News from the Convention

FCC's Adelstein and Tate to Speak at NAB Show

The Regulatory Face-off will give NAB Show attendees the opportunity to interact directly with the FCC Commissioners regarding issues critical to the broadcast and telecommunications industry. More information on the NAB Show's Broadcast Regulatory and Legislative Conference, which includes The Regulatory Face-off, is available on the NAB Show website

Jonathan Adelstein became an FCC commissioner in 2002 and was sworn in for a new term in 2004. Before joining the FCC, Adelstein served for fifteen years as a staff member in the Senate, serving as a senior legislative aide to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) for seven of those years. In that position, he advised Sen. Daschle on telecommunications, financial services, transportation and other key issues. Previously, he served as professional staff member to Senate Special Committee on Aging Chairman David Pryor (D-AR), including an assignment as a special liaison to Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), and as a legislative assistant to Senator Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D-MI).

Deborah Taylor Tate was sworn in as an FCC commissioner in early 2006. She is the Federal Chair of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, as well as Federal Chair of the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations.

Before being appointed to the Commission, Tate was a director of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. In that position, she was appointed to the Federal-State Joint Board on Advanced Telecommunications Services. Prior to her service at the TRA, Tate served as an attorney and senior policy advisor to two former Tennessee governors, with special expertise in the areas of mental health and juvenile justice.

Media Monitors to Link with Arbitron PPM Ratings
New York and White Plains, NY - Feb 11, 2008 - Arbitron and Media Monitors have signed an agreement allowing Media Monitors to link PPM minute level audience data with Media Monitors airplay information in a new service called Audience Response.

Audience Response analyzes PPM data and Media Monitors airplay information to help programmers hear what was playing on the air when they observe changes in the audience.

Media Monitors Audience Response complements GSelector, RCS’ music scheduling program, to complete the loop from listener to music rotation in a faster way.

Exhibitor Extra

Sonifex RM-2S4, RM-2S10, RM-4C8
Rack-mount audio monitors
Booth N4919
Each reference monitor is a 1U rack-mount unit offering loudspeaker monitoring and high-resolution metering of up to four or 10 stereo audio sources. Sources may be in any mixture of analogue and AES/EBU digital formats, with sample rates up to 192kHz accepted and a 5-band parametric EQ can be used to tailor the unit for the room it is mounted in. Sources are selected via a front panel rotary encoder, with clear LED indication of the current selection. On the rear panel, open-collector alarm outputs provide hardware indication of sustained under-level, over-level and phase errors. The three-way loudspeaker system is fed via a DSP-based active crossover and a trio of highly efficient Class-D amplifiers. Optional additions to each model are HD video input expansion cards, allowing multiple AES groups embedded within an HD-SDI or SD-SDI signal to be de-embedded and monitored.

Axia Audio Smart Switch
User-programmable studio control panels
Booth N7620
Smart Switch panels interface with Axia’s Pathfinder PC router control software to provide on-air hosts, guests and producers with one-touch activation of router salvos, studio switching operations, audio equipment control, custom intercom functions and more. These panels are 1RU devices available in either 9- or 17-button configurations. They contain back-lit, dynamic LCD displays, and are designed for convenient placement next to host or guest mic positions. Smart Switch panels connect to Axia networks via Ethernet.

Staco Energy Products Unistar P
Single-phase UPS
Booth N4218
This single-phase online uninterruptible power supply features protection over a wide input voltage range. This true double-conversion UPS is available in 6, 8 and 10kVac models, to protect from outages and irregularities in incoming line voltages from 160 to 280Vac at 45-65Hz. Up to four Unistar P modules can be installed in parallel for redundancy or additional capacity. A constant, clean, steady sine wave protects downstream equipment even without going to battery mode. Each Unistar P features high-overload handling, without transfer to the bypass, and protection against short circuit and over-temperature conditions.

JK Audio Remote Amp Two
Stereo headphone amplifier
Booth N7929
Remote Amp Two provides a listen-only connection for mono IFB or full bandwidth stereo music listening. Separate volume controls for the XLR and 3.5mm line input jacks allow a simple mix of mono and stereo sources. The 1/2W, 1/4" stereo headphone jack will cut through any crowd noise. Connect an IFB earpiece to the 3.5mm earpiece jack for mono operation.

