Radio World 1269 - May 22nd, 2024

Welcome to the May 22nd, 2024 issue of Radio World

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How the Army handled D-Day communications

Eighty years ago, on June 6, 1944, some 160,000 Allied troops assaulted heavily-fortified French beaches to fight Nazi Germany.

Don’t do this Michael Baldauf on how not to plan a transmitter site project.

Diversity in audio

European broadcasters explore the changing audio landscape.

Wireless advance Prakash Moorut of Shure on what the WMAS ruling means for radio.

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Managing Director, Content & Editor in Chief Paul J. McLane, paul.mclane@futurenet.com, 845-414-6105

Assistant Editor & SmartBrief Editor Elle Kehres, elle.kehres@futurenet.com

Technical Advisors W.C. “Cris” Alexander, Thomas R. McGinley, Doug Irwin

Contributors: David Bialik, John Bisset, Edwin Bukont, James Careless, Ken Deutsch, Mark Durenberger, Charles Fitch, Donna Halper, Alan Jurison, Paul Kaminski, John Kean, Nick Langan, Larry Langford, Mark Lapidus, Michael LeClair, Frank McCoy, Jim Peck, Mark Persons, Stephen M. Poole, James O’Neal, T. Carter Ross, John Schneider, Gregg Skall, Dan Slentz, Dennis Sloatman, Randy Stine, Tom Vernon, Jennifer Waits, Steve Walker, Chris Wygal

Production Manager Nicole Schilling

Senior Design Director Lisa McIntosh

Senior Art Editor Will Shum

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For NABA, a visible presence

I checked in with Rebecca Hanson after her first year as director general

Paul McLane Editor in Chief

Rebecca Hanson, director general of the North American Broadcasters Association, spoke at the spring NAB Show about cybersecurity, new media channels and the role of the International Telecommunication Union, of which NABA is a member.

Why is the ITU important?

Rebecca Hanson: First, the ITU coordinates the uses of various bands of spectrum for all radio communications around the world, so that none of these services cause harmful interference to the others. This helps enable interoperability and international roaming, so that people can use the same devices in different countries without causing interference. Broadcasters need to be part of this conversation to ensure their services do not suffer interference, or worse that more broadcast spectrum isn’t repurposed for other services, whether that be from the UHF, C-Band, wireless mics or satellite.

Second, the ITU coordinates advancements in radio and telecom technology worldwide. Broadcasting no longer has its own standalone technology roadmap but is converging with other media and IP-based technologies. The ITU coordinates technology development with the goal of ensuring seamless operation of hardware and software regionally and internationally, and if broadcasters aren’t at the table, their technology preferences may be eclipsed by others that have global momentum.

Finally, the ITU evaluates and prioritizes spectrum management techniques. Broadcasters have an interest in supporting spectrum efficiencies because those efficiencies can nullify demands on the UHF spectrum from other claimants.

What type of ITU proceedings has NABA been involved in? Hanson: NABA has official status as a “non-governmental organization” or NGO at the ITU, which means we and our members have a seat at the table. We submit and comment on technology and spectrum recommendations at the ITU Radiocommunication Sector, or ITU-R, including high dynamic range (HDR) monitoring work that we presented at the NAB Show, and the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector, or ITU-T.

We have worked on digital radio issues, including IBOC technology, as well as monitoring activation of FM radio receivers in smartphones. More recently we are following ITU developments in the area of wireless power transfer, to protect radio against harmful interference from wireless charging stations. There are interests pushing for standards on wireless power transfer at the ITU, and our job is to ensure that this does not evolve at the expense of radio services.

On the cover American troops splash ashore to the Normandy coast of France in June 1944 in a U.S. Army Signal Corps photo. See story, page 5. (Bettmann Archive/ Getty Images)

One important area of focus is radio’s role in the emergency alerting systems of both the U.S. and Canada. U.S. regulators are considering questions like whether EAS can be virtualized and proposing regulations on multilingual services, all of which is of interest to NABA’s radio members.

What’s your assessment of radio’s progress on metadata?

Hanson: As I understand it, while many radio broadcasters do a great job with metadata individually, radio as a whole, looking at an entire local market’s adoption of metadata, is lacking. NABA has been a strong proponent, and have made the case for the benefits of metadata, but adoption has been slow across entire markets.

How do you assess the rollout of hybrid radio platforms so far in North America?

Hanson: There are around 6 million vehicles in the world with DTS AutoStage, Xperi’s hybrid radio product, and about 65% of them are in North America. This is an exciting development and I expect the implementation of hybrid radio by automakers to continue to grow, which of course makes it even more important that broadcasters have good metadata offerings. And now a European company, Radioplayer, is offering an alternative service in North

America; they are already well-established in Canada. So I hope as more options come to market, hybrid radio will continue to grow.

