TIPS TO MANAGE SUCCESSFULLY DURING A ......2020/09/07 · HD Radio, and the results are very posi-tive. More and more consumers have HD Radio receivers, love the performance, and

SALARY SURVEY

RESULTS: DO YOU

PAY YOUR SELLERS

ENOUGH?

MEET THE

2020 RADIO

WAYNE

FINALISTS

TIPS TO MANAGE SUCCESSFULLY

DURING A PANDEMIC

HOW TO STEAL SALES IDEAS FROM POLITICAL

STRATEGISTS

DO YOU HAVE PASSION FOR RADIO?

ANOTHER HAPPY LOCAL BUSINESS,

THANKS TO RADIO!KEEPING RADIO CONNECTED IN THE CAR

XPERI SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

JOSEPH D’ANGELO

RI_p01_cover_9-7-20.indd 1 8/26/20 3:28 PM

KEEPING RADIO CONNECTED IN THE CAR

Xperi SVP/Broadcast Radio

Joe D’Angelo

RI_Cover Story 9-7-20 (10 pages).indd 14 8/26/20 3:41 PM

By Editor in Chief Ed Ryan


With everyone dealing with and working through the ways COVID-19 has affected them in 2020, we haven’t heard a lot of chatter about the battle for that very valuable space on the dashboards of automobiles lately. It’s still a battle, with technology improving all the time, tech companies looking for ways to push radio around, and consumers wanting their entertainment easily and quickly. One person who’s been fighting the good fight for the radio industry

when it comes to technology in the automobile is Xperi Senior Vice President of Broadcast Radio Joe D’Angelo. He's been working with the industry and the automotive world to keep radio competitive in the car. And he’s been working on things that will benefit radio that you might not even have known about. In our cover story interview, D’Angelo tells us all about the technology changes and challenges that will have a major impact on radio in that very vital listening place — the automobile.


17SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Radio Ink: Who is Joe D’Angelo?D’Angelo: I was born and raised on Long Island, attended Chaminade High School, and then went off to College of the Holy Cross and got a BA in history. Graduating in 1989, I got a job with Andersen Consulting, which was my first exposure to the world of technology. My father was an executive of the Hearst Corporation and ran a division of the newspaper busi-ness, which developed my interest in media. After about four years as a technology manager, leading systems development and integration, I had a decent foundation in tech and decided to get more business train-ing. I attended Columbia Business School, where I got my MBA in media management and finance. I then went back into consult-ing with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Media, Entertainment, and Communications practice. I spent time supporting advertising and entertainment clients like IPG and Sony, and then about two years in Los Angeles at Universal Studios following the Seagrams acquisition, primarily working with Universal Music Group.

In 1999 I was looking for a change, and got the opportunity to join Lucent Digital Radio in January of 2000. About six months after I joined, we merged with USA Digital Radio, and I’ve been working with iBiquity, then DTS, and now Xperi ever since. I am currently SVP/broadcast radio and run our radio operations glob-ally. I’ve got four great kids (Liz, Victoria, Cate, and Joey) and live in Annapolis, Maryland.

Radio Ink: What is your day like?D’Angelo: Well, there really isn’t a typical day, which makes my role challenging but extremely interesting. With clients around the world, I spend a lot of my time jump-ing from market to market (now virtually) across our various broadcast products and teams. We have the core HD Radio system, but also a robust DAB+ studio system and a suite of apps/multi-platform digital technologies that keeps us all very busy. I do a lot of work managing our client relationships, supporting the team deliv-ering the products as well as setting the

strategy for how we’ll enter new markets or enhance our offerings with new ser-vices. One of the more interesting aspects of my job is the role I play internally with our Advanced Development and Automotive teams. I’m able to represent the broadcasters’ interest in our technol-ogy roadmap and represent the voice of the industry to advocate for solutions that will help retain and enhance broad-cast radio’s prominence in the dashboard. Our technologies are integrated by all 44 major car brands, in close to 300 mod-els, and there is a constant exchange of information and ideas between the auto team and my team regarding what new technologies and services can create the best in-car listener experience. We are mindful of the expectations and requirements of the auto industry around audio platforms in general and how can we, as Xperi, ensure we’re providing solu-tions that meet these requirements, but also provide opportunities and value to the broadcast radio industry. We’re much more than HD Radio now. The scope of


