News from the Convention

FCC Chairman Martin to be Featured at NAB Radio Show
Washington, DC - Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin will speak during the FCC breakfast on Sept. 27 at 7:30 a.m. during the NAB Radio Show in Charlotte, NC.

FCC Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Deborah Taylor Tate will also attend this year's show.

President Bush appointed Martin to the FCC in 2001 and elevated him to the FCC chairmanship in 2005. Before joining the FCC, Martin was a special assistant to the President for economic policy. He served on the Bush-Cheney Transition Team and was deputy general counsel for the Bush campaign. Prior to joining the campaign, Martin was an advisor to FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. He has also served in the Office of the Independent Counsel and worked as an associate at the Washington, DC, law firm of Wiley Rein LLP.

Martin received a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Masters in Public Policy from Duke University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Federal Communications Bar Association.

Top Radio Executives to Present at Marconi Awards
Washington, DC - Some of Radio's top executives will serve as presenters at the annual NAB Marconi Radio Awards. The prestigious award honors radio stations and on-air personalities for excellence in broadcasting. Sponsored by HD Radio, the biggest night in Radio will take place Sept. 27 during The NAB Radio Show in Charlotte, NC.

The Marconi Radio Award presenters include George Beasley, chairman and CEO, Beasley Broadcast Group; David Benjamin, president and CEO, Triad Broadcasting; Kim Guthrie, regional vice president, Cox Radio; Chesley Maddox-Dorsey, president and COO, Access.1 Communications; Joe Schwartz, president and CEO, Cherry Creek Radio; Gary Stone, president and COO, Univision Radio; and Kevin Wagner, president and CEO, URBan Radio Broadcasting.

Exhibitor Extra

Comrex Access
Portable stereo IP codec
Booth 300
Access Portable is a compact, handheld unit capable of sending mono, stereo or dual mono audio over POTS, DSL, cable, Wi-Fi, 3G Cellular (EVDO/UMTS), satellite, and more. Access is also a fully featured POTS codec able to send and receive 15kHz stereo audio on a single POTS line when connecting to another Access. The codec comes with a seven-hour lithium-ion battery with built-in charger and an integrated Card Bus slot for wireless IP cards and modems.

Broadcast Software International Natural Music
Music scheduling software
Booth 121
Natural Music maintains music library databases, generates daily music logs according to pre-set rules and includes interfaces for most computer automation systems. Natural Music features a virtually unlimited number of songs in the library, 1,225 different music categories, drag-and-drop music-log editing, day part and hour circulation rules, including horizontal separation, and an audit log for troubleshooting.

D.A.V.I.D. One-Click Podcasting
Podcast creation software
Booth 203
Routine podcast conversions, such as turning an entire talk show into a podcast format, can be configured to happen completely in the background without daily human intervention. When a program specifically produced for podcast is finished, the user clicks the mouse to create the checkmark. When the production is saved, the podcast is automatically created. Whether listeners access the podcast from Itunes or the station's website, all of the RSS data, ID3 tags and Metadata are automatically created and attached to the file.

Do you know?

How Well Do You Know Charlotte?
Which of the following Fortune 500 companies is headquartered in the Charlotte metro area?
A. Bank of America
B. General Motors
C. Home Depot
D. FedEx

In 2006, Charlotte's radio market was ranked what number in size according to Arbitron?
A. 27
B. 38
C. 40
D. 33

Eye on IBOC

HD Radio for Managers: Stages of Implementation
In a session from 10:30-11:45 a.m. on Sept. 27, Jeff Detweiler, Geoff Mendenhall, Dan Mettler and Jim Watkins will lead a session where attendees will take home updates on licensing, the equipment needed for conversion, where to buy it and how to budget/finance the deal.

HD Programming: The New Frontier
In this session led by Michael Albl, Charlie Cook, Don Kelly, Cynthia Morgan, and Andy Mussaw from 3-4:15 p.m. Sept. 27, attendees will learn that when it comes to programming, HD multicasting opens up a whole new age of experimentation. Whether it's extending the main channel's brand or striking out in a completely new direction, these programmers are taking full advantage of this new technology.

Products from the Floor

ERI-Electronics Research Ultra Guy Anchor Rod
Guy anchor rod
Booth 310
This guy anchor features a port to allow non-destructive ultra-sonic testing of guy anchor integrity, without soil excavation. It's noninvasive because there is no digging and nondestructive because there is no surface damage. No temporary anchors are required. The equipment provides more detail than visual a inspection, including detection of stress cracks and internal flaws. The rod is Polyethylene sealed and anticorrsive.

LEA International LS Plus
Parallel protector
Booth 200
This compact, modular, multi-stage, parallel protector utilizes a symmetrical array of balanced MOVs for maximum surge handling performance. The LS Plus is equipped with a user-friendly digital readout touchpad for surge counter, audible alarm and dry contacts.

Energy-Onix SST-1000C
Amplifier, exciter
Booth 427
This system includes the SST-30FS, frequency agile, 30W exciter, broadband SSA-1000C, 1kW amplifier, ac line surge protector and polyphasor lightning protector. SST-30FS includes built-in stereo generator. All chassis are 19" rack mountable and, when including exciter, amplifier and ac line protector, occupies 11RU of rack space. It includes the SST-30FS limiter. The ac line surge protector has additional ac outlets that can provide line surge protection for processor and STL receiver.

