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Speaking in front of the Consumer Technology Association’s Government Affairs Council, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks took the time to recognize many of the biggest tech advancements being made today, but rather than just marvel at them, took a critical look at where they are coming from and how we may need to protect ourselves against them.

Giving his speech on Jan. 6 before the official start of the CES 2020 conference, Starks laid out what his primary goals will be for 2020: “… ensuring that our communications networks and technologies support security, privacy and our democratic values.”

[Read: Starks Criticizes FCC Record on Media Diversity]

Starks brought up many different forms of technologies that on the surface prove beneficial to our everyday lives — entities accessing our data for more personalization; algorithms that can help classify and research topics based on data and past trends; and facial recognition technology for increased security. But he also offered instances where all of these technologies can prove dangerous, abused or misleading.

“We must undertake, right now and continuously, the thorough examination of all these new capabilities to decide now how we will ensure that they are all poised to serve a future that creates opportunities instead of reinforcing existing inequalities,” he said.

He also brought up the potential danger he sees in China. He notes that he has been working to remove equipment provided by Huawei and ZTE from communications networks because he says there have been instances when such equipment transferred secure data to the Chinese government. He also says that technology developed in China is often not taking into consideration the civil liberties that are required for nonauthoritarian regimes.

Potentially helping alleviate much of this, according to Starks, will be 5G.

“I am optimistic that technology developments, especially 5G standards, will support our efforts to improve network and data security,” he said. But still, it will fall on people to make sure that the new technology meets the appropriate standards.

He added, “If we work together, I am confident we can build a future that is more advanced, more secure and more prosperous, and more equitable for all.”

 

The post Starks: Tech Advancing People’s Lives, But Caution Still Needed appeared first on Radio World.

For those who want to sound off to the FCC about using all-digital on the AM band — either “fer it” or “agin it” —- the comment deadlines now are set.

Comments are due March 9, reply comments are due April 6.

As RW has reported, the FCC recently released a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish rules governing all-digital broadcasting by AM radio stations in the United States.

Read the NPRM here. The NPRM number is 19-123.

 

The post Dates Set for Comments on Digital AM Proposal appeared first on Radio World.

The nomination period for the 2020 NAB Crystal Radio Awards is open now through the end of January, the National Association of Broadcasters says.

In order to be considered, radio stations must submit an entry describing their community service in 2019. NAB Television/Radio Awards Manager Tobi Hall can provide additional information about the process.

[Learn about the 2019 Crystal Radio Award winners]

In February, a panel will choose 50 finalists from these entries. Then, 10 Crystal Radio Award winners will be announced and recognized during the April 21 We Are Broadcasters Celebration in Las Vegas. The 2020 NAB Show is scheduled for April 18–22.

The post 2020 NAB Crystal Radio Award Nominations Open appeared first on Radio World.

Gary Shapiro

The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off today in Las Vegas and runs through Jan. 10. As usual, the massive event is expected to highlight the technology trends that will have the biggest impact on the consumer market, as well as the broadcast industry.

And who better to guide CES 2020 attendees than Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro? No one, except perhaps Shapiro, Fred Jacobs and Buzz Knight. The trio break down what you should expect and need to know in a Jacobs Media post entitled, “We’re Off to CES 2020 and Gary Shapiro Is Our Guide.”

According to Jacobs, “The connected car, AI, 5G, autonomous driving, smart speakers/voice, wearables/hearables — all are major innovations impacting our industry that we’ll gain a better understanding of this week.”

Learn more and read the full Shapiro Q&A at jacocbsmedia.com.

 

The post Shapiro Highlights Trends in CES 2020 Look appeared first on Radio World.

Many years ago as a DJ at a rock station, I became friends with a bartender who was a regular listener of my show. He seemed like a solid guy, and I admired that while he poured drinks for a living, he did not drink. 

