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Radio World

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Freshen Your Mics With Li.LAC

Posted: 18 May 2022 09:54 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/workbench/freshen-your-mics-with-li-lac


Managers of radio stations, houses of worship, universities and corporate
and government meeting rooms all face the question, “How can we effectively disinfect our microphones after an event?”

iSEMcon, which is in the “front of house” business, recently introduced the Li.LAC Microphone Disinfector. It uses controlled exposure to ultraviolet
light (UV-C) to kill over 99% of bacteria and viruses on microphone
surfaces, metal grilles and the windscreens underneath. 

It’s a rugged product, designed by live event touring professionals and mounted in a 19-inch, 3RU rackmount format. Load up to three microphones or several lavalier or headset microphones, headsets or belt packs, close the drawer, and press “Start.” Disinfection takes 12 minutes or less.

The Li.LAC Microphone Disinfector is available online. It lists for $1,599.
The company is based in Germany and has an office in Ohio; general info can
be found here. 

The company notes that the simple operation of this device speeds a job that’s critical in today’s environment. We’re not completely out of the woods with respect to COVID-19; and even when we get there, microphone
hygiene will remain important. 
The Li.LAC Microphone Disinfector uses UV-C light to disinfect the mics.

Many arms, light work

In the Feb. 15 Workbench, we discussed a useful circuit called an Octopus.
Its purpose is to analyze components while they are in a circuit. 

Longtime Workbench friend Paul Sagi first encountered the Octopus years ago
in Popular Electronics magazine. At one of his first radio station jobs, he
had to repair numerous switched-mode power supplies, as are found in
everything from transmitters to audio processors and network gear.

The most common failure components were capacitors followed by MOSFETs, ICs
and other semiconductors; Paul found that inductors almost never failed.

Removing components from a printed circuit board was a nuisance, so Paul
used signal injection and an Octopus to find faulty capacitors and the rare faulty inductor.  

Paul fed a 100 kHz sine wave, 200 mV peak into the components. Those specs avoided having the semiconductor junctions respond to the test signal. By
the angle of the trace on the oscilloscope, Paul could measure the
equivalent series resistance of the capacitor; an ESR of less than 0.1 Ohms usually indicates a good electrolytic capacitor, as does an ellipse.

Take DAT!

Buried away in your storage closet may be a defective Digital Audio Tape machine or two. Before you toss these finicky machines, Paul passes on a document from Eddie Ciletti that describes machine repair tips for Sony and Panasonic DAT models. Find it here.

Bright ideas from Darkwood

Projects engineer Dan Slentz found a neat site that has a variety of
Windows freeware, developed by Paul Marshall of Darkwood Designs using
Borland Delphi. 

Offerings includes individual and multiple volume metering indicators, a dB graphical display of audio frequencies, an audio tone generator and a jpeg image cropper. 

On the companys website, click on “More PC Software.”

[Check Out More of Workbench Here]

More free posters

Tektronix has put together a couple of interesting posters showing the fundamentals of oscilloscopes. The posters are in color and free to
download. Head over to tektronix.com for “Anatomy of an oscilloscope” and “Basic features and functions of an oscilloscope.” 

The posters provide a good review for seasoned engineers as well as an excellent training tool for the entry-level engineer; and they will liven
up your office.

Let’s go to the tape

If you work with conduit or rigid transmission line, take a look at the T1 Tomahawk Digital Tape Measure. 

This is the tape measure for all measurements! It has a physical tape plus
an OLED measurement display; and its ROCK Measuring App allows the T1 to synchronize any measurements with your iOS or Android phone. 

The display can be zeroed from any position, regardless of the amount of conventional measuring tape extended. A special bracket will hold a pencil
or a Sharpie (or similar brand) marker. There is a side-mounted “E-paper” feature that records an unlimited number of measurements — no more writing the measurements down on a piece of paper! Measurements are recorded electronically on the T1.
The Tomahawk Digital Tape Measure

The T1 Tomahawk Digital Tape Measure also includes a high-visibility green laser. 

There’s a good video about it on YouTube.

This tool is not cheap, listing for around $250, but judging from the
reviews on the Reekon Tools website, the time savings and accuracy may make
it a worthwhile investment. 

John Bisset, CPBE, has spent over 50 years in the broadcasting industry and
is in his 33nd year writing Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales
for the 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 Freshen Your Mics With Li.LAC appeared first on Radio World.


