Greetings from your broadcast friends out on the Desert…
This is BDR Newsletter 767, Volume 15, #39 for April 24, 2024

Here are some things you might want to know about:
        
LOOKING BACK AT THE NAB SHOW 2024
According to the NAB, the stats were interesting. Approximately 61,000 attendees, with over half the attendees (54%)at this year’s Spring Show were there for their first time. Over one quarter came from overseas, representing 163 countries. Some 1300 exhibitors included over 200 showing off some form of AI tech and learning tools, which also were featured in over 150 sessions. If that were not enough, the whole show started with a Welcome Address featuring Ameca, an AI powered humanoid robot.

YES, IT WAS AI’S YEAR
Sure, programs, especially diagnostic ones, have been incorporating more and more AI in recent years. Nautel’s “Phone Home” was not the first, but an early example of how a transmitter can communicate to the factor about needed parts, even before the engineer knows what he has to do. With literally thousands of new products and new technologies, AI is starting to become a partner with the engineer in diagnosing, optimizing, translating, and repairing all sorts of gear and applications. A number of experts urged broadcasters to learn more about how to use AI.

VIDEO MEETS THE RADIO STARS
An interesting use of AI is incorporated in the Insoft Radio Studio, which uses AI to control video cameras to follow the action and permit a number of playback options that can enhance a radio program beyond anything you have seen as yet. The days of the static studio shot may be over.

Tomorrow (Thursday) Alex Bonello from Insoft will be our live presenter on the Virtual Lunch Gathering at 2 PM Eastern/ 11 AM Pacific to discuss why stations might benefit from cameras in the control room and elsewhere in the program chain. This is one your program/production people may well want to see. The link is available by request on www.theBDR.net/TLG/  We will aslo be on youtube live – if you are subscribed to thebdrnet channel, you will get a reminder when the program starts.


May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!

 
WALKING THE HALLS
After 42 straight years of being at the NAB Show, most of us missed the last three – and many of those that went last year wnet home with a Covid infection. So, it was a blessing this year to get there and receive a lot of “Hello“s from old friends – and some new ones. The one thing: I sure hope they end up installing “people movers” (moving walkways, like in airports) between the West and Central Halls. The hike was a long one, and doing it a couple of times in a day was not fun. Yes, the Tesla ride in the tunnel was interesting. But it still took a walk to get to the drop-off points. Let’s see what next year brings.

A NEW CONSOLIDATION
Something that hit the eye as we walked the aisles: there has been a slow, but steady trickle of consolidation among manufacturers, with a couple of new companies being formed this year, along with a few ownership changes rippling through the industry. In a way, it seems like  back to the future in some ways, for those of us who recall the days when some manufacturers could supply an entire radio station, from microphone to antenna.

FM BOOSTER PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION
The May 16th meeting of the FCC will include a decision to permit FM Boosters to originate up to three minutes of programming each hour aimed at the local area served. At first experimental authority for up to a year at a time will be granted.

TOWER DOWN
This one is sad. It was not weather nor deterioration that killed this tower in Karkov.

ATSC3
The ATSC booth was busy for most the NAB Show, showing off the capabilities of ATSC3, which has now been on the air in Detroit for three years, testing various features to see how the public responds.

FOR SALE
All kinds of items this week. some transmitters, antenna combiners, and someone seeking an FM Modulation Monitor are among the latest items. Check them all out here.
 
May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!
 

Some recent articles of interest:

• Kapton Tape Can Save The Day – Ron Schacht
• Really Communicating with Managers – Dana Puopolo
• The YI Dome Guard Security Camera – Barry Mishkind
• Enforcement Watch:
• Underwriting foul costs Pacifica
• Join the Lunch Gathering – Thursday 2 PM Eastern
• WCCO – 102 Years Old This Year – Mark Durenberger
• A Job Hunter’s Quick Primer on HDTV – Dana Puopolo
• Belden 9451 vs StudioHub – Bob Burnham
• Dana’s Daily Deals
• More newsy items here

May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!

 

MANUFACTURERS’ NEWS
 

AI was, as noted, a key feature in a lot of new showings. You could see parts of it in consoles, cameras, program chain products, and more. Not all were interactive by voice prompting, but Star Trek is not so far in the future now!

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BE/Elenos featured their new MDCL – Modulation Dependent Carrier Level – a way to save significant money on AM transmissions. The company says this feature can be incorporated into most transmitters made in the last 15-20 years. Combine this with LED tower lights, and major savings can be achieved.

