All posts by Gary Stigall

Local News, National

Audacy Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Radio Insight reports that the Audacy group filed for bankruptcy to reorganize in order to service its $2.66-billion debt load. Another $926-million of debt will mature later this year. Audacy management said it has restructured its debt with a “supermajority” of its debtors in order to reduce its service payments to a realistic level.

A memo to employees said, “Audacy will operate normally during this process. There will be no disruption to your wages and benefits. Our current leadership team will continue to lead the Company, and day-to-day roles and responsibilities will not change. Overall, it will be business as usual….”

It’s no secret that the broadcasting industry has been hit hard with reduced advertising spending as alternative media, such as streaming, grab a bigger slice of the listening audience pie. 

In San Diego, Audacy stations include KBZT  “Alt 94.9”, KYXY 96.5, KWFN “97.3 The Fan”, KXSN “Sunny 98.1”, and KSON 103.7 “New Country.” These stations were derived from CBS and Lincoln Financial ownership that consolidated through a merger with Entercom in 2017, then rebranding as Audacy in 2021. Audacy manages 235 radio stations in 48 markets, according to Inside Radio. 

Meetings

SBE January 9 Online Meeting – Chad Davis on Artificial Intelligence in Broadcasting

Chad Davis

Think a Windows workstation will replace your job or that of your on-air colleagues? Chad Davis’s presentation offers a no-nonsense discussion of generative AI tools and how they can be used ethically in the creation of media content and the streamlining of business processes at broadcast stations.

Join us on January 9th at 11:30 AM PST on a Zoom conference. RSVP here.

About Chad

Chad Davis leads Nebraska Public Media Labs, the R&D unit at Nebraska Public Media currently focused on generative AI and game development. He also writes and publishes the weekly Public Media Innovators Weekly newsletter, covering the intersection of emerging media and public media.

Local News

Hendrik Jaehn Retires from Petco Park

The Holiday Bowl on December 27, 2023, was Hendrik Jaehn’s final production as Engineer-in-Charge at Petco Park. The San Diego Padres hired him 23 years ago to head the scoreboard video and audio control room at Qualcomm Stadium before the team moved to the new stadium downtown in 2004. He said of his duties at Petco Park, “This has been fun. It’s supposed to be work, but it’s just fun to me.”

Hendrik said Wednesday that he will be driving cross-country to a new residence in Florida over the weekend. He said he plans to travel in Europe and “maybe I’ll buy a boat and sail around for a while.”

Hendrik said he gained much of his technical knowledge while working with Fred Swift at KUSI. “Fred is another level,” he said.

He said he enjoyed teaching some of the younger technicians, but lamented the lack of basic knowledge many come into the field with. “When they don’t even have a few audio principles down, how are they supposed to even start? What can I do?”

His successor has not been announced.

Meetings

SBE Chapter 36 Holiday Luncheon at Mimi’s – Be There!

Before the dark days of the pandemic, we all met at Mimi’s Cafe for a December holiday luncheon and had a joyous good time. We’re doing it again this year.

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, December 13, at 12 noon at Mimi’s Cafe, 5180 Mission Center Rd, San Diego, CA 92108. Members and guests are welcome! No host—you pay for your lunch. Let’s toast to the new year and show our care and respect to each other.

National

FCC Grants Extension for Sage Endec EAS Firmware Compliance

The FCC this week issued a waiver for Sage Endec EAS Devices granting them a 90-day extension for implementing new rules that favor IPAWS CAP alerts. The extension applies only to broadcast stations using the Sage devices and not to those using other brands.

The FCC Report and Order for PS Docket No. 15-94 establishing new Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules went into effect earlier this year with a compliance due date of December 12, 2023. This R&O mandates that alerts received via over-the-air “legacy” EAS data tones be held while awaiting a preferred IPAWS CAP alert. Other rules require changes in how the text for national alerts is constructed. A firmware update will be required to keep your station’s EAS devices compliant with the Part 11 rules.

Sage ENDEC says on its website, “We continue to work on the Rev96 update. We have made the FCC aware that the update has taken us longer to produce than we had anticipated, and that there will be insufficient time for many of our users to install the update by the December 12, 2023 deadline. This is especially true for users maintaining a large number of ENDECs. We apologize for the delay. We will update this page and keep the FCC informed on the release status as we get closer to a release date.

“When Rev96 is released, Email will be sent to those who are signed up for our support email list. If you are not on that list, you can sign up on the support page.” The upcoming firmware update costs $159 and is sold through U.S. hardware distributors.

Digital Alert Systems released an update earlier this year that you must apply to your Monroe and DASDEC devices for continued FCC compliance.

Trilithic/Viavi released their update for EASyCAP software in March 2023.