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Radio World

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After Licensee Silence, FCC Confirms $17,500 Penalty

Posted: 23 May 2022 02:14 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/business-and-law/after-licensee-silence-fcc-confirms-17500-penalty


The FCC has confirmed a hefty fine after an Arkansas broadcaster failed to respond to its request for information about unauthorized, months-long
station silences.

As reported by Radio World, the Media Bureau in late 2021 had proposed the forfeiture of $17,500 against Birach Broadcasting Corp. about the operation
of KTUV(AM) and translator K260DT in Little Rock, Ark.

Four separate violations included unauthorized discontinued operations,
missing public inspection files and out-of-date information.

The case started in January 2020 when Birach filed a renewal application
for the licenses of its two stations. At the time, the FCC says, Birach certified that there had been no violations of FCC rules during the
preceding licensing period, including the assertion that the stations were currently and actively broadcasting and that neither KTUV nor K260DT had
been silent for any period more than 30 days.

But in March 2020 KTUV did go silent due to what it eventually called a “catastrophic failure” of its transmitter, which also put the translator off the air. At that time, the FCC says, Birach should have notified the commission that the stations were off the air beyond 10 days; when the
silences extended beyond 30 days, Birach also should have requested an STA
for both to remain silent.

Birach did not, the bureau said. Instead, the silences came to its
attention through an informal objection to Birach’s renewal application.

After researching the situation, the bureau proposed a forfeiture of
$17,5000 for the unauthorized silence, failing to maintain the online
public inspection file and failure to maintain the completeness and
accuracy of information in its renewal application. The bureau gave Birach
30 days to pay or file a statement seeking reduction or cancellation.

To date, the FCC says, Birach neither filed a written statement nor paid
the proposed penalty. As a result, it has now ordered Birach to pay the $17,500.

The bureau has not yet weighed in on the pending approval of Birach’s
renewal applications.

The post After Licensee Silence, FCC Confirms $17,500 Penalty appeared
first on Radio World.


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Amazon Has Made It Easier for Radio Stations to Build Alexa Skills

Posted: 23 May 2022 12:21 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/amazon-has-made-it-easier-for-radio-stations-to-build-alexa-skills


This story originally appeared on Seth Reslers blog on the Jacobs Media website.

Smart speakers can be a small but important source of streaming for radio stations. We recently published the results of Techsurvey 2022, the radio industrys largest online survey of radio listeners. The data shows that
while smart speaker growth has stalled among radio listeners, 35% of respondents report owning a smart speaker — a significant portion of the listening audience:


More than a quarter of our survey respondents report streaming their
favorite radio station on a smart speaker:


In the United States, the overwhelming majority of smart speaker owners
have Alexa devices from Amazon:


This small but significant share of streaming on Alexa devices is why we believe it is important for radio stations to make sure that their
listeners can easily call up their streams. In the past, this involved the technical process of creating (or hiring somebody to create) an Alexa
skill. However, in a little-publicized announcement before Christmas last year, Amazon announced that it was simplifying the process for radio
stations by introducing the Alexa Radio Skills Kit, or RSK. In the past, it could take months to onboard a radio station with an Alexa skill; now the process is much easier and quicker.

Perhaps most significantly, the new process allows stations to be called up
by invoking the stations name, an alternate station name, a call sign, or a frequency. In the past, some stations needed to employ very specific terminology in the invocation because they shared a name with other
stations. Amazon has resolved this by using “location-based search to
further improve the accuracy in playing the correct station to match a customer’s request.”

When a radio station sets an RSK, listeners do not need to enable the skill
in order to call up the radio station.

In the past, a station would never know exactly how its stream might be
called up. Alexa might play the stations direct stream, but it also might
play the stream through an aggregator like TuneIn. Amazon now says:

Stations can coexist as an RSK station and an entry in an aggregator
catalog. Your new RSK station will be marked as “owned and operated.” The customer request will route to the owned/operated station above routing to
the aggregated station. If your RSK station is unavailable/down, the
customer request will then route to the aggregated station.

For people who like waking up to their favorite radio station, Amazon says:

Routines/alarms are supported on RSK stations. Customers can choose a
station to play in a routine/alarm by entering the station name in the
Alexa app or requesting it by voice (e.g, “Alexa, set an alarm for 7am to play KEXP.”). Customers do not have to choose a provider to play the
station. Requests will route to the RSK station before the aggregator
station, provided the customer does not enter an aggregator name in the optional “provider” field or request one by voice.

The RSK also offers radio broadcasters access to some new metrics that were
not available with custom skills in the past:



If your radio station has already built an Alexa skill, that skill can be deprecated when you set up an RSK. This involves a two-step process
outlined in Amazons support documents for the new RSK.

The RSK is available for stations in the United States, Brazil, Spain,
Italy, France, Germany/Austria, Great Britain, Canada, Mexico, and Australia/New Zealand. While the RSK will work for web-based radio
stations, there are limitations. It was designed with terrestrial radio stations in mind, and obviously web-based stations will not benefit from location-based search to call up the correct station.

So how can your radio station take advantage of Amazons new Radio Skills
Kit? Simply send an email to rsk-onboarding@amazon.com. In short order, you will receive a response with support documents and an Excel sheet to fill
out. For the most part, the questions asked are very simple. However, you
will need to have some artwork ready:

X-Small Image (48×48 pixels)
Small Image (60 x 60 pixels)
Medium Image (110 x 110 pixels)
Large Image (256 x 256 pixels)
X-Large Image (600 x 600 pixels)


If your radio station has not set itself up on Alexa yet, now is the time. After all, its never been easier.

The post Amazon Has Made It Easier for Radio Stations to Build Alexa Skills appeared first on Radio World.


