XPost: alt.radio.broadcasting

Radio World

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AudioGo Platform Opens in Canada

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 12:25 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/business-and-law/audiogo-platform-opens-in-canada

An AudioGo campaign report

SiriusXM has added Canada to the markets served by its AudioGo ad buying platform.

AudioGo is a “self-serve” platform “enabling marketers to run audio campaigns on the top streaming music, radio and podcast publishers all in
one place.” It provides access for ad campaigns to TuneIn, Audiomack,
Corus, Stingray Music and idobi.

“In terms of reach, there are 38 million people in Canada, with nearly three-quarters (28 million) of those aged 18 and up streaming music, radio
and podcasts every month,” according to an email from a company representative.

“Only four years ago, that figure was 57 percent, and just last year,
digital audio surpassed AM/FM radio as the countrys top listening format
for the first time. Meaning the time is prime to reach audiences via audio.”

AudioGo was launched by AdsWizz in 2020. SiriusXM acquired AdsWizz in 2018.

The post AudioGo Platform Opens in Canada appeared first on Radio World.


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Media Monitors Promotes Cammarata, Fulbright

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 08:42 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/people-news/media-monitors-promotes-cammarata-fulbright


From our People News page: Media Monitors promoted two executives and hired
a director of product management.

Frank Cammarata, who has been with the company since it began in 2003 and
with its parent RCS before that, was promoted to senior vice president of
sales and marketing.

John Fulbright, who joined in 2008, becomes vice president of development, responsible for software oversight and implementation. He had been director
of development.

And Media Monitors has hired John Miller as director of product management. Most recently he was head of product for Australia-based Linius
Technologies. He has also worked for PebblePost, Collective Inc., Sizmek
and ChannelAdvisor Corp.

The announcements were made by President/CEO Philippe Generali. Media
Monitors provides data about broadcast TV, cable, radio, print and digital
to clients in the media and advertising industries.

Send people news items, particularly for technical and executive management positions, to radioworld@futurenet.com.


The post Media Monitors Promotes Cammarata, Fulbright appeared first on
Radio World.


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BFA Announces "Radio Giving Day"

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 08:06 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/bfa-announces-radio-giving-day


In an effort to raise awareness of its good work, the Broadcasters
Foundation of America has named next Wednesday, June 29, as the first
annual Radio Giving Day.

Foundation Co-President Tim McCarthy says the foundation hopes to “make
sure everyone working in radio stations across America is aware of what we
do. It’s a tragedy to think that one of our colleagues in need might
qualify for aid but doesn’t know about us.”

The organization supports broadcast professionals in need of financial assistance due to a critical illness, accident or disaster.

It hopes radio groups and stations will hold employee donation drives in support of Radio Giving Day. Companies that have expressed support include Alpha Media Group, Audacy, Beasley Media Group, Connoisseur Media,
Educational Media Foundation, Good Karma Brands, iHeart Media, Independent Broadcasters Association, Premiere Networks, Salem Media Group, Skyview Satellite Network, Spanish Broadcasting System, and Townsquare Media.

Last year, the foundation gave $2 million in monthly and one-time emergency grants. It reports that requests for help continue to rise.

Make a donation.

The post BFA Announces Radio Giving Day appeared first on Radio World.


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Use of Voice Commands Is on the Rise

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 07:47 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/programming-and-sales/use-of-voice-commands-is-on-the-rise


Voice tech is everywhere. Its use is increasing. And advertising messages
on smart speakers work.

Those are findings from Edison Research and NPR in their latest Smart Audio Report about voice technology in the United States. They surveyed about
2,300 people in February to April.

They estimate that 62% of Americans age 18+ use a voice assistant on any device: smart speakers, smartphones, TV remotes, in-car systems, a computer/laptop or tablets. And 57% of voice command users use those
commands daily.

The top reasons for getting a smart speaker haven’t changed since five
years ago: to listen to music; to ask questions without needing to type;
and because it seems like a fun new gadget.

Reasons that have increased include technology upgrades (replacing an old
radio or controlling smart home devices), access to media (entertaining
kids, discovering new songs, listening to podcasts) and accessibility
(helping an older person or someone with disability).

The slide below shows how respondents said they listen to audio most often.




The post Use of Voice Commands Is on the Rise appeared first on Radio World.


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Hawaii Public Radios Signals on Kauai Are Down

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 06:21 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/hawaii-public-radios-signals-on-kauai-are-down

A photo of HPRs transmitter site atop Mt. Kahili on Kauai, from the HPR website. “Inclement weather is just one of the many challenges with
servicing this location,” the caption notes.

