TWiRT - This Week in Radio Tech - Podcast

It’s been 10 years (wow!) since the FCC opened an official filing window for new LPFM radio stations.  The FCC’s press release states: The Media Bureau (Bureau) announces a filing window for applications for low power FM (LPFM) new station construction permits. The filing window will open at 12:01 am EDT on Wednesday, November 1, 2023, and close at 6:00 pm EST on November 8, 2023. The window is available for LPFM proposals in the entire FM band (channels 201-300). Our guest is Dave Doherty, a broadcast engineering consultant who has assisted many applicants in getting their own radio stations. Dave joins us to describe not only the FCC’s application requirements and process, plus a channel search tool at the FCC’s web site, but also to show us the value of using mapping techniques to further identify LPFM placement opportunities. 

Show Notes:
Information on the LPFM FCC filing window (Nov 1, 2023 - Nov 8, 2023)
LPFM web page at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
FCC LPFM Channel Finder online search tool
FCC LPFM Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Guest:
Dave Doherty - Founder & Consultant at SkyWaves.com, a broadcast engineering & consulting practice

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

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
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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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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Despite the hot weather, we know that summer will be fading into fall for us in the northern hemisphere. Josh Jones with Maxx Konnext Group joins us to talk about a production room he’s just finishing up. Chris Tarr is on the show, live from Magnum Media’s data center, and Kirk shares photos and thoughts on a new FM station that’s built with everything at the transmitter site, including the on-air phone system and the audio console. What are your thoughts on Kirk's "main studio" build?

Show Notes:
Chris praises the IT connectivity services of Christen Roberts at iQWired.net
Josh Jones is part of Maxx Konnect Group’s expanding technical services for broadcasters
Kirk is installing an Axia Altus mixing console that operates in a software container, accessible from anywhere.
A Telos VXs broadcast phone system lives on the same server as the Axia Altus.
WBZK-FM (The Buzz) is installing and modifying a 10-year-old Nautel VS 2.5 FM transmitter to serve as an FM+HD transmitter.
Opening that transmitter, Kirk was reminded that he had repaired it almost 7 years ago.  Here’s a video of that repair when this same transmitter was at WKXY-FM.

Guest:
Josh Jones - Broadcast Engineer at Maxx Konnect Group

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:
Nautel brings you Transmission Talk Tuesday Discussions. Easy, free registration is here.
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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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Interoperability - what does that mean? After this 1-hour conversation with Robbie Green and Chris Tarr, I would say it means “controlling or checking on one device by using another device or system”. Scaled up intelligently, it implies having control and understanding of complex systems from a single location, or doing so automatically.  So, rather than separately checking on an automation system, an audio processor, an audio router, a satellite receiver, a transmitter, or a security system, these individual systems can connect meaningfully to a central monitoring and control (“M&C”) system and/or to each other as appropriate.  GPIO is a low-bar baseline for interoperability.  Serial control, RS-422, and CanBUSS moved us forward, but a variety of TCP/IP protocols, including SNMP, have brought us to a good level of general interoperability if we’re willing to do the work and research to implement them. These ideas have motivated Robbie Green and Chris Tarr to implement interoperabilities that make broadcast operations more reliable, stable, and convenient.  

Show Notes:
Robbie mentioned the LANTRONIX UDS2100 as a good Serial Device Server
We mentioned live, on-line demos of some Inovonics devices, which are also interoperable
Connect SNMP to other protocols with these...https://www.controlbyweb.com/x600m/
Robbie’s example of vMix TCP integration - https://www.vmix.com/help26/TCPAPI.html
Messaging on various display platforms, like Paravel's WallTime

Guest:
Robbie Green - Product Manager, Communication Products at Telos Alliance

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:
Nautel brings you Transmission Talk Tuesday Discussions. Easy, free registration is here.
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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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FreePBX is an open source SIP PBX software application used in many thousands of businesses, including broadcast facilities. Tony Lewis is the entrepreneur behind this amazing software, and he joins Chris Tarr and Kirk Harnack to discuss the benefits and uses of VoIP telephony. Tony recently founded ClearlyIP.com, a provider of SIP telephony services and equipment, with expertise in high-volume inbound calling, needed by so many broadcasters. 

