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News from the Convention

18 Markets Added to HD Radio Multicast Roll-out
Orlando, FL - Aug 15, 2006 - The HD Digital Radio Alliance has added 18 markets to its list of markets for the multicast roll-out. All the multicast markets are within the top 100 markets.

The 18 markets are Austin, TX (42); Raleigh, NC (43); Nashville (44); Greensboro, NC (45); New Orleans (46); West Palm Beach, FL (47); Jacksonville, FL (49); Monmouth Ocean (51); Buffalo, NY (52); Oklahoma City (53); Rochester, NY (54); Louisville, KY (55); Richmond, VA (56); Greenville, SC (59); Honolulu (61); Tucson, AZ (62); Albany, NY (63); and Ft. Myers, FL (65).

NAB Announces 2006 Marconi Radio Awards Finalists
Washington - Jul17, 2006 - The NAB has announced the finalists for the NAB Marconi Radio Awards honoring outstanding radio stations and on-air personalities. The winners in each category will be announced on Sept. 21 at the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show held during The NAB Radio Show in Dallas.

This year's Marconi Radio Awards will feature two new categories, Spanish Format Personality of the Year and Sports Station of the Year.

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.

Wide Orbit Hits the 500 Milestone
San Francisco - Aug 14, 2006 - Wide Orbit's WO Traffic software has been installed in more than 500 television stations, radio stations and cable networks. WO Traffic, a research, proposer, sales, traffic and billing system, includes features such as advertiser profiles, station blueprints, market blueprints, user-friendly revenue reports and accounting management tools.

"It took Wide Orbit 37 months to grow from one station to 100 stations, and just five months to grow from 400 stations to more than 500," said Eric Mathewson, founder of Wide Orbit. "We are especially pleased to see the strong positive response from radio broadcasters to the Wide Orbit software platform, and we look forward to radio being a significant driver of Wide Orbit's growth."

Do you know?

The NAB Radio Show has made its way around to several cities over the past few years. With this visit to Dallas, we thought that we would test your knowledge of Texas trivia.

Q1: True or False: Dallas is more windy than "The Windy City" (Chicago).

Q2: There is a skyscraper in downtown Dallas that glows green at night. How is it lighted?
A. Neon lights
B. LEDs
C. Argon

Answers are at the bottom of the page.

Products from the Floor

Prophet Systems
Prize Watch
Software
Booth 209
Prize Watch creates station contests, tracks prize inventory and is a central location for winners and their electronic confirmation signatures.
www.prophetsys.com
sales@prophetsys.com

Vorsis
M-1
Digital mic processor
Booth 615
The M-1 is a digital mic processor featuring an interactive user interface that provides remote monitoring and control.
www.vorsis.com
sales@vorsis.com

Technical Sessions on Thursday, Sept 21

The technical program at the NAB Radio Show will cover a variety of practical topics.

7:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
The FCC Breakfast
Join high-level FCC regulators for breakfast and get first hand information you won't find anywhere else. Topics are sure to include satellite radio, IBOC digital radio, the new ownership proceeding and regulatory trends.

The Radio Technology Forum will offer a variety of technical presentations that will be immediately useful to practicing engineers. Topics covered will include digital radio opportunities and challenges, case studies from the field, digital audio transcoding, multicasting and datacasting.

9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Radio Technology Forum Part I
9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Real Time Adaptive Correction Explained
Presenter: Geoff Mendenhall, Harris Broadcast Communications
An explanation of the basics of how linear and non-linear pre-correction works in HD Radio or DRM systems without a lot of math so the typical radio station engineer can understand the concepts.

9:45 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Radio Studio Buildouts: Tools, Process... Results!
Presenter: Steve Davis, Clear Channel Radio
An overview of the process of planning and overseeing radio studio construction projects, from the architectural and equipment selection process, through installation and move-in.

10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.
Radio Show Keynote Address, Ken Schmidt
State of the Industry, NAB President David Rehr
Communications consultant and former Harley-Davidson spokesperson Ken Schmidt will provide this year's keynote address. Schmidt, who helped rejuvenate Harley-Davidson's reputation as an American corporate icon, will tell radio show attendees how to build a culture that rekindles relationships with listeners while reaching out to new ones in completely untraditional ways. The keynote address will follow opening remarks on the state of the industry by NAB President David Rehr.

Noon to 2:15 p.m.
Radio Show Exhibit Floor Lunch
The NAB will serve lunch from the exhibit floor.

2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Radio Technology Forum Part II
2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Networking and Link Issues When Implementing Multicasting
Presenter: Richard Hinkle, Broadcast Electronics
This will be a practical approach to understanding the issues encountered when implementing multicasting for your HD station. The focus of this paper will be how to setup networks to ensure a robust multicast system without compromising your main network. In addition we will provide insight into STL link issues, limitations and possible solution.

3:15 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Adventures in AM IBOC Implementation
Presenter: J.S. Sellmeyer, Sellmeyer Engineering
A discussion of some of the RF issues involved with properly implementing AM IBOC issues together with examples of the steps necessary for an optimum load on the transmitter.

4 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Audio Processing In Transition
Presenter: Frank Foti, Telos Systems/Omnia Audio
As broadcasting moves closer to a full digital transmission system, the requirements for audio processing have changed dramatically. There is an effect on FM and AM within the traditional analog channel and the digital path. This discussion will provide comprehensive insight about the implementation of audio processing in a digital broadcast facility.

4:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
HD Radio Coverage and Interference Issues
Presenter: Doug Vernier-V-Soft Communications
This review will cover the major signal issues facing the transition to HD Radio. Where will my coverage go? Will my analog station receive interference? What new research is being done and where will it take us?