What do you consider your main accomplishment so far, and what’s the biggest priority?

Hanson: Our members set NABA priorities, and one of those is cybersecurity for broadcasters. I was very impressed with the variety of checklists and best practices that NABA has produced in the past couple of years. Now we are helping broadcasters implement those best practices through programs like our Cyber University, the NABA Cyber Alert Network and our budding Supply Chain Council, which focuses on the critical role that vendors play in securing broadcast facilities from cyber threats.

In terms of priorities for 2024, we go deeper on media sustainability, which our members care about. We will also support Project Origin in its efforts to get the broadcast supply chain(s) to incorporate their C2PA technology into their product development cycles — C2PA is the name of a coding standard that verifies the origin of a piece of content, to ensure that it hasn’t been tampered with during the production process. And, like everyone else, we are helping radio and television stations navigate the new world of AI.

Rebecca Hanson

Photo: Jim Peck

Writer Mark Durenberger

How the Army handled D-Day communications

June 6 marks 80 years since that historic massive

The Allied invasion of continental Europe 80 years ago was a logistical tour de force. Its success hinged on an operative communications network unifying the invading armies and their support systems.

The U.S. Army Signal Corps, or “SigC,” was tasked with establishing massive, reliable, multi-channel high-speed voice and “data” networks. These networks would support a mission buildup of more than a million troops in a hostile environment.

Above

That meant two-way voice circuits to keep decisionmakers in touch and high-speed channels to exchange reconnaissance photos and situation maps evaluating the impact of aerial and ship-launched ordnance.

SigC’s design baselines were high capacity and agility, with low latency. Communications with the beach had to be established speedily using whatever gear made it to shore in the contested landings. The system had to be mobile: radio supplemented by ad-hoc wire telephony. Contact within operating units had to survive when troops mistakenly landed in one another’s sectors.

invasion

Frequency coordination

SigC had estimated it would need some 90,000 transmitters for the job. This mandated frequency coordination. The radios were largely short-range “hand-helds” but also included short- and medium-distance radio links to naval and air elements and Allied headquarters.

Signal-gear manufacturers were asked to provide rollout proposals for the project and it quickly became apparent that the total number of required radio channels was far larger than the spectrum available (2.5 to 8 mc). SigC’s last-minute solution was to narrow the guard bands between channels to as little as 4 kc. Fortunately, tactical radios had been designed for crystal-controlled FM operation so this predicted project snafu was resolved by last-minute crystal-regrinding on a massive scale.

In the end, it all worked. In the first three weeks of the invasion, among all those transmitters, only 80-some interference complaints were registered.

A significant amount of radio gear was lost in the initial landings but SigC’s planning had suitably provided for

The author is a veteran of radio and satellite broadcasting and longtime RW contributor.

A diagram shows the military’s communications channels as established shortly after the beach invasion. This image appeared in Radio-Craft magazine in 1945.

Roots of Radio

Above

All reporters’ copy had to be screened prior to forwarding.

(Source: U.S. Army Center of Military History)

Right

Network reporters are shown in a photo from the book “The Fourth Chime: National Broadcasting Company.”

battle attrition. Contact with the beach was generally successful, with the exception of some high-power voicechannel transmitters delayed through circumstance.

Trivia: Less susceptible to battle damage were some 500 pigeons, landed for the purpose of carrying ammunitionstatus reports, undeveloped film and emergency messages. At end of the day, electronic communications were so effective the pigeons could go home to roost.

The “backhaul”

No less important than unit tactical communications was the need for reliable high-capacity communications with headquarters in Britain.

Comment

Comment on this or any story to radioworld@ futurenet com. Reach the author at mark4@ durenberger. com

Initial contact relied on shore-based transmitters reaching off-shore relay ships for retransmission to England. Shortly after operations began, a SigC team successfully established multi-channel “carrier” systems (Army/Navy Transportable Communications, or ANTRAC) directly from France to England. And by the end of June, surviving an initial series of setbacks, cable ships were able to lay wire communications across the channel

Media matters

The relatively “thin-route” requirements for the media were not lost in the planning. Fortunately, key military leaders remained aware of the need to keep the world informed. Media support had failed somewhat sadly in the North African Invasion of 1942 and it was clear that SigC had to do a better job.

David Sarnoff of RCA was appointed by General Dwight Eisenhower to coordinate media communications planning. Sarnoff’s efforts resulted in the establishment of a media route through the “London Signal Center,”

itself the hub of SigC communications. And Sarnoff was able to leverage his high-level relationships to induce the British to establish additional shortwave paths to America. In the months preceding the invasion, American journalists had been facing implied and actual opposition from the British, who didn’t understand Americans’ incessant demands for information. As an early demonstration of how the show would be run, SigC established “FAX,” its own full-duplex shortwave channel direct to the United States. FAX would become the official channel for communiques from SHAEF, the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force. FAX would also cue the radio networks tied to it in a “partyline” arrangement.

