Beware the millennials and Gen Z’ers who believe everything runs on ones and zeros.

Of course, the core functions of Sage and DASDEC equipment are software-based. However, in order for the system to work, it requires monitoring of external analog audio sources from FM tuners, NOAA weather radio and satellite feeds — or soon to be dedicated internet “receivers.”

In many small stations, then, once emergency traffic is detected, the EAS alert needs to be inserted into analog program streams ahead of audio processors, STL transmitters or codecs, all on the way to the transmitter.

That’s a pretty blue box shown in the article, but who will design and connect the analog interface?

Small station groups may only have a local contract engineer who comes in only when needed to “put the fires out.”

The bigger groups?

Too many stations for their engineering staff to keep track of.

— Tom Taggart, Seven Ranges Radio, Parkersburg, W.Va.

Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Letter: Pump the Brakes on Software-Based EAS appeared first on Radio World.

Radio World: Rob how did this talk come about?

Rob Bertrand: I’ve spent 12 years or so focused on ratings watermarking as it pertains to spoken word. My work began with the primitive tools we had available not long after Arbitron released their new methodology in 2008 and continued to evolve as I noted patterns in failure alarms, audio distortion and ratings spikes and dips in the early days. 

It so fascinating to me that the audio chain had such a direct impact on our ratings. I loved partnering with folks around the industry to help improve this situation for my favorite radio format: all-news.

RW: What did you do to perfect encodability at WAMU? 

Bertrand: Essentially, I took all I learned about ratings watermarking for all-news and sports at CBS and I brought it to WAMU. It made a big difference in ratings performance — for a number of years, consistently besting the ratings powerhouse of WTOP. 

For sure, this included adding supplemental audio processing like the 25-Seven Voltair, but it involved efforts that extended well beyond adding a single piece of hardware.

I spent a great deal of time testing and modifying air chain designs and processing approaches for our spoken-word formats in New York. When I arrived at WAMU in 2016, that was still fresh in my mind. 

When I asked my new boss at WAMU, “Hey does public radio care about ratings?” he enthusiastically said “Yes!”

I spent time analyzing our performance using a box that I may have been the only one to buy: the “Voltair M,” a monitor-only version of the Voltair that was a precursor to the TVC-15 analyzer. 

It confirmed my suspicion that public radio content, with its wide-open dynamics and frequent periods of silence, watermarks very poorly.

Gaining that visibility into encoding performance via the Voltair-M and the TVC-15 was a game-changer in thinking about spoken-word watermarking performance.

We spent several years working through multiple iterations of improvement. Ultimately the “productized” technology caught up, and we wound up with the “gold standard” of using the insert point on an Omnia.11 processor, Voltair and TVC-15 to tame the Voltair and help the audio during passages where it needed help the most.

I am proud of the fact that we received so many unsolicited compliments on the audio quality of WAMU. A lot of folks have spent too much time focused on audible distortion induced by misusing the Voltair without taking the time to understand how it can be used responsibly. It really is possible to make a big ratings impact for spoken-word audio without making it sound harsh.

A big takeaway here is that the PPM system works. Spoken-word just needs a bit more help to ensure consistency. Attention to this issue really matters for this format, especially.

RW: You’re now a partner and CEO at Inrush. How does this work carry over?

Bertrand: I’m able to take all that I’ve learned over the course of my career and share it with so many people, regardless of whether they are commercial or public, large or small. 

I’ve been working at this so long. I built a “watermarking analysis lab” in my basement when I began to forge my path as a consultant. 

The biggest operators have internal resources and substantial leverage with Nielsen to ensure their ratings encoding operates at peak performance. For small operators and public operators, there isn’t anyone teaching about these issues. I’m able to play an educational role and deliver hands-on technical expertise. 

I work with exceptional people at Inrush who are smart about so many things. I’ve been glad to contribute this piece of unique technical expertise to our already strong repertoire.

RW: What does your experience say about how people are consuming public radio?

Bertrand: I started down this renewed PPM analysis path during COVID because I noticed an interesting trend. After the initial shock of the shutdown and everything, WAMU saw gradual audience loss over time. Other public stations were seeing far steeper audience losses than we were. For sure, the nature of the Washington, D.C., market is unique; but I suspected there was something more going on.

For a long time after finishing those encoding experiments and subsequent improvements, WAMU was No. 1 in Washington. This ranking was achievable because of the highly educated residents of the D.C. metro area and how one’s level of education generally correlates with a likelihood to listen to public radio. 

[Related: “TPR Adopts Inrush Shared Support Model”]

When I looked across the industry and saw other public stations suffering far greater losses after COVID — or consistently ranking outside the top 10 — I became curious. 

We know that radio audiences are shifting on the whole. But public radio listeners really, really love public radio. I found it hard to believe that all these die-hard fans had just started to fall away. It didn’t make sense.

At WAMU we had optimized our stream for PPM encoding in the same way we did for FM. So I knew that as people shifted to from listening to FM to the stream, they were still likely to be measured as strongly via PPM as they were for FM. This was despite the reality that listening to a stream at home would generally be at a lower audio level — i.e., harder for a PPM meter to “hear” than in the car.

So I wanted to know how stations that optimize watermarking on the stream vs. those who don’t were performing. There was a problem, though, in that I couldn’t find another station to compare to. So I had a data set of only one station until very recently; and that’s hardly enough to prove a theory.

RW: What else should we know?

Bertrand: I’m proud to say that we’ve helped another station achieve results similar to WAMU. They gained nearly a 50% cume increase within the first weeks following our processing work. 

They were a centerpiece of my talk at PREC. We will need to follow them over the course of time to watch the interplay between FM listening, streaming shifts and ratings impact. I’m hoping to build a bigger cohort for this long-term study as well.

My hope is that as more leaders across public media become aware of these success stories, they’ll call us for help.

This effort is as much an educational process as anything — trying to get engineers to look beyond the bad rap that PPM enhancement developed 10 years ago and understand how critical it is to help ensure their audiences are fully counted. In public media, especially, this has never mattered more.

As much energy as we are putting into our digital evolution, we still need the fuel of our linear broadcast and streaming audiences to propel us forward. Ensuring that we can continue to tell a strong sponsorship and fundraising story is critical to being able to secure the funding we need to survive in this pivotal moment.

This story is part of the free ebook “Optimize Your Air Chain.”

The post PPM Works, But Spoken-Word Radio Needs a Bit More Help appeared first on Radio World.

