[This is the third installment
in my republication of the American Theatre
series on sound design from the July/August 2019 issue of TCG’s monthly
magazine. TJ Acena looks at the way
theater sound techs can guard against the interference with their wireless
stage (and back stage) mics from other, outside transmissions.
[As
I noted on the last entry, the articles in this series aren’t related
contextually; each report stands on its own.
They do share a general topic, however, so I strongly recommend that
readers catch all eight of the AT articles presented on Rick
On Theatre. Go back to 25 and 28
March to pick up Articles 1-4 to get the full coverage of the subject.]
What is ‘white space,’ and
what is the FCC doing about theatre’s ever-crowding sound systems? An
explainer.
How do you make actors
heard 50 rows back? How do you make them heard as they sing over an
orchestra? How do you make them heard as they mutter conspiratorially to
themselves?
The answer to all these:
wireless microphones. Large theatres (and even many small ones) rely on this
technology to make sure audiences hear every word of a performance. Unless
something goes wrong with the equipment, like interference, most audience
members don’t even think about what makes it possible. But many U.S. resident
theatres worry that interference in their systems might increase, and it’s out
of their hands. It’s in the hands of the Federal Communications Commission.
To understand why, you need to
understand how these devices work. Wireless microphones turn audio signals into
radio waves and transmit those signals through the air to receivers nearby.
Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation with frequencies between 3
kilohertz (3,000 hertz) and 300 gigahertz (300 billion hertz). Those numbers
will be important later.
The benefits of wireless microphones
were immediately obvious to theatres. If microphones followed the actors, the
technology would produce better sound quality. As the devices got smaller, more
reliable, and more cost-effective, their use spread. These days a Broadway
production will likely have more than 50 microphones running each night. And
they aren’t just used for actors; backstage crews also rely on them to stay in
constant contact with each other as they call cues and move sets during the
show. Assisted-listening devices that serve hearing-impaired patrons use
wireless technology as well.
With so many microphones in
the mix, a production has to coordinate their use or the audience might hear
interference from other technology. That means each microphone in a production
is set to a specific frequency. This also helps keep theatres in close
proximity from interfering with each other.
But these frequencies are just
a small ecosystem inside a much larger one. Radio waves are broadcast
across the entire planet, by hundreds of thousands of entities and individuals,
and many with far stronger equipment.
In 1965 the United Nations
formed the International Telecommunication Union to regulate the use
of the electromagnetic spectrum across the planet. Each country in the UN has a
government agency that controls how the spectrum is used within its borders. In
the U.S. we have the FCC, which allocates use to state and local governments
plus science and business organizations.
For much of their existence,
television stations operated between 300 (300 million hertz) and 700 megahertz
in the electromagnetic spectrum, in an area called the ultra high frequency
(UHF). Each TV station is licensed to operate at a specific frequency. TV
viewers see this as each individual channel. If two television channels use
frequencies too close to each other they might cause interference during their
broadcasts, so there has to be a buffer between them—unused frequencies. These
buffer zones are called “white space.”
In the 1970s, manufacturers of
wireless microphones began to adapt their equipment to operate in this white
space. Most systems operated in the top of the spectrum (700 megahertz),
because it provided the best sound quality. These wireless microphones weren’t
eligible to be licensed, but the FCC allowed them to operate there because they
weren’t powerful enough to cause interference with television stations.
For decades this was the
status quo. Then in 2008 the FCC opened up white space to other commercial
operations. Tech companies had been developing “white space
devices”—electronics that send and receive data in white space—and were eager
to get them in use. The most prominent application of this technology is
providing wireless internet.
Large rural swathes of the
country still don’t have the infrastructure for high-speed internet, and
service providers don’t see it as cost-effective to install it. This means that
around 24 million Americans live in areas without access to fast, reliable
online service. This is where these new white space devices have begun to see
use: Radio waves in the white spaces are far more powerful than traditional
wireless hotspots, and walls don’t interfere with them.
But—do you see where this is
going?—this presents a problem for wireless microphone users, because white
space devices create interference when they’re in close proximity. And because
wireless microphones were unlicensed, they didn’t have protection from other
devices encroaching on their white space.
