2009 budgets and capital expenditures

In this yearly RBR.com feature, we ask top engineers at the groups where next year’s budgets and capital expenditures are heading. What’s tops on the list for projects and new equipment? What are their thoughts on the 10 dB FM HD power increase proposal? What’s in store for HD Radio spending next year in general? This year, we asked the following:

The participants:
Tom Ray, Vice President/Corporate Director of Engineering, Buckley Radio
Cris Alexander, Crawford Broadcasting Director of Engineering
Milford “Smitty” Smith, VP/Engineering, Greater Media
Steve Davis, CC Radio SVP, Engineering & Capital Management

Tell us what you can about your 2009 cap ex and operating budgets. Has the economy slowed things?

Ray: The economy has greatly slowed things down.  We aren’t doing what we’d really like to.  No cash coming in = no cash going out.

Alexander: The economy has definitely impacted our budgets. There is simply less cash to work with, so elective projects and upgrades must take a back seat. Maintenance of existing facilities and scheduled equipment replacement goes on, however. We won't let our facilities deteriorate.

Smith: I don’t believe anyone in this business has escaped the reality of the economy. We will certainly be looking at keeping our capital expenditures realistic in light of the situation. That surely doesn’t mean we will not be spending money on capital but that we may be a bit more conservative than in other more rosy years.

Davis: The economy has slowed things some but we need to continue to invest in our business to grow and stay competitive.  A certain level of investment is needed for continued viability.  We have found that, while some equipment is less costly to maintain and lasts longer before replacement is needed, new technologies with great revenue potential continually present themselves, and so we see a steady decline in more traditional replacement capital balanced by an upswing in new technologies often involving computers, switches, routers and servers along with other IT infrastructure.

What are your CEs asking for most for next year? What will likely be the biggest theme for new gear?

Ray: Transmitters.  We need to replace several.

Alexander: The #1 item requested by our chief engineers is HD Radio generation equipment that works reliably. We have had our share of lockups, freezes and outright failures of importers, exporters and exgines from a number of manufacturers, taking stations off the air or forcing them to backup systems. At the top of our list for the coming year will be new-generation equipment not built on a PC architecture. We hope that this will be much more reliable.

Smith: I’m not sure there is any one area that is common in the upcoming requests. Those stations that have not implemented PPM as yet will be looking for the associated confidence monitoring gear; the company, in general, like many others, is making a significant commitment to web and other interactive initiatives.

Davis: Test equipment, especially spectrum analyzers, are much more commonly requested with the complexity of maintaining IBOC multi-channel systems within mask, especially low-level combined tube transmitters which can require significant adjustment when tubes are replaced.  And many, many requests are for computers or IT equipment: laptops, computers, servers, backup systems, etc.  Second to that are backup systems of all kinds, whether generators, backup transmitters and antennas, etc.

The 10 dB increased FM IBOC power proposal recently submitted by broadcasters to the FCC--what are the pros and cons if it were approved?

Ray: Operationally – at one station, we will need to replace the digital transmitter and combiner to do this.  At one of our other stations, we can implement the change by firing the digital transmitter into our backup antenna – but I’m concerned about possible shadowing, as this antenna is leg mounted – thankfully, on the “correct” side of the tower. 

In the field – it could possibly mean reception issues on our fringes – but that really isn’t much of a concern, as it’s outside our markets.

Alexander: The advantage of such a power increase will obviously be better parity between the analog and digital signals. The downsides are numerous, starting with increased interference. Stations had better carefully consider the impact of increased digital power on their spectrum neighbors and hope that their neighbors give them the same consideration, or the legacy analog coverage areas of these stations will be degraded. The cost of that power increase is another downside, very likely the one that will keep stations from rushing to crank up the power of the digital carriers -- they simply won't have the available horsepower to do so without shelling out some serious money.

