December 17, 2024 • 13 mins
CES 2025 and the NAB Show are once again highly anticipated events for broadcast media, which is eagerly looking at new products to bring greater efficiencies and improved back-end technology to the forefront.
In 2025, GatesAir will take a starring role in serving FM radio stations with new products and various services needs. Ray Miklius, VP of Technology at GatesAir, shares more about what's ahead in the next year from the electronics manufacturer from the company's U.S. headquarters in Quincy, ll., in this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.
In 2025, GatesAir will take a starring role in serving FM radio stations with new products and various services needs. Ray Miklius, VP of Technology at GatesAir, shares more about what's ahead in the next year from the electronics manufacturer from the company's U.S. headquarters in Quincy, ll., in this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the RBR TVPR in Focus podcast. Here's your host,
Radio and Television Business Report Editor in Chief Adam R. Jacobson.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, and welcome to the in Focus podcast, which is
presented by dot FM streaming social podcast broadcast. Get a
dot fm domain name by heading over to get dot fm.
Today and today we continue our preview look at the
CES twenty twenty six Mega Conference and Expo in Las Vegas. Yes,
that's the Consumer Electronics Show, and the anticipation, if you will,
(00:38):
from broadcast media is extremely huge. We've heard a little
bit about AI in all of its forms. Now we're
going to hear a little bit about what CEES might
bring from a broadcast technology perspective by having a conversation
with Ray Mickleus. Ray is the vice president of Technology
(00:58):
at Gateshare and he joins us from Quincy, Illinois. CEES
twenty twenty five in the NAB Show are once again
highly anticipated events from broadcast media, which is eagerly looking
at new products to bring greater efficiencies and improved back
end technology to the forefront. We understand that the coming
(01:20):
year we'll see gates Air take a starring role in
servicing FM radio station owners with new products and service needs.
So I'm wondering what in the nutshell where you can
share when it comes to FM and the things that
Gates is working on. In the next twelve months, we.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Have both on the you know, content delivery side, we
have our interplex products as people go to IP delivery,
so we'll be accepting that line out with a bunch
of new boxes with new feature sets. So, you know,
(01:56):
we've been working a couple of years now on replacing
obsolete components. Ever since uh COVID happened. The semiconductor people
are are more than happy to obsolete their device as
much quicker than they had in the past. But in
(02:17):
doing so, you know, we get more processing power. UH.
So we're adding additional feature sets into you know, the
interflex boxes that we have, you know, so all the
different CODECX different standards will be integrating. Maybe like wheat
(02:39):
Net for example from Wheatstone is on our roadmap. We've
come out with you know, ant X Bridge, which is
a new ant X space UH product. We're coming out
with some stort and forward on the interplex so that
(02:59):
particularly with you know the issues with the satellite delivery,
we're building a system whereby you can keep the spot
load and alternative content on our device. If something happens
with connection, it'll actually play from a from a downloaded playlist.
So trying to keep radio stations on air. That was
(03:23):
a customer driven request. And then on the f M side,
we're replacing the controllers and control screens on all our
Fax products. Again it would give us more horse power.
(03:46):
One of the things that customers are asking us is
giving them more network security, and we couldn't do some
of you know, what they're requesting from us with the
processors that we had. So we'll be releasing a whole
new suite of security software updates with our new controllers. So,
(04:11):
you know, trying to meet customer demand, uh, for customers
who are using our radio products for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
And I'm sorry you said fast products.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
FACTS FACTS is our model family f big S, big A,
big X.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
FACTS like a Fax machine and just wanted to make
sure I heard.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
You, Frost, and so, you know, just trying to keep
our products modern. In addition, you know, we've completed the
development of our cost effective f M line from fifty
watts to three and.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
A half kill a wats. It's the ground up build
new exciter. Uh so those for those who are a
cost contract hire, if you will, we now have an
alternative to provide both domestic and international customers smaller footprint,
(05:12):
higher efficiency. I think we're touching seventy eight.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Percent efficiency with our new product line, which is outstanding,
So pretty happy with the results of that and our
final three and a half kill a lot will fill
out the line and that that will be available for
shipment in quarter one.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
At CES Gates Air will be enveloped in the ATSC
three point zero story which is still unfolding for broadcast
television now the coming year could see a lot in
terms of eventual sunset of ATSC one point zero that
could truly push the new broadcast TV standard forward in
a big way and do a lot for Gates Air. Now,
(06:00):
the developer and manufacturer standpoint, what can you share with
respect to CEES ATSC and some of the work that
gets here is going to be doing in this space.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well, you know, we're kind of in the background, right
We have a modulator the supports ATSC three to zero,
and you know we do participate in the Business Advisory
Council to three dot zero, so you know, whatever they
come up with we have to implement in our modulator.
