Clear Channel-owned WKSC-FM in Chicago is leveraging digital HD Radio™ technology to essentially "split" its signal, adding a radio format on the air that isn't economically viable for its analog flagship radio station.
In June, the station's HD2 channel introduced Pride Radio, aimed at a gay audience and combining upbeat dance music, talk and information. The analog flagship station is formatted top 40.
Elsewhere in the country, new HD2 channels are popping up with bluegrass, big band music, gospel and Spanish oldies formats rarely found on analog radio today. Country music was dropped as a radio format in the greater New York City area in 2001, but last year made a comeback via separate HD2 audio channels from WKTU-FM and WALK-FM, two area Clear Channel stations in the market.
"If we've seen anything over the past few years, it's that the consumer wants diverse content," says Robert Struble, president and CEO iBiquity Digital Corporation, the developer of HD Radio technology.
"This gives radio an option to address the 'long tail' in a way that makes economic sense."
The long tail is a marketing concept referring to the ability to market special-interest product to niche segments that traditional media can't reach because of capacity constraints. After launching in Chicago, the Pride Radio programming has become available on Clear Channel HD2 stations in other cities.
HD Radio technology squeezes digital signals alongside analog broadcasts. The first digital stream—HD1—is a simulcast of the analog or main channel while the other streams offer original programming. All digital broadcasts fit within the existing radio spectrum.
HD Radio technology is already broadening programming opportunities, covering more audience segments and using multicasting to field test new ideas. While just 1,225 U.S.
radio stations are broadcasting in digital out of a total of 13,000 analog radio stations, Struble notes that those digital radio stations cover 80% of the U.S. population.
He will be a keynote speaker at the Kagan March 22 in New York City.
HD Radio receiver prices, which currently begin at $149.99, have fallen by more than 50% since their introduction two years ago, following a pricing curve typical for new consumer electronics product introductions.
"We need those price points to get down to a more mass market level," he says. "And we need to get receivers in more 'big box' retailers." This week, Wal-Mart agreed to sell a $190 car-radio model HD Radio made by JVC in some 2,000 of its 3,500 stores and on its Web site, giving a boost to the medium.
Besides offering consumers radio programming, HD Radio technology can also be employed to transmit data streams for businesses and consumers, as digital can squeeze more data into the existing bandwidth than can analog. Two months ago, Clear Channel unveiled plans to launch a venture with Microsoft for a data service dubbed MSN Direct HD. Car navigation services are also eying digital radio transmissions.
"We've got lots of ideas, but it's still early days for the data side of the business," says Struble.
Radio broadcasters continue to examine various scenarios for maximizing bandwidth with digital broadcasting (see Jan. 3, 2006, Kagan free at kagan.
com).
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