This move by the FCC caught
the attention of nonprofit service organization[s] Theatre Communications
Group (TCG), the publisher of this magazine, and the Performing Arts
Alliance (PAA), a coalition of arts service organizations that advocates
for nonprofit arts organizations before Congress and federal agencies. “The
coalition was founded to coordinate efforts, find consensus about our issues
and positions on those issues, and represent a larger collective of members
that could be moved to action together,” says Laurie Baskin, TCG’s director of
Research, Policy & Collective Action. TCG recently organized the Performing
Arts Wireless Microphone Working Group to advocate as a coalition of performing
arts service organizations on this issue.
More than a decade ago TCG
joined the Coalition of Wireless Microphone Users, which included
professional sports leagues, commercial theatres, performing arts service
organizations, a religious organization, and various news outlets. The two
coalitions scheduled numerous meetings at the FCC, submitted comments and ex
parte letters, and held demonstrations for FCC officials; all of these combined
efforts resulted in the agency revising its decision. This development allowed
unlicensed wireless microphone users to continue using white space and proposed
to offer them protection from white space devices by creating geolocation
databases. Users could register their needs in the database and list the time,
location, and frequencies they would be using. White space devices were
designed to check the database in real time to make sure they wouldn’t
interfere with microphones in their area.
But then there was a sea
change in broadcasting technology, which had unintended consequences for the
future of white space. In 2009 U.S. television stations switched from analog to
digital broadcasting (you might remember having to replace your television or
buy an adapter). Digital broadcasting uses a lot less frequency than analog, so
television stations suddenly took up a lot less space.
With a little rearranging this
space made prime real estate, and unlicensed wireless microphone users were
suddenly seen as squatters. “It became a farmers-vs.-cattleman range war,” says
Dave Pawlik, a communications, media, and entertainment lawyer who works with
TCG. The FCC ordered wireless microphone users to vacate the 700 megahertz
band, and that frequency was sold off in an auction to telecom companies. Most
wireless microphone users moved down to the 600 megahertz band.
Wireless microphones are
designed to operate on specific frequencies, not the entire range of the radio
spectrum, so this move meant a lot of equipment became obsolete all around the
country. Many organizations needed to purchase entirely new systems, spending
anywhere from $25,000 to $130,000. This is a capital expense for an arts
organization—not easy to scrape up quickly.
The geolocation database for
white space devices went live at the end of 2012, but earlier that year
Congress had authorized the FCC to repackage the spectrum and auction off the
600 megahertz range. The white space that wireless microphones had moved into
was about to disappear again.
Digital television stations
can operate closer to each other than analog stations, so white space between
stations was going to shrink too. All this compression risked increasing the
possibility of wireless microphone users coming into contact with each other
and white space devices.
In 2014 the FCC decided to
restrict use of the geolocation database to only the largest users of wireless
microphones. These users were made eligible to apply for a license under
existing rules known as “Part 74,” which historically has been reserved for
broadcast entities like TV and radio stations. But to qualify for a license, an
organization had to use 50 or more wireless microphones on a regular basis. So
only a few of the largest theatres in the country qualified under this ruling.
All the others were not allowed to access the geolocation database that would
grant them protection from interference.
While TCG continued to lobby
the FCC, the agency began its second incentive auction, from March 29, 2016, to
March 30, 2017, and T-Mobile ended up with the largest part of the spectrum.
The federal government made $19.8 billion from the auction.
Despite the sale there were
still theatres with wireless microphone systems using the 600 megahertz range
after the auction, hoping to delay another capital expense. They had some
breathing room, as many auction winners didn’t have plans to take immediate
control of the new spectrum nationwide; they have until 2021 to claim it.
The Oregon Shakespeare
Festival was one of those wait-and-see companies. “During the summer
nights we’ll have over 50 wireless microphones in use,” says Josh Horvath, OSF’s
sound department manager. “But typically we aren’t using them every day. And
every year is different. This year is a big season for wireless microphones.