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Wheatstone‘s Audio Arts console line got a makeover, with two new digital and a new analog version of the Air1. The plug-in ready consoles come complete with USE/Bluetooth (including mix-minus) capability, plus optional Wheatnet IP apps.

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Nautel and Digital Alert Systems displayed “EAS at the Edge,” A new way to integrate EAS with the transmitter itself. 

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WorldCast showed off the new AiO transmitter, with the digital decoder enclosed. Users would need only one side to encode – and save as much as $2500 on STL costs.

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Another STL Option was shown by StreamGuys, with the debut of their new reflector service, which could be used to combine STL and streaming functions.

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LAWO continues to innovate and present consoles and tools to provide an ultra-low-latency, server-based, agile audio engine. For example, their new HOME mc� DSP app, is basically the A__UHD Core in a microservice-based environment – and can be connected from and to anywhere.

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GatesAir showed a couple if new items, including a new analog FM transmitter line, and an audio processor that has some interesting features – working either as a Compellor-type input device or a program processor.

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Inovonics added a new AM Modulation Monitor to their line.

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… and more that we will talk about in coming weeks. 
May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!
 


Do You Remember? This week in history:
Broadcast related items:

• 8 years ago (4/21/16) the singer Prince died of an apparent overdose.
• 36 years ago (4/23/88) Whitney Houston hit #1 with “Where Do Broken Hearts Go?“
• 46 years ago (4/22/78) the Blues Brothers first appeared on Saturday Night Live.
• 46 years ago (4/22/78) Bob Marley headlines One Love Peace Concert.
• 46 years ago (4/22/78) Steve Martin performs “King Tut” on Saturday Night Live. He eventually sold 500,000 copies.
• 59 years ago (4/27/65) The Real Don Steele and Boss Radio first boomed out of LA station KHJ, the start of an era.
• 61 years ago (4/21/63) Little Peggy March hit #1 with “I Will Follow Him.“
• 63 years ago (4/20/61) FCC set up the FM Stereo rules.
• 64 years ago (4/21/60) Dick Clark testified at the Congress Payola hearing, admiting 27% of his playlist was paid.
• 76 years ago (4/20/48) Columbia records introduced the 33 1/3 rpm record.
• 90 years ago (4/19/34) The Communications Act of 1934 creates the FCC.
• 102 years ago (4/28/1922) these stations were first licensed by the Department of Commerce: 04/25/1922   WSOY-1340  Decatur, IL   – 04/26/1922   WBAP-820   Fort Worth, TX 

… and 112 years ago (4/24/1910) Public Law 262 required the Commerce Department to issue license for radio communication operators on ships.

How about some “regular news” type items?

• 15 years ago (4/27/09) GM announced plans to phase out Pontiac models.
• 38 years ago (4/26/86) the Russian nuclear disaster at Chernobyl happened. (a group of engineers began an electrical-engineering experiment on the Number 4 reactor)
• 39 years ago (4/23/85) CocaCola introduced “New Coke.” (Extra credit: how long did it take to restore “Classic Coke” to the marketplace?*)
• 54 years ago (4/22/70) the first Earth Day, to increase awareness of the world’s environmental problems, was celebrated in the US.
• 70 years ago (4/23/54) Hank Aaron knocked out the first home run of his Major League Baseball career.
• 70 years ago (4/26/54) the Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.8 million children, began.
• 109 years ago (4/25/1915) the ill-fated allied invasion of Gallipoli began.
• 110years ago (4/23/1914) Wrigley Field opened in Chicago.
• 129 years ago (4/21/1895) the first movie projector was demonstrated in United States.
• 165 years ago (4/25/1859) Ground was broken for the Suez Canal
• 224 years ago (4/24/1800) the Library of Congress established.

… if you really want to get technical, according to the German mathematician Kepler it was 7001 years ago this week (4977 BCE) when the universe was created (4/27/4977 BCE). More recently, estimates of 14-16 Billion years have become more accepted (… and which also seems to be the age of something in the back of the refrigerator at many stations!).

May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!

 

* It took only three months after “New Coke” was released: Classic Coke was promptly back on the shelves and people were muttering about an “Edsel.”

MIDWEEK BONUS

If you live on the coast, rising ocean levels may be changing your plans – perhaps even more so than the coming “big one” earthquake in California. We have pretty much pushed our plans for Tucson City Beach back a few decades, but it may still happen!

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We sure do appreciate you spending time with our Newsletter. And even more so when you recommend us to your colleagues and friends.

barry

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