Paul Thurst – Page 159 – Engineering Radio

Everything is fine, why do you ask?

I found this picture of Bob Struble’s vacation last summer:

To the uninitiated, this might seem quite alarming; boat sinking, rigging all ahoo, this poor guy waiting for rescue or certain death. But to understand what is going on here, you have to see the whole picture. Things are not what they seem, in fact, it’s designed that way:

All this time, I have been lamenting the technical flaws IBOC, when really; its supposed to do that. Holy cow! All these years of wondering, “What the fuck are they thinking?” and decrying HD Radio, especially AM HD radio. Boy am I embarrassed. Makes me want to do this:

~~Baghdad Bob~~ Bob Struble latest quote, brought to bold typed prominence on the pages of Radio World magazine: “Consumers now expect to see album covers when they listen to music.” I think he means album art, but anyway.

You mean to tell me HD radio is failing because of lacking album art! Of all the Bob Struble quotes, to prominently feature this one in their article makes me think 1) the editors at Radio World have a sense of humor, or 2) they have a sense or irony, or both.

So anyway, there you have it: Album Art. The rest of the so-called technical flaws are “design features” that will enhance HD radio in the long run. They’ve got us right were they want us.

Wait until the patent expires

If I had to pick, one of the most egregious things about HD Radio™ is the fact that it is a proprietary system. Ibiquity owns the licenses for the IBOC HD Radio™ technology. If the FCC were to force radio stations to convert to all digital transmission, as they did with TV, then one corporation would then own the modulation method for all of the radio stations in the country. It would also own all of the secondary (HD2 and HD3) channels by virtue of the password-protected software and would, as current contracts are being written, be allowed to inspect the books any time they want.

This could lead to some very interesting situations, especially if Ibiquity chose to flex some muscle regarding programming content, formats, music, politics, news coverage, or what have you. Let’s not forget, Ibiquity’s investors are large broadcasting companies like Clear Channel, Cumulus, Citadel, Univision, and so on. Smaller broadcasting companies could likely get caught in a go-along-to-get-along situation.

If you have never played with an HD Radio™ exciter, let me tell you, everything is locked down. Every function needs a password from Ibiquity and there is no way around it.

Ibiquity’s proponents dismiss this concern and continue to say “Just wait until the patent expires, then it will be an open system.” Except that the “patent” is not going to expire. Ibiquity owns 70 patents for their IBOC system. Only one patent needs to be in effect for the HD Radio™ system to remain proprietary. The last patent was issued on May 10, 2010. Ibiquity simply needs to make some small change, update, or tweak and they can file for a new patent, which will add another 10 years. This can continue indefinitely.

The patent is not going to expire.

The 75th anniversary of FM broadcasting

On November 6th, 2010, WA2XMN will once again take to the airwaves from Alpine, NJ on 42.8 MHz. Beginning at 12 noon, EDT, the station will rebroadcast the 2005 commemorative broadcast. WA2XMN holds an experimental license which expires in 2015 for the purpose of recreating Armstrong’s original Yankee Network.

I am not sure if they will be using the GE Phasitron transmitter or not.

The Armstrong Tower is located just off of the Palisades Interstate Parkway, on a bluff west of the Hudson River. After the World Trade Center site was lost on 9/11, all of the NY City TV stations relocated there until permanent facilities could be build at the Empire State Building. Empire had always been the home to most of the NYC FM’s except public station WNYC, which was also on WTC #1.

Lots of interesting pictures and history on the Columbia University blog, here, here and here.

For those interested in the history of FM broadcasting, Empire of the Air by Tom Lewis is a great read.

On this, the 72 anniversary of War of the Worlds

It was early evening when most people were sitting down to enjoy the latest edition of Mercury Theater on the Air on CBS. After a brief narration by Orson Wells, which is set a year ahead of the actual date, there was a flash forward and brief weather forecast. It then seemed that the show was not going to be on as Ramon Raquello and is orchestra were performing dance music when the music faded down and the announcer came on the air slightly out of breath:

Ladies and Gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you this special bulletin from the intercontinental radio news…

It was a great piece of theater, too realistic for many, others tuned in late and panic ensued. People raced out of their houses, went to confession, and didn’t pay for gas. There were reports of long alien ships landing in New Jersey and incinerating crowds with heat rays. Then the black poison gas, oh, the black poison gas.

The day after, New York Times reported that up to 1.2 million people felt they were in grave danger and the world was ending. It is hard to imagine how they came to that number, especially overnight for printing the next day.

Naturally, those commie federal regulators were having none of it, and the FCC proclaimed that broadcast hoaxes would not be tolerated, even promulgating a rule, 73.1217, stating, in part:

No licensee or permittee of any broadcast station shall broadcast false information concerning a crime or a catastrophe if: (a) The licensee knows this information is false; (b) It is forseeable that broadcast of the information will cause substantial public harm, and (c) Broadcast of the information does in fact directly cause substantial public harm.

There are some radio stations that still broadcast this show every Halloween, with the appropriate disclaimers, of course. For those that want to hear the War of the Worlds, go to Radio Heard Here. It is really a great show.

Happy Halloween!

Update: Occasional reader Sandy sends along this link to the WKBW 1968 version, which was purported to be every bit as real as the 1938 version. The station was deluged with phone calls. In fact, legend has it that when the broadcast ended a little after midnight, show producer Jeff Kayne slipped his resignation letter under the General Manager’s door.