2012 header
November, 2012

Quote of Note

"The next time someone disparages analog technology, remind them that the Big Bang was analog technology. And that was almost 14 billion years ago." 

- Saul Levine 

Keep CALM and carry on
Linear Acoustic helps Hearst stay compliant

 

On December 13th, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission will begin to enforce the rules outlined in the much-talked-about CALM Act, a law created to address the so-called "loud commercial" problem that startles families off their sofas when blaring ads contrast with quieter programming, sending popcorn - and complaints to television stations - flying.

 

Joe Addalia, Director of Technology Projects for Hearst Television, was tasked with making sure all of his company's 29 US stations are providing CALM-compliant audio to those viewers. You might expect someone with that task to be a little nervous, but he's actually quite - well - calm.

 

Linear Acoustic AERO.air Transmission  Audio Loudness Manager
Linear Acoustic AERO.air Transmission Audio Loudness Manager
That mood stems from the choice of the Linear Acoustic AERO.air Transmission Audio Loudness Manager and LQ-1000 Loudness Quality Monitor as the standard equipment pairing to control and meter loudness at all Hearst stations.

 

"CALM isn't going away," Addalia points out. "We knew we had to address compliance head on. Hearst doesn't take shortcuts and we don't compromise on quality. We wanted to do this right, so I researched all of our options and kept coming back to Linear Acoustic."

Master Control at Hearst Television Orlando, home to NBC affiliate WESH and CW affiliate WKCF

"On the surface, AERO.air is not an inexpensive product," admits Addalia. "But when you look at all that it does, suddenly it's a bargain. We get full control over our audio, which sounds fantastic, a solid downmixed signal, Nielsen encoding located where it's supposed to be in the chain, and CALM-compliant loudness control in a single 2RU box. We're putting them on the main HD channel of all of our stations and plan to have them in our backup transmission chains soon as well."

Operators have an easy-to-read loudness value visible at all times from the VGA output of the Linear Acoustic LQ-1000 Loudness Monitor

 

Hearst has also installed a Linear Acoustic LQ-1000 Loudness Quality Monitor in each station. "We use the VGA output to feed a section of the monitor wall in the master control room so the operator can always keep an eye on main channel loudness," said Richard Monn, Chief Engineer of Hearst's Orlando operation. The other input is used on a rotating basis for the required spot-checking as well as multi-cast channels or audio playing back from a server.

 

"Once we find the products that best meet our needs, we like to form a close relationship with the company that makes them and deploy those products across the board," said Addalia. "For loudness control and metering, it's Linear Acoustic all the way."

 

If your station's engineering staff is feeling more edgy than CALM these days, perhaps it's time to check out the full line of Linear Acoustic products at http://www.linearacoustic.com

Finding our WAY in radio
Telos Alliance gear clicks for Way Media Group
WAY-FM Nashville
Way Media's Jon Garrison shows off an Axia Element consoles
at WAY-FM's Nashville studios.
IP audio is clearly the best infrastructure for a broadcast plant, but whose system should you buy? For Jon Garrison, Southern Regional Engineer for Way Media, the choice was clear. The company was planning an upgrade to four studios in its Nashville facilities. "We looked at several of the leading brands," Garrison told us, "but we went with Axia because it offered the best price point and it does everything we want."

 

Way Media, Inc. began in 1987 as a single FM station in Ft. Myers Florida. Over the years it has extended its outreach, both by acquiring additional stations and offering satellite programming services to other Christian stations. Over the years, its headquarters moved from Florida to Nashville, so it could be closer to the music scene. Still later, operations were transferred to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they are today.  

WAY-FM Nashville
Element consoles include Telos Console Controller module for Nx12 phone system

 

Currently, WAY-FM owns and operates 14 full power FM radio stations including newly added stations in Denver, Colorado; Wichita, Kansas and Tallahassee, Florida. WAY-FM also operates more than 20 low-power repeater stations. The WAY Media Network Services (WMNS) serves over 25 additional radio stations nationwide with satellite programming. Today, more than 70 cities are served by either a WAY-FM station or repeater.

 

"The transition from analog consoles to an IP platform was huge," recalls Garrison. "We thought there would be a steep learning curve, but instead it was really easy." Garrison and the Nashville engineering staff worked along side Telos installers for two days. They completed the final studio on their own. Once that project was complete, they began to look at other gear from the Telos Alliance.

 

Omnia ONE
Record-setting Omnia ONE 

Way Media has purchased Omnia processors for many of its stations - Omnia ONEs in Evansville, Huntsville, Birmingham; Bowling Green and Portland, Oregon, and Omnia-6s for Nashville and Louisville. "They just sound great right out of the box," adds Garrison. "We've tried to tweak the presets, but we usually come back to the original settings. They're just difficult to improve on."

 

As they were planning to replace outdated phone systems in Nashville, Telos was a natural choice. Nx12 Talkshow Systems were installed in four studios. "We have caller-intensive morning and afternoon shows with an assistant producer screening calls," adds Garrison. "The Nx12 is easy to set up and has a lot going for it." Among the features that he likes are the multiple digital hybrids, each with its own AGC, noise gate, and caller override dynamics.  

 

It's not just the great gear that keeps Telos Alliance customers coming back, it's also great people. Garrison recalls in particular Omnia's Cornelius Gould. "He was a great help when we were setting up our Omnia 6. We sent Cornelius files of our unprocessed program audio and off-air audio for the same time. He listened to them both and sent back presets that were exactly what we were looking for."

 

See more photos of the WAY-FM studios on the Axia Facebook page.