Session Highlights

Making your Facility Green
There has been a lot of focus on building "green" in recent years, but many people don't know what it is or what it means for broadcast facilities. In this session, Peter Bloomfield and Mark Motl of Bloomfield and Associates Architects, Philadelphia, will lead this session on how site selection, space use programs, and strategic building design and construction can serve the planet and your corporate bottom line.

The presenters' recent book A Face for Radio: Radio Station Planning and Design will be raffled off and three session attendees will be selected to receive a free initial energy audit.

The session takes place Sept. 28 from 10:30-11:45 a.m. in room 218A of the Charlotte Convention Center.

SBE Radio Engineering Forum
Radio engineering will be highlighted Wednesday morning, Sept. 26, in a session led by the Society of Broadcast Engineers. The schedule is as follows:

More Convention News

Bill Press to Speak During NAB Radio Luncheon
Washington, DC - Bill Press, a veteran radio and television talk show commentator, will be the speaker during the Radio Luncheon at the NAB Radio Show. The Bill Press Show: Hardline Liberal Talk With No Apologies blends a mix of political and pop culture news. Press draws from his experience as a political commentator to tackle complex political issues. The program features prominent guests from Capitol Hill and beyond, with a focus on Congress, the president, presidential candidates and other inside-the-Beltway personalities. Nationally syndicated by Jones Radio Networks, the radio talk show airs weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET.

An award-winning radio talk show host, Press has received numerous awards for his work, including Best Commentator of the Year by the Associated Press. For six years, Press was co-host of CNN's Crossfire. He also co-anchored The Spin Room on CNN, with Tucker Carlson, and Buchanan and Press on MSNBC. Currently, Press writes a weekly, nationally syndicated newspaper column for Tribune Media Services.

More Products

Thales Components and Subsystems TH 594
Water-cooled tetrode
Booth 127
The new water-cooled tetrode is designed for the high-power digital FM radio broadcast market. It is especially suited to the new IBOC technology, and in general to high-definition radio broadcasting technologies. Thales' TH 594 tetrode has 40kW anode dissipation and delivers 35kW of continuous wave power, or 60kW peak power. The tetrode incorporates the technologies that have earned Thales tetrodes a reputation for performance and reliability: pyrolytic graphite grids for very high mechanical stability, ensuring optimum high-power performance, and a water-cooled anode (hypervapotron technology) for a high power dissipation rating. At the same time Thales developed a common grid cavity, which is compact, easy to use, and does not require adjustments to the neutralization circuit. Used with the TH 594 tetrode, this cavity enables peak power of 60 kW with a gain of 15.5 dB. The TH 594 tetrode offers the high linearity, long life and ease of installation and operation expected by users.

Nautel Reliable HD Transport
HD Radio STL
Booth 221
This system features Clock Packet Tunneling that arranges clock packets to be sent during times when no data packets are using the STL bandwidth, facilitating a more accurate measurement of the STL throughput delay. Data rebalancing ensures continuous operation without dropout by creating a constant bit-rate stream, reducing instantaneous STL bandwidth requirements. Its automatic E2X start-up sends the initial control packet only once.

Kintronic Labs Kinstar
AM antenna
Booth 110
The radiation pattern and efficiency of this antenna provide operation equivalent to that of a standard quarter-wave monopole, but at approximately 20 to 25 percent of the height. The low profile antenna consists of four electrically short, vertical, closely spaced elements each of which is terminated in a horizontal top load element. Each vertical element is fed via a phase-matched section of 50ohm transmission line.

Out and About in Charlotte

Events in and Around Charlotte
When you're ready to escape the hustle of the NAB Radio Show, be sure to see some of the best events Charlotte has to offer.

Product Peeks

Westar Music Star Trax
Music library
Booth 336
Star Trax contains broadcast-length tracks (60s, 30s and stingers) from the Westar Music Library, plus all of the collection's Tags, Bridges, Production Elements and Segues, published in 16-bit/44.1kHz .BWF format. A complete set of metadata is embedded in the files, ready for use with asset management software. This production music collection is available on 10 DVD ROM discs, and it currently offers more than 5,300 tracks (26.5GB) of professional music and transitions.

Barix Technology Extreamer 1000
Network audio decoder
Booth 113
The Extreamer 1000 combines Instreamer and Exstreamer technology into a single device, and adds several new features including a host of inputs and outputs not available on previous models, designed specifically for the professional radio broadcaster. Eight contact closures allow broadcasters to transport data information with the audio to trigger and control local announcements, such as station identification, an EAS signal or even local studio cut-ins to a national feed. The Exstreamer 1000 adds a signal converter with a significantly higher dB level to reduce noise and improve audio quality; and a professional AES/EBU interface to capture a digital signal at the source and maintain it throughout the chain.

Rohde and Schwarz SR8000
FM transmitter
Booth 529
This transmitter is equipped with a digital exciter and provides output power from 100W to 1kW. The digital exciter combines the specs of the analog exciters from the company with the reliability of modern digital signal processing. Due to their compact design, the transmitter occupies a maximum of four height units. All functions are integrated in one box; single frequency network operation is possible.

Did you know?

How Did You Do?

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