News from the Convention

Collective Soul to Perform at Marconi Radio Awards Dinner
Washington - The NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show will feature a performance by Collective Soul. The awards dinner will take place on Sept. 27 during The NAB Radio Show in Charlotte, NC. Glenn Beck will host the event.

Housing for NAB Radio Show in High Demand
Washington, DC - NAB's reserved room block for preferred hotels at The NAB Radio Show is now booked at capacity at the Westin and Hilton hotels in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rooms at the Westin sold out less than three months after housing registration opened on April 18. The Hilton block sold out 10 days later, on July 23. Rooms are currently available at The Blake, Hampton Inn, Marriott and Omni Hotels in Charlotte. Travel and hotel reservation information is available online or by contacting Expovision, the official housing agency for The NAB Radio Show, at 888-622-8830.

Exhibitor Extra

Day Sequerra M4.2R
HD Radio tuner
Booth 112
Based on the M4.0, the M4.2R provides additional tools to monitor HD Radio broadcast transmissions. This tuner includes six programmable dry, floating alarm relays, RBDS, RF multipath and signal strength displays, an Ethernet interface for streaming PAD data or remote control and the company's Remote Dashboard software, which lets broadcasters remotely tune the unit, alarm key signal parameters and log their data. The tuner also features full time digital audio output, even when tuned to an analog station.

Burk Technology SL-1
Serial LAN extender
Booth 403
Connect two LANs via an existing serial connection, allowing remote IP access without a separate ISP or VPN, with this device. Use it at remote sites where traditional IP connectivity is limited or not feasible. The LAN extender enables wide-scale deployment of IP-based technologies. The unit also brings Web-based setup and diagnostic applications within the reach of studio staff. Personnel at remote sites benefit by gaining access to otherwise unavailable network resources, including email, PDF manuals and wiring documentation. Because the system operates on the same subnet as the local and remote networks, devices integrate seamlessly over any distance, with minimal security obstacles, at speeds anywhere from 4.8 to 115.2 kb/s.

OMT Technologies HD Now
Multicast programming
Booth 501
This service provides HD Radio multicast broadcasters with a way to handle their programming and content needs. With one workstation, stations can create multicast programs by accessing a music library with more than 150,000 music titles or 100 professionally programmed channels in various music formats. Multiple HD Radio channels can be managed remotely from a central location to include customizable music, liner and commercial content that is relevant to each market.

BIA Financial Network Media Acces Pro v4.2
Broadcast media database
Booth 405
The improvements in Media Access Pro include information on HD Radio, greater functionality and flexibility in the mapping program, expanded technical information on CP data, the addition of low-power FMs, more detailed information on radio station audience levels, and user requested custom reports and searches to create customized reports at the click of a button. Version 4.2 also includes predefined searches for CPs and move-ins so the user can quickly know the number of CPs in a market, identify overlapping signals from competing stations and determine when a CP will be a new move-in to a local market.

Do you know?

How well do you know Charlotte?
Compared to other cities in the U.S., what rank does Charlotte hold in terms of population and size?
A. 18
B. 20
C. 25
D. 27

Charlotte is named for Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the German wife of King George III. Which of these states is also named for overseas royalty?
A. Georgia
B. North/South Carolina
C. Louisiana
D. Virginia/West Virginia
E. Maryland
F. All of the above

Industry

Frank Luntz to Keynote NAB Radio Show
Washington - Author and consultant Dr. Frank Luntz will provide the keynote address on Sept. 27 during The NAB Radio Show in Charlotte, NC. Expanding on his book, Words that Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear, Luntz will offer attendees insight into how word choice can positively affect their stations. Luntz's book has been on best-seller lists in the political and business fields. By investigating the art and science of language creation, Words that Work examines how the simple choice of words can change the course of history.

Luntz has been named one of four Top Research Minds by Business Week, and among 50 of America's most promising leaders aged 40 and under, by Time magazine. Over the past decade, Luntz has written, supervised and conducted more than 1,500 surveys, focus groups and dial sessions in more than 20 countries. He has administered focus groups for numerous media outlets, including ABC, CBS and NBC, and won an Emmy Award in 2001 for his recurring segments on MSNBC and CNBC entitled 100 Days and 1,000 Voices.

Eye on IBOC

The Light at the End of the Tunnel
The transition to digital has been a protracted struggle for radio broadcasters. It's now getting on late in 2007, and while an impressive number of radio stations have anted up and adopted HD Radio technology, few consumers have managed to muster much more than a ho-hum to the idea of adding a pricey new radio to their stable of legacy receivers.

Yet just when it seems that things can get much worse, they may be getting ready to.

According to a number of reports coming from the recent House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Broadcast Performance Rights, the light at the end of the metaphoric tunnel that represents our long IBOC digital transition may just be a freight train heading our way.

It's no secret that HD Radio's only real selling point for consumers thus far has been the multicast application. Convince a Jazz fan that he may actually have a choice between a couple of jazz channels that didn't previously exist in his market with no monthly subscription, and well, you may have just landed a convert.

