R
robk
Guest
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGBPR21YVKE.html
Tune In To Radio Future
By RICHARD MULLINS [email protected]
Published: Mar 17, 2006
TAMPA - Radio listeners in the Tampa Bay area are about to have a lot more options on their dial.
More than half a dozen local radio stations are launching their answer to satellite radio - their own digital radio stations. And they're experimenting with new music, new news and new talk shows, many previously only heard in markets much larger than Tampa.
Within just a couple of years, the dozens of existing radio stations that completely fill the existing radio lineup in the Bay area could each add two or three additional stations in this new digital band of radio.
"So many people move here and they're desperate for things they heard back home," said JoAnn Urofsky, general manager for WUSF Public Broadcasting, one of the most aggressive local stations in pushing digital. "Now we can give it to them."
The trick for listeners who want to hear the shows will be finding and buying a special digital radio that can tune them in. Most new digital model radios cost about $200 to $300, though prices are dropping quickly, and car makers such as BMW are starting to offer them in top-of-the-line models.
The new technology is called HD Radio, a form of free digital radio similar to satellite radio services like Sirius and XM Satellite Radio. It sounds much better than typical FM or AM broadcasting. (The contrast in sound quality is akin to cassette tapes versus compact discs.)
Local HD radio, however, is free and commercial-free for now.
"Radio stations believe this is their one chance to compete with satellite," said Carl Marcucci, senior editor of the Radio and Television Business Report. "But it's a chicken-and-egg problem," Marcucci said, because listeners have to have the new radios to hear any of the new programming stations have to offer. "And [electronics companies] need to make that egg a little less expensive."
Get Ready For More Stations
Radio stations nationwide see digital radio as nothing short of a bonanza of new options for broadcasting, similar to the rush of music that came to airwaves when radio expanded decades ago from AM to FM. With digital broadcasting, one FM station could theoretically split its signal into three or even four digital stations, each with 24 hours a day of airtime to fill.
The technology also can serve as the wireless pipeline to radio display screens in homes or cars, offering news, traffic reports, weather, local movie times or even Amber Alerts.
WUSF 89.7 FM, the largest local public radio station, is one of the most aggressive in pushing the format and launched a second channel called 89.7(2) in December with the arts and culture program "Fresh Air," the BBC World Service news program and the African American-themed "The Tavis Smiley Show."
Although popular in other markets, many of these shows simply did not fit in the existing 89.7 channel, which mainly plays classical music and jazz, with segments of news in the morning and evening.
"There are just rafts and rafts of content out there that we can broadcast now," said Tom Dollenmayer, station manager of WUSF 89.7, which was the first public radio station nationwide to start a digital channel.
WUSF went so far as to hire a new program manager, Gig Brown, to be the voice of 89.7(2), introducing each segment of news and blending each show together during the day.
Several others have joined in. WMNF 88.5, a locally owned independent station, will start broadcasting one, if not two, digital channels this year and could start offering original programming on the new channel soon.
Atlanta-based Cox Radio Inc. is launching digital versions on three of the six stations it operates locally. For now, they repeat the existing FM channels, but this summer they will likely start offering their own content.
Nationwide Explosion
Because Tampa's FM radio spectrum is effectively full of stations, such new real estate on the radio dial is valuable, said Roswell Clark, director of technical operations for Cox Radio in Tampa.
"I've been in radio for 20 years, and this is the most exciting thing I've ever seen," Clark said. "This just opens up so many creative outlets for listeners, and without a monthly fee."
Still, outfitting a station for digital transmission is not cheap.
A single station's installation can cost $75,000 to $250,000. But many stations view that as a small investment compared with the thousands of hours of extra airtime they could broadcast and sell to advertisers.
More than 700 U.S. stations have started a second, digital channel with alternative content, and HD radio officials say 2,000 could launch by the end of 2007. Nationally, stations are experimenting wildly:
•In Houston, KLOL 101.1 normally plays "Spanish Hits," but it also started a second digital channel of in-depth news programs.
