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The author is CEO of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.
NFCB commentaries are featured regularly at www.radioworld.com.

As recent images from the Webb telescope morph our perceptions of the
vastness of the cosmos, extreme weather events here on planet Earth are
also morphing local radio’s role in the life of communities that are increasingly ravaged by floods, storms, earthquakes and massive fires. Ali Lightfoot, general manager of KVMR in Nevada City, put it this way during
my recent visit to the station: “There is more to community radio than
music. There is a lot more that you are doing in terms of serving the
community in times of trouble that you cannot neglect, she said. It’s about finding a balance between keeping people informed and helping them through
a bunch of really difficult transitions.”

On a regular day we like to think that people depend on us, but in the
midst of a terrifying weather event like wildfire, local broadcasters understand more deeply just how much their community needs them. Power
outages and evacuation orders are only the beginning of a domino effect of issues that place pressure on small local stations in remote rural areas,
where so many community radio stations are.

In Nevada City this reality has led to a lot of restructuring. KVMR focused
on building collaboration with local county officials. They trained 200
people in emergency broadcast procedures, provided top of the hour coverage around the clock and created a team of phone volunteers to field a plethora
of questions from the distressed public. In this way, they became
instrumental in completing a circle between the community and the agencies
that serve them. Mind you that this went on in the midst of staff being evacuated from their homes and one staffer losing their home to fire.

In the last wildfire event, Lightfoot learned that she was being evacuated
from her home while she was on the air reporting. Sprinkle in a global
pandemic and you begin to see the outsized demands being placed on local stations who run with a small staff and legions of volunteers.
Smoke from nearby wildfires darkens the sky outside the KVMR studios in downtown Nevada City, California. August 2020 (Photo Credit: Ali Lightfoot)

[Read More Guest Commentaries Here]

There are ongoing concerns even when the fires aren’t blazing. For KVMR, increased fire insurance rates plus more demand for people who can wire
backup generators into the system present challenges. In the quieter months without fires the station has developed remote broadcasting kits, put evacuation plans in place, fleshed out a plan to better mobilize volunteers
and generally beef up back up plans for the backup plan. Fire season used
to start in September at the base of the Sierras where Nevada City is
nestled, but now there is no real beginning or end to it so this kind of emergency preparedness is ever present and year-round. As Lightfoot noted, “Most of the time you are just trying to do the best you can.”

The time when emergency response was four beeps from a box, randomly
scheduled to make sure a mechanism was in place when it might be needed, is
a thing of the past. Larger global weather patterns affect local
broadcasters on a daily basis in their technical operation, reporting
capacity, budget needs and their immediate physical well-being and safety.

It’s a daunting reality to absorb, yet it is also an unprecedented opportunity to show up in new ways to serve communities that rely on the
signal flow to keep them safe, connect them with resources and deliver
comfort in times of trouble. There is a whole new world of galaxies that
the Webb telescope is showing us at this moment in time and there is a
whole new world of service that local broadcasters are revealing in their
quest to be a beneficial presence in the places they call home.

The post Come Hell or Wildfire appeared first on Radio World.


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Public Media Company Promotes Holmes

Posted: 20 Jul 2022 09:11 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/people-news/public-media-company-promotes-holmes

Audrie Anderson

Public Media Company has promoted Steve Holmes to managing director and
hired a new director of accounting, Audrie Andersen.

The Colorado-based nonprofit is a consulting firm that focuses on public
media.

Holmes has been with the organization for five years as director. Among
other things it credited him with providing public media organizations with
new analytical insights and leading the Impact for All initiative. He
worked prior at PBS for 11 years.
Steve Holmes

Andersen is former director of finance for Fathom Events.

“Audrie Andersen’s addition to Public Media Company will help the strategic consulting nonprofit expand its services to local and independent media
across the U.S.,” it stated. CEO Erin Moran said the company’s virtual accounting service has grown significantly in the past three years.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

The post Public Media Company Promotes Holmes appeared first on Radio World.