But signs from Washington indicate that the cost of programming those multicast services, as well as analog channels, may be about to take off -- at least if the RIAA gets its way, as the recording industry, now firming up their gains from online broadcasters, is proposing nothing less than a statutory per-recording performance royalty for radio airplay.

A recent article in the Broadcast Law Blog published by Davis, Wright, Tremaine LLC, a post by David Oxenford contains this timely warning to broadcasters: "The proponents of the new royalty have made a facially attractive case for imposing this new obligation on broadcasters. Broadcasters must pay attention to this issue now, and explain to their Congressional representatives the impact that such a royalty would have, as this is currently the single most direct threat to their bottom line. And, if the tenor of the conversation at the hearing is any indication, the threat is real."

At the end of a summer full of tough news for our industry, its time for radio broadcasters to link arms and mobilize against a threat that could derail HD Radio before it even leaves the station.

Products from the Floor

Moseley Associates Event HD 5800
Bidirectional radio link
Booth 308
The Event HD 5800 is a carrier class T1/E1/IP Ethernet radio link. When paired with the Starlink SL9003T1 it creates a high capacity bidirectional STL/TSL. The link's high payload capacity supports multi-station clusters. It's bidirectional to provide LAN extension, remote control, phone extension and backhaul audio for downlink or RPU. The unit consists of a software-defined indoor unit and outdoor unit. The 5800 radios are spectrum and data rate scalable, which enables greater flexibility in STL planning and future growth. The integrated T1/E1 and Ethernet interfaces allow for any combination of T1/E1 and IP packet data up to the maximum throughput.

Audio Science ASI6514
Sound card
Booth 619
The ASI6514 is a professional PCI sound card designed for use in radio broadcast automation. Providing up to 12 play streams mixed to four balanced stereo outputs and up to two record streams fed from one balanced stereo input, the ASI6514 features anything to anywhere mixing and routing. The ASI6514 provides both balanced analog and AES/EBU inputs and outputs. The maximum analog input and output level is +24dBu. A choice of uncompressed PCM, MPEG layer 2 and MP3 is available for both recording and playback. All compression is handled by an on-board floating point DSP, allowing the host computer to focus on other tasks.

Shively Labs 2604, 2612
Interdigital bandpass filters
401
These interdigital bandpass filters provide filtering in a footprint less than half the size of conventional bandpass filters. The 2604 is designed for use with transmitters up to 2.5kW and the 2612 for transmitters up to 10kW. Both are manufactured for use in HD Radio applications.

Jetcast Streaming service
Streaming service
Booth 204
A new streaming technology, Jetcasting allows each station to have unlimited bandwidth at a fraction of the cost. All streams are scalable and secure. Stations retain 100 percent control of their streams and ad revenue. Users can even design a station player skin to add a logo and color scheme.

Session Highlights

NAB Radio Show Features Marketing Super Session
Washington - Marketing executives from Anheuser-Busch, Dunkin' Donuts, Pepsi-Cola and Carat will share their insights on radio in a super session entitled What America's Most Influential Marketers Say About Radio. The session will take place on Sept. 27 at 1:30 p.m. during The NAB Radio Show.

The panelists include Frances Allen, brand marketing officer at Dunkin' Donuts; Frank Cooper III, VP of marketing for Pepsi-Cola in North America; Tony Ponturo, VP of global media and sports marketing for Anheuser-Busch; and David Verklin, CEO of Carat Americas and chairman of Carat Asia Pacific.

More Convention News

Glenn Beck to Host NAB Marconi Radio Awards
Washington - Talk radio personality Glenn Beck will host the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show on Sept. 27 during The NAB Radio Show in Charlotte, NC.

Heard on more than 270 radio stations, The Glenn Beck Program is currently the third highest-rated national talk show among adults ages 25 to 54. Beck's radio career began at 13, when he won a local radio contest that eventually led to a part-time job. In 2001, he made his talk radio debut on WFLA-AM Tampa. Shortly thereafter, The Glenn Beck Program went national, debuting on 47 stations in January 2002.

Beck's career expanded to television in 2006 when he joined CNN Headline News. His hour-long program, Glenn Beck, offers an unconventional perspective on the news of the day and has enjoyed substantial ratings growth in several different audience demographics.

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. Winners will be announced at the NAB Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, NC.

NAB Radio Show to Feature Career Fair
Washington, DC - The National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation (NABEF), Broadcast Education Association (BEA) and Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), will host the 2007 Radio Show Career Fair featuring opportunities for careers in radio broadcasting. Sponsored by Bonneville International Corporation and Radio One, the event will take place during The NAB Radio Show on Sept. 26 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

The NABEF-BEA-RTNDA Radio Show Career Fair is open to both registrants and non-registrants, will include recruiters from the broadcast industry and feature a special session titled "Careers in Radio," led by Steve Warren, president of MOR Media and author of Radio the Book.

