September 2019 Meeting – Single Frequency Networks for Radio

You should be able to drive around our terrain-challenged media market and receive excellent FM broadcast reception everywhere. Till now you haven’t been able to because of signal shadows and multipath. GEO Broadcast Solutions has been working on this throughout the nation and this year has been helping Entercom’s KWFN (FM) locally extend their 97.3 MHz signal through a series of boosters extending their coverage into northern San Diego County. The science of this is more complex than you might imagine; boosters have to be in-phase to the digital bit to work effectively. How do they do that?

Bert Goldman, advisor to GEO Broadcast Solutions, discussed at our September chapter meeting the science and implementation of what they call “Maxxcasting™,” SFN’s for FM broadcast transmission. They’re also working on a related technology, “ZoneCasting™” that could allow geographic targeting of ads within Maxxcasting™ regions.

Many thanks to GEO Broadcasting Solutions and the attendees who made this meeting a great success.

About Bert Goldman

Bert Goldman is currently the president of Goldman Engineering Management Inc. Bert brings more than 40 years of experience and specializes in analyzing AM and FM spectrum for the purpose of improving facility coverage and value as well as all facets of construction.

Mr. Goldman has directly managed engineering efforts as Corporate Vice President of Engineering for the ABC/Disney Radio Division, Nationwide Communications, Patterson Broadcasting, and Shamrock Broadcasting. During his career, Bert has engineered numerous station improvement projects, including stations in most of the top 25 radio markets.

Bert has extensive experience in the latest FM single frequency network (SFN) design and implementation and has participated in experimental testing of geo-targeted SFN operation.

Bert is a member of the IEEE, SBE, and is an associate member of the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE). Bert has also been active in the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC), and the NAB Radio Technical Committee, and has written several articles for the industry trade press.