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Radio World

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MP-532, the Little Processor That Rocked

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 02:38 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/buyers-guide/mp-532-the-little-processor-that-rocked


Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on products for audio processing.

A station acquisition often calls for an audio processor refresh, doubly so
if you’re acquiring two and there’s a format change involved.

Such was the case when Great Eastern Radio acquired WXMS 97.9 and
WWFK 107.1 in Burlington, Vt. 

Chris Verdi, CBNT, CBNE, is chief technology officer for Great Eastern.
“The two additions, which brought our total to 19 stations covering greater
New England, came with dated processors that just could not make the
cutover to a classic rock and hot AC format, respectively,” he said.

Their prior recent processor purchase was a Streamblade, a WheatNet-IP
audio appliance for provisioning multiple streams that includes processing designed for nuances of streaming. 

“We had heard about the MP-532, an AM/FM/HD multiprocessor that is also
made by Wheatstone. We had heard field reports about how it could produce ‘airy and silky highs,’ mids that are ‘warm and mud-free’ and ‘deep, powerful lows.’” He also liked the price and that it includes features like an RDS encoder as standard.

“We started with Classic Rock 107.1 Frank-FM. I installed the MP-532 using the quickstart default preset. I was expecting to have to fiddle to get it close to what we wanted and was surprised what came out instead.”

Everything sounded “cleaner, brighter and louder than anything I’ve heard in a long time.”


The little tweaks they did for the classic rock station worked so well that they decided to run a similar setting on the AC station. 

“We have a country station there running a top-of-the-line Wheatstone X3 FM/HD audio processor, and this little MP-532 really holds its own next to
the X3 and any other processor in the market. It doesn’t look as pretty in the rack, but it sounds almost as good, if not better in some ways.” 

It was a bonus that the MP-532 is a multipurpose processor. He recommends
it for a cluster that might need an all-around backup that can stand in as
an AM or an FM, or as a streaming processor. 

[Read More Buyers Guide Reviews Here]

The post MP-532, the Little Processor That Rocked appeared first on Radio World.


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NAB Announces Radio Board Updates

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 02:29 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/people-news/nab-announces-radio-board-updates


The National Association of Broadcasters announced the results of its NAB
Radio and Television Board elections. This year, even-number districts were elected.

Two-year terms of elected members begin in June. Those elected to the radio board are listed below. The two names with asterisks are newly elected, succeeding Hartley Adkins and Tom Kosar, who did not run again. The rest
were reelected.

Bill Wilson

CEO

Townsquare Media

District 2 NY, NJ

* Bob Proffitt

President & CEO

Alpha Media LLC

District 6 NC, SC

Michael Hulvey

COO

Neuhoff Media

District 10 – IN

* Gabe Fleet

EVP, Business Affairs and Chief Music Licensing Counsel

iHeartMedia

District 14 IA, WI

Ben Downs

Vice President

Bryan Broadcasting

District 18 Southern TX

Justin Chase

Chief Content Officer

Beasley Media Group

District 22 AZ, NV, NM, UT

Leonard Wheeler

President

Mel Wheeler, Inc.

District 4 DE, DC, MD, VA

Flynn Foster

President/Owner 

Guaranty Broadcasting Co.

District 8 LA, MS

John Zimmer

President/Owner

Zimmer Radio of Mid-Missouri, Inc.

District 12 MO, KS

Pete Benedetti

President and CEO

AlwaysMountainTime, LLC

District 16 CO, NE

Larry Patrick

Managing Partner

Legend Communications, LLC

District 20 MT, ID, WY

Andrew Sutor

Executive Vice President/General Counsel

Audacy

District 24 Southern CA, Guam, HI

Also, Jessica Marventano, senior vice president of government affairs at iHeartMedia, assumes the appointed board seat currently held by Michele
Laven, chief human resources officer and chief diversity officer of iHeartMedia.

The post NAB Announces Radio Board Updates appeared first on Radio World.


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Nautel to Feature Software-Based Air Chain

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 12:26 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/show-news/nab-show/nautel-to-feature-software-based-air-chain


Nautel will highlight software-based air chains in its booth at the NAB
Show.

You may recall that the company has a collaboration with Telos Alliance
that aims to change the way the industry thinks about FM+HD air chains.

“Nautel will demonstrate how software air-chains can provide multiple
standby air-chains, integrated Omnia for Nautel audio processing, secure transport and the elimination of FM-HD blend issues no matter whether the
air chain originates at a local studio, an on-premises data center, or even
the cloud,” it wrote in a convention preview.