Listeners on the beautiful island of Kauai have not been able to pick up
Hawaii Public Radio for some time, but the organization hopes to have
service back on the air in July.

According to a post by HPR President/General Manager José A. Fajardo, the signals of KIPL on 89.9 and an HPR translator on 101.7 MHz are down.

“Kauai’s main transmitter, located on Mt. Kahili, is accessible only by helicopter and only when weather conditions make it safe to fly to the
site,” Fajardo wrote.

“Unfortunately, when our engineer reached the site, he found damage to the transmitter that necessitated it being removed and brought back to Oahu for repairs. Backlogs in the broadcast equipment and parts supply chain further delayed the repair work, which is now scheduled to be completed by the end
of this month.”

Don Mussell is HPR’s engineer. Fajardo said Mussell also discovered that safety-related repairs needed to be made, including reinforcing the
foundation under the transmitter tower.

“This work is being handled by our landlord, who has scheduled a helicopter and work crew to perform the repairs at the end of this month. … The
station is waiting for confirmation from our landlord of the completed site repairs and then we will schedule our contract engineer to fly to the site
and reinstall the transmitter.”

Fajardo provided listeners with alternate ways to find HPR-1 and HPR-2, including streaming, smart speaker, mobile app and cable TV channels.

The station has special temporary authority for going silent due to the transmitter failure.



The post Hawaii Public Radios Signals on Kauai Are Down appeared first on
Radio World.


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Best of Show: Wheatstone Layers

Posted: 22 Jun 2022 02:00 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/resource-center/awards/best-of-show-awards-nab/best-of-show-wheatstone-layers


We are featuring the products that won the Radio World Best of Show Award
at the recent NAB Show. Winners were chosen by a panel of radio engineers
and RW editorial staff for their innovation, feature set, cost efficiency
and performance in serving the industry. 

“Full virtualization from mic to transmitter is now possible for
broadcasters not yet ready to entrust their broadcast chain to a public
cloud provider,” Wheatstone says.

Its Layers product line introduces an entirely virtual broadcast operation, from “glass” consoles to backend mixing, audio processing and streaming into the transmitter or CDN provider. 

The Layers Server Software Suite runs on enterprise IP servers and replaces specialized hardware. One server can host multiple mix, FM processing or
stream instances for several studios and locations connected by WheatNet-IP audio networking.


New Layers Glass Software for the laptop, tablet or other glass surface includes full-function radio and TV virtual consoles with familiar buttons, knobs and multi-touch navigation and menuing. Layers Glass user interfaces
are also available for controlling, provisioning and setting audio
processing and streaming parameters.
(Phot credit: Jim Peck)

[Check Out Other Recipients of Radio World’s Best of Show Award]

The post Best of Show: Wheatstone Layers appeared first on Radio World.


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Bouvard: Listeners Are Engaged With Betting Brands

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 12:42 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/programming-and-sales/bouvard-listeners-are-engaged-with-betting-brands


Cumulus Media and its Westwood One Audio Active Group hope radio can
attract more online sports betting ads, and they have released research
data in support of that.

The organization commissioned MARU/Matchbox to conduct a national awareness study of online sports betting brands.

The survey asked consumers to name all the online sports betting brands
they could think of. “Don’t know” remains the top answer among consumers in
legalized states.

In a blog post about the study, the company’s Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard said the ideal target for online sports betting are adults 35 to 54
who are married, have kids and work full time. Also, women are becoming
more interested in online sports betting.

He said the survey found that compared to TV viewers, AM/FM radio listeners have “far more experience” with online sports betting, greater interest, greater awareness of, and greater engagement with online sports betting
brands, despite the fact that most advertising for online sports betting
runs on TV:


Bouvard said an audio sports betting advertising plan should contain a wide array of AM/FM radio programming formats and podcast genres.

Read the blog post.

The post Bouvard: Listeners Are Engaged With Betting Brands appeared first
on Radio World.


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Rising Energy Costs Could Spur Digital Migration

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 12:17 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/global/rising-energy-costs-could-spur-digital-migration


As energy costs rise, Deutschlandradio Director Sefan Raue sees a further reason to hasten an FM switch-off for Germany.

“We will not be able to afford two terrestrial distribution channels in the long run. The signs are clearer than two or three years ago, Raue told
German press agency dpa, according to Hadelsblatt. FM is an energy guzzler.