(06:30):
We just finished the the DPS feature, which is an
alternative to GPS. It's carried by the three OUTO signal
and that is being tested by the AKSC three group
and a couple of pilot customers. The big thing we're
(06:52):
working on now is what they call my bow, which
allows much greater bandwidth for within.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
The PC, and that's MIMO M I m O.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, big M big I, big M big O.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
It's and it is actively being going to be tested
by the Brazilians in the first half of twenty twenty five.
A highly complex development that we are currently We've done
the software work and it's currently under early testing, so
(07:37):
we want to be ready for the Brazilian opportunity and
MIMO is a requirement. Again. It further enhances the value
of three dot zero in that it carries more bits,
whether it's for you know, allowing the station to sell
off bandwidth or to carry you know, four K material
(08:02):
and or to carry additional programs. For the Brazilian market especially,
it's highly attractive to some of the major broadcasters down there.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Is Gateshare actively involved in discussions with groups such as
the ATSC is working at all with the NAB in
terms of discussions in Washington and what could be happening
at the FCC with a new chairman that could be
more eager to have a firm sunset date for ATSC
one point zero.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, we do that indirectly. I know that, For example,
we've got a call from their representati asking us, you
know what our view of how many of our transmitters
are running through dot all within the domestic space. We've
shared some data with them, and I believe that those entities,
(08:54):
whether it's NAD or ATSC three, are going to go
to the FCC see if uh they they'll buy into
a sunset that for ATSC one. You know, I think
they're preparing to go in. I don't know how successful
(09:14):
they'll be, but you know, any support they need from us,
we would be more than willing to uh provide. But
I do know that they are planning their plan of
attack if you will to go right. But other than
you know, market uh implementation data. That's that's been the
(09:37):
extent of our our participation in that effort.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
One last question for you. Then I'm gonna have to
go because I got a deadline to hit. Okay, Gates
are a care program. It launched in June. It's continuance
roll out. Look, we see the widening gaps and engineering
skill sets because you have retirements, and you have reduction
in force, and you have perhaps a recruitment concern as
(10:06):
well when it comes to certain companies and their desire
to have on prem individuals with this level of knowledge.
So what can you share about the continued development of
this enhanced managed services program because certainly, you know, this
widening gap is something that we perhaps haven't really talked
(10:27):
about as much as we should.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, so you know, Phase one of our implication was basically,
you know, on site services preventive of maintenance, on site
preventive maintenance engagements. As you know, we have av or
gates there university where we'd run you know, even basic
(10:50):
RF training uh here in Quincy, and we can't take
it on the road. In fact, it's funny we're having
a class Todaybody mentioned that this was the first class
where we actually had some younger people in training.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
That's nice.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So our second phase we're about to pilot is we've
developed a network operating center here in Quincy and we'll
be providing twenty four to seven monitoring of you know,
any customer who wants to sign up for the service.
And on top of that, if we do see a problem,
(11:32):
we will dispatch people or and or parts. So based
on you know, monitoring twenty four to seven, we can
more proactively with our resources service some of the RF
plants that our customers want us to. So we're hooking
(11:53):
up our first five customers here early in twenty twenty
five and hope to get a lot of sign ups
through next year. You know, we've built a system whereby
anything that any alarm that comes in, any problem that
our system notices, we actually notify one of our twenty
(12:16):
four to seven resources here and they will be passed
to immediately get an action plan to retro you know,
rectify any of the situation we might encowent. We with that,
I want to thank you, Yes, yeah, no problem.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And with that we want to thank you the listener
for tuning into this radio and television business report in
Focus podcast. It was presented by dot fm, streaming social
podcast or broadcast get a dot fm domain. Ame heading
over to get dot fm today and joining us from Quincy,
Illinois again, Ray Nileus at Gateshair in Boca Raton, Florida.
