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News from the Convention

NAB Announces 2005 Marconi Radio Awards Finalists
Washington - Jul 11, 2005 - Finalists for the NAB Marconi Radio Awards competition have been selected. Established in 1989, and named after inventor and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi, the NAB Marconi Radio Awards are given to radio stations and outstanding on-air personalities to recognize excellence in radio. An independent task force selected finalists in 22 categories. Ballots will be sent to members of the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Selection Academy later this month.

The finalists are:

The winners in each category will be announced on Sept. 22 at the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Kidd Kraddick, the host of Premiere Radio Networks' Kid Kraddick in the Morning will emcee the event.

Delbert McClinton to Entertain at Marconi Awards Dinner
Washington - Jun 23, 2005 - Singer/songwriter Delbert McClinton will perform at the 17th annual NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show on Sept. 22. With hit songs such as Giving It Up for Your Love and B-Movie Box Car Blues, McClinton won his first Grammy in 1991 for a duet with Bonnie Raitt on the single Good Man, Good Woman.

He received his second Grammy in 2001 for Best Contemporary Blues Album with Nothing Personal and received a nomination a year later for the follow-up LP Room to Breathe. He first achieved acclaim playing harmonica on Bruce Chanel's 1962 hit Hey! Baby.

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Products from the Floor

OMT Technologies Imediatouch 2.6
Automation system
Booth 707
This automation software has added new features. The Non-Stop Broadcasting Auto-Failover hardware safeguard covers the station when there is a server problem. The update also includes improved satellite show recording for delayed playback, auto trim to fine-tune recordings quickly, auto resume to start the backup machine where the main server left off, a project editor to create shows quickly from multiple cuts, expanded Cart Chunk Tag support to improve content ingest, and new production features. In addition, the on-screen display has been updated with a new look.

Dielectric RF Scout
Transmission line monitor
Booth 409
The RF Scout monitors transmission lines for VSWR, pressure and over-powering. Directional couplers measure forward and reflected power. Data is available on remote terminals via RS-232 or Ethernet interfaces. It can also provide real-time Web-based transmitter metrics. All data can be stored for one year.

Axia Audio Element
Control surface
Booth 112
The control surface features four program buses, four aux send busses, dedicated talk and preview functions on each channel, one-touch record and monitor sections and 32 mix-minus outputs. The system works in conjunction with the Axia Studio Mix Engine, an Intel-based mixing platform running real-time Linux. A standard SVGA LCD monitor displays all metering, clock timer, status and options information. This radio console can be configured to run stereo audio or discrete 5.1 surround programming.

ATA Audio Scoop-EZ Tri-band GSM
Cellphone codec
Booth 702
The new module now includes the 900MHz to 1.9GHz bands. This allows the unit to be used in the Americas, in Europe and in Asia without the worry of which GSM module is needed. Users insert a GSM SIM card into the module and dial back to the studio. The module will auto detect the band and service that is available.

Session Highlights

Wednesday's Technical Sessions
The technical program at the NAB Radio Show is presented this year in a workshop format. The program begins Wednesday morning and runs until Friday at noon. All the sessions are held in room 201B of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
AM Directional Antennas in a Digital World, Part I
Presenters: Ben Dawson of Hatfield and Dawson; Ron Rackley of du Treil, Lundin and Rackley
AM antenna systems are a mystery to many people, but Dawson and Rackley bring their expertise to this session to provide insight into the needs of AM systems for IBOC. They will cover maintenance and optimization of the AM transmission system. The session should provide a refresher for those with AM experience and also provide a solid foundation for those who are new to AM systems.

Other Sessions of Note
Several sessions outside the technical track relate to technical and regulatory issues. As a Radio magazine reader you might find something interesting in some of these events.

Wednesday, September 21

1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Future of Radio
Where is radio going to be in the three to five years? Just as importantly, where are our competitors going to be? This session will provide a best-guess look at the overall landscape of the future.

2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
NRSC Meetings
The National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC) is jointly sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Its purpose is to study and make recommendations for technical standards that relate to radio broadcasting and the reception of radio broadcast signals. The NRSC is a vehicle by which broadcasters and receiver manufacturers can work together toward solutions to common problems in radio broadcast systems. All attendees are welcome to attend the NRSC Meetings at the NAB Radio Show.

2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Tech that Helps, Tech that Hurts
Technology is a powerful tool. What has been a boon to radio’s progress and what has been the bane of positive development? This session will explore the affects all those little buttons have had on your station's operation.