Smith: The ability to closely replicate analogue coverage in HD and to achieve adequate building penetration and reasonable reception on portable devices is absolutely critical to the success of the whole HD initiative. The extensive real world tests in which our company and others participated show that in the vast majority of cases the increase can be implemented without significant issues. Job one is to get this through the FCC and get some stations on the air to get more experience with the concept.

Davis: The pros are easy to understand: true parity with the analog signal, reliability of the service even inside buildings, and easier reception on smaller portable and tabletop radios that don’t have external antennas.  The cons are cost, and the possibility of increased interference to the analog.  Our studies, conducted in the real world in varying terrain and in the most egregious of circumstances (short spaced stations) have shown that there is no real interference caused by this.  The one case that was questionable was the case of a super-power class B station short spaced to a weaker station.  In that case there was some evidence that interference might be detectable, and so in the joint submission we suggest that super power stations’ digital power be limited to the greater of either -20 dB below the full power analog (which they can do today without any rules change), or, - 10 db below the equivalent full power for the normal class of station at the given HAAT.

Would you and your station ownership be likely to spend the money to increase the HD signal strength if it were approved?

Ray: On the FM’s presently converted to HD operation, it would make sense.  But not unless the economy were to improve.  On one of our FM’s we could implement the change immediately by using our backup antenna.  On the other, we may be able to get additional digital power by operating the split level system as more of a high level combined system, but that wouldn’t be much more digital power.

Alexander: Yes, in some markets, but not across the board. We are already making preparations for some digital power increase in one market andanticipate being ready by the end of the year.  We are studying the impact that each such possible upgrade will have on our neighbors. 

Smith: Yes, and most of our HD systems are designed to be upgradable to this mode simply by adding more HD transmitter power.

Davis: Definitely.  This is a necessary step in the evolution of IBOC to becoming a truly viable, competitive service.  If we don’t spend the money on the power increase, it is likely that the investment many of us have made to date in this new technology will have been in vain.  The cost can be managed, and we are working with manufacturers on higher efficiencies at the -10 dBc level.  The idea being, most major market stations would never consider operating without a backup transmitter.  Yet many don’t have a backup DIGITAL transmitter, just analog.  So ultimately we will need to install backup digital transmitters/systems anyway.  If we can achieve a 49% or lower derating in hybrid mode going from -20 dBc to -10 dBc, we can replace our analog backup with a digital transmitter, and reconfigure the main low-level combined transmitter for -10dBc.  Now say you had 20,000 watts analog, 200 watts digital (the typical – 20 scenario).  At 50% derating you’d have 10,000 watts analog for 1000 watts digital.  Combine the two and you are back to 20,000 watts analog, 2,000 watts digital, for a bit more then the cost of just installing a backup which is necessary anyway to protect our 2nd channel services etc.  Now if one fails you are still on the air with both digital and analog, at the same – 10 dBc ratio, just 3 db less.  Of course if a station is using a high-level combined system they may be able to remove the hybrid combiner and instead convert to a dual-input antenna (if they have a tower lease and can’t afford to or find space for a second antenna for digital).  Then they’d have the same power cost, since with the -10 dB combiner they were wasting 90% of their digital power in the dummy load and heating up the room (requiring more AC).  So a win-win if the antenna solution can work.  There are many other approaches of course.

Any major projects/upgrades you’re planning?

Ray: None at this time – with the possible exception of replacing the digital on air playout system at one of our facilities.

Alexander: We have a CP for a big power increase for one of our Colorado AM stations. That will entail a new transmitter, new phasing and coupling equipment, new transmission lines, a new transmitter building and more. We are also in the planning stages of a height increase for one of our big class C FMs in the South.

Smith: We are in the midst of several such projects including additional studios in Philadelphia, transmission facilities in Boston, and implementation of the BTC system on many of the GMI stations. I’m sure there will be a number of new projects in 2009; it’s a bit early yet.

