Feature: Can HD save Radio?

On Election Day in 1920, in a small studio in the Pittsburgh suburb of Allison Park, Pitt… On Election Day in 1920, in a small studio in the Pittsburgh suburb of Allison Park, Pitt alumnus Frank Conrad transmitted the world’s first commercial radio broadcast under the call name KDKA. Conrad played music and announced Warren G. Harding’s presidential victory to local listeners.

photos by Mark Rawlings layout by Jay Huerbin

On Election Day in 1920, in a small studio in the Pittsburgh suburb of Allison Park, Pitt alumnus Frank Conrad transmitted the world’s first commercial radio broadcast under the call name KDKA. Conrad played music and announced Warren G. Harding’s presidential victory to local listeners.

Now, 88 years later, is anyone still listening?

The rising popularity of the Internet and other technologies has caused representatives of the once-booming radio industry to worry about its future in the digital age.

Paul Carroll, the chief engineer for WLTJ (92.9) and WRRK (Bob FM, 96.9) in Pittsburgh, believes that radio will join the digital movement with the help of Hybrid Digital Radio, which allows stations to transmit several extra channels of programming to anyone with an HD receiver.

Eric Rothenbuhler, a communications professor and a radio scholar at Texas A’M University, also believes radio will find a way to survive among other digital technologies.

“Everybody asked the same question when television was new. Radio found a new way to program itself and a new way to serve an audience and its advertising clients,” Rothenbuhler said. “It not only survived, but it flourished.”

But today, new technologies are competing directly with radio. Mp3 players provide the same service as an FM station, but listeners don’t need to sit through commercials, and unlike radio, the consumer gets to choose the music.

Despite this, Pitt freshman Kelly Singel thinks radio is necessary.

“People will always listen to the radio to hear about new music, and then they will go buy the CD or download it,” Singel said.

A 2006 study published by the American Media Services found that only 27 percent of adults listen to the radio less frequently than they did seven years ago, whereas 72 percent say they listen to the radio as much or more than in the past.

Singel said she listens to the radio a few times a week to keep up with new music, but she listens to her mp3 player daily.

Rothenbuhler realizes that radio must undergo significant changes in order to continue flourishing and competing with new technologies, such as the mp3 players that students like Singel now depend upon.

That significant change, according to Carroll, will most likely come in the form of HD Radio.

“It’s just like HD television,” Carroll said in a telephone interview.

Rather than sending out one analog signal, radio stations can now send both analog and digital signals in one bundle.

The digital signal is compressed and then transmitted to receivers in the area. Since these signals are on the ground, they inevitably bounce off of objects like buildings and mountains, and that produces the static and hissing in the analog signal. But since the digital signal is compressed, sound quality is much better.

“There is no hiss, there is no pop, there is no static. It’s phenomenal quality,” Carroll said of HD Radio.

He explained how each station may now broadcast two or three different channels.

What’s more, the extra channels may broadcast commercial-free while providing song and artist information to the HD receiver.

“For WRRK, BobFM, HD2 is commercial-free music from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and today,” he said. WLTJ’s second channel will air classic rock.

The Federal Communications Commission allows stations to transmit up to three HD channels, and WRRK just opened a third channel that plays only local artists.

“Anybody who lives in Pittsburgh and does music, I’ll put their music into HD3,” Carroll said.

According to Carroll, if the FCC ever allowed radio to abolish the analog signal and become completely digital, local radio stations would have vast new capabilities.

“If [the FCC allows it], we actually have the ability to have six CD-quality HD channels on each station. Every radio station in Pittsburgh has the capability to do this,” he said.

Currently 13 radio stations in Pittsburgh are broadcasting a total of 27 HD channels. The extra, commercial-free channels include comedy on B94 (93.7), dance on KissFM (96.1), jazz on 104.7 and country on Y108 (107.9).

Carroll claimed that HD Radio receivers are becoming more and more available to consumers every day.

“I put a new one in my car that only cost me $149, and that was an AM/FM radio, HD Radio and an mp3 player. It does everything you want a car stereo to do for under $150,” Carroll said.

Perhaps digital radio’s most appealing aspect is its commercial-free music: The extra channels are entirely supported by the main channel’s advertising. Since a majority of listeners received the analog signal, only HD1 airs commercials. Meanwhile, those with HD Radios reap the benefits of the commercial-free music.

But HD Radio isn’t exactly a booming part of the industry quite yet because many people still aren’t aware of the technology.

Singel said she hadn’t heard of it yet.

But Carroll defended its growth, citing how the CD took nearly 10 years to catch on after it was introduced in the early 1980s.

“When technology like this comes about, it takes a while for people to adapt to it,” Carroll said.

Terrestrial, or local, radio stations are now competing with several different media.

“Radio and television both are competing with more [types of] media than they used to. They are competing with the Internet, video games, satellite and iPods,” Rothenbuhler said.

According to Carroll, HD Radio offers similar features to satellite radio, but he believes it’s a better deal than satellite.

“It’s all free. All you need to do is buy the equipment,” he said. “With satellite radio right now, yes, it offers you a whole bunch of music, and yes, it’s commercial-free, but you are paying pretty close to $19 a month plus the cost of the radio.”

With the clear price advantage, HD Radio seems like it can compete with satellite. But it needs to take hold first.

According to iBiquity, the parent company of HD Radio, sales of radios increased by 700 percent last year. The company said 40,000 units were sold in 2006 and that number jumped to 330,000 in 2007.

Carroll believes this exponential increase will continue. But how will it stay alive with the rise in popularity of the Internet and iPods? The same way every other medium does so: by becoming compatible.

Television and movies are now online, and radio is also making the move to the Internet.

Listeners can now stream most radio stations from the Internet. But HD Radio is also ready to take on other technologies. Carroll explained how newer HD Radios have features that are compatible with mp3 players and the Internet.

“If you are listening to a song on the radio and you push a button, it will store it on your iPod.

When you go to connect your iPod to your computer at home, it will say ‘these are the songs you are interested in,’ and if you want to buy them, you can go to iTunes and buy the song or album,” Carroll said. “It’s called tagging.”

HD Radio is clearly making some big strides to bring radio into the 21st Century.

“Digital radio will catch on, it’s inevitable,” Carroll said.

But Rothenbuhler warned that too much change might not be a good thing.

“[Radio stations] depend so much on the habits of their audience that it is considered a dangerous thing to change,” he said.

HD Radio receivers are available at any electronics store, but the price can be daunting to listeners who are accustomed to $10 receivers. The price for HD Radios ranges from $120 to $250 depending on the features of the receivers – such as mp3 players, CD players, tagging capabilities and other built-in accessories.

For more information about digital radio and to see a list of digital channels in Pittsburgh, check out hdradio.com.