We continue our “Building Radio” venture by turning our attention to the programming and identity of WDOG(LP), the LPFM station I helped launch in New Philadelphia, Ohio.

First, a quick nod of appreciation: the “Big Dog” is WDOG(FM) in Allendale, S.C. My sincere thanks go out to Good Radio Broadcasting for allowing our “little dog” to use the call letters for our LPFM.

As we all know, branding, marketing and promotion are massive pieces of radio’s success puzzle. Unlike the old days of print media, we aren’t the only game in town, nor are we the only station hitting the local market. It takes exceptional branding and smart programming to stand out.

From a technical standpoint, you want to stand out by delivering a clean, high-quality audio signal. But most importantly, the ultimate differentiator is localism — offering something worth listening to that is genuinely relevant to the audience.

Prior to going on the air in July 2024, a significant amount of research went into finding a format and market position where we could broadcast to a large enough audience. We wanted to ensure we weren’t simply filling the void of “Amish metal polkas.”

To put it another way, programming voids always exist, but do those voids create a legitimate need for a broadcaster? Would sending MP3 players pre-loaded with a customized playlist out to all three listeners of that highly specialized genre justify the expense?

I say this tongue in cheek, but I have always maintained that we are in the broadcast business. Our goal is to capture the largest possible audience to justify the expense and the responsibility of holding an FCC license.

I have encountered tightly targeted narrowcasting formats that I simply couldn’t imagine more than 1% of the total listening audience wanting to hear 24/7. Specialized programming certainly has its place, but it serves the audience best when tucked strategically inside a broader format.

Tuscarawas County’s rock station

After determining that a rock format was wide open in our market — with outside signals failing to penetrate effectively or focus on our local towns — we needed to figure out exactly what kind of rock would work.

Drawing on my own experience at stations like 106.7 KAZY(FM) in Denver, “QFM 96” WLVQ(FM) in Columbus, WONE(FM) in Akron and the former alternative powerhouse WENZ(FM) “The End” in Cleveland, I began digging into what might click.

I leaned heavily on the lessons taught by excellent former program directors and friends in the business — leaders like Ward Holmes, Brian Taylor, Art Wonderlich (the famous “Tiny Tot of the Kilowatt”), Steve Kelly, JD Kunes and Dave Robbins. The core inspiration came from 1980s rock radio, specifically WONE’s unique take on the format.

But to make a station relevant today, I knew it couldn’t just be another tired classic rocker. The format had to go a bit wild and completely untraditional.

While we initially assumed our target demographic would lean heavily male and over 35, the reality turned out to be far more comprehensive. We included the staples — Led Zeppelin, The Cars, Pink Floyd, Crosby Stills & Nash, Supertramp, ELO, Metallica and Bruce Springsteen.

To add that critical “gee-whiz” factor, we sprinkled in unexpected “oh-wow” tracks from The Ramones, Talking Heads, Freshies, The Damned, Oingo Boingo and The Cramps. Finally, to maintain a fresh edge — and because there is an incredible amount of great new rock being made — we added acts like Twenty One Pilots, AJR, Nick Simmons & Evan Stanley, American Hi-Fi and Finger Eleven.

The resulting format is a true kluge of rock that gives listeners maximum variety without causing them to tune out. We now have older rockers asking, “Who is this AJR? They’re really interesting,” while simultaneously discovering 16-year-olds falling in love with everything from the Talking Heads to Zeppelin. It has been a fantastic, unexpected surprise.

Our branding underwent a similar evolution. We actually started out as “Bad Dog Radio.” After some on-air experimentation and testing, we realized it sounded a bit too much like “bad dog radio” — which felt pretty counter-productive. It also gave zero indication of what we actually played. A quick revision gave us “The Rock Dog.”

Because LPFMs operate as non-commercial, non-profit stations, our original mission was built around supporting other local non-profits.

After learning that some commercial stations in the area actually charged non-profits for promotional support, we drew a line in the sand: we will never charge to help another non-profit organization. And given our identity as The Rock Dog, it only felt natural that our deepest support went toward helping our local no-kill animal shelter.

Visuals

Next came the logo. We needed something fun — something far beyond standard call letters plastered next to a generic microphone or tower. Ideally, the logo would be cool enough that people would actually want to display the bumper sticker or buy the t-shirt.

Growing up in Northeast Ohio, I had the ultimate example of a logo listeners would happily pay to wear: the beautifully designed WMMS Buzzard in Cleveland. That legendary bird was the direct inspiration for our Rock Dog character.

I tried a few AI image generators first, but the results lacked soul.

So, I turned to my daughter, Abby, who sketched out a fantastic baseline concept. I then passed her artwork to my friend Don Archiable — a talented architect and broadcast engineer — to refine and advance the design. Through a collaborative process, the final step was transforming the logo into a living, breathing cartoon character.

Our visual journey took us from “Bad Dog” to “The Rock Dog.” The upcoming images show that exact progression.

You will notice that the final three-dimensional cartoon version pays a fun tribute to its origins. Look closely and you will see the original “Bad Dog” design printed right onto The Rock Dog’s own t-shirt!

With the format and branding locked in, the next phase was establishing our on-air audio signature through our liners, sweepers and identifiers. Coming from the old school of rock radio, I was used to the traditional, booming male voice. Wanting to break the mold, I listened to numerous voice talents before deciding to go in a completely different direction: a youthful, female voice.

My 22-year-old daughter, Abby, who has done professional voice work over the years, became the definitive voice of the station. Her sassy, high-energy delivery became the central sound for all our station IDs, liners and musical bridges.

In our next segment, we will shift our focus from programming and branding over to the engineering side of the business.

How do you make a 100-watt LPFM sound like a major-market, Class C flamethrower while retaining the charm of a lovable hometown station? It was a thrilling challenge to create a big-market sound on a very small-market budget.

Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post This LPFM Fills a Rock Music Format Void appeared first on Radio World.

Organizers of the TAB Show are calling attention to the conference’s radio-relevant content this year.

The Texas Association of Broadcasters says radio will have a “huge footprint” at the show, which will be held in early August outside of Austin.

They’ve also announced that broadcasters in nearby states will be able to attend at the $165 TAB member rate; that applies to radio professionals in New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. An exhibits-only option costs $70.

Technical sessions will cover AI applications in radio; RF sweeps of transmission lines and antennas; building a podcast studio; how to get the most out of SNMP; and the ongoing saga of the C-Band.