In turn, the media had to accept certain ground rules. Given that very few journalists were authorized a seat in the initial show, radio reporting would be pooled, coordinated by Edward R. Murrow. Print copy had to be shared among all competitors and recording of radio news reporting was for the first time allowed by the American networks.

America waits for the news

In anticipation of the invasion and in the spirit of pool coverage, the radio networks came together in temporary harmony to prepare for “the biggest

news story of the decade.” Rival news directors met to coordinate coverage and to help one another with planning difficulties.

The ultimate vigil began early on the morning of June 6 when German Radio announced “an invasion of France.” The network newsrooms turned up the volume on the FAX circuit and waited for confirmation. The first official communique came through about 2:30 a.m. From then on, it was a matter of watching the teletype and waiting for pool reports.

Observing the invasion, some journalists aboard ships or aircraft would make their recordings or write their copy en route; they’d disembark back in England and make a beeline for Britain’s Ministry of Information for review and censorship clearance. (Recordings were made on some form of “sound film,” since ship and aircraft motion made traditional disc-recording impossible.)

From the battleground itself, radio reporters spoke into “transcription machines” of varying complexity. These recordings were then shipped to London on naval transport (and often subjected to unforeseen delay). Some reports made it to London via air on the “SHAEF Shuttle.” Once cleared by the censors, the recordings and any live reporting from studios in England were forwarded to shortwave transmitters.

The written media would soon find a pipeline to America direct from the beaches. Two selected commercial companies, Press Wireless and Mackay Radio, were to establish circuits from the continent

Above A wireless relay ship shown in a U.S. Navy archival photo. On board, signals from short-range beach transmitters were patched to longrange transmitters to reach Britain.

to the United States. Press Wireless was to become operational on D+60 and Mackay Radio on D+90, but under serious pressure from the press and through a “test arrangement” with SigC, the Press Wireless transmitter came up early. Its “direct-to-America” capability at first created a censorship ruckus but eventually, under press pressure, the military cleared the way for the hundreds of thousands of words destined for American newspapers. The radio recordings contributed to the legacy of wartime journalism.

D-Day coverage was known by journalists as “The Biggest Beat,” and history records its success. But the valor and sacrifice of the soldiers landing on those beaches would be the biggest story and would far outstrip the work of the deskbound planners.

“ SigC had estimated it would need some 90,000 transmitters for the job. This mandated frequency coordination.

John Bisset

CPBE

The author is in his 33rd year of writing Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance and is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award. Send your tips Workbench submissions are encouraged and qualify for SBE recertification credit.

johnpbisset@ gmail.com.

A combination driver bit makes installations easier

Also, a handy document for fans of the Western Electric 111-C

In March we shared a suggestion from Wayne Eckert about applying the right amount of torque when tightening screws on terminal blocks. Rolf Taylor followed up with more thoughts.

In a perfect world, you would use a torque-limiting screwdriver to achieve the manufacturer’s recommended torque. Of course, Wayne is correct that the driver needs to have the right fit to the screw. So just what is the right tip?

Many screws now found on electrical outlets have combination heads that will support both Phillips and flat drivers. Which is better? It turns out the answer is “both.”

Someone clever had the idea of a bit designed just for these screws. It looks like a Phillips bit but one of its crosses is flat like a flat head. Rolf said these work well and that it is easy to deform a copper conductor slightly, which is desirable.

Companies like Klein and Grainger make them; search for “combination tip” or “combo tip.”

Jim’s missing link

In Warren, Conn., Jim Schultz (KB1ABC) saw the tip from Bill Moede about keeping a “Go Bag” in his truck, containing a change of clothes, sleeping bag, snack bars, a first aid kit, emergency cash and bottled water.

Jim says we omitted one very important item. After years of visiting rural transmitter sites that lack toilet facilities, he can testify that a roll of toilet paper can really come in handy. TP is one thing that shouldn’t be left out of a “Go Bag”!

Grady’s color code reminder

This bit combines Phillips and straight-blade.

You’ll also remember our chat last time about how to remember the resistor color code. But rather than a

mnemonic about what “bad boys” might do to “our young girls,” Loud & Clean principal Grady Moates teaches his mentees “Better Be Right, Or Your Great Big Venture Goes Wrong.”

Planning a workshop, Sagi style

Paul Sagi has enjoyed a variety of career experiences all over the world. He writes from Malaysia: “Whenever I’ve set up a workshop, I paint the workbench tops and floor a light gray color, because parts of any color contrast well with a light gray background. That helps find those errant parts. For tough finds, such as 1/16-inch bearing balls,

Right

darken the room lighting and shine a bright flashlight obliquely across the workbench or floor, the part will be brightly illuminated, as will any solder drops, or wire clippings.”