Its Chief Technology Officer Philipp Schmid will present “A Cloud-Capable Synchronized Transport Architecture for FM and HD Radio Broadcasting” on Tuesday at the Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference.

[Related: “Nautel’s Schmid Talks Transport”]

As we’ve reported, the manufacturer also will introduce a new rackmount FM transmitter series; a preview webinar about that was planned for this Wednesday.

The NUG@NAB Radio Technology Forum also returns and will include Radio
World Editor in Chief Paul McLane’s remarks about technical trends at the convention. The NUG also will be streamed live.

“After a two-year gap, we’re really excited to see our industry friends and customers again,” said John Whyte, Nautel head of marketing.

NAB Show Booth: W7022.



The post Nautel to Feature Software-Based Air Chain appeared first on Radio World.


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FCC Seeks More Comment on Geo-Targeting

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 11:24 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/fcc-seeks-more-comment-on-geo-targeting

Image from GBS filing of test results at KSJO(FM) showing the multipath
family of curves. Click image to read the report.

The FCC wants to know what the industry thinks about recent trials of geo-targeting using FM boosters. Those trials were conducted at stations in California and Mississippi.

You’ll recall that in December of 2020 the commission opened a notice of proposed rulemaking on a proposal from GeoBroadcast Solutions to modify the rules to allow geo-targeting in certain limited circumstances, the idea
being that stations could then super-serve very specific parts of their coverage areas with particularly relevant advertising and information.

Comments and replies on that were to be filed by March of last year. So why open another round of comments?

The Media Bureau answers: “Since that time, GeoBroadcast Solutions sought, and the bureau has approved, experimental authority to test the technology
in San Jose, Calif., with station KSJO(FM), and in Jackson, Miss., with
station WRBJ-FM.”

As part of that authority, GeoBroadcast Solutions was required to file technical reports in the commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System
about the testing it conducted for both stations.

[Related: “FCC Receives New Zonecasting Data”]

“Those reports contain detailed technical discussions about the operation
of GeoBroadcast Solution’s booster technology, its compatibility with the Emergency Alert System and its impact on digital FM broadcasts. This
technical information was not available to the public at the time comments
and reply comments were due.”

With that in mind, the FCC says it invites public comment on these test
reports as well as other documents filed in the proceeding since mid-March
of last year.

The new comments will be due 30 days after this FCC announcement appears in
the Federal Register. Use the commission’s ECFS to file. Reference MB
Dockets 20-401 and 17-105.

[Read the KSJO technical report.]

[Read the WRBJ technical report.]



The post FCC Seeks More Comment on Geo-Targeting appeared first on Radio
World.


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Small Steps Mean Large Leaps in Network Security

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 10:41 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/radio-it-management/small-steps-mean-large-leaps-in-network-security


If you’re in charge of creating some kind of security barrier between your local networks and the internet, the challenge is to decide where on the spectrum you’re going to land with regard to the network traffic you are going to allow or deny. 

For that barrier to have any work value, it almost certainly cannot be the cherubim with the fiery sword that guards the Garden of Eden. But you also don’t want it to be the George Washington Bridge, either. 

Take heart, there are billions of devices and users that are connected to
the internet, and if you’ll allow the punchline of the joke about the bear chasing two friends to paint a picture for you, “I just need to be faster than you.” 

I’m going to encourage you to stop, take a moment to put on some running shoes, and take some small steps that will put your network security at a different level than other easier targets.

No go, “Joe”

The first thing to change on any system that sees the internet is the use
of a common user name and simple passwords. 

Contrary to popular thought, hackers rarely focus on a single system. They
have computer scripts that knock on thousands of network doors all at once
with a list of the most common user names, passwords and combinations
thereof and attempt to gain access to computer system in the hopes that they’ll hit a one and get access. 

Do you have user accounts with names like “admin,” “owner” or “joe”? What
about password security? A recent report from Microsoft revealed that on
some specialty honeypot servers that help them recognize trends, only 6% of brute-force attacks tried a password that was 10 characters, only 7% tried passwords with special characters in them. 

This simple change alone helps you to avoid nearly 93% of username password attacks. 

It is relatively simple to create secure passwords. Up-shift characters to
the left or right so that the password securenetwork becomes w3d743h35294i (up-shifted to the left) or string a sentence together:
IloveJifpeanutbutter!

Very secure, but still easy to remember.

Subscribe to Radio World Engineering Extra.

