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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Hurry up and wait for new high-definition radio in Hawaii
ANOTHER latest-and-greatest innovation will not be available in Hawaii right away. High-definition radio -- in fact, the second wave of it -- has been announced to hit 28 radio markets by the Florida-based HD Digital Radio Alliance. Honolulu won't get it until next year.
What is high-definition radio?
First, pretend a radio signal is a highway.
"We're able to take that highway and cut it in half (widthwise) and continue to drive our primary transportation (programming) down that half" with a traditional, analog signal, said Peter Ferrara,* president and chief executive officer of the alliance.
The other half of the highway will be divided in half again. The station's original programming will be simulcast digitally on one side and the remaining "lane" can be used for yet another digital stream of programming, or "HD2," as it is called in the industry.
This splitting of a radio station's signal into analog and digital use is not mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, but the FCC did approve it, Ferrara said. Radio will continue to use the spectrum it has always occupied, he said.
HD2 has the potential to give stations another format to offer to listeners and advertisers -- and another 24 hours in which to make money.
However, the alliance's member stations, and they are legion, are committed to going commercial-free on the new channels for the first 18 months. "We want the value proposition to the consumer to be incredibly compelling," Ferrara said.
He believes that when consumers realize that digitally broadcast AM radio can sound as good as FM radio and CD players and that all the new content comes with no commercials, that will be incentive enough to purchase an HD radio receiver.
Right now a market-leading model by Boston Acoustic sells for $500. Gulp.
"That's half what the price of a similar radio would have been a year ago," said Ferrara.
Remember when a Texas Instruments calculator cost $100?
"More and more car makers will be putting (high-definition radio receivers) in cars as standard equipment. By 2007, they will probably be more affordable, as with all technology," said Chuck Cotton, vice president and general manager of Clear Channel Radio Hawaii, which operates seven stations in Honolulu.
Also, and Ferrara says this is his favorite soundbite, "you do have to purchase the radio, but once you've bought an HD radio, you don't get a monthly bill."
Satellite radio requires a paid subscription and listeners on the mainland wanting to listen to XM or Sirius outside their manufacturer-equipped cars must also buy special receivers. Those dashboard-mounted XM and Sirius satellite radio buttons have mocked Hawaii drivers, since the companies were not licensed to beam into the islands.
HD is not a priority for John Detz, president of Visionary Related Entertainment LLC, which operates 14 radio stations on Maui, Kauai and Oahu.
"We as broadcasters (would) have to take resources away from our primary service to our over-the-air listeners and invest in the new technology and wait for the public to catch up with us," he said.
"I have a responsibility to our over-the-air listeners to reinvest in the primary service -- good old analog broadcasting."
Detz noted that past radio technologies never got off the ground, such as AM stereo and something called FM Quad.
Ferrara said this rollout will be different because in those instances, "the industry never really got together and sang out of the same hymn book. When it comes to HD radio, the radio industry is in alignment, marching in the same direction."
CORRECTION
Friday, January 20, 2006
» Peter Ferrara is president and chief executive officer of HD Digital Radio Alliance. "TheBuzz" column on Page C1 yesterday incorrectly identified him as Tom Ferrarra.
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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com