More Products

Audio Science
ASI6614, ASI6644
PCI Express sound cards
Booth 317
These sound cards use the next generation PCI Express (PCIe) bus. PCIe is an emerging interface that uses serial data interconnects that run at 2.5Gb/s. The single lane PCIe interface used in the ASI6600 series provides a peak throughput of more than 200MB/s. The sound cards offer a faster DSP, short-length PCI format, +24dBu analog levels, 96kHz sample rates and SSX multi-channel support. All the features of the ASI6000 range are also present, such as MRX multi-rate mixing, MPEG Layer II and Layer III encoding and decoding, TSX time scaling and Sound Guard transient voltage protection on all I/O. Four stereo inputs and outputs are provided on the ASI6644, while the ASI6614 features one stereo input and four stereo outputs. Hardware sample rate converters are present on all AES/EBU inputs and a dedicated AES/EBU and word clock sync input are also standard.
www.audioscience.com
sales@audioscience.com

Jampro Antennas
JMPC-HD
Antenna
Booth 417
The medium power version of the FM Penetrator antenna, the Penetrator HD, available with and without de-icers or radomes, has been designed for HD Radio broadcast. Rated at 10kW maximum input, each bay consists of a Penetrator-style radiating element with a 1-5/8" shunt feed line. Each antenna is factory tuned to any frequency in the FM band II (87.5MHz to 108MHz) range on a tower structure that bests simulates the customer's actual tower. Multiple frequency design is also available. The true circular polarization of the antenna offers performance for HD Radio, stereo and SCA operation. Typical VSWR is 1.1:1 ± 200kHz.
www.jampro.com
jampro@jampro.com

Convention Events

The Formats to Perform at NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner
Washington, DC - Jul 14, 2006 - The NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show will feature a performance by The Formats, a broadcaster band led by blues guitarist Steve Cropper and featuring FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein on harmonica. Other band members include:
Vocals - NAB Joint Board Chairman and Bonneville International President Bruce Reese, Emmis Communications CEO Jeff Smulyan, Sandusky Radio President Norman Rau and Regent Communications Senior Vice President, Operations Fred Murr.
Guitar - Air America's Gary Krantz and ABC Radio Group President Mitch Dolan.
Keyboard - Greater Media President Peter Smyth.
Bass - Norm Phillips, most recently with Susquehanna Radio.
Drums - South Central Communications President-Radio Craig Jacobus and Urban Radio Broadcasting President Kevin Wagner.
Sax - Chriss Scherer, editor of Radio magazine, and Richard Frish, GM of KLIF in Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Former Jefferson Pilot President-Radio Clarke Brown is the band's producer and is encouraging other musically inclined broadcasters to contact him at clarkebrown@bellsouth.net.

Cropper, a founding member of Booker T. and the MG's and The Mar-Keys, has composed hits for Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, Aretha Franklin and numerous others. Cropper was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.

Established in 1989, the NAB Marconi Radio Awards are given to radio stations and outstanding on-air personalities to recognize excellence in radio. Winners will be announced at the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas during the NAB Radio Show.

SBE Day Planned for NAB Radio Show
Dallas - Jul 24, 2006 - The Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) Chapter 67 of North Texas has arranged to present a day of technical presentations and SBE certification exams at the 2006 NAB Radio Show on Sept. 20. The morning presentations from 9 a.m. to noon will cover broadcast antenna systems and digital technology for radio. An SBE certification exam session will be offered from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

To take an SBE exam during the NAB Radio Show, submit a certification exam application to the SBE National Office by Aug. 25. Certification exam applications are available at the SBE website. For more information, contact Megan Clappe, SBE certification director, at mclappe@sbe.org or 317-846-9000.

Out and About in Dallas

Hit a few of the highlights of Dallas during your stay:

Dealey Plaza is one of the most notable locations in American history, not only because it's the geographical birthplace of Dallas, but also because on Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot by an assassin's bullet as the Presidential motorcade rounded the plaza. The Sixth Floor Museum provides a bird's eye view of what Lee Harvey Oswald saw the day of the assassination. Dealey Plaza is located at 500 Main St. in downtown Dallas.

The Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District offers entertainment, shopping and restaurants. For a true taste of Texas, visit the Stockyard Championship Rodeo every Friday and Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. at the Cowtown Coliseum. For more information visit www.cowtowncoliseum.com

Product Peeks

AEQ
DA-26
Distribution amp
Booth 521
This analog audio distribution amplifier feeds one input to 12 outputs or two inputs to six outputs in 1RU. Each output features its own level control and galvanic isolation in all inputs and outputs through audio transformers.
www.aeqbroadcast.com
sales@aeqbroadcast.com

Tieline Technology
3G
Cellular software module for remotes
Booth 807
A software upgrade for currents users, the Commander G3 and I-mix G3 platforms now deliver live broadcast-quality remotes to the studio via emerging 3G wireless broadband technology. Broadcasters with 3G broadband enabled cell phones can connect from anywhere they can get reliable wireless 3G coverage and deliver FM-quality mono and stereo audio for remote broadcasts. A 3G broadband connection enables data transfer at download speeds of up to 384kb/s and upload speeds of up to 128kb/s.
www.tieline.com
sales@tieline.com

Did you know?

A1: On average, Dallas is more windy than Chicago. Chicago's annualized average wind speed is 10.4 mph. Dallas averages 10.7 mph and has higher wind speed averages in eight of the 12 calendar months.

A2: The building is lit with argon. Neon doesn't render that green color.

To receive these articles weekly in your e-mail, subscribe to the NAB Radio Update e-newsletter from Radio magazine. Click here to subscribe.