Industry

Yamaha Upgrades Console
Based on the upgrade to the Yamaha DM2000 digital console, Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems has similarly upgraded the DM1000, 01V96 and 02R96 digital consoles which will be featured at NAB 2008. VCM Technology, or Virtual Circuitry Modeling, not only simulates analog circuitry characteristics like resistors and capacitors, but emulates the sounds of 1970s analog and that sought-after vintage gear, including classic compression and EQ.

APT Prepares to Launch New Brand Identity
Belfast - Mar 5, 2008 - APT will unveil a new logo and corporate identity at the NAB Show this year. CEO Noel McKenna explained the rationale behind the re-branding, "In recent years we have grown significantly both in size and maturity and we felt a strong need to update our logo and corporate identity to reflect this. Today's APT is a professional, reliable and customer-centric company and a key player in the broadcast and intellectual property licensing markets. We have recently moved to new corporate headquarters and plan to double our engineering capability in the next 12 months."

In recent years, APT has expanded into new markets, acquired new capabilities and developed new technologies.

Do You Know...?

How Well Do You Know Las Vegas?
In 1899 Charles Fey invented something named the Liberty Bell. What was his invention?
a. slot machine
b. automatic card shuffler
c. roulette wheel
d. neon sign

You see the name Hughes on numerous locations and developments in Las Vegas. Which hotel/casino was not purchased by Howard Hughes?
a. Desert Inn
b. Sands
c. Landmark
d. Riviera

How many cubic yards of concrete make up the Hoover Dam?
a. 4.6 million
b. 3.25 million
c. 6 million
d. 2.2 million

The answer are at the bottom.

More Products

APW Enclosures E-Rack
Rack-mountable shelves
Booth SU 5613
Available in a variety of heights and depths, the Stantron E-Rack simplifies mounting of ground bars and lacing of cable. The E-Rack is a low footprint, 22" wide rack to accommodate high-density cabling. Its doors open 180 degrees, cable chase access panels remove without tools and provide kinkless cable runs. Stantron E-Racks offer a sturdy design and streamlined appearance with a durable powder coat finish and lifetime guarantee.

Burk Technology Plus-X AC-8
Remote power controller
Booth N6920
The Plus-X AC-8 provides independent management of equipment connected to 120V outlets, allowing remote rebooting of servers, PCs and more. Broadcasters can also remotely manage HVAC, lighting and other appliances. The product connects directly to the Burk ARC Plus remote control via Ethernet, or to any remote control (including the GSC3000 and ARC-16) using general-purpose inputs. A built-in Web server allows stand-alone remote connectivity.

Klotz Digital Decennium
On-air console
Booth N5925
As part of a networkable audio routing system, the Decennium standard console is supplied pre-configured to simplify installation and set up. The console is modular and expandable, and the configuration software allows it to be customized as needed. The Decennium audio engine includes on-bard DSP to provide voice processor, parametric six-band EQ and dynamics on each channel. Each channel strip features a rotary encoder with integrated push button and a 16-character display that can be used for source selection and channel-related parameter settings. The control surface is available in 4-, 8-, 12-, 16-, 20- and 24-fader frames.

Audemat Digiplexer 246
Audio processor
Booth N7932
The Digiplexer 246 processor is similar to the Audemat Digiplexer 2/4, but includes a 3U, 2- or 4-band audio processor with RDS and stereo encoder, audioback-up and remote control capabilities with an exciter 10, 20 or 100 W.

Convention Events

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar to Deliver Keynote Speech at NAB Show
Washington, DC - Mar 18, 2008 - Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, an online video joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp, will present a keynote address at the NAB Show in Las Vegas on Wed. April 16. Kilar will discuss the trends and technologies enticing content providers to distribute and deliver content.

