This Week In Radio Tech (TWiRT)

This Week in Radio Tech – Episode 812 takes us to Round Rock, Texas, for the 2026 Texas Association of Broadcasters convention! With two full days of engineering sessions, new technology, and plenty of conversations on the expo floor, TAB once again brought together some of our favorite broadcast engineers and industry friends. We caught up with Michael Patton, Dustin Tatro, David Smedley, Chase Daniels, Fred Morton, and Dave Kerstin for their perspectives on radio engineering, technology, and the industry we all enjoy being part of. It’s a great collection of conversations with the people who keep broadcasting working—and moving forward. Join us for TWiRT 812, recorded at the Texas Association of Broadcasters convention in Round Rock!

On This Week in Radio Tech Marianne Seidler, Matt Levin, and Hans van Zutphen join us for “Advances in Audio Processing”—Episode 811. Marianne adds some class, history, and great processing advice to the conversation, while Matt and Hans explore the latest developments in StereoTool, including an optional approach that combines multiband A‑G‑C, compression, and limiting […]

Few studio monitors are as instantly recognizable—or as trusted—as those made by Genelec. On episode 810 of This Week in Radio Tech, our guest is Lars-Olof Janflod, Genelec’s Strategy Advisory Officer and a member of the company’s team since 1992. We trace Genelec’s story from its origins in Finland through the development of the distinctive, rugged monitor designs that have become familiar sights in studios and broadcast facilities worldwide. Lars-Olof explains the thinking behind Genelec’s unusual speaker designs and how the company has maintained its reputation for accuracy and reliability across three decades of technological change. We also explore today’s Smart Active Monitoring systems, which combine onboard DSP with automated calibration to optimize each loudspeaker for the room in which it is actually installed. It’s a fascinating conversation about loudspeaker engineering, acoustics, innovation, and the pursuit of truly trustworthy monitoring. Join us for TWiRT episode 810—listen or watch wherever you enjoy This Week in Radio Tech.

Our guest on This Week in Radio Tech episode 809 is Tim Berry, Chief Engineer at WUOT-FM, the public radio station at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. WUOT combines NPR news with classical and jazz music, much of it still played live from CDs and occasionally from the station’s enormous collection of LPs. Tim gives us a tour of the control room, performance area, technical center, and an extraordinary music library that also includes thousands of historic 78 RPM records. We’ll see one of Tennessee’s earliest Audio over IP installations, built around Axia Livewire technology and operating for about 15 years. Tim also maintains more than 20 analog and digital amateur radio repeater sites throughout East Tennessee. Join us for a fascinating look at preserving broadcasting’s rich history while planning the technical upgrades that will carry WUOT into the future.

On this episode, Brett Gibson joins Kirk Harnack and co-host Chris Tarr, for a practical conversation about what it takes to build and maintain a reliable broadcast operation today. Brett shares how Voice of the Master’s technical plant has evolved over the years, what systems and standards have made the biggest difference, and how deeply IT has become integrated into modern radio engineering.

This Week in Radio Tech, Episode 807, features William Harrison, Chief Engineer for WETA-FM in Washington, D.C. William got his start in public radio in the 1990s at WAMU-FM, where computer work quickly expanded into audio and electronics. Since then, he’s worked with PBS, NPR, The Metropolitan Washington Ear, and a number of FM and TV broadcasters. He also chairs SBE Chapter 37 in D.C., serves on the Virginia SECC, sits on the board of the Association of Public Radio Engineers, and occasionally writes for Radio World. In this episode, we talk about real-world FM engineering, including Capital Concerts fireworks show coordination, HD Radio timing and “ballgame” mode, receiver metadata behavior, liquid-cooled transmitters, HLS streaming for broadcast STL use, and dynamic range control in xHE-AAC. Join us for a practical, wide-ranging conversation about broadcast engineering, public radio operations, and the listener experience on This Week in Radio Tech.

This Week in Radio Tech is on location for episode 806 at the Auburn Marriott Opelika Resort & Spa in Opelika, Alabama, where the Alabama Broadcasters Association is celebrating its 80th anniversary with one of several regional receptions around the state.

Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT department concern—it is becoming a broadcast engineering issue, and possibly soon, a regulatory one as well. On episode 805 of This Week in Radio Tech, we’re joined by three experienced broadcast engineers from Georgia and South Carolina: John George, Charles Kinney, and Earl Welsh. We’re talking just ahead of the Georgia-Lina Broadcast Engineering Conference in Augusta, Georgia, and our topic is both timely and practical: the FCC’s proposed cybersecurity rules for broadcasters, especially as they relate to EAS equipment, studio-transmitter links, remote access, and other internet-facing systems that can affect what goes on the air. We’ll discuss what the FCC appears to be concerned about, why default passwords and exposed web interfaces are no longer just “bad practice,” and what station engineers can do now to improve security before a rulemaking turns into a compliance deadline. This is not a theoretical conversation — it is about real broadcast facilities, real equipment, and real operational risks. Join us for episode 805 of This Week in Radio Tech as we look at cybersecurity through the eyes of working broadcast engineers.

RDS may be one of the smallest signals your FM station transmits, but getting it right matters more than ever. On Episode 804 of *This Week in Radio Tech*, broadcast network engineer and podcast host, Tyler Woodward, explains the technical details behind RDS and its U.S. counterpart, RBDS. We discuss the data fields every FM engineer should understand, including PI codes, program type, alternate frequencies, and the way field repetition rates affect what listeners see on their radios. Tyler also explains why accurate PI codes are increasingly important for connected-car services such as RadioDNS and dts AutoStage—and points broadcasters to a useful online tool for verifying the correct PI code for their call letters. If you are responsible for an FM station, this is a must-listen—or must-watch—conversation.

This Week in Radio Tech is on the road for Episode 803 as we tour the new Radio One broadcast facility near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Radio One operates nine radio stations from this facility, with more than 20 studios supporting music, talk, news, and sports programming. It is also home to Network Indiana, which produces and distributes newscasts and long-form programs, along with radio broadcasts for several professional and college sports teams. Mike Hutchens takes us inside the new technical operations center, and Nick Lopez joins us to explain the planning and execution behind the studio build-out. We also visit one of the music-station studios to see how today’s studios can be built for efficiency and human workflow. Join us for a close-up look at how modern audio-over-IP technology, signal routing, metadata, system control, and monitoring all work together across the IP network. It is a practical tour of a large, busy broadcast operation designed for flexibility, reliability, and the demands of today’s radio industry.