[Swprograms] NY Times on IBOC

[Richard Cuff <rdcuff@xxxxxxxxx>]

See http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/technology/circuits/28basics.html?th&emc=th
or http://tinyurl.com/ay6a7.

Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA  USA

---

July 28, 2005
Revolution on the Radio
By GLENN FLEISHMAN

Plug a set of headphones into a radio tuned to an FM jazz station.
Hear the hiss at the bottom of the range and the fuzz at the top.
Remember why you like compact discs.

But don't be impatient: wait eight seconds. An "HD" light appears on
the tuner. And now the bottom drops out. The hiss turns to silence.
The stereo channels separate, opening a cramped room into a
performance hall. And the high fuzz is now crisp high notes from a
trumpet or Ella Fitzgerald.

You have just heard terrestrial digital radio. Or you would have - if
you could get your hands on a receiver.

Satellite digital radio has captured the attention of consumers and
investors with its billions spent and millions of paying subscribers.
But a quiet digital revolution has hit the AM and FM dials as well:
more than 450 stations in the United States now broadcast one or two
digital channels alongside analog ones. At least 2,000 of the more
than 12,000 stations in the country are committed to adding the
format.

The technology to make this happen - called in-band on-channel, or
IBOC - hides digital signals at low power in the spaces between
stations. Only one company's technology has been approved by the
Federal Communications Commission: HD Radio from iBiquity Digital.
(IBiquity says HD does not stand for high definition - or anything
else.)

Digital AM sounds like present-day stereo analog FM. Digital FM not
only improves fidelity and stereo reception, providing a dynamic audio
range approaching that of a compact disc, but also makes use of enough
bandwidth to allow multiple channels.

An HD Radio tuner takes eight seconds to lock onto and start playing a
digital stream; the analog broadcast seamlessly switches into richer
audio, providing a demonstration of its improved quality.

Unlike satellite radio, digital AM and FM are free to listeners. But
only a few tens of thousands of car tuners equipped to decode the
signals have been sold in the 18 months since the first product was
shipped, according to Dan Benjamin, a senior analyst at ABI Research
in Oyster Bay, N.Y. Home tuners are just reaching the market.

How Digital Radio Works

IBOC uses a part of the spectrum just outside the frequency used for a
radio station's conventional signals.

HD Radio is capable of great range with a small fraction of the power
of analog radio. In a test by National Public Radio and WNYC-FM, a
57-watt transmitter on the Empire State Building reached almost all of
WNYC's coverage area, with a population of 16 million, according to
Mike Starling, NPR's vice president for engineering.

The technology sends multiple streams of data over very narrow
frequencies to solve the problems of analog AM and FM reception. The
streams are separately received, synchronized and assembled by the
radio tuner.

In AM, this avoids having signals fade in short tunnels and will
prevent noise from electrical motors. "It gets rid of the majority of
problems with AM radio," said Thomas R. Ray III, director of
engineering for Buckley Broadcasting and WOR-AM, a commercial
talk-radio station in New York that has added digital transmissions.

With FM stations, multipath reflection can be controlled with HD
Radio, avoiding audible echoes from signals bouncing off buildings.
"You don't get that sort of 'fumth-th-th-fumth' sound," said Stephen
Shenefield, director of product development at Boston Acoustics, an
audio equipment manufacturer.

FM radio has a larger spread of unused spectrum, and National Public
Radio and public radio stations successfully pushed the F.C.C. to
allow multicasting, or multiple digital channels of different quality
for existing stations. The F.C.C. allows a second digital channel with
a waiver; up to five channels may be permitted in the future.

What's On

Public radio produces much more programming than its member stations
can broadcast: 300 hours a week, Mr. Starling of NPR said. NPR is now
offering five full-time music streams to stations for HD Radio
multicasting as well. "If we had more shelf space, we could do more
format focusing," Mr. Starling said.

KUOW-FM in Seattle broadcasts what it calls KUOW2, a full slate of
reruns of local and network programs with a dedicated host.

Commercial broadcasters, too, are taking note. Clear Channel, which
owns 1,200 stations, says it is committed to taking 95 percent of its
stations in the top 100 markets digital within three years. Among the
attractions is HD Radio's ability to deliver data streams alongside
audio. The system can already carry program-associated data, like a
song title, artist and album name. But the capacity exists for much
more.

Robert J. Struble, chairman and chief executive of iBiquity, noted
that the text of advertising messages could be synchronized to display
on a radio's readout as a related commercial was broadcast. Other uses
include traffic updates for car navigation systems and private
commercial data transmissions.

A future version of the technology will feature a data uplink that
could let stations have a "buy now" button for songs. "There's no
better place to make an impulse purchase than when I'm sitting in
traffic," Mr. Struble said.

HD Radio has the potential to limit access to certain channels by
receiver serial number, much as with satellite digital radio, so that
specific programming could be delivered for a fee.

Mr. Starling mused that the "buy now" button might read "pledge now"
for public radio stations, and that a station could allow only
listeners who donate funds to tune to a digital channel free of
fund-raising during pledge drives.

How to Listen

HD Radio was limited to car receivers from its retail introduction in
January 2004 until June 2005. The earliest HD Radio manufacturer,
Kenwood (kenwoodusa.com), now has 40 models compatible with a $399 HD
Radio adapter; other makers have a few products released, but a flood
is in the pipeline. A representative of Visteon, a major automotive
systems supplier, said automakers could offer HD Radio as an option in
the 2006 model year.

Yamaha (www.yamaha.com) released the first home radio in June, its
RX-V4600 ($1,900), a home entertainment centerpiece. In tests of all
Seattle-area FM HD Radio stations using the Yamaha unit, the results
were breathtaking. Tuning in secondary multicast channels, however,
required use of the remote control and was awkward.

Three companies plan simpler tabletop tables, each of which will add
multicast digital stations sequentially: turning the dial will tune
through those secondary stations.

The Radiosophy receiver docks in a speaker unit; together, the two
parts cost $259 direct from the company, including shipping.
Radiosophy expects to offer a car adapter kit later. The receiver
includes analog and digital optical outputs. The company
(www.radiosophy.com) expects to ship the product in September.

The Recepter Radio HD ($499) made by Boston Acoustics (www
.bostonacoustics.com) has a single built-in speaker and a satellite
speaker to produce stereo audio. It is also a clock radio, and has
stereo input and multiple outputs. The radio should be available in
late August.

Polk Audio has built HD Radio into a more elaborate all-in-one
entertainment system that includes a CD and DVD player and speakers,
and multiple inputs and outputs. The $599 unit, called the I-Sonic, is
also equipped for satellite XM Radio through a plug-in module. Polk
Audio has delayed shipping until late in the year (www.polkaudio.com).

No one in the industry expects to replace a billion analog radios
overnight. Even Mr. Struble of iBiquity put the most optimistic date
for an analog shutdown as 12 years from now, though he thought that
was unlikely.

Still, there are already listeners, however few. "The last time we had
to shut down the HD - off for any reason - we had eight phone calls,"
Mr. Ray of WOR said. "People wanted to know why."

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