(12:55):
I'm Adamar Jacobson on behalf of the staff and management
at stream Line Publishing's Radio Inc. Magazine and the Radio
Intelevision Business Report, which you have very merry Christmas, Happy
Honica Mary Kwanza, and a happy all the best for
a very strong and very peaceful and powerful twenty twenty five.
(13:18):
Take care, We'll see you next time.
This is the RBR TVPR in Focus podcast. Here's your host,
Radio and Television Business Report Editor in Chief Adam R. Jacobson.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, and welcome to the in Focus podcast, which is
presented by dot FM streaming social podcast broadcast. Get a
dot fm domain name by heading over to get dot fm.
Today and today we continue our preview look at the
CES twenty twenty six Mega Conference and Expo in Las Vegas. Yes,
that's the Consumer Electronics Show, and the anticipation, if you will,
(00:38):
from broadcast media is extremely huge. We've heard a little
bit about AI in all of its forms. Now we're
going to hear a little bit about what CEES might
bring from a broadcast technology perspective by having a conversation
with Ray Mickleus. Ray is the vice president of Technology
(00:58):
at Gateshare and he joins us from Quincy, Illinois. CEES
twenty twenty five in the NAB Show are once again
highly anticipated events from broadcast media, which is eagerly looking
at new products to bring greater efficiencies and improved back
end technology to the forefront. We understand that the coming
(01:20):
year we'll see gates Air take a starring role in
servicing FM radio station owners with new products and service needs.
So I'm wondering what in the nutshell where you can
share when it comes to FM and the things that
Gates is working on. In the next twelve months, we.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Have both on the you know, content delivery side, we
have our interplex products as people go to IP delivery,
so we'll be accepting that line out with a bunch
of new boxes with new feature sets. So, you know,
(01:56):
we've been working a couple of years now on replacing
obsolete components. Ever since uh COVID happened. The semiconductor people
are are more than happy to obsolete their device as
much quicker than they had in the past. But in
(02:17):
doing so, you know, we get more processing power. UH.
So we're adding additional feature sets into you know, the
interflex boxes that we have, you know, so all the
different CODECX different standards will be integrating. Maybe like wheat
(02:39):
Net for example from Wheatstone is on our roadmap. We've
come out with you know, ant X Bridge, which is
a new ant X space UH product. We're coming out
with some stort and forward on the interplex so that
(02:59):
particularly with you know the issues with the satellite delivery,
we're building a system whereby you can keep the spot
load and alternative content on our device. If something happens
with connection, it'll actually play from a from a downloaded playlist.
So trying to keep radio stations on air. That was
(03:23):
a customer driven request. And then on the f M side,
we're replacing the controllers and control screens on all our
Fax products. Again it would give us more horse power.
(03:46):
One of the things that customers are asking us is
giving them more network security, and we couldn't do some
of you know, what they're requesting from us with the
processors that we had. So we'll be releasing a whole
new suite of security software updates with our new controllers. So,
(04:11):
you know, trying to meet customer demand, uh, for customers
who are using our radio products for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
And I'm sorry you said fast products.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
FACTS FACTS is our model family f big S, big A,
big X.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
FACTS like a Fax machine and just wanted to make
sure I heard.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
You, Frost, and so, you know, just trying to keep
our products modern. In addition, you know, we've completed the
development of our cost effective f M line from fifty
watts to three and.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
A half kill a wats. It's the ground up build
new exciter. Uh so those for those who are a
cost contract hire, if you will, we now have an
alternative to provide both domestic and international customers smaller footprint,
(05:12):
higher efficiency. I think we're touching seventy eight.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Percent efficiency with our new product line, which is outstanding,
So pretty happy with the results of that and our
final three and a half kill a lot will fill
out the line and that that will be available for
shipment in quarter one.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
At CES Gates Air will be enveloped in the ATSC
three point zero story which is still unfolding for broadcast
television now the coming year could see a lot in
terms of eventual sunset of ATSC one point zero that
could truly push the new broadcast TV standard forward in
a big way and do a lot for Gates Air. Now,
(06:00):
the developer and manufacturer standpoint, what can you share with
respect to CEES ATSC and some of the work that
gets here is going to be doing in this space.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Well, you know, we're kind of in the background, right
We have a modulator the supports ATSC three to zero,
and you know we do participate in the Business Advisory
Council to three dot zero, so you know, whatever they
come up with we have to implement in our modulator.