To deal with those little clippings, Paul keeps a small broom and dustpan handy.

He also has suggestions for our list of important things to keep in our tool bags. Paul would include cable testers; adapters such as 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch audio; and a hub and laptop with Nmap and Wireshark installed.

He would add soldering equipment, small probes and dental-style inspection mirrors, as well as a signal generator and oscilloscope — Paul recommends the little boxes that connect to a laptop to keep the test equipment count low.

He would also bring an isolation transformer that contains an electrostatic shield, for working on “live” line-powered equipment.

You probably no longer need a logic probe and logic pulser for testing TTL (transistor to transistor logic), as you might have years ago. But a magnifying headband can be helpful, because parts are getting smaller and eyes are not getting any younger.

Above The drivers described on page 10 come in a variety of sizes.

Below left The combo driver is used on an electrical outlet.

Below right

A sample photo from the Bell System document described in the text.

For 111-C fans

About a year ago, we had a great workbench discussion about regrinding Western Electric 111-C audio transformers, which at one time were common on equalized radio loops. Today some of these transformers command hundreds of dollars on eBay.

One of the primary contributors to that conversation was retired engineer Sheldon Aitch. Sheldon recently came across a scanned copy of the 1958 Bell Labs Transmission Transformers Application Note. It is available on David Gleason’s wonderful website worldradiohistory.com

This 57-page document includes data and index tables as well as pictures of the various transformers. To find it go to www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs. Near the bottom of the page click on Western Electric, then scroll to find “WE-Transformers_1958.pdf.”

Writer Paul McLane Editor in Chief

A look back at the spring show

Disparate views of AI show up in surveys

The previous issue of Radio World featured photo highlights from the NAB Show. Here are details of a few of the stories that emerged at the convention; next issue we’ll feature recipients of the “Best of Show” Award.

Futuri Says Audiences Are Ready for AI

Futuri released the results of two studies into the preferences of audiences toward the use of AI technology in broadcasting and content creation.

“Audiences expect that media will use AI,” the company reported in a summary. “In fact, many already believe broadcasters are using AI or that they’ve experienced AI on the air.”

The study was described during the NAB Show opening session by humanoid robot Ameca, shown,

who appeared with Futuri’s Daniel Anstandig. Futuri said the research indicates that audiences believe AI will help media to choose better news stories and better music, as well as improving the accuracy of weather forecasts and the quality of commercials.

“They want full disclosure,” it continued. “Both news and audio consumers will happily engage with AI, but you should be open about how AI is being used to create your content. This can be done creatively … and doesn’t need to be overly formal, but it needs to be openly disclosed to build trust with audiences.”

Futuri said audio consumers are ready for AIgenerated voice content on the air and comfortable with AI filling in during unmanned dayparts.

The studies were conducted in partnership with CMG Custom Research. One survey conducted in December included about 2,600 audio consumers; the

Jacobs:

Approach AI With caution

By contrast, the latest Techsurvey by Jacobs Media found that core radio listeners are both highly skeptical and fearful of AI, and that they are especially against the idea of bots replacing human hosts.

“The data on AI is a warning from the audience,” Fred Jacobs said in a blog post about the survey. “I expect their feelings may soften over time, but right now, it’s not an easy sell.”

The survey gathers opinions from listeners to 500 participating stations, yielding more than 31,000 surveys.

Only one in 10 respondents said they use AI on a weekly basis, whether it be for work, school or personal uses. Gen Zs and Millennials lead the pack, with roughly 15% reporting using artificial intelligence each week.

Using AI Technology in Place of Live DJs/Hosts Is a Major Concern For Most Core Radio Listeners

“One of the applications of AI technology is its ability to clone voices – that is, to make artificial voices sound human and/or to copy a familiar personality’s voice. Some stations are thinking about how

might use AI

the future. If a station you listen to used

However, the findings indicate a growing unease across all demographics about how fast the technology is advancing. On average, a whopping 71% of respondents said the rate at which AI is progressing is “very” or “somewhat” alarming.

Further, 51% of Techsurvey respondents said they are “very concerned” about AI’s potential to influence the upcoming elections. An additional 32% said they are “somewhat concerned.”

Another concern for core radio listeners is whether AI technology will be used in place of their favorite DJs and hosts. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they would have “major concerns” if a station they listened to used AI voice technology to replace live talent. However, only 39% expressed issue with AI being used to read commercials; and only 30% would take issue with AI being used to read station IDs.

Photo: Paul McLane

A Dip in Attendance

The NAB Show drew around 61,000 people, according to the association’s projections, down by about 5% from approximately 64,600 last year.

Attendance in 2019, before the pandemic, was around 91,500. In 2022, the first year back after the COVID interruption, it was approximately 53,500.

The association emphasized its success at bringing in new attendees. It said a “staggering” 54 percent were first-timers (which it defined as people “not having attended since 2017 if ever”).

