Salem Media Group Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Evan Masyr sat down with Noble Capital Markets Senior Research Analyst Michael Kupinski for an in-depth chat about the trajectory of the broadcast media company — and the discussion is now available for all to hear.
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Sinclair Broadcast Group has confirmed the planned retirement of Barry Faber, President of Distribution and Network Relations, effective June 25.
During his 25 years at Sinclair, Faber helped Sinclair grow into one of the largest and most diversified broadcasters in the country.
During his years as General Counsel, Mr. Faber guided the company through a multitude of acquisitions, including more than 150 broadcast stations and Tennis Channel. He has served as Sinclair’s President of Distribution and Network Relations since April 2019.
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The author is director of product management, Nielsen Audio.
In today’s modern landscape, there is no company or industry that has not considered moving some portion of its operation to the cloud.
The modern vernacular for data operations is cloud-based, and most things now operate from the cloud, including shopping, email, banking and many other conveniences in our modern lives.
The release of the Nielsen Audio Software Encoder will now bring your station’s PPM encoding to the cloud.
If you are well-versed with PPM encoding, you are likely familiar with the dedicated rack unit, industrial-grade hardware encoder that is offered today. You probably have a rack full of these in your facility, with each one playing a critical role in ensuring your station’s audience is properly counted.
The Nielsen Audio Software Encoder was born out of the simple idea to give you, the radio broadcasters, more options when it comes to your station’s PPM encoding and to be ready to meet you in the cloud when your station(s) are ready to make that transition.
Simple ideaThe concept behind the Nielsen Audio Software Encoder is simple.
We took the PPM encoding algorithm (Enhanced CBET) out of the hardware that it lives in today and made it available in the form of a software development kit (SDK). This SDK is then made available to industry participants enabling them to integrate PPM encoding into their products.
Once an integration is complete, Nielsen works with the manufacturer of that product to perform a rigorous certification process. This certification process ensures that the PPM encoding generated by the manufacturer’s product meets all of Nielsen’s encoding quality standards.
Today, the broadcast radio industry primarily utilizes an on-premise broadcast audio chain, and the initial Nielsen Audio Software Encoders have been largely with products created for that world. Additionally, Nielsen has been working with top audio processor manufacturers to integrate the Nielsen Audio Software Encoder into their products.
To date, we have certified integrations across a variety of Orban, Omnia and Wheatstone audio processors, with many more in the pipeline.
Three-phase rolloutIn the near term, the Nielsen Audio Software Encoder will enable you to perform your station’s PPM encoding in products from leading audio processor manufacturers that you have trusted with your station’s sound for decades, while also providing the opportunity to reduce the footprint (rack space) consumed by each of your stations.
As we continue to evolve our industry and station playouts move away from single-purpose dedicated hardware in favor of either channel-in-a-box architectures or straight to cloud based approaches, the Nielsen Audio Software Encoder will be ready to power your station’s PPM encoding.
Nielsen will release this capability in three waves: first AM, followed by FM and then streams. Each of these releases will be preceded by successful completion of a field evaluation using certified integrations on that platform.
We released this capability for AM stations at the end of 2020. We anticipate the release for FM to be in mid-2021, with streams to follow in the back half of the year.
As you continue to think about how your station’s facility may evolve, I’d urge you to stay connected with your Nielsen client engineer via phone at (866) 767-7212 or email to encoding@nielsen.com, or through the Nielsen engineering portal https://engineeringportal.nielsen.com, to ensure that you are up-to-date on the latest Nielsen certified software encoder integrations.
Whether the future of your broadcast playout remains on-premise or moves to the cloud, Nielsen, together with the industry, has innovative PPM encoding solutions that are ready for the next generation of radio broadcast facilities.
The post Nielsen PPM Is Ready for the Cloud appeared first on Radio World.
June is microphone month at Radio World, and we get a head start on it with a big special feature in which we ask a bunch of radio folks to tell us about their favorite mics.
Also, is time running out at last for FM6 stations, aka “Franken FMs”?
Nick Mannion of Nielsen Audio describes the rollout of the Nielsen Audio Software Encoder.
And John Bisset helps you build an LED fixture dimmer circuit.
The post Inside the May 26 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.
Domestic ad spend for the pharmaceutical and healthcare category is forecast to be $11.1 billion this year, WARC notes.
What does this mean for brands, consumers and the healthcare system?
The research firm took a look.
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Veritone wants you to think of synthetic voices as being available on demand — “Voice as a Service” — and it recently launched a product to that end called Veritone MARVEL.ai.
The company considers synthetic voice to be “a disruptive technology” and said it will wants to participate in developing best practices for synthetic content.
It said its new system enables users to “create, manage, license and monetize” synthetic voices.
“Veritone MARVEL.ai supports both text-to-speech and speech-to-speech processes and offers the first complete, end-to-end suite of voice capabilities and features –– including creation and usage; management; production workflows; licensing, compliance and clearance; and monetization,” the company said in a release.
[Related: “Create Synthetic VOs Just by Typing”]
Here’s more of how the company is pitching it:
“In an increasingly digital world, brands and media companies are struggling to produce content at the rapid rate consumers have come to expect, due to constraints related to talent, production, personalization and licensing. Veritone MARVEL.ai bridges this content gap, allowing brands and media companies to expand and streamline advertising and content production to connect and keep customers engaged, while also finding new revenue opportunities, reducing time-to-market, and easily managing compliance and clearance for synthetic voice content.”