In This Issue
Hearst stays CALM
In the Studio at WAY Media
News from the Field
Radio VIdeo: JoJo Kincaid
Tech Updates
Tech Tip: Z/IP Server
Discrepancy Sheet
News from the Field
Who's getting new gear?

Axia mixing consoles are powering new studios at:
  • Clear Channel Communications' WBGG-FM, WHYI-FM, WMGE-FM, WSHE-FM, WMIA-FM, WINZ & WIOD, Miami, Florida
  • Shamrock Communications' KNEZ-FM * KRZQ-FM, Reno, Nevada  
  • Augustana College's WVIK-FM, Rock Island, Illinois 
Telos Hx1 phone hybrids are making callers sound great at:
  • Cox Radio's WSB, Atlanta, Georgia
  • American Public Media, New York City
  • Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Washington, D.C. 
Omnia.11 is dominating the airwaves at:
  • Clear Channel's KBIG-FM,
    Los Angeles, California
  • TTB Media's WHKQ-FM, Orlando, Florida
  • Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe's KOJB-FM, Cass Lake, Minnesota  
Get the NOW! catalog

 


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Radio Video
Classic Radio on the Net
JoJo Cookin' Kincaid, KKLQ-FM, 1987
JoJo Cookin' Kincaid, KKLQ-FM, 1987

With a career spanning over 40 years, JoJo "Cookin" Kincaid is known for his high-energy delivery, razor-sharp timing and unique sense of humor. Listening to him on the radio is a treat, seeing him do his show takes it up to the next level.

Starting his career at WUWU in Gainesville Fllorida in 1970, Kincaid has worked in Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, San Antonio, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and more. He has returned to Tampa, Florida, and is on afternoons at Classic Hits WRBQ-FM.

We catch up with JoJo shortly after he started doing PM drive at KKLQ "Q-106" in San Diego for this two-part video that was made in 1987. Of course, this recording was made on a Friday, and the weekend doesn't officially start until Kincaid kicks it off. (The 2nd part of the video can be found here.
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Tech Updates

Latest software for your broadcast audio gear:

Tech Tip of the Month
Z/IP Server Indicators: What do they really mean?
Push for help

Timothy Schultz, station engineer for California Lutheran University's KCLU, writes: "What does it really mean when looking at the ZIP Server, when an entry is Green or Red?  I thought it meant a Z/IP ONE was on line and available or not, but in my limited testing, it doesn't seem to track reality; I can successfully Call devices that are Red."

 

Telos Support stalward Matt Rockwell responds: "Devices which are shown as 'green' are available with full traversal through the far-end's network firewall. Red means that NAT traversal is limited, but the device is not necessarily unavailable for connection. I have seen site firewall issues cause Z/IP units' Z/IP Server status to be 'red', but the Z/IP is still accessible."  


Got a tech tip to share or a question you'd like answered?
Email us - if we use it in eNews, we'll send you a free copy of Omnia A/XE desktop audio processing software for Windows. Don't forget to include your mailing address when you write.
Discrepancy Sheet
Inside Telos: A chat with Marty Sacks
Sacks at the controls of a CAP Gippsland GA-8

All of us at the Telos Alliance share with our clients a fatal attraction to radio, as well as a passion for making great audio. But that's not all we do. Many of us have other hobbies and interests that might surprise you. From time to time, we'll profile members of the Telos Alliance and what they do when they're not inventing the next generation of broadcast audio gear.

 

Marty Sacks, Vice President for Business Development at the Telos Alliance has had a lifelong passion for flying, one that he reconnected with in 2003. "I was a lapsed pilot," explains Sacks. "I learned to fly in my 20s, then family and career demands took their toll, and I had to give it up. Another lapsed pilot told me about the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), and it really sparked my interest." Sacks was bitten by the
aviation bug early on. His father is a civilian pilot, with over 40 years experience, who occasionally flies with his son. At the same time he was learning to fly as a teenager, Sacks was preparing for a career in broadcasting by working at WAMU-FM in Washington DC.  

 

Sacks saw involvement with CAP both as a way to get back into flying, and as a great opportunity for two of his teenage sons. He adds that CAP is probably the best kept secret among pilots in the United States, and he has logged over 700 hours flying for CAP. "They have a fleet of well-maintained aircraft for members to use," he adds, "and it's as close to free flying as you can get."

 

Returning to aviation in 2003 after a 20-year absence , Sacks found that a lot of things had changed since he first flew in the early 1980s. "The world is a different place after 9/11, and one of the ways is how airspace is managed in the Washington DC area. They don't take kindly to mistakes, or pilots not following directions." Instrumentation is another; he has logged most of his hours with CAP in a Cessna 182 with a "glass cockpit" - no gauges, all screens.  

With a crew of CAP cadets attending an orientation course at Laughlin Air Force base.  

 

Sacks explains that there are three main missions of the Civil Air Patrol: emergency services, search and rescue, aerial photography of disaster areas and work with military aviation; aerospace education, informing the public about aviation issues; and the Cadet program, which trains youth age 12 to 18 about aviation, and teaches them to fly. As with scouting, the Cadet program has different levels as members gain new skills.

 

In addition to its other missions, CAP has recently been tasked with homeland security and courier service missions. CAP also performs non-auxiliary missions for various governmental and private agencies, such as local law enforcement and the American Red Cross. As of 2011, CAP has 34,800 senior members and 26,000 cadets in over 1,600 local units in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and at numerous overseas United States Air Force installations.

 

 

Until next time, stay well!

Clark Novak, Tom Vernon, Denny Sanders, Angi Roberson, Guy Hufferd and Jim Kuzman
for Telos, Omnia
, Axia and Linear Acoustic
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