It saw an uptick in the percentage of international attendees, to around 27 percent from outside the United States.

There were about 1,300 exhibitors including around 200 first-timers.

The show dates next year are April 5–9. The Central Hall will be under renovation next year.

Three Companies Form Triple Helix

Three familiar names in the radio broadcast supply industry have merged. MaxxKonnect, Angry Audio and Logitek combined to form Triple Helix Technologies.

The three become wholly owned subsidiaries under the new firm, with its in Pelham, Ala.

APRE Honors Beach

The Association of Public Radio Engineers honored Michael Beach, outgoing vice president of distribution at NPR, with its 2024 Engineering Award.

Josh Bohn of MaxxKonnect becomes CEO, Mike Dosch of Angry Audio heads product development and Tag Borland of Logitek heads technology. The three are equal co-owners of the company.

“This trio represents some of your favorite brands,” they said in a joint press release, “including MaxxKonnect Wireless to bring reliable connectivity anywhere, StudioHub to make wiring your facilities a snap, MK Technical Services to help you reach your goals in building or remodeling your studios and transmitter sites, Angry Audio with gadgets and gizmos to solve common studio challenges, and Logitek bringing new affordable audio over IP systems to the table.”

The company is positioning itself as a provider of “cost-effective products and services that punch far above their weight, offering major-market performance for small-market budgets.”

“Mike’s ongoing contributions to all of public radio have been remarkable over 10 years of dramatic change, especially in the creation and distribution of content,” President Scott Hanley said. Beach is shown, center, with Bruce Wahl and Scott Hanley.

At the Public Radio Engineering Conference, APRE also presented its Meritorious Service Award to Jobie Sprinkle of WFAE, Charlotte, N.C., and Paxton Durham, who is retired from WVTF, Roanoke, Va. Both are former APRE board members.

“There are no two people more invaluable to the continued success of the PREC in their service to the Association of Public Radio Engineers,” Hanley said.

Three new directors joined the board of APRE. They are Ralph Hogan, a past president of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers; Badri Munipalla, vice president of distribution at NPR; and Ivy Sheppard, general manager of WEHC(FM), Emory, Va. Departing after two terms are Pierre Lonewolf, Jim Gray and John George.

Photo: Jim Peck

Photo: Brian Janis

EAS at the Edge

Digital Alert Systems, Telos Alliance and Nautel announced an initiative dubbed EAS at the Edge that’s intended to bring the emergency alert process into the interconnected AoIP world.

They said that unlike legacy EAS implementations, their approach leverages IP-based content distribution and control to route alerts precisely to their required destinations.

The manufacturers said in a press release that traditional deployments depend upon cascading layers of hardware and multiple boxes, often one per transmitter, even when serving combined transmission sites.

“EAS at the Edge replaces standalone hardware centricity with an intelligent, one-to-many approach that places critical hardware at the edges of the air

chain,” the release states.

“Utilizing IP-based content distribution to control and insert emergency messages via the Livewire AoIP protocol, EAS data can be geo-targeted for precise alert routing, with a single input node shared for insertion to multiple streams, resulting in significant cost savings.”

They said edge-to-edge systems have been deployed in video environments for years. They said the approach complies with current regulations and can address future FCC rules as they evolve.

Two demonstrations were offered at the NAB Show. Digital Alert Systems showed a DASDEC platform networked to an Omnia audio processor. And Nautel showed a DASDEC linked directly to a GV2 transmitter and virtual air chain, injecting EAS alerts into the transmitter and its internal “Omnia For Nautel” audio processor. The image here shows an implementation in a Nautel transmitter.

Digital Alert Systems wrote about the initiative in a white paper in the Radio World ebook “The Software-Defined Air Chain” at http://radioworld.com/ebooks.

MNC, SuiteLife Merge

MNC Software and SuiteLife Systems, both of which provide broadcast monitoring and control systems, have merged and will do business as Leeward Software.

The new entity debuted at the NAB Show. The companies called their merger “a natural succession to a long-standing partnership,” noting that they have collaborated on numerous projects recently.

The companies are not expecting staff cuts. “It’s business as usual, and we are not planning any workforce reductions,” a spokeswoman told Radio World.

MNC, based in San Diego, was owned and operated by David Allen

The NAB and Society of Broadcast Engineers introduced self-inspection guides for FM and TV stations.

The guides assist broadcasters in conducting a selfinspection and can support contract inspectors who participate in the Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program. Guides for AM, low-power and translator stations are expected soon.

The guides provide up-to-date, standardized guidance to help comply with FCC rules and policies. The commission stopped publishing self-inspection checklists in 2003, but its rules and policies have continued to change.

Robert Weller, vice president for spectrum policy at NAB, said, “The success of this project was possible through close collaboration between our organizations and demonstrates the commitment of broadcasters to proper station operation.”

