HD Radio has spent most of this decade in the "huh?" category ofcustomer awareness. In its early days, this technology for digital AMand FM broadcasts required $1,000 worth of hardware -- if you couldfind it -- and a search for a station that was actually serving upan HD radio signal.
Today, you can buy an HD radio for $300, take it home and starttuning into almost 20 FM and AM stations offering HD in theWashington area.
The only catch is, "an HD radio" means "a single model of HDradio." Two years after digital broadcasts went on the air, listenerswho'd like to hear them at home without spending more than $1,000have one choice, Boston Acoustics' Recepter Radio HD.
This stereo clock radio debuted last year for $500, but in JanuaryBoston (www.bostonhdradio.com) whacked the price down to $300, beforea $20 mail-in rebate. The next-cheapest option for listening to HDradio at home is an $1,800 (!) home-theater receiver from Yamaha;several types of car stereos are also available at more reasonableprices.
If you're going to sample HD radio, this compact but big-soundingstereo is by far the easiest way to do so.
Why bother? At a minimum, HD radio can make FM sound close to a CDand make AM sound like a static-free version of FM. But it also letsFM broadcasters send out second or third digital-only signals on thesame frequency (unlike digital television, digital radio uses thesame airwaves as before, electronically layering the digital signalalongside the analog one).
In lieu of a breakup of radio conglomerates such as Clear Channelor a massive shift in programming philosophy at individual stations,those "HD2" channels may be radio's last, best hope to escape itsplaylist prison. They allow stations to broadcast genres that areeither marginalized or missing outright from commercial FM and mostNational Public Radio stations, lending FM a little of the surpriseand diversity of satellite and Internet radio -- but without anyfees or required broadband hookup. They're HD radio's best sellingpoint at the moment, assuming stations actually make use of thisopportunity.
The Web site of HD radio's developer, Columbia-based iBiquityDigital Corp., lists 18 stations broadcasting digitally around theD.C. area -- 14 FM and four AM. Of the FM stations, seven provideHD2 channels.
When you tune into one of them, the Recepter indicates thealternate channel's availability with an arrow icon on its screen;twisting the tuning knob clockwise selects that second channel. Beingable to flip over to these extras can make radio seem a lot lessboring.
For example, the HD2 channel for the usually buttoned-down NPRaffiliate WAMU (88.5 FM) is "Groove Salad," a fascinating mix ofmostly instrumental electronic works put together by San Francisco'sgreat Web station SomaFM. R&B-focused WPGC (95.5 FM) offers a full-time gospel channel, taken from its AM station. All-news WTOP-FM(103.5 FM) provides an all-classical channel. And all of these extrashave come commercial-free, though you can expect that to change oncea decent audience starts tuning in.
Because we are talking about commercial FM here, other stationsblow the chance to do anything too original with HD radio: The HD2channel of the relentlessly shallow WWDC's (101.1 FM) didn't seemmuch fresher than its usual rock fodder over a couple of hours oflistening.
Also, almost all HD2 channels are DJ-free. If you don't recognizea song, too bad; although HD radio allows stations to send out textinformation such as titles and artists' names for display onreceivers' screens, none of the HD stations I sampled did that.
The Recepter was able to tune in 11 of the 14 FM HD stationswithout much trouble at a house in Arlington, although in some casesI had to swap antennas. Boston first shipped this radio with arelatively short wire antenna that plugs into the back, then recentlyadded a seven-foot-long wire that can be used as a backup. Thecompany says buyers of earlier models can get the new antenna forfree.
At times, tuning in digital radio reminded me of trying to lock indigital TV broadcasts. The signals were weaker than their analogcounterparts, as mandated by Federal Communications Commissionregulations, and could drop out, then resume for no apparent reason.The HD signals of classical WGMS (104.1 FM) and smooth-jazz WJZW(105.9 FM) never got past that shakiness -- and The Post's WTWP(107.7 FM) was complete static the whole time.
HD radio on AM delivers a much bigger improvement in sound -- but only if you can get the signal, something the Recepter hadserious trouble doing. Whether I used its internal AM antenna or theexternal one included in the box, it pulled in only one HD AM signal,"SportsTalk" WTEM (980 AM). It detected an HD signal on two others,WKDL (730 AM) and WTWP (1500 AM), but never tuned it in; all-talkWTNT (570 AM) never even showed one.
On WTEM's signal, the improvement was astounding -- HD radiowiped away all of the usual hiss and static, leaving a clear, crispsignal sounding better than most FM broadcasts.
As much as I'd like to hear Georgetown basketball games in thisclarity next year, however, I probably won't; FCC regulationsprohibit AM HD broadcasts after dark, lest they interfere with thereception of distant AM signals.
The Recepter ought to be able to pick up and hold on to a digitalsignal better -- the HD car stereo I auditioned two years agoseemed considerably more reliable. But it's not as if you've got muchof a choice right now at home. When will that change? Since 2004,iBiquity has had the same general answer: over the next year or two.
Seeing this technology inch its way into the market is getting tobe as frustrating as trying to find some originality on your FM dial.If you value what HD radio can do for the public airwaves, you haveto hope iBiquity's forecast comes true this time.
Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrob@twp.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment