Public Radio Satellite System Chooses ATX to Deliver Future System of Content Distribution

The Governance Committee of the NPR Board of Directors has decided to extend the window for accepting expressions of interest to serving on the Distribution/Interconnect (D/I) Committee of the NPR Board of Directors.

The PREC is the conference for Engineering and Operations. Are you doing something you want to share with the Engineering/Ops community?

http://www.apre.us/

** UPDATED 8/27/18:The PRSS has issued an updated FAQ for this report. Please click here to view.  *

In response to PRSS communications urging stations to confirm their downlinks are FCC Registered, several stations have raised questions on how exactly they can do this.

FCC C-Band Downlink Registration FAQ (Updated Jan. 30, 2018)

Q. Why should I register/license my station’s C-Band satellite downlink dish with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)?

On Tuesday, May 15, 2018, the noncomMUSIC Alliance launched with 81 inaugural public radio station Partners to support and celebrate public radio’s role in connecting musicians, performers, and artists with the audiences who enjoy and support their music.

The final phase of the PRSS migration to a single satellite transponder begins in May. The following message outlines what actions the PRSS will perform, and when, on Monday, May 7, 2018, as well as what each and every station should do beforehand to avoid experiencing audio issues.

To: PRSS Station Leadership

From: Michael Beach, NPR VP, Distribution

April 24, 2018

FCC C-Band Downlink Registration FAQs (Updated Jan. 30, 2018)

Q. Why should I register/license my station’s C-Band satellite downlink dish with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)?

The PRSS wishes to alert stations of a possible upcoming FCC action that could impact your station’s satellite operations.

The PRSS has created a document to help guide stations through the changes made to the file delivery carrier for ContentDepot.

ATTN: PRSS General Managers and Station Engineers

To:       Representatives of PRSS Interconnected Stations

From:   Michelle Shanahan, Sr. Associate General Counsel & Assistant Secretary

Catlan McCurdy, Counsel

Twanna Clark, Board Liaison

Date:   August 3, 2017

UPDATED 8/27/18:The PRSS has issued an updated FAQ for this report. Please click here to view. 

Significantly more PRSS stations may be affected by the FCC's Broadcast Spectrum Auction than was originally reported a month ago, according to CPB in a follow-up to its report, Potential Impacts To Public Radio Transmission Facilities From TV Band Repacking.

The following is a quarterly address to the system from NPR Distribution Vice President Mike Beach.

Tuesday, February 28, 2017 
 

Greetings all

Updated December 3, 2018

This is an update about the Federal Communication Commission’s proposed plan for reimbursing radio stations for the effects of the TV spectrum repack. We need your assistance.

The following is a message that PRSS stations should be aware.

Notification from FCC’s Enforcement Bureau

Colleagues,

Call for Expressions of Interest in Non-Board Distribution/Interconnection Committee Member Position

Responses Due By Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Any station that subscribes to Radio Bilingue, PubJAZZ and/or XPoNential Radio should be aware that the PRSS must move those streams the evening of Tuesday, December 20, 2016.

The PRSS has made a change in ContentDepot with how producers post promos for their programs, particularly for holiday specials.

For more information, contact:
Erich Shea, NPR
(202) 513-2620
eshea@npr.org

The PRSS has received comments and questions from station personnel about the upcoming EAS test on September 28, 2016.

The recording and slide presentation from the National EAS Test webinar held on August 8, 2016, with the FCC's Homeland Security and Public Safety and Public Safety Bureau is now available at the NPR Member Station site (log-in required):

A side effect of the technical issues that prematurely ended yesterday’s BuNOC drill is that some stations are experiencing audio anomalies and interference from their SR2000pro receivers.

The PRSS held a webinar on March 16, 2016, to discuss upcoming changes to the station-fee structure.
 

On Sunday, Sunday, March 20, 2016, beginning at 14:30:00 ET and extending through 19:00:00 ET, the PRSS® will conduct a live, system-wide drill of the Back-up Network Operations Center (BuNOC).

The transition from standard time to daylight-saving time (DST) will occur at 02:00:00 ET on Sunday, March 13, 2016. The ContentDepot transition to DST is very straightforward:

Dear PRSS member,

Please save Wednesday, March 16, from 1:00 pm ET to 2:00 pm ET, for a webinar on an upcoming change to the station fee-structure.

