Tech Roundup

For 10 years until June 2014, Tim Sabean served as Sirius XM's SVP for the Howard Stern Channels, responsible for the development and growth of the satellite radio offerings. As of today, Sabean is now an employee of Westwood One, and has taken a newly created role at the Cumulus Media-owned operation.

Just in time for CES 2018 in Las Vegas, LG Electronics has unveiled what it is boasting to be a "superior, clearer and smarter lineup of premium audio products that promises to change the way people think about home speakers." New for 2018 is Meridian Audio’s advanced high performance audio technology "to deliver more natural and warm sound. But, perhaps the biggest takeaway is the South Korean company's first smart speaker to go to market—the ThinQ.

Why voice control technology is no longer a rising trend and now standard was the crux of a lively webinar conducted earlier this month with Veritone Sr. Product Manager Michael Kennedy and Apps Engineering Manager Steve Shaffer. Here's a quick recap of what the executives discussed, and some of the key takeaways that could boost your business in 2018.

To further advance its spectrum repack initiative, RFS has appointed an industry veteran with more than 30 years of consultative sales and sales management experience for capital equipment in highly technological markets its new Director of Broadcast Sales.

The FCC has approved the first-ever wireless "power-at-a-distance" charging technology. The "WattUp" from Energous could allow multiple devices to be recharged up to three feet away, regardless of manufacturer. This could mean added audio and video consumption opportunities for your station's streams, and we spoke with a former FCC Chairman and Emmis head Jeff Smulyan for their reaction.

On Dec. 14, the FCC voted in a 3-2 party-line vote led by Republicans to remove Title II classification of broadband internet. Democrat Mignon Clyburn describes the vote as one that "dismantles" the agency's 2015 net neutrality rules. As a long-standing champion of net neutrality and one of the two FCC Commissioners who vociferously objected to last week’s decision, Clyburn believes it is important for consumers and small businesses to understand what happens next. Here's what she has to say.

A Karlsruhe, Germany-based supplier of next-gen "smart set-top box" platforms for pay-TV, IPTV, and OTT operators now has a stateside distributor, giving it wider access to the robust North American marketplace.

A major provider​ ​of​ ​FM​ ​and​ ​AM​ ​transmitters​ ​in business since 1959 -- and a 40-year player in the transmitter sales arena -- has been acquired by a global manufacturer of FM transmitters based in Ferrara, Italy.

For all of the chatter and excitement over ATSC 3.0 and "over the top" choices for consumers, and all of the attention Norway is getting for its year-long silencing of the majority of its FM stations, there's still a demand for FM broadcast transmitters. But, how hot — or cold — is the marketplace? A newly released market research report says there's definitely growth on a global level, and the Americas are driving it.

An advertising technology company "using data, predictive targeting and machine learning to provide competitive advantages to marketers as measured by real-world business outcomes" has entered a partnership with one of the top tech services providers for the digital audio industry.

In a big move for the advancement of the next-gen TV transmission standard known as ATSC 3.0, MediaTek has become the first SoC provider to complete evaluation tests of Verance Aspect—selected by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) as an "essential component" for next-gen transmissions.

Eleven months after the first FM signals in Norway signed off the air forever, part of an effort approved by the Norwegian government to shift all radio listeners to DAB-delivered digital radio stations, the final stations bringing listeners programming between 88 and 108 MHz have faded to silence. The last stations to sign off permanently did so Wednesday (12/13), with FM signals in the far north of Norway and in the Svalbard archipelago going silent. As a result, Norway is the first country in the world to shut down national broadcasts of its FM stations. That said, the band is not completely devoid of signals.

Want to listen to the Jack Diamond Morning Show on Washington's Mix 107.3 or enjoy your dinner with Melissa Maxx cranking out classic rock tunes on 95.5 KLOS in Los Angeles? Now, you can do it easily through any Amazon Echo device, as every Cumulus Media station can communicate with "Alexa," and she'll understand your request just fine.

The advanced data and analytics company that takes its name from a well-traveled freeway in Southern California has just named its first Chief Technology Officer. Earning the title at 605 is an independent strategic technology consultant who most recently worked with various clients in the financial technology, legal technology and advisory services markets.

Digital TV receiving equipment and terrestrial tuner chipset manufacturers can now test the performance of their products for compliance with the ATSC 3.0 standard using only a single unit. To do so, Munich-based Rohde & Schwarz offers an ATSC 3.0 realtime coder and a waveform testing library for its R&S BTC broadcast test center.