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Pandoras "Prom Night" Is a Blast From the Past

Posted: 23 May 2022 11:24 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/programming-and-sales/pandoras-prom-night-is-a-blast-from-the-past



With the 2022 prom season in full swing, Pandora is offering listeners a
chance to relive their own prom nights through music.

Pandoras Prom Night consists of 28 new stations featuring the hottest hits
of the year for the classes of 1995 through 2022.

Each year’s station is carefully curated on various yearly charts including Pandora’s year-end lists and multiple external lists covering all genres, said the streaming service.

From 2Pac and  Montell Jordan topping the charts in 1995 to this year’s graduating seniors celebrating with Harry Styles and Glass Animals, the collection of stations is a walk down memory lane for graduating classes of today and the past.

Kevin Stapleford, VP of content and programming at Pandora, said No matter
how long ago you went to your prom, all it takes to bring you right back to that special moment is a song.

Pandoras suite of prom stations marks the largest number of new stations
the company has launched in a single day.

The post Pandoras “Prom Night” Is a Blast From the Past appeared first on Radio World.


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Dielectric Thrilled With FM Modeling Decision

Posted: 22 May 2022 03:00 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/dielectric-thrilled-with-fm-modeling-decision


Antenna companies are reacting to the FCC decision allowing computer
modeling of directional FM antennas.

“May 19, 2022 is a monumental day for FM broadcasters,” wrote Dielectric in a statement. The manufacturer pressed for the change, along with Shively,
RFS and Jampro, as well as broadcast group Educational Media Foundation.

“The FCC adopting new rules allowing the use of computer modeling will ease product-to-market timelines, helping broadcasters upgrade facilities quickly,” it wrote when contacted for comment by Radio World.

“In addition, the increased accuracy and the ability to run infinite
patterns to maximize on FCC protections will allow broadcasters ease of
mind knowing they are getting the best possible solution, all while not
having to wait the traditional timelines for range testing/optimizing.

Dielectric said it has been developing artificial intelligence-based
processes to automate the optimization of FM antenna geometry for its FM projects. It said its process “will ensure that the geometry for each installation will best fit the broadcaster’s desired radiation patterns
while maintaining FCC compliance.”

“At the end of the day,” the company concluded, “their listeners will benefit from this rule change. Dielectric sees this change as significant
in the history of FM, and is fully prepared to help all broadcasters seek
the best possible solution.”

Radio World also invited comment from Electronics Research Inc., which had opposed the rule change.

“ERI raised some concerns regarding eliminating the requirement to provide measured pattern data with the license filings for directional FM
antennas,” wrote Bill Harland, vice president of marketing.

“These objections were based on our experience from decades of full-scale range measurements of directional and nondirectional FM antennas and our experience using computer models to generate pattern predictions for FM arrays.”

Harland said ERI has always had the capability to use computer modeling for directional FM antenna design.

“We will offer that service as an option for directional and nondirectional FM antenna systems. ERI will continue to offer directional FM antennas that include pattern development on our test range and measured results for
customer approval and filing with the FCC license application.”

He said the company will also continue to offer full-scale range pattern studies and pattern optimization as optional services. “They are available for all single-channel and multi-channel FM antenna products.”

“We believe ERI’s 50-acre far-field antenna test range is the best facility of its kind and has been in use longer than the antenna measurement
facilities used by our competitors. As we showed in our filings in this FCC proceeding, the accuracy of the range and the consistency of its measured results support that belief.”

The post Dielectric Thrilled With FM Modeling Decision appeared first on
Radio World.


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Engineer James Boyd Dies at Age 75

Posted: 22 May 2022 02:54 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/people-news/engineer-james-boyd-dies-at-age-76

James Boyd in a photo from his LinkedIn page.

Text is updated to correct his age.

Engineer James Boyd has died.

News of his passing Friday at age 75 was shared by Kent Randles, secretary
of Chapter 124 of the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

Boyd was well known in the radio technical industry but especially in the northwestern U.S. He owned Boyd Broadcast Technical Services in Oregon, and according to his LinkedIn page he had extensive experience in all aspects
of AM and FM engineering.

Earlier in his career he was a chief engineer, operations manager and group chief for Capps Broadcast Group from the late 1960s to the early 1990s; he
also had worked for WTD Industries.

An amateur radio enthusiast (K7MKN), he also was a lead inspector for the Alternate Broadcast Inspection Program for the Oregon Association of Broadcasters and the Idaho Broadcasters Association.

Boyd had experience with AM directional antenna systems, including Moment Method proofing as well as AM and FM IBOC system installation and
adjustment, and maintained a large fleet of test equipment for all  aspects
of AM and FM broadcast systems.

He told author Scott Fybush in a 2008 article for Radio Guide magazine that
he “began messing around with electronics when I was eight or nine years old.” Boyd was a member of that publication’s Hall of Achievement. According to that article his first job was at KBND(AM), before he served
in Vietnam as a broadcast specialist in the U.S. Army. He founded his
company in October 1991, and clients included Entercom, CBS Radio, smaller stations, Harris Corp. and consulting firms Hatfield and Dawson and
DuTreil, Lundin & Rackley. He also served on the Oregon Association of Broadcasters board.

According to a Radio World article in 2016, Boyd also was involved in the effort to create a “first informer” credential for Oregon broadcast engineers.

Randles said Sunday that Boyd’s volunteer firefighting work evolved into volunteering for the Tigard, Ore., Community Emergency Response Team, to
which he is donating all of his ham radio equipment.

Randles said information on services was pending.

In the photo below, James Boyd celebrated his 75th birthday last fall with friends and colleagues Brian Fant, Mike Brown, Jeff McGinley, Kent Randles
and Gary Hilliard.




The post Engineer James Boyd Dies at Age 75 appeared first on Radio World.

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