The US digital radio technology IBOC, which was plagued with transmission faults and was recently turned off, is now back on air again thanks to improvements in the transmission codecs.

The broadcast standards group administering the progress of IBOC technology requested that IBOC transmissions be turned off because the signal quality was unstable. The problem was in the digital coding software (codec) which was not robust enough to stand up to all transmission conditions.

During the months when the broadcasts were turned off, manufacturer iBiquity modified the transmission end codecs and has come up with a successful device which broadcasters are now happy with, so IBOC broadcasts are now back on.

Broadcasters and technicians at NAB have mixed feelings about IBOC, which the US industry has branded ‘High Definition Radio’ for consumer recognition purposes.

One AM station technician told radioinfo: “We have to get into this technology because our AM reception is very bad in this country and this allows us to improve it, plus we can deliver quality that sounds as good as our FM rivals.”

A technician at a regional AM/FM group told radioinfo: “We are watching it at the moment. We have not seen a good reason to spend so much money to convert our transmissions yet, but if we can see some consumer take up we will explore it more, but it’s got to help us deliver more profit in the end.”

A high profile Program Director at a large high rating major market station told radioinfo: “I think about the brand. If this is going to help me improve my brand I will give it some thought, but so far I have seen no reason to do that. We are not broadcasting in IBOC… Listeners don’t care about how they hear our station, they care about what’s on it.”

In a panel session on IBOC, the Chief Executive of receiver manufacturer Delphi Corporation, Robert Schumacher, showed examples of receivers which are being built, mostly for the in-car market at present, and expressed his confidence in the robustness of the signal and the success of 1,000 stations already on the air with IBOC. He was reinforced by small group owner Steve Kaspar, who is broadcasting in IBOC on his various regional stations and is happy with the results.

Schumacher was interesting because his company also makes a range of in-car technology devices such as satellite guidance screens, rear-seat DVD player screens, car-phones and other devices. His most significant observation about contemporary consumer behaviour came from his observations about how people are buying the other products he sells.

He said: “If its digital and it goes in the car, consumers will buy it. People are looking for more ways to entertain the kids, keep in contact, and to help with driving and they are turning to anything digital to give that to them. They can’t get enough of digital in the car.”

He thought the fact that radios were now going to be able to receive digital signals, as well as the existing analog ones, and that IBOC was being sold as ‘HD Radio’ to consumers, would be enough to stimulate demand for in-car receivers.

Meanwhile, satellite radio continues to out pace the progress of terrestrial broadcasters, with market leader ‘XM’ expecting to sign up its millionth subscriber in the next few weeks. The latest generation of XM receivers can be removed from the car and docked in a home stereo to allow access to the XM signal in a stationary or mobile location.

Satellite radio has pushed the terrestrial broadcasters into progressing the IBOC system, and in the process has become the ‘bad guy’ in the equation. There was heavy lobbying at the conference against any expansion of satellite radio at the expense of existing terrestrial broadcasters.

While IBOC HD Radio certainly is a quantum leap better than traditional AM in quality, it can only use a maximum of 36 Kbits to transmit the audio and a few lines of text while there is a requirement to simulcast the digital and analog signals on the same frequency. Once the AM signal is finally turned off (many years in the future) then there will be more opportunities for IBOC technology to expand what it can offer to consumers besides just better quality sound. Satellite radio is offering those enhancements now.