Index

News

Malta Launches DAB+ Network
Residents of the tiny nation of Malta now have regular access to DAB+ radio. WRN, a London-based international broadcaster, says it is working with DigiB Network, the company licensed by the Malta Communications Authority to operate a Terrestrial Digital Audio Broadcasting (T-DAB) Network, broadcasting WRN Europe multi-lingual program services via DAB+ to the Maltese island group.

WRN broadcasts news and current affairs radio networks in five different languages (English, French, German, Arabic and Russian). The network carries programming from international public broadcasters and other programmers worldwide, and is broadcast on Sky Digital in the UK and Ireland and via Hot Bird to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

While other European nations, such as Germany and Italy continue on-air testing of DAB+ technology, Malta is the first to commit to a full DAB+ multiplex.

Malta is an independent nation with more than 400,000 citizens located on an island group near the center of the Mediterranean ocean.

Digital Radio for Visual and Hearing Impaired Debuts
Visitors on the exhibition floor at recent the NAB Radio Show in Austin, TX, got a chance to learn more about the progress a joint initiative of NPR, Towson University and Harris Corporation to develop dedicated HD Radio channels deaf/hard-of-hearing and visually impaired listeners.

The new class of programming, announced last year and now said to be ready for launch, will utilize combination of low bit-rate audio multicast, datacast and conditional access HD Radio technology.

The new services, distributed through NPR, will include a captioned radio text stream for the hearing impaired. Visually impaired audiences will also be able to access a Digital Radio Reading Channel over which text of daily newspaper, book and magazine articles will be read.

Both services will be distributed to subscribers only through the use of conditional access functionality.

Dice Electronics featured a beta-test receiver for the visually impaired at the show. Among the specialized features are voice confirmations of control functions along with time, alarm sets and station information. Other receiver manufacturers will reportedly offer similar feature sets on selected receivers.

Business

Rep. Markey Introduces House Bill to Require Satellite/HD Receiver Bundling
In an interesting piece of 11th-hour maneuvering, Representative Ed. Markey (D-MA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, introduced legislation last week designed to force manufacturers that build satellite radio to include HD receivers.

A bipartisan group of Energy and Commerce Committee members cosponsored HR 7157, referred to as the "Radio All Digital Channel Receiver Act,'' including Representatives Lee Terry (R-NE), Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX), Greg Walden (R-OR), Joe Wilson (R-SC), and Dan Burton (R-IN). Also listed as co-sponsors are Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Mark Souder (R-IN).

One particularly notable characteristic of the bill is its brevity. With only about 250 words, it reads faster than the menu board in the house cafeteria. At its core, the legislation requires that "apparatus shipped in interstate commerce or manufactured in the United States that is designed to receive signals broadcast in both the satellite digital audio radio service and the terrestrial AM or FM radio broadcast service be equipped with technology that is capable of receiving and playing digital radio signals as transmitted by terrestrial AM or FM stations."

But with time running out for the 110th Congress, and with representatives preoccupied with an unprecedented fiscal crisis as well as November elections, the fate of HR 7157 is far from certain.

The NAB welcomed the legislation, saying it salutes the leadership of Markey.

Ibiquity Helps Broadcasters Build Their HD IQ
Ibiquity Digital is now promoting the launch of its new HD Radio University for Broadcasters, an interactive website designed specifically for the broadcast community.

Described as a site with how-to, FAQs, course presentations and checklists, Ibiquity says its HD Radio University will be updated daily with the latest information on receivers, technology breakthroughs, retail specials and general HD Radio news. Broadcasters will also find varied resources for practical needs like logos and signage, alongside a wide range of marketing and promotion ideas.

The new approach will supplant an existing informational Web publication known as the HD Radio Playbook, and is designed to complement a similarly named site designed to educate retailers about HD Radio technology.

Access to the site requires a free online registration

IBOC Across America

IBOC by State: Florida
Ibiquity has a list of stations with licensed HD Radio technology and notes those on the air now. IBOC by state looks at various states and lists the stations making the transition. There are 117 stations in the Sunshine State broadcasting 192 HD Radio channels.

Eye on IBOC

NAB Touts Electronic Program Guide Development at Radio Show
Among some key pieces of digital radio technology introduced in Austin, TX, last month was a prototype Electronic Program Guide (EPG) system for HD Radio. Developed under the NAB's Fastroad technology advocacy program by BIAfn, Broadcast Signal Lab (BSL) and Unique Interactive, the system provides users with an interactive on-screen guide to scheduled broadcast programming. NAB also used the occasion to release a report outlining requirements and potential consumer applications of the new technology.

The concept of radio program guides is as old as the radio medium, yet it's been many decades since most newspapers ceased printing them. While a few stations still publish program guides in the U.S., the idea of having them universally available on receivers is something quite new to American consumers.

Originally developed for application in Eureka-147 DAB systems in Europe, developers note that EPG for radio is more difficult than TV for a number of reasons, including the mobile nature of radio listening and the wide variation in receiver displays.

Taking these challenges into account, the EPG report presents what the authors believe to be a workable design for a U.S. radio EPG system utilizing HD Radio technology. Four possible delivery architectures accommodating a range of station needs are presented, from stand-alone to cooperative cross-carriage among station groups, or even an entire radio markets market.

The full text of the report and information on the NAB FASTROAD technology advocacy program are available at www.nabfastroad.org.

HD Radio Terminology

The New Language of Digital Radio
P3 interleaver select (P3 IS): In FM IBOC service mode MP2-MP5, the P3 logical channel may utilize either a short or long interleaver depth (time span) depending on the state of P3 interleaver select. This control bit is received from L2 via the SCCH. When the state of P3 IS changes (as detected on an L I frame boundary) while transmitting in service mode MP2-MP5, there will be a discontinuity in the transmission of the P3 logical channel.

service mode: A specific configuration of operating parameters specifying throughput, performance level and selected logical channels.

system control channel (SCCH): A channel which transports control information from the Configuration Administrator to Layer 1 and also conveys status information from Layer 1 to Layer 2, through the system control processing.

Products

Aluratek Introduces Net Radio "Dongle"
Aluratek says its new AIRJ01F USB Internet Radio Jukebox will allow PC users with Internet access a user-friendly interface for more than 13,000 radio stations streaming from more than 150 countries – all without installing any new software on their computer.

The AIRJ01F takes a unique approach to the challenge of navigating and accessing a virtual sea of Internet radio stations with a single USB dongle-style package that contains all the needed firmware, while the host PC sound hardware and network connection do the rest. Users can search for stations geographically or by more than 50 music genres, and favorites can easily be saved to a special folder on the device.

The product's unusual design may have special appeal to office-bound types worried about installing unauthorized software on company PCs. After surfing world radio outlets while at work, the user can simply remove the device and takes it home at day's end.

New Insignia NS-HD3113 Does it All
Consumers who demand multi-functionality from their home entertainment devices have something to cheer about. The new NS-HD3113 bookshelf audio system not only features AM/FM HD reception with Itunes tagging technology, but also detachable two-way speakers and CD/DVD multi-format audio and video playback capability at a $200 price point.

The company is also offering its new NS-HDTune AM/FM HD Radio component tuner for about $150.

Insignia says it will market both devices exclusively through Best Buy online and retail outlets.