National

No National IPAWS EAS Test this Year

(From FEMA.gov) Due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency reponse, FEMA will not conduct a national test of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) this year.

FEMA is moving the next national test of the system to 2021 out of consideration for the unusual circumstances and working conditions for those in the broadcast and cable industry. Although systems remain in place for rapid automatic transmission of the test message by broadcast and cable operators, the follow-on reporting activities associated with a national test place additional burdens on technical staff that are already quite busy maintaining as close to normal operation as possible.

IPAWS is a national system for local alerting that provides authenticated emergency alert and information messaging to the public through cell phones and internet applications using Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), and to radio and television via the Emergency Alert System (EAS). Emergency officials across the country have sent more than 360 important safety messages on the COVID-19 pandemic to their residents via WEA and EAS.

FEMA is required by law to test IPAWS at least every three years. The national WEA capability was most recently tested in conjunction with the EAS in 2018. 

Local News, National

FCC Tells XEWW to Shutdown Chinese Programming from Irwindale

The FCC’s International Bureau today dismissed an application to deliver Mandarin Chinese programming from a studio located in Irwindale, California to XEWW-AM in Rosarito, BCN for rebroadcast back into the United States. The application was dismissed because the parties failed to include in their application a key participant, Phoenix Radio, which produces the Mandarin programming in its studio. Phoenix Radio is partially owned by two entities with Chinese government ownership, Extra Steps Investment Limited and China Wise International Limited. The parties have 48 hours to cease broadcast operations related to this application.

Continue reading FCC Tells XEWW to Shutdown Chinese Programming from Irwindale →
Local News

FCC Grants KFMB-AM Sale to iHeartMedia

On May 29, 2020, the FCC granted the application to transfer control of KFMB-AM from Local Media San Diego to iHeartMedia. Local Media San Diego had purchased both KFMB-AM and -FM from TEGNA, but held onto only the FM station, now with the call letters KFBG (FM). KFMB-AM will have to change call letters as a condition of the TEGNA sale. KFMB 760 joins KOGO 600 and KLSD 1360 as San Diego market AM properties of iHeartMedia.

KFMB-AM has been operating under an LMA by iHeart since Local Media acquired it in March. The station runs a talk format with local hosts Mark Larson and Mike Slater as well as nationally syndicated hosts Armstrong & Getty and Mark Levin.

National

FCC Reminding LPTV Stations to Abandon the 600 MHz Band

FCC New 2020 Logo

The FCC yesterday issued a Public Notice reminder for low power television stations to cease operations on the “duplex gap” spectrum by the end of July 13, 2020. Some LPTVs were allowed to continue operating temporarily on TV channels 38 where a guard band exists between telecom channel A and old TV channel 37, or on TV channels 44, 45, or 46, where there’s a duplex gap between telecom uplink and downlink channels.

In the San Diego region, Entravision’s KTCD-LP on Mt. Woodson operated for a short time on channel 46 with analog service. They’ve since signed off.

In Los Angeles, KTAV-LD operates on channel 46 and will have to shut down or share a channel since they have no pending application for a new home channel. [Edit 6/23/2020 – The FCC granted KTAV-LD a Construction Permit for a displacement allocation on channel 21 from a Beverly Hills tower site. Channel 21 is adjacent to land mobile T-band channel 20, and had been off-limits to DTV in Los Angeles. ]

Meetings

Bob Orban Presents: “Maintaining Audio Quality in the Broadcast Facility”

Achieving excellent on-air and on-line quality audio is more important than ever because of the intensely competitive nature of available media. “Good enough” no longer works. Persuading audiences to listen and then return requires attention to quality at every stage of the production process, from program sources to audio processing. This presentation will help attendees achieve quality on-air and on-line audio broadcasting and netcasting goals.

Join Chapter 36 at either of two dates and times:

  • June 9th, Tuesday, 7:00 PM PDT, with Chapter 47 Los Angeles
  • June 24, Wednesday, 12:00 noon PDT, with Chapter 9 Phoenix

The presentation is open to members and interested guests.

You are eligible to receive the usual 0.5 SBE certification points for your attendance.

About Bob Orban

Bob Orban has been widely published and 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.

In 2015 Orban introduced the Optimod PCn 1600, the first Optimod that runs natively on the host computer’s Intel x86 processor; the software does not use dedicated DSP chips. In 2016 Orban introduced the company’s new flagship FM audio processor, the OPTIMOD-FM 8700i, featuring versatile five-band and two-band processing for both analog FM transmission and digital media.

Society of Broadcast Engineers