CEO Frank Foti on Disruptive Innovation at NAB 2016

Topics: NAB Las Vegas

TV at NAB: Telos Alliance NAB 2016 Wrap-up

This year at NAB, the Telos Alliance's TV Division was in the South hall alongside many of the other TV broadcasting companies. While we missed our radio friends, who we normally share a booth with, we had an incredible show. Since last year's NAB, we added Minnetonka, with Linear and Minnetonka sharing a booth that received a constant stream of interested folks. We had several new and innovative products on display both in the cloud and in the flesh. Here's our short recap from the TV side of the Telos Alliance.

Topics: NAB Las Vegas

Vintage Audio: 1920s Radio Workshop

As electronics technology has evolved over the years, so has the equipment used to service it. Today, electronics is largely a software game, where DSP chips take the place of tuned RF circuits, and even complete receivers. These devices operate with specs near theoretical perfection. As a result, the workbench is no longer the nerve center of an engineering shop in the way that it once was.

The electronics workbench had its origins around the same time as radio, in the mid-1920s. Those old TRF sets could be unreliable, and anyone who sold radios as a business also installed and serviced them. This installment of Found in the Attic is a bit different. We'll dig out several items that were essential for radio servicing in the 1920s, as we imagine what types of things were on the electronics workbench almost 100 years ago.

Topics: Vintage Radio Technology

Live from NAB 2016

The annual NAB Show attracts broadcasters from around the globe. We experience new technologies, shop for equipment, meet old friends, and make new acquaintances.  It’s the perfect setting for This Week in Radio Tech, as well! Chris Tobin and I had a blast meeting some great engineers, company reps, and station owners on this episode of TWiRT.

Topics: NAB Las Vegas

Vintage Audio: Stanton RM-THREE Disco Mixer

The Stanton RM-THREE disco mixer is such a recent device that it almost doesn't qualify as a Found in the Attic item, even though that is where it has lived for the past decade. It dates from the late 1990s. This Stanton, along with its successor, the RM-3S, have long been out of production. But it recalls the purpose-built disco mixers, and a time when the turntable began its transition from a device to playback recorded media into a creative tool in its own right.

TWiRT 299 - Poolside with Chris & Kirk

At the end of Day 1 of the Public Radio Engineering Conference, Chris and Kirk get a chance to talk radio engineering - poolside. We’re dishing on some radio news stories, like Broadcast Electronics getting a new owner, and he’s an engineer! The NAB Radio Show will be held in Austin, Texas, next year, and the full NAB show starts Monday!

Hosts:  Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist and Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Getting Serious about Security in Radio-Centric Networks and Appliances

Well, the party is over.

For years, lots of people in the broadcast industry have relied on “security through obscurity” when dealing with things like audio codecs and web enabled remote control. After all, most “black-hat” hackers seemed to have little interest in seeing what that “Audio codec” login does. After all, an audio codec doesn’t seem very interesting.

Topics: Security

TWiRT 298 - OTT & IPTV with Sherrod Munday

OTT and IPTV are fairly new terms from the Television or Video industries.  But more radio stations, podcasts, shows, and show clips are being delivered by the same or similar technologies.  Former radio engineer turned TV network guru, Sherrod Munday, joins Chris Tobin and me to talk about audience habits and what infrastructure looks like to make audiences happy in 2016.

Guest: Sherrod Munday, VP-Engineering - Sky Angel Television Network

Hosts:  Chris Tobin, IP-Solutionist and Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting

Show links:

Sky Angel Television Network

OTT - Over The Top content distribution

Amazon Web Services

Ted Alexander on AM Processing

I had the pleasure of interviewing old friend Ted Alexander to tap into his vast experience as a Chief Engineer for various AM stations over the years. Ted began looking after AM stations in the 1960s and wrapped up his 50-year career not long ago, as some of you know, working in the Telos Alliance Technical Support Department. Be a fly on the wall during our interview and learn about AM processing from the man himself. 

TWiRT 297 - TV Sat Truck with Robert Pace

What’s inside a modern TV satellite truck? What audio and video capabilities are likely inside? Who makes sure that satellite antenna on the roof is aimed correctly? And what kind of engineer would configure and operate one of these beasts? Robert Pace, a well-known audio, video, and satellite technician in Nashville joins us in the TV sat truck for which he’s responsible.

Guest: Robert Pace

Host: Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, & South Seas Broadcasting