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[Monday at NAB]
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Proponents Want HD-R On Personal Devices
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by Leslie Stimson,
~ April 14, 2008
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RADIO WORLD
This will be remembered as the year that HD Radio goes portable.
Smaller, less expensive HD-R chipsets that consume less power are expected to be ready for receiver manufacturers this spring for use in audio devices in the second half of the year.
It’s critical for HD Radio to be on those devices, said Robert Struble, iBiquity Digital’s president and chief executive officer.
“It’s important to be on MP3 players, cell phones, personal navigation devices, etc., because that’s what people have,” Struble said.
Getting power consumption down to conserve battery life is key. iBiquity’s goal is to give a device 24 hours worth of power before needing a charge.
The new chip would be the first to support conditional access for HD Radio, according to iBiquity and NDS. Condi-tional access is the ability to permit (or deny) receivers access to station programming; radio plans to use the technology on its HD-R multicast channels. NDS is demonstrating conditional access technology here at the NAB Show.
CARS LEAD THE WAY
One of the biggest announcements regarding portability is that some automakers will install HD Radio receivers in next year’s models.
Building on the announcement from the fall NAB Radio Show regarding dealer-installed HD-R receivers, Ford now says it will include HD Radio as standard or optional equipment in Ford, Mercury and Lincoln vehicles in calendar year 2009.
Struble said he believes other automakers will follow.
Mercedes-Benz will begin offering HD Radio as an option as part of the infotainment systems in its diesel BlueTec SUVs, sold in the United States. Mercedes joins BMW — which offers HD-R across its product line — and Jaguar among luxury vehicles offering HD Radio. The BlueTec SUVs will be available this fall.
New tabletop brands for the HD-R market that will be available this year include Audiovox’s Acoustic Research brand, Coby, iLive, LG and Jensen.
Before this show, Polk, Sony JBL and Alpine planned to release new HD Radios that include iPod docks to accommodate Apple’s iTunes tagging. Alpine said its new HD-R tuner would be the first to introduce iTunes tagging to an automotive radio.
IBOC proponents said merging HD Radio with iPod technology makes HD-R popular. Tagging, announced this past fall, allows a consumer who’s listening to an HD-R receiver equipped with an iPod dock to mark a song.
The user later connects his or her iPod to a computer, where iTunes opens a list of tagged songs. At that point, the user can find more information about the song, hear it again, or buy it and then download it.
Several of the major broadcast groups that have converted their stations plan to use the tagging technology.
TAGGING CAPABILITIES
In order for iTunes tagging to work, a station transmitting an HD-R signal must have an automation system that packages the encoding data so that it’s compatible with a receiver featuring the tagging capability.
Greater Media recently completed the broadcast license agreement with Apple for iTunes tagging. The broadcaster also inked a deal with Jump2Go for what is essentially a software upgrade on its automation system to enable the tagging.
Milford Smith, Greater Media executive vice president of engineering, said he hoped to have the tagging capability available on 25 programming streams soon, mostly on Greater Media’s major-market music stations.
“We believe the association of Apple and its iPod devices with HD Radio creates a very positive and attractive image to a younger demographic that may not have seen radio being as compelling a medium as generations past,” he said. “I believe iTunes tagging is likely only the tip of the iceberg in terms of MP3 player/HD Radio interactivity.”
The broadcaster hopes to demo the concept to automakers on its Detroit stations.
Entercom, CBS Radio and Cumulus are using the technology on an experimental basis. Clear Channel Radio has the tagging capability as well.
iBiquity plans to discuss an IBOC transmission software upgrade with new features at the show; the upgrade is slated for summer release and would contain the ability for a station to do iTunes tagging and manage all its channels from one location. There is no additional cost for the upgrade, according to an iBiquity spokesman.
ALLIANCE
The HD Digital Radio Alliance partnered with marketing and ad agency GSD&M’s Idea City on a radio campaign to drive consumer adoption of HD Radio. Idea City developed and produced commercials for the year-long campaign that began in February on alliance members’ stations in the top 100 markets.
Some stations have begun looking for ways to integrate an advertiser’s brand with an HD2 brand, looking at nonconventional marketing methods for their multicast channels.
In one of the first announcements publicizing an HD3 channel, for example, Citadel Broadcasting’s KABC(AM), Los Angeles is airing Dodgers games live on 790 AM in Los Angeles, while talk radio listeners can hear regular KABC talk programming simultaneously live on KLOS HD3 and online at kabc.com.
“We aren’t just streaming our radio station anymore — we are producing original content that can only be heard at kabc.com or using an HD Radio receiver on KLOS HD3. We hope to attract the early adopters of the new media and introduce the rest of the public to this amazing, free, alternative,” said KABC(AM) Operations Director Erik Braverman.
Some 1,650 stations are on the air with a digital signal, according to iBiquity.
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