Barry Mishkind

The Broadcasters' Desktop Resource

... edited by Barry Mishkind - the Eclectic Engineer

This Week’s Newsletter

Greetings from your broadcast friends out on the Desert…
This is BDR Newsletter 846, Volume 17, #13 for October 29, 2025

SHUTDOWN CONTINUES – ALMOST
This week, although officially still closed, the FCC convened its regular Open Meeting. The main item of interest to broadcasters is the 5th NPRM regarding ATSC 3.0, with efforts to accelerate the move to NextGen – changing the currently required simulcasting with ATSC 1.0 to voluntary, so each station can decide when to make changes.

There was also some discussion on making caller ID more reliable.

NCE ALERT!
At this time of difficult financing, a few non-commercial stations have discovered a scam being played on GoFundMe. Apparently, more than a few. Non-profit Connect wrote: “Recently, GoFundMe, the crowdfunding platform, created donation pages for 1.4 million nonprofit organizations without their knowledge or consent.” 

It may be worthwhile for your organization to check.

C-BAND 2.0
The arguments continue about how much of the upper C-Band the FCC will see to auction. Avation and cellular trade associations have told the FCC they are now comfortable with the the latest mobile/altimeter coexistence proposals, and would see 180 MHz auctioned off from satellite services.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we welcome Mark Johnson from Link Up Communications to clarify reports, let us know the current mood at the FCC, and answer any questions you have.

Join us and learn things.

As usual, we meet at 2 PM Eastern (11 AM Pacific) on Thursday. Link requests are easily found at www.theBDR.net/TLG/ Our videos are also shown on the youtube.com/thebdrnet channel.


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


TURKEY DAY
It is true, November is just starting this week. But one of the most famous TV shows in history ran on October 30, 1978. It was the Turkey Drop on WKRP in Cincinnati. Remember?  Later in the month, we will take the day and tell our own favorite stories from broadcast.

NAB NYC
In one of last broadcast conventions for this year, 11,500 met in NY,  10% from abroad. The interesting stat is that 20% of  the exhibitors were there for the first time, as were 62% of the attendees. AI and content creator structures were among those reshaping the industry.

CHANGES AT NBC UNIVERSAL / DISNEY
NBCUniversal will soon split, with Versant taking MSNBC withit, re-labeling it as MS NOW. A partnership with Sky News will bring international news coverage to the operation. Meanwhile, Disney has brought Fubo into its Hulu + service.

IS IT REALLY EOL FOR WINDOWS 10?
Earlier this month, Microsoft declared the “End of Life” for Windows 10. However, in some ways, the reports of Windows 10’s death are a bit premature. However, linux and its derivatives are not the only alternative.

DEATH TO SPOTIFY?
Largely due to the proliferation of AI music on the platform, groups of musicians are organizing events and boycotts to demand Spotify clean up or die. The movement is urging all artists and fans to quit the app unless and until they stop it with the AI cuts.
May we please recommend this fine company which supports the BDR – and you!

 

Some recent articles of interest:

                        Some recent items of interest:

                        More newsy items here…

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

                         
                         MANUFACTURERS’ NEWS

                        Just a brief note: Starting in a few weeks, you will find a number of manufacturers slowing down during the holiday season. If you are looking to buy something, this is probably a good time to get started, unless waiting for delivery is not a problem.


                        Lawo has installed Mike Wright as Vice President of Sales for North America, focusing on hardware, software, and SaaS solutions.

                        = = =

                        Broadcast Depot                         is spotlighting the BigVoice by Sound4.

                        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:

                        • 3 years ago (10/31/22) Taylor Swift Made History as First Artist With Entire Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100, Led by “Anti-Hero” at #1. * 
                        • 7 years ago (11/2/18) The biopic about Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody” opened in theaters. It won four Oscars.
                        • 27 years ago (10/28/98) President Bill Clinton signed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act into law.
                        • 40 years ago (11/2/85) The Miami Vice soundtrack featuring the #1 hit from the TV Show tops the charts.
                        • 55 years ago (10/27/70) Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber released “Jesus Christ Superstar.“
                        • 59 years ago (10/29/66) ? and the Mysterians hit #1 with “96 Tears.” **
                        • 61 years ago (10/31/64) The Beatles were unseated from #1 after 14 weeks by Barbra Striesand’s “People.”
                        • 87 years ago (10/30/38) Orson Welles dramatization “War of the Worlds” was broadcast. Actually, historians point out that most of the confusion and panic reported was more hype than actual fact.
                        • 99 years ago (11/1/1926) RCA took over the AT&T 25 station network (NBC).

                        and … 105 years ago (10/27/1920) 8ZZ was granted a license. This was the station that became KDKA.

                        Here are a few more newsy-type items:

                        • 13 years ago (10/29/12) Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast, creating the widest emergency area since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. (This year’s double hurricane might have been even bigger.)
                        • 25 years ago (11/2/00) the first residential crew arrived aboard the International Space Station.
                        • 38 years ago (11/1/87) Microsoft released Windows 2.0.
                        • 56 years ago 10/29/69) the first message over ARPANET began … leading directly to our current Internet. ***
                        • 60 years ago (10/28/65) construction was completed on the Gateway Arch, a spectacular 630-foot-high parabola of stainless steel at St. Louis, Missouri.
                        • 78 years ago (11/2/47) Howard Hughes flew his “Spruce Goose” on its first and only flight. Built with laminated birch and spruce (hence the nickname the Spruce Goose) the massive wingspan was longer than a football field.
                        • 62 years ago (10/31/63) Ed Sullivan was at Heatrow Airport where he witnessed the pandemonium of Beatlemania.
                        • 96 years ago (10/29/1929) the Stock Market crashed and set off the Great Depression.
                        • 121 years ago (10/27/1904) the inaugural run of the New York City subway opened. No sandwiches were served. ****
                        • 508 years ago (10/31/1517) Martin Luther is said to have posted his 95 theses on the Wittenberg (Germany) Castle Church, starting the Protestant Reformation.

                        and … 513 years ago (11/1/1512) Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling was exhibited to public for first time.


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

                                         
                                        * Swift passed Drake, who claimed nine of the top 10 in September 2021.

                                        ** Yes, years before Prince changed his name to that unpronounceable icon, the lead singer for the Mysterians took the name “?”

                                        *** UCLA student Charley Kline attempted to transmit the text “login” to a computer at the Stanford Research Institute over the first link on the ARPANET. Unfortunately, the system crashed after the letters “l” and “o” are sent, making “lo” the first message ever sent on the Internet.

                                        **** London boasts the world’s oldest underground train network (opened in 1863).

                                        MIDWEEK BONUS

                                        Where did M&Ms get their name? A lot of guesses … what do you think?

                                        For those of you who like lists, how about TIME’s list of iconic inventions?

                                        = = =

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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

                                              – – –

                                              Yes … you might have seen it before, but we should do this: some extra stuff .. some important … some just interesting.

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