There's a lot of buzz right now about satellite radio, largely because of Howard Stern's move to Sirius Satellite Radio. While moving to Sirius might make sense for Howard because of his scatological language and on-the-air hi-jinks, it just might not make as much sense for most radio listeners. You see, satellite radio is about to see competition from a new technology called HD Radio. HD Radio is the digital system recently approved by the U.S. Government for multicasts of local AM and FM radio. This is, of course, broadcast radio meaning there is no fee and no subscription required. The benefits of HD radio are: AM radio sounds as good as today's FM radio. FM sounds almost as good as if you were listening to a CD. Multicasting means that stations can add as many as two additional digital subchannels to their primary broadcasts. And broadcasters have said that many of these subchannels will be commercial free -- at least initiallyi just like satellite radio. HD radio includes text messaging so that you eventually will be able to receive real-time weather forecasts, traffic updates and other information right on your radio.People who have been testing the first HD tabletop radio from Boston Acoustics have said maybe satellite broadcasters better start worrying. The Recepter HD radio measures just 4.4 by 7.6 by 6.75 inches, with an extension speaker that is 4.4 by 4.4 by 6.0 inches, but produces sound that can only be described as amazing. Besides being free and offering great sound, HD radio has another important feature that satellite radio can't match. Its programming is local. Satellite radio may be commercial free, but there's no local weather reports, no traffic updates, no local news, no local personalities. The battle between satellite radio vs. terrestrial radio is not going to go away. Satellite radio will grow in popularity. And terrestrial radio is about to get a second life thanks to digital HD radio. So, the real winner in this war won't be either. It will be us consumers. We will be able to choose satellite radio, conventional AM or FM radio, digital HD Radio or all three. It really is a case of the more choices, the merrier. |
