RADIO
Delivery Solutions for FM AT IBC2016 IN AMSTERDAM, GatesAir, will unveil its latest FM range of transmitters and intelligent networking solutions. The GatesAir Flexiva LX solid-state FM radio transmitter is claimed to set the latest standard for green, energy-efficient RF operations. The GatesAir Flexiva LX integrates GatesAir’s latest-generation software-defined exciter and several components previous available only as separate units, including a digital multiband audio processor and a stereo encoder with composite clipper. This design ensures a single streamlined analogue FM platform that is easy to maintain both separately or within larger transmission headends. The Flexiva LX is available for power levels ranging from 10 to 1050 Watts (1kW), making it suited for gap filler applications in national FM radio networks. The Flexiva LX will be demonstrated alongside higher power Flexiva FLX liquidcooled and FAX air-cooled transmitters. These high-efficiency transmitters leverage GatesAir’s PowerSmart 3D transmission architecture for best-in-class power efficiency and single-engineer maintenance. With their modular design, Flexiva
FLX and FAX transmitters utilise the latest 50-volt LDMOS amplifier devices, compact high-efficiency power supplies, variable speed cooling and the Flexiva FAX exciter with real-time adaptive correction (RTAC) to optimise signal quality and compliance. GatesAir will also demonstrate the Intraplex IP Link MPX, the newest member of the GatesAir IP Link audio codec family. The Intraplex IP Link MPX is a full-duplex product built specifically for the FM studio-to-transmitter link, and designed to solve universal bandwidth challenges of transporting digital FM composite signals over IP networks. The Intraplex IP Link MPX offers an extensive feature set, including multiple input and output ports for signal redundancy, decoding of audio and RDS content from either the input or output MPX signal, and the option to incorporate external SCA subcarrier signals into the output MPX signal. It also offers features common to all IP Link codecs, including stream splicing, forward error correction (FEC), and a trio of network interfaces for optimal stream reliability. Visit www.gatesair.com
AM Audio Processor THE TELOS ALLIANCE, parent company to Telos, Omnia, Axia, 25-Seven, Linear Acoustic, and Minnetonka, has announced that it is now shipping the Omnia.7AM audio processor, the new, AM sibling to the company’s Omnia.7FM processor. The Omnia.7AM employs some of the same features of the Omnia.7FM. All aspects of the processing infrastructure, bandwidth, and their output signals, however, have been especially engineered for maximum efficiency and performance within the AM spectrum. Omnia's Psychoacoustic Controlled Distortion Masking Clipper analyses and masks distortion perceptible to the human ear. Dry Voice Detector applies processing for clearer voices on talk content, suitable for AM talk radio. Additionally, proprietary Undo technology removes distortion and re-creates the peaks sliced from compressed digital music and content, restoring life, brilliance, and dynamic range.
Finalists Announced for 2016 Oz Radio Awards THE FINALISTS IN THE 28TH annual Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs) have been announced with hotly contested categories such as Best On Air Team FM, Best Entertainment/Music Presenter, Best Talk Presenter, Best Sports Presenter, and Best Marketing Campaign. Entries were received from 260 metropolitan and regional radio stations across Australia. Stations outside the metropolitan areas are well represented at the ACRAs with more than 200 finalists from country and provincial stations. However, as readers of C+T well know, the real competition is in the category of Engineering Excellence, and this year the competition is as follows: • Mt Stuart Redevelopment; Matt Paton, 4TO & Hot FM, Townsville QLD, Southern Cross Austereo; • Embedded devices in a broadcasting environment; Daniel Jackson & Ryland Sandison, Southern Cross Austereo;
NETIA Media Assist
RADIO
The 7AM is easy to adjust from anywhere in the world thanks to full remote control and metering tools accessible from networked Windows-based PCs and tablets. Visit www.telosalliance.com • Mt Buller – Streaming; Rorie Ryan, Fox FM, Melbourne VIC, Southern Cross Austereo; and • Fitzy & Wippa - I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here; John Pearce, Nova 96.9, Sydney NSW, NOVA Entertainment. Chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia, Joan Warner said, “Congratulations to all the finalists on the recognition of their work. Live radio is one of the most demanding mediums to work in and takes high level commitment to creating programs that are compelling, revealing and entertaining, day in, day out. The Radio Awards are a night for everyone to come together to celebrate the best in the industry.” This year the gala black-tie event will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday, 8 October and will start at 6.00 pm (red carpet 5.00 pm). The ACRAs differ from television’s Logie Awards in that they are peer judged by industry members. The ACRAs follow the National Radio Conference, which will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday 7 October. Visit www.commercialradio.com.au
In a news environment, the NETIA Media Assist software suite acts as a multimedia hub for content in any format, including audio, video, text, or images. The cloud-ready system enables radio stations to deploy their back-office applications in a dedicated SAN or host them securely outside the station’s premises. By offering safe and managed access to outside entities, the station can foster cooperation and exchange with its affiliates and partner organisations.
giving radio staff a single interface for managing and optimising multisite workflows. Staff can now monitor priority levels on all launched processes to help minimise their impact on bandwidth, while facilitating content delivery within the group and increasing time-to-air ratios. The API within Media Assist enables interoperability and integration of multiple businessand public-facing systems. In addition, broadcasters can set up several instances of the NETIA Workflow Engine to handle parallel tasks such as transcoding in order to process even more content during peak news periods. NETIA’s special focus on virtualisation means that demanding computational tasks, together with server components, can run in a virtualised infrastructure with minimal configuration stored on clients and minimum effect on users.
At IBC2016, NETIA will showcase a new monitoring tool for Media Assist,
Visit www.netia.com
AT IBC2016, NETIA will showcase the full NETIA Media Assist digital software suite, which includes radio automation (production, newsroom, scheduling, and playout modules), media asset management, and workflow management solutions.
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The 7AM also allows broadcasters to refine their 'signature sound' with sonic tools like real-time analysers, built-in oscilloscopes, and FFTs. Three-stage wideband AGC with adjustable sidechain equalisation, program-dependent two-to-five multiband AGCs and limiters, dual independent power supplies, and relay bypass for backup processor all combine to create a powerhouse AM processor.