Speakers discussing programming, management and sales will include Jimmy Steal, Gordon Borrell, Jeff Schmidt, Phil Becker, Seth Resler, Juan Galdamez, Beth Mann, Tom McAuliffe and Chris Del Conte. (Speaker info is here.)

The closing night’s Awards Gala will include salutes to Ben Downs of Bryan Broadcasting with the TAB Lifetime Achievement Award; Hill Country Broadcasting’s Jan Fritz, the Pioneer Broadcaster of the Year; ATW Media Owner/Operator Paul Gleiser, the Radio Broadcaster of the Yea;  and San Antonio’s Cox Media Group, honored as Radio Station of the Year.

Attendance is expected to be around 1,200 people. The exhibitor list has around 80 companies so far.

“The educational content offerings are extensive— impossible for one person to take in — and focus on engineering, revenue growth, programming and leadership,” TAB said in a release.

Info: tabshow.org

[For more industry events, see the Radio World online calendar.]

The post TAB Show Highlights Radio Sessions and Booths appeared first on Radio World.

For one thing, the FCC is exasperated by cyberattacks on EAS equipment that “continue to occur with disturbing frequency.” So it is getting ready to issue several new requirements this week.

At its meeting this Thursday, the commission is expected to mandate that radio stations, TV stations and other Emergency Alert System participants install network firewalls on EAS equipment as well as other potential weak links like STLs that carry EAS content.

If this order is approved (as I fully expect), stations also will be required to change default passwords on their EAS systems, and to test and install security patches and upgrades from equipment manufacturers promptly.

Maybe you already follow all of these practices. But it’s clear that many stations do not.

In its draft, the FCC writes that for years it has been urging EAS participants to implement basic cybersecurity hygiene but that some have still not done so.

“Despite our repeated efforts urging EAS participants to take basic steps to secure their networks … successful attacks have continued into 2026.”

It notes that bad actors have gained control of radio station systems “by exploiting improperly secured, remotely accessible equipment in the broadcast signal processing system to transmit unauthorized audio that included EAS alert tones, an offensive song that included racial slurs and promotional content.”

The expected order will require that “default passwords for EAS equipment, studio transmitter link equipment and any remotely managed equipment that routes, processes or inserts content into the EAS participant’s programming stream be changed prior to any use to broadcast to the public.”

Passwords would have to have a minimum of 15 characters, not use dictionary words and not be reused elsewhere (though the plan would also allow stations to use certain alternative authentication measures as highlighted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology).

The order will require stations to implement firmware and software patching promptly, to reduce the risk that someone can exploit vulnerabilities to infiltrate broadcast and cable systems to insert false EAS tones or alerts.

And it will require stations and other EAS participants “to use a network firewall or comparable network segmentation practices to limit remote management access to authorized devices and authorized users, which will secure EAS and other vulnerable equipment on a private network inaccessible to the public internet.”

It said that REC Networks had identified 730 EAS participant servers through which the password screen for Sage Alerting Systems’ ENDEC EAS device was directly exposed. Many of them operated on the default port for HTTP web services, making it “easy and cheap” for bad actors to find EAS equipment.

Stations would need to ensure that their EAS equipment is secured behind a firewall or other segmentation mechanism, “such as a dedicated Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), demilitarized zone or physically isolated management network,” with access restricted to the internal systems and ports that are necessary for EAS operations.

EAS participants would have to either “deploy a hardware or software firewall with appropriate filters, reconfigure existing routers to block inbound public internet connectivity to EAS devices, or otherwise isolate EAS equipment from general-purpose business networks so that unauthorized external access is not possible.”

The FCC emphasized that these changes go beyond your EAS box. It said unprotected studio transmitter link equipment and remotely managed equipment that “routes, processes or inserts content into the EAS participant’s programming stream” also create opportunities to transmit false alerts or disrupt alerts.

Watch your daily Radio World SmartBrief for coverage of the expected FCC vote in late June. If you’re not already getting it, sign up now.

Separately the commission is exploring several other important changes to EAS and to Wireless Emergency Alerts. It’s doing so in a further notice of proposed rulemaking that it is expected to launch at the meeting in June.

One notable change would allow the implementation of EAS capabilities via software instead of hardware — though not in the cloud.

[Related: “Sage Alerting Presents Software-Based EAS to the FCC”]

“We believe that as the industry shifts toward IP-centric architectures, it is important that the commission consider whether there is an opportunity to modernize EAS processing better to support public safety and to improve operational efficiency for EAS participants,” the draft FNPRM states.

The National Association of Broadcasters has pressed the FCC to offer this option, and the idea has been a focus of much discussion among the broadcast alerting community. Now the FCC is taking the issue up officially, along with several other changes to EAS.

If the notice is approved, it will take public comment on a host of specific questions about how it all would work. We’ll be covering this in more detail soon.

Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Put a Lock on It appeared first on Radio World.

WeatherCenter.ai is a new service for radio stations from Joda Media.

It’s an AI-based weather platform that Joda describes as “entirely self-service and completely automated.”

Costing $249 per month per location, it delivers live, current forecasts based on National Weather Service data.

“Natural, on-brand scripts are generated automatically for every market,” Joda states.

“You can even tune the content of the forecasts to your particular region, like the threshold for mentioning wind, humidity and information.”

Segments come fully produced using AI voices and the station’s music beds and sponsor billboards. They’re delivered via Joda’s CDN, FTP or a desktop app.

The company website offers a demo using your own music bed.

Info: https://weathercenter.ai/

The post Joda Media Launches WeatherCenter.ai appeared first on Radio World.

Broadcast Radio has released Myriad Playout v6.9, which includes an integration with Promo Only.

Promo Only, or POOL, is a licensed provider of music subscription services. Broadcast Radio said this version of Myriad makes it quicker and easier for radio stations to search, import and manage new music.

“The standout feature in v6.9 is direct access to Promo Only music downloads from within the Myriad Import Wizard,” it said in the announcement.

“Stations subscribing to Promo Only can now browse, preview and download the latest clean music without leaving Myriad, creating a much faster workflow for adding new content to their libraries.”

Commercial Director Liam Burke said this should save stations several steps.

Other new features include smarter audio importing; automatic metadata population; simple search functions to identify tracks already downloaded elsewhere; and performance and reliability improvements.

Myriad Playout v6.9 is a free upgrade for current Myriad 5 and Myriad 6 customers.

Info: www.broadcastradio.com

The post Broadcast Radio Adds Promo Only Integration appeared first on Radio World.

Harris has been promoted to senior vice president of news and programming at Red Apple Media.

