TWiRT 713 - ABIP is a Radio Station’s Best Friend with Tom Ray

The Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP) was created around 1989 to aid the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in making sure all broadcast operations are in compliance and to help stations understand the rules in a one-on-one setting. In the beginning, the ABIP inspectors were retired FCC engineers. As the program began to expand around the country, other engineers were recruited and trained by regional FCC inspectors. ABIP inspectors have long used a basic Self Inspection Checklist that became woefully out of date. Tom Ray, working with other committee members at the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) has rewritten and greatly expanded these checklists for AM, FM, and TV stations. ABIP inspections are an excellent tool for broadcasters to assure compliance with FCC Rules, and do so in a friendly, non-adversarial encounter. 

Show Notes:
Society of Broadcast Engineers Releases Broadcast Station Self-Inspection Guides
SBE Self-Inspection Guides Download (must be an SBE member to download)
Description of the ABIP program from the Alabama Broadcasters Association (PDF)
Stay on the Good Side of the FCC - Radio World article

Guest:
Tom Ray - President of Tom Ray Consulting

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

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Broadcasters General Store, with outstanding service, saving, and support. Online at BGS.cc. 

Broadcast Bionics - making radio smarter with Bionic Studio, visual radio, and social media tools at Bionic.radio.
Angry Audio 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.

 
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TWiRT 713 - ABIP is a Radio Station’s Best Friend with Tom Ray

TWiRT 712 - Fun with AI Inspires Broadcast Engineers - Matt Aaron & Anthony Kuzub

The rise of AI-generated lyrics and music is giving engineers something to chuckle about.  But could this “easy creativity” inspire other engineering solutions? Kirk drew a comparison with photographer Jeremy Cowart and his use of an LED wall to produce 60 different portraits in 60 seconds. Anthony Kuzub, an engineer at CBC in Canada, pointed out the AI that’s involved with lighting a new studio, matching accent lights to the video monitor feeds. Matt Aaron is programming a fully-AI streaming station that’s playing “Broadcast Engineers Gangster Rap”. Are these just passing curiosities? Or are they signals of technologies and techniques to come for broadcasting and content creation?  

Show Notes:
Anthony Kuzub gave a whole presentation on "The Audio Industry and AI" (YouTube)
“The Legend of Chris Tarr” from suno.com
And another version of “The Legend of Chris Tarr”
Matt Aaron’s AI-music streaming station - https://broadcastengineeringgangsters.com/
And if Kirk had a radio station, KIRK, this could be the theme song
Anthony mentioned ElevenLabs for text-to-speech and AI voice generation
Anthony noted the Roland VC-1-DMX video lighting converter

Guests:
Matt Aaron - Broadcast Systems Integrator and Chief Penguin at Tux-Support
Anthony Kuzub - Senior Broadcast Systems Engineer at CBC

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

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
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 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.

 
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TWiRT 712 - Fun with AI Inspires Broadcast Engineers - Matt Aaron & Anthony Kuzub

TWiRT 711 - Today's Summit of Technology with Paul Stewart

Most every piece of equipment we use, or software we depend on began with an idea and a dream - a dream to help ourselves and others do their jobs better, faster, easier. Or perhaps to provide a service, or improve an existing one. Paul Stewart started Summit Technology Group with this motivation in mind as well. Paul and his company provide software and services with new features, conveniences, and efficiencies. Exactly what many broadcast engineers are looking for.  Chris Tarr and I are talking with Paul about the software and services he’s bringing to broadcasters.

Show Notes:
Paul mentioned “IRSC code lookup” in Tundracast - Here’s what an IRSC code is.
We discussed the SideCAR Media Logger, with AI transcription enabling search terms.
What does an AI-voiced weather forecast sound like?  ATMOS demos are here.
IT security can be overlooked in RDS encoder connections. PostMaster solves that.
Behind the scenes: SunKast uses VDO.ninja for guests to share their screen with TWiRT.

Guest:
Paul Stewart - President at Summit Technology Group

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

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TWiRT is brought to you by:
Nautel and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
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 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.

 
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TWiRT 711 - Today's Summit of Technology with Paul Stewart

TWiRT 710 - Live from CCBE 2024 in Toronto, Canada

The CCBE conference encompasses two days of professional broadcast engineering career development. This includes carefully-chosen paper presentations, an expo hall, and an awards dinner and ceremony honoring leaders in the broadcast engineering profession.  We got to meet with and converse with leaders in the Central Canadian Broadcast Engineers group, plus Canadian engineers and leading equipment manufacturers.  

Show Notes:
Central Canada Broadcast Engineers, Technologists & Technicians
SUNO.com - Make a song about anything

Guests:
Sean T. Craig Sr. - Broadcast Engineer at Bell Media and President of CCBE
Jim Miniely - Television Operations Manager at Dougall Media and Papers Chair at CCBE
Charlie Toner - Broadcast Engineer, IT Support at Durham Radio Inc.
Cory Edwards – Sales Manager at Dielectric LLC
Tyler Everitt - President/CEO, Pippin Technical Service Ltd
Anthony Kuzub - Multi-faceted Broadcast & Audio Engineer
Larry Schindel - Sr. Product Manager at Linear Acoustic
Andrew Scaglione - Account Director at Radio.Cloud
Mike Ridley - Engineer at GIANT FM / Country 89

Host:
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 and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
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 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.

 
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TWiRT 710 - Live from CCBE 2024 in Toronto, Canada

TWiRT 709 - Satellite Network Operations with Marcos O'Rourke

Have you wondered what goes on at the Network Operations Center of a satellite distribution network?  We sure have, and our good friend, Marcos O’Rourke, joins us to talk about it. Marcos is now the Engineering Manager at Linkup Communications. We’ve followed Linkup’s rising star in the satellite communications business and watched as this company has grown to serve a lot of the broadcast industry. Marcos gives a brief history of the NOC in Denver, Colorado, and shares pictures of their operations and IT center.  

Show Notes:
The Broadcast Engineer YouTube channel
LinkUp Communications - satellite distribution services
Aim your satellite dish using DishPointer.com
Basics of Satellite Receive Antenna optimization from ESPN Radio

Guest:
Marcos O’Rourke - Engineering Manager at Linkup Communications Corporation

Host:
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 and the HD Digital Radio Test Drive
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 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.

 
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TWiRT 709 - Satellite Network Operations with Marcos O'Rourke