The Empire State Building: Where It All Began

New York City’s iconic Empire State Building’s prominent place in the history of FM and television transmission might have never come about unless someone’s idea for the top of the building turned out to be one of the wackiest proposals since the Atlantic tunnel between New York and Europe.

The Birth of a Flamethrower!!

Back when I was in grade school (a time long before electricity), the tallest building in the world was the Empire State Building in New York City. The majesty of that building has always held a special place in my heart; that’s why, in the summer of 1983, it was even more special that I got involved with a project that was to add a twelfth FM radio station to Master FM Antenna System at Empire.

Adaptive Streaming with Tim Pozar

Online video - like Netflix and YouTube - have used adaptive bitrate streaming for a few years now. The same tech is becoming available to audio streamers like radio stations and other online audio broadcasters. Tim Pozar, Streaming Director for Fandor.com joins Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack to teach us about adaptive streaming technology.

Live from New York!

This is it! The live broadcast - a block away from the Empire State Building where we have a terrific view of the light show. We’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Master FM Antenna operation; the first of its kind allowing a dozen FM transmitters to use the same transmitting antenna. Tom Silliman, David Layer, David Bialik, and Scott and Lisa Fybush join Chris Tobin and me.

Things are Looking Up to the Max at IMS Productions

Today, they're shooting at the Barrett-Jackson Auto auction in Reno, NV. On other remotes they are filming Lakers games or global rally cross racing. IMS Productions has a busy schedule. Located across the street from the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the company does studio work, field production, post production and Indy car footage. Even though they are affiliated with the Speedway, they cover a variety of events.

Audio over IP and the Future of Television

Video and audio were handled separately for years before SDI video with embedded audio came into use.  Embedded audio appeared to be a step forward.  The reality is that embedded audio has not reduced lip sync issues and metadata is still easily separated from the audio that it describes.  This is particularly unfortunate because metadata will become more essential with new audio services.  Audio embedding and de-embedding was never perfect and it remains limited.  SDI is, at heart, a video format and it cannot support the future of audio.  Channel based audio is heading for replacement by carriage of the objects that make up the channels.  Multiple languages, emergency audio, and services for the blind are all competing for space in broadcast services.  These expanded audio services provide flexibility and enhanced consumer experiences for broadcast and OTT services and even handheld devices.  AES67, Livewire+ and related standards offer a path to making all of this work – including lip sync!  AES and SMPTE are working together, and the results will enable the sub-sample accurate linking of Audio over IP (which has existed in radio for over a decade and is growing in TV) and video, all without requiring it to be glued together until final delivery.

Who is the Media Networking Alliance?

The Media Networking Alliance is a trade association formed following the ratification of the AES67 Audio Networking standard in 2013. The purpose of the MNA is to promote the adoption of AES67 so that pro audio and broadcast equipment can easily exchange AoIP audio.

AoIP – The State of the Union, 2015

Part 1: Nerves and Networking

At 11:59 P.M. on a Sunday in April, 2002, I was sitting on the thinly carpeted floor of the NAB convention hall watching as a software guru fed lines of code into his IBM Thinkpad. The next morning, the doors of the hall would open, and our newest product – a console surface with an IP-connected DSP mixing engine – would be displayed for the examination of broadcasters from all over the world.

139th AES and 50th Anniversary of the Master Antenna in New York

The 139th convention of the Audio Engineering Society begins next week in New York City.  Plus, we’ll commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Master FM Antenna on the Empire State Building! Big party. Guest speakers. Presentations. And it’s all about furthering the state of the art in audio gathering and reproduction.  David Bialik and Scott Fybush join Chris Tobin and me.

The JOY FM: Z/IP ONE Power User

Every piece of broadcast equipment has its 'power users', the ones who use every feature, input and output in every conceivable way, along with some that weren't envisioned by the designers. For the Telos Z/IP ONE IP Broadcast Codec, that user would be The JOY FM. Between their Florida, Georgia and Alabama operations, the Radio Training Network has over 40 Z/IP Ones at its JOY FM stations, used for a variety of applications.