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

Using Voltair to Maximize Your PPM® Encoding

You probably know that not all of your programming encodes equally well in PPM^®, and some content encodes downright badly. But you may not know which of your programming is problematic.

So, how to know? Some Voltair^® users simply watch Voltair’s color-coded screen and note the orange. But that’s not everyone’s idea of a good time, so we designed a better way.

Topics: Voltair

Catching Up with Andrew Jeffries, SVP of Programming for iHeart Radio

Recently, I had a few minutes to catch up with Andrew Jeffries, Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeart Radio, on all things programming, including how processing fits into his efforts to make his many stations sound their absolute best. Without further ado, here's what the radio exec had to say.

Denny: As Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeart, you are in charge of programming for several major stations. Do you feel that the processing of each station is an integral part of your programming approach?

Andrew: All facets of our audio are important to me—from source quality through to the reception quality in the market. Quality processing is critical to the best audible experience in all environments for our consumers. Even though they will never know why a station sounds better or clearer, we do. Setting a sound design that fits your format station and target is part of your brand crafting, just like choosing the music you play or the talent you hire.

The Stream Locomotive Is Leaving the Station. Don't Get Left Behind. 

By 2018 nearly 25% of your terrestrial radio station's annual advertising revenue will come from online listening, according to forecast data from BIA/Kelsey. For broadcasters, streaming is more important than ever. Luckily, we have better options and technology than ever before to create streaming content that is music to listeners’ ears.

Topics: Streaming Audio, Z/IPStream R/2, adaptive streaming, xHE-AAC

Vintage Audio: The Sta-Level Turns 60

As a teenager coming of age in the late '60s and early '70s, I went on nickel tours of every radio station I could. Some of them twice. One piece of equipment that almost every station had was a Gates Sta-Level AGC amplifier. It's safe to say that this device dominated the sound of Top 40 radio from the 1960s through the early '70s. Introduced sixty years ago, in 1956, Gates sold them by the boatload.

Topics: Vintage Radio Technology