Updates

Another simple suggestion is to make a point of running updates on your machines at least once a week. A number of exploits that run loose on the internet are weeks or months old. Although router firmware doesn’t get updated as frequently, it still gets updated, and those bug fixes may be
the difference between your system be safe or getting overrun by traffic. 

The model for most software vendors in the modern era is that some bugs are show-stoppers and some can be fixed with an update. As long as no
show-stoppers are present, it gets packaged and sent. 

It is imperative that updates are run on a regular basis. While we’re on
that subject, make sure you’re getting those updates from a legitimate source. 

This is particularly true for hardware drivers. As long as a hardware manufacturer is supporting their hardware, updated drivers should be a part
of their support page. 

It is worthwhile to check semi-regularly to see whether updated BIOS
patches, display, network, audio or other drivers have been created to fix their issues or nullify problems seen in the operating system they run on. 

Get behind the wall

A third step to securing your network is the use of firewalls. This may be
a firewall that is on your router or another machine that sits right behind
the router that stands as a guardian between the internet and anything on
your network. 

Newer routers are robust and often contain a high level of security burned
into their firmware. You can also reference an article about ClearOS that I wrote 10 years ago (!) for Radio World. 

We still use ClearOS in all of our markets and it has been invaluable for helping us to filter internet cruft from getting on our networks. 

There are also companies that offer firewall services that you can purchase that redirect your internet traffic through their filters before it gets
handed off to your network, what some call “sandboxing.” 

What about the firewall on your local machine? It actually may be time to
turn on your operating system firewall, and if it is already on, take a
close look at what services the firewall is letting through. In the name of network security, the days of blindly clicking the “allow” button so that you can get onto using a particular program need to become a chapter in history.

Ports

After the firewall step has been accomplished, the closely related next
step is to make take a hard comparative look at what ports and services are open versus which ones really need to be open. 

The idea is to limit the attack surface that your network is presenting to
the internet by minimizing the number of service ports you have available. 

Accomplishing that task is done in several ways. At one time, you may have needed that port forwarded to a device behind your firewall, do you still
have that piece of hardware and is it being used? More commonly, is that employee still with us that needed the service, or do we still need access
that way? 

Are you using standard port numbers for those services (80/HTTP, 443/HTTPS, 22/SSH, 21/FTP …)? So are the hackers that are trying to gain access to
your network or devices. 

Firewall port forwarding allows use of non-standard ports to be translated
to those normal ports. For instance, forward the port 41022 on the outside
to port 22 on your LAN. This is another fantastic way to cut down unwanted incursion into your networks significantly.

There is a myriad of other things that can be done regarding network
security that also increase by several factors of difficulty. The simple
steps outlined above can go a long way toward taking a giant leap forward
in securing your network. They have worked well for us and have kept our network free from attacks that might have crippled them otherwise.

The author is an engineer for Crawford Broadcasting and is based in
Birmingham, Ala.

Got an IT tip? Share your own good ideas. Email rweetech@gmail.com.

The post Small Steps Mean Large Leaps in Network Security appeared first on Radio World.


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ERI Improves Its 3 dB FM Hybrid Hardware

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 09:40 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/products/eri-improves-its-3-db-fm-hybrid-hardware


Electronics Research Inc. plans to introduce two improved 3 dB FM Hybrid
models at the NAB Show.

“The HY0241 and HY0244 are now available with a broader array of port
sizes, have improved power handling and minimal variation in coupling ratio across the FM band,” the company announced.

 The HY0241Series 3.0 dB FM Hybrid Splitter/Combiners includes models that handle up to 120 kW at the combined output (2 x 60 kW). They can be
supplied with any combination of port connections from 1-5/8-inch inch to 6-1/8-inch. 

“They are most often used in ERI’s constant impedance FM channel combining systems and as a power combiner to combiner multiple FM transmitter
cabinets for increased transmitter power,” it said.

The HY0244 is a 90-degree 3-dB Hybrid Coupler with higher power handling capability. They are available with any combination of port sizes from 3-1/8-inch to 9-3/16-inch. ERI said the HY0244 is most commonly used as the output hybrid for a constant impedance FM module in large multi-channel combiner systems. Power handling is dependent on flange selection. Models
are available to handle up to 300 kW at the combined output.

For both models, the standard configuration is a “cross-over” design. The input port opposite the combined output lags the other input by 90 degrees. Non-cross-over” versions are also available. They are constructed of lightweight aluminum and can be designed with coupling ratios other than
3.0 dB. Power handling is dependent on flange selection.