Show Notes:
FreePBX is still free!
ClearlyIP.com focuses on Radio Stations and SIP/VoIP telephony services
WiPhone, A Phone for Hackers and Makers

Guest:
Tony Lewis - CEO at ClearlyIP.com

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:
Nautel brings you Transmission Talk Tuesday Discussions. Easy, free registration is here.
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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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Frank Martin is a thoughtful and insightful broadcast engineer with decades of radio and TV experience. And, he’s sharing some compelling ideas with us on this episode of TWiRT. Based in Los Angeles, California. Frank provides service, integration and support for TV, AM, or FM transmitters and studios

Today we’re discussing a new LPFM filing window (Nov 1 - 8, 2023), ATSC 3.0 television, “Franken FM” stations, C-QUAM AM stereo, and whether market size and career satisfaction are related. Plus, Frank has some final thoughts inspired by The 10 Principles of Burning Man.

Show Notes:
This is a TV story. No wait, it's a Radio story. Stop, It's a little of both. By Michael Couzens
Frank mentioned his favorite movie streaming service, Flixtor.
Frank mentioned the Zapperbox MI, an ATSC 3.0 (NexGen TV) receiver.
I-1430 is an off-the-air live AM stereo stream.
The 10 Principles of Burning Man

Guest:
Frank Martin - MPH Broadcast Services - LA Broadcast Engineer & Consultant

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

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel brings you Transmission Talk Tuesday Discussions. Easy, free registration is here.
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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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The FAA compliance rules for your tower’s obstruction lighting continue to be updated as evidenced by a November 2020 FAA circular.  Bear Poth, President & CEO at LumenServe, is here to review some key aspects of the regulations that broadcast engineers need to know.  LEDs have been around for many years, however, in the tower lighting world their deployment is creating big changes. 

Our guest, Bear Poth, is the founding President and CEO of LumenServe and has an extensive entrepreneurial and operations background founding and growing numerous telecom and technology-based companies. His experience includes being founder and CEO of companies that have built and operated IP Networks with 3,000+ route miles of microwave/fiber transport, built and serviced 25,000+ VoIP connections, constructed over 1,300 miles of hybrid fiber/coaxial broadband plant, provided 50k+ CATV/telephone/Internet connections, constructed 100k+ square-mile canopy of wireless networks and constructed and operated 500+ wireless towers.  Bear is a long-time member of the Engineering Advisory Board at The University of Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas. 

Show Notes:
Free tower resources, including the Tower Lighting Poster
FAA Regulations and Advisory Circulars
Chris mentioned his new Weather Station; it’s the Tempest

Guest:
Bear Poth - President & CEO at LumenServe, 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 brings you Transmission Talk Tuesday Discussions. Easy, free registration is here.
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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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Containerised software offers many benefits that today’s broadcasters are looking for: Flexibility, Resilience, Density, Scalability... but you also need specialist IT skills and knowledge to deploy them. Containerized software installation and configuration typically requires a thorough knowledge of the Linux command line interface (CLI). It also involves several abstract operating system constructs such as MACVLAN and CPU pinning. Moreover, while transaction-based applications may not be time-critical, programs handling real-time audio can’t afford to skip a beat or even rest a cycle or two. Timing is critical. 

Virtual Rack is a user-friendly deployment environment for containerized broadcast software.  The idea is to take advantage of containerized software’s benefits, while simplifying the deployment process. Utilizing purpose-built management software and appliances optimized to run broadcast applications, Virtual Rack enables broadcast engineers to install containerized broadcast products with just a few mouse clicks.

