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Radio World

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NAB Opens State-of-the-Art Media Production Facility

Posted: 20 Apr 2022 02:33 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/nab-opens-state-of-the-art-media-production-facility

Photo courtesy of NAB

This story was originally published by our sister station TV Technology. 

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has completed a new state-of-the-art media production facility at NABs headquarters, located at
1 M Street, SE in Washington, D.C.

The buildout of the facility, including a studio and media hub, was made possible by donations of critical equipment and studio design services from leading companies in the business of content creation and management, the
NAB said.


One major highlight of the studio is a curved,15-foot interactive video
wall that serves as a high-tech backdrop for live and pre-recorded
programming. In addition to energy-saving LED lighting and robotic cameras,
the studio features a powerful edit suite capable of 8K post-production.

Led by Emmy-winning producer and vice president of media production Michael Khatcheressian, NAB will use the studio to create national spots and
branded educational content for its members.

Productions will include compelling digital stories for NABs trade shows
and high-profile award programs. The studio will also be used for
production of NABs Congressional PSA Campaign and the NAB Leadership Foundation’s Service to America Awards. External organizations may rent the studio and its staff for original productions as well.

“As the premier trade association representing America’s radio and television broadcasters and as the producer of the world’s largest
convention for media and entertainment, NAB has a critical need for
advanced audio and video production capabilities,” said April Carty Sipp, executive vice president of Industry Affairs at NAB. “We are grateful for
the generous support of the companies that contributed to the buildout of
our new studio and media hub.”

Companies contributing to the NAB’s new media production facility include:

Angry Badger Productions Scenic and lighting design, creative direction, production coordination services
Planar Fine-Pitch LED Video Wall
Vitec Production Solutions Premium lighting, mobile power, prompting and camera support products
Barbizon Lighting Company Studio systems integration and lighting controls PESA Router switching system
The Launch Group Scenic and set fabrication, engineering, and themed décor Video Visions, Inc. Professional audio-visual design, installation and
service
Magis Media Interactive storytelling solutions for elections and custom datasets. Video servers and control interface for video panels and DMX
devices
The Light Source – MEGABATTEN connector strip


More details about NAB’s media production facility and the contributing companies is available here.

The post NAB Opens State-of-the-Art Media Production Facility appeared
first on Radio World.


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Former NAB CEO Joins Beasleys Board of Directors

Posted: 20 Apr 2022 02:17 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/people-news/former-nab-ceo-joins-beasleys-board-of-directors

Gordon Smith (photo via Beasley Media Group)
Former National Association of Broadcasters President and CEO Senator
Gordon Smith will join Beasley Media Groups board of directors

Following a unanimous vote in March, Smith will be added to the slate of directors at the annual shareholders meeting on May 25.
Smith joined the NAB as President and CEO in November 2009. He served  the radio and television industries for more than a decade before transitioning
to the role of special advisor at the end of 2021.
“During my years at NAB’s helm, I was privileged to get to know many of the outstanding firms in membership at the association,” said Smith. “Among these, Beasley Media Group was always in the upper echelons. It was my privilege to know George Beasley and it will be my pleasure to continue
working with Caroline, Bruce and Brian on the Beasley board.”
Beasley Media Groups Board Chair and CEO Caroline Beasley said its an honor
to welcome Smith to the team.
“His outstanding leadership, dedication and service to broadcasters and our nation is unparalleled, said Beasley. His understanding of Washington and
how to navigate the halls of power will serve our Board well for years to
come. I look forward to working closely with Gordon and our board as we continue to evolve our company forward.”

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]
During Smith’s tenure, NAB played a pivotal role on a number of significant issues affecting radio broadcasters, including the preservation and modernization of the music licensing and copyright system, and reviews of
media ownership rules.
Prior to joining NAB, Smith served as a two-term U.S. senator from Oregon
and later as senior advisor in the Washington offices of Covington &
Burling, LLP. During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Smiths committee assignments included the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
Committee, the panel that oversees all broadcast-related legislation and
has Federal Communications Commission oversight responsibilities.
Other members of Beasley Media Groups board include Allen B. Shaw (Vice Chairman), Bruce G. Beasley, Brian E. Beasley, Peter A. Bordes, Jr.,
Michael J. Fiorile, Leslie V. Godridge, and Charles M. Warfield.