It said users can create and personalize voices to” different tones, dialects, accents and languages,” so “celebrities, influencers and athletes can amplify their own unique synthetic voice … then manage, license and monetize” it.
It’s built around Veritone’s aiWARE operating system and artificial intelligence technology.
The post Veritone Ramps Up Synthetic Voices appeared first on Radio World.
The E.W. Scripps Company has promoted the Director of Sales for its NBC affiliate serving Colorado Springs to the role of VP/GM.
Earning the promotion at KOAA-5 after 5 years in the shadow on Pikes Peak is Ross White.
“Ross has a wealth of experience in the local media industry and is a proven leader who has led his sales team to great success,” said Brian Lawlor, Scripps’ President of Local Media. “His knowledge of the news business, the market and the station, along with his commitment to the community, make him the ideal candidate to be the next leader in Colorado Springs for Scripps.”
Prior to joining KOAA, White served as GSM at WMC in Memphis. He began his career at KVII in Amarillo, Tex., as a news photographer, and then as Creative Services Director. He later moved to the sales department at KVII as an account executive and was promoted into several sales leadership positions, including Director of Sales.
“In my time as KOAA director of sales, we have focused on bringing the Scripps mission, ‘We do well by doing good,’ into all aspects of our operation,” White said. “As general manager, I look forward to furthering that mission in the community I call home through a continuing commitment to quality local journalism.”
Travel east of Sky Harbor International Airport and you’ll find not-so-sleepy Apache Junction, Ariz. Once a tiny town of the Ol’ West, today it’s booming as a Mesa-adjacent community that still retains its Cowboy feel, attracting tourists to Lost Dutchman State Park.
Here, a 2kw Class A operates as a non-comm infatuated with 1980s pop and rock hits. But, will that cease once the station’s sale is concluded?
The answer is very likely yes, given the buyer. And, it is a win for Blacks in the Valley of the Sun.
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GCI, the Liberty Broadband-owned MVPD, on January 1 discontinued carriage of “FOX Alaska,” “ABC Alaska,” and “The CW Alaska” on a newly launched “skinny bundle” offering designed to discourage subscribers from fleeing to such services as Hulu and YouTube TV.
It only took until Victoria Day in neighboring Canada for a new retransmission consent agreement to come to fruition, with the three stations finally restored for local cable TV subscribers.
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If you are involved in your state’s Emergency Alert System plans, this item is for you.
The Federal Communications Commission announced that its Alert Reporting System, or ARS, is now open for filing of state EAS plans.
The ARS online filing system combines the FCC EAS Test Reporting System, or ETRS, with a new electronic one for the filing of state plans, one that the commission says has been streamlined.
The deadline to file electronically has not been announced, but it will be a year after the publication of a pending notice in the Federal Register.
State Emergency Communications Committee members can access the ARS here (click on the ETRS icon to access).
“When the commission adopted the ARS, it also amended its rules regarding State EAS Plan content and defined current EAS designations to ensure that SECCs are able to use those designations to help them describe their respective state’s EAS alert distribution hierarchies in their State EAS Plans,” the commission continued.
“Compliance with the new State EAS Plan content rules and EAS designations will become required at the same time as the filing deadline for electronic submission of State EAS Plans in the ARS.”
The announcement was made by the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the commission. Questions should be emailed to David.Munson@fcc.gov.
The post ARS Is Now Open for Filing State EAS Plans appeared first on Radio World.
In March 2021, a transaction was consummated that saw the sale of 20 unbuilt LPTV construction permits from Landover Wireless, a 30-year veteran of the global wireless telecommunications industry.
Now, a second deal has been struck that sees Landover shedding more low-power TV stations ahead of a deadline for building them expires. And, it involves the same buyer.
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NAB Deputy General Counsel Patrick McFadden has offered his response to a new attempt by Microsoft to overturn recently adopted FCC rules that allow broadcasters to further the deployment of NextGen TV services through the voluntary rollout of ATSC 3.0.
In his view, Microsoft’s request submitted to the Commission can’t hide its “empty promises” to deploy TV white space devices.
We’ve got our thoughts on Microsoft’s plan … er, folly … too. It’s another RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION, and it appears below the rest of this story for Members Only.
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In-person conferences are back on the schedule, with IBC on May 25 confirming it will stage a 2021 show in December, postponing it from September rather than scratching it off the calendar or going with an all-virtual presentation.
Ahead of that event, in late August, is a state broadcasters’ association conference that promises to be one of the more dynamic post-pandemic gatherings leading up to the NAB Show in October: the 70th Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Summer Conference.
The 2021 agenda is a dynamic one, and WBA President/CEO Michelle Vetterkind spoke with RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson to share what’s on tap for attendees this year in this podcast, presented by dot.FM.
Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Michelle Vetterkind” on Spreaker.
Peter Rothfuss will take the helm in Audacy’s Gainesville/Ocala, Fla., market starting June 1.
He’ll succeed Dick O’Neil, who is retiring.
[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]
Rothfuss will oversee WKTK(FM), WRUF(FM), WSKY(FM), WRUF(AM + FM translator). He has been the market’s general sales manager for five years.
Past roles include marketing and sales positions at Audacy Wilkes-Barre; sales management at Townsquare Media; chief operating officer for The Advertising Agency in Winter Park, Fla.
The announcement was made by Regional President Claudia Menegus.
Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.
The post Audacy Promotes Rothfuss in Gainesville appeared first on Radio World.
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