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StoryCorps Launches Fresh App

Posted: 20 Jul 2022 08:46 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/storycorps-launches-fresh-app


StoryCorps has a new free mobile app.
A sample screen as seen on iPhone

“From one device, the StoryCorps App allows anyone, anywhere, to conveniently prepare for and record a high-quality interview for
preservation in the online StoryCorps archive and eventually at the
American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress,” the nonprofit organization announced.

“The app also seamlessly enables users to explore StoryCorps’ rich content, curate personalized interview collections and share StoryCorps stories to social media.”

Since its founding 19 years ago, StoryCorps says, it has given 600,000
people, in all 50 states, the chance to record interviews about their
lives. The recordings go to the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, “the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered.”

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The app user can choose to make their interviews public, or available only
to the StoryCorps community, or just with friends and family.

The app is available on the App Store and  Google Play. 

StoryCorps’ first app rolled out in 2015 with the help of a $1 million TED Prize awarded to founder Dave Isay. The organization credits that app with helping grow its archive significantly.

The post StoryCorps Launches Fresh App appeared first on Radio World.


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CRA Runs DRM Digital AM Trial in Czechia

Posted: 20 Jul 2022 05:46 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/global/cra-runs-drm-digital-am-trial-in-czechia

Marcel Prochazka’s tweet announcing the CRA DRM trials from České Budějovice.

Czech transmission services company České Radiokomunikace (CRA) is testing the DRM medium-wave digital radio system on 954 kHz.

According to a tweet from Marcel Prochazka, director of legal and
regulatory affairs for CRA, the transmissions are originating from České Budějovice in South Bohemia and operating at a power of 3.16 kW from a 107-meter HAAT antenna.

CRA stated in a Czech-language press release that the test is designed to verify the possibility of using its existing analog transmitters for
digital radio broadcasting. It hopes to verify various modulation
parameters along with day and night coverage, usable network capacity and immunity to interference.

CRA Spokesperson Anna Tůmová said the primary goal of the test is “to verify the compatibility of our existing AM mid-wave transmitters with DRM.
We will evaluate the test results in 2023.”

[Related: “Australia Demonstrates DRM on AM, FM”]

Although the DRM Consortium is not involved in the Czech trial, Ruxandra Obreja, chair of the consortium, welcomed it. “We are very pleased to see this new digital medium-wave test in the Czech Republic and its
thoroughness … We are confident that this test will confirm the good DRM performance as recorded daily in India on their 35 plus transmitters and elsewhere.”

Obreja also noted the potential value of upgrading CRA’s analog equipment
to support digital radio. “The fact that the analog transmitter used in České Budějovice can be upgraded to DRM is a bonus and will give confidence to those who want to go digital for wider coverage without replacing
everything and investing vast sums of money, especially in the current
climate. … We are looking forward to the Czech test results due out in 2023.”

Public-service broadcaster Český Rozhlas is cooperating with CRA in the tests, which are broadcasting ČRo’s news station Radiožurnál. ČRo has steadily decreased its use of AM broadcasting in recent years in favor of
FM and DAB+.

Although CRA does not have current plans for ongoing DRM transmissions, Tůmová said “We are discussing further use of DRM with potential customers.”

The post CRA Runs DRM Digital AM Trial in Czechia appeared first on Radio World.


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NAB Supports Leaving Franken FMs in Place

Posted: 19 Jul 2022 02:01 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/nab-supports-leaving-franken-fms-in-place


For years no one knew exactly where the National Association of
Broadcasters stood on the idea of sanctioning the operation of “Franken FM” stations in the United States. Now we know. NAB this week expressed support
for the continuation of service for the 13 FM6 stations currently in operation. 

The so-called Franken FM stations, which derive their nickname from a
phrase coined by broadcast engineers to describe their unorthodox nature,
are hybrid, digital, low-power TV/analog FM operations serving several
major cities, including Chicago and New York. 