The guides are available initially as a free benefit for NAB and SBE members, downloadable from the member sections of their websites.

Writer Michael Baldauf

For more articles see www. radioworld. com/author/ michaelbaldauf

How not to build a transmitter site

“Failing to plan” is “planning to fail”

Working with small stations and groups, an engineer may take on certain tasks beyond the expectations faced by someone at a larger company with more resources.

To paraphrase the classic police drama, the story you’re about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect … well, everyone.

In early 2021 I was contacted by the manager of a small group seeking help with a project. It involved an AM transmitter building that is near my home but 600 miles from the company’s headquarters.

The house was later sold off though, and now the transmitter “building” was a small shed in the backyard while its AM tower and FM translator antenna remained below.

The company wanted to install a new transmitter building in the river bottom right next to the tower, near the tuning house and atop a three-foot pedestal to stay clear of occasional floods.

They asked if I would manage this project. Being semiretired, I responded that I would be happy to assist but that I did not want to manage the entire process. The company hired an engineer who lives about 200 miles away but who has more experience in such projects.

Years ago this station’s studio and transmitter had been installed in a house on a bluff, while the antenna was placed along a river bottom directly below.

Underpowered

The AM station is licensed for 3200 watts but was operating with an aged Harris SX series transmitter running at much lower power. Everyone was anxious to get the project done.

The older building.

The river bottom presented access challenges for the concrete mixer trucks, but eventually the base for the building could be poured. Covid issues and other delays caused work to stretch into 2022, but a contractor eventually completed the building and an electrician put in the necessary elements to make sure the installation was up to code for an outbuilding with extra power for HVAC and a new transmitter.

A Nautel transmitter had been ordered and was on the way. The necessary interconnects for the tower were ready to go. We’d be on the air very soon, right? Sadly, not so.

Missing paperwork

“The county requires that before construction on such buildings can begin, a licensed mechanical engineer must submit plans for approval.”

In June 2022, the building was ready for electrical inspection so the local provider could proceed to hook up power service. It was time to contact the regional building authority.

But the engineer managing the project from 200 miles away wasn’t getting responses to his e-mail inquiries to the authority. One of the authority’s employees had been

a student when I taught National Electrical Code at the local community college, so I volunteered to talk with them in person.

When I arrived and explained the situation, they asked for the address of the building. It had no recorded address, which was the first problem, though a minor one. But the second problem was that this was considered a new commercial building. This county requires that before construction on such buildings can begin, a licensed mechanical engineer must submit plans for approval.

Later I learned that the electrician had pulled a permit for modification of existing structures. When the electrical inspector came out and saw that this was new commercial construction, he did not pass it.

The authority also wanted to know who the contractor and electrician were so they could issue them a warning. And they advised me that a local electrical provider

must not hook up power to the building until plans were approved and inspections completed. Only then could we get power and move on.

So much for timelines

A few weeks later, the transmitter was delivered via semi to a parking lot nearby. We laid it in the back of my pickup truck, crept down to the building in the river bottom, and rolled it into the building on some pipes. We uncrated it and set it upright in place.

Such a nice site … the air conditioners all ready to go and all the materials in the building … so close and yet so far.

We had all the pieces in front of us now. But lacking a permit for new commercial construction — which depended on plans from a mechanical engineer — and without an approved electrical inspection — which was still not yet completed — we could not proceed.

Ultimately each of those steps were completed. We made the necessary minor upgrades to the building, and our electrical engineer upgraded the Romex and plastic boxes to armored cable and metal boxes.

Only now could the company submit the necessary paperwork to the regional building authority, which proceeded with the necessary inspections. Approvals were granted with few further considerations, helped by

the fact that the antenna had been in that location since the 1950s.

A final hurdle: Because the antenna was in a floodplain, FEMA personnel had to be involved, but once they realized the building was on a three-foot pedestal, they granted approval.

Lessons learned

At last the new AM transmitter could be turned on. The station and its FM translator were in service from the river bottom. But it had taken an extra 14 months to complete the installation, from the time we learned of the licensing omissions. And the costs had far exceeded what the licensee had anticipated.

What lessons can be learned? Whether you are the licensee or an engineer working on a project:

• Visit the local authorities yourself and ask a lot of questions before putting up any building, even if it is a small structure that in inaccessible to the public in a river bottom.

• Be sure to understand what is required to be done by mechanical and electrical engineers, identify them and what those costs are going to be.

• Do not assume that local contractors will know or follow the regulatory requirements for a project. Know them yourself.

• Smart project management and better communication could have saved time and cost in this case. Make and update detailed lists of tasks — and who is assigned to complete them.

• Do a daily followup with anyone involved in these tasks. This will keep the project timelines as tight as possible.

Who was responsible for the problems we encountered?