One morning perusing the newspaper, I saw a headline about a KKK rally that had occurred that weekend, with a photo of a bunch of guys in white robes carrying crosses through the center of town. The leader had taken off his hood.

Much to my shock, I recognized my “pal,” the bartender. An ugly snarl on his face, he was screaming something at the crowd. 

I felt sick as the realization hit me for the first time that it’s impossible to know what hatred lies in a person’s heart.  

WORK TO DO

For a long time, I thought racism in America was decreasing; but social media, videos on YouTube and continuous targeted racist violence clearly indicate that our country has a long way to go. 

Historically, the radio industry has contributed both to perpetuating racism and educating listeners to fight against it. While the scales have certainty tipped toward education, tolerance and awareness, we have much work to do. Perhaps the few examples that follow can kickstart a New Year’s plan at your station.

• The website of WOUB in Athens, Ohio, provides searchable tags for racism and hate crimes.

  Let’s begin by recognizing public radio for the range and timeliness of stories that NPR and affiliates are running on the air and featuring prominently on station websites. Search the term “racism” plus a set of public radio call letters, and you will often encounter a page focused purely on stories pertinent to the issue. 

• CBS local websites also cover the topic, as do many other commercial broadcasters. 
• It’s best when the stories are aggregated under one tag for archive viewing and for search purposes. I’m hopeful that most of these stories make it on the air as well as the websites. When time doesn’t permit, it does make sense to do shorter on-air stories with a reference to details on the website.  
• Promotionally, there’s much all radio formats can do to help organizations that fight racism and other forms of hatred. As you’re looking at your 2020 event calendar, could you schedule a month during which you work with a local non-profit to raise awareness, volunteerism and money? Make sure to utilize on-air PSAs running with good frequency. This is also a rare opportunity for you to involve local religious institutions in all aspects of your plan. Churches, synagogues and mosques have people whom they can activate through social media, mailing lists and pulpits.
• For talk/news formats, there’s no question that it takes an ever-vigilant program director to work with hosts on understanding what constitutes racism and how to deal with live callers who are on a mission to spread hatred. Racism and hate speech, from the right or the left, is wrong and has no place on American radio. Industry veterans know that it’s a small but vocal part of the audience, often trolls, who call in a lot. If you have hosts who can handle the rants, that’s terrific, and the calls can be transformed into a learning moment; but when it becomes repetitive and tedious to deal with the same callers, a number block may be in order.   

“Yo, Is This Racist?” is a podcast co-hosted by Andrew Ti, creator of the popular blog of the same name.

• There are already many podcasts focused on racism and cultural intolerance. Does your parent company have one you can help promote, or is the topic of enough interest in your market to support your own effort? Either way, be sure to promote on-air and through all of your platforms.
• When is the last time you had a staff discussion concerning racism and cultural intolerance? If the answer is a long time ago, or never, this is the time of year to get it done. Many experts are available to help you tackle this tough topic on two levels: how you approach issues on-air and at remotes and, perhaps even more sensitive, in your station’s own environment. 

Whatever one’s background, each of us benefits from enriching our self-awareness as regards social diversity and learning more about how others can do so as well. As we enter a new decade, let’s take the opportunity to help keep life peaceful for everyone.

The post Reflections on Racism and Radio  appeared first on Radio World.

Radio station and podcast provider Radioline, a Baracoda company, is showing its Hybrid Radio application for cars at CES 2020 in Las Vegas.

The Paris-based firm is exhibiting at the show alongside NXP to present the new automotive infotainment application.

It is demonstrating the capabilities of the NXP infotainment chip set in combination with the Hybrid Radio solution.

Radioline, which develops car applications that are compatible with Linux HTML5 and Android for cars, says the solution “meets the growing technological needs of car manufacturers.”

According to the company, the Hybrid Radio app offers “an easy and customizable interface for an optimal” driving experience.

“Radioline has combined its technologies with NXP to ensure an interactive and secure driving experience that meets the driver’s needs and pleasure,” said Xavier Filliol, COO of Radioline.

