TWiRT - This Week in Radio Tech - Podcast

Boasting 17 signals in 4 radio markets - in New York and Pennsylvania - Radigan Media represents the kind of local radio that’s not only serving its local communities, but doing so with newer technologies. Dave Radigan wears many hats in his growing network of stations, including Chief Engineer. He’s implemented Audio over IP (linear Livewire) between studio and transmitter site, partly because he needed a bi-directional link with no audio compromises - and contact closures. And, Dave has recently opened the door to the “flexible studio”.  Using AoIP audio routing tech he’s providing his staff with convenient options for live talk shows, voice-tracking, and production from the same studio, as needed. Let’s check out Dave’s reasoning about implementing the latest tech, when it makes sense to do so. 

Guest:
Dave Radigan - Owner / CEO at Radigan Media

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel’s HD Digital Radio Test Drive unlocks content, revenue, & ratings potential
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

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Many radio engineers love to visit other radio stations. We get ideas to perhaps implement in our own stations. Or sometimes we may get a sense of satisfaction thinking that we’ve done a superlative job in our own facilities - compared to others. Today we’re honored to visit the studios of 100.1 FM in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. OMG! What a drop-dead gorgeous studio! Rafael Recio is the Chief Engineer at 100.1 FM. He shows-off this beautiful and effective working studio, which is home to live shows in morning and afternoon drive every day.  Rafael worked with the station’s Program Director, Harold, to design and build this world-class radio studio + control room. 

Show Notes:
Time Lapse video of 100.1 FM’s studio construction
Rafael is using Axia iQ AoIP audio mixing consoles.
100.1 FM - “Santo Domingo’s Greatest Hit Music Station”
We mentioned the Museo de los Telecomunicaciones, noting the early and continuing technical advances in the Dominican Republic.

Guest:
Rafael Recio - Chief Engineer at 100.1 FM, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel’s HD Digital Radio Test Drive unlocks content, revenue, & ratings potential
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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Chris Tarr just finished a long-anticipated FM transmitter move. Big implications attended this move all the way across a metro area. The new site needed a directional FM antenna, and they decided that a new transmitter made more sense than moving the old one. Chris covers a lot of ground when contemplating any transmitter site move.  Kirk Harnack touches on a few pointers for IP radio microwave links, including not trusting the existing infrastructure too much!

Show Notes:

1. Planning Transmitter Moves

   1. Facilities - Building, road, fencing, parking, HVAC, roof, ice protection

   2. Legal including FCC

   3. Permitting - local zoning, building, etc.

   4. Safety - fencing, insurance requirements, guy anchors, tower base

   5. STL considerations & options

   6. Frequency coordination for 950 & IP STLs

   7. Fiber internet availability

   8. AC Power - service sizing, etc.

2. Executing the move

   1. What can be built and ready beforehand

   2. What has to move overnight or a weekend

   3. Absolutely no off-air time? Or minimal?

   4. Actual cutover

   5. Moving audio processing if needed

   6. What if something goes really wrong? 

   7. Plan to go back if needed?

3. After the move (should have been before the move)

   1. Tying up all the loose ends

   2. Grounding, lightning protection

   3. Putting redundancy in place at the new location

   4. What if Internet installation is late?  Wait or move ahead?

Hosts:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum.Media
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
NUG@NAB Radio Technology Forum  is almost here! Register for this free event at NAB!
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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What’s happening at NAB 2024 in Las Vegas? No way can anyone bring you ALL of the highlights, but we’re bringing seven outstanding engineers and corporate leaders to you on this episode of TWiRT! Our broadcast studio is the Bionic Table at Broadcast Bionics in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Thanks to Broadcast Bionics for the bandwidth and studio space. 

Guests:
Darnell Forde - Broadcast Engineer at Salem Media Group, San Diego, CA
Bob Stroupe - Regional Engineering Manager at iHeartMedia, Houston, TX
Francis (Frank) Martin - Owner of MPH Broadcast Services
Dan McQuillin - Managing Director at Broadcast Bionics
Scott Stiefel - Chief Executive Officer at Telos Alliance
Jeff Schick - Chief Technology Officer at Sprite Media, Inc.
George Whittam - Owner GeorgeThe.Tech, Co-host VOBS.TV and Pro Audio Suite Podcast
John Bisset - Director, Western US Sales at Telos Alliance

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel’s HD Digital Radio Test Drive unlocks content, revenue, & ratings potential
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

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The Public Radio Engineering Conference (PREC) seems to get better and better each year. Attendees were frequently held in wrapped attention by captivating and informative presentations about audio and RF technologies and techniques.  Our guests on TWiRT each took a few minutes away from the conference sessions to give us their impressions of the technologies being discussed and what’s ahead for Public Radio Engineers.

Guests:
Cornelius Gould - Audio Processing Architect at Angry Audio
Scott Fybush - Editor/Publisher at NorthEast Radio Watch/Fybush Media
Jim Gray - Managing Partner at Optimized Media Group - OMG
Joseph Williams - DIrector of Engineering & Technology at WRTI, Temple University
Richard Parker - Director of Engineering at Coast Alaska

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
NUG@NAB Radio Technology Forum  is almost here! Register for this free event at NAB!
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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Search the web and you’ll find hundreds of articles videos - and thousands of opinions - on the best mics to use for radio and podcasting. One of our sponsors is Angry Audio, makers of two novel mic processors to improve and control the sound of two popular microphone families. Our longtime friend and colleague, Cornelius Gould, designed the audio processing algorithms behind these specific mic processors. “Corny” joins us to talk about this rather unique approach to mic processor design and implementation. Plus Tom Ray pops in to discuss microphone choices with Chris Tarr. Plenty of opinions and some solid advice!

