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Services | HD Radio

In addition to our main channel news service on 89.3 FM and 89.1 FM, Southern California Public Radio is now broadcasting two digital HD Radio channels. These channels can be heard on special digital radio receivers just now coming to the consumer home and automobile market.

One HD channel is AHORA, a joint venture of Radio Netherlands (RNW) and NPR offering a 24-hour Spanish language service. The other HD channel is The Current, a program service of contemporary alternative music from Minnesota Public Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Q: Why is Southern California Public Radio investing in HD Radio technology?

A: Southern California Public Radio constantly seeks to improve its service to listeners, updating its technology offerings in order to do so. HD radios allow listeners to enjoy broadcasts with the highest quality sound and without static or interference, particularly interference encountered around tall buildings and other obstacles.

In addition, HD radio technology will allow Southern California Public Radio to broadcast multiple programs over the same channel. For listeners, that will mean more options for music, entertainment, and news programming from Southern California Public Radio.

Q: How can listeners access Southern California Public Radio HD Radio offerings?

A: Listeners will need a radio capable of picking up the digital radio signal. As stations across the country add HD broadcast capability, HD-ready receivers are becoming more available and increasingly affordable.

Ibiquity's Web site provides more information and consumer advice about HD-ready receivers.

Q: What is heard on the extra digital channels?

The HD offerings are currently as follows:

	HD 1: 89.3 KPCC-FM, a simulcast of our analog broadcast signal.      Listen Live to 89.3 KPCC
	HD 2: A joint venture of Radio Netherlands (RNW) and NPR, AHORA is a 24-hour Spanish language service      Listen Live to AHORA
	HD 3: The CurrentTM, a program service of contemporary alternative music from Minnesota Public Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul.      Listen Live to The Current

Q: When did Southern California Public Radio start broadcasting in HD Radio?

A: October 24, 2004.

Q: Where can I purchase an HD Radio receiver?

A: HD receivers are available right now. HDRadio.com provides a huge selection of online retailers.

Q: How can you improve your HD Radio signal?

A: A passive external FM antenna is required. Most HD Radio receivers ship with a passive external antenna.

As a technology, radio is an old, old friend. AM radio has been around over 100 years. FM was first demonstrated in the 1920s by radio pioneer Edwin Armstrong, who would easily recognize the guts of any modern FM transmitter today. But that's all changing. Radio is finally going digital.

Radio stations throughout the country are gradually replacing analog transmitters with HD Radio transmitters. In television parlance HD stands for "High Definition", which certainly describes the new digital sound of HD Radio. HD Radio marketers use the term "High Def" to promote and sell new radios, but technically the HD in HD Radio stands for "Hybrid Digital".

Basically an HD Radio transmitter combines analog and digital signals. Stations will continue to broadcast traditional analog signals that will work on the billions-yes billions-of analog radios in American homes, cars and offices. (As a fun exercise, count up the number of radios in your home, cars, office, etc. You'll be surprised.) In addition to the analog signal, HD Radio will allow stations to broadcast two or possibly three digital program channels.

HD Radio is the brand name for a technology designed by iBiquity Digital Corporation and established as the digital radio standard by the Federal Communications Commission. iBiquity is in the business of selling HD Radio, but their Web sites provide a good primer on HD Radio:

http://www.hdradio.com
http://www.ibiquity.com/hd_radio

Here's a less promotional review of HD Radio from Wikipedia, which comes with the usual Wikipedia caution: Wikipedia entries often include errors, but at the time of this writing there are no glaring ones in this helpful overview of HD Radio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Radio

Every new consumer media format requires new equipment, and HD Radio is no exception. Listeners of a certain age may recall the years FM receivers became increasingly common. More recently CDs replaced the LPs; the DVD replaced video tape; and computers and digital media players may replace those formats. You will need to buy new radios to listen to HD Radio. Those radios have been available in limited numbers for a couple of years, mostly in the $300-500 range. But like any new consumer product, prices drop and choices grow over time. Tabletop radios are now approaching $100, while car receivers cost a bit more.

HD radios are widely available online and at major retail and electronics stores. You'll see them soon in high-end cars, and if consumers embrace HD Radio, within a few years the new radios will be standard equipment in everything from Ferraris to Hyundais to Ford pickups.

About a dozen Los Angeles area stations now broadcast in HD. (Modesty does not prevent us from bragging that KPCC was one of the very first stations in Los Angeles to install an HD Radio transmitter in the fall of 2005.) Invariably a station's first digital channel, called HD-1, simulcasts the station's analog signal. The additional digital channels, HD-2 and HD-3, will usually include programming that complements the station's main format.

On KPCC's HD-1 you'll find our regular program schedule. On our HD-2 you can hear a joint venture of Radio Netherlands (RNW) and NPR, AHORA. It is a 24-hour Spanish language service for use as an HD channel broadcast and Web simulcast by NPR member stations. The programming consists of material produced by Radio Netherlands' Spanish language service that presents live or same-day news and public affairs content to the Americas, including the flagship morning newsmagazine La Matinal. The schedule is filled out with roll-overs, repeats, and some archived documentary, music, and arts and culture programming. On HD-3 you'll find "The Current", an adult alternative music service from Minnesota Public Radio.

Here are the Web sites for AHORA and "The Current":

http://www.informarn.nl/ahora/
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/the_current/

Like all radio programming, KPCC's HD Radio schedules will change over time as we get a better sense of how listeners will use the new radios. At the moment HD Radio is barely beyond the "tree falling in an empty forest" stage. But the forest is becoming less empty every day.

Stay tuned.