"ZoneCasting" Concept to Be Tested

[EJM]

See the new Radio World feature, at http://radioworld.com/article/'zonecasting'-concept-to-be-tested-/216444.

[Brian Bowers]

I pity the Production guy, having to crank out all of that extra production. This is basically just for the analog signal, right? When it gets down to it, this gives you the ability to turn one station into many stations. Even though programming supposedly will be sync'd up, I can see this possibly being a tuneout for those listening between coverage areas, because of possible bleed-thru, from the next booster, which will probably have different commercials playing (tailored to the local area), than the other booster nearby. Plus, won't you have to find and lease new tower space for all these new booster transmitters and antennas? Won't these new profits just turn into tower space rental fees, that you'll have to pay? Sorry, I am not sold on this idea at all. Good luck with the coverage maps too.     

[radiodxrichmond]

When it gets down to it, this gives you the ability to turn one station into many stations. Even though programming supposedly will be sync'd up, Plus, won't you have to find and lease new tower space for all these new booster transmitters and antennas?

And they're testing it in the flat-as-a-board terrain of South Florida...which has got to be a radio engineer's worst nightmare with the pirates, interference, year round tropical weather, etc.

If this was an all-digital test, and the public actually gave a damn about digital radio, it may be a different idea. This just strikes me as a failure...KPRI in San Diego had about 5-6 boosters in their 60 dBu at one point...and that was with small mountains to help break up the boosters!

3-6 analog boosters in flat terrain playing a different set of commercials is going to be a no-go.

Radio-X

[Bengalsfan]

Won't there still be inteferance zones?  This is still an FM signal.  Won't there be areas where the signals beat together and cause the error correction in an HD signal to mute the audio so you get nothing. 

[BobOnTheJob]

Won't there still be inteferance zones?  This is still an FM signal.  Won't there be areas where the signals beat together and cause the error correction in an HD signal to mute the audio so you get nothing. 

If this is anything like HDTV or digital STL's, pretty minimal interference causes the signal to unlock and mute. I can't see why this would be immune from that issue.

[WNTIRadio]

This sounds like a disaster to me.  It's hard enough when you have a huge mountain and GPS locked transmitters on boosters.

When different programming is airing, the deviation of each carrier is now different.  How does a receiver figure that out when you're in the 60-70 dBu of both "boosters".

What would then prevent a ballsy operator from creating 5 different formats too?  Now you have 5 class A's all beating against each other, in essence, where a class C or B was.

If "HD" was a thing that people used, this could work a lot better.  Analog FM, forget it.

[w9wi]

Won't there still be inteferance zones?  This is still an FM signal.  Won't there be areas where the signals beat together and cause the error correction in an HD signal to mute the audio so you get nothing. 

If this is anything like HDTV or digital STL's, pretty minimal interference causes the signal to unlock and mute. I can't see why this would be immune from that issue.

Depends on the modulation scheme used.  Some (i.e., the COFDM system used for European digital TV) are designed to tolerate, and even benefit from, multipath.

How that will behave when the datastreams are *different*, however, is a very good question!

[stacker]

I saw this demonstrated at the NAB.  In the analog mode its an ingenious plan.  Basically the "capture effect" inherent to FM reception can make this work.  When the receiver is in the "zone" it's going to naturally reproduce the stronger signal.  Still, when you are in a transition zone and there is different audio being fed to the main and the booster, you are going to hear the receiver flip back and forth.

[WNTIRadio]

Right.  We all know about the capture effect.  It's great when the signal you want is significantly stronger than the one you don't want.

Those transition zones are going to be a mess and cause people to tune out.  Listeners don't tolerate your signal cutting in and out and will go to the station with the clear signal that is closest to your format.

Another case of radio trying to squeeze every last dime out of the product and not think about the long-term impact.  Think anyone living or commuting through the transition zone is going to have the patience to move the radio around and/or put up with the station flipping back and forth between two different spots??

It's nothing new.  Boosters have been around for a long time.  You can't re-write the laws of physics.

[unitron]

Do I understand what they're talking about here?

Instead of one tall tower and one powerful transmitter they're going to have something like cell phone cells, only without any computer controlled "handoff"?

And the ads you hear will depend on which "cell" you happen to be in?