Having founded Camdenton, Missouri Contemporary Christian station Spirit FM in 1985 and building it from the ground up over the last 30-odd years, President and General Manager Jim McDermott has an acute interest in ensuring the station keeps current with the latest broadcast technology. At the same time, equipment that’s intuitive and easy to use is also a concern. 

What does an award-winning broadcast engineer do with a hurricane? Whatever it takes. Charlie Wooten is Director of Engineering and IT at iHeartMedia in Panama City, Florida.  He plans ahead to keep iHeart’s AM and FM transmitters and studios on-air. But, a hurricane is difficult to plan for. Charlie joins us with photos and stories from Hurricane Michael’s devastation to broadcast facilities and infrastructure in Florida.

In Part 1 of our series, we examined the impact of the CALM Act, addressed some lingering loudness issues, and reinforced the continued relevance of real-time processing. This time, in Part 2, we’ll take a closer look at the challenges content creators and broadcasters face when managing loudness in a file-based workflow. Are there different requirements? Are all loudness control techniques created equal?

Wherever you travel there’s probably a radio station nearby. Mark Humphrey took some vacation time to travel out west, stopping on the way to visit a radio museum and radio and TV stations. Plus we talk about how FM translators are providing what’s essentially “Primary” service to one rural Pennsylvania valley.

Terrestrial radio is facing a real challenge: Listeners are besieged with ever-increasing audio entertainment options. The bedside clock radio is fading fast. The kitchen radio has been replaced by a tablet or a TV. In fact, the percentage of households with no radio at all has zoomed from 4 percent to 29 percent in 10 years, according to Ryan Higbie, writing for xapp media. He continues, “The rise in homes with multiple televisions and the popularity of streaming services have materially impact radio listening in the home.”

It’s been nearly six years since the CALM Act – the bill passed to address the issue of loud television commercials – was put into effect in the U.S. We thought it a good time to re-examine the loudness issue in a series of blog posts. Here in Part 1 we’ll explore whether or not these legislative mandates have been effective and find out if content producers and broadcasters are still struggling with managing loudness in traditional OTA  and OTT distribution.

In the wild (and sometimes wacky) world of audio processing, there are many variables that contribute to the final result. Many discussions, and debates, have ensued over topics such as wideband or multiband: If multiband – how many bands, analog or digital, use phase rotation or not? EQ – what kind? And the list goes on. While all of these contribute to the final result, there’s one function that actually defines the audio signature more so than all of these, and that is the final section, known as the hard limiter, or clipper.

The Giz Wiz, Dick DeBartolo, joins us for TWiRT, on location in New York City! We check out some audio gadgets, talk about the AES and NAB conventions, and play a few rounds of Match Game.  Andrew Zarian joins us, too!

What are today’s trends in FM audio processing? Is it cleaner? Less smashed? More thoughtful? Paul Kriegler, former Program Director and now Omnia’s factory rep for the US, joins us for an update on FM and streaming audio processing. Plus we delve into AES192, and how it can make a positive difference for FM signals.

College Radio Day, known internationally as World College Radio day, took place on Friday, October 5th this year, when hundreds of college radio stations came together once again to celebrate the unique medium of college radio. Founded in 2010 by Dr. Rob Quicke, College Radio Day harnesses the combined audience of countless thousands of college radio listeners throughout the world to draw attention to the important contributions of college radio.