Figure 4. Cydle HD Radio tuner display with EPG feature

Project results

Some preliminary conclusions from this field work were drawn.

Reaction to the research gathered from these Radio EPG trials has been cautiously positive. Broadcasters have confirmed by the manner in which they participated in the trial that radio station programming, operations, engineering and IT time is precious. The trial worked out the kinks on how to set up EPG on an HD Radio transmission system so it can be executed efficiently. Once EPG transmission is established, stations would be well served by their software vendors (e.g. automation and/or traffic) if the vendors develop easy-to-use interfaces that incorporate EPG activity into the existing workflow.

Figure 5. Cydle HD Radio EPG display

What's next?

What remains is more research and development to define and test the business and operational models that make sense for U.S. radio broadcasters. We see the radio broadcast industry making strong moves toward serving its audiences not only over the air using its traditional broadcast infrastructure but also to devices connected to the wired and wireless Internet. Connected devices typically offer a rich user experience, including a lot of program information. It may pose a competitive risk to radio broadcasters if a similar user experience is not provided over the air.

Rick Ducey is the chief strategy officer for BIA Advisory Services, BIA/Kelsey; David Maxson is the owner of Broadcast Signal Lab; Skip Pizzi is a media technology consultant; Adrian Cross is the software development team leader at Unique Interactive.