Greetings from your broadcast friends out on the Desert…
This is BDR Newsletter 817, Volume 16, #37 for April 16, 2025

WELL, IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A GOOD IDEA
If you were wondering “what they heck?” happened to the newsletter last week, please accept apologies. We were at the NAB in Las Vegas and tried to build and send the newsletter using the hotel Internet and links home. Clearly, it did not work as expected and, as they say, we will work to make sure it does not happen again!

THAT WAS THE NAB SHOW THAT WAS
The recorded attendance was 55,000, with just over 1/4 from other countries (a total of 160 countries). Over half were at NAB for the first time. With radio exhibitors spread from West Hall to North Hall (Central Hall is being renovated – all radio is to be there next year, April 18-22, 2026), it took a lot of steps to get around. Your Editor’s comments on some of what caught his eye was the theme of our Thursday Virtual Lunch Gathering. You can see it at www.youtube.com/thebdrnet channel, or https://youtu.be/kfWXMeUL1Cw    … a print version is here.

Overall, most exhibitors reported traffic that flowed up and down in the West Hall, but was steady. North Hall had a lot TV as well as radio and was more crowded.

AND OUR LUNCH BECAME DINNER
We did get together during the show (a good number of BDR readers), but it just did not jell for lunch this time. (Most of the potential sites were closed at noon from Monday to Thursday.) So, we passed the word and had a pizza party on Monday night.
Due to the unusual timing and all the other things going on, we were pleased to see the folks and the our conversation went on and on. Among other things, we want to especially thank BSW USA, Angry Audio, the Telos Alliance, and Henry Engineering for their support. Should we repeat next year? Most said “yes” … so we will try to plan for something.

ON THE OTHER HAND
More than a few folks told us they did not plan to go to NAB this year. There were a number of comments, and that will be at the core of our discussion this week: “Why I did not go to Las Vegas” will be answered by our friend Burt Weiner. And we are sure a lot more of you will have something to say. Is the “traditional NAB Spring Show” a relic that we no longer need? Is there a better way (like our Virtual Lunch Gathering)? What do you think?

Join us then on Thursday at 2 PM EDT /11 AM Pacific. The link request is at www.theBDR.net/TLG/ Share your thoughts.

May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!

NEW FCC COMMISSIONER GETTING CLOSER
Olivia Trusty had a reasonably smooth Senate Hearing and is expected to be confirmed as the fifth commissioner in the near future.
Her testimony seemed to indicate she planned to bring a moderate, centrist viewpoint to the FCC.

BAD YEAR FOR MICHIGAN TOWERS
This was indeed a worse year than normal for towers in the state of Michigan. The Michigan Association of Broadcasters ( MAB ) now reports at least six towers have been lost and stations, translators, and reports of damaged antennas continue to come in.

PRIORITIES
A lot has been said about the new Administration’s priorities, but during and after the Show we saw a lot of information from the NAB and many commenters to the FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” inquiry. A lot of suggestions have been made, and it will be interesting to see how many get into the Rules.

The NAB was focused on ownership limits, ATSC 3 (and sun-setting ATSC 1), along with the AM Radio in every vehicle, opposing changes in tax laws (including performance taxes), and protecting broadcasters’ investment in local content. If the NAB’s suggestion is adopted, ATSC 1 will end in just three years (2028).

As to the Rules, the NAB filed 80 pages of changes. We will talk more about that next week.

NAB AND SOUNDEXCHANGE SETTLE
New performance royalties filed with the copyright board are to begin at $0.0025 per “performance” and increase penny a year through 2030. The settlement stops litigation, which could cost the NAB more than the fees settled upon.

AI CONCERNS
Another area the NAB has been working on is the use of AI without the permission of the person copied. The Content Origin Protection and Integrity from Edited and Deepfaked Media Act (COPIED Act) was re-introduced in the Senate. And the “No Fakes Act,” also re-introduced before Congress, which seeks to control the use of AI for digital replicas and deepfakes. Similar to other copyrights, it would protect likenesses for 70 years after death.

NATIONAL CAP TEST IN CANADA
Wednesday, May 7th is the date for the National CAP test in Canada. The times will vary across the nation, but the goal is ensure all stations can receive tests and alerts.