More Convention News

Broadcast Electronics Promotes Engineer
Quincy, IL - Aug 18, 2005 - Broadcast Electronics has promoted Jay Linderer to director, RF engineering. In his new role, Linderer will be responsible for the design, development and overall engineering of all RF products manufactured by BE. He will continue to report directly to Richard Hinkle, vice president of engineering, whose leadership recently expanded to include development engineering as well as technical services in support of customer service. Hinkle now heads BE's technical services department, which was established last month to more adequately reflect the close working relationship between BE as an engineering company and its engineer customers.

During the past five years, Linderer has provided technical and project management leadership in the development of products at BE, such as the FXI exciter, FMI series transmitters, 4MX 50 50kW AM transmitter and Marti PNP series transmitters. Linderer has more than 20 years of engineering design and management experience.

BIA Financial Network Acquires Dataworld
Chantilly, VA - Aug 16, 2005 - BIA Financial Network has acquired the assets of Dataworld, which will now operate as a division of BIA Financial Network. The Dataworld products, best known for its Flag Service, technical engineering studies and advanced mapping services, also includes several Web-based data services, technical directories and reports, and custom research.

Burk Adds Broadcast Dealers
Littleton, MA - Aug 17, 2005 - Because of expanded sales, Burk Technology has added broadcast dealers to represent the company's transmitter remote control equipment. In the United States the new dealers are RTZ Systems (CO), Lubbock Audio Visual (TX), VMI Audio & Visual Systems (MO) and Microwave Radio Communications (MA).

Burk has also added dealers internationally. The new dealers are Radian (Canada), Solutions Broadcast RF (Canada), KAPPA, Limited (Colombia), Continental Lensa (Chile), Electronic Equipment Marketing Company (Saudi Arabia), Interactive Digital Technologies (Taiwan) and Harri-Ban Communications PVT (India).

More Products

Broadcast Electronics Audiovault, Sonixtream integration
Audio and data studio system
Booth 319
Broadcast Electronics will demonstrate a studio system that integrates text and audio for on-air audio, over-the-Internet, HD Radio and RBDS data activities. The integration eliminates the redundant effort to provide the data across the various media. The system builds on the company's progress in content delivery by integrating the Audiovault version 9.0 digital audio system with the Sonixtream streaming media management software and Now Playing software that generates song title, artist, and other text for display on FM RBDS and HD Radio tuners.

AEQ DR-100
Digital recorder
Booth 216
Designed for broadcast journalism fieldwork, this recorder captures sound through the built-in mic, external mic or line input. An AGC circuit can be enabled on the record input. Audio can be saved to the built-in internal memory or to a Smart Media card. The unit uses the same batteries as a Nokia cellular phone. The unit records at two sampling rates (32kHz or 48kHz) and in three file formats: Layer II, Layer II and G.723. Layer II files can be edited directly on the unit. Files can be transferred via USB or the built-in modem. The recorder includes an FM radio with 20 presets.

Wheatstone Wheatnet 4864
Audio router controller
Booth 311
The new central switch for all Bridge routing systems, this controller offers 48 ports with each supporting 128 channels of audio inputs and outputs plus control data. Two 4864 units will provide complete autofailover redundancy for the Bridge system while simplifying configuration, installation and future expansion of all Bridge systems. Onboard X-Y controllers provide rack room source/destination control and operators have access to all crosspoint metering and monitoring.

Coaxial Dynamics Digital Wattchman
Digital watt meters
Booth 302
The Coaxial Dynamics Digital Wattchman rack-mounted station monitor/alarm is similar in function and appearance to the company's 81090 series except that it measures complex RF waveforms such as DAB signals. It will also function well with analog AM and FM signals. A digital station monitor/alarm system installation consists of a Digital Wattchman, a dual socket line section and two digital broadcast plug-in elements for monitoring both forward and reflected power. The Digital Wattchman is supplied with four 25-foot cable assemblies for connection to the line section and elements, and a six-foot ac power cord. Installation requires inserting the line section and elements into the transmission line, connecting the terminals of the transmitter interlock systems to the proper terminals on the Digital Wattchman and providing ac power.

Convention Events

Exhibit Hall Hours
The Exhibit hall at the convention is open on Wednesday evening, and Thursday and Friday in the morning and early afternoon.
September 21: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
September 22: 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
September 23: 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The opening reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the show floor on Sept. 21. An exhibit hall lunch will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 22.