18 SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

our services has dramatically increased and we do a lot of work with DAB+ (the European digital radio standard) broad-casters and more and more with hybrid radio through our DTS Connected Radio system. I spend a lot of time on the strat-egy side but also in the trenches, and the balance is really rewarding.

Radio Ink: Where does HD Radio stand right now? D’Angelo: HD Radio stands on some very solid footing in North America and in select countries around the world. We have been developing and deploying the HD Radio system for the better part of 15 years. We owe a lot to the U.S. broadcast-ing community for their long-standing support, innovation, and patience in help-ing us build this ecosystem. There was a key industry executive over at Apple when we were developing the iTunes Tagging feature who told me after a meeting, “One of the most impor-tant things for you to remember is you’re converting an entire ecosystem, and that takes time, patience, and perseverance.” That patience and perseverance has led us to almost 2,298 radio stations now on the air in the U.S., and a few hundred more in Canada and Mexico, delivering over 4,750 digital audio services. We also have broadcast services in the Philippines and are currently conducting trials in India. We have about 70 million radios in the hands of consumers and we’re included in close to 300 different vehicle models. While it’s taken a long time, the ecosys-tem has matured and we’re now seeing the sales volumes we hoped for and are currently shipping HD Radio in more than half of the new cars sold each year in the U.S.A. It’s a great story for the industry. And now, if you look at the services recently launched from Quu Interactive, you will see how broadcasters stand to sig-nificantly monetize their investment in HD Radio with enhanced in-car advertising.

Radio Ink: Are you gaining any traction with the consumer?D’Angelo: The design of the system ensures that if you tune an HD Radio receiver to an HD Radio station, you auto-matically get the benefit of the digital audio and data services from that sta-tion. For those 70 million receivers on the

road, that means crystal clear audio, rich metadata and images, and in most cases, additional audio services. We’ve done surveys over the years that measure consumers’ awareness of the technology and satisfaction with HD Radio, and the results are very posi-tive. More and more consumers have HD Radio receivers, love the performance, and close to 80% of those asked would recommend HD Radio to their friends and families in their next vehicle purchase. The industry has done a good job of bringing attention to the services and multicast channels. That’s helping drive consumer awareness. Since the COVID crisis hit, we’ve seen a number of broad-casters start to use HD Radio technology in the car to reinforce educational mes-sages, support social distancing, and to display images of hope. Beasley Media is the best domestic example of this. They’ve made this an extension of their Community Cares program. As you drive through markets listening to their stations, those mes-sages are in high rotation. I experienced it in Philly. It’s rewarding to see how the industry is using the technology in this time of crisis to inform their listeners and create a deeper sense of community with digital radio.

Radio Ink: Give us a sense of how HD1, HD2, etc., channels are working for sta-tions.D’Angelo: It’s unbelievable what’s hap-pened over the years. Originally called Tomorrow Radio and championed by Mike Starling, CTO of NPR, we now have 2,459 HD Radio stations delivering a total of over 4,767 audio programs. That’s 2,308 new digital-only channels across North America. In my perspective, and we’re starting to see this reflected in the Nielsen studies, these channels are giving radio listeners more choice and additional reasons to stay with radio. We like to say, “Tune over rather than tune out.” Listeners can now tune to the HD2, HD3, or HD4 channels to hear more programing curated by their favorite and trusted radio stations. We’ve seen fantastic programming launch across the country over the years. In the very early days of HD Radio, iHeart launched Pride Radio, which continues to

“It’s rewarding

to see how the industry

is using HD Radio

technology in this time of crisis to

inform their listeners

and create a deeper sense of

community with digital

radio.”


19SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

expand in new markets, and following the CBS Radio acquisition, Entercom launched Channel Q, both specifically bringing programming to the LGBTQ+ community around the country. We’ve seen fantas-tic engagement with those formats and brands. Most recently, we’ve seen iHeart launch the Black Information Network, which is on in a number of markets with HD Radio. These are great examples of the industry meeting the needs of communities. Radio Ink: Are broadcasters doing their part, launching new services that are helpful to you?D’Angelo: Yes, absolutely. And more importantly, services that are meaning-fully impactful to their in-car audiences. The operation and quality of program-ming that broadcasters are putting on air with HD Radio is exceptional. Advanced HD Radio services like Artist Experience, which delivers synchronized images with audio programming, are creating an amazing visual digital radio experience. Radio has become a multi-

media experience thanks to HD Radio. In this digital age, the broadcasters have to pay as much attention to the metadata describing their audio as they do the audio itself, and they’re doing that. They’re putting rich metadata, descriptive text, compelling images alongside their audio programs. It’s driving an amazing user experience in the vehicle, making content more engaging and advertising more memorable.

Radio Ink: What is the future of the dash, and how does all this fit in?D’Angelo: The dashboard is becoming a hyper-competitive audio environment. The number of technologies and services that are converging in the car is increas-ing dramatically. I’m sure you have seen implementations of mirroring technolo-gies like CarPlay that bring streaming audio services into the car from your phone, but now we have the introduc-tion of Android Automotive, which is an embedded operating system that can provide a complete integrated entertain-ment environment. All of these streaming

audio platforms present challenges for broadcast radio, but while everyone can stream and have an app, only broadcast-ers can deliver free over-the-air services enhanced by HD Radio. At Xperi, we’ve dedicated ourselves to ensuring broadcast radio has a domi-nant position in the connected car while preserving over-the-air listening. To that end, we’ve developed a new offering, the global DTS Connected Radio system, to ensure broadcasters around the world are able to exploit this convergence of technologies and control the end user experience. We’ve extended our technology and commercial relationships with both broadcasters and the automotive industry to design this hybrid service that will not only help radio retain its prominence in the dash, but also open up new business opportunities. Features that are expected in other digital audio platforms, like com-prehensive program guides, intuitive con-tent discovery, rich program metadata, and the ability to listen to IP-delivered audio are now available in the broadcast

The D'Angelo family: in front, Joe D'Angelo's son Joey, parents Joe and Marcia, and daughter Elizabeth. In back, Joe with daughters Catherine and Victoria.



radio experience thanks to DTS Connected Radio.

Radio Ink: Where do you think radio fits into the future?D’Angelo: I believe radio will continue to play a critical role in audio (in the car, in the home, and on mobile) long into the future. Every broadcast radio group we work with has been extremely focused on developing and implementing compre-hensive digital strategies. When you look at what radio is today, and over the next five, 10, 15 years, there’s a roadmap, a migration that leverages and blends technologies. Broadcasters are utilizing all technologies available to them today, whether it’s ana-log radio with RDS, HD Radio, or DAB+ for broadcast services, as well as all the digi-tal platforms and ecosystems that have emerged. Radio is defining a roadmap for the industry that’s extremely compelling,

flexible, and will enable radio to continue to do what it does best, which is program and connect with local communities. How the content is delivered will clearly evolve over time, just like it did from AM to FM, analog to HD Radio. I think we will see a world where IP-delivered audio and broadcast-deliv-ered audio coexist for a long period of time. That will be a fantastic time for broadcasters. They’ll be able to apply new technologies to their programming to make it more discoverable and bring their audiences deeper into their catalog of content. You are already seeing it now with the podcast investments and brand extensions broadcasters are doing on the content side. The technologies Xperi is bringing to the marketplace, especially in the car, will enable broadcasters to serve their audiences through a variety of distribu-tion platforms — along with the ability to enable voice interfaces, which are critical

to next-generation in-car infotainment. As broadcasters offer more and more content, I’m excited to see the solutions from Xperi making the audio experience discoverable, personalized, and engaging.

