Tuning In Satellite-Free Digital Radio
You probably don’t know it, but 21 radio stations in the Los Angeles area are broadcasting in digital, even though only a handful of listeners have the equipment to hear it.
Digital radio signals, which offer the potential of better sound quality and the elimination of static and interference, are being simulcast along with the traditional analog signals from such well-known stations as all-news KNX-AM, pop KPWR-FM, rock KROQ-FM and classical KUSC-FM.
The technology could allow an old-fashioned medium to better compete with numerous all-digital competitors, such as satellite radio, pod-casting and Internet streaming.
But building an audience for digital radio has been slow going. Although stations began rolling out the simulcasts in 2003, the only home receiver available has been a Yamaha Electronics Corp. unit that costs $1,800.
Asked recently how many people were listening to digital radio, Robert Struble, chief executive of Ibiquity Digital Corp., which developed the technology, had a ready answer: “Dozens,” he said with a smile.
Last week, however, the price of a digital receiver dropped drastically. Boston Acoustics Inc., best known for its audio speakers, began shipping a stereo tabletop radio that can receive digital AM and FM, as well as analog signals. Called the Recepter Radio HD, it costs $499.
Two more tabletop models are scheduled to be introduced next year: Radiosophy is bringing one out for $269 and a Polk Audio unit that can also play CDs and MP3s will cost $599.
A car radio that can receive digital AM and FM signals is available from Panasonic for $499 and others are due to debut next year. The Panasonic model also can receive XM satellite radio, but one advantage of digital AM and FM is that the broadcasts are free for consumers. Satellite radio, which also is digital, costs about $13 a month.
The satellite services -- XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. -- command these fees because each has more than 100 channels, many of which are commercial-free, that can be heard nationwide in digital sound. Earthbound stations have distance limitations, but that’s also somewhat to their advantage: They can gear their programming to local audiences.
The arrival of the Recepter raises the question: Is now the time to take the plunge into digital radio?
Based on what I’ve heard from the Boston Acoustics unit, probably not.
Although AM broadcasts sound dramatically better in digital, the overall experience does not yet justify the outlay of that much money for what is essentially a fancy clock radio -- unless you’re a hard-core early adopter. (Still have your laser disc collection?)
But the Recepter does offer a tantalizing peek at what could be the future of broadcast radio.
The unit is similar in looks and operation to the company’s nondigital, mono Recepter model that goes for $149. The main difference in appearance is that the digital Recepter has a second, detached speaker.
A highly readable screen provides a frequency read-out as the tuning dial is turned. Analog stations come in as usual. If a digital signal is detected, the initials “HD” start flashing at the top of the screen. While flashing, the reception is still analog, and then after several seconds the signal locks in and the reception switches to digital.
With the radio’s AM and FM antennas hung out a window of The Times’ building in downtown Los Angeles, I was able to receive 17 local digital stations.
How big of a difference did digital make?
A huge one in AM: The switch-over to digital on KNX sounded as if someone who had been talking to me on a cellphone had walked into the room, in mid-sentence. In fact, the first time I heard it, the change was so dramatic I thought I had mistakenly switched the band to FM.
The reason AM sounds so much better, according to Ibiquity, is that analog AM signals carry a myriad of noises and interference picked up along the way from transmitter to receiver. But digital signals carry little or no noise. Also, digital more than doubles the range of audio spectrum that can be carried in AM, resulting in far richer sound.
The sound-quality boost in digital FM is more subtle because analog FM signals carry a lot less noise than analog AM signals do anyway. Also, the FM sound frequency range -- already superior to AM -- gets only slight improvement with digital.
The sound upgrade is generally most noticeable when listening to classical music. Cesar Franck’s Symphony in D minor on KUSC sounded luminous in digital. Jazz also sounded better on stations such as KKJZ-FM.
But little, if any, improvement could be detected on pop and rock stations KPWR and KROQ. That’s partly because pop and rock recordings are engineered for the current sound parameters of FM.
“When you are working on a record, you always have how it will sound on radio in the back of your mind,” said music producer Jimmy Jam, who has worked with Gwen Stefani, Usher, Elton John and Mary J. Blige. With the expanded digital bandwidth, he said, “You don’t have to be so aware of the limitations you face with radio.”
The major benefits of digital FM probably will go to the broadcasters. It lets them split the spectrum in such a way that it can allow as many as four channels. These additional channels can be added without going through the arduous and expensive process of purchasing more frequencies.
But as the spectrum is sliced up because of multicasting, music quality can suffer. For example, the commercial classical station KMZT-FM is one of two local stations already experimenting with digital multicasting. On its regular channel is the classical service and on KMZT-2, as it shows up on the screen, is KKGO-AM, an easy-listening station that has the same owner.
This made for the odd juxtaposition of Amilcare Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” on the classical side and Gene Autry singing “Here Comes Santa Claus” on the other during a recent listening test.
The Ponchielli -- best known as the music for the hippo dance in the original “Fantasia” -- sounded only slightly better in digital. After all, it had only half the digital spectrum with which to work. Ibiquity executives said that stations were still making adjustments to their digital transmission equipment and that they expected quality to increase, even in multicasting channels.
Whatever the technical challenges, the radio industry clearly is serious about digital. So far, 598 stations nationwide are broadcasting in digital, according to Ibiquity, and each paid $80,000 to $100,000 -- plus an approximately $7,000 licensing fee -- to make the upgrade. In addition, 420 more stations have licensed the technology and probably will activate their digital signals soon.
It’s such a heavy investment -- and multicasting is so potentially lucrative -- that you figure broadcasters are going to work hard to make it a success. With improved sound and the promise of additional channels (and please, take a tip from satellite radio and reduce the commercials), it might very well pay off.
The question is, will the listening experience be good enough to get people to buy new receivers, or will digital radio just be the next laser disc?
*
David Colker can be reached via e-mail at technopolis@latimes.com. Previous columns can be found at latimes.com/technopolis.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
A new wave
These local stations are broadcasting in digital as well as traditional analog:
AM Stations
*--* Frequency Format KDIS 1110 Pop music for children KMXE 830 Talk (Spanish) KNX 1070 News KTNQ 1020 News/talk (Spanish)
*--*
FM Stations
*--* Frequency Format KCRW 89.9 News/music (public radio) KCSN 88.5 Classical (public) KHHT 92.3 Urban KIIS 102.7 Top 40 KKBT 100.3 Urban KKJZ 88.1 Jazz (public) KLVE 107.5 Adult contemp. (Spanish) KLYY 97.5 Cumbia music (Spanish) s KMZT1* 105.1 Classical KMZT2* 105.1 KKGO-AM simulcast KOST1* 103.5 Adult contemp. KOST2* 103.5 Adult contemp. oldies KPCC 89.3 News/public affairs (public) KPWR 105.9 Hip-hop KROQ 106.7 Rock/alternative KSCA 101.9 Pop (Spanish) KUSC 91.5 Classical (public) KWVE 107.9 Christian KYSR 98.7 Adult contemp.
*--*
* Multicasting
Source: Ibiquity Digital. Graphics reporting by David Colker
