This was a very different convention. I’ve attended almost every year since 1983 when RCA and Ampex ruled, but this year’s was one to remember. Some estimated attendance down 30%, others as low as 50%.

Since official attendance is based on registration and not “door count,” we may never know. But let me tell you, there was plenty of room in the aisles and in booths. I got to touch equipment and talk for up to an hour with attentive vendors. At Grass Valley. And Sony. I am not exaggerating. Lunch meant getting a table and relaxing for a while. Seriously. Rene Savalle of ComtechTV remarked that the air conditioning even seemed to keep up this year.

Leon Messenie of KPBS said, “I thought the show was just right as an end buyer. I wish they would have condensed the halls a bit. It seemed they still wanted to have the appearance that NAB needed all the halls. There were so many places to sit down and rest which was nice but it also kept the show spread out.

Sales representative Alicia Reed of JVC summed up the opinion of other vendors, “A seemingly large ratio of the attendees we talked to also seemed to have budgets and intentions to purchase this year, which was encouraging.” Stephen Milley of TV Magic added, “It resulted in a more educated and qualified attendee which led to more sophisticated conversations about projects, technology, and new products as less time was spent educating attendees on the basics of video.” We saw fewer students and non-technical managers, and the proportion of foreign visitors seemed higher because of the lower numbers of domestic visitors.

Another recurring theme this year was bragging rights for attending cheaply. Many of us spent at least some of our own money, either to extend the stay or to go at all. CBS Radio told its employees, “Your time, your dime.” People compared room rates. “$45 a night and not a bad room,” one workmate said. I reserved too early at $79 a night, seeing it go for $47 two months before the show. But this was for a room that went for $140 last year. Flights on Southwest Airlines went for $49 to $75 per seat each way.

Similarly, exhibitors most likely either canceled or toned down their parties and hospitality suites. The famous annual Grass Valley party didn’t happen. Avid had a band and served drinks, but no food. A few took place anyway.

What was hot? In TV, 3D exhibits with cardboard glasses were everywhere. They used interlaced polarity LCDs, so the technique finally dispensed with red/blue lenses or active glasses that alternately shutter between sides. The color appeared much more natural.

We also saw smaller, lighter HD cameras. Broadcasters are finally rejecting in large numbers the shoulder-mounted behemouths in favor of small, far less expensive handhelds with disc or flash memory media. JVC showed two models, Sony showed a studio control for its popular, small EX3 XDCAM.

Grass Valley showed its new Kayenne switcher that seemed to finally marry technologies from its European and U.S. engineering facilities.

Sometimes you just wonder if a problem will ever be solved, though. Scott Stinson of KPBS and I saw booths where lip sync errors on video were impressively detected and measured, but not corrected for fear of getting it wrong. We also both thought we would see numerous exhibits of thin, power saving LED HD monitors, and we didn’t. Plenty of monster size outdoor LED monitor/heaters, though.

With the revolutionary changes caused by DTV, HDRadio, and BAS ENG nearly over, some booths seemed like the calm after the storm. Dennis Pieri of Bext attracted some attention with his exhibit of video over their next generation FMeXtra digital subcarrier, but otherwise, traffic was slow. We saw the same thing at other transmitter and antenna vendors.

RadioWorld Magazine named several well integrated audio-over-CAT5 studio systems among their Cool Stuff awards for this year. Burk’s PPM assurance monitoring and Sage ENDEC’s next generation EAS equipment caught my attention.

Some vendors grumbled about the high cost of the show and whether it should stay open Thursday at all. Indeed, NAB organizers largely ignored economic conditions themselves, opting to occupy four days of floor activity and four huge halls, and charging fees unadjusted for the downturn. Quantel and Cisco were conspicuously absent this year, and Apple did not return after leaving last year.

A few changes took us by surprise. The home-grown Tiernan name disappeared with Radyne’s sale to Comtech last year. Jack Herbert left that company to sell processors for Fujitsu. Val Reynolds left Sony for Omneon.

An era, nearly 60 years in the making, came to an end at 11:59pm on February 17th when KFMB-TV ceased analog broadcasting. KFMB was San Diego’s first television station when it went on the air in May of 1949 and is one of three broadcast stations in the nation’s 28th market, to transition to full time digital operations.

“The transition went smoothly, and just as we planned it” says Rich Lochmann, Director of Engineering for the KFMB Stations. Shortly before 11pm, Lochmann and Rick Bosscher, RF Systems Manager, were joined at the Mt Soledad transmitter site by former KFMB Engineer Frank Aamodt, and Chris Aamodt, current Senior Broadcast Maintenance Engineer at KFMB.

The Aamodts are father and son and represent two generations of engineers who have served the KFMB Stations. Frank Aamodt, who is 87, started at KFMB in 1948 even before the station was on the air and worked there for two decades as Assistant Chief Engineer.