Dear Station Colleagues,

Please be advised that the 2016 spring solar outage season begins Friday, February 26, 2016, and runs through Sunday, March 13, 2016.

PRSS stations and producers will see substantial changes to ContentDepot after this Sunday’s software upgrade.

The PRSS has introduced a new feature to ContentDepot that allows producers of live shows to view the loudness measurements of their programs. This new capability, which was introduced last month, provides the loudness data only to the producer(s) of the program being analyzed.

NPR Distribution Welcomes Julio Cardiel As New Director of Engineering

The PRSS has successfully removed the 6dB boost from its analog and digital outputs. All stations should have made the appropriate adjustments at their end, depending on how their equipment is configured.

The PRSS hosted a webinar detailing its plans to remove a 6dB boost from its analog and digital outputs on Tuesday, January 26, 2016. The webinar was held on January 20, 2016 and featured PRSS leaders and engineers providing details on next week's action.

In preparation for its plan to eliminate a 6dB boost from its analog and digital outputs on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, the PRSS is planning to hold a webinar next week to provide detailed instructions on what stations and producers should do and allow for questions.

The following is an important system message regarding the PRSS plan to eliminate a 6 dB boost on January 26, 2016, at 1:59 pm ET and is intended primarily to accomplish three goals:
1.            Provide the exact time and date of the 6 dB boost removal

Dear PRSS member,

We need your feedback! Please save Tuesday, January 12, from 2 PM ET to 3 PM ET, for an encore system-wide webinar on two important issues facing PRSS stations:

The PRSS has successfully removed the 6dB boost from its analog and digital outputs. All stations should have made the appropriate adjustments at their end, depending on how their equipment is configured.

The PRSS is planning to adjust the audio levels of programs it sends to stations at the end of January 2016 in an effort achieve unity gain across the system. Specifically, a 6 decibel (dB) boost, which was added by the PRSS to analog and digital outputs in 2013, will be eliminated.

The transition from daylight-saving time (DST) to standard time in the U.S. will occur at 02:00:00 ET on Sunday, November 1, 2015.

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, October 4, 2015, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance session is scheduled to be completed by 18:30 ET Sunday evening.

To:           Representatives of PRSS Interconnected Stations

From:     Michelle Shanahan, Senior Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary

Date:     July 13, 2015

Re:        NPR Non-Board D/I Committee Member Online Voting Has Begun

The PRSS, in cooperation with IDC, has developed and tested a software patch for all interconnected stations’ IDX SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers.

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, July 12, 2015, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance session is scheduled to be completed by 18:30 ET Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

The PRSS has shut down WebDACs. All functionality that WebDACs provided, and more, is available in ContentDepot.

This is a reminder that the PRSS is continuing with its announced plan to shut down the WebDACs system on Wednesday, June 24, 2015.

On June 11, 2015, Mike Beach, NPR VP, Distribution, provided an update on planning for public radio's next generation interconnection system. Mike discussed the efforts since the Future Planning webinar in March.

Beginning at 15:00 ET on Sunday, April 26, 2015, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 23:30 ET Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

Beginning Tuesday, April 7, 2015, public radio producers and distributors will be able to view in ContentDepot the Loudness measurement data associated with their uploaded program segments.

To view the archived Future System Planning webinar that took place on Thursday, March 12, 2015.

The transition from standard time to daylight-saving time (DST) will occur at 02:00:00 ET on Sunday, March 8, 2015. The ContentDepot transition to DST is very straightforward:

The PRSS plans to move the ContentDepot File Delivery carrier to a new frequency on the Galaxy 16 satellite, transponder 5C, at approximately 2:20 PM ET on Wednesday, March 4, 2015.

The PRSS has decided to postpone the removal of the 6 decibel (dB) boost that was originally scheduled for February 26, 2015.

Please be advised that the 2015 spring solar outage season begins Thursday, February 26, 2015, and runs through Friday, March 13, 2015.

The PRSS has established a test stream at the new, boost-less level with a single 24-hour program in the ContentDepot portal. This program would consist of alternating tone at the new level and typical program material at the new level.

The PRSS plans to eliminate a 6 decibel (dB) boost at 1:59:10 PM ET on Thursday, February 26, 2015.

To view the archived loudness webinar that took place on Wednesday, February 11, 2015, or to review all of the available PRSS information and resources on loudness, please click here.

