Broadcaster Magazine June 2016

June 2016

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C A N A D A ’ S C O M M U N I C A T I O N S M A G A Z I N E

CHIN CELEBRATES GOLD ANNIVERSARY

Music, food and conversation are the foundation of a Canadian media empire ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

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TRIBUTE EMBODIES JOHNNY’S PERSONALITY

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Editor Lee Rickwood editor@broadcastermagazine.com Senior Publisher Advertising Sales James A. Cook (416) 510-6871 jcook@broadcastermagazine.com Print Production Manager Phyllis Wright (416) 510-5101 Production Manager Steve Hofmann (416) 510-6757 Senior Circulation Manager Diane Rakoff (416) 510-5216 Fax: (416) 510-6875

Broadcaster® June 2016

IN THIS ISSUE 4 CHIN CELEBRATES

Music, food and conversation are also the foundation of a major Canadian media empire, one that’s now celebrating 50 years – and counting!

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GOLD ANNIVERSARY

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Volume 75 Number 4

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SAM BRINGS GREATER COMPATIBILITY, HIGHER RESOLUTION PICTURE QUALITY 4K/UHD Technology is Use by Canadian Broadcasters

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SERVICES

4K Acquisition, IP Distribution and More Highlighted at NAB

ACHIEVERS 21 CANADIAN Tribute Embodies Johnny’s Personality

21

By Dick Drew

ON THE COVER: Johnny Lombardi, accompanied by daughter Theresa and son Lenny: Much to celebrate in a long and happy life and successful radio broadcast career.

All photos courtesy CHIN Radio & TV. June 2016

Broadcaster

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COVER STORY

CHIN CELEBRATES GOLD ANNIVERSARY

M

usic, food and conversation are the unique identifying characteristics of culture and community.

They are the currency of shared experience, and the building blocks for bridges among and between language, cultural and ethnic groups.

Music, food and conversation are also the foundation of a major Canadian media empire, one that’s now celebrating 50 years – and counting!

Toronto-based multilingual radio broadcast outlet CHIN Radio first went on air June 6, 1966. Following the lead of its founder, CHIN Radio started small, humbly. But with vision and energy and perseverance, it has now grown into a multimedia enterprise serving more than 30 different language groups in Canada and internationally.

Johnny Lombardi founded the station some 50 years ago, building on his remarkable background as a musician, WWII veteran, grocery store and supermarket owner, impresario and entertainer. He was a devoted family man, father to his own growing family and father to a growing community of immigrants and new Canadians.

You see the United Nations in Toronto.

This ability to live together in peace and harmony, with people happy together. CHIN was the vehicle you know that helped that The Rt. Hon. Jean Chretien, Former Prime Minister of Canada 4 Broadcaster June 2016

Music, food and conversation are the foundation of a Canadian media empire

Johnny Lombardi at CKFH

JOHNNY BARBALINARDO LOMBARDI Johnny was born December 4, l9l5, the son of Italian immigrants who lived in a district known as The Ward; it’s now the area around the Eaton Centre and Nathan Philips Square in the heart of downtown Toronto, and it’s become a popular shopping and tourism area.

Back then it was a poverty-stricken urban tenement, offering little in the way of opportunity or stability.

With little to build on but personal drive and energy, Johnny set up a portable shoeshine stand as a way to lift himself and his family. He taught himself to play the harmonica, partly out of a growing love for music, partly because a $50 prize

FM 100.7

was up for grabs – which he won!

He continued to teach himself music, learning to play the trumpet and other instruments through the charitable and good graces of some community service clubs for underprivileged kids, which would be a great inspiration for Johnny throughout his life.

His first after-school job, at age 12, was with the then Italian weekly La Tribuna Italo-Canadese where he earned two bucks a week. He would go on to become backpage editor, writing a column called The Snipper-Snooper, and cementing a love of words and conversation and communication that would so well serve him later on.

AM 1540

MULTICULTURAL RADIO

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RADIO 1966

CHIN-AM signed on the air on June 6. The first Spaghetti Dig-In is held in Little Italy, it is the precursor of the CHIN Picnic.

1968

On May 28, Radio 1540 authorized to broadcast on AM and FM, with multilingual programming up to 40 per cent of the broadcast time per week.

1970

CHIN licences renewed to only December 31; new license hearings underway, but eventually Radio 1540 receives a licence for 50,000 watts daytime.

Lombardi bought out his partners.

1977

Johnny Lombardi was one of several applicants for a new multilingual television station in Toronto. All of the applications were denied by the CRTC.

The Benny Palmer Orchestra, c. 1939. Johnny Lombardi, WWII Army announcer.

It was he that began broadcasting in languages other than English and French (it was illegal at one time here).

It was he that made it possible, the integration of so many to Canadian society, through his Interaction on radio and Tv. Joe Pantalone, Former Deputy Mayor of Toronto At age 14, Johnny formed his own music band, which for five years he led through some hardlearned lessons – get paid up front, or don’t get paid – and rewarding insights: music brings people together in a happy and joyful way.

Those were good times in the 30’s and his career path seemed in place, but as Johnny later recalled, the War would end many dreams, many much more tragically than the end of his musical aspirations.

Like many young men in Canada, Johnny joined the Canadian Army and saw service during WWII; he was there on D-Day, he fought in France, Germany and Holland, and became a decorated soldier.

1978

To avoid power outages, new generators were installed at both the CHINAM transmitter site and at the studios.

