Articles by radionewsfeeds

A live event titled ‘DRM Digital Radio – at the Forefront of FM Broadcasting’ was organised by Indian and international hosts in New Delhi on July 21, 2022. Among the participants were the Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI), five leading private broadcasters in India, representatives of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Indian Cellular Association (ICEA), Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), Micromax – the Cellphone manufacturer, NXP, Technomedia Solutions Private Ltd and Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL) – the broadcast system integrators, Inntot Technologies Pvt Ltd – the Indian DRM receiver manufacturer, OptM Media Solutions Pvt Ltd – the broadcast solution provider, and the DRM Consortium.The participants were reminded that the global, open, and all-band DRM standard, offers full broadcaster independence allowing broadcasters the freedom to broadcast any content without any fees. There is also no revenue cut, as all technical details are openly standardised. And no technology license is needed to implement products and solutions of DRM.DRM is most efficient in terms of spectrum usage as one DRM block requires about 100 kHz (half the bandwidth of analogue FM) for 4 services (up to 3 audio and 1 multimedia). DRM FM allows for simulcasting DRM FM and FM analogue from the same transmitter without the need of replacing an existing FM transmitter. Each block can represent one single broadcaster who has full control of the spectrum and content. The participants explored together the three ways of possible DRM FM introduction in India: broadcast of up to 18 audio services in DRM digital from a single FM transmitter, broadcast up to 12 audio services in DRM digital along with a service in analogue and broadcast of up to 15 audio services in DRM digital in the white space between the two analogue FM transmitters.

Broadcast of multimedia content along with the digital audio services was demonstrated, including DRM’s Journaline advanced text application with support for all Indian scripts through Unicode. DRM standalone receivers as well as car radios already available in the Indian market for the reception in the DRM in the MW band, have been proven to be software-upgradable (without any hardware changes) to receive DRM in FM band, too. DRM’s efficient digital transmission results in huge savings in transmission power and thus distribution costs. Only about one-tenth power of DRM transmitter is sufficient in digital to deliver same coverage as existing analogue transmissions.India is the world’s largest digital radio deployment by All India Radio (AIR) with 39 transmitters (35 MW and 4 SW). AIR is also providing some exclusive radio broadcast content (24-hour News), multilingual Journaline information and has tested DRM for Emergency Warning Functionality (EWF) signals. DRM digital signals in India today can reach over 900 million people when all the installed transmitters work in full digital operation. Over 5 million cars on the Indian roads or 30% of new cars (from Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra, Toyota, MG Motor and Mercedes Benz) have already DRM radio reception facility – at no extra cost to buyers. The Starwaves DRM SoftRadio App is now available in various Android app stores to upgrade existing phones for DRM reception, and that Gospell, Starwaves, Inntot and many other DRM desktop receiver manufacturers are coming up with various standalone DRM receivers.During the New Delhi event participants enjoyed a live transmission on many standalone receivers, a car radio, Android mobile phones and tablets. Reception of DRM FM in a car parked outside the venue was also demonstrated.The participants took a keen interest in the presentations, demonstrations, and the discussions. They got a very good opportunity to debate not only how the DRM system can maintain the established FM environment but also how it defines and advances the future of FM broadcasting by creating whole new revenue sources besides audio-ads while enabling targeted broadcasting with an overall audience increase, as well as cutting distribution costs significantly.Involving commercial broadcasters in practical demonstrations of sharing same infrastructure and introducing DRM at reduced spectrum and energy use, while giving receiver manufacturers a chance to develop new solutions, will be the next step in digitising the FM broadcast and firmly establishing it as a core medium of India in the 21st century. […]

The latest edition of Steve Ahern’s well known text book Making Radio has been released.And it has an updated title to reflect the new dynamics of the audio industry.Making Radio & Podcasts, 4th Edition has updated the radio industry content to include podcasts, smart speakers and the latest developments in audio.

The book is now published by Routledge, reflecting the international status of the book, which has become a leading teaching text for training institutes, universities and schools across Australia, Asia and the Pacific.“I wrote it in a way that a teacher could pick it up and assign the first couple of chapters for pre-reading, then work through the skills chapters as part of a core curriculum, then choose selected later chapters depending on how the cohort intended to specialise in their craft skills,” says Ahern.The book is available in hard copy and paperback from the publisher’s website, or just ask your local book store or library to order it in.All chapters have been updated and new chapters about The Future of Radio by James Cridland and Making Podcasts by Britta Jorgensen have been added.Other new contributors include Richard Palmer, Triton Digital’s Director of Market Development for APAC, Fyona Smith from AFTRS, international sales expert Pat Bryson and ARN’s Barry Keohane, amongst others. The many other contributors from past editions have updated their comments.In the introduction to this edition, Ahern writes:‘Radio’ is a powerful word that has developed its brand values over more than a century. However the old definition of radio, based on free-to-air transmission and receiving of broadcast audio signals is no longer an accurate description of what we do.If you work in radio now, you will also very likely be making audio content that will be delivered via online streams, catch up replays and podcasts. Or you may work in an audio content production company that is not a traditional radio business. The content you make may be heard on smartphones, watches, computers or requested by voice control on smart speakers. Your content may be integrated with music services and be played to you as a curated sequence based on your specific playlist requests or an AI algorithm that has learnt your listening preferences.The on-demand nature of audio delivery, coupled with intelligent search and sophisticated playout systems is superseding the old norms of business and programming. World leading companies that have realised the extent of the changes are reinventing themselves and the industry as we find ourselves at yet another point of change. We don’t know all the answers yet, but there are some clear trends that this book will identify. There are also some things that don’t change, like the need to engage an audience, to connect using your personality, to gather and present quality audio, to tell compelling stories and to engage people at both the intellectual and emotional level, through audio.Contents:
History of Radio
The Future of Radio Internationally
Making Podcasts
Broadcast Laws and Regulations
The Studio
Radio Announcing
Presentation
Interviewing
Researching and Producing
Talkback
Copywriting
Audio Production
News
Audience Research and Promotions
Radio Sales
Programming
Features and Comedy
Transmission
Order via any bookshop quoting the ISBN 9781032020723, or online here. […]