Broadcast Electronics Plans HD Radio Seminar in Philly
Quincy, IL - Jul 25, 2005 - The plans have been finalized, and Broadcast Electronics is accepting reservations for its next HD Radio seminar, to be held on Sept. 21 during the NAB Radio Show at the Philadelphia Marriott. The main point of discussion will be second-generation deployment issues: multicasting and data.

BE HD Radio seminars are free, but registration is required. Broadcasters can register for the fall seminar by e-mailing HDR@bdcast.com.

Out and About in Philadelphia

Independence Visitors Center
If you want to see the historic sites in Philadelphia, start at the Independence Visitor Center at 6th and Market streets, located across the street from the Liberty Bell. The center provides personal assistance with trip planning, shows videos about the area, offers brochures and sells tour and attraction tickets for the city and region. There is also a gift shop and coffee bar.

During the convention, the National Park Service offers a free-of-charge timed ticket system so you don't have to wait in line for Independence Hall. Get tickets on the day of your visit at the Independence Visitor Center. For a $1.50 per ticket service charge, you can also order tickets up to a year in advance by calling the National Park Reservation System at 800-967-2283 or online at reservations.nps.gov.

For more information, call a Visitor Center concierge at 800-537-7676 or visit www.independencevisitorcenter.com.

Philly is Wireless Friendly
While you're inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, you have access to free Wi-fi service from the Convention Center. The free service covers the entire convention space.

If you'll venture away from the Convention Center, Philadelphia has begun implementing a plan to cover the city with free Wi-fi access. While the entire 135 square miles of the city will be covered by Fall 2006, only certain parts have service available right now.

You can access the free service in Love Park, Ben Franklin Parkway, the Historic Square Mile, and the Norris Square and Olney sections of the city.

Product Peeks

Logitek Mosaic
Digital console surface
Booth 110
A control surface for the Logitek Audio Engine digital router, the Mosaic can be configured for a range of two to 24 faders with a variety of control and softkey capabilities. Mosaic consoles provide multiple, full-color LCD screens that can display clocks, meters, timers, delay information, text or graphics; single-button access to multiple functions; timer controls; extensive GPI/GPO control; and display 16-character source names, which can eliminate confusing abbreviations.

Harris-Intraplex Netxpress
Audio over IP manager
Booth 519
Able to send multiple services over one IP connection while allowing an operator to control and monitor the entire operation from a central area, the system is able to transmit multiple audio streams in multiple formats, LAN data and BX/PABX telephone communications. The result is a cost savings when compared to comparable service for separate, dedicated E1/T1 circuits and codecs. Netxpress provides a high-speed bus to enable new high-performance features, and a multi-channel E1/T1 bus that integrates with existing Intraplex E1/T1 modules to provide a gradual transition to an IP infrastructure. Individual channel modules can be turned on or off during any application using a Web browser or SNMP network manager.

Burk Technology G-Link G-Bus
Expansion series
Booth 120
The G-Link G-Bus Expansion Series offers a new approach to remote control based on the established GSC3000 system. By adding G-Link products to a new or existing GSC3000 system, users can monitor facility conditions with plug-and-play convenience. G-Link units on display include the models AC-4 and AC-8 power strip controllers for remote management of 120V inputs such as HVAC appliances, lighting and computers. G-Link emphasizes economies of scale by integrating all remote facility monitoring on a single platform and using the same software and Web-based interfaces as the GSC3000.

Convention Registration

NAB Radio Early Registration Deadline Extended
Washington, DC - Aug 23, 2005 - The NAB has extended its early bird registration deadline for the NAB Radio Show from Aug. 18 to Sept. 9. Early bird registration allows attendees to the convention to pay a lower rate: $495 for members or $795 for non-members instead of paying the full registration costs of $595 for members or $895 for non-members. In addition, the two-for-one member deal is still in effect, which allows two people from an NAB member company to register for the radio show for the price of one.

"We're trying to be responsive to feedback from broadcasters who have been vacationing in August and overlooked the deadline," said John David, NAB executive vice president of radio.

Get an Exhibits-only Pass from Radio magazine
Be a guest of Radio magazine with a VIP Exhibits-only pass to the NAB Radio Show. Go to the registration page and apply for yours today. The Radio magazine VIP code is CJ1792, but the link will enter it for you automatically.

Did you know...?

How did you do on the quiz?

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, which crosses the Delaware River, was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was completed in 1926.

The Liberty Bell was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn's Charter of Liberties, which was enacted in 1701.