Johnny’s first grocery store, c. 1952 6 Broadcaster June 2016

At war’s end, he stayed on in Holland, helping the troops and arranging music concerts and entertainment for them while they waited to go home.

Johnny returned to Toronto after the War with few immediate opportunities. But he saw immigrants from Italy and elsewhere settling in the city in vast numbers, and he knew that a touch of home would be most welcomed by the newcomers.

Over the next few decades the Italian community in Toronto and in many other places would grow, and became very successful financially, socially and politically. Johnny himself was always a positive role model for his people, and other immigrant groups that would come to this country.

But back in 1946, food was a great place to start to bring people together, and to enjoy the cultural heritage they shared, Johnny set up a small grocery store on Dundas St., stocking its shelves with imported food items.

It was in the store that Johnny met his wife-to-be, Lena. She was a seamstress at Tip Top Tailors, working with many other Italian women from the neighbourhood who would also frequent the store, encourage budding romances, and eventually help celebrate their wedding in July 1949. Johnny and Lena would be blessed with fifty-two loving years together, as well as three children and five grandchildren.

Johnny’s grocery business in the 1950’s prospered and grew, and it was moved first to Clinton and College Sts., and then to 637 College, near Grace Street. Johnny’s wife Lena and his sister Carmie kept the store running, and Johnny was busy with music, now as a concert promoter and record producer.

He was bringing Italian singers to Toronto for concerts at many of the city’s top concert halls and theatres. He was just getting his feet wet in radio, too, producing Italian programmes that aired on CHUM and then CKFH so he could promote his supermarket, concerts and community events.

As the Italian community in specific and immigrant population in general continued to grow, there was both a need and a reason for more radio access, so much that he would eventually launch his own station.

Johnny stayed busy and active throughout his life, with the radio station, as a concert promoter and www.broadcastermagazine.com

RADIO If you can’t see yourself in the media, then you feel second class, you feel as if you don’t belong. So I feel it is incredibly important for everybody to have some little space in the mirror where they can see themselves.

(Johnny) taught me the value of that, connecting to community Ivan Fecan, former Pres./CEO CTV Globemedia impresario, and hosting every Sunday his Festival Italiano di Johnny Lombardi programme, first on Global Tv, then on Citytv, broadcast live from the CHIN building. His love of words and good conversation was always close at hand.

He remained a very active fundraiser for several charities, his favourite being the Hospital for Sick Children. He was still inspired by the support he received so many years before, and he sat on the board of several charitable organizations and community awareness programmes as a result.

Johnny Lombardi passed away March 18, 2002, leaving an indelible mark on the Canadian broadcast industry and the multicultural country. Throughout his life and his career, Johnny generously shared those unique identifying characteristics of culture and community with anyone and everyone he met.

Music, food and conversation – building blocks for a life well lived, and for making an impact that is still being felt right across this country.

In any language, the talk of Toronto.

Invested in our community Congratulations to CHIN Radio on your 50th Anniversary!

Michael Barrasso Vice President & Senior Portfolio Manager TD Wealth Private Investment Counsel 1470 Don Mills Rd., 3rd Floor Toronto, Ontario M3B 2X9 416-308-4703 michael.barrasso@td.com

TD Wealth Private Investment Counsel represents the products and services offered by TD Waterhouse Private Investment Counsel Inc., a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank. ® The TD logo and other trade-marks are the property of The Toronto-Dominion Bank. www.broadcastermagazine.com

June 2016

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Broadcaster

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RADIO 1982

CHIN makes use of new satellite technology by broadcasting daily transmissions from various parts of Europe.

1983

Early celebrations of food have evolved into the CHIN Picnic, also now celebrating 50 years.

CHIN announces plans to broadcast 24 hours a day and in AM stereo and does so in 1984.

1985

On March 6, CHIN begins transmitting from Centre Island.

1986

CHIN-AM authorized to increase ethnic programming to 95 per cent.

1987-88

CHIN increased night power to 15,000 watts.

1989

CHIN became a superstation when carriage of its signal via the Anik D-1 satellite began. CHIN would not be available in Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver as those cities had their own local multicultural radio stations.

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST PICNIC What better place to enjoy music, food and conversation than a picnic?

And what better picnic could there be than “the world’s largest free picnic” – the CHIN International Picnic, founded and for decades hosted by Johnny Lombardi.

The CHIN Picnic, like CHIN Radio, is celebrating its 50th Anniversary, and like the station, the picnic itself grew from small beginnings to have a major impact right across the country.

The picnic was a physical manifestation of everything Johnny loved and built into a successful career: music, food and conversation. It was great promotion for the radio station, of course, and in many ways, great promotion for the very notion of Canadian multiculturalism. Today, multicultural community events and food tasting celebrations are much more commonplace, too, but the picnic is where they all began.

It started out as the Spaghetti Dig-In, staged in the Little Italy neighbourhood in which Johnny had started his businesses, before moving to the Toronto Islands in 1968. It was a fantastic location, save for the ferries that were too small to easily carry the ever-increasing crowds the picnic was attracting.

So the event moved to Exhibition Place in 1983 as a way to accommodate the growth, and it occupied the CNE Bandshell for many years with its many music concerts (and eventually, the Rising Star singing competition and the Johnny Lombardi Canadian-Italian Singing Contest).

Johnny loved being at the picnic as much as he loved having others there: he would be kissing babies, wrestling bears, mangling as many languages as he could, all in the name of coming together and having a good time, not to mention enjoying the sometimes-controversial bikini competition.