•In Chicago, WVAZ 102.7 plays "urban adult contemporary," but it also started a gospel music channel in digital.
•In Washington, D.C., WJFK 106.7 plays talk radio, but it also started a second digital "Female Talk" channel.
Cooperation, For Now
While diverse, the experimentation is actually quite organized.
Last year, a dozen major U.S. radio companies formed the HD Digital Radio Alliance, based in Orlando, to promote the new kind of radio. Despite being rivals, member companies such as Clear Channel Communications and CBS Radio meet regularly to create and divide up new formats in each market. In Nashville, Tenn., for example, one company might launch a gay-themed channel while another agrees to launch a "chick rock" channel, and another agrees to play gospel - each making sure not to overlap concepts.
That collaboration helps quickly promote a wider array of diverse stations, said Peter Farrara, president of the HD Digital Radio Alliance.
For now, the stations have committed to remain commercial-free on digital as a way to attract listeners and build the audience large enough to attract advertisers. The teamwork, though, will be short-lived, Farrara said, to avoid criticism that the companies run afoul of federal antitrust laws that prohibit collusion among competing companies.
Eventually, the alliance will disappear, once it fulfills the purpose of launching the format widely among listeners, Farrara said.
Spreading The Word
The biggest challenge is making listeners aware the digital stations exist and persuading them to buy receivers to hear them. This puts stations like WUSF and even huge radio companies such as Clear Channel in San Antonio in the odd position of having lots of new shows to offer but relying on radio makers such as Kenwood and Pioneer to build radios at a price low enough so listeners would buy them.
To drum up interest among listeners, and prompt them to demand lower prices, the HD radio alliance members pledged $200 million worth of their own radio airtime for commercials telling listeners about the digital stations.
There is a long way to go in that effort, Farrara acknowledged.
The alliance estimates 100,000 HD radios are in use nationwide and hopes for sales of 750,000 to 1 million units this year, with volume more than doubling annually for several years.
For now, the radios are mainly available online, at the Web sites of major electronics retailers such as Crutchfield and at a few select audio/visual stores.
Tweeter Home Entertainment/Sound Advice stores in Tampa first stocked a few HD radio models last year, with a Boston Acoustics model selling for $499. The price dropped this year to $299, and many more models are expected this summer. They also sell a high-fidelity Yamaha model for $1,799.
Other high-end audio/visual stores are interested.
"Customers are complaining about all the monthly fees they have to pay for content, so perhaps HD radio will be able to tap into that movement as a free alternative," said George Liu, owner of Audio Visions South. "Ultimately, this points to the war for the living room being waged by consumer electronics versus computer companies and the Internet versus broadcasters."
Car makers also will have to jump on the bandwagon.
BMW sells HD radios as an option on the 2006 7 series cars and 2007 5 series for about $500.
"It's just going to take some time," said Phil Leigh, president of Inside Digital Media Inc. in Tampa, who notes car makers took years to ditch the cassette player from dashboards and make compact disc players the standard. "The BMW is not a mainstream car. But once we all have these new radios, we're all going to wonder why we didn't do this before."
EXAMPLE LINEUP
WUSF 89.7 FM, the Tampa Bay area's major public radio station, has launched a second digital channel with many programs previously unavailable in the market. A selection:
Monday-Friday
10 a.m.: "The Diane Rehm Show," news and interviews
Noon: "Fresh Air," interviews by Terry Gross with prominent artists, authors and other cultural leaders
2 p.m.: "Talk of the Nation," interviews and listener call-in program with Neal Conan
11 p.m.: "BBC World Service," international news from British Broadcasting Corp.
Weekend
11 a.m.: "Whad'Ya Know," Michael Feldman's two-hour comedy/quiz/interview show
9 p.m. Saturday: "Selected Shorts," short stories read by some of the most famous actors
7 a.m. Sunday: "Speaking of Faith," interviews by Krista Tippett on belief, meaning, ethics and ideas
3 p.m. Sunday: "The Motley Fool," financial news and advice
9 p.m. Sunday: "The Tavis Smiley Show," African-American-themed news and interviews
Tune In To Radio Future
By RICHARD MULLINS [email protected]
Published: Mar 17, 2006
TAMPA - Radio listeners in the Tampa Bay area are about to have a lot more options on their dial.
