When Norway completed the shutdown of its national FM radio signals the tech sites and blogs were all breathless in reporting the news. But, despite the strong currents of digital triumphalism, the way of Norway is not a sign of things to come for analog radio. As Norway paved the way for the wholesale move […]
Tag Archives | HD Radio
What’s the Deal with LPFM and HD Radio?
Our latest podcast is all about the first, and—to the best of our knowledge—only low-power FM station broadcasting digitally with HD Radio. The episode has stimulated quite a bit of conversation on social media and raised some questions about the relationship between LPFM and HD Radio. Here I’ll try to answer the most common questions […]
Podcast #94 – The High School Station that Went HD
If you’ve heard of HD Radio it was probably in a spot on a major commercial station, not a high school station. KVCB-LP is the exception to that rule, a high school radio station that is likely the first and only low-power FM station to start broadcasting in digital HD Radio. Ralph Martin is the […]
Sweden Nixes FM Shut-Off
Back in April of last year news headlines across tech and news sites screamed that Norway was about to turn off all FM transmitters. The reality, of course, is a bit more complex–only 23 stations in the three biggest cities will turn off their analog signals in 2017, while some 200 FM stations outside this […]
FCC’s AM Revitalization = Move AM Stations to FM
For those who have been waiting with baited breath since 2013 to find out how the FCC plans to revitalize the FM dial: your wait is over. The Commission released its First Report and Order on Revitalization of the AM Radio Service late on Friday after its October open meeting. The order covers a few […]
VLOG #1: Portland HD Radio Bandscan
As an experiment of sorts, I decided to shoot my first video blog (or “vlog”) for Radio Survivor. I’ve been wanting to share a bandscan of all the HD Radio stations in Portland, OR, where I live, and I finally got down to it. Although I’m a critic of HD Radio, I do think it’s […]
Digital Watch: Is the New Apple TV Your Next Internet Radio? Is HD Radio Adoption Like Color TV’s 50 Years Ago?
Apple held its perennial fall unveiling today, and amongst the updated products on display were a new, bigger iPad Pro and a fresh Apple TV. Of course, you can listen to internet radio on an iPad, though I don’t see how the iPad Pro will be any better for that application than any other model. […]
Digital Watch: HD Radio Parent Is Acquired; NPR Podcasts Turn 10
Today iBiquity, the parent company behind HD Radio technology, was acquired by DTS, which is best known for creating multi-channel digital cinema sound systems. DTS is a public traded company, while the majority owners of privately held iBiquity are banks and private equity firms. The primary reason for the $172 million deal appears to be […]
Radio Survivor Podcast #5: Don’t Make Our Radios Obsolete
We examine digital radio in Norway, where the biggest FM stations will go away in 2017, and in the US, where the adoption of HD Radio has been slow. We also assess Apple’s new, and underwhelming, Beats 1 Radio. In college radio news Jennifer reviews the upcoming CBI conference and podcasts at WMSE in Milwaukee, […]
Radio Survivor’s Paul Riismandel on WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show Today
Update: the show archive is live. I’ll be a guest on WAMU-FM’s Kojo Nnamdi Show today at noon Eastern Time for a discussion about the future of digital radio entitled “Radio After FM.” This is part of the show’s “Tech Tuesday” series. WAMU is the public radio station serving the Washington, D.C. area. Scheduled to […]