Get the Sound YOU Want: A Programmer's Guide to Processing 

Before I joined The Telos Alliance fulltime in 2001, I was involved in the programming and management of some pretty successful American radio stations for almost 35 years.

Quite early on, I realized that the audio signature of a station is the final stop in the presentation process and is, in some ways, the most critical piece of the programming puzzle. This is not simply a question of aesthetics. Time and time again, TSL reduction can be traced to improper audio processing, where listener fatigue robs you of your most important listeners: The P1 long termers.

AM De-Tuning and Co-Location with Lawrence Behr

Cellular towers are everywhere and they’re still building more.  But trouble occurs when they’re too close to existing AM tower sites. That’s where Lawrence Behr of LBA Group comes in - helping cell carriers and AM towers live together peacefully, and sometimes even co-habitate.

TOPradio Inaugurates DAB+ Broadcasting with Omnia.9

Broadcasting from studios in Ghent, TOPradio has become Belgium's premier dance radio network. Beginning in 1996 as a collaboration between three stations in Flanders (Ghent, Bruges and Kortrijk) branded as “Dansradio Vlaanderen,” the network has expanded to 20 affiliates scattered throughout Flemish-speaking Belgium. And TOPradio has become one of the top choices for listeners in the 19-35 demographic.

Topics: broadcast audio processor

Vintage Audio: ARC-5 Command Receiver

Military communications receivers have always been coveted by short wave listeners and radio amateurs. With rugged construction and great specifications, what's not to love? When this equipment turns up at surplus electronics retailers, it usually comes at a great price.

Vintage Audio: OS-8/U Oscilloscope 

From the time that oscilloscopes were first developed in the early 1940s, the race was on to make them smaller. Originally, scopes were esoteric devices found only in research labs, but servicing applications quickly surfaced. They eventually began to appear in radio-TV repair shops.

Vintage Audio: Wilkinson GCA-1 AGC Amp

The 1970s was the decade when peak limiters and AGC amps were transformed from equipment that kept a station's modulation within FCC limits into creative tools to tailor a unique on-air sound. With the right audio processor and careful tweaking, you could also beat out the competition in loudness wars – or not. CBS Labs Audimax/Volumax combinations, Gates Solid Statesman limiters and later, Optimod 8000s were common. However, the equipment market was flooded with various AGCs, compressors, squashers, clippers and limiters that promised to make your signal stand out. Some delivered on their claims, others, not so much. Lurking in the deep recesses of the attic is a Wilkinson GCA-1 AGC amplifier. Time to dust it off and take a look.

Vintage Audio: Zenith Royal 1000 TransOceanic

The lure of snagging distant short wave signals from the other side of the globe has been a part of radio listening from the earliest days. As receiver and battery technologies improved, radios became portable, meaning DXers were no longer confined to listening in their basement or attic radio shacks.

WSB-AM Transmitter Party

During the 2015 NAB Radio Show in Atlanta, Charles Kinney opened the doors to the iconic WSB (AM) transmitter site and threw a party!  Nearly 80 engineers and friends showed up to see the current site and learn about the history of AM transmissions from here.

Streaming and Podcasting with a Guy from Queens

Andrew Zarian is the founder and President of GFQ Networks, a tech-savvy Internet broadcaster located in Queens, New York. Currently the hosts of a dozen different streaming video shows and a couple more podcasts, GFQ is one of the up-and-comers in the Internet streaming world – and also a Telos Alliance client. We sat down with Andrew to get the scoop on how he started, and where he thinks Webcasting is headed.

HD and AM Transmission with Gary Liebisch

Two decades of hands-on radio engineering prepared Gary Liebisch for important roles in radio transmitter design and management at Harris Broadcast. Now he’s educating and finding technical solutions for customers at Nautel. Gary talks with Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack about 4th generation HD Radio gear, plus tight IT integration into today’s lower-maintenance transmitters.