The post Former NAB CEO Joins Beasleys Board of Directors appeared first on Radio World.


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Workbench: Squeak, Scrape, Sag and Stick?

Posted: 20 Apr 2022 10:16 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/workbench/workbench-squeak-scrape-sag-and-stick


Rolf Taylor is with Rocket Engineering and Consulting in northern Virginia.
He read about the lock problems we discussed here in February. 
Fig. 1: Make sure the strike plate is aligned properly.

Rolf divides lock issues into cylinder problems, latch problems (doorknob
or deadbolt) and lockset problems involving the mechanism inside the door.

If the latch or bolt is binding, fix that first. Friction here is a cause
of frustration and broken keys. Lubricating the cylinder won’t help. Often it’s a matter of aligning or filing the strike plate on the door frame, as shown in Fig. 1. 

Note that when you fix hinge problems (like loose screws causing the hinge
or door to sag), you can cause misalignment issues.

A little bit of very light lubrication on a bolt or latch is OK (wax is a
good option) but won’t solve most problems. 

For deadbolts, see if the door is hard to lock/unlock using the twist knob inside the door instead of the key outside. If it is hard to operate, alignment is likely your problem. 

With doorknobs, lifting up while turning the knob can give insight into
hinge problems. Viewing the alignment of the latch as it meets the strike
plate can also be useful.

For the lockset, binding is often indicative of long-term wear. Still, disassembly and lubrication is worth trying. For old-timers, this is
similar to lubricating the various parts of an automatic record changer. 

If the old grease is stiff, you will need to clean it off. If it’s in good shape it may just need to be redistributed to the right areas and perhaps rejuvenated with some oil mixed in. 

Rolf generally recommends a very light grease, like the tubes of white
grease sold for lubricating car door hinges. Often he will mix this grease
with a bit of light oil such as 3-In-One to obtain a more liquid
suspension, which is easier to distribute. 
Fig. 2: Check alignment of the latch with the striker plate to help
diagnose a problem.

(According to 3inone.com, their product’s roots go all the way back to
1894, when George W. Cole of Asbury Park, N.J., compounded a mixture to accomplish three things in connection with the maintenance of a bicycle: a lubricant, a rust preventive and a cleaner.)

For the actual lock cylinders — the part where the key goes — first suspect the key. Copies of a key may be marginal and thus not work consistently. Lubricating the cylinder may help, but it’s better to replace the marginal key with a fresh copy made from a key that works properly. If you have a
key with a six- or eight-digit number code on it, that is an original.

If the only key you have is badly worn, you can ask a locksmith to “originate” a key from the code. This should give you a perfect copy made to the original specs. If the cylinder is difficult to turn using multiple keys, lubrication is worthwhile.

Lock-Ease Graphite Lubricant by AGS is an aerosol, similar to KANO’s Penephite graphited penetrating oil. It is readily available at hardware
stores but less expensive than the KANO product. You could try that if the 3-In-One doesn’t do the job. 

[Read more about fixing a common door problem.]

Lock and lube

Continuing our ongoing discussion of lubricants and related products:

Alan Colwell is an SBE Life Certified Professional Broadcast Engineer. He
is a fan of LPS No. 1 Greaseless Lubricant, sold by hardware and industrial supply stores as well as Amazon. He was introduced to this product nearly
50 years ago by his local electronics dealer. 

Since then, Alan has used LPS-1 to keep all of his locks working. He
prefers it over the popular WD-40 brand, which costs less but that he finds hard on plastics. When he worked for a local radio and TV repair shop, they would clean noisy volume controls with tuner cleaner; they tried WD-40 on plastic volume controls, but it melted them, while LPS-1 did not. 

Free is good

Dan Slentz discovered a really neat site that can help engineers manipulate their files. TinyWow.com is a collection of online tools that perform tasks such as editing PDFs, converting a PDF to a JPEG image, compressing or re-sizing video, adding text to an image or converting a PDF to a Word document. 

“TinyWow is free. We don’t have ads, we don’t sell data,” the site states
proudly.

“We currently have no plans to monetize. Why offer these tools for free? We operate two tech websites: Alphr & TechJunkie. We thought our users might
find these tools helpful. For now, utilizing our existing infrastructure we
are able to operate these tools at minimal additional cost. Building this
and watching the growth has been fun, so we’re going to keep building free stuff.”

