All posts by Gary Stigall

May 20 Meeting: Grass Valley and the Role of IP Broadcast Infrastructure

The presentation will be an overview of IP based broadcast infrastructures.  We address some of the fundamental questions broadcasters have been asking.  Why do we even want IP at our core?  What advantages do IP-based designs bring to my facility?  What liabilities do IP designs bring to broadcast systems? We’ll cover current and emerging SMTPE standards on equipment and how current baseband technology will migrate into the IP world.

Join us Wednesday, May 20, at noon at KGTV, 4600 Air Way in San Diego, at I-805 and CA-94. Grass Valley will buy lunch. Everyone is welcome.

About Our Presenter

Robert Erickson is the Regional Account Manager for Grass Valley a Belden Brand, covering Broadcast, Post-Production, Government and Military sales for the San Diego and Los Angeles Markets.  Robert started with Grass Valley in 2008 as a Senior System Engineer designing critical infrastructure systems for broadcast networks worldwide.  In late 2013 Robert moved to Los Angeles to embark in his new sales role for Southern California.  Prior to joining Grass Valley, he was the Director of Engineering for KTUZ Telemundo in Oklahoma City, and Chief Engineer for KOKH/KOCB FOX and CW in Oklahoma City.  Outside of work Robert is an amateur radio operator, avid motorcycle rider and outdoorsman.  On weekends he can usually be found exploring the southern California region and all the eccentricities that go along with it.

 

Scott Mason Remembered

We learned that Scott Mason, SBE board member and longtime KROQ chief engineer and air personality died Sunday morning, April 19.

San Diego members may not know Scott, though we had a highly attended meeting a few years ago in which we had emergency and FCC monitoring vehicles on display at Clear Channel studios. Scott hauled from Los Angeles the regional CBS Radio emergency backup trailer outfitted with transmitters and antennas, and gave an educational tour.

Scott Mason
Scott Mason

He served on the SBE Board of Directors for many years and I was lucky enough to have served with him from 2012 to 2014. He was always generous of his time, having been not only as a leader for Los Angeles SBE Chapter 47, but for Boy Scouts and for Red Cross first aid classes. His most recent title at CBS Radio was West Coast Regional Engineering Director.

What fascinated me was his history at KROQ (FM) in LA. Since 1979, he served both as an on-air personality and engineer. He hosted “Love Line” until quite recently.

But Scott had health problems and went through a kidney transplant in 2013. It was quite a story, with a CBS Radio co-worker supplying the kidney. He did not look healthy and happy at our last meeting.

You can read more about Scott at a memorial page created in his honor at KROQ.CBSlocal.com.

March 18 Meeting: Orban Regarding Radio Loudness

We all went through the TV loudness discussion and regulations. How about radio and netcasting? Bob Orban will give a remote presentation to Chapter 36 about just this:

 My main topic will be the relationship between the fairly recent  ITU-R BS.1770 loudness measurement standard and non-television applications such as FM radio and audio-only netcasting: what “target loudness” is and how it applies to audio-only services. I will also briefly touch upon low bitrate compression artifacts and how things have changed with the widespread adoption of the MPEG4 HE-AAC codec.

Join us and learn something! It’s Wednesday, March 18, at 12 noon at iHeartMedia, 9660 Granite Ridge Road, San Diego. Orban will provide a light lunch. Members and guests welcome.

Woodson LPTV KZTC Flash Cuts to Digital

Mt. Woodson channel 7 VHF low power station KZTC flash cut to digital ATSC February 22. KZTC outputs a 1.5kW directional signal aimed at the southwest quadrant toward San Diego. The station had been rebroadcasting Entravision XHDTV’s MundoFox subchannel, but now rebroadcasts the same station’s English language services that include the Fox MyTV network and syndicated content.

KZTC is maintained, and partially owned, by Matt Lunati, who had been a fixture in San Diego broadcast engineering, but lately has been working servicing telecom sites in Arizona.

FCC Takes More San Diego Area LPFM Actions

On January 12, 2015, the FCC ordered in a single document the granting of an LPFM station for San Diego Catholic Radio and dismissal of applications from Active Pulse and Hi Neighbor. SDCR was given the right to construct its station on 93.7 MHz at iHeartMedia’s historic KLSD-AM/KGB-FM facility at Oak Park.

In summary, the FCC agreed with SDCR’s objection to Active Pulse’s application on grounds that the organization had no state record of being a non-profit organization. Hi Neighbor had earlier affiliated itself with AP in the mutually exclusive group.

93.7 MHz is currently occupied locally by 10W translator K229BO on Mt. Woodson rebroadcasting KPFK from Los Angeles after 90.7 MHz signed on in Tijuana.