CHIN Radio’s mandate has always been to promote multiculturalism in Canada, and after 49 years of hosting the bikini contest, the decision was made to return to a focus on those roots.

Food, music and conversation is what CHIN does best, and that is the real message: celebrate cultural diversity with information, music and entertainment, and not with a bikini pageant. The very notion of the picnic has grown tremendously: several former CHIN staff members are among the founders of Caribana, the popular Caribbean culture celebration, and the CHIN Picnic is recognized as Toronto’s first multicultural festival.

CHIN RADIO AND TV INTERNATIONAL The story goes that, one day in the late 1940s, a sales rep for a local radio station tried to sell Johnny Lombardi some advertising.

The irony of that moment would be revealed over time, but Johnny was not waiting around: he said he wasn’t going to buy any ads, but he would buy program time.

Cue The Johnny Lombardi Show, and a daily halfan-hour show that would grow to become an international media success story (he would produce radio content for other broadcasters, including Ted Rogers, Foster Hewitt (at CKFH) and Allan Waters (at CHUM) CHIN Radio Mobile

8 Broadcaster June 2016

www.broadcastermagazine.com

RADIO before finally getting his own station.)

Johnny was not a broadcaster per se, but he was drawing on his roots as a musician and entertainer, an organizer and impresario, and as a great communicator and community leader.

He was already helping people make connections, particularly the immigrants and ethnic groups in Toronto, so that they would feel more at home in their new home.

With help from his wife in choosing music and lining up the program content, Johnny’s first radio shows were in fact part of his vision and dream for his future, and that of his community: he would launch a dedicated radio station, just for them.

In 1962, Edward S. (Ted) Rogers, owner of CHFI-FM brought to air an AM counterpart, CHFI-AM, which operated on a frequency of 1540 kHz, but with subsequent approvals, he now had authority to broadcast on 680.

So the 1540 frequency became available for other users. Rogers proposed to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary to take over the assets concerned with 1540 kHz. The company would then dispose of that subsidiary company. The subsidiary company was named Radio 1540 Limited.

Rogers made arrangements to sell Radio 1540 Ltd. to a syndicate headed by Johnny B. Lombardi.

The application for the Lombardi group to buy Radio 1540 Limited from Rogers Broadcasting was approved by the Board of Broadcast Governors but still needed the go-ahead from the Minister of Transport.

Lombardi would hold a 50 per cent stake in the new station. The other shareholders would be Toronto Mayor Philip Givens and James D. Service (Lombardi’s lawyer) with 25 per cent each; Johnny would later buy Givens’s stake when he backed out of the deal.

The hope was to have the new station on the air by November 1, the date CHFI-AM was scheduled to vacate 1540.

Lombardi had set up a studio at the site of his record- and grocery store at 637 College Street (the transmitter site occupied 100 acres of land, a few miles west of the city), and he was ready.

The idea for the new station was, at first, to play European music and carry some hours of European language broadcasts (the very concept was not even allowed at the time).

So Johnny had to convince regulators that the idea would fly and be successful in the Toronto market. But his pitch also noted that Canada could lose the frequency www.broadcastermagazine.com

Everybody knew Johnny Lombardi. I made a cold call one Saturday night, and said I’d love to get together talk about things of mutual interest- a radio spot at 1540. It was his dream come true, and he made a great deal, buying it for net book value or equivalent. I told him I wished him all the luck in the world.

Ted Rogers, founder Rogers Communications

June 2016

Broadcaster

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RADIO 1990

In May, CHIN-AM and FM moved to a new studio location, almost right across the street from the old facilities on College Street in Little Italy.

CHIN-FM broadcasts from the new facility on May 8 and CHINAM followed on the 16th.

CHIN Radio marked its 25th anniversary on June 6.

1998

On May 26, CHIN was granted a licence for a transitional digital radio undertaking.

2001

Lenny Lombardi became president of CHIN Radio/ TV International.

His father, Johnny Lombardi, had held the joint titles of president/CEO and retained his CEO status.

2002

Johnny Lombardi died after a short illness on March 20, 2002. He was 86.

Good conversation is a foundation of CHIN Radio programming.

if it wasn’t used immediately. He also pointed out that Toronto had a proportionately smaller number of AM frequencies than any other metropolitan area in North America.

His pitch was successful, but he and his partners did not have all of the regulatory approvals needed for the new AM station until May 30, 1966.

CHIN-AM signed on the air on June 6, operating on 1540 kHz with a power of 50,000 watts – daytime only. CHIN used the existing CHFI 1540 transmitter site and its two 205 foot towers located on Eglinton Avenue, north of Dundas Street, in Peel County (now Mississauga). A directional antenna pattern was used.

The choice of June 6 also symbolized Lombardi’s participation in D-Day and the liberation of Europe.

CHIN was licensed as a “cosmopolitan” station.

Fifteen percent of its air time consisted of programming in languages other than English or French.

Even so, Johnny knew that to be able to build his audience among the city’s various ethnic communities, he could not be limited to English language broadcasts that merely included European music.

He successfully developed another application to

10 Broadcaster June 2016

the BBG for approval to increase foreign language programming, and he was authorized for 20 per cent with a chance to go to 40.

Through the late sixties, CHIN continued to solidify its programming, and it featured a continuing flow of news, weather, sports and international news - in English only, from 6 to 9 am. Through the rest of the day, newscasts on the half hour were in Italian, using links to ANSA news in Rome and a news staff of four here at home.