Dan McQuillin, Managing Director at Broadcast Bionics, joins us to explain the philosophy behind Virtual Rack, and further explain how backup and failover is implemented with similar ease.

Show Notes:
Virtual Rack - Broadcast Hardware that Isn’t Hard
Virtual Rack introduced at IBC 2022 (YouTube video)

Guest:
Dan McQuillin - Managing Director at Broadcast Bionics, Ltd.

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 brings you Transmission Talk Tuesday Discussions. Easy, free registration is here.
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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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Who is Kirk Yano? We’re about to find out on this episode of TWiRT! 

Kirk Yano is a multiple Grammy-winning recording engineer with well over 30 Platinum and Gold records. He has won three Grammys including a Grammy for the last album that Miles Davis recorded. He has worked with Public Enemy, Mariah Carey, Miles Davis, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Placido Domingo and Phoebe Snow, and has toured as a musician with Snow, Savoy Brown, Scott Holt and Texas Scratch.

Kirk was the recording engineer for “Fight the Power’ by Public Enemy which Billboard magazine still lists as one of the most influential recordings.  He was also the engineer on Mariah Carey’s Christmas Album and her Jewel Box album and he worked on History by Michael Jackson.

We'll hear about Kirk Yano's first visit to Nashville and his early association with Steve Church and Frank Foti.  And even how Steve Church sometimes stayed at the "Yano Arms Hostel" (my name for it) in NYC in Steve's early phone hybrid days.  Plus we'll hear about WMMS remotes that Kirk worked on with Frank in the late 1970's.

Finally, we'll understand part of the reason that music started to get really processed in the early 2000's, and how Kirk worked to mitigate the craziness in the music industry, or at least turn it into something musical and useful.  Also, what about the production transition from multitrack tape and mixing consoles to digital DAW production? 

Show Notes:
Part of a video on YouTube with a French host describing Kirk Yano’s essential contribution to Hip Hop music in France.

Guest:
Kirk Yano - Award-Winning Musician, Recording, Mixing, and Mastering Engineer

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

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel brings you Transmission Talk Tuesday Discussions. Easy, free registration is here.
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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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When Chuck Kelly recommends a new technique or technology, it’s important to pay attention. TX-Control is a networked and cloud-based monitoring, alarm, analysis, and control system designed for broadcast equipment. In Europe TX-Control is monitoring over 1,500 transmitter sites, providing custom reports on trends, outages, automatic remediation, and more.  It leverages SNMP, a monitoring and control protocol which is built-in to more and more broadcast equipment. Chuck is joined by Aimé Diattà to help us understand this technology and service that’s watching over critical broadcast infrastructure.

Show Notes:
The TX-Control web site is highly informative with graphical explanations of the system.
The TX-Control brochure shows layout diagrams to help explain the concept and operation.

Guests:
Chuck Kelly - Broadcast Industry Technology Consultant
Aimé Diattà - Consulting, Business Development & Relazioni Istituzionali - 22hbg.com

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 brings you Transmission Talk Tuesday Discussions. Easy, free registration is here.
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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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Charles Kinney and David Bialik are here to hash out the apparent demise of the AM Radio Band. As bad as some say? Worse? Or still quite viable and important? Have the FCC or the NAB been helpful, or harmful to AM Radio? Is there legislation that would help the AM Radio service? Are there technical improvements that haven’t been implemented yet? Both David and Charles have extensive experience in engineering for large AM stations, and they’re both avid listeners. Salient comments and some good ideas are just ahead, on TWiRT!

Guests:
David Bialik - Broadcast Engineering & Streaming Consultant
Charles Kinney - Director of Engineering at Cox Media Group Atlanta

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

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel brings you Transmission Talk Tuesday Discussions. Easy, free registration is here.
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 - with StudioHub cables and adapters. Audio problems disappear when you get Angry at AngryAudio.com. 
And MaxxKonnectWireless - Prioritized High Speed Internet Service designed for Transmitter Sites and Remote Broadcasts.

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