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Turn on the radio and you won't hear much about IBOC. Why is that? I've
asked around over the last few weeks, and talked with lots of different
experts interested in the impact of digital radio in the US, and most
people agree that IBOC is not reported on by the general media because
it's just too technical. Well, when I look over the pages and pages
of notes I have in front of me, it seems that it is a pretty technical
issue - nevertheless, I think it's also something that more people
should know about - especially any people who rely on radio for their
news, information, and entertainment.
Here's a briefing of what you might expect from IBOC. In a nutshell, IBOC
is short for In-Band/On-Channel digital audio broadcasting (or IBOC
DAB). Rather than getting into the technical jargon, suffice it to
say, that IBOC is the technology agreed upon by the majority of radio
broadcasters in the US for the transition of digital AM and FM radio
broadcasts. IBOC differs from XM and Sirius satellite radio in that
it is intended to work on the same bands that you already listen to.
In other words, you don't have to pay a subscription to receive these
broadcasts.
One of the reasons, IBOC was chosen as the optimal digital technology for
the US, has to do with the ability to keep stations at the current
locations on the FM and AM dial. IBOC will allow broadcasters to keep
their current station settings by essentially sandwiching the digital
signal within the analog signal. The analog signal, which you hear
now on your radio, will act like a host or carrier for the digital
signal. Ideally, this signal sandwich will allow for a gradual transition
from the current analog signal to a full digital transmission sometime
in the future. In other words, since the digital signal will rely on
the analog signal to carry it along, you'll still be able to use your
analog radio until your favorite station (or most of the stations you
listen to) opt for a fully digital broadcast. How long that will take
will depend on several factors, ranging from the ability of FM IBOC
to actually give people CD quality sound, and the ability of AM IBOC
to provide FM quality reception while still covering the wide range
of long-distance AM radio listeners.
Last month, the FCC received comments on FM IBOC (at the end of the article
I'll tell you how to find those comments - it wasn't easy). The majority
of these comments seemed to confirm that FM IBOC meets its main purpose
of providing CD quality, digital sound on the FM band. Still, many
questions remained, and I think that if more people were aware of the
implications of IBOC, more of those questions will be asked. In the
months ahead, the NRSC (National Radio Systems Committee) will submit
its report on Ibiquity's AM IBOC to the FCC for evaluation. After that,
the FCC will welcome comments from the public and from radio manufacturers
on the proposed use of AM IBOC technology. As you might have guessed,
C. Crane is following this development very closely. After having talked
with millions of AM Radio listeners for the last 25 years, C. Crane
is in a rare position to offer insight on how people listen to radio
and what sort of requirements would need to be met for AM IBOC to be
successful.
We'll follow the developments in AM IBOC, and let you know how AM digital
radio might affect your listening habits in the years ahead. As of
this writing, Ibiquity's FM IBOC will go into commercial testing in
New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami and Seattle. As
for AM testing, there aren’t many public details available at the moment,
though it seems that it may initially be limited to daytime hours in
order not to interfere with nighttime long-distance AM radio listening.
If you'd like to read the comments that the FCC received on FM IBOC, you
should go through the following steps:
- Go to http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/
- Click on Search for Filed Comments.
- Enter 99-325 under Proceeding, and hit Enter (or click on Proceeding).
- A big list of comments will appear - just click on the comments you'd like to read. Keep in
mind that some of them are very large, and take a long, long time to load. Good luck
- it is a bit tricky to maneuver that site.
If you would like to find more information about IBOC, you could also
visit the following Web sites:
www.ibiquity.com (Ibiquity’s home page)
www.nab.org (National Association of Broadcasters)
www.rwonline.com (Go to their IBOC DAB pages)
There's a lot to learn about both AM and FM IBOC, and the more we know, the more we'll all be
able to respond effectively to this emerging technology. And don't forget to check out
their question of the month to learn cool facts that will impress your
friends and family.
To view our past articles, please visit our What's
in the News Archives.
As always, please e-mail me with any comments or
article suggestions you might have. If you have a customer service or technical question, please
send to ccraneco@aol.com or call 1-800-522-8863.
If you are interested in using C. Crane's articles on your own Web site,
please let me know. I'd be happy to take a look at your Web site and
see what we can do. Good-bye for now, Carlos. About
the author
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