Opinions, opinions! And Aaron Read has some good ones! Aaron is the IT & Engineering Director at Rhode Island Public Radio, and joins us for a lively discussion of HD Radio transmission power and asymmetry and getting your station on smart speakers when a worldwide audience creates ambiguity.

Seems there’s almost nothing we can’t accomplish over Internet Protocol (IP) these days - at least in terms of information, control, and media. Broadcasters and event producers are benefitting by moving their Intercom systems to IP - a technology we’re calling “IoIP” for “Intercom over IP”. Martin Dyster has over 30 years working with “comms” systems in television, radio, theatre, and sporting events. He’s here to educate us about legacy intercom technology, and explain how “matrix-free” IoIP works.

Theodore Hook said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” If it seems that technology and innovation are impacting our lives at an ever increasing pace, you’re right. Broadcasters, perhaps more than any other industry, must move with technological changes - even if that means defining them. Our guest has been and certainly is now at the forefront of broadcasting technology. Sam Matheny is CTO and Executive Vice President at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Sam shares his insights for broadcasters as we move into all-digital broadcasting, ATSC 3.0, and artificial intelligence.

Why build an average studio when you can design and build something amazing for the same price? Gary Kline has designed and built dozens of radio studios, from small markets to the very largest. Chris Tobin has done the same. Together, Gary and Chris talk about involving every stakeholder in the finished studio, making sure that revenue generation has a place at the design table.

John Lyons was a not only a fixture, but a force, in the New York City RF scene. His tireless work - especially after 9/11 - has gotten and kept radio and TV broadcasters on-the-air with excellent engineering, optimized coverage, and reliable operation. With John's recent passing, today's TWiRT features Chris Tobin and Tom Ray - both of whom worked with John extensively. We'll also enjoy John's presentation about Building the Advanced RF Transmission System at One World Trade Center.

Audio over IP technology and standards are well-settled and widely understood among broadcast engineers. Control & Monitoring over IP is more unsettled, with competing - and incompatible - standards. Anthony Kuzub, Sr. Systems Designer at CBC/Radio-Canada, introduces AES70, NMOS, MQTT, MIDI over IP, and even a proposal for Emoji Description Protocol (EDP?). Plus a useful hack of Google Chrome browser to record WebRTC audio.

WWFD in Frederick, Maryland, is the only all-digital AM station in the USA. Switching to HD Radio’s MA3 mode, there’s no longer an analog AM carrier; the signal is only digital, and any AM-band HD radio can decode it. Dave Kolesar is the energetic engineer who has driven this switch to an all-digital AM transmission. He and Mike Raide with Xperi join us from the WWFD transmitter site - and bring us a “first ever” surprise at the end of our show!

Wisconsin Public Radio was just going to replace a few audio consoles - until they met with one bad surprise after another! Britny Williams is DoO and DoE at WPR’s main studios in Madison, WI. She’s overseeing and coordinating several teams as WPR’s upgrade project developed into soup to nuts replacement - all while keeping all programming going. Britny joins Chris Tobin and Kirk Harnack on this episode.

The Midwest Technology & Multimedia Broadcast Conference (MBMTC) just wrapped up in Columbus, Ohio. For the first time, this year’s conference consolidated engineering sessions from Kentucky and Indiana broadcast associations, making for a well-attended event with 14 total engineering sessions packed into one day. John Takach joins us on the “curvy couch” along with Josh Bohn and Matt Levin, plus Chris Tobin from New York City.

We’re on-site at WPOZ in Orlando, Florida, where we found a prototype of the famous Texar Audio Prism. Audio processing expert, Brian Kerkan, joins us to show off some old analog audio processors, including the CBS Audimax and Volumax. Then we turn to one of 16 Texar prototypes. We finish with a discussion of interfacing AES192 FM multiplex info a switcher and IP-STL system.