The potential of SAC

Two managers—-one from a public radio station and one a comercial radio station—-share their thoughts on the IBOC SAC.

Scott Hanley
Director/General Manager
WDUQ
Pittsburgh, PA

What would your station(s) do with the SAC?
We would counter program ourselves—news/jazz against jazz/news. It is our best strategy to encourage receiver adoption by the people who love our station the most.

Do you currently have material that could be used for the SAC? We would run the stream through an Enco station with jazzworks supplying the localized jazz content, and NPR and other material routed through from NPR and other sources, live or stored in the Enco. The #1 digital channel would mirror what we do on analog now.

Would your station run the SAC full time?
Presuming the fidelity is as good at 48kb/s as what I've heard, we would run SAC full time.

John Caracciolo
President
The Morey Organization
WLIR, WDRE, WBON
Long Island, New York

What would your station(s) do with the SAC?
Long Island is a unique radio market, with our close proximity to NYC. The dial is saturated with every format imaginable, but there is a big hole for Long Island sports and information. The same NYC market that saturates radio programming is also saturated with professional sports teams; so many teams and not enough radio outlets for play -by-play. I would use the secondary audio for play -by-play of Long Island's pro teams that currently have no outlet.

Do you currently have material that could be used for the SAC?
WLIR is a heritage alternative rock radio station; our collection of live radio concerts and unsigned live music is overwhelming. I would see a very big opportunity for this library to get some play on the SAC.

Would your station run the SAC full time?
I would run it fulltime and give our listeners the option of hearing unique, special programming on a regular basis.