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, January 25, 2015, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 17:00 ET Sunday afternoon. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

As announced in December, on Thursday, February 26, 2015, the PRSS plans to remove a 6 decibel (dB) boost that was added to analog and digital outputs a year ago (visit: http://prss.org/news/prss-remove-6-db-boost-february or see

Call for Expressions of Interest in Non-Board Distribution/Interconnection Committee Member Position

Responses Due By Tuesday, February 3, 2015

**POSTPONED**

See http://prss.org/news/prss-loudness-webinar-postponed-wednesday-february-11 for more details.

The Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS) has issued a new broadcast loudness standard aimed at normalizing audio levels among programs.

The PRSS plans to make a change in the audio levels of the programs it distributes to stations. Specifically, a 6 decibel (dB) boost, which was added by the PRSS to analog and digital outputs a year ago, is going to be eliminated.

On December 18, NPR Distribution Vice President Michael Beach gave a talk about the efforts to provide a distribution network for the future needs of the public radio system.

Mike Beach, VP, Distribution, will present “Connecting by Collaborating”  -- PRSS Future System Planning – Thursday, December 18, from 2 PM – 3 PM/Eastern time [11 AM-noon/Pacific time]
 
Session Content:

The PRSS would like to remind stations of the following rules and guidelines with ContentDepot messaging:

The transition from daylight-saving time (DST) to standard time in the U.S. will occur at 02:00:00 ET on Sunday, November 2, 2014.

The PRSS is scheduled to shut down the legacy ContentDepot portal tomorrow, Wednesday, October 15, 2014.

Please Share Your Opinions in Annual PRSS Survey

The PRSS is scheduled to shut down the legacy ContentDepot portal on Wednesday, October 15, 2014. From that day forward, all ContentDepot users will be required to use the new portal, which was launched earlier this summer and is located at https://contentdepot.prss.org/portalui/app/. 

The PRSS is monitoring reports that a series of geomagnetic (solar) storms may occur beginning today (Sept. 12) and lasting through the weekend. We do not expect that these storms will affect stations’ broadcast operations, but to alleviate any concerns, the PRSS NOC has made available these shows on Internet streams for those stations experiencing disruptions.

The PRSS has deployed an upgrade to ContentDepot that enhances security measures in the portal by adopting a new protocol for log-in passwords.

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, August 10, 2014, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 16:30 ET Sunday afternoon. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

(Please be aware that these files work best using the VLC Media Player. They may not load properly using the Windows Media Player.)

At 16:30 ET, the PRSS plans to launch a complete redesign of the ContentDepot web portal. The new website will move the portal onto a more contemporary platform with a redesigned user interface and several new features.

Ballot to vote for D/I Committee Election is available here: https://eballot4.votenet.com/npr/login.cfm

On Sunday, July 13, 2014, beginning at 14:30:00 ET and extending through 20:00:00 ET, the PRSS® will conduct a live, system-wide drill of the Back-up Network Operations Center (BuNOC).

The PRSS is planning to launch a complete redesign of the ContentDepot web portal next week on Monday, July 14, 2014. The new website will move the portal onto a more contemporary platform with a redesigned user interface and several new features.

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, June 29, 2014, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 19:30 ET Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

After months of consultation with stations, drafts of the NPR news-magazine clocks are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, June 25. NPR will hold a webinar on June 25^th from 2:00 pm ET to 4:00 pm ET to walk through the revised clocks and answer questions. For more information, please view the AREPS message below.

The PRSS NOC has received reports that some interconnected stations experienced interruptions to their satellite programming feeds at the start of the 0400 ET hour this morning.

On Monday, June 9th, the PRSS will be performing an upgrade to our main uplink, which will require us to switch to our alternate uplink while the work is being performed.  

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, June 8, 2014, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 19:30 ET Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

Michael F. Beach to Oversee Public Radio Satellite System^® (PRSS)

Beginning at 22:10 ET on Tuesday, May 13, 2014, and extending through 00:07 ET, NPR will be performing maintenance on its telephone voicemail system. For this two-hour period, incoming callers will not be able to leave voicemails for NPR staff.

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, April 6, 2014, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 23:30 ET Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

Please be aware that if you or your station is using the Firefox web browser while loading the new software patch (details below) into your IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers, you may receive a pop-up window asking to confirm a Security Exception.