More than half a dozen local radio stations are launching their answer to satellite radio - their own digital radio stations. And they're experimenting with new music, new news and new talk shows, many previously only heard in markets much larger than Tampa.
Within just a couple of years, the dozens of existing radio stations that completely fill the existing radio lineup in the Bay area could each add two or three additional stations in this new digital band of radio.
"So many people move here and they're desperate for things they heard back home," said JoAnn Urofsky, general manager for WUSF Public Broadcasting, one of the most aggressive local stations in pushing digital. "Now we can give it to them."
The trick for listeners who want to hear the shows will be finding and buying a special digital radio that can tune them in. Most new digital model radios cost about $200 to $300, though prices are dropping quickly, and car makers such as BMW are starting to offer them in top-of-the-line models.
The new technology is called HD Radio, a form of free digital radio similar to satellite radio services like Sirius and XM Satellite Radio. It sounds much better than typical FM or AM broadcasting. (The contrast in sound quality is akin to cassette tapes versus compact discs.)
Local HD radio, however, is free and commercial-free for now.
"Radio stations believe this is their one chance to compete with satellite," said Carl Marcucci, senior editor of the Radio and Television Business Report. "But it's a chicken-and-egg problem," Marcucci said, because listeners have to have the new radios to hear any of the new programming stations have to offer. "And [electronics companies] need to make that egg a little less expensive."
Get Ready For More Stations
Radio stations nationwide see digital radio as nothing short of a bonanza of new options for broadcasting, similar to the rush of music that came to airwaves when radio expanded decades ago from AM to FM. With digital broadcasting, one FM station could theoretically split its signal into three or even four digital stations, each with 24 hours a day of airtime to fill.
The technology also can serve as the wireless pipeline to radio display screens in homes or cars, offering news, traffic reports, weather, local movie times or even Amber Alerts.
WUSF 89.7 FM, the largest local public radio station, is one of the most aggressive in pushing the format and launched a second channel called 89.7(2) in December with the arts and culture program "Fresh Air," the BBC World Service news program and the African American-themed "The Tavis Smiley Show."
Although popular in other markets, many of these shows simply did not fit in the existing 89.7 channel, which mainly plays classical music and jazz, with segments of news in the morning and evening.
"There are just rafts and rafts of content out there that we can broadcast now," said Tom Dollenmayer, station manager of WUSF 89.7, which was the first public radio station nationwide to start a digital channel.
WUSF went so far as to hire a new program manager, Gig Brown, to be the voice of 89.7(2), introducing each segment of news and blending each show together during the day.
Several others have joined in. WMNF 88.5, a locally owned independent station, will start broadcasting one, if not two, digital channels this year and could start offering original programming on the new channel soon.
Atlanta-based Cox Radio Inc. is launching digital versions on three of the six stations it operates locally. For now, they repeat the existing FM channels, but this summer they will likely start offering their own content.
Nationwide Explosion
Because Tampa's FM radio spectrum is effectively full of stations, such new real estate on the radio dial is valuable, said Roswell Clark, director of technical operations for Cox Radio in Tampa.
"I've been in radio for 20 years, and this is the most exciting thing I've ever seen," Clark said. "This just opens up so many creative outlets for listeners, and without a monthly fee."
Still, outfitting a station for digital transmission is not cheap.
A single station's installation can cost $75,000 to $250,000. But many stations view that as a small investment compared with the thousands of hours of extra airtime they could broadcast and sell to advertisers.
More than 700 U.S. stations have started a second, digital channel with alternative content, and HD radio officials say 2,000 could launch by the end of 2007. Nationally, stations are experimenting wildly:
•In Houston, KLOL 101.1 normally plays "Spanish Hits," but it also started a second digital channel of in-depth news programs.
•In Chicago, WVAZ 102.7 plays "urban adult contemporary," but it also started a gospel music channel in digital.