NAB’s recent comments to the FCC outline a path forward to compatibility between so-called Franken FM stations broadcasting at 87.7 FM and
traditional FM stations operating on the lower end of the reserved band. It notes that there have been no reports of interference from the FM6
stations, which operate as ancillary or supplementary services, in their
more than 20 year history.

“Loyal audiences have developed around some FM6 stations during this period and NAB believes permanent authorization of those established services is warranted and would serve the public interest,” NAB told the FCC. 

There are 13 FM6 stations under temporary authority from the FCC, according
to the latest documentation, which operate under the condition that their
audio and video programming reach similar populations.  

The FCC released a Fifth Notice of Proposed Rulemaking earlier this summer
with designs to finally settle the issue of what to do with FM6 stations.
The agency asked if it should allow the FM6 stations to continue to operate
or look for more efficient uses of the TV 6 spectrum. The FCC could simply grandfather in the 13 FM6 stations rather than continuing to renew STAs [Special Temporary Authority].

[Related: Comment Deadlines Set in FM6 NPRM]

NAB submits that television service must have “unconstrained primacy” in that spectrum and that any expansion of the FM6 station service must first
be studied further.

“NAB is aware of no new technical studies that would support elimination or revision of the current channel 6 distance separation rules for the various classes of FM service operating on reserved band FM Channels 201-220 and believes such studies must be a prerequisite to any expansion of FM6 stations,” NAB commented to the FCC.  

The broadcaster group downplays the need to repurpose the TV 6 spectrum for additional FM channels, as suggested by National Public Radio. “NAB recognizes that there may be a desire for additional FM channels in some markets, for example, to provide translator outlets for AM stations or to relieve crowding in the FM band. However, the minimal relief afforded by a limited repurposing of TV channel 6 to the FM service in areas where there
are presently no channel 6 stations is unlikely to outweigh the potential costs.” 

In addition, any authorization of new FM stations in an FM expanded band created from television spectrum could also preclude new television
stations, NAB wrote in its comments. There are currently 98 television
stations authorized to operate on Channel 6 in the U.S., according to the
FCC.

NAB also believes that the requirement to transmit FM6 at 87.75 MHz is unnecessary and is linked to the now-obsolete NTSC television transmission system. Instead, NAB proposes a minor tweak to require the 13 FM6 stations
to operate on 87.7 MHz in order to give licensees the opportunity to
improve analog FM6 reception while maintaining ATSC-3.0 compatibility.  

[Related: Do Frankens Really Fit Into the Radio Ecosystem?]

NAB explains this suggestion further: “This small 50 kHz shift in frequency away from the FM band would presumably reduce the potential for
interference to FM stations operating in the reserved band while improving compatibility and fidelity for FM receivers that can tune only in 200 kHz steps. Indeed, NAB notes that many or most FM6 operations apparently
operate at 87.7 MHz and that the technical analysis done in support of FM6 operation in conjunction with ATSC 3.0 involved testing at 87.7 MHz.”

NAB concludes its FM6 comments by suggesting that no change in protection
by FM stations of TV6 stations is required. It does, however, believe that
FM6 operations on 87.7 MHz are an interference threat to FM stations on at least 88.1 and 88.3 MHz and vice-versa. “Protection requirements are needed to protect both stations in the FM band and FM6 stations on 87.7 MHz. 

“As a starting point, NAB believes that the second-and third-adjacent
channel protection requirements contained in Section 73.509 of the rules
may be appropriate with respect to 87.7 MHz FM6 stations and FM stations operating on Channels 201 and 202 (88.1 and 88.3 MHz, respectively).”

Reply comments are due by Aug. 1. Submit comments using the FCC online
comment system. Use 03-185 in the Proceeding field. 

The post NAB Supports Leaving Franken FMs in Place appeared first on Radio World.

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