GET MORE NEWS & UPDATES @ INSIDERADIO.COM >> FRANK SAXE [email protected] >> PAUL HEINE [email protected] (800) 275-2840 Friday, March 29, 2013 THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO Tech developer says new chips will power-up HD reception. One of the biggest beefs with HD Radio has been limited signal ranges. New technology that’s said to improve the chips used inside receivers could change that. By focusing on a fix at the receiver level, Digital PowerRadio (DPR) says broadcasters won’t foot the bill for improvements that could come more quickly as Americans buy new phones, cars and other electronic devices. DPR has spent the past 18 months developing the tweaks that would be made to the baseband receiver chip inside radio receivers. The tech company says it would significantly improve the performance and coverage of the digital signals radio stations already have on the air. “We don’t make any changes on the transmission side, which means broadcasters don’t have to spend any money — this is all on the receiver side,” says Mark Fowler, managing member of DPR, and former chairman of the FCC from 1981 to 1987. Using computer simulation modeling, DPR says its new chips will provide coverage gains of approximately 5 dB for FM signals in mobile phones and tabletop radios, and approximately 7 dB for auto receivers. Similar improvements are possible for AM stations. “The new chips would be much more sensitive than what is being used now, therefore we can take a weaker signal, receive it, and the effect is to increase the signal going into various radios,” Fowler says. “The simulations prove Mark Fowler out our claims.” Dr. Brana Vojcic, the main inventor, is one of the early developers of digital radio. He compares what radio is using currently as something akin to 2G technology in a 4G world. Vojcic’s 500-page patent for the system is currently pending. Fowler says the DPR technology dovetails with the work that Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan is doing to get FM into mobile phones. “Inevitably, they’ll switch out to the digital chip because it does more,” Fowler predicts. He points out it also gives radio an advantage over Sirius XM Radio. “We get into handhelds with this technology and the satellite broadcasters can’t do that,” he says. “There’s no reason over time radio can’t have the most dominant medium for mobile.” DPR puts focus on receiver makers, not radio stations. By focusing on a choke point like the chip makers, Digital PowerRadio (DPR) managing member Mark Fowler says their effort will simultaneously get digital radio into a variety of devices as the manufacturers market their latest chips to companies like Samsung or Panasonic for their latest cell phones, table top radios and in-dashboard devices. That accelerates the timeline, but Fowler says there is “no question” that it will take several years before the new technology makes a sizable difference. “There’s a feeling on the part of the very enlightened broadcasters looking down the road that this is their last best chance to get into the digital platforms,” he says. “If they don’t, radio’s ultimately going to be left in the dustbin of technology.” DPR has already been in discussions with one of the largest manufacturers of chips, and expects licensing discussions to begin this summer. “They are moving forward with us,” says Fowler, who notes there’s not a significant cost difference. “This can be a game changer for radio broadcasters and we’re very excited about this new technology,” says Beasley Broadcast Group CEO George Beasley, who is a lead investor in DPR. The National Association of Broadcasters hasn’t endorsed the technology, but it has slotted two separate sessions at the NAB Show in Las Vegas next month to give broadcasters an opportunity to hear more about it. Fowler met with the NAB’s National Radio Systems Committee during the Consumer Electronics Show in January in Las Vegas. After the 90-minute presentation, the reaction was the group wanted to go forward to the next step and test the technology through computer simulations to verify the claims made by DPR. “We’re getting very good reception, including from areas outside of broadcasting where we improve the systems,” Fowler says. news INSIDE >> HD Radio developer iBiquity skeptical of DPR claims. Ibiquity CEO Bob Struble says the >>Rush speaks out on technology provider is always looking for ways to improve HD Radio and has added many keeping AM alive upgrades through the years, including some developed by outside engineers. The digital radio MORE NEWS >> INSIDERADIO.COM PAGE 1 NEWS Friday, March 29, 2013 developer says it has “closely studied” the proposals made by