Radio Ink: Are you constantly interacting with radio stations? What do you want them to know about what you’re doing?D’Angelo: Communications within this communications industry is a challenge, mainly due to the size and scale of the industry, not only in the U.S.A. but around the world. It’s difficult to reach deep into the industry, and that’s why I welcome this opportunity. With regard to HD Radio, it is a compelling digital solution that has scale in North America and is enjoyed daily by tens of millions of people across Canada, the U.S.A., and Mexico. There are revenue-generating oppor-tunities that all broadcasters should embrace. It’s more affordable than ever

The HD Radio team (l-r): Lisa Ballesteros, Sandra Sullivan, Juan Galdamez, Jeff Detweiler, Joe D'Angelo, Pat Walsh, Jeff Jury, and Donna Detweiler


21SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

for stations to convert to digital. If they haven’t, I’d strongly encourage them to take a look and reach out to their equip-ment suppliers to see what can be done. With millions of vehicles on the road and in some markets, like New York, over 30% penetration, it’s time for each sta-tion to plan their digital broadcast tran-sition. That being said, I’d also encourage broadcasters: if you don’t have an inte-grated digital strategy that includes apps and rich metadata, you should. Those technologies are more affordable than ever. They’re great ways to bring your brand and programming to your audience. By doing that you’re preparing for the connected car and the connected home. Metadata is critical in the crowded digital audio landscape. Pay attention to it, curate it, and make it engaging. Done well, it will deliver meaningful benefits in the connected car, where you’ll be competing for ear share. Metadata will drive the discovery of your station and will no doubt ensure increased time spent listening. Do everything you can with the digital platforms available.

Radio Ink: Please explain what the DTS radio platform is.D’Angelo: DTS Connected Radio is a hybrid digital radio platform that has been developed by Xperi to combine the best of over-the-air broadcast services with IP-delivered content and informa-tion. This platform has been purpose-built to deliver a global platform to broadcasters and automakers, ensuring a robust and consistent hybrid radio experi-ence for audiences around the world. While Xperi is the company behind HD Radio, DTS Connected Radio has been designed to work with analog and HD Radio as well as DAB+ radio stations, and as a result, delivers a truly global solution for automakers. This system starts first with an IP-delivered live, local program guide for all the over-the-air stations that can be received by an in-car radio. You can think of it like the program guide on your TV. We list all the radio stations available in the market and what song or program is playing on that station at that time. We deliver all this information in about 500

milliseconds. The driver now has a clear understanding of the depth of broadcast programming at their fingertips. Once a station is selected, our back-end system immediately begins to deliver rich meta-data to the vehicle, enhancing and enrich-ing the user experience while the over-the-air audio plays as you’d expect. If the vehicle begins to drive out of coverage, we enable the listener to switch over to the stream of the station and to continue listening on their drive. One of the more exciting innovations has been the recent integration with TiVo’s world-class music metadata catalogue. In early June, Xperi merged with TiVo, which has given us the immediate opportunity to take the best technology and services from the legacy companies and integrate them into the DTS Connected Radio platform. What’s unique about our platform and approach to hybrid radio with DTS Connected Radio is that it’s a global sys-tem, with currently over 100,000 local broadcast radio stations representing 70-plus countries, and it ensures broad-casters maintain editorial control over the entire user experience. Xperi acts as a trusted, secure intermediary, aggregating, harmonizing, and distributing compelling, accurate information on behalf of radio stations to enhance the user experience. By playing this role, it ensures drivers know what’s on air, can easily find pro-gramming, and have a rich, engaging experience around the world. And we do this all at no cost to the broadcaster. Building this system was a significant challenge and demonstrates Xperi’s com-mitment to ensure broadcast radio stays prominent in vehicles, and I’m happy to say we have received tremendous support from U.S. broadcasters such as Beasley, Cox, Entercom, iHeart, NPR (and member stations like WNYC), and Salem as well as international broadcasters like the BBC, Bauer Media, Global, NPO, Les Indes, and all of Commercial Radio Australia, just to name a few. In addition, we aggregate content from platforms such as RadioApp and Radioplayer and leverage open source station information via RadioDNS services. To the audience, this is radio on ste-roids. The listeners will still to tune to their favorite local broadcast station and get a completely new, modern, interactive radio experience.