Renewals for the station license would take place regularly throughout CHIN’s history, of course, some immediately successful, some not.

Early in 1970, CHIN had its licences renewed but only until the end of the year. It seems the CRTC was reassessing the frequency licenses, ostensibly as shareholder disputes had not been resolved. The regulator would not preclude the shareholder/partners from applying for the licence that Lombardi had worked so hard for (not did it seem to preclude the chance that a new licensee would not have to maintain multicultural content).

At the hearings that involved CHIN, there were very www.broadcastermagazine.com

RADIO difficult, even “black days” for the station, and a moment or two when Lombardi had to think about the worst case scenarios, including not going back to CHIN, but his Radio 1540 Ltd. did get the new licence to broadcast in Toronto on 1540 kHz, with 50,000 watts of daytime power.

The competing applications were denied; Johnny would go on to buy out his partners.

In the late 70s, Johnny Lombardi was one of several applicants for a new multilingual TV station in Toronto, but all of the first round applicants were denied by the now CRTC. Eventually, Dan Ianuzzi won the licence and would launch Multilingual Television (Toronto) Ltd., aka MTV and now OMNI-TV. CHIN was building up its radio platform, however, with new transmitters, stereo production consoles and shortwave receivers to pick up more international news broadcasts. It would soon add satellite technology capabilities for communicate with international points of origin or to relay its own transmissions.

CHIN also began to modernize its newsroom operations, developing a combined multilingual newscast capability that’s still a model for such operations today.

By the mid 80s, CHIN was broadcasting 24 hours a day with stereo AM signals boosted by new transmitters and new locations, including Toronto’s Centre Island for a time. Its multicultural radio content reached over 90 per cent of the program day. Already, well over 25 languages were being heard on the station, and it was reaching a veritable United Nations of an audience in the ever-increasing Toronto marketplace.

Its programming was now being lead by 40+ hours in Chinese, 20 hours in Italian and 17 hours in Greek, as well as the other languages.

In March 1985, the CRTC began to hold public hearings as it sought to more formally establish an ethnic broadcasting policy.

CHIN was the classic example and a working template for the new Ethnic Broadcasting Policy that came about.

He demonstrated this was a viable business model; it was not an exercise in folklore or nostalgia.

Johnny was one of the first to articulate this notion, and he was the pioneer. We came along later, once he had shown the proof.

Congratulations!

Canadian Music Week Congratulates CHIN Radio on 50 years of Service to Canada’s broadcasting and multicultural music industries.

CHIN Radio Toronto 2016 Station of the Year Multicultural.

2 017 2017 | TORONTO, ON

Moses Znaimer, co-founder Citytv; President/founder Zoomer Media

2017 SPOTLIGHT ON

FRANCE

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2017 FOCUS ON

ITALY

June 2016 BRC_CMW_June16_KFS.indd 1

Broadcaster 11 16-05-27 12:05 PM

RADIO 2003

In July, CHIN-1-FM begins operation on new 91.9 MHz. CHIN launches specialty FM ethnic radio station in the National Capital Region at 97.9.

2007

On August 22 the CRTC renewed the licence for CHIN and its transmitter CHIN-1-FM until August 31, 2011.

2009

On August 28, the CRTC renewed the transitional digital radio licence of CHIN-DR-2.

2010

Theresa Lombardi became Vice President/General Manager at CHINAM-FM. The Legislature of the Province of Ontario passed Bill 103 into law, declaring the month of June as Italian Heritage Month. Its mandate is to promote and preserve Italian heritage for future generations of Italian Canadians.

2013

On March 28, the CRTC renewed the licence of CHIN Toronto and its transmitter CHIN1-FM Toronto to August 31, 2019.

Good conversation is a foundation of CHIN Radio programming.

It served to bring much deserved recognition to CHIN and the dream that Johnny Lombardi had been realizing. In fact, Johnny had laid the groundwork for the future of broadcasting in this country, and for the many similar services that have launched across the country.

In the 90s, and following CHIN’s celebration of its 25th anniversary back in 1991, CHIN-FM and then CHIN AM began broadcasting from new facilities in Toronto, but still right in the heart of Little Italy.

Lombardi had acquired an old Loblaw’s supermarket, which would eventually be converted into more than a new broadcast facility for the AM and FM stations: it would become a people-oriented community centre, with more than 50,000 sq. ft. of shops, boutiques and professional offices. A senior’s residence was built next door. CHIN Radio occupied floors four, five and six.

The sophisticated new facility would also help CHIN to act on its licence for a transitional digital radio undertaking (as would a new transmitter on the CN Tower).

Of course, digital platforms and the emergence of the Internet during this period helped extend CHIN’s already extensive reach and cultural connections, with global Web access and the easier streaming of radio and audio content online.

As the new millennium came, Johnny Lombardi was in his mid 80s. His station was thriving, it had grown in reach and scope and impact over the years, and while one could never say he would slow down in any way, Johnny and with the support and commitment of his family active in the business for years enabled him to remain involved and very hands on in the business.

On March 20, 2002, Johnny Lombardi passed away at age 86.

The CRTC approved the change in the effective

12 Broadcaster June 2016

For 25 years, Johnny was the largest supplier of multi TV and multilingual programming to CityTV; they were a building block here He was a risktaker, and we needed this, a risk-taking broadcaster with clear vision to make Canada a better country.