In some ways we all were. The big lesson is the same as always: Someone needs to have the little sign on their desk that says “The Buck Stops Here.” And that person needs to have the authority to do what it takes to move a project forward.

The slogan still holds: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” It is almost impossible to spend too much time or having too much detail before starting a project.

The author is a semi-retired independent engineer in Southern Colorado. He has worked in roles including chief engineer and project manager since the 1980s. He enjoys supporting small radio station operations.

Left and below The new structure is seen along the river bottom near its tower.

Writer Will Jackson Communications Manager, WorldDAB

At RadioDays Europe, calls for more collaboration

Themes included digital and hybrid radio, dashboard displays and “Total Audio”

“

Above Swedish Radio’s Tomas Granryd discusses “The EBU Connected Car Playbook.”

The audio landscape is more creative, diverse and alive than ever,” said Bayerischer Rundfunk’s Katja Wildermuth in the opening session of Radiodays Europe 2024, held in Munich, Germany.

The event reflected this diversity in its theme of “Shaping the Changing Audio Landscape,” with

sessions covering radio, audio, podcasts — and more 1,500 delegates attending from more than 50 countries.

Stefan Möller, president of AER, the Association of European Radios, reflected radio’s place at the heart of this ecosystem. “Radio is the drummer in the band called Total Audio,” he said. “It keeps the rhythm, everyone relies on it, everybody needs it.”

This was echoed in a session by Cilla Benko of Swedish Radio, who reminded broadcasters that they have “a crown jewel in linear radio” as part of a session exploring new strategies for the medium. She said the broadcaster was “catering for an audience that don’t want to miss out — linear radio is very much about the live experience.”

Speakers across multiple sessions highlighted radio’s enduring role as a trusted storyteller. The importance of maintaining this for the next generation was emphasized. Alexandra

Daskalopoulos, CEO of Greece’s Frontstage Entertainment said: “Radio is reachable for younger audience, but we have to teach them about it.”

Common themes at the event were the importance of maintaining prominence in the dash and the growing role of hybrid radio platforms that combine DAB+ and IP.

In the session “Radio.Content.Car” Jacqueline Bierhorst, president of WorldDAB, the global industry forum for DAB digital radio, called for collaboration between public and private broadcasters, and between the radio industry and the automotive sector.

She highlighted the critical importance of broadcasters providing metadata to ensure the best possible dashboard experience, such as display of station logos and artist information. “We’re on the barricades to keep radio prominent in the car,” she said. “If we don’t look good, they will take somebody else who does.” Laurence Harrison from Radioplayer backed this up, saying: “For carmakers to make radio prominent, they have to be confident it will be a great user experience.”

Xperi’s Joe D’Angelo had practical advice for station managers: “Put the same care and attention into your metadata as you do for your audio programming. You’ll reap the benefits if you instill that discipline.”

Bierhorst also noted WorldDAB’s “Dashboard Dialogue” project with Edison Research, which found that radio remains an essential part of the in-car experience and is the most listened-to audio platform in the car. “We create

beautiful content ourselves, and we need to control our own distribution,” she concluded.

Thomas Granryd from Swedish Radio and Gwendolin Niehues of the German public broadcaster ARD launched the “EBU Connected Car Playbook,” describing it as a proposition for a joint road map, to identify a direction for the whole industry.

Granryd stressed this was not just radio asking the automotive sector to include radio. “This is a true collaboration. We need to bring stuff to the table as well,” he said, and called for groups and initiatives to be formed to start handling the challenges.

Elsewhere at the event, Radioplayer — which now serves approximately 10,000 stations in 22 countries — announced several new partnerships. This included securing distribution with Google Assistant, a key player closely tied to the connected user experience. Radioplayer said this would grant broadcasters “increased command over distribution channels and pioneering business models via voice-enabled services.”

Meanwhile, Xperi announced that from June, Xperi’s All In Media (AIM) and Nation Broadcasting will begin offering a free to access radio and audio app in the United Kingdom. Titled “Nation Player,” the new aggregator app, which is powered by AIM Player technology, is open to radio operators and major podcast producers who want to reach a UK audience in the home, on mobile and in the car.

Spectrum Management

Writer

Prakash Moorut Global Head of Spectrum & Regulatory Affairs, Shure

What the WMAS ruling means for radio

The FCC decision takes us closer to having more options, innovations and flexibility

Today, countless wireless services are vying for space on the open airwaves. Ensuring that these services operate at the same time without interference is no easy feat. One very sizeable user of the airwaves is wireless microphones. While the average person may not notice them, they are relied upon daily, everywhere from corporate presentations and news reporting to cultural happenings — e.g., theater, music, sporting events, education — and more.

The rules for operating wireless microphones must become more efficient and effective for all parties involved.

