This Week In Radio Tech (TWiRT)

U.S. Broadcasters are required to provide emergency alerts to their audiences, but many radio stations use IP-based signal distribution — something incompatible with old-style EAS boxes. What is needed is a simple way to interface the real-world over-the-air reception of EAS events, filter and process the messages, and — if necessary — incorporate the alerts into the modern audio-over-IP (AoIP) air chain. Doing this right involves some innovation, but once done well, there are several distinct benefits. Bill Robertson from Digital Alert Systems joins Kirk Harnack to explain how this award-winning implementation works, and why it makes EAS better and more effective.

Tim Berry is already thinking about this fall’s sports broadcasts on the Vol Network. With over 60 radio affiliates and many thousands of listeners depending on high quality, live play-by-play, it’s Tim’s responsibility to make sure these broadcasts get from the stadiums and arenas to the Vol Network headquarters and beyond. Effective planning is essential! And this planning discipline works for other broadcast engineering tasks, like transmitter replacements. Chris Tarr adds his own experience and expertise to our discussion.

Marc Haycook is a problem solver! He needed to add a VO studio to his home, but new construction or expansion isn’t allowed there. He needed a studio that could be moved around for access and maintenance, but not on wheels. He needed access to phones, Internet, electricity, but had to keep neighborhood and household noise out - completely out. And he even had to silence the A-10 Warthogs and other aircraft that fly over at inopportune times. The solution? Well, that’s what this episode - number 700 - of This Week in Radio Tech is all about. Voice-over artist, Marc Haycook, joins us for a fascinating look at his home-built, home studio, with the cleanest audio anywhere. Plus, we take out first phone call ever on TWiRT!

Before his new Nautel GV40 FM transmitter arrived, Mike knew there was a major problem to solve. Big transmitters. Small room. No space for the old transmitter to get out of its own way. Then Mike had an idea. Crazy idea? Many ideas are - at first. Let’s follow along with Mike Kernen, Market Chief Engineer at Crawford Broadcasting Detroit, and find out how he solved this vexing problem. Chris Tarr joins us with another instructive story on moving transmitters into impossible spaces.

Some of us grew up in radio and have spent our whole careers in the business. Others, like Chuck Helstein, started in radio, but has been in IT security and IT financial technology. Now, Chuck brings IT knowledge and discipline back to radio since purchasing KAZM AM/FM in Sedona, Arizona. Chuck joins us to talk about some novel ideas for making great, local radio while cutting expenses dramatically using clever IT services and technology.

Audio over IP (AoIP) has been used in broadcast facilities for about 20 years now. A few broadcast facilities have swapped one brand or standard of AoIP equipment for another during that period. Some broadcasters have swapped equipment twice! Whether the reasons for changing equipment are technical, political, old age, or support issues, we’d like to know about the challenges - or the easy aspects - of changing AoIP brands and standards. Matt Levin is a broadcast engineer in Ohio. His consulting and studio construction work take him to different facilities to make upgrades. Chris Tarr and Kirk Harnack discuss with Matt about using different AoIP systems, using console profiles effectively, and about FM audio processing running on PCs and servers.

Dan Case just retired from full-time broadcast engineering - and some key projects are fresh on his mind. Dan started his radio career in Erie, Pennsylvania, and quickly moved up with more responsibility and some engineering management. Dan believes in fixing audio problems right at their source and never trying to fix bad audio with more audio processing. And Dan’s passion is developing customer local solutions where they’re needed. From a custom telephone hybrid in the early 1970s, to building a solid, reliable AM station pattern controller. He coined the term “Revenue Insurance” as a way to validate and justify capex expenditures designed to keep revenue flowing in the midst of other failures or disasters. This is an informative interview with with both technical advice and business acumen shared for your benefit.

Boasting 17 signals in 4 radio markets - in New York and Pennsylvania - Radigan Media represents the kind of local radio that’s not only serving its local communities, but doing so with newer technologies. Dave Radigan wears many hats in his growing network of stations, including Chief Engineer. He’s implemented Audio over IP (linear Livewire) between studio and transmitter site, partly because he needed a bi-directional link with no audio compromises - and contact closures. And, Dave has recently opened the door to the “flexible studio”. Using AoIP audio routing tech he’s providing his staff with convenient options for live talk shows, voice-tracking, and production from the same studio, as needed. Let’s check out Dave’s reasoning about implementing the latest tech, when it makes sense to do so.

Many radio engineers love to visit other radio stations. We get ideas to perhaps implement in our own stations. Or sometimes we may get a sense of satisfaction thinking that we’ve done a superlative job in our own facilities - compared to others. Today we’re honored to visit the studios of 100.1 FM in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. OMG! What a drop-dead gorgeous studio! Rafael Recio is the Chief Engineer at 100.1 FM. He shows-off this beautiful and effective working studio, which is home to live shows in morning and afternoon drive every day. Rafael worked with the station’s Program Director, Harold, to design and build this world-class radio studio + control room.

Chris Tarr just finished a long-anticipated FM transmitter move. Big implications attended this move all the way across a metro area. The new site needed a directional FM antenna, and they decided that a new transmitter made more sense than moving the old one. Chris covers a lot of ground when contemplating any transmitter site move. Kirk Harnack touches on a few pointers for IP radio microwave links, including not trusting the existing infrastructure too much!