Jay Switzer, former President and CEO of CHUM Ltd control of Radio 1540 Limited, from Johnny to Lenny; the company now wholly owned by Lenny and his sister, Theresa Lombardi, CHIN’s VP &GM. By now, CHIN had grown to become the licensee of CHIN, CHIN-FM, FM 91.9 repeater for CHIN AM Toronto (Ontario), as well as CJLL-FM, the company’s multicultural station in the nation’s capital. It launched in 2003, and now CJLL airs programming in over 20 languages, serving up to 40 different cultural communities.

It is just the latest landmark put in place over nearly a century: landmarks for Canada’s broadcasting landscape in general, for CHIN Radio and TV International in specific, and of course, for one Johnny Barbalinardo Lombardi, a visionary man who despite all the challenges he faced succeeded in reaching for the stars, eventually becoming one himself. www.broadcastermagazine.com

promoting business & investment opportunities between italy and canada since 1961

the voice of italian canadian business Here at the ICCO, we develop and create connections and business relationships between Italian commercial partners and local Canadian companies and investors, while promoting the values of Italian culture, both in professional and social contexts

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MEDIA

Rogers’ new Master Control is 4K capable with new switchers, servers and infrastructure from Snell Advanced Media.

Advanced Media Solutions Bring Greater Compatibility, Higher Resolution Picture Quality IT’S BEEN A WILD RIDE FOR SNELL ADVANCED MEDIA (SAM).

I

n its first year or so since the major rebranding of the company, formed

by Quantel’s 2014 acquisition of Snell, the company has hit all its major business targets, and established itself as a key player in the broadcast industry’s move to 4K, HDR and IP production workflows.

SAM is a founding member of the AIMS Alliance, in which manufacturers, international standards bodies and real-world project managers are coming together to ensure that multiple vendor products work together.

“The key to IP is interoperability,” Tim Thorsteinson, SAM CEO, described of his company’s leadership role in the alliance that’s pushing IP solutions and compatibilities.

For example, SAM’s new IP-Edge, announced at NAB 2016, attempts to remove the complexity from hybrid and pure IP rollouts with its routers, switchers, IQ Modular processing, servers, and playout systems that closely follow the interoperability goals of AIMS. A major product launch in this area is the IQ-Edge processing solution made for interoperable processing of media in IP environments.

As well, SAM has put increased emphasis and investment into engineering and R&D for live production and playout solutions for 4K and HDR content.

The company has worked with multiple partners, broadcasters and rightsholders to help to launch the UK’s first 4K/UHD chan14 Broadcaster June 2016

Rogers’ roll-out of a consumer facing 4K ecosystem promises hundreds of hours of live sports, 4K movies, original series and TV shows. nel, producing live 4K event coverage in Spain, and its recent major live 4K production and playout sale to Rogers Media.

SAM provided a Kahuna 9600 switcher — featuring a 16-input A/B cut bus — for the MCR alongside Morpheus automation and ICE Channel-in-a-Box units. Rogers has also installed main and backup 4K sQ 1800 servers in addition to a range of SAM infrastructure products.

The Kahuna production switcher makes it possible for Rogers Media to handle multiple formats, such as HD feeds or commercials, simultaneously for inputs and outputs using its FormatFusion 3 system. Users can work with any broadcast format and assign any input as HD or SD, eliminating requirements for external conversion boxes.

Already familiar with the Enterprise sQ server, Rogers was confortable with the UHD variant, which stores 4K media as single image files, reducing the risk of synchronization or alignment errors. Coupled to a 4K-enabled version of the Qube editor, recording, editing and playback is supported from a single mainframe. Playback control is from the existing SAM Morpheus installation.

“We have deployed 4K solutions before, but none of them have been as comprehensive as the system we have installed at Rogers,” noted David Tasker, SAM VP Systems & Technology. “The solution was specifically built for Rogers; it’s extensible and upgradable. The AIMS interoperability helps customers make their vendor selections.”

Having announced its plans to deliver significant sports and entertainment content in 4K, Rogers began a period of extensive market research and comprehensive technical trials, to evaluate its playout options and choices, as Frank Bruno, Vice President of Engineering and Operations at Rogers, described: “After a rigorous testing process with a variety of manufacturers, SAM’s technology just worked. SAM’s support during the proof of concept was excellent, installing, testing and ensuring the system would be rocksolid live on-air. In fact, we have gone live with the proof of concept system while we deploy the full system it worked that well.” www.broadcastermagazine.com

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NEW Sony Evolves 4K HDR Workflows Sony has added a number of new products to its 4K HDR solutions line-up, including the HDC-4800 4K 8x High Speed System Camera for live production; a first-of-its-kind 4K shoulder camcorder; a 55-inch 4K OLED TRIMASTER EL client monitor for verifying 4K footage during production, the PVM-X550, as well as other products with a wide colour space of BT.2020 and support for HDR cinematography and live broadcast.

The HDC-4800 captures content in HDR (High Dynamic Range) while the new Super 35mm CMOS sensor and advanced optical system of the HDC4800 supports the next-generation ITU-R BT.2020 colour gamut. And the large Super 35mm CMOS sensor lets the HDC-4800 take full advantage of PL mount lenses, while supporting 2/3” B4 lenses via an optional adaptor.

Used in live sports coverage, the camera shoots full-resolution 4K Ultra HD images at up to 480P (8x) or Full HD at 960P (16x) with the BPU-4800 Storage Processor.

Sony is introducing a 4K shoulder camcorder with the same advanced features as the PXW-X450 Full HD camcorder, with balanced form factor and low power consumption.