They add that when you upload a file to their servers for processing, they delete the file 15 minutes after the processing is complete. 
Fig. 3: Some of the free tools at TinyWow.com

GWB for your XLR

Oh, and here’s a trick Rolf Taylor learned to keep XLR pins wired properly: “George Washington Bridge.”

1 = Ground (George)

2 = White (Washington)

3 = Black (Bridge)



But Rolf adds that when he learned this, most microphone cable had white
and black for signal conductors. Because most cabling today substitutes “red” for the Pin 2 “white” connection, you’ll have to rework the phrase!
Suggestions?


John Bisset, CPBE, has more than 50 years in broadcasting and is in his
32nd year writing Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales for Telos Alliance and is a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award. 

Workbench submissions are encouraged and qualify for SBE recertification credit. Email johnpbisset@gmail.com. 

The post Workbench: Squeak, Scrape, Sag and Stick? appeared first on Radio World.


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Dielectric Celebrates 80th Birthday with New RFHawkeye Features

Posted: 20 Apr 2022 09:47 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/products/dielectric-adds-apollo-to-rfhawkeye


Among broadcast technology companies celebrating big anniversaries this
year is Dielectric, which turns 80.

The company will highlight the anniversary in its NAB Show booth in Las
Vegas. It describes itself as “the broadcast industry’s leading and longest-serving over-the-air antenna and RF systems supplier.” (Another long-timer, today called GatesAir, turns 100 this year, while
Audio-Technica is turning 60 and Inovonics is 50.)

Dielectric was founded by Charles “Doc” Brown to develop transmission lines for wartime radar systems in the 1940s. The boom in television after the
war helped drive the company’s growth. Brown moved it to Raymond, Maine, in 1954.
A view of the Dielectric facility in Maine in the 1960s.

Dielectric will demonstrate new monitoring automation features to its
software toolset RFHawkeye, including an analytics platform called Apollo, which it says lets users quickly analyze data from a site that can be formulated into a presentation package that is easy to digest.

“These enhancements will help TV and radio engineers take quick and
decisive action on current problems, and take preventative action in the transmission line or antenna system that eliminate potentially disastrous situations down the road,” said President Keith Pelletier.

“Besides the intuitive active interface, Apollo can also provide customized reports, showing important system performance data and trends, over
selectable time periods,” he added. 

A managed services layer will help TV and radio stations remotely monitor their RF systems. 

As previously reported, the company also will show its new line of FMP
pylon antennas for FM, and VP of Engineering John Schadler will give a talk
in the technical conference about that on Tuesday.

It also will show its High Frequency Simulation Software tools that
virtualize and accelerate FM pattern studies. 

[Related: “Allow Computational Modeling of Directional FM Antennas”]

“Dielectric will also offer a new interactive experience at its new West Hall location where there will be a feature wall including some of the top Dielectric sites in the world. Visitors can vote for their favorite and entered to win ‘Maine-based’ prizes.”



NAB Show Booth: W7017

The post Dielectric Celebrates 80th Birthday with New RFHawkeye Features appeared first on Radio World.


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Bext Offers Lightweight Antenna Alternative

Posted: 20 Apr 2022 09:37 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/products/bext-offers-lightweight-antenna-alternative


Bext says its FM Radio antennas are known for their sturdiness, broadband capability and high-power ratings. But with all that comes big size and weight.   

For some limited applications that require a small and lightweight antenna
due to space limitations or a weak mast, Bext offers the TFLHO
omnidirectional antenna, which is only 15 by 15 inches wide and about 3
inches tall each bay.

“Thanks to its small size it presents a very limited wind load,” the company said. “This tunable antenna can be ordered in single or multiple
bay configurations up to 12 bays.”
Bext offers the TFLHO omnidirectional antenna

Because of its modest size and weight, shipping is simplified and
economical, and installation is easy, said Bext. Brackets are included and
can clamp on a support up to 4 inches wide.

Specifications showing the available configurations and type of connectors
can be viewed at the website.

[Read about more new products in the Radio World Spring Product Preview
ebook.]

The post Bext Offers Lightweight Antenna Alternative appeared first on
Radio World.

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