Davis: New studio projects in Portland, OR and Rochester, NY are among the biggest for 2009.  We will have completed rollout of a company-wide advanced IP enabled facility control system which we developed in house along with strategic partners Audemat-Aztek and SeaLevel, and will be adding a nationwide monitoring system called the “Broadcast Manager” which can be accessed at any location with an Internet connection and will be monitored 24-7. This will report any and all outages including technical problems reported by our new Remote Control system such as tower light outages, antenna failures, operation on generator power, backup systems, etc., and all data collected by our Golden Eagles and other monitoring systems such as our monitors for RBDS, our subcarriers, and the TMC (Traffic Messaging Channel) data.  We are also planning a major rework of our online content delivery system for improved performance and greater redundancy.

What's the latest on keeping multicast channels up and running 24/7—any tips or suggestions?

Ray: Our multicast channels are relatively easy – just keep the digital on air workstation running – and check it frequently!

Alexander: Two thoughts... One, monitor constantly by automated means. If no one knows the multicast is down, it will likely be a good while before the engineering folks can get it back on. Two, we need more reliable importers, exporters and exgines. We have to get away from the PC-based architecture. 

Smith: The HD transmission equipment is progressively getting more stable and less and less prone to lock ups and the like. Additionally, and in conjunction with the PPM implementation, we and others are installing pretty comprehensive silence sensing and missing PPM data alarms systems which will alert us to HD issues. The real key, though, is to have someone at the facility who is charged with continuous oversight of the multicast channels and takes a real interest and responsibility for keeping particularly the HD-2 and HD-3 channels alive.

Davis: We have found that the Audemat-Aztek Golden Eagles are helpful with this.  They can scan multiple stations in a market so only one unit is needed per market, and monitor not only presence of the IBOC carriers but also audio on all multicast channels as well as time-alignment of the analog and main digital channels, and will email notifications when there is a problem.  When these are tied to our Broadcast Manager, we will have true 24/7 monitoring of the status and quality of these channels. 

What’s the 2009 outlook on plugging in HD extras like conditional access and i-Tunes tagging?

Ray: At the moment, we have no interest in conditional access – radio should be free.  We are investigating i-Tunes tagging.

Alexander: We have spent the last yeartrying to get iTunes tagging working. We have all our local infrastructure in place and signed all the agreements with Apple and others, but to date we have not transmitted one byte of metadata ID information. We simply cannot get Apple to provide us with the database or lookup engine to find this information for the music we play. As such, we are on the verge of walking away from iTunes tagging. We simply don't have any more energy to put into it. 

Smith: We do iTunes tagging on virtually every HD station. We are also members of the Broadcast Traffic consortium and have this service “up” on a number of stations. RDS tagging, iTunes and otherwise, is about to pop.

Davis: Clear Channel is implementing i-Tunes tagging already in 2008 and will continue the rollout in 2009.  Additionally, we are tagging for iTunes using the RBDS system for our analog channels.  We have done some experimentation with conditional access and are using it sparingly but have not yet found the ideal use for this technology.

What’s the latest on expenditures for upgrading digital / new media / station websites?

Ray: We have a company wide initiative going on improving the station websites, improving the spot replacement (with hopefully more revenue) at one station.

Alexander: This is one area where we are investing these days. We see our Internet streams as the media of the future and are working right now to produce the best sounding, most reliable audio streams possible. This involves specialized processing and careful selection of encoders, streaming service providers, data and sample rates, etc. We are proud of our streams and plan to continue to improve them going forward.

Smith: We have made a very significant commitment to new media/interactive/web areas. A separate division of the company has been created, headed by one of our former major market GM’s to shepherd this along. It’s very much a work in progress but the results are already very exciting.

Davis: This is a high priority for our Distribution Development arm and is a major project and focus.  We are continually adding people and content-gathering technology in our local markets as well as IT infrastructure to support this, along with our national effort via Clear Channel Online.  We are even building a performance studio/auditorium that will seat around 200 people in which to shoot our “Stripped” Internet program in New York City.