See our most recent update to this story: FM in Norway Isn’t Dead, Says Norwegian Local Radio Association Last Thursday Norway’s Ministry of Culture announced the national transition from analog FM to digital DAB radio beginning on January 11, 2017. This move, akin to the digital television transition the US made in 2009, has been […]
Archive | HD Radio
Digital Watch: Why HD Radio Isn’t Actually Radio
HD Radio is back on my mind after reading a recent article in Current about how public stations are using the technology. iBiquity, the company behind HD Radio, has hired the former director of NPR Labs to survey stations on the technology, obviously with the hope of encouraging more use. Writer Scott Fybush talks to […]
LPFM News: 6 More Stations; Questioning HD On LPFM
Six more low-power FM construction permits were issued this week, brining the total to 1302. But the big news is that the FCC released the list of 111 MX groups of applicants competing for frequencies in 24 eastern states and the District of Columbia. Yesterday Matthew took a quick look at what could turn out […]
LPFM News: Petitions for Reconsideration; HD on LPFM?
There are just two new construction permits since last week’s LPFM Watch. Both are religious stations, in Adelanto, CA and Yuma, AZ. The holiday weekend probably slowed things down, but we’re also getting close to the next batch of MX groups of applicants competing for frequencies to be opened for resolution by the FCC. Recall […]
Join us at 8 PM EDT Tonight for a Hangout with Prof. John Anderson
Prof. John Anderson has been covering radio and communications freedom for more than a decade at DIYMedia.net. He recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FCC regarding a recent decision that effectively put the Commission in the role of determining what is and is not news. Last year his first book, Radio’s […]
Smooth Jazz returns to Chicago airwaves via HD Radio 2
Two of our most enduringly popular “long-tail” posts are about the demise of Smooth Jazz radio in Chicago. This April, 2012 report about the changeover from the format to alternative rock on the FM backdoor station 87.7 FM and my July, 2012 followup detailing where to find other jazz programming on the Chicago airwaves consistently […]
Classical segregator or savior? The case for Q2, WQXR’s online “living composers” channel
Hallowed New York City classical radio station WQXR’s “Q2” channel is now well over three years old. I am a big fan of the service. It is one of the few places in the classical music radiosphere in the United States where you can consistently listen to a high quality stream of contemporary classical music […]
The state of global DAB and DAB+ radio
Radio World and Radio.NL report that the government of the Netherlands is considering sunsetting that country’s FM band and transitioning to digital radio broadcasting. This would mean DAB+. The decision rests on the pace at which Dutch consumers adopt the standard via DAB+ receiver purchases. An economic minister says radio receiver buyers will trigger the […]
Patent trolls target HD Radio, Innovation Act targets trolls
First podcasts, and now HD Radio. Patent trolls are looking at new radio forms as potential cash cows to milk. Earlier this year we covered a company called Personal Audio that is suing independent podcasters like Adam Carolla along with big companies like CBS for allegedly violating its patent for a “disseminating a series of […]
UK digital radio transition effort holds lessons for AM revitalization
To say that public comments on the FCC’s AM revitalization proposals are barely trickling in could be charitably called an understatement. As of yesterday there were a total of three comments filed. Two of these are from amateur radio operator Nickolaus Leggett, which Matthew reviewed last week. In the absence of more commentary on the […]