Characteristics of the system include automatic switching between six connections, IP, DAB +, FM, HD, DRM and CDR; the possibility for drivers to save and find their favorite stations, podcasts or songs; access to local, national and international programs through catalogs available on the app; access to content information such as a title, description, cover and album name. In addition, says the firm, the app features a “clean and intuitive” in-house designed interface.

“Radioline has quickly developed an application well suited to demonstrate the capabilities of our infotainment chip set,” said Nacho Seirul-lo, NXP’s director of program management.

“Radioline has enabled the integration of Broadcast and Internet radio in our radio demonstrator thereby improving the user experience.”

 The company is exhibiting at the NXP booth CP-18 in the Central Plaza.

The post Radionline Shows Hybrid Radio App at CES appeared first on Radio World.

OTTAWA — People from various areas of the industry are optimistic about radio’s fortunes in 2020, especially when it comes to “riding the digital wave.” But some of them see challenges in radio’s ability to attract and hold younger listeners, who must be won over to keep this audio medium viable for decades to come.

Angel Radio’s 60+ audience is increasingly listening to the station via smart speaker. Credit: Angel Radio

CONTINUED GROWTH FOR DAB+

Let’s start with the most positive radio trend in 2020: DAB/DAB+ will continue to grow in reach, usage and popularity.

“We expect to see continued growth of digital listening as audiences shift away from analog platforms,” said Aris Erdogdu, WorldDAB’s communications manager. “DAB/DAB+ will remain the dominant digital platform — especially in the car.”

A case in point: “In the United Kingdom, digital listening has increased to a new record of 56.8%, up from 52.4% in Q3 2018,” said Erdogdu. “What’s more, listening via DAB now accounts for 39.7% of all listening, and 70% of digital listening.”

“DAB digital radio is also prevailing in the automotive sector,” he added. “In the U.K., 93% of new cars now come equipped with DAB as standard, and DAB listening in the car has increased by 13.1 million hours — or 15.5% — compared to the same time last year.”

2020 will be a watershed year for in-car DAB, thanks to the European Union’s decision to require all new car radios in the EU to receive digital terrestrial radio by Dec. 20, 2020.

“Germany has recently transposed this directive into national legislation, while Italy and France — which is preparing the launch of its national DAB+ network in 2020 — already have laws in place which conform to the EU rule,” said Erdogdu.

DAB/DAB+ is attracting attention in other parts of the world including the Middle East, North and South Africa as well as Southeast Asia. “Tunisia is the latest country to have rolled out DAB+, and neighboring Algeria has also hit the ground running with the launch of a DAB+ trial in and around the capital Algiers,” Erdogdu said.

Tony Smith, founder/station manager of Angel Radio. Credit: Angel Radio

DAB+ is also gaining ground in Australia. “Permanent commercial DAB+ services were launched in the cities of Canberra, Darwin and Hobart in 2019, so there are now eight major population centers in Australia with DAB+, and more regional areas will follow next year,” said Joan Warner, chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia (CRA).

“DAB+ will grow as commercial networks are offering more DAB+-only stations and enhancing and rebranding their services,” she noted. “For instance, Southern Cross

Austereo is now offering five DAB+-only stations under their Triple M brand — Triple M Greatest Hits, Triple M Classic Rock, Triple M Aussie, Triple M Country and Triple M Hard N Heavy. Listeners have more music choice to fit their mood, while advertisers can access incremental audience reach beyond the main Triple M station.”

Aris Erdogdu is WorldDAB Communications Manager. Credit: WorldDAB

DAB/DAB+ offers business opportunities for smaller broadcasters such as the U.K.’s Angel Radio. It is a community radio station serving listeners 60 years and older via FM, regional DAB and web streaming.

“Since 2015, Angel Radio has run one of the trial small-scale DAB multiplexes,” said Tony Smith, founder and station manager of Angel Radio.