Next year it might only be the outdoor space. It’s a challenge to prove it.”
All of the company’s microphones
were in the 600 megahertz frequencies. “We’re in a rural area, so we didn’t
worry that much,” says Horvath. “But then we got notice that T-Mobile had
decided to roll out their new services in rural areas first.”
This included Ashland, the
home of Oregon Shakes. The company had to scramble to purchase new equipment,
which totaled more than $130,000. It was a huge hit financially for the
theatre, especially after smoke from Southern Oregon wildfires cost the
organization around $2 million that summer.
At long last, in response to
filings by TCG and other performing arts organizations, the FCC opened a
rule-making proceeding to consider expanding licensing to include theatre,
music, performing arts, or similar organizations so they could qualify for a
Part 74 license without meeting the threshold of 50 mics. The only objection to
this expansion came from Microsoft, which has been invested in developing a
rural broadband plan for more than a decade.
“The FCC is worried that if
they open that door too wide, then anyone could get a license,” says Pawlik.
“But they are looking for a way to draw the line that will satisfy the
Administrative Procedure Act.” The APA governs how federal agencies set
regulations to ensure they are not “arbitrary and capricious.”
Baskin is sure a common-sense
approach would work. “An organization has to have the capacity to purchase and
operate this equipment,” she notes. “It will be a self-selecting group of
organizations.” She points out that under the current rules, even a major New
York theatre like Manhattan Theatre Club does not qualify for a license.
“Theatres will still need sound equipment. They can’t go back to wired
microphones. What would that do to the quality of performances?”
It’s possible to rent
microphone systems for productions, and these tend to come with licenses to
operate them. But Baskin says that’s cost-prohibitive, and not even possible in
all parts of the country.
Every time a government agency
proposes a change to the regulations it oversees, the change must be put up for
public comment. TCG began collecting support letters from arts organizations
around the country. Since theatres, operas, symphonies, and dance companies
represent a $7.8 billion dollar industry annually, it’s hoped the FCC will pay
attention to this important sector.
The Performing Arts
Wireless Microphone Working Group has gotten a lot of support from
wireless mic manufacturers as well, such as Sennheiser and Shure. “They want to
sell microphones,” says Pawlik. “If there’s no space for them to operate, then
they can’t do that.” But the FCC has been pushing manufacturers to improve the
technology. “The best wireless microphones are still analog. The companies
haven’t been able to move to digital without latency issues.”
Public comment closed in 2017,
but the FCC has remained silent on the future of white space. “I think they’re
waiting for someone to complain about interference,” says Pawlik. “There is no
timeline that they need to rule by.”
Meanwhile, the repackaging of
the radio spectrum continues and white space continues to dry up. “It’s harder
to find frequencies that work,” says Horvath. “We set all the microphones for
use that day in the morning. But by the time the evening rolls around, before
the shows, they have interference.”
TCG is trying to look ahead.
While white space devices are still not in common use, partly due to the higher
prices of emerging technology, everyone expects costs to go down as the
technology continues to develop. And the devices might expand beyond stationary
Wi-Fi spots. “Mobile white space devices are still in research and
development,” says Baskin. “With the release of more spectrum, this has created
new possibilities for them.” It’s impossible to predict how technology might
change and impact the field.
Even if the FCC expands
protections for wireless microphones, the future still isn’t certain. “We don’t
own the frequencies,” says Horvath. “They could take them away again. We have
no power at all.”
[Portland, Oregon-based writer and freelance arts
journalist TJ Acena is a member of the Rising Leaders of Color Program’s
2017 cohort. His work has appeared in Hello Mr., Pacifica
Literary Review, and is forthcoming in Dispatches from Anarres, a
collection of short fiction in tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin (October 2021). His
arts journalism has appeared in the Portland Mercury, The Oregonian,
and American Theatre magazine.
[Article 6 of the sound design
collection will be published on Saturday, 3 April. It will cover how sound designers determine
and manipulate acoustics to create the effects they (and their directors)
want. Please return to ROT in
three days to read what author Naveen Kumar dubs the sound designer’s equivalent
to the director’s playing space.]
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