TWiRT - This Week in Radio Tech - Podcast

Lee Melton is one of those semi-crazy radio guys that we know and love. And many of us wanted to BE that guy! Lee’s career started at KFI, Los Angeles, and he’s been at about 25 radio stations, even building a couple in Southeast Texas.  Some have called him “The Kind of Radio Trade-Outs” while many others called him a friendly and fun voice on the radio.  Lee’s radio recollections inspire plenty of banter with Chris Tarr and Kirk Harnack. And Chris reveals his encounter with Paul McCartney! It's an hour of radio stories and fun, with a little engineering talk sprinkled in.

Show Notes:
Lee’s Facebook page is a good place to connect.
Chris Tarr mentioned a new Valcom AM whip antenna for one of his radio stations.

Guest:
Lee Melton - Legendary Radio Guy

Hosts:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum.Media
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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Sometimes we originate a TWiRT episode from a newly-built radio studio.  Today, however, we’re visiting beautiful studios that are under construction.  Bill Jackson works with K-Love, a nationwide Christian radio group. He’s in charge of the design and build-out of a couple dozen radio studios, podcast rooms, edit, and news booths.  Bill is absolutely maximizing Audio over IP technology throughout. Let’s take a “cook’s tour” of a couple large studios, plus look at a data closet and the broadcast portion of the restricted-access data center.

Show Notes:
Cisco Media over IP - At–a-Glance - Explainer page from Cisco
K-Love studios use the Axia Quasar family of AoIP audio mixing consoles
Bill Jackson mentioned the Angry Audio Mic Tally Gadget and the Headphone Gizmo
Wikipedia article on Room Acoustics

Guest:
Bill Jackson - Chief Microphone Plugger-inner K-LOVE & Air1 Media Networks

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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The Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP) was created around 1989 to aid the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in making sure all broadcast operations are in compliance and to help stations understand the rules in a one-on-one setting. In the beginning, the ABIP inspectors were retired FCC engineers. As the program began to expand around the country, other engineers were recruited and trained by regional FCC inspectors. ABIP inspectors have long used a basic Self Inspection Checklist that became woefully out of date. Tom Ray, working with other committee members at the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) has rewritten and greatly expanded these checklists for AM, FM, and TV stations. ABIP inspections are an excellent tool for broadcasters to assure compliance with FCC Rules, and do so in a friendly, non-adversarial encounter. 

Show Notes:
Society of Broadcast Engineers Releases Broadcast Station Self-Inspection Guides
SBE Self-Inspection Guides Download (must be an SBE member to download)
Description of the ABIP program from the Alabama Broadcasters Association (PDF)
Stay on the Good Side of the FCC - Radio World article

Guest:
Tom Ray - President of Tom Ray Consulting

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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The rise of AI-generated lyrics and music is giving engineers something to chuckle about.  But could this “easy creativity” inspire other engineering solutions? Kirk drew a comparison with photographer Jeremy Cowart and his use of an LED wall to produce 60 different portraits in 60 seconds. Anthony Kuzub, an engineer at CBC in Canada, pointed out the AI that’s involved with lighting a new studio, matching accent lights to the video monitor feeds. Matt Aaron is programming a fully-AI streaming station that’s playing “Broadcast Engineers Gangster Rap”. Are these just passing curiosities? Or are they signals of technologies and techniques to come for broadcasting and content creation?  

Show Notes:
Anthony Kuzub gave a whole presentation on "The Audio Industry and AI" (YouTube)
“The Legend of Chris Tarr” from suno.com
And another version of “The Legend of Chris Tarr”
Matt Aaron’s AI-music streaming station - https://broadcastengineeringgangsters.com/
And if Kirk had a radio station, KIRK, this could be the theme song
Anthony mentioned ElevenLabs for text-to-speech and AI voice generation
Anthony noted the Roland VC-1-DMX video lighting converter

Guests:
Matt Aaron - Broadcast Systems Integrator and Chief Penguin at Tux-Support
Anthony Kuzub - Senior Broadcast Systems Engineer at CBC

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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Most every piece of equipment we use, or software we depend on began with an idea and a dream - a dream to help ourselves and others do their jobs better, faster, easier. Or perhaps to provide a service, or improve an existing one. Paul Stewart started Summit Technology Group with this motivation in mind as well. Paul and his company provide software and services with new features, conveniences, and efficiencies. Exactly what many broadcast engineers are looking for.  Chris Tarr and I are talking with Paul about the software and services he’s bringing to broadcasters.

Show Notes:
Paul mentioned “IRSC code lookup” in Tundracast - Here’s what an IRSC code is.
We discussed the SideCAR Media Logger, with AI transcription enabling search terms.
What does an AI-voiced weather forecast sound like?  ATMOS demos are here.
IT security can be overlooked in RDS encoder connections. PostMaster solves that.
Behind the scenes: SunKast uses VDO.ninja for guests to share their screen with TWiRT.

Guest:
Paul Stewart - President at Summit Technology Group

Hosts:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum.Media
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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The CCBE conference encompasses two days of professional broadcast engineering career development. This includes carefully-chosen paper presentations, an expo hall, and an awards dinner and ceremony honoring leaders in the broadcast engineering profession.  We got to meet with and converse with leaders in the Central Canadian Broadcast Engineers group, plus Canadian engineers and leading equipment manufacturers.  