In a release, Red Apple Media Owner John Catsimatidis called Harris a “game-changing talent” who knows how to build winning content and lead high-performing teams.

Harris, an industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, said he is honored by the opportunity to help expand the company’s national and international footprint.

He was hired in May to help bolster the debut of the Worldwide News Network, which launched the day after the CBS News Radio shutdown.

Inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2024, Harris is best known for his 30-year run as the morning anchor at 1010 WINS(AM) in New York.

Beyond his work in New York, Harris has advised broadcasters across Europe and Asia, helped launch Moscow’s Kommersant FM, lectured across China and served as the New York Bureau Chief for NewsNation.

In the 1990s, he also authored several Radio World articles.

[Do you receive the Radio World SmartBrief newsletter each weekday morning? We invite you to sign up here.]

The post Red Apple Media Promotes Lee Harris appeared first on Radio World.

“Voitrai V3 introduces expanded automation compatibility, including support for DJB Radio and DJB Zone, enhanced natural-language scripting, instant voice cloning capabilities and an all-in-one production workflow that eliminates the need for separate AI subscriptions and services,” the company said, noting that it is celebrating three years since launch.

The Professional plan starts at $199 per month and includes 10 hours of monthly production capacity, which Voitrai says is sufficient for the voice tracking and content needs of most stations. The platform integrates with automation systems now including RCS Zetta, DJB Radio, DJB Zone, Music Master, StationPlaylist and Play It Live.

Founder Bill Clanton said the tool can help local stations that need to produce more content across multiple platforms.

“Radio people aren’t looking for robots to run their stations,” he said in a press release. “They’re looking for ways to spend less time on repetitive production tasks and more time creating great programming. That’s what Voitrai was built to do.”

Info: https://voitrai.com

[Read the new Radio World ebook “Optimize Your Air Chain”]

The post Voitrai Releases V3 of Its AI Service for Radio appeared first on Radio World.

Broadcast radio’s place in the connected dashboard is no longer guaranteed. Keeping that place will require unified industry standards and relentless education of automakers.

That was the message delivered during WorldDAB Automotive 2026’s closing session on June 11 in Frankfurt, Germany.

The one-day event was hosted by WorldDAB, which promotes the DAB/DAB+ digital radio standard.

Radio today competes against streaming apps for in-vehicle real estate. In this competitive context, “Radio can’t be taken for granted,” warned Gregor Pötzsch of CARIAD, VW Group and chair of the WorldDAB Automotive Working Committee.

If access to broadcasting is buried beneath multiple touchscreen menus, frustrated drivers will switch to easier-to-access audio sources.

“If you can’t find it, you can’t use it,” he said.

To address this problem, WorldDAB’s user experience guidelines provide automakers and broadcasters with clear, research-backed design rules for delivering the best possible in-car digital radio interfaces.

“The purpose of the UX guidelines is to channel all of the experience and all of the knowledge that we’ve got in this organization and from hundreds of broadcasters into a piece of education for car manufacturers,” said Nick Piggott, RadioDNS vice president and vice president of WorldDAB.

These rules work in tandem with Radio Ready, a broadcaster-driven advocacy initiative campaigning globally to secure dashboard prominence, which Piggott likened to the “chefs” of the operation.

“You need to give the developers, you need to give the product managers more detailed instructions of what specifically do you need to do, and that’s the purpose of the guidelines documents,” he said.

To keep pace with evolving technical demands, the WorldDAB Automotive Working Committee recently upgraded its rules from static documents into a dynamic, paginated website.

“It makes it much easier for us to expand it because when we started with user guidelines, we were very, very heavily focused on physical layer presentation,” said Piggott.

Meanwhile, as voice control becomes a standard dashboard feature, broadcasters must supply precise metadata to car manufacturers and voice assistant platforms to ensure their stations remain discoverable.

“If a broadcaster wants their radio station to be reliably found by a driver making a voice request for it, they’ve got to provide all of the information to make that a successful identification,” Piggott added.

Additionally, complex or confusing station labels can lead to severe driver distraction, making intuitive search options a critical safety necessity.

“You don’t want to scroll through 100 [DAB] stations … the selectability and the variety is very good, but you can’t have your eyes for 10 minutes on the screen,” said Pötzsch.

When technical display errors do arise between over-the-air signals and complex automotive media setups, the committee runs investigative workshops to isolate missteps.

“We’re trying to find out what went wrong,” Piggott said, adding that the group focuses on solutions rather than assigning blame.

Ultimately, protecting radio’s place in the dashboard requires cooperation and unity across public networks, commercial stations, chipset makers and global automakers.

“It’s about bringing together the technical expertise, broadcaster needs, automotive reality with one goal, improving the radio experience for the driver,” concluded Jacqueline Bierhorst, president of WorldDAB.

[Related: “WorldDAB Celebrates Receiver Growth”]

The post WorldDAB Tackles Dashboard Confusion appeared first on Radio World.

Public radio engineering departments are operating in a new reality since federal funding for the sector dried up in 2025. 

The loss of money means tighter cap-ex budgets and fewer technology projects, according to multiple sources.

Engineering and technology departments are also seeing lower staffing levels in some cases, though widespread cuts haven’t been evident. Local fundraising has made up for some of the loss after the Corporation for Public Broadcasting closed, though not all.

CPB provided grants to many public stations, though generally not specifically for public radio engineering.

In this new era, public radio engineering budgets are coming under more scrutiny. 

One engineer in a major market told Radio World that his department has being asked whether “there is any money left over from projects that can be clawed back for other purposes.”

The cuts have left public engineers seeking to “strike a balance between operational efficiencies and being deliberate on how they allocate resources,” one source said. 

Attendance at this spring’s Public Radio Engineering Conference in Las Vegas was “solid and up slightly,” according to the Association of Public Radio Engineers, when virtual attendance was counted in. 

Yet Scott Hanley, president of APRE, said there were indications that the funding cuts are hitting hard.

“We heard from a number of stations, vendors and networks that did not send engineering and tech talent to PREC or the NAB Show this year. Many stations and universities, which a lot of stations are licensed to, have drastically cut their travel budgets.”

He said more PREC attendees chose the half-priced virtual option — of 109 registrations, more than 30 participated remotely.

Vermont Public Radio lost about $2 million in federal funding as a result of the federal cuts, though Joe Tymecki, its SVP of engineering & technology, says the loss has been mitigated by successful statewide fundraising campaigns. 

