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Home › Columns and Views

Columns and Views

The Nautel Radio Technology Forum explores trends and best practices as well as new products.

From the Editor

Catch Up With Me at NAB

I hope you’ll join me for these two talks

Professional Recording Setup Featuring a Black Microphone Mounted on a Stand

Letter: It’s All About the Branding

Call letter IDs spoken throughout a broadcast hour isn't feasible, writes K.M. Richards

Portrait of a woman showing keep silence gesture

Guest Commentaries

Salespeople Talk Too Much

For radio account executives, great questions drive great sales, writes Gary Begin

A word cloud of approximately 13,220 U.S. FM station callsigns, scaled for ERP and market size. From the RadioLand app project.

Letter: Use Your Call Letters!

DXer Carl Dabelstein finds slogans instead of calls all too commonplace

Barcode Lookup turns your phone into a barcode scanner.

Workbench

Turn Your Phone Into a Barcode Scanner

Also, here’s a simple way to keep light switches from being flipped

Letter: The Network You’re Looking for Is Already Here

Ira Wilner reacts to John Caracciolo's ideas for life after CBS News Radio

Guest Commentaries

After CBS: Let’s Take Back the Airwaves

It's a wakeup call. Our future should belong to Main Street not Wall Street

11:00 am,

Letter: The Art of the Top of the Hour ID

K.M. Richards explains how he managed to bury a not so beloved COL

Letter: We Fixed Our Phasing Cable

Our repairs, when finally completed, were conducted safely with no accidents

Econco tube at WTAR(AM)

From the Editor

One Less Option

The deadline to purchase repaired Econco tubes is approaching

Dinosaur teeth

Letter: A Sharp-Toothed FCC Is Needed More Than Ever

James B. Potter says disbanding the commission is akin to defunding the police

An IGM 200 “Simplimation” system is visible behind the woman holding an LP. This is at WDOD in Chattanooga, Tenn. in the early 1960s.

Remembering IGM

Company history and author memories

Deadly EF-3 Tornado in Manitoba

Letter: Canada’s Decision to Abandon Weather Radio Is Ill-Advised

When hazards strike and cellular service fails, radio is there, writes Midland's Bruce Jones

Clocks depicting equal time

Gregg Skall

The FCC and the “Equal Opportunities” Rule

The rule doesn’t mean what you may think it means

Foerster_Hartmut

Guest Commentaries

These Developments Are Reshaping FM Infrastructure

Together they signal a shift toward streamlined all-IP signal chains from studio to transmitter

A rear view of the completed system.

Workbench

Smart Diplexing Saves an AM

Careful design and reused parts keep a project on budget

Paul's KDKA token

From the Editor

What’s on Your Desk?

Tokens help keep us connected to ourselves and our medium

From the Editor

Telos, College Foundation Will Give Away an Omnia.11

Students, faculty and staff at college stations in the U.S. can submit

Do you know what this is?

Workbench

Shelly Plus Uni Impresses for Under $20

Also, who can identify this piece of vintage gear?

Pink skies over the Tidal Basin and Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., while the yoshino cherry trees are in full bloom. Credit: John Baggaley/Getty Images

Guest Commentaries

Freshen Up Your Sound for Spring

Gary Begin offers actionable items to boost your station's ratings book

Guest Commentaries

From Estimates to Evidence: Measurement Evolves

Xperi’s Galdamez says connected-car insights are reshaping how radio decisions are made

The test setup.

Workbench

Oh Henry! Oh Frank!

Frank Hertel shares a simple way to determine inductor values

nielsen cumulus

Guest Commentaries

Who’s Winning, Nielsen or Cumulus?

Jerry Del Colliano updates and reviews the legal wrangling

Mary Texanna Loomis

Mary Texanna Loomis, Radio Pioneer

In 1920, she founded the Loomis Radio School in the nation’s capital

Participating students pose with representatives of Wake Tech and the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters.

From the Editor

This Program Trains Up New Broadcast Engineers

The first students recently completed Wake Tech’s Broadcast Technology Academy

AI artificial intelligence alphabet and hammer judge gavel on wooden table background. Artificial intelligence AI law, regulation, act concept.

Gregg Skall

Thoughts on AI and the Law

Stations should conform to SAG-AFTRA principles of disclosure and pay

Denon DN-C616

Workbench

Repurpose That Old Denon CD Player

A backup program source may already be in your closet

Dave Sturgeon

From the Editor

Dave Sturgeon Celebrates Radio’s Superpowers

It’s the medium that assumes you’re living your life

The Morse Code of Resistance

Alan Higbie's Army enlistment was to avoid the infantry; he communicated to a revolution

From the Coachella Valley overlook in Palm Desert, Calif., the Pines to Palms Highway is shown. Credit: Chris Axe/Getty Images

Letter: Listening for DX Signals From Coachella Valley

Stephanie Battaglino talks about topographic DXing challenges

"On Air" sign with red light

Letter: Consolidation Is Not the Answer

Archie Stulc wonders how eight radio stations per market isn't enough

Geoffrey Hacker's glass-enclosed mic collection.

Show Us Your Mic Collection: Geoffrey Hacker

With his studies in design, looks truly are everything

Guest Commentaries

Invest in Budding Broadcasters While There’s Still Time

"If you want young talent, you have to reach out to them, not wait...

Guest Commentaries

From Farm Kid to NAFB President: Serving Agriculture Through Broadcasting

"Trust is our most valuable commodity," says DeLoss Jahnke

The welcome sign for Valentine, Neb., perhaps greeting DXers, too? Credit: marekuliasz/Getty Images

Letter: Finding FM Dial Quiet Spots

Paul Dobosz mapped out desolate areas of Nebraska for '80s auto signal tests

Workbench

Use Ferrules to Ease Your Work in Tight Spaces

Also, NATE publishes safety documents about smoke and animal poop

Guest Commentaries

What Can Radio Fix in 2026?

"Radio's growth in 2026 won't come from doing more, but from doing less while...

The wooden entrance sign to Yellowstone National Park, USA.

Letter: Yellowstone Yields Wide-Open FM Dial

Jon Ellis also shares his DX logs from camping in northern Minnesota

The Longley-Rice coverage areas depicted for 105.1 WIOV(FM), 105.1 WAVA(FM) and 105.3 WDAS(FM), from the RadioLand app.

Letter: The Many Maryland and Pennsylvania FM Short Spacings

Leonard Roberts notes the co-channel and adjacent collisions near Baltimore

David Layer framed

Guest Commentaries

Shape the Future of Radio — Join the NRSC

David Layer presents an invitation and provides an update on its activities

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