More Products

Superior Electric Stabiline SLF
UPS
Booth 212
All SLF series UPS are equipped with a front-panel LCD status display. More than 20 UPS statuses and conditions can be displayed. The system produces a true sine wave output voltage waveform. All models are microprocessor controlled and feature a two-stage automatic voltage regulation capability. All models have surge suppression and EMI/RFI filtering circuitry to prevent damaging power line transients and noise from reaching your equipment. RF11 telephone jacks are provided on the UPS rear panel for fax/modem use. A RS-232 port is also provided. Other features include 120Vac, 50/60Hz operation, and 500VA, 700VA and 1kVA models.

Global Security Systems Alert FM
Personal alert, messaging system
Booth 421
Alert FM messages are delivered via GSS Net, a digital network of existing FM transmitters around the United States, to multiple receiving devices equipped with a standard FM chip. This targeted alert and messaging system uses existing FM technology to send mass or personalized alerts about an unfolding emergency to specially-designed receivers or any device equipped with a standard FM chip, such as cell phones, USB drives, smoke detectors, home alarms, clocks or any mobile communication device.

Wheatstone Evolution 6
Networked audio system
Booth 510
The E-6 Surface, the E-series Studio Satellite and the E-series Network Switch combine to achieve a cost effective networked audio system. Each studio operates independently yet can share all the sources and mixes through the E-series Network. Switch-without traffic limitations, audio latency, or machine control delays. The E-6 Surface features event recall, bus-minus and mix-minus and four aux mixes—all with dedicated talkback systems. The E-6 also has four monitor outputs and standard EQ, dynamics, panning and mic processing on all channels (simultaneously). It supports multiple arrays of programmable input channel and master panel switches for customized functions like phone, intercom, salvos or machine commands.

NDS Limited Radioguard
Conditional access
Booth 122
The technology enables pay-per-listen, opt-in and public service on the HD Radio platform. Broadcasters can offer more choices to their listeners, a broader selection of content and more segmentation opportunities for advertisers, all of which provide additional revenue-generating possibilities. The technology will improve radio reading services for the blind, private channels for emergency operators and opt-in events sponsored by advertisers. The technology will encrypt content before it is transmitted over the airwaves, then decrypt it once the radio has received it and verified the entitlement rules.

Out and About in Charlotte

Filling Spare Time in Charlotte
If you are spending any extra time in Charlotte before or after the show, you'll need to take in the area attractions.

Product Peeks

Burli Software News Data Ingest
Radio newsroom system
Booth 610
Burli ingests and manages a huge range of data in traditional and emerging formats. More than 50 serial data wires are supported in a variety of formats, languages and character sets. The system provides automatic ingest from FTP sites as well as LAN or WAN locations. The system automatically records from multiple analog or digital audio sources. Clock, threshold, GPI recording triggers are available. Record and manage telephone recordings remotely with DTMF tones. Support for PCM, MP2, BWAV, Cart Chunk and MP3 formats in a variety of sample and bit rates.Built-in RSS reader treats RSS feeds like newswires.

RCS Prophet Newsgen 1.6
Newsroom production
Booth 217
This standalone newsroom software enables reporters to write newscasts, receive and manipulate wire copy and digitally record, edit and playback audio. This upgraded version includes the added ability to ingest wire services via IP, flexibility to run the News Feeder service on multiple CPUs, moving a media file or story to a new category will update the erase date to reflect the new category's settings, added created date, created user, length and media length columns to the story library, modified e-mail format to send as blind carbon copy, and time and date are now displayed based on regional settings.

X-Digital XDS-Pro 4
Satellite receiver
Booth 1533
Designed for networks with up to four audio outputs with 32 relays, each live stream can be routed to any of the balanced outputs. Media files can be transmitted into local flash, a local hard disk or onto a mounted network file server (NFS) device. Audio files residing on the mounted device can be inserted into a live or recorded media being output via the MPEG decoder, providing localization into live and stored programming. The XDS-PRO is capable of recording and playing back any broadcast channel. All XDS-PRO4s are equipped with up to 32 programmable form-A relays that can be actuated via network control or ancillary data channels, providing a legacy interface for many existing radio station automation systems.

Enco Systems Padapult VS
Data delivery program
Booth 508
PADapult was introduced in 2005 as a vehicle to enable broadcasters a means of fully automated or manual delivery of program metadata such as artist and title information as HD Radio Program Service Data, RBDS encoders and other information displays. Along with HD Radio's digital audio signal, or main audio program, there's also a text stream embedded in the carrier wave. This Program Service Data (PSD) consists of metadata and gives land-based stations capabilities similar to satellite radio services. Text scrolls across the front of the receiver's LCD panel. Song and artist information and station ID are standard content, but the PSD can also include traffic and weather updates or other information the station provides - even commercials. Other applications can include traffic, weather and sports updates and provide the advantage of incorporating this information in audio form that does not require the listener to read the information from their radio display.

Did you know?

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