Despite more local support, Vermont Public has cut staff positions and left others unfilled, including one in the technology department, Tymecki said.

“We have pulled back on things to concentrate on delivering the important stuff like being reliable and staying on the air. We are the state relay for EAS, which we take very seriously. It’s about making sure we maintain our systems,” he said. “I’d say we are in maintenance mode right now.”

Despite the federal rescission, Tymecki says his cap-ex funding “was level from last year to this year.” 

This spring Vermont Public Media has been focused on adding a video product to a daily talk show, which will allow it to take content and turn around the video for posting to its digital platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and websites. 

Tymecki said the loss of CPB has also created a vacuum of leadership on technical issues within public media.

“CPB made it possible for the rollout of HD Radio in a lot of markets where it wouldn’t have otherwise. They put a lot of money behind it and made it affordable for public broadcasters,” he noted.

“CPB provided a strategic and philosophical direction for public radio. That leadership on breakout technology has been lost now.”

The organization was also a good sounding board for questions about various technologies and governance, he said. 

Stacey Decker, general manager and CEO of Nebraska Public Media (NPM), said it hasn’t eliminated engineering positions as a result of federal cuts, but its priority is to remain nimble while continuing to support people and services that are core to its mission.

He said NPM continues to invest in key areas. 

“On the radio side, that includes expanding our service to Omaha in June 2026, with the launch of a new signal on 101.9 FM. We are also making targeted investments in equipment and workflows to strengthen the reliability and long-term sustainability of our radio service,” he said.

As of this spring NPM has not scaled back any major radio buildout initiatives, Decker said. 

However, as one prominent DOE for a public radio group put it, stations are looking to “stretch every dime, and making careful calculations about what can be cut, and where. We are now seeing a reduction in maintenance of HVAC, generator and UPS systems, not to mention transmitters and even towers. Pushing out anything in hopes that there might be money for it later isn’t really a long-term strategy.”

This observer said that having a broadcast signal off the air for an extended time — once unthinkable — now may be acceptable in certain circumstances, given the upswing in digital consumption. 

“Work that would only be scheduled at night normally is now being scheduled for the middle of the day, impacting drive time, because it is less expensive,” this source told Radio World.

Another public engineer in the field, who also requested not to be named, told Radio World the loss of CPB funding has hit small, rural public media broadcasters hardest. This person cited the rise of contract engineering groups and said these “can be a salvation for a small station with little to no engineering or technology department left in the building.” 

Meanwhile, several broadcast equipment suppliers told us they are seeing a “more cautious approach” to spending by public broadcasters.

Media projects have slowed a bit, said Jeff Soderberg, enterprise solutions engineer with StreamGuys, which specializes in live and on-demand streaming tools for broadcasters.

“We’re seeing a conservative approach in public radio engineering spend. It hasn’t stopped, but stations are trying to manage budgets wisely and make each dollar go further.

“That said, most stations have recognized that digital distribution and digital revenue are important to their long-term sustainability. For that reason, we’re seeing caution more than a downturn,” Soderberg told Radio World in an email.

He said the reaction by public media broadcasters to the new reality varies.

“The smallest rural stations seem to be struggling the most, since they received larger portions of revenue from the CPB. Larger stations were receiving a smaller portion of revenue from the CPB and often had a stronger donor-base to make up the gap for now,” he said.

For the most part, Soderberg said there appears to be a consensus among broadcasters that digital is a key part of their future.

“They’re expecting to innovate, find new ways to collaborate with other stations, and new ways to generate revenue.”

Rob Bertrand is CEO of Inrush Broadcast Services and a former public radio engineer. He said the funding pressures faced by pubmedia have created opportunities for his company, which provides consulting, installation and maintenance services. 

“There are organizations who are well-poised to pivot in this moment and change the way they operate or potentially not backfill full-time roles that face vacancy due to retirement or general attrition. In some cases this opens the opportunity to execute a project using external resources like Inrush,” Bertrand said.

In addition, public broadcasters are collaborating with other public media organizations in new ways, he said, or “at least they are trying to stabilize their legacy radio operations so they can pay more attention to future-growth areas such as digital expansion.” 

He said at least some public media organizations are taking a business-as-usual approach.

“Their on-air fundraising pitches have changed, but in some cases they continue to delay the inevitable need to start operating in a new way. Change is hard for everyone, and there’s a full spectrum of reaction to meeting this moment,” Bertrand said in an email.

[Read more about the future of public radio.]

The post Public Radio Engineering Feels the Cuts appeared first on Radio World.

Amidst continued uncertainty for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, its president and CEO Stephen Capus, has announced his resignation, effective Sept. 15.

Capus has led RFE/RL since January 2024.

In many respects, it seems remarkable that the private corporation is funded by Congress through a grant from United States Agency for Global Media is still around.

Last year, as we reported, a judge ordered the USAGM to disburse RFE/RL’s congressionally appropriated funds for FY 2025, after the organization filed a lawsuit challenging an administration directive to freeze its funding.

Approximately $650 million of funding for the USAGM was signed by President Trump in February for FY 2026, which ends on Sept. 30. But according to Reporters Without Borders, RFE/RL’s FY 2026 budget was cut roughly 25% from previous years.

In a release, Capus said that it was an honor of a lifetime to serve in the role, and he expressed his gratitude to the organization’s journalists for commitment, professionalism and steadfastness under immense pressure.

“At a time when America’s adversaries spend billions trying to control the information space, I welcome the intent of both Congress and the Executive Branch to support an organization that has fought successfully on the information battlefield for 75 years,” Capus said.

As part of a transition, RFE/RL’s board of directors has named Lisa Curtis as Capus’ successor.

Curtis most recently served as a senior fellow and director of the Indo-Pacific security program at the Center for a New American Security.

With 35 years of experience on U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific Region, Curtis served for more than 20 years in the U.S. government, including at the CIA, the Department of State, Congress, and the National Security Council, where she was deputy assistant to the president and NSC senior director for South and Central Asia during the first administration under President Trump.

Curtis served as a member of the RFE/RL board of directors from September 2022 and as its chair from July 2024.

She resigned from the RFE/RL board on June 6, the release said.

Stephen Rademaker, a board member since July 2025, succeeds Curtis as its chairperson. 

RFE/RL said its programs — digital, television and radio — reach a weekly audience of approximately 44 million people in 18 countries and 24 languages.

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The post RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus to Resign appeared first on Radio World.

Aaron makes a great point. Redundancy is still the foundation of keeping a radio station on the air. Backup systems, failovers and solid design are things every engineer depends on. No argument there.

