When Norway completed the shutdown of its national FM radio signals the tech sites and blogs were all breathless in reporting the news. But, despite the strong currents of digital triumphalism, the way of Norway is not a sign of things to come for analog radio. As Norway paved the way for the wholesale move […]
Archive | Digital Radio
What’s the Deal with LPFM and HD Radio?
Our latest podcast is all about the first, and—to the best of our knowledge—only low-power FM station broadcasting digitally with HD Radio. The episode has stimulated quite a bit of conversation on social media and raised some questions about the relationship between LPFM and HD Radio. Here I’ll try to answer the most common questions […]
Norway to Shutter Nat’l FM Broadcasts, 200 Local Stations to Remain
Norway will turn off national FM broadcasts on January 11. However, about 200 local FM stations will continue to broadcast for at least another five years, as we reported last year when the story first hit the international press. That crucial detail was missing from international coverage then, and it continues to be overlooked now. […]
Sweden Nixes FM Shut-Off
Back in April of last year news headlines across tech and news sites screamed that Norway was about to turn off all FM transmitters. The reality, of course, is a bit more complex–only 23 stations in the three biggest cities will turn off their analog signals in 2017, while some 200 FM stations outside this […]
VLOG #1: Portland HD Radio Bandscan
As an experiment of sorts, I decided to shoot my first video blog (or “vlog”) for Radio Survivor. I’ve been wanting to share a bandscan of all the HD Radio stations in Portland, OR, where I live, and I finally got down to it. Although I’m a critic of HD Radio, I do think it’s […]
Digital Watch: Is the New Apple TV Your Next Internet Radio? Is HD Radio Adoption Like Color TV’s 50 Years Ago?
Apple held its perennial fall unveiling today, and amongst the updated products on display were a new, bigger iPad Pro and a fresh Apple TV. Of course, you can listen to internet radio on an iPad, though I don’t see how the iPad Pro will be any better for that application than any other model. […]
Digital Watch: HD Radio Parent Is Acquired; NPR Podcasts Turn 10
Today iBiquity, the parent company behind HD Radio technology, was acquired by DTS, which is best known for creating multi-channel digital cinema sound systems. DTS is a public traded company, while the majority owners of privately held iBiquity are banks and private equity firms. The primary reason for the $172 million deal appears to be […]
College Radio Watch: University of Houston to Sell Former KTRU Frequency + More News
Houston Public Media announced yesterday that it plans to sell off its KUHA 91.7 FM license (aka Classical 91.7) and will move its classical music programming to HD radio (via 88.7 FM HD2). Radio Survivor readers may recall that the license for 91.7 FM was previously held by Rice University and was the former home […]
Digital Watch: AT&T Android Phones Get FM in 2016
On Tuesday AT&T, the nation’s second largest wireless carrier, announced that it is activating the FM radio chips on Android smartphones subscribed to its service. Beginning in 2016, subscribers buying new compatible phones will be able to use the free NextRadio app to listen to both terrestrial broadcasts and those stations’ internet streams. Sprint, the […]
Radio Survivor’s Paul Riismandel on WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show Today
Update: the show archive is live. I’ll be a guest on WAMU-FM’s Kojo Nnamdi Show today at noon Eastern Time for a discussion about the future of digital radio entitled “Radio After FM.” This is part of the show’s “Tech Tuesday” series. WAMU is the public radio station serving the Washington, D.C. area. Scheduled to […]