The new PXW-Z450 records 4K QFHD (3840 x 2160) at 50p/59.94p, as well as a variety of HD formats, using

Dome Productions Trialing of HLG for Delivering HDR Dome Productions, along with broadcast partners Bell Media and Rogers Media, is trialing HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) as a development format in delivering HDR (High Dynamic Range) content.

HLG is a royalty-free HDR standard proposed by both the BBC and NHK for live productions. Dome Productions and its broadcast partners strongly support the introduction of HDR to enhance the overall viewing experience for the consumer.

16 Broadcaster June 2016

Sony’s new PXW-Z450 is designed for a wide variety of 4K operations

the XAVC Intra and XAVC Long GOP workflow standards.

With its special Exmor R 4K 2/3-inch type CMOS sensor, the PXW-Z450 is designed for a wide variety of 4K operations, and it can be used with commercially available B4 mount lenses without an external optical attachment or internal optical extender.

The PXW-Z450 supports networking features with a built-in wireless module and an embedded RJ-45 Ethernet 100B-T connector. It also has a Near Field Communication (NFC) function for Wireless LAN setup and operation via a

smartphone or tablet with Sony’s Content Browser Mobile application.

Sony’s new PVM-X550 55-inch (diag.) 4K TRIMASTER EL OLED picture monitor has a large 3,840 x 2,160 pixels high grade picture with professional quality black performance, colour reproduction, quick pixel response, and accurate signal processing. The quad view display allows individual settings for each display. In addition, the multi-format PVM-X550 supports High Dynamic Range mode and a wide colour gamut supporting DCI-P3 and most of the ITU-R BT.2020 standard.

The Hybrid Log Gamma transfer curve is a new proposal from the BBC and NHK. It’s viewed as a good fit for real time HDR acquisition and broadcast. At SMPTE 2015, Sony was demonstrating a modified HDR TV that could accept HLG encoded HDR content.

“We work hard to stay at the forefront of the industry,” said Mary Ellen Carlyle, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Dome Productions.

“We were the very first production mobile vendor in North America to launch 4K and we are very excited to begin trialing HLG in Canada.”

HLG is widely considered to be the

best method available of delivering high dynamic range images onto legacy high-definition TV sets. The signals can be seamlessly carried via satellite, cable, IP, and other distribution methods.

“Thanks to our partnership with Dome Productions, TSN stands at the forefront of production innovation in the world of sports broadcasting.

Earlier this year, we produced the firstever live 4K Ultra HD sports broadcast in North America under Dome’s leadership,” said Stewart Johnston, President of TSN. “We’re proud to continue to be on the cutting-edge www.broadcastermagazine.com

NEW Dome Productions is first production mobile vendor in North America to launch 4K and to begin trialing HLG in Canada.

of broadcast advancements, and we welcome the introduction of HDR to further enhance the viewing experience of Canadian sports fans. We look forward to working with the industry experts at Dome to explore new and exciting broadcasting frontiers, including the performance of HLG.” “Creating the best possible live event viewing experience for our audiences is a top priority for Sportsnet and Dome Productions is integral to us delivering on this goal,” said Scott Moore, President, Sportsnet and NHL Properties. “From leading the charge in North American 4K sports broadcasting to the new HLG delivery format, Dome Productions’ recent initiatives have placed us at the forefront of our business with leading broadcast

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solutions and technology.”

HLG presents an SDR backward compatibility that could deliver a single signal/stream solution for both HDR

and non-HDR television sets. This will be a benefit to broadcasters as they will not need to create two different delivery systems.

June 2016

Broadcaster 17

NEW Panasonic Licenses NeuLion Codecs for 4K 60p and 2K 240p Video NeuLion is providing MainConcept Codec SDK portfolio support to Panasonic’s newest cinematic 4K camera VariCam LT. New formats introduced in the VariCam LT and supported by MainConcept include AVC-Intra 4K-LT up to 60p, and AVC-Intra 2K-LT and AVC-Intra LT (HD) with capture rates up to 240p.

The maximum frame rate when recording in 4K (4096 x 2160) or UHD (3840x2160) resolution is 60p (60fps).

When shooting in 2K (2048 x 1080) and HD (1920x1080) resolution, high-speed 240 fps recording can be used for extreme slo-mo in sports productions and documentaries by cropping the image sensor recording area in order to achieve the faster scanning speed.

Variable frame rates are available

NeuLion is codec support to Panasonic’s VariCam LT cinematic 4K camera

from 1 to 120 fps in AVC-Intra 2K422 and from 120 to 240 fps in AVC-Intra 2K-LT. The frame rate can be changed while recording.

Panasonic’s long-time codec solution

partner, MainConcept and its SDKs support video formats output by other leading camera brands, and it helps power NeuLion’s OTT platform encoders in 4K delivery systems.

DVEO Real Time 4K Ultra HD H.264 A new real time Linux based system from DVEO delivers 4K H.264 video for news, satellite, and sports contribution, as well as event streaming via ISPs or CDNs. The iCandy has an H.264 encoder and streamer with 6G SDI input and IP output, plus a matching decoder with IP input and 6G SDI output.

Versions with optional HDMI input and output are also available.

The iCandy 4K encoder enables both live streaming via 4:2:0 and also for media distribution via 4:2:2, and encodes HD-SDI or HDMI at mezzanine 4:2:2 and 4:2:0. It also has a second encoder that supports lower profiles

for quick distribution to mobile devices, and support for HD and SD H.264/ MPEG-4 AVC encoding with “virtual” stream replication.