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, March 30, 2014, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 23:10 ET Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

The PRSS has developed and tested a software patch for all interconnected stations’ IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers. This upgrade updates several important parts of the original IDC Livewire implementation and also helps clean up any XML files that persist after the intended expiration date.

On Tuesday, March 18, 2014, Oracle is expected to release a significant new Java 8 update. Java is used by the PRSS ContentDepot portal's episode upload application. Most producers are currently running Java 7 to upload to the ContentDepot.

Any stations looking to PRSS.org for guidance on spring solar outages should be aware that the times posted on PRSS.org reflect Eastern Standard Time. As of Sunday, March 9, we have transitioned to Eastern Daylight Time, which is one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, March 9, 2014, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 18:10 ET Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

The transition from standard time to daylight-saving time (DST) will occur at 02:00:00 ET on Sunday, March 9, 2014. The ContentDepot transition to DST is very straightforward:

Beginning at 15:10 ET on Sunday, March 2, 2014, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 19:00 ET Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

On Sunday, February 23, 2014, beginning at 14:30:00 ET and extending through 20:10:00 ET, the PRSS® will conduct a live, system-wide drill of the Back-up Network Operations Center (BuNOC).

Please be advised that the 2014 spring solar outage season begins February 26 and runs through March 13.

Responses Due By Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Consumer Electronics Association Honors NPR Labs for Emergency Alerting System Receiver

Please be advised that the fall solar outage season will begin September 28 and last through October 15.

PRSS.org has been redesigned from top to bottom! The new site provides easier access the latest news about the Public Radio Satellite System® and support documentation for the ContentDepot®.

Online voting for the ratification of the NPR Board’s election of Nick Kereakos, Vice President of Technology & Operations at American Public Media, and Bari Scott, Executive Director of SoundVision Productions, as Non-Board Members of NPR’s Distribution/Interconnection Committee has begun as

The voting window for ratification of the two new non-Board members of the D/I Committee will open next month, with managers of PRSS interconnected stations receiving a ballot by email when the voting begins on July 12.

On Sunday, April 28, 2013, beginning at 14:59:10 ET and extending through 16:59:10 ET, the PRSS must conduct maintenance on its primary uplink antenna. This work will require the transfer of uplinks between our antennas for a period of two hours as outlined above.
 

The PRSS Network Operations Center (NOC) will be moving to the new NPR headquarters building in Washington, D.C., on Monday, April 1, 2013.
 

March 18, 2013 – NPR Labs is seeking 25 Public Radio Satellite System^®  (PRSS) interconnected FM stations in Gulf Coast states to participate in  a project to demonstrate the delivery of emergency alerts to people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

All ContentDepot^® headend systems are ready-to-go for a normal transition to daylight-saving time (DST) at 02:00:00 ET on Sunday, March 10, 2013. Here are some notes about the transition and what you need to do to prepare.

The current solar outage period is affecting some file programs delivered to the system between 13:30 – 14:15 ET. Different programs are affected at different stations at different times; not all stations will be affected.

NPR Labs to Pilot Project of Radio Emergency Alerts for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People in U.S. Gulf Coast

NPR is moving into our new headquarters soon, and some of the broadcast equipment we've been using will not be coming with us. We'd like to help our stations save some money, avoid filling the local landfill, and find good homes for hundreds of items that have served us well. To do so, the used equipment is being offered for sale via an online auction via Rasmus.com. The auction will begin closing on Monday, April 15, 2013, at 12:00 noon ET.

February 22, 2013, New York, New York - Latino USA, the foremost Latino voice in public media and the longest running Latino-focused program on radio, will soon be the first radio program to commence equal-access distribution via Captioning for Radio.

Please be advised that the 2013 spring solar outage season begins February 26 and runs through March 13. A solar or sun transit outage is an electromagnetic phenomenon wherein a station downlink is temporarily unable to receive a satellite signal due to interference from the sun as it passes behind the satellite. Solar outages occur on a predictable schedule and affect downlinks in the U.S. for about five consecutive days, for as much as six minutes a day, twice each year.  For a list of all spring solar outage times and locations across the country, please click here. For rules that apply to all solar outages, please click here.

The PRSS turned off the email-forwarding features in WebDACS on Friday, March 1, 2013. The ContentDepot messaging system is, and continues to be, the official source of communications for the PRSS, and WebDACS will remain in-place only as an archive of all messages sent via ContentDepot messaging.