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Go Big Red: A New Radio Network for the Huskers

Posted: 18 May 2022 09:27 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/go-big-red-a-new-radio-network-for-the-huskers


This story appeared in the Radio World ebook “Spectacular Radio Studios.”

The Athletic Department at the University of Nebraska became the first
major U.S. college athletic department to bring its multimedia operation
fully in house, starting with the 2021–22 sports season. Part of the challenge was to bring up a statewide radio network on a very short
timeline.

Director of Broadcast Operations Mike Elliott said the new facilities serve
the Huskers Radio Network, with its 50+ radio stations across the Midwest,
plus internet audio broadcasts across the world on Huskers.com and the
official Husker App.

“This was not your typical radio station operation with ‘studios,’” Elliott
said. 

“The Huskers Radio Network had to be built to support up to four
simultaneous live Husker sporting event broadcasts to terrestrial radio affiliates, with up to eight live simultaneous internet radio streams of
live Husker sporting events and programming.”

The network has the capability to send a live video stream of the network’s “Sports Nightly” talk show, heard on more than two dozen terrestrial radio affiliates, plus internet radio streams and free live video streams on
YouTube, Huskers.com and the app. The show produces audio and video two
hours a day, five nights a week, 52 weeks a year.

The Broadcast Operations Center has five live event production pods. Video
can be ingested from any Husker Athletics venue, and audio from anywhere
across the globe.

“Private video capability with ultra low latency — under half a second — is
part of the Broadcast Center to accommodate non-traveling, COVID-safe broadcasting of any home or road game, with talent in isolated studios
and/or offsite locations around the country,” Elliott said. “All audio connectivity to remote sites was using Tieline technology and products.”
At work in the Huskers Radio Network Broadcast Center

Bilingual broadcasts of all Husker Football games was a requirement of the facility, utilizing announcers at remote sites, often different remote
sites for every game.

Elliott designed and built the Broadcast Operations Center and all REMI systems, with support from various Husker Athletics departments. 

“When Nebraska Athletics made the decision to bring their radio operation
in house, they asked me to join the Athletic Department as Director of Broadcast Operations,” he said. “Initially that was system design, RFPs, buildout, testing, and training of all staff to operate and produce Husker broadcasts.”

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Elliott said the department took an unusual approach to producing road game radio broadcasts.

“Instead of sending producers and engineers to remote sites, we designed a radio version of the TV remote integration, or REMI, model. We send on-air talent to road games but do not send production or engineering staff. Using Tieline Gateway and Via codecs and their Cloud Codec Controller technology,
a simple road kit travels. Each and every road game announcer microphone is individually returned to our Broadcast Operations Center. Each and every
road talent has their own individual IFB mix to the broadcast operations
center production team. 

“Every remote game-site talent — play by play, color, stats, even the sideline reporter — appear on individual ‘pots’ on the Husker Broadcast Center pod assigned to that game,” he continued. 
A producer position to monitor and operate the HDVMixer video production
system

“With Wheatstone LXE and AoIP technology, we can easily generate custom mixes, and adjust any needed audio processing for each and every road game microphone while mixing at the Huskers Broadcast Center.”

For example, if the color announcer wanted to hear more nat sound, that’s handled at the broadcast center. Included in the return feeds are various
nat sound feeds from the remote venue. 

“Furthermore, all of these feeds are also available to mix into the Spanish broadcast, with the Spanish broadcasters at another remote site.”

They use MaxxKonnect Wireless for automatic failover connectivity to the
REMI road kit, with stadium Ethernet as the primary. 

“Using the Tieline CCC we had full monitoring and control of the Tieline equipment at the game site, no matter what IP patch the signals were
taking.”

Setup at the remote site, he said, is simple. “Plug in Ethernet from the venue. Plug in headsets. Mount the antennas for the sideline reporter
wireless. Power the kit up and the Huskers Broadcast Center takes over from there via Tieline CCC and VPN connectivity to the REMI kit.”

Given changes coming to satellite distribution, Elliott continued, the
school decided not to set up a satellite uplink to distribute the network,
as had been done in the past.