The mezzanine output supports both ASI and IP output. The non-mezzanine output is provisioned with streaming HLS, RTMP, and DASH protocols. It optionally supports 1,000 simultaneous live or VOD users natively, via a builtin media server. The non-mezzanine output can be used to monitor the streams remotely via the internet.

The iCandy encoder can record streams in transport stream format to its local hard drive, and perform optional instant conversion to MP4, FLV and MKV to support users’ VOD needs. It also offers built-in instant transfer of all created files to remote servers or CDNs, using FTP or SCP to streamline the process.

DEVO’s New iCandy 4K Encoder-Decoder 18 Broadcaster June 2016

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NEW New Polecam Camera Support Polecam Systems has launched its new Autopod, a remotely operated programmable elevation unit for rigs, remote heads and cameras, the new Polecam PSP+ Skeleton rig, and 4K and HD minicams available with UHD Prime and HD Zoom lens capabilities from Fujinon and Resolve Optics including the Fujinon TF4XA-1 prime UHD lens, the Fujinon XT17SX4 and Resolve Z10 both with powered zoom and control providing 17x and 10x zoom respectively.

Polecam rigs and motorized heads support larger high end cameras such as the Canon C300, Sony F5, 55 & 7, the Black Magic Design series, RED Epic, Panasonic 171 and all leading manufacturers of DSLRs including the Panasonic GH4 and Sony A7s; modular builds support minicams from Antelope Systems, CameraCorps, Ikegami, IO Industries, Panasonic, Toshiba and more, which can be flown out to a reach of 8 metres.

The new Autopod in the high position with one of the latest Polecam rigs mounted

VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.BROADCASTERMAGAZINE.COM FOR THE LATEST NEWS, STORIES, PRODUCTS AND VIDEOS. CONTACT James A. Cook (416) 510-6871 jcook@broadcastermagazine.com www.broadcastermagazine.com

Sigma’s New Lens Converter for Sony Cameras

Sigma Converter for Sony Full Frame Cameras Lens, camera, flash and accessory manufacturer Sigma has a new lens converter – the Mount Converter MC-11 – for Sony E-mount, full frame and APS-C sensor cameras.

The new MC-11 gives Sony E-mount camera users access to 15 high-performance Sigma Canon Mount (EF) and Sigma Mount (SA) Global Vision lenses.

A built-in MC-11 LED display lets users know if the attached Sigma lens is compatible, the manufacturer reports, and if it needs to be updated. The Sigma lens can be updated from a workstation or laptop using the Sigma Optimization Pro software and Sigma USB Dock (sold separately).

The Sigma MC-11 features an internal control data system that automatically optimizes performance of AF drive, aperture control and other critical lens functions such as brightness and correct transverse chromatic aberration, distortion and more.

Compatibility with both Sigma lens optical stabilization and Sony in-camera sensor shift stabilization ensures correction of camera shake and other stability issues and when used with in-camera stabilization, MC-11 allows angle shake correction in the lens. The integrated flocking helps prevent internal reflections and reduction in lens performance.

W ESTERN A SSOCIATION B ROADCAST E NGINEERS

OF

Please visit our website for details on our 2016 convention, WABE's Educational Initiatives and to download copies of our 2015 papers: www.wabe.ca Mark your calendar for Calgary, Alberta for our 66th Annual Convention at the Hyatt Regency

November 6th -- 8th, 2016 For information please contact: Kathy Watson, WABE Office Manager, info@wabe.ca. Or call 403-630-4907

June 2016

Broadcaster 19

NEW SMPTE Honoured for a Century of Scientific and Technical Advancement The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) AMPAS presented a Special Award plaque to SMPTE at the Academy’s annual Scientific and Technical Awards presentation in honour of its 100th Anniversary.

“For one hundred years, the Society’s members have nurtured technology, provided essential standards, and offered the expertise, support, tools and infrastructure for the creation and post-production of motion pictures,” the award citation reads. Robert Seidel, SMPTE President, and Barbara Lange, the Society’s executive director, accepted the award.

This is SMPTE’s third award from the Academy, fittingly bestowed in the Society’s centennial year. The first was an Oscar statuette presented by Bette Davis to the Society’s president, Barton Kreuzer, in 1957 in recognition of SMPTE’s first 40 years of “contributions to the advancement of the motion picture industry.” In 1989, SMPTE received an Award of Commendation (a plaque) for the contributions of the members of SMPTE engineering committees. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers is a global industry leader in the advancement of the art, science and craft of the image, sound, and metadata ecosystem.

STOP

Barbara Lange, Robert Seidel, Sara Kudrle, Matthew Goldman, Peter Wharton, Patrick Griffis, Wendy Aylsworth, Peter Symes, Paul Stechly, and William Miller at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards. Photo Credit: Richard Harbaugh / ©A.M.P.A.S.

Compressor/Limiter/De-Esser Making Waves

OUT OF TOWN SHOPPING...

“Keep retail dollars in your market where you can control them”

The Waves BSS DPR-402 Compressor/Limiter/De-Esser GUI

“Still the best turn-key retail sales promotion for Radio, TV, Shopping Centres, Big Box Retailers”

Details and video www.dickdrew.com Drew Marketing & Productions Ltd. 20 Broadcaster June 2016

Digital signal processing solutions provider Waves Audio is now shipping the Waves BSS DPR-402 Compressor/ Limiter/De-Esser.