Radio Ink: Does the radio industry know it will be launched this year?D’Angelo: Yes, we’ve discussed our com-mercialization plans and demonstrated the system at a number of industry trade shows (CES, NAB, Radio Days Europe, and Radio Alive) and done direct integrations with a significant number of broadcast-ers. They’re all generally aware of our roadmap and timeframe. In addition, our automotive supplier partners Alpine, Harman, Hyundai Mobis, LG Electronics, NXP, Panasonic, and Visteon have announced or demonstrated their support for DTS Connected Radio. We can’t be specific about the launch partner and timing, but stay tuned.

Radio ink: Is there any way for radio to take sales advantage of that new platform?D’Angelo: Absolutely there is. This plat-form will unlock tremendous opportuni-ties for commercial and public service broadcasters alike. The first-generation platform will enable broadcasters to enhance any piece of audio with text, images, and a call to action. Plus a simple phone number that can be easily dialed with one click in the car. There are really a number of possibili-ties. Our integration with Quu Interactive is a great example of a dual-use platform that can both serve over-the-air as well as push advertising content into DTS Connected Radio. On our roadmap are services like per-sonalization and recommendation, which will unlock even more value and opportu-nities for broadcasters. We can then bet-ter understand their listening habits and provide recommendations for them. All of this, if you think in the broader digital context, fits into a digital strategy that allows broadcasters to personalize ads and increase metrics and analytics.

Radio Ink: Why are you building that platform?D’Angelo: Over 20 years ago we started with the HD Radio platform, expanded into the broadcast studio systems and mobile apps, and we remain extremely committed to the broadcast radio industry. From our unique position as a technology vendor serving thousands of broadcasters and all major auto manufac-



turers, we saw what was happening in the car with connectivity and recognized the opportunity that hybrid radio presented. The more we studied the challenges and opportunities, the more we realized that hybrid radio would need a cham-pion. Someone who was willing to invest in building technology and services that could support simple, global deployment for car companies and provide a platform for all broadcasters around the world. Car companies demanded a cost-effective solution that could deliver a consistent and secure user experience everywhere they sold their vehicles. For Xperi, it was a perfect fit. We have decades of experience implementing technology in vehicles, running complex ecosystems, and managing consumer-facing services. It was an opportunity to invest in the long-term future of an indus-try we believe in and are proud to provide solutions to. DTS Connected is the next evolution in broadcast radio technology.

Radio Ink: You mentioned analytics earlier. How will that work with this new system?

D’Angelo: This is a complex topic, and while there are huge opportunities, there are real challenges posed by privacy regulations and automotive manufactur-ers’ policies, and any insights into our system operations and usage will first be governed by those policies. That said, our first-generation con-nected radio platform will offer broad-casters some basic information about in-car listening patterns and audience behavior. We will share this information with stations, as allowed, which they can integrate with their own attribution plat-forms for analysis and action. In addition, we’ve developed a station dashboard where the stations can come into the connected-radio ecosystem and initially set up information about their station such as logo, genre, call signs, etc. That platform will be extended to provide a dashboard for stations to understand their audiences’ behavior in our connected radio implementations. We don’t plan to stop there, however. As we move to support more advanced discovery and personalization, we believe there will be a more significant opportu-

nity around advanced analytics and met-rics from our platform. Again, stay tuned.

