TWiRT 648 - AM Radio's Decline & Future with David Bialik & Charles Kinney

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 648 - AM Radio's Decline & Future with David Bialik & Charles Kinney

TWiRT 647 - PTS Gear Connects Directly to Livewire with Tyler Everitt

Audio-over-IP now a 20-year-old technology, and we’re witnessed many dozens of AoIP networked devices brought to the broadcast marketplace. Now, Pippin Technical Service, a Canadian broadcast equipment supplier and engineering firm, is adding AoIP network devices to its PTS Gear product line. Designed in-house, the PTS Gear lineup includes PTSBeacon, an warning light that gets its signaling directly from virtual GPIO signals on a packet network. PTSAurora is another device driven by the virtual GPIO signals found on Livewire networks. Both devices are PoE powered, meaning they work with just one Ethernet connection for signaling, control, power, and configuration. We broadcast engineers welcome this kind of innovation for making our studios easier to build and more functional for on-air talent.

Show Notes:
PTSGear website, linking to all the PTS Gear offerings
PTSBeacon - the warning light we discussed in some detail

Guest:
Tyler Everitt - President/CEO, Pippin Technical Service Ltd

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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TWiRT 647 - PTS Gear Connects Directly to Livewire with Tyler Everitt

TWiRT 646 - EAS Rants and Fixes with Chris, Shane, & Mark

A pleasant surprise today as our scheduled guest, Shane Toven, joins us from “Gilbert Lodge”, home of Mark Persons! We’re talking about the Emergency Alert System and how broadcasters might move forward with better techniques and technologies to get live-saving information to their listeners. Shane works with EMF (K-LOVE and Air1) while co-host, Chris Tarr, serves on the Wisconsin State EAS committee. Host, Kirk Harnack, expresses some annoyances with the current EAS system and Chris is the usual voice of reason.  

Show Notes:
Chris Tarr mentioned that Gary Timm has stepped down from state EAS duties (Radio World article)
The new Wisconsin State EAS Plan is hot off the presses and receives high praise from Chris.
Our sponsor, Broadcasters General Store, offers several brands of EAS units for radio stations.

Guests:
Shane Toven - Senior Broadcast Engineer at EMF - K-LOVE & Air1
Mark Persons - Founder of M. W. Persons & Associates (Ret)

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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TWiRT 646 - EAS Rants and Fixes with Chris, Shane, & Mark

TWiRT 645 - Hal & Joe in Hawai'i

Three radio station owners walk into a bar.  They also happen to be owner-engineers of a terrific radio station on a tropical island. We’re talking about Hal Kneller, Joe Fiorini, and Kirk Harnack at Star 94.3, KHKU-FM, in Lihu’e, Hawai’i. We were all here for a broadcasters’ conference, plus some light maintenance at the Star 94.3 studios.  While Hal has been a guest on TWiRT, this is Joe’s first appearance. What interesting engineering backgrounds from both of these guys! We talk about AM radios in automobiles, a question of 50 ohms, and some ideas on backing up everything.

===> So, how did Kirk manage to leave an unrelated mic open during the show, providing delayed echo and huge audio coding artifacts? In a hurry? Careless? Not learning the same lesson from our NAB show? Anyway, my humble apologies for the bad audio. Our headphone feeds were great; we didn’t know that Streamyard was recording my laptop’s built-in mic with no way to remove it from the recording later. Extra embarrassing since we worked hard to use the studio mics (one of which has a buzz, so that’s another embarrassment). This is why we should leave the show production to the pros, like our beloved “SunKast”. 

Guests:
Hal Kneller - Broadcast Technology Consultant
Joe Fiorini - Owner of Fiorini Broadcasting

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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TWiRT 645 - Hal & Joe in Hawai'i

TWiRT 644 - Broadcast Computer Automation with Alan Freeman

We've ALL used broadcast automation/playout systems, but have you met the BRAINS behind their designs and software? Today we're meeting Alan Freeman, author of several Radio and TV automation systems including Digital DJ, AXS, EZ DJ Pro, Virtual Cart Machine, and Voice Tracking on Scott Studios automation systems. Plus, Alan helped design audio and relay cards for PCs, making integration possible between these PC-based audio systems and hardware of the day. From controlling satellite-delivered music formats, to mega-CD-changers, to music on hard drive, Alan has written software and user interfaces for them.

Show Notes:
Alan’s Business website is CDControl.com
Chris & Kirk like Alan’s Funk Logic rack panel - here’s the Funk Logic web store

Guest:
Alan Freeman - Senior Software Consultant / Software Developer / Owner: Wintek Software 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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TWiRT 644 - Broadcast Computer Automation with Alan Freeman