Where I see things a bit differently is in how newer tools can fit into that picture. The goal is not to replace traditional systems or engineering judgment. It is to support them.

Most of the systems we use today react after something has already gone wrong. What they do not do well is help us spot patterns before a failure happens. In a setup with multiple transmitters, IP links, and remote sites, those early warning signs are often buried in logs and alarms.

That is where smarter monitoring tools can help in a practical way. Things like recurring link issues, gradual signal problems or repeated faults under certain conditions can sometimes be easier to catch earlier when you have something helping you make sense of large amounts of data quickly.

On the cost side, I understand the concern. But the value is not just in preventing downtime. It can also come from saving time during troubleshooting and reducing repeated problems.

Also, we are at a point where this technology is still growing and finding its place. Much like how computers and the internet became part of every tool and device we use today, AI is heading in the same direction. It is not a question of if, but when. Every new era of technology starts with skepticism, and this one is no different.

This is not about choosing between new tools and redundancy. Redundancy keeps us on the air. Better tools can help us avoid getting close to failure in the first place.

At the end of the day, it is just another tool. One that needs to be used carefully and only where it actually makes sense.

The post AI Is Still Finding Its Place appeared first on Radio World.

The ball appears to be rolling at the Federal Communications Commission to allow radio stations to implement emergency alerting capabilities via software instead of hardware.

Representative of Sage Alerting Systems met with members of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau earlier this month to discuss potential “live” in situ testing of Emergency Alert System software by Sage, according to a filing from the manufacturer that included details of the meeting.

The FCC is taking a closer look at changes to EAS and Wireless Emergency Alerts, and has released a draft of a further notice of proposed rulemaking that, if adopted, would allow the use of EAS software by broadcasters if they choose.

It’s a development the National Association of Broadcasters and some radio broadcasters have been pressing for.

The FCC will consider the notice at its meeting on June 25.   

The plan is still in the discussion stage, according to according to the Sage filing. The meeting included elements that would be important to include in a potential test plan, including duration, number of participants, data collection, measuring contention for resources on shared compute platforms, cyber security and engineering support.

“The Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau emphasized the importance of maintaining a redundant non-test relay path in a given area’s EAS legacy relay design, and to that end, using only test areas where an approved FCC state plan is in effect,” Sage said in the filing.

The June meeting between Sage and the commission was a follow-up to a “possible next steps” discussion during a software EAS demonstration Sage participated in at the FCC’s headquarters in May.

In an interview this week, Radio World asked Sage President Harold Price for more details on what testing EAS software might involve and the implications of emergency alerting software for broadcasters.

RW: What was the purpose of the meeting at the FCC?

Harold Price: EAS broadcast from a device that is not Part 11 certified is not currently permitted. We started discussions on ways to do on-air software EAS tests before the FCC’s proposed rule making draft was circulated. Our intent was to show that software EAS was compatible with existing EAS systems in the field and could coexist with legacy devices.

While the draft shows the FCC is interested in discussing software EAS, Sage and others in the broadcast industry want to move forward with on-air testing. It will take several months to move from a draft to an actual report and order, and many questions will be asked and answered during that process. Practical experience will help bring the NAB’s 2025 petition to fruition.

RW: Is Sage free to start doing “live in situ” testing yet?

Price: We aren’t free to transmit EAS from a non-Part 11 device over the air. It is not yet clear which of several possible paths to live testing is the most appropriate here, that’s what we hope to learn from continuing discussions with the FCC. Monitoring and logging of EAS is permitted, however.

RW: What specific elements need to be part of a test plan?

Price: This is under discussion. Cybersecurity and interoperability with the existing system will be part of the discussion.

RW: The FCC seems to be taking pains to say it is open to putting EAS in software but not in the cloud. What are the implications of that philosophy?

Price: EAS has several roles, including support for locally issued warnings in the legacy audio format, and support for FEMA’s primary entry point system with relay of the National Emergency Message — what was once called EAN, or Emergency Activation Notification.

This infers the ability to receive in-market over-the-air alerts. There have been, and will be, outages in off-premises cloud services. Moving completely into the cloud can reduce the overall redundancy of EAS.

Sage firmly believes in maximizing redundant data paths in EAS. Note that there is a risk of conflating “the cloud” with “things that are connected via IP” and “LAN” vs “WAN.”

This will undoubtedly be part of the comment process for the notice of proposed rulemaking.

RW: Is this process specific to Sage? Is it intended specifically to help the company test its own approach, or are you talking here about a broader industry effort that would involve other stakeholders and potentially other suppliers?

Price: The discussion we’ve started with the FCC is specific to Sage; we don’t presume to speak for the industry. We are working with other companies to do this testing.

Orban Labs spoke out in favor of a live testing plan at the NAB show in Las Vegas this past April.

There may be a common test plan down the road. However, the actual protocols and procedures described in Part 11 define the EAS standard and will continue to do so; these are already well known.

The test plan currently under discussion is to give the FCC assurance that “software EAS” can be tested live without putting the day-to-day operation of the existing EAS ecosystem at risk.

Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Sage Alerting Presents Software-Based EAS to the FCC appeared first on Radio World.

iHeartMedia has announced a new tool that the media company is billing as the first to allow precise digital measurement of its broadcast audience.

AudioGraph was created by Triton Digital as a “common identity solution” for radio stations. iHeartMedia cited 64 percent of audio consumption coming from broadcast radio, but the medium has always lacked “the targeting and measurement infrastructure available in digital.”

It will launch with iHeartMedia inventory, and the companies plan to expand it across the broader industry in 2027.

“There are more people listening today than 10 or 20 years ago, and that trust is something no technology can manufacture,” iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman said in a release. He added that AudioGraph lets advertisers harness “trust and unparalleled reach” with precision.

With AudioGraph, the company said advertisers can measure audiences for the first time using what it described as privacy-safe, ID-informed insights.

Connectivity through demand-side platforms, or DSP, the release said, means that AudioGraph is compatible with other digital measurement platforms, in turn supporting the measurement or analytics partners that advertisers might already use.

AudioGraph uses audience segments built from first-party listener data and TransUnion’s identity graph.

The segments, in turn, inform advertising campaign planning using AudioGraph IDs, while “advanced predictive listening models” allow advertisers to reach audiences with greater accuracy, the company said.