Radio Ink: What will it take for radio to compete for that space next to the Spotifys and Apples of the digital world?D’Angelo: We’re working hard to make sure the radio button, so to speak, remains prominent in the dash. We’re working with the industry to make sure there’s a level playing field when it comes to technology and the user experience. That’s what DTS Connected Radio offers. As long as radio continues to do what it does best, which is provide the best pro-gramming in the world, whether it’s spoken word or curated music, they’ll retain their audience. There won’t be any technology deficit. They’ll be everywhere their listen-ers want to listen to them. Their content is so much more compelling than what you can get from those generic algorithmic dig-ital audio platforms (you know the ones). The localism of radio and connection with the community is something that none of those large global audio platforms will ever be able to take away from radio.

This vintage pic shows dad Joe D'Angelo, a young Joe on the bike, mom Marcia, and sister Elena.


23SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

What are your hobbies? Skiing and golf.

Who is/was your role model, and why? My parents, Marcia and Joe D’Angelo. They are some pair (you know, if you’ve met them) and continue to be a guiding influence in my life. Married for over 50 years, they have taught me a lot about hard work, compassion, respect, and community. My dad was the first in his family to go to college and rose to head a division of the Hearst Corporation. My mom, always by his side, supporting him and keeping us grounded as a family. They have persevered through many challenges with grace, kindness, and dignity, and the example they’ve set has had significant impact on my character.

What are you reading right now? Fraternity, Diane Brady; Autumn of the Black Snake, William Hogeland; All You Need to Know About the Music Business (10th Edition), Donald S. Passman

What is your favorite movie?The Shawshank Redemption

What is your favorite TV show?M*A*S*H

Twitter handle?@DangeloJoseph

Instagram?joe.dangelo.54

Who are the three most interesting people you know (outside your family), and why?

Stan Lee, creator of so many iconic superheroes and one of the kindest people I’ve known. Stan worked closely with my father for years, during which time I got to know him pretty well. While a creative genius, he had some ups and downs in business and came out on top and universally loved. He gave me some great advice early on in my career with iBiquity, along the lines of: be fair to the creative community, help them reach their audience, and the rewards will come. Eli Noam, Ph.D., professor at Columbia Business School and director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. He had significant impact in developing my interest in the intersection of new technology and traditional media, which eventually led me to my 20-plus years helping to redefine broadcast radio technology. Raymond Joslin, group head of Hearst Entertainment and Syndication and my father’s boss for many years. One of the pioneers of the cable TV industry, he was an amazing mentor and adviser to me over the years.

If you had 30 minutes and a recorder, who would you interview, and why? My paternal grandfather, Francesco D’Angelo. I never got to meet him, but at the age of 16, he traveled from Sicily to Ellis Island on his own, arriving in the 1890s, got married, started a business in New York City, raised a family, survived the Depression, and lived through some of the most interesting times in history. His commitment to family, community, and hard work

are evident throughout my family, and I’d love the opportunity to learn more about the foundation of our family.

Name three radio stations you listened to as a kid.WLIR, WPLJ, WNEW

What are three apps you have on your phone that would surprise people?WHCP Radio App — thanks to Mike StarlingClash of Clans — thanks to JoeyHeadspace

Three favorite podcasts?Stuff You Should KnowThe Joe Rogan ExperienceRadiolab

Your most embarrassing career moment?First 17 seconds of my 2017 speech at the Next Radio Conference in the Royal Institution in London. Let’s just say my attempt at humor fell flat. It’s good for a laugh over a beer if you want the details.

What one goal has eluded you?Running a marathon, but I think there’s still time.

Most proud career achievement so far?Getting into one of the nearly 70 million cars available with HD Radio technology, tuning to an HD Radio station, and knowing that I played a part in helping this great industry evolve and embrace the digital future.

SIDELINES


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TIPS TO MANAGE SUCCESSFULLY DURING A ......2020/09/07 · HD Radio, and the results are very posi-tive. More and more consumers have HD Radio receivers, love the performance, and