•In Washington, D.C., WJFK 106.7 plays talk radio, but it also started a second digital "Female Talk" channel.
Cooperation, For Now
While diverse, the experimentation is actually quite organized.
Last year, a dozen major U.S. radio companies formed the HD Digital Radio Alliance, based in Orlando, to promote the new kind of radio. Despite being rivals, member companies such as Clear Channel Communications and CBS Radio meet regularly to create and divide up new formats in each market. In Nashville, Tenn., for example, one company might launch a gay-themed channel while another agrees to launch a "chick rock" channel, and another agrees to play gospel - each making sure not to overlap concepts.
That collaboration helps quickly promote a wider array of diverse stations, said Peter Farrara, president of the HD Digital Radio Alliance.
For now, the stations have committed to remain commercial-free on digital as a way to attract listeners and build the audience large enough to attract advertisers. The teamwork, though, will be short-lived, Farrara said, to avoid criticism that the companies run afoul of federal antitrust laws that prohibit collusion among competing companies.
Eventually, the alliance will disappear, once it fulfills the purpose of launching the format widely among listeners, Farrara said.
Spreading The Word
The biggest challenge is making listeners aware the digital stations exist and persuading them to buy receivers to hear them. This puts stations like WUSF and even huge radio companies such as Clear Channel in San Antonio in the odd position of having lots of new shows to offer but relying on radio makers such as Kenwood and Pioneer to build radios at a price low enough so listeners would buy them.
To drum up interest among listeners, and prompt them to demand lower prices, the HD radio alliance members pledged $200 million worth of their own radio airtime for commercials telling listeners about the digital stations.
There is a long way to go in that effort, Farrara acknowledged.
The alliance estimates 100,000 HD radios are in use nationwide and hopes for sales of 750,000 to 1 million units this year, with volume more than doubling annually for several years.
For now, the radios are mainly available online, at the Web sites of major electronics retailers such as Crutchfield and at a few select audio/visual stores.
Tweeter Home Entertainment/Sound Advice stores in Tampa first stocked a few HD radio models last year, with a Boston Acoustics model selling for $499. The price dropped this year to $299, and many more models are expected this summer. They also sell a high-fidelity Yamaha model for $1,799.
Other high-end audio/visual stores are interested.
"Customers are complaining about all the monthly fees they have to pay for content, so perhaps HD radio will be able to tap into that movement as a free alternative," said George Liu, owner of Audio Visions South. "Ultimately, this points to the war for the living room being waged by consumer electronics versus computer companies and the Internet versus broadcasters."
Car makers also will have to jump on the bandwagon.
BMW sells HD radios as an option on the 2006 7 series cars and 2007 5 series for about $500.
"It's just going to take some time," said Phil Leigh, president of Inside Digital Media Inc. in Tampa, who notes car makers took years to ditch the cassette player from dashboards and make compact disc players the standard. "The BMW is not a mainstream car. But once we all have these new radios, we're all going to wonder why we didn't do this before."
EXAMPLE LINEUP
WUSF 89.7 FM, the Tampa Bay area's major public radio station, has launched a second digital channel with many programs previously unavailable in the market. A selection:
Monday-Friday
10 a.m.: "The Diane Rehm Show," news and interviews
Noon: "Fresh Air," interviews by Terry Gross with prominent artists, authors and other cultural leaders
2 p.m.: "Talk of the Nation," interviews and listener call-in program with Neal Conan
11 p.m.: "BBC World Service," international news from British Broadcasting Corp.
Weekend
11 a.m.: "Whad'Ya Know," Michael Feldman's two-hour comedy/quiz/interview show
9 p.m. Saturday: "Selected Shorts," short stories read by some of the most famous actors
7 a.m. Sunday: "Speaking of Faith," interviews by Krista Tippett on belief, meaning, ethics and ideas
3 p.m. Sunday: "The Motley Fool," financial news and advice
9 p.m. Sunday: "The Tavis Smiley Show," African-American-themed news and interviews