The company said campaigns using AudioGraph IDs can deliver a KPI outcome 75 percent higher than traditional demo-based plans.

iHeartMedia has tested the solution with partners such as Magellan AI, PlaceIQ and GroundTruth, measuring audio listening to foot traffic and visits for a national home improvement brand.

Magellan AI, which offers audio advertising intelligence and measurement services, expanded its relationship with iHeartMedia back in May, in an agreement that “brings broadcast radio attribution to advertisers.”

The capabilities also extend to streaming and podcast environments, iHeartMedia said, which would allow advertisers to gauge their effectiveness across all of its inventory. 

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The post iHeartMedia Brings AudioGraph Measuring to the Market appeared first on Radio World.

Read James Careless’ additional WorldDAB Automotive 2026 coverage of Radio France CEO Sibyle Veil’s keynote speech and research firm Fifty5Blue’s recent car audio findings.

The popularity of electric vehicles is putting radio’s foothold in the car at risk.

Those were the words of Lizzie Young, the CEO of Commercial Radio and Audio, the association representing Australia’s major commercial radio networks.

Young spoke at WorldDAB Automotive 2026 on June 11, in Frankfurt, Germany. WorldDAB is the global body that promotes the DAB/DAB+ digital radio standard.

She described EV penetration in Australia as a sudden escalation.

The market is being driven by skyrocketing fuel costs, Young explained, which are in turn exacerbated by ongoing geopolitical conflicts.

Those factors have pushed Australian EV adoption to record highs over the last year, she explained.

“For the first month ever in May, an electric vehicle was the number one selling car in Australia,” Young said.

In such a rapidly changing environment, Commercial Radio and Audio said it is aggressively fighting to ensure a permanent broadcast presence across every incoming dashboard in Australia.

Chief among these unique challenges, Young said, is the country’s vast size, which requires a hybrid approach incorporating AM, FM, DAB+ and streaming audio to cover it all.

Nationwide radio coverage is necessary to ensure public safety, she explained.

“It is critical because of that, and the fact that many Australians move away from these climate disasters in their vehicles, that we have robust emergency broadcasting capabilities in the car,” she emphasized.

To ensure that radio retains its dashboard dominance, Australian radio partners have invested heavily in a rebuilt, unified mobile app, the RadioApp, that features both commercial and public broadcasters.

Additionally, CRA spent the past year ensuring radio is discoverable on emerging platforms by forging strategic partnerships with DTS AutoStage, RadioPlayer and Visteon.

The advocacy group is also pushing the Australian government to include radio in its smart speaker legislation.

“We were told that we would have some legislation to review in March and that has now been pushed out for some very valid reasons about some very other significant issues,” Young said. “But we are confident that we will have legislation being drafted in the second half of this year.”

Ultimately, Australian broadcasters are not expecting automakers or politicians to simply hand them a legacy safety net.

“We really see this as a three-way partnership to do the right thing by consumers and listeners and car buyers,” Young said.

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The post Facing an EV Surge, A Fight in Australia to Keep Radio Front and Center appeared first on Radio World.

Whether you come from the BBC, iHeartMedia or a small local station in Israel, the radio industry has been struggling in recent years. Rapid technological change, the fight for consumer attention, the rise of streaming services, digital radio and the simple fact that fewer people are listening, have all created significant pressure on the medium we love so much.

Over the past year, I’ve been working with Radio Tel Aviv to integrate AI as part of a broader effort to refresh the station. This includes updating their workflows as well as rethinking the programming schedule. Their sales team now uses AI tools to write client briefs, support promo creation and help them generate content and scripts.

In addition, we decided to take this work a step further and apply it in practice by creating our own artificial intelligence radio host. Our host is built on a carefully designed voice model and language model that we shaped with great precision.
And that’s how we created Odelia AI. 

Odelia AI is the first autonomous radio host in Israel. For the past six months, she has accompanied the station listeners on their way home or at work every day (!) from 2 to 4 p.m. She can present music, deliver traffic updates and even tell jokes, mostly at her own expense (though it’s in Hebrew you can check her out here). “AI.O,” Odelia’s show, aired in a prime slot and got some really positive attention from listeners, PR and even new brands that want to sponsor the show because of the innovative vibe it brings. 

The first stage in creating Odelia’s character began with an in-depth research phase, examining case studies and technologies from around the world. 

We took a close look at both the successes and the failures to understand what truly works and what to avoid — from “Tai” in Australia, who served as a local radio host for six months without informing the listeners she was not a real person, to “Ashley AI” in Portland, modeled after the station’s star Ashley Elzinga from 95.5 FM, who became a hit with listeners and absolute lifesaver for the real Ashley that could finally be free in the afternoons and spend time with her kids. 

We interviewed the people involved, gathered insights, and collected practical advice about both the content strategies and the technologies they used. This research helped us define our core principles for creating our new anchor.

In the second stage, once we understood what we needed to build, we began searching for the perfect voice. Who would become the voice of our first AI radio host? And surprisingly, the answer appeared right under our noses. 

During a random meeting, Eldad Koblentz, shareholder representative on the board of Radio Tel Aviv, suggested we should use the voice of Odelia Safran, the station’s advertising manager, who happens to have one of the warmest and most pleasant voices.

My colleague Shahar Varshal and I had plenty of frustrating moments when the AI simply refused to cooperate. It froze, it distorted Odelia’s voice and sometimes strange accents slipped into the model.

But we kept learning and improving, and from pilot to pilot the process became smoother and more natural. Our team is learning and evolving as well, finding creative solutions and even wild hacks to train the model, including getting it to sing. 

At the end of the day, we understood that in order to work efficiently with AI tools, we had to create entirely new workflows. In the past, music editors selected the music and the presenter improvised live on air. Today, the process is far more structured. 

The workflow isn’t exactly glamorous: Scripts drafted in Gemini (we started with ChatGPT, but felt Gemini writes Hebrew that sounds more natural and human), a real human reviews and edits the text, voice generation in ElevenLabs, refinement through a custom local model in Replay and then we are on-air. Not exactly live radio, but surprisingly close. 

What’s next? The work is still far from over. We are still testing tools, trying new workflows and we have many goals we haven’t yet achieved — some because the technology isn’t there yet, and some because the station itself is still adjusting to the change. 

Six months in, Odelia AI hasn’t missed a single show. She’s always on time, and most importantly, never argues about the playlist. 

Whether that makes her the future of radio or just a very reliable DJ, we’re still figuring that out.

Comment on this or any article to radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line. 

