesser chance of any “digital weirdness”).

We really could go back and forth on advantages (radio goes anywhere) and disadvantages (e.g., multipath) of radio, but paying attention to the quality of our files is a great starting point. It’s simply because we can never get any better than the quality of the original file.

Comparisons

Recently I’ve begun comparing audio files from TM Century’s old Gold Disc files versus a current music service. I’m shocked at what I found.

Let’s compare a few WAVs to show what I’m talking about. To do this, I’ve used Adobe’s Audition to open both files. No changes were made to any setting, and the screenshot is taken from unaltered editing images. All of these files are native WAV files, no conversion, no normalizing, nothing changed for what you’ll see.

First, a new song by Weezer called “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” followed by U2 and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” See Fig. 1.

 

Fig. 1: Weezer “Can’t Knock the Hustle” vs. U2 “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

You can see the difference, but what are we seeing? There appears to be so much processing on Weezer that there is very little left of the dynamics of the music. In other words, everything is loud! And what happens when we process it? The smallest amount of dynamics that were left are completely eliminated.

What does this translate to? Most program directors and consultants would likely say it will be loud on the radio but it will possibly be distorted or clipped, and that feeding this to a listener will likely result in “listener fatigue.” Simply put, our ears need those dynamics because they aid in providing an ear break.

More Songs

This is Panic at the Disco and Def Leppard (a generally “loud” group). Again, a very noticeable difference in processing and dynamics. See Fig. 2.

 

Fig. 2: Panic at the Disco “High Hopes” vs. Def Leppard “Pour Some Sugar On Me.”

Switching gears, another newer song (from 2016) was DNCE’s “Cake By the Ocean” and The Romantics’ “Talking in Your Sleep.” Again, heavily processed but with a little more dynamics versus what appears to me a more heavily processed older song. See Fig. 3.

 

Fig. 3: DNCE “Cake By the Ocean” vs. The Romantics “Talking in Your Sleep.”

What is our takeaway from all this? Though this is just three examples, I’m finding new music generally follows these two examples. What I’m seeing is very little in terms of dynamics, some aggressive processing (which includes clipping) and a much different sound.

I spoke with a producer at the company that distributed the first two newer examples and specifically asked if they are doing processing; his response was that they are doing nothing to the audio files and these are coming from the music companies this way.

This leaves us in a bit of a quandary. For a new music-based station (playing lots of current pieces but with older material as well), we might find that to “keep the playing field level,” we may need to preprocess the old song files prior to air (something I generally never do other than trim the front and back when needed), increase our mic processing and reduce our own overall main processing.

This also should make us aware of the potential impact on our listeners and their own “ear fatigue” with the content we air. If we are seeing shorter listening time and playing newer music, we might ask if the younger audience has a shorter attention span, or if we’re simply killing their ears with overprocessed material.

I spoke with three well-known radio audio processing gurus — Bob Orban of Orban Audio, Frank Foti of Omnia/Telos and Jeff Keith at Wheatstone. I heard a consistent theme: Audio is coming in much louder than it ever did. Ironically, this negatively affects the louder portions of the audio. The dynamic range is eliminated.

An additional lesson is that it’s a good idea to bring the overall audio levels of the new content down (the amount varies according to who you ask).

That is something we all know they would do, and that we can appreciate. I’d certainly like to tell you which one is right and which solution is best, but that would be like me telling you which color is best. A lot of this is subjective, and much of it can also be proven by test gear. But the results of the test gear also can be open to interpretation. So when it comes to the available products by our audio processing companies (any of them), a lot will be left up to the individual and also how that processor sounds in their own air chain.

Exploring

Consider exploring your audio files and weighing your processing vs. the content and the variation between the audio files. Be sure that all audio files you air are consistent in level. This, at least, is an excellent starting point. Depending on whom you ask, –2 dB down or even more may be the point where you want all your audio files to reside. Ultimately, the determination of whether you preprocess audio files prior to your on-air (or streaming) audio processor is a call you will need to make.

Fig. 4: The DeClipper control panel shows 1% tolerance.

By using audio editing software, it’s possible to dig into the waves to really see what’s happening. Using Adobe Audition, I first look at the properties of the file and scan it under “Diagnostics.” There are presets under “DeClipper,” but I found one that allows for some peak restoration. I start with reducing the file by –2 dB prior to running the Diagnostic DeClipper. After it indicates errors (newer audio files can have hundreds, while material like that from the old TMC Gold Discs usually have none), I run Repair.

At that point, I go with a percentage and “normalize” the audio to –1 dB down. This reduces everything equally so only the peaks hit –1 dB. By doing this, I know my processor (both on-air and streaming) will be seeing consistent levels. See Fig. 4.

Fig. 5: The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” as originally delivered, note lack of peaks leading to poor dynamic range.

A file may start out looking like this example. The following is a song “as delivered” by the music provider. You can see how extreme the level is. The song is “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd. See Fig. 5.

Fig. 6: The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” reduced by –2 dB, note open headroom and available bottom.

The same song reduced by –2 dB (Fig. 6).

Fig. 7: Lower left pane shows errors detected in The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights.”

Then the song is analyzed to find what Audition recognizes as clipped areas. Audition noted 333 errors (Fig. 7).

Fig. 8: The DeClipper add adds back in some of clipped peaks.

And finally, a –1 dB reduction overall and “the fix” is applied. This is how the resulting file looks  (Fig. 8).

It’s better than what it was, and audibly has a cleaner, “less crunched” feel to it.

Unfortunately, these highly processed audio files (intended for broadcast) seem to be the norm. This forces us to really consider all of our audio content and how to process it. It also requires us to think about our own recordings including commercial and PSA production audio files.

How does recently produced material stack up compared to old music audio files? What about in comparison to currently produced music? How we preprocess the audio we pass off to our audio processors needs to have consistency.

The manufacturers of our processing gear recognize what we are dealing with and they’re using their own magic to help us maintain great audio for our listeners as well. Just keep in mind that they all have slightly to greatly different ways of doing this, so your ears (and those of possibly the music director, program director, operations manager, general manager, et al) may want to weigh in on this.

And don’t forget that webstream audio will very likely differ from the air audio, so be aware that all your audio should be considered when it comes to processing and preprocessing.

Dan Slentz has been chief engineer at radio stations from Athens to Zanesville (Ohio), and Dallas to Denver. He is also an Air Force vet who worked with  Armed Forces Radio & TV from 1986–90 in Spain.

 

The post A Quality Audio Crisis in the Music Industry appeared first on Radio World.

IBC has announced the cancellation of this year’s edition due to the COVID-19 health crisis.

In a statement, IBC CEO Michael Crimp said that in the context of the pandemic “as governments announce the route forward, it has become clear that a return to (a new) normal is unlikely to be achieved by September,” he declared.

“Right now, despite the best work of the IBC team and our Dutch colleagues, there are still many unknowns. Therefore, we cannot guarantee we will be able to deliver a safe and valuable event to the quality expected of IBC.”

Crimp revealed plans to launch virtual IBC week. He added that the organization would continue to engage with the industry through its digital platform IBC365.

IBC2020 was scheduled to take place Sept. 11–14 at the RAI convention center in Amsterdam. Companies including Panasonic, Ross Video and Stirlitz Media had already announced that they wouldn’t be exhibiting at this year’s show.

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