The Broadcasters' Desktop Resource

Greetings from your broadcast friends out on the Desert…
This is BDR Newsletter 886, Volume 18, #1 for August 5, 2026

FCC CYBERSECURITY CLOCK COUNTDOWN STARTS
The recent Order by the FCC to beef up cybersecurity has been published in the Federal Register. That means the new rules go into effect on September 29th regarding strengthening any part of your program chain that is connected to the Internet. Your EAS box is a prime focus, but audio processors, STLs (including RDS), all the way to the transmitters are under new scrutiny.

In addition to the strong firewall and attention to any updates for hardware and software, passwords are now required to be at least 15 characters, with no words is them.

More information and a FREE password generator program designed to be simple and easy for broadcasters is available here.

INPUTS NEED ATTENTION, TOO
Nobody wants the be caught by the old GIGO problem (Garbage In, Garbage Out) at any point their program system. Have you listened to your air product lately? Has a ground-induced hum somehow appeared? More importantly, have you listened to the EAS tests and activations lately? There are reports of missing tests and, worse, unintelligible audio coming down the system. (Just because your EAS log says a test was sent does not mean it got on the air!) Check with your SECC or the state broadcasting association to get help in resolving problems.

LIVE FROM TEXAS!
This week we are at the Texas Association of Broadcasters Convention and we hope our Thursday Gathering will originate from the TAB Exhibit Floor. Who will we meet? Will it be better than last year? Tune in and find out!


Our 331st Virtual Lunch Gathering will be on Thursday at 2PM Eastern / 11 AM Pacific. Join us and learn things! The link request is at www.theBDR.net/TLG/ … 

… and do not forget, on the same page we have hundreds of videos you can use on subjects you will want to learn about.