Read all about the panel of great experts who will be speaking at AER Special Focus Workshop at Radiodays Europe!
Lausanne – 31.03.2019
Alexander Erk, Sen Engineer, Head of Media Services and Applications – IRT, the Institution for Broadcasting Technology
Alexander Erk, born 1971, studied Computer Science at the University of Applied Sciences in Würzburg. He completed his diploma thesis at IRT in the area of virtual studio technology. Since 1998 he has been active at IRT for projects such as CustomTV (ACTS), which developed interactive TV services based on MPEG-4 scene description. With the advent of MHP, Alexander Erk was involved in development of IRT’s MHP implementation, in MHP application development for the German public broadcasters and in the MHP standardisation process. Since 2008, he is leading the Department of Media Services and Applications. He was actively involved in the specification process of HbbTV and was the chair of the HbbTV testing group until 2011. The department of Media Services and Applications at IRT is furthermore developing use-cases and technologies for purely IP based content delivery as well as the hybrid provision of broadcast and on demand services esp. in the area of digital radio. Alexander Erk is representing IRT in WorldDAB Technical Committee and is member of the RadioDNS Steering Board.
Floris Daelemans, Radioactive Researcher – VRT
Floris started doing radio at age 11 and hasn’t stopped doing so ever since. The moment that his first improvised radio show on a home-built FM transmitter was audible on the receiver in the next room was truly magical. It inspired him to pursue a hobby that eventually turned into a career. Being equally interested in computers and digital technology led to a degree in Systems Architecture and programming. That unique combo of skills allows him to break down radio to its very foundation, and to build it up again in innovative ways. Floris is a presenter of radio shows and podcasts, and an Innovation Researcher at VRT, the Flemish public broadcaster in Belgium.
Rüdiger Landgraf, Programme Director – KRONEHIT
Rüdiger Landgraf, MA, MBA, is Programme Director of Austria‘s only nationwide commercial radio station KRONEHIT. Austria was one of the latest countries to allow nationwide commercial radio. This happened in 2004, when the nationwide KRONEHIT was born. By that time Rüdiger worked at the commercial radio station “88.6” on air in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. Since 1991 Rüdiger has worked in commercial radio. He started his radio career at the pirate station “103.3” in Vienna and at ‘shopping radio’ before he changed to 88.6 and KRONEHIT. At KRONEHIT he first became Head of the Editorial Department. As the former Programmer Director Christian Schalt left the radio station in 2007, Rüdiger got the job as Programme Director of KRONEHIT, where he has remained more than ten years later. Rüdiger is one of the pioneers of commercial radio in Austria, and one of the most knowledgeable insiders of the agile radio market there. He is a lecturer of media management at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, and he currently also consults stations in Slovakia and in Slovenia. Rüdiger is one of the experts when it comes to the future of commercial radio and he attends a lot of conferences concerning that topic. He is no supporter of the digital radio distribution standard DAB+, as it is right now. In his blog he points out that attempts to establish DAB+ in other countries like Norway failed. The Norwegian youth radio station NRK P3 lost about one third of their listeners as they switched from VHF to DAB+. Therefore KRONEHIT, as well as the public radio stations of ORF, are not participating in the pilot scheme of DAB+ in Austria.
Martin Holovlasky, Head of New and Digital – KRONEHIT
Martin Holovlasky has a more than two decades lasting reputation as innovation driven media technologist. He started his radio-career in 1998 on a self-reliant bases for several radio stations in the just evolving Austrian commercial radio scene. Based on his studies at the Technical University of Vienna and the University of applied science St. Poelten he planned and co-founded the first Austrian educational radio station, Campusradio 94.4. It was in 2003 when he did research on “Audio transportation in IP-networks” for his first master thesis, a topic that took another 15 years to reach the level of standardization. After several years of work for many Austrian and some German radio stations he started an eight-year excursion to television. During this period, he accounted for the success of central elements of the international media coverage for events like the Olympic games, Formula 1 and similar, doing pioneer work in IP-based remote production workflows. In 2014 he returned to his radio-roots and re-joined Kronehit. Since then his work is focused on all aspects of distribution. Ranging from classic terrestrial distribution to the technical aspects of nowadays means of program distribution. In this context he strongly believes in the necessity of early adoption of future technologies, such as 5G, and the therefrom arising possibilities for commercial programme providers.
Benjamin Ricaud, Researcher – Signal Processing Laboratory 2, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
Benjamin Ricaud is a researcher at the Signal Processing Laboratory 2, EPFL, Switzerland. His research interests range from theoretical to applied aspects of data and signal processing. His recent work focuses on machine learning, data science and graph-based data processing. He has a PhD in mathematical physics from the University of Toulon, France (2007). Since 2007, he has held successive research positions at CNRS, at the University of Marseilles, France, and at EPFL, Switzerland.
Robert Förster, Founder & Chief Executive Officer – Multicast Media GmbH
Robert Förster is Co-Founder and CEO of Multicast Media. His AI – Startup is currently one of the 100 most innovative companies in Germany. Together with his team of highly specialized developers, he wants to take radio to a new level – or in better words: to a new platform. Robert studied media management and has been a passionate radio strategist for almost 20 years. As a part of the program management team at BB RADIO and Germanys first kids & family radio station – Radio TEDDY – he was responsible for content control and strategic planning. He is now a translator between the linear broadcast world and the HighTech AI Developers World. With AI Technology, he now wants to adapt the content to the new conditions of use and thus win new target groups for radio.
Nick Piggott, Project Director, RadioDNS Project – Moderator
Nick has spent the majority of his career working in the radio industry, initially in programming and then moving to digital radio and online innovation. He created a much awarded multi-skilled team which launched the world’s first commercial DAB digital radio stations, and then went on to consistently deliver technology driven innovation for over a decade. Nick continues to play an active role in the development of DAB digital radio, most recently in the trials of open source DAB transmissions in the UK. Nick is the Project Director (and one of the founders) of RadioDNS Hybrid Radio, which combines broadcast radio and IP together to deliver a richer and more valuable radio experience. RadioDNS works closely with the WorldDAB on development of open technology standards, and the promotion of Hybrid DAB/DAB+ to the automotive industry. In addition to leading the RadioDNS project, Nick works with broadcasters globally on developing strategies and innovation to benefit from change created by technology.