NAB Show Booth: W6505

The post ERI Improves Its 3 dB FM Hybrid Hardware appeared first on Radio World.


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AudioScience to Show New Streaming Radio Tuner

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 09:32 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/products/audioscience-to-show-new-streaming-radio-tuner



AudioScience Inc. will show a new generation of its radio tuner at the NAB Show.

The ASI2816 is a multi-channel streaming radio tuner in a 1U form factor.
It can be configured with up to four modules. Each module contains four
radio tuners, with up to 16 tuners per ASI2816. 

The ASI1471 module contains four AM/FM/WeatherBand (WB) tuners. The ASI1472 module contains four AM/AM-HD/FM/FM-HD tuners.

“The unit has an OLED front panel display showing current configuration and status of all tuners, including band, frequency, signal strength and HD status,” the company wrote. “Use our built-in web interface for ease of use, allowing configuration and monitoring of the tuners and stream settings.”
Web interface

[For More News on the NAB Show See Our NAB Show News Page]

Product Sales Manager Nicole Santiago said the unit can be customized by channel count and frequency, and all tuners can be monitored simultaneously.  

“With your application, you can give your customers their best radio streaming experience using Icecast streams, said Santiago. We even have
built in SNMP for monitoring.”



NAB Show Booth: N4031

The post AudioScience to Show New Streaming Radio Tuner appeared first on
Radio World.


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Radio Nova Opens The Vinyl Vault

Posted: 19 Apr 2022 05:40 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/global/radio-nova-opens-the-vinyl-vault


Like any computer, a playout system can need rebooting at an awkward time.
When that happened for Dublin’s Radio Nova, however, it launched an on-air vinyl resurgence.

On Jan. 6, 2022, Radio Nova launched “The Vinyl Vault,” foregoing digitized playback in favor of disk jockeys spinning platters. In Ireland, one in
five albums purchased is on vinyl now, mirroring the resurgence in vinyl listening seen around the world.

“The idea actually came from a time we had to reboot our playout system during the day and, instead of going to CD one of our presenters plucked
out a piece of vinyl. It was the same track as was scheduled, but he
decided to play it from vinyl for the laugh,” said Radio Nova CEO Kevin Branigan. “When he announced he was about to play it off vinyl, there was
an instant reaction.”
Radio Nova mid-day presenter Marty Miller is about to give some Foo
Fighters a spin on the Vinyl Vault.

The station’s format is built around classic rock tunes from the 1960s and ’70s, along with guitar-based music up to the present day. Most of these songs were originally released on vinyl, so there is a natural connection between the music and the medium.

“Vinyl evokes special memories for people — although us breaking open ‘The
Vinyl Vault’ is not just a nostalgic endeavor,” said Branigan. “Research shows that the main driving force behind this vinyl revival is actually Millennial and Gen Z consumers. … We wanted to have a laugh with a medium that is exciting, brings nostalgia along with interest from younger
listeners and, above all, let’s us really showcase the unique music that we play on Radio Nova.”

Six times a day, during all dayparts, the station opens “The Vinyl Vault” to play a vinyl record. The segment is sponsored by a single advertiser,
Des Kelly Interiors. Each night the station plays an entire album without interruption at midnight; on Sunday evenings, that album is played off
vinyl.

[Related: “Vinylthon 2022 Honors Warmth, Vitality of Vinyl”]

Adding vinyl into the station’s regular rotation did not have a large
effect on the station’s operations.

“We have always had vinyl capability in our studio used to broadcast our digital radio service, Nova Classic Rock,” said Branigan. “Since the new vinyl promotion, we have installed a turntable in the on-air studio.”

The station has two turntables across its three studios: a classic EMT 948
and newer Citronic PD-45 Ultima.

Branigan said adding vinyl to the studio playout mix did not cause any complications for the presenters or their Broadcast Radio Myriad playout system, “We pride ourselves on being live as much as we can so there is no issue. Our presenters mix in the vinyl as they broadcast.”

But there was some interesting interplay with the station’s audio
processing. “Playing vinyl does not sit so well with modern audio processing,” said Branigan. “We use an Orban Optimod, and [the vinyl produced] some crackle and rumbles. We adjusted our Threshold slightly to compensate, but we like the crackles as it adds to the effect of playing
the vinyl in the first instance.”

In Dublin city, county and commuter region, Radio Nova has an audience of
about 177,000 listeners and Branigan said Radio Nova’s listeners love both the music they play and hearing it on vinyl.