In studio, live and broadcast environments, the new BSS DPR402 can be used as a straightforward compressor, de-esser or limiter, the manufacturer reports, but they can be combined to selectively process individual parts of the audio band while leaving the rest of the spectrum untouched. The possibilities range

from low-frequency expansion and narrow-band compression to general dynamic equalization and enhancement effects.

Waves has also added five features unique to the plug-in: an MS matrix to separately process the mid and the sides, a Mix control to balance the processed and unprocessed signal, a Noise control to add or remove the modeled inherent noise of the original unit, a Gain Reduction control, and an option for separate L/R metering. www.broadcastermagazine.com

Tribute Embodies Johnny’s Personality

The Lombardi Statue and Piazza in Toronto is among the memorials that pay tribute to leading Canadian broadcasters; others include the Ted Rogers statue in Toronto, and the KC Irving statue in New Brunswick, where correspondent Dick Drew, his wife Aline and Bouctouche Mayor Aldeo Saulnier are pictured. Designers for the Lombardi tribute wrote of their bronze creation: “Johnny Lombardi’s efforts were expansive ...they didn’t end in Little Italy...they stretched across the nation...wave after wave of immigrants came from lands of different tongues, and those who settled in Toronto were blessed to hear their own language, their own music gently landing on their ears, carried by radio waves.”

BY DICK DREW

T

op Canadian broadcast icons have had statues erected in their hometowns: Ted Rogers in Toronto. KC Irving in Bouctouche, NB. The statues reflect the strength and determination of each person.

Yet it’s doubtful you’ll ever see a memorial statue that’s captured the warmth and friendliness of its subject as accurately as the Johnny Lombardi Memorial Statue in a park in the heart of Toronto’s Little Italy near the CHIN Radio and TV studios.

Johnny’s sitting with his right hand stretched out to welcome you. His left arm ready to place it around your shoulder.

That’s how I remember Johnny Lombardi. I sold radio airtime against him in the early 60’s while I worked at CHML, Hamilton. It seemed like every AM radio station in Southern Ontario was selling advertising to the ethnic now multicultural community.

Johnny was a tough but a very fair competitor. After I became a radio station owner I would meet him at various industry events. We would kid each other about who stole the most business from the other. I always conceded it was Johnny who ended up with the largest plate of pasta while I had the crumbs! www.broadcastermagazine.com

In the late 80’s I interviewed him for my radio series “Canadian Achievers” he laughed when I referred to him as the “Godfather of Ethnic Radio” I was not laughing, I meant it as a sincere compliment. No one has done more for multicultural broadcasting or earned the respect of that community more than Johnny Lombardi.

The City of Toronto recognized that fact, and Culture Division worked with the family to call for submissions and com-

mission the statue, created by Veronica and Edwin of Dam de Nogales Sculptors, whose work is featured across Canada and Europe.

On June 12, 2004, two years after his death, the bronze memorial to this radio pioneer was unveiled. A collection of Toronto’s finest crowded to pay tribute to the gentle person everyone called “Mr. Toronto.”

Fans and friends crowded the park, and the invited guest list was a who’s who:

The Association of Central Canada Broadcast Engineers, Technologists and Technicians Inc. Professional Development Conference

September 15 - 18, 2016

Kingbridge Conference Centre King City, Ontario

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Contact: Joanne Firminger, 1-800-481-4649, information@ccbe.ca, www.ccbe.ca June 2016

Broadcaster 21

Johnny is the founder of multicultural broadcasting in Canada. To the extent our (broadcast) mosaic reflects the demographics of Canada, I think Johnny deserves to be up there in that pantheon of founders of broadcast system.

Charles Dalfen, former chairperson of the CRTC

Toronto’s Mayor David Miller, Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, MPs Joe Volpe and Tony Ianno, Police Chief Julian Fantino, two of my very favorite Canadian Achievers, Honest Ed & Anne Mirvish, boxing promoter Irv Ungerman, the list of attendees goes on and on, but you get the point.

This son of immigrants who touched the hearts and souls of everyone.

Next time I travel to Toronto I plan to visit Johnny at his memorial. Sit with him and reflect back on the good times we had and the good things he has accomplished. I invite you to join me.

Johnny Lombardi...an outstanding Canadian Achiever.

Dick Drew’s been writing Canadian Achiever stories since 1984; they appear in books, newspapers, on radio broadcasts and in Broadcaster and Sportscaster Magazine.

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FOR THE LATEST NEWS, STORIES, PRODUCTS AND VIDEOS.

22 Broadcaster June 2016

“Johnny’s warm and friendly welcome awaits everyone”

O

ften called the “Mayor of Little Italy,” Johnny Lombardi’s life is enshrined and honoured in his old neighbourhood, and around the world.

In Toronto, a space at the southwest corner of College and Grace Street is known as Piazza Johnny Lombardi, and it’s home to the bronze statue described by Dick Drew.

In Pisticci, in the Basilicata region of southern Italy, another square honours him: Piazza Johnny Lombardi (also known as Piazza Lombardi) was restored and renamed in his honour, and it’s home to music concerts and shows.

A ceremony held in August 2007 in Pisticci declared Johnny Lombardi Day, and officially twinned the Piazza in Pisticci with the Piazza in Toronto.

Of course, a stretch of College St. between Clinton and Grace there was renamed Johnny Lombardi Way in his honour by the municipal government. It runs outside of the current CHIN Radio building, and near the location of Lombardi’s old grocery store.

Johnny Lombardi was also among the six original inductees whose name is incorporated into the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto.

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