Year: 2024

MBC LOUD FM, Saudi Arabia’s first English commercial radio station by MBC GROUP, announces the launch of its new breakfast show, set to debut this April.MBC GROUP is the largest and leading media organisation in the Middle East and North Africa.“The Byron Cooke Show, with Sana K” features MBC LOUD FM’s newest appointments – internationally renowned radio presenter Byron Cooke, and emerging GCC-based talent Sana Kothari. The show – scheduled to launch on Sunday 28th April 2024 – will broadcast live on MBC LOUD FM from 6 to 10am Sunday to Thursday, and 10am to 12pm on Saturdays.MBC LOUD FM’s current breakfast show, “The Daily Wake Up” with Jay R and Danah will be moving to the Weekday Drive time slot from 4pm, with details on the full line-up to be revealed soon.Alex Agishev, Head of Content for MBC Loud FM, stated: “We can’t wait to launch ‘The Byron Cooke Show, with Sana K’ on MBC LOUD FM.  Byron is a world-class personality, with an incredible ability to connect with local audiences, whether it’s through engaging content or live, on ground broadcasts. Sana is an exciting new GCC talent, a prolific content creator and together with Byron, will provide an entertaining start to the day for Saudi Arabia  on MBC LOUD FM.”A winner of the International Radio Personality of the Year Award at the Worldwide Radio Summit (WWRS) in Los Angeles, Cooke is a highly experienced and respected broadcaster having worked in major markets across Australia, the United Kingdom, and the USA.Most recently heard on breakfast at KIIS 101.1 in Melbourne, Australia, Cooke has worked  on top-rating shows at 101.9 The Fox Melbourne and across the Hit/Triple M Networks nationally. Other global roles include a stint on XFM London, Indie 103.1 Los Angeles, and the launch of his own unique commercial FM radio format in Northern California – the X 103.9 Revolution – in 2006.In addition to winning multiple Australian Commercial Radio Awards, Cooke was also named a Podcast Host/Presenter of the Year Finalist at the Radio Today Podcast Awards in Australia for his independently produced weekly podcast in 2021.Commenting on his signing with MBC LOUD FM, Cooke said: “Saudi Arabia is the world’s fastest-growing expat market and MBC LOUD FM is the Kingdom’s first English commercial radio station. To say I’m excited would be an understatement. Cue the Ronaldo goal celebrations!”Joining Cooke as co-host on the new show is Sana Kothari, an emerging talent who was discovered in a nationwide search to find new radio talent on Virgin Radio in the UAE.A culture-focused and personality-driven presenter, Kothari is always on the hunt for a good story. Born and raised in Belgium before living in New York, Paris, and Dubai, her work in media has ranged from digital to print through experiences as a content creator and presenter for several of Dubai’s New Media Academy projects, as well as a newsreader, reporter for the Arabian Radio Network (ARN).Speaking of her signing, Sana said: “I’m so excited to be joining the team at MBC LOUD FM and teaming up with Byron to bring a vibrant new sound to the Saudi Radio landscape! I’m looking forward to exploring a new culture, trying every local dish I can find, and adding Arabic to my resume.”MBC LOUD FM’s current breakfast show, “The Daily Wake Up” with Jay R and Danah will be moving to the Weekday Drive time slot from 4pm, with details on the full line-up to be revealed soon. […]

ENCO is building on its legacy of radio automation leadership with the direct integration of AI and cloud toolsets into its DAD automation workflow. At NAB Show 2024, ENCO will show how built-in WebDAD functionality simplifies and improves on-air and production workflows by extending DAD’s reach to more places through a scalable and affordable architecture. ENCO will also unveil the integration of AITrack for voice tracking and dynamic content insertion within the DAD and WebDAD architecture. ENCO exhibits at Booth W1743.ENCO’s WebDAD platform extends the DAD universe in a more streamlined manner, allowing users to manage and control studio based ENCO DAD radio automation systems from anywhere. Offering remote access for everything from uploading content and modifying playlists to voice tracking, WebDAD enables flexible remote working models for broadcasters by letting users efficiently manage their on-air and production operations even when personnel isn’t physically in the station’s facilities.ENCO has added several new features to WebDAD that better align the user experience with traditional DAD systems. Top of this list is the addition of DAD’s familiar Presenter on-air interface, providing remote WebDAD operators with the same live assist interface users enjoy in the on-air studio. WebDAD also now offers more granular control over user permissions, including controlled access to libraries, functions and systems; and added support for third-party accessibility, simplifying usability for people with impairments or disabilities.“WebDAD’s expanded capabilities elevate it beyond being a reliable remote access tool,” said Ken Frommert, President, ENCO. “Visitors to our NAB booth will see first-hand how WebDAD now packs the power of DAD into a lighter platform, with the flexibility to control their on-air systems within the local studio or in the cloud from a web browser. We are actively turning the broadcaster’s local DAD infrastructure into a global on-air and production network. With WebDAD’s lightweight, studio-ready feature set, we also see opportunity to slim down the in-studio automation infrastructure as we deepen its integration within DAD’s framework.”ENCO will also demonstrate the benefits of using AITrack, one of two AI applications that ENCO previewed last year at NAB, as part of the DAD and WebDAD workflow. Introduced as a simple automatic voice track application, ENCO has evolved the AITrack universe as a multifaceted AI production toolset. Users can now pre-schedule and customize automated voice tracks that use synthetic voices to produce natural-sounding, engaging content between songs. AITrack also amplifies the on-air experience, providing instant turnaround for dynamic insertions of breaking news, weather, sports and more into live broadcasts. Operators can also create and schedule unique content, such as summarizing earlier shows or giving a detailed introduction of future song blocks, within DAD for playout at specified times.“Making AITrack a genuine part of the automation workflow means that our customers can deliver engaging content in any daypart and at any time, whether pre-scheduled or conceived in the moment,” said Frommert. “In addition to voice tracking and scheduling common on-air events such as song intros, station IDs, sports scores and weather forecasts, AITrack makes it easy to inject more creativity into the broadcast. Whether pre-scheduled or dynamic, AITrack leverages generative AI models and synthetic speech engines to provide engaging content for listeners in new and exciting ways, and without a heavy lift on the production side. AITrack essentially assumes the role of the AI DJ.”ENCO will also demonstrate its SPECai solution, which leverages generative AI models to create spec ads with human-sounding voices within seconds. NAB Show 2024 takes place April 14-17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. […]