“The feedback has been fantastic. People love hearing vinyl on air, for
lots of reasons. It’s been one of our more successful and quirky initiatives,” he said.

The post Radio Nova Opens ‘The Vinyl Vault’ appeared first on Radio World.


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Cumulus Releases Report on Podcast Audience, Smart Speaker Owners

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 03:50 PM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/uncategorized/cumulus-releases-report-on-podcast-audience-smart-speaker-owners


On Monday, Cumulus Media released its 2022 Audioscape report, which
examines podcast consumer and smart speaker trends using data from Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” Q4 report.

The report shares six key findings about the U.S. podcast audience and
smart speaker owners, revealing where they live, who they are, their audio habits and more.

Audio is a huge part of life for Americans, wrote Pierre Bouvard, the chief insights officer for Cumulus Media and Westwood One. While AM/FM radio dominates the audio landscape with mass reach and significant time spent, podcasts and smart speakers are fast-growing platforms representing
engaging environments for brands.

The key takeaways are as follows:

1. Podcasts and smart speakers have opportunities for growth in markets 51+ where they are underrepresented
(Graph via Cumulus Media/Westwood One)

Nielsen Scarborough’s Podcast Study finds that podcast listeners are both overrepresented in the top ten markets and underrepresented in designated market areas (DMAs) 51+.

Additionally, 35% of all smart speaker owners are in the top 10 markets
where 31% of the U.S. population resides; however, smart speaker ownership
is underrepresented by 24% in DMAs 51+ and smaller, where 31% of the U.S. population is found.

2. Since 2016, the two fastest growing audio platforms are podcasts and
AM/FM radio streaming

According to Cumulus, over the last five years, podcasts’ share of ad-supported audio has tripled from 4% to 13% among persons age 25-54.
AM/FM radio streaming shares have nearly doubled from 6% to 10%.

Amazingly, the ad-supported share of AM/FM radio streaming (10%) is nearly
as big as the combined audiences of Pandora and Spotify (11%)!, wrote
Bouvard. Over-the-air AM/FM radio remains the dominant audio platform at a
61% share of ad-supported audio.

Over five years, Spotify’s ad-supported shares have been stagnant at a 3% share. (Spotify’s subscription service, which is advertising free, has
soared 5X since 2016.)
(Graph via Cumulus Media/Westwood One)

3. 38% of Americans have a smart speaker as ownership growth has moderated

In four years, smart speaker ownership has increased fivefold, per study findings. As of Q4 of 2021, 38% of Americans reported owning a smart
speaker. This is up 5.4 times in comparison to Q1 of 2017.
(Graph via Cumulus Media/Westwood One)

[Visit Radio World’s News and Business Page]

4. The median age of the podcast audience holds at 33 despite massive
audience growth

On average, podcast listeners are 10 years younger then AM/FM radio
listeners and 26 years younger than linear television consumers.
(Graph via Cumulus Media/Westwood One)

5. Most podcast listening occurs at home throughout the day

While podcast audiences have grown dramatically in recent years, especially over the course of the pandemic, the vast majority of listening still
occurs at home.
(Graph via Cumulus Media/Westwood One)

6. Podcast listeners are super fans of audio, spending 41% more time with
audio than the average American

Per the Cumulus report, podcast listeners spend nearly six hours of their
day listening to audio.
(Graph via Cumulus Media/Westwood One)

Below, you can watch a 11-minute video further summarizing the key findings
in this report.



The post Cumulus Releases Report on Podcast Audience, Smart Speaker Owners appeared first on Radio World.


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Spotlight on Broadcast Tower Climbers in New Documentary

Posted: 18 Apr 2022 10:15 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/programming-and-sales/spotlight-on-broadcast-tower-climbers-in-new-documentary


NATE, in collaboration with Storybuilt Media, has created a feature-length documentary titled “Vertical Freedom,” which highlights the professional and personal lives of six communications infrastructure workers in the
United States.

Throughout the film, these cellular and broadcast tower climbers share what compels and excites them about their line of work. Plus, how to overcome every-day danger in order to connect us all.

Ky Nguyen is just one of the climbers featured in the film. He has worked
with RIO Steel and Tower out of Alvarado, Texas for the last 10 years.

After the Great Recession, Nguyen wanted to move away from his job in construction and — while he is skilled at his craft now — he was initially hired onto the tower communication service’s team with zero experience.

