8 entries
The FCC’s new cybersecurity rules take effect September 29. Broadcasters need to look beyond the EAS box and verify passwords, firmware, remote access, and anything that can affect the airchain.
EP 43 10:04
On November 17th, every radio and TV station in the country is going to interrupt whatever you're doing with that awful screeching tone. I'm breaking down what that nationwide Emergency Alert System test actually is, how a warning message travels from a federal agency all the way to your car radio…
EP 30 18:20
HD radio hijacking happens when a distant station's digital signal takes over a local frequency the moment that local station's own HD signal goes dark. Tyler breaks down how this happened to him on his commute, why small and low power FM stations have zero regulatory protection against it, and how…
EP 29 24:35
HD radio was pitched as the FM upgrade that would save terrestrial radio from satellite and streaming, but two decades later most listeners have never heard of it. Broadcast engineer Tyler Woodward traces the FCC's 2002 approval, iBiquity's royalty driven business model, and how media consolidation…
Bonus 6:00
Ted Turner died on May 6, 2026, at 87. Most tributes will focus on CNN and the billion dollars to the UN. But the moment that mattered most for broadcast history happened on December 17, 1976, when Turner beamed a struggling UHF station up to RCA's Satcom 1 and invented the superstation. WTCG was a…
EP 23 15:24
Most of America's radio stations no longer have a chief engineer, and nobody notices until a tower goes dark or the FCC fines start piling up. One station sat silent for six months because no one knew the transmitter had failed. That's not an accident. That's what happens when the people who keep…
EP 22 15:30
The FCC's public file used to be a dusty binder in your lobby. Since 2018 it's a searchable, timestamped online record anyone can dig through, and the political file alone has produced some of radio's biggest enforcement fines, running into six figures. I go through where most violations actually…
EP 16 20:40
The FCC put foreign-manufactured consumer routers on the covered list, and if your facility is running one of those boxes in a mission-critical spot, it's time for a hard look at the rack. I break down what the new rules actually say, what's still unclear for brands that design in the US but build…