Following a tour of the current broadcast facility, at 11:59pm, the senior Aamodt pressed the “off” button on the station’s analog transmitter. Following the rerouting of transmissions line, Aamodt then placed the new digital station on the air, by pressing the “on” button for the digital channel 8 VHF transmitter at around 12:20am, signaling a new era in San Diego television history. Aamodt called the event “exciting” and very different from the time he worked with transmitters and broadcast equipment. “In those days we didn’t have a lot of money so we had to make everything ourselves” says Aamodt who added that the digital broadcast technology is “amazing”.

Some San Diego broadcasters are making final preparations for the DTV transition at midnight tonight. KFMB and KGTV are shutting down their analog VHF transmitters on Mt. Soledad and putting digital transmitters on the air in their place. KSWB will stay on for a week with a “night light” consumer message about the transition.

KPBS Director of Engineering Leon Messenie says that his station will leave the analog channel 15 transmitter on through their March pledge drive. KNSD and KUSI now say they will wait until June 12 to drop their analog service.

The transition delay bill passed by Congress does not mandate a June 12 analog shutdown, but would give broadcasters that option, as well as fund an extended converter box discount coupon program. All network owned and operated stations will keep their analog transmitters on until June. KNSD is an NBC O&O station.

Meanwhile, XETV managers have declared their intention to turn over their analog channel 6 transmissions to another Televisa service. The exact date of the transition and content to be broadcast haven’t been determined.

Stations transitioning Tuesday night are preparing for a barrage of phone calls Wednesday morning. They expect to have additional staff members answer the phones and triage calls for the depth of their technical questions. KGTV has conducted a trade-in program for people who haven’t used their converter coupons to give them to viewers who need them.

Entravision stations, both Mexican LMA stations and US low powers, are attempting to convert to DTV. XHAS-DT in Tijuana, “T33”, signed on today for the first time on adjacent UHF channel 34. XHDTV Tecate is due to come on line soon on channel 47. KBNT has an application pending for a digital service on channel 14. The FCC signaled that it might approve that application for a low power service after stating in a recent ruling for LA County emergency services on channel 15 that its use in Los Angeles did not preclude reusing the channel for low power TV in San Diego. Channel 14 is similarly used for land mobile in the LA basin.

Chapter 36 Chairman Eric Schecter has returned to his old position as Director of Engineering for the CBS cluster in Phoenix. He moved this month after leaving a similar job in San Diego at Lincoln Financial Services last fall. Eric resigned his office in the SBE last month when he received the job offer in Arizona.

The chapter will have to elect a replacement.

Before departing, Eric wrote us a message:

Dear Friends,

Please excuse the impersonal nature of this posting, and know that if I could write each of you individually, I would.

My arrival in San Diego four years ago was the culmination of a goal to come about as far West as anyone could.  My first opportunity back in 1996 didn’t quite work out, so when an opening to work in the America’s finest city in 2005 became available…well, it was irresistible!

Times and fortunes have changed dramatically since  ’05, and as you may know, I found myself with an unanticipated and extended “vacation” late last year. As they say, tea break over, back on your heads, and so it is that I will be leaving San Diego, and heading back to the inferno otherwise known as Phoenix. At least I get to regain my status as a Zonie!

It has been my distinct honor and pleasure to serve as your Chapter Chair for the past few years. Collectively, we’ve managed to turn the Chapter around by changing the meetings to Noontime affairs, increasing attendance and maintaining a healthy bank balance. Along the way, our esteemed webmaster and program chair, Gary Stigall, has won a National award for his hard work and dedication. I often hear other chapters comment that our site looks so good, and has such great content, that they are often tempted to do a cut ‘n’ paste! The members of Chapter 36 are some of the friendliest and most talented around.

I leave knowing that Chapter 36 is in good hands and wish all of you the best in 2009 and beyond.

Eric Schecter
Chapter 36 Chairman

Eric may be reached at eric.schecter@cbsradio.com or by phone at 602-452-1080.

The FCC issued a construction permit for a new 1400 kHz AM station in Lemon Grove. The group operating the 2 watt KRLY-LP "Lite 107.9" in Alpine, Christyahna Broadcasting, had filed for the new 1000 watt local channel station in 2007, but Gold Coast Broadcasting, operating a co-channel AM station in Ventura County, had filed a petition to deny.

Christyahna principal Gerry Turro was past Chief Engineer at WNEW New York, then the operator of the famous "Jukebox Radio" network WJUX in northern New Jersey. The FCC eventually broke up the network of low power FM stations in 2003 after it was accused by competitors of improperly extending its coverage with translators outside its primary coverage area using fiber links to the various transmitters.