(06:30):
We just finished the the DPS feature, which is an
alternative to GPS. It's carried by the three OUTO signal
and that is being tested by the AKSC three group
and a couple of pilot customers. The big thing we're
(06:52):
working on now is what they call my bow, which
allows much greater bandwidth for within.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
The PC, and that's MIMO M I m O.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Yeah, big M big I, big M big O.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
It's and it is actively being going to be tested
by the Brazilians in the first half of twenty twenty five.
A highly complex development that we are currently We've done
the software work and it's currently under early testing, so
(07:37):
we want to be ready for the Brazilian opportunity and
MIMO is a requirement. Again. It further enhances the value
of three dot zero in that it carries more bits,
whether it's for you know, allowing the station to sell
off bandwidth or to carry you know, four K material
(08:02):
and or to carry additional programs. For the Brazilian market especially,
it's highly attractive to some of the major broadcasters down there.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Is Gateshare actively involved in discussions with groups such as
the ATSC is working at all with the NAB in
terms of discussions in Washington and what could be happening
at the FCC with a new chairman that could be
more eager to have a firm sunset date for ATSC
one point zero.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, we do that indirectly. I know that, For example,
we've got a call from their representati asking us, you
know what our view of how many of our transmitters
are running through dot all within the domestic space. We've
shared some data with them, and I believe that those entities,
(08:54):
whether it's NAD or ATSC three, are going to go
to the FCC see if uh they they'll buy into
a sunset that for ATSC one. You know, I think
they're preparing to go in. I don't know how successful
(09:14):
they'll be, but you know, any support they need from us,
we would be more than willing to uh provide. But
I do know that they are planning their plan of
attack if you will to go right. But other than
you know, market uh implementation data. That's that's been the
(09:37):
extent of our our participation in that effort.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
One last question for you. Then I'm gonna have to
go because I got a deadline to hit. Okay, Gates
are a care program. It launched in June. It's continuance
roll out. Look, we see the widening gaps and engineering
skill sets because you have retirements, and you have reduction
in force, and you have perhaps a recruitment concern as
(10:06):
well when it comes to certain companies and their desire
to have on prem individuals with this level of knowledge.
So what can you share about the continued development of
this enhanced managed services program because certainly, you know, this
widening gap is something that we perhaps haven't really talked
(10:27):
about as much as we should.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, so you know, Phase one of our implication was basically,
you know, on site services preventive of maintenance, on site
preventive maintenance engagements. As you know, we have av or
gates there university where we'd run you know, even basic
(10:50):
RF training uh here in Quincy, and we can't take
it on the road. In fact, it's funny we're having
a class Todaybody mentioned that this was the first class
where we actually had some younger people in training.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
That's nice.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
So our second phase we're about to pilot is we've
developed a network operating center here in Quincy and we'll
be providing twenty four to seven monitoring of you know,
any customer who wants to sign up for the service.
And on top of that, if we do see a problem,
(11:32):
we will dispatch people or and or parts. So based
on you know, monitoring twenty four to seven, we can
more proactively with our resources service some of the RF
plants that our customers want us to. So we're hooking
(11:53):
up our first five customers here early in twenty twenty
five and hope to get a lot of sign ups
through next year. You know, we've built a system whereby
anything that any alarm that comes in, any problem that
our system notices, we actually notify one of our twenty
(12:16):
four to seven resources here and they will be passed
to immediately get an action plan to retro you know,
rectify any of the situation we might encowent. We with that,
I want to thank you, Yes, yeah, no problem.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
And with that we want to thank you the listener
for tuning into this radio and television business report in
Focus podcast. It was presented by dot fm, streaming social
podcast or broadcast get a dot fm domain. Ame heading
over to get dot fm today and joining us from Quincy,
Illinois again, Ray Nileus at Gateshair in Boca Raton, Florida.
(12:55):
I'm Adamar Jacobson on behalf of the staff and management
at stream Line Publishing's Radio Inc. Magazine and the Radio
Intelevision Business Report, which you have very merry Christmas, Happy
Honica Mary Kwanza, and a happy all the best for
a very strong and very peaceful and powerful twenty twenty five.
(13:18):
Take care, We'll see you next time.
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