TWiRT 739 - You Do What on the Side? with Dustin Tatro

Ya gotta love Dustin Tatro’s journey into and through radio broadcasting. Voicing PSAs at 4 years old got Dustin an early start. Then working as a DJ, along with musical interests, honed his technical and operational skills.  Now as a General Manager and Ops Manager, Dustin has demonstrably learned the engineering side of radio broadcasting.  Indeed, his SBE certification, CBRE, attests to that. Dustin joins Chris Tarr and Kirk Harnack to discuss AoIP, audio processing, work working nicely, even with competing radio stations. Indeed, he joins us from the KORQ-FM transmitter site.  

Also on today’s show, we talk with David Bialik. He and Fred Willard are coordinating the SBE Ennes Workshop in Las Vegas.  Their track is “Media over IP”. David gives us information and plenty of reasons to sign up and be there!

Show Notes:
Register for the SBE Ennes Workshop @ the 2025 NAB Show

Guests:
Dustin Tatro, CBRE - Radio Station Manager, Chief Engineer, Sports Organist
David Bialik - Director of Engineering for MediaCo NY

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

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
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.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 739 - You Do What on the Side? with Dustin Tatro

TWiRT 738 - SD-WAN for Broadcasters with Dan Merwin & Reggie Jeffery

SD-WAN - Software-Defined Wide-Area Network - is a technology implementation designed to bring better reliability and performance to IP connections over distance. Whether across town, to remote offices, or to remote transmitter sites, SD-WAN technologies are gaining interest among broadcast engineers and IT staff.  It turns out there are a lot of features - optional but useful features - that can be deployed alongside basic WAN management and monitoring.  Dan Merwin and Reggie Jeffery work in broadcast and other industries to offer appropriate technologies and capabilities, improving our critical IP connections.

Show Notes:
What is SD-WAN? - a primer from Cisco
SD-WAN article from Wikipedia
In our SBE meeting earlier today, Reggie mentioned CATO Networks as a source of tech and information. Here’s their primer on SD-WANs.

Guests:
Dan Merwin – Broadcast Engineer & Telecom/IT Agent at Broadcast Telecom
Reggie Jeffery – Solutions Engineer at ScanSource

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

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
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.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 738 - SD-WAN for Broadcasters with Dan Merwin & Reggie Jeffery

TWiRT 737 - Engineering's Awesome Rewards with Megan Amoss

Megan Amoss is the assistant chief engineer for Baltimore Public Media, which includes FM stations WTMD, WYPR, WYPF, and WYPO. Starting in a Traffic Coordinator role, she progressed to taking on engineering responsibilities, eventually becoming a key figure in the technical operations of Baltimore Public Media. Megan has been instrumental in the integration of WTMD and WYPR, where she is involved in the conversion of WYPR's studios to an Axia AoIP system. Megan joins Chris Tarr and Kirk Harnack, discussing engineering challenges with some focus on metadata, which has become critical for today’s broadcasters.

Guest:
Megan Amoss, CBNT, CRO - Assistant Chief Engineer at Baltimore Public Media

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

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
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.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 737 - Engineering's Awesome Rewards with Megan Amoss

TWiRT 736 - AM Band Signal & Noise Study with John Kean & Dave Hershberger

John Kean, Dave Hershberger, and Tom King recently set out to take measurements of RF noise levels on various roadway types from open interstate highways to city streets, to determine how the noise would affect AM broadcast reception. These environments reflect the current habits of AM radio listening, which is primarily in vehicles. In addition to RF noise level, RF signal levels were measured for three AM stations operating on frequencies in the low, middle and high ends of the AM broadcast band. These measurements provide a better understanding of how AM radio reception is affected by RF signal strength and noise in a range of roadway environments from rural to dense urban environments. On this episode of TWiRT, John Kean and Dave Hershberger join us to describe the testing methodology and the results and conclusions we can infer from them.

Show Notes:
NRSC-R102: Measurement of AM Band RF Noise Levels and Station Signal Attenuation
SDRplay RSPdx-R2 Wideband Full-Featured 14-bit SDR Covering 1kHz to 2GHz
Test Plan for Measurement of Multipath Distortion Parameters for AM SFNs

Guests:
Dave Hershberger - Senior Scientist (retired) at Continental Electronics
John C. Kean - Senior Engineer at Cavell, Mertz & Associates

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

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
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.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 736 - AM Band Signal & Noise Study with John Kean & Dave Hershberger

TWiRT 735 - Back to Basics - Radio Automation with Chris Tarr

Radio automation systems seem daunting at first glance. Those new to their programming and operation are often surprised by the number of pre-requisites and source material needed to put a radio format together, especially when the automation system is thought to do these things for you. Not to worry, Chris Tarr is here to clear up confusion and doubt, and help broadcasters consider some of the key aspects of implementing a radio automation playout system. 

Show Notes:
Aiir, makers of PlayoutONE
WideOrbit Automation for Radio
Rivendell Radio Automation
BSI Radio Automation Software

Guest:
Chris Tarr - Group Director of Engineering at Magnum Media, Inc.

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

Follow TWiRT on Twitter and on Facebook - and see all the videos on YouTube.

TWiRT is brought to you by:
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.
Aiir, providing PlayoutONE radio automation, and other advanced solutions for audience engagement.
Angry Audio and the new Rave analog audio mixing console.
The new MaxxKonnect Broadcast U.192 MPX USB Soundcard - The first purpose-built broadcast-quality USB sound card with native MPX output.

 
Subscribe to Audio:
iTunes
RSS
Stitcher
TuneIn

Subscribe to Video:
iTunes
RSS
YouTube

TWiRT 735 - Back to Basics - Radio Automation with Chris Tarr