Yaara Marchiano is a Cool Hunter and AI integration consultant. She works with production and media companies to adopt and integrate new AI technologies into every stage of the production cycle and advises startups on embedding and launching AI solutions to the media industry. She is former head of content and trends research at Keshet Broadcasting.

[Read More Radio World Stories About Artificial Intelligence]

The post The Story of Radio Tel Aviv’s Odelia AI appeared first on Radio World.

The window will open at 12:01 a.m. on Tue., Aug. 11 and close two weeks later at 6 p.m. on Tue., Aug. 25, according to a public notice the Audio Division released Wednesday.

Anticipating high demand, the FCC encourages applicants to file in the early portion of the window, and given the finite nature of the spectrum, the commission said it cannot authorize a translator station for every qualified applicant during this window.

“Applicants are encouraged to retain a broadcast engineering consultant to determine the technical acceptability of their application,” the commission said.

During the window, the Media Bureau will only accept translator applications for channels in the NCE FM band between 88.1 and 91.9 FM.

We’ve got more details that all applicants should keep in mind below.

How to file

Applications must be filed electronically via FCC Form 2100, Schedule 349, in the licensing and management system, or LMS.

Schedule 349 will be available for data entry in LMS beginning July 1, allowing applicants to begin preparing their submissions early. But the Media Bureau will not accept applications before the window opens.  

There is no filing fee required. Filed applications will not be made available to the public until after the window closes, according to the bureau. 

Applicants are also reminded to carefully review channel and antenna location coordinates to ensure all data is specified without typographical errors. Bureau staff will not review attachments or information specified elsewhere in the application to resolve discrepancies.

Restrictions

Radio World previously reported the following eligibility restrictions for the upcoming window, but here’s a quick refresher:

Ownership: Each applicant must be the licensee or permittee of the existing NCE FM, NCE AM or LPFM station that the proposed translator will rebroadcast.

Application limits: There is a 10-application limit for each applicant entity nationally, excluding LPFMs. For Tribal LPFMs, the limit is four applications nationally; for other LPFMs, the limit is two.

Rebroadcast means: NCE FM translators can rebroadcast its intended signal via alternative delivery means, such as satellite and microwave facilities, as opposed to directly over the air.

However, that does not apply for LPFM translator applicants. Those applications must comply with the service’s direct off-air input rule. Additionally, the commission said it will not waive its LPFM contour overlap restrictions, nor the restriction that the transmitting antenna of the FM translator for an LPFM is located within 10 miles of the station in the top 50 measured markets and within 20 miles for those LPFM stations outside the top 50 markets.

Our friends at REC Networks go into more details about those restrictions.

Attributable interests: A party to an application filed in the window may not hold attributable interests in more than the maximum permitted number of applications.

Interference protections: Applications must strictly follow contour overlap and interference protection requirements between FM translator stations and FM full-service broadcast stations, other FM translator stations and LPFM stations, and you can view those contour restrictions here.

FM translators also must all observe distances set forth for all TV Channel 6 stations, including full-service, low-power, Class A and translator TV stations.

Furthermore, translator applications must protect granted, tentatively selected and pending applications from the 2023 LPFM filing window.

However, they do not need to protect a dismissed LPFM application if no petition for reconsideration has been filed and the dismissal becomes final prior to Aug. 25.

Mutually exclusive applications

If ties arise, the commission will default to its mutually exclusive, or MX comparative system.

Before proceeding to a comparative analysis, MX applicants will have an opportunity to resolve conflicts through settlements or technical amendments.

The comparative system consists of two main components: a point system analysis and, if necessary, a tie-breaker determination based on applicant-provided data and certifications.

On channels reserved for noncommercial use, the commission will grant the application of a translator providing fill-in service over one that extends the service area of a primary station.

Should applications of the same type conflict, the commission will apply the translator point system. We won’t go into those details here, but you can read more in the commission’s public notice.

It should be noted that NCE organizations will be considered “established” if they have operated as local entities for at least two years prior to the window’s filing deadline.

Finally, the commission said that any changes made after the filing deadline may potentially diminish, but cannot enhance, an applicant’s comparative position and point total.

Review process

Following the deadline, the Media Bureau will review all applications for compliance with technical and legal rules and dismiss any that are unacceptable. A dismissed applicant will have one opportunity to file a minor amendment and a petition for reconsideration requesting reinstatement.

This must be filed within 30 days of the dismissal.

If a translator application is accepted for filing, the applicant must provide public notice to inform the community. Notice must be posted for 30 days following acceptance, either on the applicant’s website, a parent entity’s website or a publicly accessible, locally targeted website.

Freeze frame

In conjunction with the window, the FCC announced it will freeze minor modifications for LPFM, translator and booster stations beginning July 11. 

This freeze will continue until the translator filing window closes.

Additionally, the Media Bureau will not accept major modifications to existing NCE FM translator stations.

However, those licensees may apply for a new station and, upon commencement of operations, surrender their old station license. Any such application must include an exhibit indicating the proponent’s desire to treat the application as a major modification.

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The post FCC Announces Dates for First-Ever NCE FM Translator Filing Window appeared first on Radio World.

Independent Audio has made the Tri-Solate Universal Microphone Shock Mount Kit available in the U.S. market.

It is an isolation system designed to reduce vibration and handling noise for a range of studio and broadcast microphones.

“Unlike conventional shock mounts designed for specific microphone models, the Tri-Solate Universal Microphone Shock Mount Kit offers a flexible mounting solution compatible with a broad range of microphone shapes and sizes,” the company said.

The design provides isolation without the need for multiple model-specific mounts. Independent Audio said it is well-suited for professional recording studios, broadcast facilities, podcast production environments, educational institutions and home studios.

Independent Audio is a distributor based in Maine. The company welcomes dealer inquiries.

The post Tri-Solate Offers Universal Shock Mount appeared first on Radio World.

The FCC is threatening to revoke three Austin-area AM station licenses held by Encino Broadcasting. It says the Texas company hasn’t paid regulatory fees for the stations for more than a decade.

The commission said Encino owes more than $166,000. The amount includes annual fees dating to 2013, plus interest and administrative costs, as well as penalties of 25% assessed when a payment is late or incomplete.

Encino owns KELG in Manor, KOKE in Pflugerville and KTXZ in West Lake Hills, all in the Austin region.

The commission said it sent Encino letters demanding payment and also communicated with it by email.

The company has 60 days to make payment or show cause why it should be waived or deferred.

The post Unpaid Fees Put Three Texas AM Licenses at Risk appeared first on Radio World.