Radio broadcast engineers have been battling a certain inelegance in system design since the advent of hybrid analog/digital FM broadcasting. When you combine the complexities of stereo pilot, stereo L-R, and SCA subcarriers with the complexities of the Ibiquity digital sidebands, you’ve got some serious filter design issues and a lot of hardware.
On February 19th, 2014, Orban Founder and VP of Engineering Bob Orban gave a presentation via Skype reviewing his “A Full Bandwidth Standard” Radio World article discussing a new compositing standard designed to simplify the hybrid FM broadcast and decrease filter aliasing. Additionally, he commented on efficient codecs for audio streaming.
Many thanks to Orban’s rep David Rusch and RF Specialties rep Steve Moreen for lunch, a terrific presentation, and to John Rigg of Clear Channel for hosting the meeting and giving us a full tour of his plant. The place is really buttoned down.
About Bob Orban
Robert Orban received the B.S.E.E. degree from Princeton University in 1967 and the M.S.E.E. degree from Stanford University in 1968.
In 1970, he founded Orban Associates, originally as a manufacturer of studio equipment. In 1975, Orban Associates introduced the original Optimod-FM 8000, which was the first in a long line of broadcast audio processors for AM, FM, TV and digital broadcasting from the company.
Orban has also been involved in professional recording for many years and has mixed several records released on the Warner Bros. label, as well as on small independent labels. As a composer, his music has been heard on classical radio stations in New York and San Francisco, and his score for a short film, “Dead Pan,” was heard on PBS television in Chicago. He has designed studio reverberators, stereo synthesizers, compressors, parametric equalizers, enhancers, and de-essers under both the Orban and dbx brand names.
Orban has been actively involved in NRSC committee AM improvement work. He has been widely published in both the trade and refereed press (including J. Audio Engineering Soc., Proc. Soc. Automotive Engineers, and J. SMPTE). He co-authored the chapter on “Transmission Audio Processing” in the NAB Engineering Handbook, 10th edition. He currently holds over 20 U.S. patents.
In 1973 he was elected a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society. In 1993, he shared with Dolby Laboratories a Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1995, he received the NAB Radio Engineering Achievement Award. In 2002, he received the Innovator award from Radio Magazine.
About David Rusch
Orban Sales and Marketing Director, will be on hand to assist in conducting the presentation. Now in his 13th year working at Orban, he coordinates trades shows and SBE meeting presentations, works with Authorized Orban Dealers in North America, and executes advertising plans for the company. David Rusch has over 30 years of broadcasting experience in sales, production, syndication, and on-air.