Digital PowerRadio (DPR) engineer Dr. Brana Vojcic, and is skeptical they would bring the changes promised. “After close examination, we have concluded that the DPR enhancements will most likely not produce any improvement to HD Radio performance,” Struble says. “Over the years, we had already incorporated several of the techniques they have proposed and dismissed others as incompatible or unhelpful.” Ibiquity doesn’t currently plan to share the source code needed to aid DPR in its testing, but Struble says they’re open to working with DRP on any new enhancements they come up with. Vojcic is well-known inside iBiquity, having worked at its predecessor company in the early 1990s. Struble says DPR simulations and models “significantly underestimated” the performance of the current HD Radio system, and thinks some of the proposed changes wouldn’t provide any improvements — and in some cases would actually give stations a smaller coverage area than they currently have with receivers using iBiquity-developed chips. But broadcast engineers are having a hard time swallowing that, saying digital signals are still coming up short compared to analog. King of AM — Rush Limbaugh — says content will keep listeners from flipping to FM. To many broadcasters Rush Limbaugh is the man who saved AM radio from extinction. At the very least, his program spawned a conservative talk radio revolution over the past 25 years that has bought AM some time. But as more operators are wondering about the future of AM and potential technological fixes, Limbaugh believes the answer lies in content. “People go to AM because there’s something on it that people want to listen to, pure and simple, that’s why it’s relevant,” he says. “AM radio has something there that people want so they’ll go there to listen to it.” When Limbaugh’s nationally-syndicated program launched in 1988, the shift of music formats to FM a decade earlier had created great uncertainty about the viability of AM radio. But when his show attracted a large and loyal following and the talk format blossomed, it put much of that debate to rest. With 85.4% of listening now going to FM according to Arbitron, the question of AM’s future is back. Limbaugh told listeners on his show yesterday that many of AM’s weaknesses are the same. “If it were simply about modernity, AM would not exist because it’s not modern — there’s nothing Rush Limbaugh hip about AM,” he said, noting that in terms of reception and audio quality there are better options. The solution, according to Limbaugh, is great programming. “It boils down to content,” he said. “If people really like this show, the fact that it’s on AM radio doesn’t matter — they’ll go wherever it is if they want to listen to it.” Rush: radio’s meant to be heard, not seen. Like many radio personalities, Rush Limbaugh’s daily three-hour show is video- streamed live online. But unlike some high-profile radio shows, he’s not simulcast on television. “I’ve got a specific answer to that,” he said. “I do believe radio is to be listened to, not seen.” During some impromptu shop talk on his show yesterday, Limbaugh shot back at questions as to why he no longer does station appearances, writes books or appears on cable news channels. “Been there, done that,” he explained, saying he doesn’t feel it’s something he still needs to do in order to connect with audiences. When a caller brought up Air America, Limbaugh said the short-lived liberal-leaning network was doomed to fail. “It wasn’t any good — people didn’t want to listen to it,” he said, adding, “The Air America people totally misunderstood why this program and many others like it are successful.” Reminder from a broadcast attorney: Don’t be radio’s April Fool. For many years April Fool’s Day was a day that had radio managers holding their breath, as stunts and pranks led to bad press — or even lawsuits. But over the past several years the pseudo-holiday has been a lot tamer than in the past. The recent controversy surrounding the Australian morning team whose call to the nurse for the Duchess of Cambridge ended in her suicide is a good reminder of what can happened when an on-air prank goes wrong, says Washington attorney David Oxenford. He has some guidance for stations planning a bit of “Fool-ish” fun on Monday. Under FCC rules governing broadcast hoaxes, stations are barred from airing any reports of a “crime or catastrophe” to listeners if they know the information is false or will cause substantial public harm. That’s defined as any damage to physical property, health or safety of the public, or pulling law enforcement or safety officials away MORE NEWS >> INSIDERADIO.COM PAGE 2 NEWS Friday, March 29, 2013 from their jobs.