The Membership and Governance Committee (the “Committee”) of the Board of Directors of National Public Radio, Inc. (the “Corporation”), solicits expressions of interest by persons who wish to serve as a non-Board member of the Distribution/Interconnection Committee of the NPR Board of Directors.  This service is for a three-year term beginning with the Committee’s November 2013 meeting.  Non-Board members of the D/I Committee are elected by the NPR Board and ratified by the interconnected stations.  Non-Board members serve for a three-year term and are eligible to serve two successive terms.  

As of 12:10 pm ET on December 4, 2012, delivery of automated tuning to the legacy SR2000pro receivers has officially been terminated. All stations must now use the new IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers to continue receiving tuning commands from the PRSS NOC.

Beginning at 22:10 ET on Tuesday, November 13, 2012, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 01:00 ET on Wednesday morning. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

The PRSS has decided to move the end of the PRSS Forward adoption phase for transitioning to the IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio adoption phase to Tuesday, December 4. We continue to work with a small number of stations that are experiencing technical issues with the new units, so the PRSS will officially end delivery of automated tuning to the legacy SR2000pros at 12:10 pm ET on Dec. 4. All stations must be switched over to the new receivers before then.

The transition from daylight-saving time (DST) to standard time in the U.S. will occur on Sunday, November 4, 2012. The following are technical and operational notes about handling the transition to standard time.

The PRSS has deployed a software patch in response to station reports that certain segment files delivered from the ContentDepot have a tail marker that is approximately one second shorter than the audio, which causes the audio to downcut.

The PRSS has deployed a software patch to all SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers. Developed by receiver manufacturer IDC, the patch addresses reported occurrences of an audio “stutter” with the receivers. The fix was tested thoroughly on in-house receivers, and PRSS engineers concluded that it eliminates the stutter.  

The PRSS is working with hardware manufacturer IDC to develop and deploy a software patch for the new SFX 4104 receivers.

The PRSS held a station interconnect on Thursday, Sept. 27, to share the latest information on the PRSS Forward initiative, including details on the adoption phase for the IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio satellite receivers.  To listen to a recording of the interconnect, please click here.

Beginning at 15:00 ET on Sunday, September 23, 2012, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 20:00 ET on Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

Please be advised that the fall solar outage season will begin September 28 and last through October 14.

The PRSS is continuing to work with manufacturer IDC to develop and deploy a software patch for the new IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers.

We have recently become aware of some concerns regarding the administration of the Agreement for Use of the ContentDepot Distribution System, and we are developing solutions to streamline the process.

The PRSS has extended by one week the end of the PRSS Forward adoption phase for the new IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers, pushing the transition deadline to 12:10 pm ET on Sept. 13, 2012.

Beginning at 15:00 ET on Sunday, July 29, 2012, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot^®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 24:00 ET on Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

Online voting for the ratification of the NPR Board’s election of Ralph Hogan to a second term as a Non-Board Member of NPR’s Distribution/Interconnection Committee has begun as of 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time, July 11, 2012.

Thanks to the feedback we received regarding audio issues with the IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers, the PRSS deployed a software patch on June 29, 2012. The upgrade is intended to address reports of stuttering and/or dropped audio as well as issues with the Livewire outputs on the new units.

Beginning at 15:00 ET on Sunday, June 10, 2012, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 20:30 ET on Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.

We want to thank all stations that have contacted us via the PRSS Help Desk regarding your experiences with the IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers. Your feedback has helped us identify a significant operational issue - sporadic audio drop-outs and/or garbled audio output.

On May 30, 2012, beginning at 12:40:00 ET and extending through 17:40:00 ET, the PRSS will conduct a live, system-wide drill of the Back-up Network Operations Center (BuNOC).

The Adoption Phase of the PRSS Forward initiative continues, and we appreciate those stations that have contacted the PRSS Help Desk with their questions and feedback on the IDC SFX 4104 Pro Audio receivers.

Beginning at 15:00 ET on Sunday, May 6, 2012, an extended maintenance period will begin on the ContentDepot®. This maintenance is scheduled to be completed by 19:30 ET on Sunday evening. Stations and producers are advised to plan ahead and adjust their production schedules accordingly.