“I started as a climber and then just kept working my way up,” he said. “Then I became foreman and began project managing. I’m one of those types of guys where, if you want it done a certain way, you have to be with them, showing them, leading by example – so I’m climbing every day.”
Ky Nguyen makes the climb to tower top (screengrab via Vertical Freedom)

So, what does an average work day look like for Nguyen?

Nguyen said RIO does everything from general contracting and structural upgrades to antenna and line installations for both the broadcast and
telecom industries. Nguyen personally specializes in those broadcast tower installments, which can sometimes bring his job site up to 2,000 feet above ground.

Often, his work requires heavy lifts, maneuvering materials that can weigh
up to 12,000 pounds and clock in anywhere from 50 to 70 feet in height.
Nguyen and his team lift such materials by placing a gin pole — a supported pole that uses a pulley and tackle — on top of the tower to hoist up broadcast gear like antennas.

“You climb it from ground up and you rig it with ropes, all the way to
tower top,” said Nguyen, “and you use the ropes to pull through your steel cable rigging. And once you rig it with steel cables, you turn the tower
into a crane by setting up a gin pole — which is essentially like a crane that is mounted to the tower.”
Ky Nguyen (screengrab via Vertical Freedom)

Despite the immensely heavy loads and high climbs, Nguyen said these
broadcast tower installations are usually completed within a week by five-to-six-man teams. Finding and retaining the right people for a team, however, can be a full-time job.

“The turnover rate is pretty crazy because not everyone can do it,” said Nguyen. “It takes a special type of crazy, a certain type of person, to
want to be up that high working and traveling on the road. You know, you sacrifice not being home.”

Nguyen said he and his team travel about 300 days of the year all across
the states – including U.S. territories.

Storybuilt just dropped a new Vertical Freedom movie poster. pic.twitter.com/carAx9nCX3

- Storybuilt Media (@CStorybuilt) April 15, 2022



So, what characteristics does a person need to keep composure at such
extreme heights? According to Nguyen, it takes both discipline of mind and courage.

“There’s always going to be the presence of fear, but that’s where courage
comes in, and you just power through those things,” he said. “Also, [it takes] the willingness to learn and intestinal fortitude to push past exhaustion.”

The job also takes more than a little bit of strength, especially when completing a 2,000 foot climb up and down a tower in three hours time.

“You’ll have muscles hurting that you didn’t even know existed,” said Nguyen. “I’ve always been an athlete. But what I’ve learned is that none of
that matters. Obviously, it helps, but you need to mentally prepare
yourself.

“I think you almost have to be like an industrial athlete. Texas sports are huge, so I see it like that. We’re a team.”
Ky Nguyen and a member of his team make the climb to tower top (screengrab
via Vertical Freedom)

Nguyen said the filming of Vertical Freedom was cool in the way he got to
share his story and parts of his life with the audience, but also in how hands-on the production team was. A mix of drone and camera footage was captured on-site.

“The production crew story built some of the coolest men and women I’ve ever met,” he said. “And the director, Doug, was up there with us — 1,100 feet in the air with me on these towers getting the shot.”

[Related: Exhibitor Preview: NATE at the NAB Show]

While there is not yet an official release date set for Vertical Freedom,
in February, members of NATE had the chance to see its premiere in Las
Vegas. Nguyen said Storybuilt and NATE are pushing for a streaming platform
to purchase the documentary before releasing it to the masses.

Vertical Freedom Red Carpet World Premiere in Las Vegas, Nevada!
@CStorybuilt #verticalfreedom #neverstopclimbing pic.twitter.com/fv4tST5h9G

- NATE (@NATEsafety) February 23, 2022



Nguyen is just one of 15,000 climbers nationwide, serving more than 329
million people in the U.S. He said this is a worker shortage that puts a
big strain on the broadcast and telecom industries.

That’s why one of his hopes for Vertical Freedom is to educate others on
the unexpected realm of jobs that are available.

“I really hope the public sees [Vertical Freedom] as ‘hey this is a really robust industry that can create a good career for a lot of people,’” said Nguyen. “I hope they see this job as more of a skilled trade versus these crazy adrenaline cowboys as we were seen as back in the day.

“I hope it gets out there and it brings new light to the industry, and it invites people to try and give it a shot to make a career out of it. And
it’s a very, very rewarding career. It’s given me an amazing life.”

Watch the trailer for Vertical Freedom below.



The post Spotlight on Broadcast Tower Climbers in New Documentary appeared first on Radio World.

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