“We elected to not invest in a satellite system, instead to design and implement an independent redundant IP-based radio network audio and control distribution system. I designed a system using Barix hardware with full dual-provider redundancy, which has proven to be an excellent distribution system to all terrestrial network affiliates.”
Tieline and WheatNet equipment is visible in the rack area

The timeline to complete this project was remarkable, especially given
current supply chain challenges.

“The decision to bring the radio network operation in house at Husker Athletics was finalized in the early second quarter of 2021,” Elliott said. 

“System design had to occur in record time, with RFPs in place for all interested bidders through the University of Nebraska public bidding
process. RFPs were posted, bids accepted and reviewed, and bids awarded in
the second quarter of 2021.”

Key technology components include the Tieline Gateway, Via, Cloud Codec Controller and ReportIT systems; Wheatstone WheatNet, LXE surfaces and StreamBlades; HDVMixer video technology; Telos VX Prime VoIP phone system; Barix codecs; and RCS Zetta automation. Dealer Broadcast Supply Worldwide provided much of the equipment.

Most of the products arrived at the stadium loading dock on May 27, which Elliott called “a herculean effort” by the suppliers. 

“Our first live radio network broadcast from the new Huskers Broadcast
Center was June 28, 2021 — that’s from a completely open space on May 27, to a complete live radio and video production/live studio facility,
including IP radio network distribution to 50+ sites, live video and audio streaming, full automation signaling to affiliates and training production staff. 

“Then over the next month we built and prepared for all live game-site production with our new radio REMI model of no traveling producers or engineers.”

The post Go Big Red: A New Radio Network for the Huskers appeared first on Radio World.


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TechSurvey 2022: Influence of Digital Audio Grows

Posted: 18 May 2022 08:39 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/programming-and-sales/techsurvey-2022-influence-of-digital-audio-grows


Last week’s release of TechSurvey 2022 shows the rise in popularity of digital audio and its role in the listening habits of the survey’s respondents, especially among younger radio listeners. 

Survey data shows the percent of time core radio listeners spent with their
P1 station through a traditional manner with a radio — either in the car,
at home, work or school — is 61%, while digital accounts for 35% of listening. 


That data has mirrored itself the past two surveys, according to Jacobs
Media, but the gap has narrowed over the past decade. In 2013 it was 85% traditional listening and 14% digital via an Internet stream or mobile app.

“You can see the trajectories very clearly and where we are headed. Every year it seems digital becomes just a little more important while
traditional listening is dropping, said Fred Jacobs, president of Jacobs Media. 



Age difference also impacts how TechSurvey participants are listening to
the radio. Last weeks online presentation shows Baby Boomers listen to
radio by traditional means at 66% and digital 31%. Meanwhile, Millenials
are listening on a regular radio at home, work, school or in the car at 53%
and digital plots the graph at 42%.

“So Millenials are way lest likely to have a traditional radio in those traditional areas,” Jacobs said. “It’s when you start looking at generations that you can really see the listening difference. Gen Z is beginning to challenge traditional listening and digital. A 49% to 42%
split between traditional and digital.”

Jacobs says broadcasters forging a digital strategy and meeting listeners
where they want to listen is crucial.   

Techsurvey 2022 includes a media usage pyramid that reflects compilation
data collected in early 2022 from survey respondents. AM/FM radio usage was down a couple of percent from 2021 levels. Audio streaming was down a bit
but Smart Speaker and Smartphone usage was flat while use of hearables,
things like Airpods and Bluetooth headphones, jumped up to 50% of
respondents saying they use them.

Of interest to broadcasters who are following dashboard developments in connected cars is data showing that 30% of survey respondents drive a
connected car, as compared to 27% a year ago. “That means three out of ten respondents now drives a connected car with a system like Ford Sync,”
Jacobs said. 


This is another in a series of stories examining the results from
TechSurvey 2022. The 18th annual web survey tracks audio listening habits
and how core radio listeners interact with the mediascape away from the
radio. The population spread of this year’s TechSurvey crew is 48% men and 52% female with the largest age group being 55-64, which represents 36% of respondents. 

The annual project, which measures the amount of change in the tech space
and its impact on radio broadcasters, engaged radio listeners throughout
the United States from more than 470 participating stations with some
31,000 respondents. Interviews took place in January and February of this
year, according to Jacobs Media. 

This is the fourth in a series of stories examining the results from
TechSurvey 2022. Click here to read part three.

The post TechSurvey 2022: Influence of Digital Audio Grows appeared first
on Radio World.

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