Hulu is a free online video service that streams premium television shows, movies and clips. Via the destination site Hulu.com, distribution partner sites and embeddable video players, Hulu enables extensive distribution online. Since its beta launch in October 2007, Hulu has won praise for its high-quality consumer experience, particularly its lineup of premium content and well-designed user interface.

Jason Kilar joined Hulu after nearly a decade at Amazon.com where he served as senior vice president, Worldwide Application Software, reporting directly to Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos. During his career at Amazon, Kilar served as vice president and general manager of Amazon's North American media businesses, leading the company's entry into the video and DVD markets. Kilar began his career with The Walt Disney Company, where he worked for Disney Design and Development.

Kilar joins Lost executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, CSI creator Anthony Zuiker, Pushing Daisies director and executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld, Six Flags President and CEO Mark Shapiro and best-selling author Alvin Toffler as featured speakers during this year's NAB Show.

Out and About

Events For Those Arriving Early
In case you will be in Vegas before the NAB Show begins or need some evening filler to unwind during the beginning of the week, check out some of these local events.

April 11, 2008

April 12, 2008

April 13, 2008

April 14, 2008

April 15, 2008

If you're sticking around after the show is over, look for events in the next Radio magazine NAB Insider happening after the show.

Product Peeks

Vorsis FM-5
Audio processor
Booth N7612
One of the newest members of the Vorsis processing family, the FM-5 features include a proprietary five-band multiband dynamics controller along with a precision 10-band final limiter with distortion-masked clipper. The FM-5 also ships with a high-pass filter that may operate in stereo or M/S modes; automatic audio source fail over on analog and digital audio inputs; separate audio input gains for analog and digital inputs; four-band parametric equalizer; five-band linear phase crossover with adjustable crossover points; FM output simultaneously available as AES3 and analog; and reference-grade multiplex encoder with selectable composite clipper, multiplex filter and twin composite outputs.

Barix Technology AAC+ for Extreamer-110
Compression add-on
Booth N8036
Barix Exstreamer IP audio decoders now feature AAC Plus v2, which builds on the success of MPEG-4 AAC Plus to improve compression rates over the initial release as well as MP3. Radio broadcasters distributing content over the Internet to Exstreamer-110 decoders can use ACC Plus v2 compression to significantly reduce bandwidth or improve audio quality.

Samson Technologies CL5
Handheld condenser mic
Booth N5823
The CL5 features a 12.7mm gold sputtered capsule with a 3-micron tensioned diagram working in concert with advanced head amp electronics to faithfully reproduce any sound source. The CL5 is a studio condenser in a handheld package. It handles a high SPL of up to 141dB. The CL5 is a pressure gradient, true condenser with cardioid pick-up pattern and extended linear frequency response that operates on 48V phantom power and comes with a dual stage windscreen and comes in a durable carry case. The CL5 is available in both a nickel and black finish.

RCS Radio Show
Interactive broadcast software
Booth N5917
This software is designed to keep a station in front of the listener regardless of the digital platform being used. Radio Show displays information such as song titles and artist names of the music playing on the air. The information is shown in real-time, synchronized to the terrestrial station's audio. Visuals, such as CD covers, artist graphics, station photos and sponsor logos, can be synchronized to an audio stream.

Did You Know?

How Did You Do?
A. Charles Fey invented the slot machine. Fey's device became the model for all slots to follow.

D. Riviera. Howard Hughes bought up considerable Nevada property before he died in 1976, including: Castaways, Desert Inn, Frontier, Landmark, Sands, Silver Slipper and Harold's Club.

B. Hoover Dam, the largest single public works project in the history of the United States, contains 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete in the base, enough concrete to pave a highway 16 feet wide from New York to San Francisco. The dam face was used in an amazing stunt for Roland Emerich's Universal Soldier and has been seen in such films as Viva Las Vegas and Fools Rush In.

Take the FASTtrack with you!
Download the Radio magazine 2008 NAB FASTtrack, Exhibitor Directory and Broadcast Engineering Conference session guide to your handheld device. Search for exhibitors sorted alphabetically or by category. The Broadcast Engineering Conference session guide gives you quick reference to the key sessions.

Click here to access it.