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Power 96 launches a digital radio station that caters to electronicdance-music fans.
BY CHRISTINA HOAG
[email protected]
Power 96 has entered the emerging digital radio age with a high-definition station airing commercial-free dance and electronic music.
''Dance music is an extremely popular form of music, especially in Miami,'' said Ira Wolf, Power's interim program director. ``It was really a no brainer to make this our secondary digital signal when we were looking at what to program it with.''
The catch: Listeners must have digital radio receivers to tune into the station, which is available on the same frequency as WPOW-FM, 96.5, but on HD-2. Power will be on HD-1.
Fans will also be able to hear it via the Internet, through links at www.power 96.com.
Offering crystal-clear, CD-quality sound, digital radio is cutting-edge technology that some 200 stations across the country started airing earlier this year.
Most of those stations, such as Miami's WLRN-FM 91.3, the local National Public Radio affiliate, and Power's sister station WQAM 560-AM Sports talk, are simply simulcasting their programming.
MULTICASTING
But hip-hop, youth-oriented station Power is taking that move a step further by ''multicasting'' or broadcasting a different programming stream on its digital signal. Power 96, which is owned by Naples-based Beasley Broadcast Group, said it's the first in the South Florida market to multicast.
''We're really proud to launch this,'' Wolf said.
WLRN plans to multicast later this summer with a classical music station, said General Manager John LaBonia. (The Herald has a news partnership with WLRN.)
As with digital television, the tightly compressed digital signal means that stations can fit two or more programming streams on the same frequency. This will allow stations to offer an array of niche programming that may not have mass appeal but still boast substantial followings.
REAPPEARING FORMATS
They include formats such as dance and classical, both of which disappeared from South Florida's radio dial earlier this year after failing to pass commercial muster. The former dance music station, WPYM Party 93, later launched a dance music Internet radio station.
''For Beasley, dance music is a logical extension of the Power 96 brand,'' said Tom Taylor, editor of Inside Radio/M Street. ``It's in their ballpark already.''
The high-definition technology is so new that it's still considered ''experimental'' by the Federal Communications Commission, which has issued yearlong licenses to stations like Power and WLRN for trials.
HD receivers are not even widely available yet -- they can be found on the Internet or in high-end audio stores. Reed Bunzel, editor-in-chief of Radio Ink, estimated that some 10,000 people are currently HD radio-receptive.
But that should change this fall, he said, when a number of big electronics manufacturers are expected to roll out both auto and home tuners in time for the holiday season.
ESTIMATED PRICES
Bunzel said as with most new gadgets, they're likely to be expensive at first, ranging from $250 to $600, but the cost should drop once they gain market traction.
New stations such as Power's dance and WLRN's classical will go a long way in stimulating demand for the receivers, radio insiders said.
WLRN's LaBonia said interest is high. ''People are calling us on a daily basis asking us where they can get the receivers,'' he said.
The station plans to give HD radio a boost by using receivers as premiums for contributors in the fall pledge drive, he added.
HD radio's commercial viability is still up in the air. Until the FCC takes the medium off the experimental list, stations will not be able to sell advertising on those channels.
Some in the industry believe the digital technology could give terrestrial radio a weapon to compete with fee-based satellite radio.
BY CHRISTINA HOAG
[email protected]
Power 96 has entered the emerging digital radio age with a high-definition station airing commercial-free dance and electronic music.
''Dance music is an extremely popular form of music, especially in Miami,'' said Ira Wolf, Power's interim program director. ``It was really a no brainer to make this our secondary digital signal when we were looking at what to program it with.''
The catch: Listeners must have digital radio receivers to tune into the station, which is available on the same frequency as WPOW-FM, 96.5, but on HD-2. Power will be on HD-1.
Fans will also be able to hear it via the Internet, through links at www.power 96.com.
Offering crystal-clear, CD-quality sound, digital radio is cutting-edge technology that some 200 stations across the country started airing earlier this year.
Most of those stations, such as Miami's WLRN-FM 91.3, the local National Public Radio affiliate, and Power's sister station WQAM 560-AM Sports talk, are simply simulcasting their programming.
MULTICASTING
But hip-hop, youth-oriented station Power is taking that move a step further by ''multicasting'' or broadcasting a different programming stream on its digital signal. Power 96, which is owned by Naples-based Beasley Broadcast Group, said it's the first in the South Florida market to multicast.
''We're really proud to launch this,'' Wolf said.
WLRN plans to multicast later this summer with a classical music station, said General Manager John LaBonia. (The Herald has a news partnership with WLRN.)
As with digital television, the tightly compressed digital signal means that stations can fit two or more programming streams on the same frequency. This will allow stations to offer an array of niche programming that may not have mass appeal but still boast substantial followings.
REAPPEARING FORMATS
They include formats such as dance and classical, both of which disappeared from South Florida's radio dial earlier this year after failing to pass commercial muster. The former dance music station, WPYM Party 93, later launched a dance music Internet radio station.
''For Beasley, dance music is a logical extension of the Power 96 brand,'' said Tom Taylor, editor of Inside Radio/M Street. ``It's in their ballpark already.''
The high-definition technology is so new that it's still considered ''experimental'' by the Federal Communications Commission, which has issued yearlong licenses to stations like Power and WLRN for trials.
HD receivers are not even widely available yet -- they can be found on the Internet or in high-end audio stores. Reed Bunzel, editor-in-chief of Radio Ink, estimated that some 10,000 people are currently HD radio-receptive.
But that should change this fall, he said, when a number of big electronics manufacturers are expected to roll out both auto and home tuners in time for the holiday season.
ESTIMATED PRICES
Bunzel said as with most new gadgets, they're likely to be expensive at first, ranging from $250 to $600, but the cost should drop once they gain market traction.
New stations such as Power's dance and WLRN's classical will go a long way in stimulating demand for the receivers, radio insiders said.
WLRN's LaBonia said interest is high. ''People are calling us on a daily basis asking us where they can get the receivers,'' he said.
The station plans to give HD radio a boost by using receivers as premiums for contributors in the fall pledge drive, he added.
HD radio's commercial viability is still up in the air. Until the FCC takes the medium off the experimental list, stations will not be able to sell advertising on those channels.
Some in the industry believe the digital technology could give terrestrial radio a weapon to compete with fee-based satellite radio.