Show Notes:
Cornelius Gould is also the founder & host of The Rocketry Show podcast.
The mic pre/processors for which Corny wrote the algorithms are the REbel & SMooth from Angry Audio
Tom Ray’s microphone is a PreSonus PX-1 condenser mic with a dbx 286s processor
Chris Tarr is liking his Electro-Voice RE20 with a RØDECaster Pro
Kirk is currently using a Sennheiser MKH 416-P48U3 with a PreSonus Revelator iO24
Article: The 4 Different Types of Microphones for your Studio

Guests:
Cornelius Gould - Audio Processing Architect at AngryAudio
Tom Ray - President of Tom Ray Consulting

Hosts:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum.Media
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
NUG@NAB Radio Technology Forum  is almost here! Register for this free event at NAB!
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

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Can you imagine installing 60 broadcast transmitters over the past 8 years? Robert Combs, Corporate Director of Engineering at Cumulus Media has been doing exactly that. Transmitters of all sizes and from several major manufacturers. The most recent transmitter replacement is at WZYP-FM in Huntsville, Alabama. Market Engineer, Dominic Mitchum, is taking care of much of the local work and logistics, alongside Robert’s work. The project also includes replacing the RF coaxial transfer switch, main coax, and even the main and backup FM antennas.  Robert and Dominic give us a very informative video tour and discussion of this project on Capshaw Mountain. Plus, Chris Tarr relates his own recent transmitter installation experiences and has developed some advice on purchasing used transmitters.

Guests:
Dominic Mitchum - Director of Technical Operations at Cumulus Media, Huntsville, AL
Robert Combs - Corporate Director of Engineering at Cumulus Media

Hosts:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum.Media
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
NUG@NAB Radio Technology Forum  is almost here! Register for this free event at NAB!
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output. 

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Over 50 years ago, Mike Dorrough introduced the Discriminate Audio Processor - the DAP 310. Broadcasters that cared about audio quality started buying and installing DAP310s to improve the audio quality of their stations. Five decades later these old audio processors are still in demand - as are services to supply parts and repairs. Randy Swaffer and Mike Phillips are two DAP310 enthusiasts - and they know all about repairing and aligning these classic units. Jordan Tuck also joins us to talk about refurbishing other broadcast gear, including a Continental Electronics FM transmitter and an A-6000 audio console.

Show Notes:
DAP310 Repair Information Website - dap310.com
PAMS Series 49 Jingle Demo Page - Listen here!
We discussed Kapton film as used in plate blocker capacitors for FM transmitters

Guests:
Randy Swaffer - Minister, Professional Piano Tuner, Dorrough DAP enthusiast
Mike Phillips - Attorney, Engineer, musician, & Dorrough DAP enthusiast
Jordan Tuck - Broadcast Engineer & Refurbisher of Broadcast Equipment

Host:
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
NUG@NAB Radio Technology Forum  is almost here! Register for this free event at NAB!
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

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Most broadcasters either own towers or lease antenna space on them. But only the tallest towers are outfitted with elevators to bring workers and light tools up to desired working levels without spending half the day getting tired from climbing. Jim Tiner is CEO at Tower Elevators Systems. His company has built many towers - short, medium, and tall - and many of the tallest ones also have a custom-designed elevator system. This elevator technology is often applicable to other tall structures, such as bridge towers, smokestacks, and even the Statue of Liberty.  Jim Tiner presents his company’s fascinating story and tells us about unique elevator designs.

Show Notes:
Galleries of Photos by Tower Elevator Systems
YouTube video about Siemens Safety PLCs as used in the Statue of Liberty project 

Guest:
Jim Tiner - CEO at Tower Elevator Systems, Inc.

Hosts:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum.Media
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel’s new GV2 FM transmitters are here - chock full of features!
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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Most of us in radio have heard Fresh Air, hosted by Terry Gross on National Public Radio. Joyce Lieberman was the first technical director behind this well-produced national interview program. But Joyce’s engineering and production career started several years earlier, getting a kick-start when some other engineers called in sick. At the onset of Joyce's radio work, she recorded Terry Gross and her guests when Fresh Air was a local Philadelphia three-hour program. Her attention to audio purity and detail prepared Joyce for other audio engineering achievements, including working with a team at WHYY and NPR to restore and digitally archive the episodes of Fresh Air, plus provide guidance to other archival efforts. Chris Tarr adds his expert insights as well to this interview with Joyce Lieberman.

Show Notes:
Joyce appears on another podcast, Working Class Audio #304
More information about Joyce is found on this page about the SZALON Tech Team

Guest:
Joyce Lieberman - Radio Engineering Supervisor at WHYY, Philadelphia

Hosts:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum.Media
Kirk Harnack, The Telos Alliance, Delta Radio, Star94.3, & South Seas Broadcasting

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook

TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel’s new GV2 FM transmitters are here - chock full of features!
Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
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