Wireless Multichannel Audio Systems, a new, scalable wireless technology, ensure more effective use of the airwaves by enabling increased wireless microphones and in-ear monitoring systems to operate in limited spectrum. A recent FCC ruling — supported by leading industry audio manufacturers like Shure — will allow WMAS technology to operate in various spectrum bands, including VHF and UHF TV bands, expanding the opportunities and applications available to wireless microphone users.

What is WMAS?

Wireless Multichannel Audio Systems utilize broadband digital transmission techniques that operate with wider bandwidths than legacy systems and comply with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standard. It is already approved and integrated within European markets, and it is becoming more apparent in the United States.

Initially, WMAS aims at expanding the wireless frequencies legacy systems use to more users. We could envisage that in the future WMAS could get access to new bands.

For nearly 100 years, Shure has focused on innovating with solutions that address customer needs while simultaneously advocating for the improvement and availability of spectrum. WMAS offers users scalability and simplification of device deployment, ensuring fast setup and efficient spectrum utilization.

The ruling

The new FCC ruling allows the operation and deployment of more spectrally efficient wireless microphone technology across the U.S. It also increases flexibility for the millions of microphone users and will benefit

individuals, large organizations, and small businesses alike — here’s why:

• Expands the Space — The new FCC ruling permits both licensed and unlicensed users to leverage WMAS technology and spectrum. With unlicensed users far exceeding licensed ones, this ruling will greatly expand the market size.

• Increases Scalability — By highlighting the need for the 100 mW unlicensed power, the ruling allows providers to minimize the occupied spectrum only to what’s needed and available while keeping the same level of performance to narrowband. This decreases total Power Spectral Density (PSD), which aligns with recent updates to WMAS within ETSI.

• Keeps Existing Standards — For current users of narrowband wireless microphone equipment, their rights and usage expectations will remain unchanged.

Ultimately, the PSD for WMAS will be lower than a single narrowband wireless microphone. This will decrease the potential for harmful interference in the bands where they operate.

• Enhances Spectral Efficiency — WMAS is required to have an operational mode capable of providing at least three audio channels per megahertz, even if it is not required to operate within a specific minimum number of channels.

Ultimately, the FCC is leveraging this improved technology to enhance the efficiency of wireless microphone usage and the spectrum generally.

Positive impact

The decision to allow unlicensed WMAS with power up to 100 mW will be highly beneficial to audio professionals across the country. This rule change allows users to operate without the worry or need to go through the complicated licensing process.

The new WMAS regulations will enable manufacturers, like Shure, to develop innovative products with a focus on improved spectral efficiency, scalable audio services and simplified deployment — e.g., permitting multiple wireless audio units to transmit over one wideband channel without interference. It also allows customers access to quality audio in ever-changing landscapes and opens the door to new usage applications as WMAS will drive increased innovation in the wireless spectrum and with wireless microphone technologies due to its wideband nature, higher power, and more. Ultimately, there is so much untapped potential that is yet to be explored.

Wireless microphones play a pivotal role in American life. This ruling is one step closer to providing users across the U.S. with more options, innovations and flexibility. Shure will continue to play an active role with governing bodies to advocate on behalf of the many who rely on wireless microphones both in the U.S. and across the globe.

Warts

I totally agree with Mark Persons in his article “Those Darn Wall-Wart Power Supplies!” in the Feb. 1 issue.

rectifier / filter capacitor wall-wart power supplies failed mostly because the electrolytic capacitor dried up and the output had as much ripple as DC. But those are getting harder to find as modern wall-wart supplies are switching supplies.

efficient. In some areas like California they are required because of the efficiency. But they suffer from the same problem: limited lifetime of electrolytic capacitors.

AC output. These are much more reliable because the rectifier and filter are in the equipment and operate much cooler. But they have been known to fall out of the power receptacle, especially when vertical. And they tend to take over your power strips unless you have short Edison cables to spread them out over the closely spaced receptacles.

I can go on about my dislike of wall-warts and my war stories about their failures and the problems they caused to stations. Yes they are inexpensive and convenient, but when providing DC power to part of your air chain I strongly recommend getting an OEM-style open-frame linear supply and taking the time to mount that to a rack panel with a fuse and other accessories.

Bill Ruck San Francisco

And More Warts

How to submit Radio World welcomes comment on all relevant topics. Email radioworld@ futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

Mark Persons mentioned that repairing switching power supplies is beyond the ability of most techs. I’ll say from my own experience that most of these failures are also caused by capacitors, so I feel that should at least be investigated.

I sympathize with the author about the noise floor on the AM band. Unfortunately, there are so many devices now that cause this. I have gone through my own home and made it friendly for AM broadcast reception by eliminating most switching PSUs — using linear ones — filtering others and installing certain types of LED light bulbs that are not switching (they do exist). I’m a vintage radio collector so this matters to me.

Bruce Girard