A public broadcaster, Deutschlandradio is based in Cologne and Berlin and operates several national channels on DAB+ and FM. The channel been
steadily replacing its remaining FM transmitters with DAB+; six of its short-range analog transmitters are going dark at the end of June 2022. The broadcaster expects to have at total of 161 locations broadcasting its DAB+ channels nationwide by year-end, reaching some 90% of the German populace.

[Related: “Digital Radio Tackles Green Challenge”]

The lower energy requirements for digital broadcasting have been of
increasing interest to broadcasters in recent years. In 2020, the BBC
Research & Development Office released a paper demonstrating significant reductions in energy demands for DAB and DAB+IP radio broadcasting compared
to continued analog broadcasting, DTV-based radio or IP radio alone. In
2021, Bavarian public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk and regulator BLM released a similar analysis.

According to the latest biennial report from the KEF commission, which
assesses the financial needs of national and state-level public
broadcasters in Germany, the regional public broadcasters group ARD is
looking to migrate off FM by year-end 2024, with Bavarian public radio
looking to finalize its transition to all-digital even more quickly.

Despite the projected energy savings, private broadcasters remain wary of abandoning analog FM broadcasting.

Speaking in March at the DAB+ im Dialog panel, private broadcasters
association VAUNET CEO Marco Maier urged Germany to remain technology
neutral, noting that the high cost of migrating from FM to DAB+ were too
great to be financed solely through advertising. Maier also noted that
coverage gaps remain in the digital networks and until they are filled
analog FM should remain part of the German airwaves.

The post Rising Energy Costs Could Spur Digital Migration appeared first on Radio World.


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Comment Deadlines Set in FM6 NPRM

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 12:10 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/comment-deadlines-set-in-fm6-nprm


If you want to tell the FCC what you think about Franken FMs, the comment deadlines have now been posted.

As we reported earlier, the commission has released a Fifth Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment about the operation of analog radio services by digital low-power television stations as ancillary or
supplementary services.

Comments are due by July 18, and replies by Aug. 1.

The commission is asking whether it should allow existing FM6 stations to continue, whether to expand permissions to other TV stations and, more
broadly, if there are better or more efficient ways to use that spectrum.
NPR, for instance, has suggested that the FCC license additional NCE FM
radio stations on 82–88 MHz in areas where Channel 6 LPTVs and full-power stations are not operating.

Submit comments using the FCC online comment system. In the Proceeding
field type 03-185.

[Read a summary of the issue with a link to the NPRM text: FCC Opens FM6
NPRM, Seeking Final Resolution']



The post Comment Deadlines Set in FM6 NPRM appeared first on Radio World.


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Best of Show: Thimeo StereoTool STXtreme

Posted: 21 Jun 2022 12:00 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/resource-center/awards/best-of-show-awards-nab/best-of-show-thimeo-stereotool-stxtreme


We are featuring the products that won the Radio World Best of Show Award
at the recent NAB Show. Winners were chosen by a panel of radio engineers
and RW editorial staff for their innovation, feature set, cost efficiency
and performance in serving the industry. 

Here’s an advanced audio processor for FM, AM, HD and/or streaming that incorporates features of Thimeo’s StereoTool software offering. A sampler
of its features:

Delossifier repairs and removes audible MPEG artifacts and restores missing high-frequency audio spectrum. 

Declipper repairs and restores clipped audio, and the FM section optimizes
the signal for maximum loudness, dynamics and clarity, helping improve reception in fringe and multipath areas. 

Advanced Composite Clipper by Hans Van Zutphen optimizes the signal for
maximum loudness, dynamics and clarity. 

AutoEQ pre-equalizes the incoming audio before the AGC stage, which creates
a consistent sound.

Natural Dynamics enhances percussion elements to create a more audibly appealing sound.

Customizable Processing Bands allow the user to choose the number of bands
(up to nine) and their frequencies.


Integrated MicroMPX Encoder lets the user send composite audio via IP at bitrates as low as 176 kbps to multiple remote decoders.

RDS Encoder is remote-controllable and capable of the standard PS & RT, as
well as RadioText+.  

Touch-friendly HTML5 user interface allows access to every element of the processing suite and can be used from a PC, tablet or smartphone.

Shown from left are Hans Van Zutphen and Josh Bohn with Paul.
(Photo credit: Jim Peck)

[Check Out Other Recipients of Radio World’s Best of Show Award]

The post Best of Show: Thimeo StereoTool STXtreme appeared first on Radio World.

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