FOR SALE
Some 1 5/8″ coax is available, also some 4CX20000A tubes. And someone is looking for a Micromax recorder manual, someone else seeks a Travis Tapak recorder. These and more are on the BuySell page.

May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!
 

Some recent articles of interest:

• A Look at the NAB’s 2025 Spring Show
• The Orban 8000 at 50 years – Barry Mishkind
• Join the Lunch Gathering – Thursday 2 PM Eastern
• Enforcement Watch – Not paying and not responding leads the FCC to issue a “D” to Texas station.
• Troubleshooting 101 – What to Do While Waiting for the Engineer – Barry Mishkind
• Measuring RF Power – Getting It Right – Bob Tarsio
• Registered Plug? No, It’s A Jack – Rolf Taylor
• Ham Radio: Emergency News Service – Mike Langner
• Dana’s Daily Deals

More newsy items here

May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!
 
MANUFACTURERS’ NEWS

Well, what can we say? There were over 1000 exhibitors. In coming weeks we hope to bring more news about many of them – and some live presentations. Stay tuned!

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Jampro Antennas has released a comprehensive guide to understanding bandpass combiners, with a focus on Starpoint and Constant Impedance types.

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… and there is more here.

May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!
 


Do You Remember? This week in history:
Broadcast related items:

Do You Remember? This week in history:
Broadcast related items:

• 16 years ago (4/13/09) Phil Spector (69) was convicted of second degree murder. He died in prison in 2021.
• 20 years ago (4/16/05) NRSC adopted NRSC-4 for RDBS and NRSC-5 for HD Radio (then called IBOC).
• 37 years ago (4/19/88) Sonny Bono is inaugurated as Mayor of Palm Springs CA. (He then was elected to Congress.)
• 42 years ago (4/14/83) The SBE set up the national frequency coordination program during the NAB Show.
• 53 years ago (4/15/72) Roberta Flack�s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” was #1 for the first of six weeks.
• 54 years ago (4/16/71) Carole King moved from songwriter to star performer with a #1 Hit record,”It’s Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move.“
• 57 years ago (4/15/68) KNX began operating as an all-news station.
• 58 years ago (4/15/67) Frank and Nancy Sinatra hit #1 for four weeks with “Somethin’ Stupid.” *

… and 61 years ago (4/16/64) Dean Martin hit #1 with “Everybody Loves Somebody.” **

Also, how about some more regular newsy-type stuff:

• 12 years ago (4/15/13) the Boston Marathon was disrupted by two Chechen brothers and their bomb.
• 30 years ago (4/19/95) Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah building in Oklahoma City. 168 died.
• 36 years ago (4/15/89) student-led demonstrations were held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. ***
• 42 years ago (4/18/83) A suicide bomber destroyed the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
• 78 years ago (4/15/47) Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in ML baseball.
• 51 years ago (4/17/64) Ford introduced the Mustang. Original price: $2300 ****
• 91 years ago (4/17/34) WLW was first permitted to use the 500 kW transmitter.
• 113 years ago (4/15/1912) the Titanic sunk.
• 119 years ago (4/18/1906) an earthquake leveled San Francisco.*****
• 160 years ago (4/15/1865) John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln.

… and 250 years ago (4/19/1775) the American Revolution began.

May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!
 


* It was the only father-daughter duet ever to hit #1.

** Martin’s effort knocked the Beatles “A Hard Day’s Night” off of the #1 slot.

*** The largest was in Bejing and led to the June 3rd Army attack on the students, known as the Tienanmen Square Massacre.

**** now usually around $25,000, but some classics can cost way more.

***** Estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale, the earthquake killed an estimated 3,000 people.

MIDWEEK BONUS

Has anyone ever offered you “sacks of thanks?”

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PLEASE INVITE A FRIEND
We sure hope you are finding the BDR and the Newsletter to be of value to you. If so, there are two things that you can do to ensure the BDR keeps pulsing along:
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TELL US WHAT’S WHAT
There are so many areas into which we would like to expand, but it is feedback from you that helps us decided where to go first. Are you interested in a certain piece of gear or technology? Let us know. Even better, would you be willing to do a user report and share your experience?

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We sure do appreciate you spending time with our Newsletter. And even more so when you recommend us to your colleagues and friends.

barry

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Now … some extra stuff .. some important … some just interesting.

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