Joan Warner is chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia. Credit: Commercial Radio Australia

“We currently bring 28 radio services to DAB+ listeners in the Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant areas. These stations are mainly small internet-only or FM community stations that could not afford the cost of carriage on regional DAB. Our multiplex carriage rate card is flexible enough to enable larger, more financially stable stations, to subsidize the cost of carriage for much smaller niche stations.”

SMART SPEAKERS ARE GOOD FOR RADIO

In April 2019, the technology research firm Canalsys predicted that the number of web-connected smart speakers in use worldwide would increase 82.4% from 114 million units in 2018 to 207.9 million units in 2019. Given the proven popularity of smart speakers such as the Amazon Alexa/Echo, Google Home, Apple HomePod, and the Sonos One, this trend seems likely to continue in 2020.

Peter Moore is owner of Radio Caroline. Credit: Radio Caroline

Radio is tagging along for the smart speaker ride: “The use of smart speakers to listen to the radio more than doubled in the past year,” said James Cridland, radio futurologist and editor of the Podnews newsletter. “Live radio is the most popular audio consumed on smart speakers, by total time spent listening, and it seems that these devices will continue to replace broadcast receivers in more households.”

It isn’t just Millennials who listen to radio via smart speakers. “Alexa is definitely being used more by our older audience these days,” said Angel Radio’s Tony Smith. “Around 15% of our U.K. online audience is using Alexa and Echo Dot.”

“The future seems to be the net aided by smart speakers, laptops, smart phones and apps,” said Peter Moore, owner of Radio Caroline, the one-time ship-based pirate broadcaster that is now a legal terrestrial radio station on AM/MW, DAB and the web. “Our online audience has now increased 45-fold whereas our satellite audience was at best static and that while we extensively use local DAB, this is just a novelty that we hope may develop in the future.”

Some of the DAB/DAB+ radios now available to consumers. Credit: WorldDAB

PODCASTING GAINING GROUND

Podcasting is a trend that radio people are talking about, with many broadcasters jumping into the medium to stake out new territory and attract new listeners.

A case in point: In 2020, “there will be a strong focus on podcasting as we’ve recently launched the Australian Podcast Ranker, which will be a regular monthly report of the top 100 most downloaded and listened to podcasts in Australia,” said Commercial Radio Australia’s Joan Warner.

“The aim is to drive consumer awareness of the great variety of content out there and increase advertiser understanding of the opportunities in the podcast space. The latest Australian Share of Audio study by GfK showed that consumers are now spending more time listening to podcasts than owned music.”

Radio Caroline’s former ship-based transmitter on the MV Ross Revenge. Credit: Colm O’Laoi 

WINNING YOUNGER LISTENERS REMAINS A CHALLENGE

One negative trend that appears likely to continue in 2020 is broadcast radio’s weakening appeal to younger listeners.

“While radio continues to reach 9 out of 10 adults in most countries across the world, it appears to be losing its gloss with young audiences who are listening for considerably less time,” said Cridland. “Radio is increasingly relying on an aging population to continue delivering their audience figures. Younger audiences, who increasingly look for on-demand content, needs to be a focus for the industry.”

To turn this situation around, “Radio needs programming to attract younger audiences, and we need radio to understand that ‘live and local’ is much less compelling for younger audiences than ‘real and relevant — real people on their air, with relevant content for them,” he said.

“This is a real challenge to radio’s long-term future, and I’m increasingly concerned that radio broadcasters are complacently using their current audience figures as an excuse not to change.”

The post 2020 Looks Good for Digital Radio, Smart Speakers appeared first on Radio World.

The Federal Communication Commission proposes to amend its rules to allow AM broadcasters to use all-digital transmissions. All- digital AM broadcasting has the potential to provide a more reliable and robust radio signal than analog, as well as auxiliary digital services.

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Granted Gray Media Group's Request for Dismissal of Mandatory Carriage Complaint

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