Show Notes:
Central Canada Broadcast Engineers, Technologists & Technicians
SUNO.com - Make a song about anything

Guests:
Sean T. Craig Sr. - Broadcast Engineer at Bell Media and President of CCBE
Jim Miniely - Television Operations Manager at Dougall Media and Papers Chair at CCBE
Charlie Toner - Broadcast Engineer, IT Support at Durham Radio Inc.
Cory Edwards – Sales Manager at Dielectric LLC
Tyler Everitt - President/CEO, Pippin Technical Service Ltd
Anthony Kuzub - Multi-faceted Broadcast & Audio Engineer
Larry Schindel - Sr. Product Manager at Linear Acoustic
Andrew Scaglione - Account Director at Radio.Cloud
Mike Ridley - Engineer at GIANT FM / Country 89

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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Have you wondered what goes on at the Network Operations Center of a satellite distribution network?  We sure have, and our good friend, Marcos O’Rourke, joins us to talk about it. Marcos is now the Engineering Manager at Linkup Communications. We’ve followed Linkup’s rising star in the satellite communications business and watched as this company has grown to serve a lot of the broadcast industry. Marcos gives a brief history of the NOC in Denver, Colorado, and shares pictures of their operations and IT center.  

Show Notes:
The Broadcast Engineer YouTube channel
LinkUp Communications - satellite distribution services
Aim your satellite dish using DishPointer.com
Basics of Satellite Receive Antenna optimization from ESPN Radio

Guest:
Marcos O’Rourke - Engineering Manager at Linkup Communications Corporation

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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It’s Radio Convention season and we’re bringing some of the Alabama Broadcasters Convention to you.  Live from the Renaissance Ross Bridge Resort, we’re meeting with engineers and radio equipment reps as this ABA Convention draws to a close. One of our highlights is visiting with Steven Westbrook from the Alabama Historical Radio Society. We also get cameo appearances from Bob Mayben, Jeff Welton, and Jim Armstrong. Join us for some fun conversation while we learn a few things about both new and old technologies and some personalities that shaped - and are now shaping - radio tech.

Show Notes:Alabama Historical Radio Society
Alabama Broadcasters Association
Bob Mayben’s Good Time Gold
Summit Technology Group

Guests:
Bob Mayben - Broadcast Engineer, Sales at SCMS, Inc, and Host of Good Time Gold
Jim Armstrong - Director of Eastern US Sales at Telos Alliance
Hugh Price - Sales at Broadcasters General Store
Micah Dempsey - Wireless Manager at MaxxKonnect Wireless
Jeff Welton, CBRE - Regional Sales Manager, Eastern U.S.
Paul Stewart - President at Summit Technology Group
Steven Westbrook - Alabama Historical Radio Society

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

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A Google search on “SCOTUS and Chevron Deference” returns a lot of breathless headlines, prefacing pearl-clutching stories of near-calamitous changes in the way Federal agencies can carry out their missions.  Indeed, one dissenting Supreme Court justice wrote that this ruling, “will cause a massive shock to the legal system.”  The ruling will eventually affect some broadcast Rules from the Federal Communications Commission, but communications attorney, David Oxenford, predicts less dramatic effects on broadcast Rules and station operations. To clarify the Chevron decision and it’s likely effects on broadcasters, we interviewed Oxenford for this episode. We also get commentary from Larry Fuss, President and CEO of several multi-station radio broadcasting companies, and co-host, Chris Tarr.  Join us for an informative episode of TWiRT as we discuss broadcast Rules in light of the SCOTUS decision on Chevron Deference.

Show Notes:
Broadcast Law Blog
Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS)
FCC to Reinstate Form 395B - Broadcast Station Annual Employment Report
Rosenworcel Clarifies FCC Plan for Clearer AI Political Ads

Guests:
David Oxenford - Partner at Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer, LLP
Larry Fuss - President, CEO, and Managing Partner at several broadcast groups

Hosts:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum.Media
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output. 

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As we are all very aware, being a technical person or layman, the recent CrowdStrike outage caused disruptions on a myriad of computer systems worldwide, affecting multiple industry sectors and millions of people in some way, shape, or form. Approximately 8.5 million devices were affected, leading to outages in various sectors, including airlines, healthcare, and financial institutions. Some broadcasters were affected, but it seems most radio broadcasters were spared. Why is that? What crippled many very large industries had relatively little impact on radio station operations. Three experts join this TWiRT episode: Shaun Dolan, Kyle Walker, and David Smedley. Together we’ll uncover how Crowdstrike affected some broadcasters, and we’ll learn about some best practices for IT security.

Show Notes:
CrowdStrike IT Outage Explained by a Windows Developer
Kyle mentioned SNMP Monitoring using Nagios
Shaun introduced us to Incident Response - Here’s a TechTarget Article
And here’s an article from Crowdstrike about Incident Response
David Smedley mentioned the https://support.aiir.com/

Guests:
Shaun Dolan - Partner at Inrush Broadcast Services
Kyle Walker - VP, Technology at Weigel Broadcasting Co
David Smedley - Senior Support Engineer at Aiir.com

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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