Telos Systems and CBS Radio have announced that Classic Rock WZLX-FM, Boston would become the first station in the nation to broadcast all of their format in 5.1 surround sound using the MPEG system on its HD Radio signal. The change is expected to occur within the next 90 to 120 days.

The two companies hope the move will attract the attention of Boston-based receiver makers such as Boston Acoustics and Bose, as well as other stations, to get them excited about MPEG Surround sound capability.

Steve Church, chief executive officer of Telos Systems, said: “This is going to create a significant boost to radio’s aural impact and will be an important motivation for consumers to buy HD Radios.”

The station will hold off on promoting the 5.1 surround until there are compatible MPEG Surround receivers in the market, said Church and Foti, who added MPEG has developed a reference design for receiver makers.

Other stations are interested in adapting their studios and music formats to surround sound, said Foti, who added the classic rock and classical formats currently have the most music recorded in 5.1 surround. Telos/Omnia is helping WZLX convert its record library to surround and Fraunhofer is providing the MPEG Surround encoder. Meantime MPEG has developed a reference design for receiver makers.

Radioinfo at NAB2006 heard a preview of what WZLX will sound like in a car and home theater setting and it’s pretty impressive.

BMW provided two vehicles for the demo, one in the Telos/Omnia booth and the other in the 5.1 Surround Sound Pavilion where several surround sound technologies are being demonstrated.

Telos/Omnia has been championing the MPEG surround sound system in the United States. Fraunhofer Coding Technologies, Philips and Agere Systems cooperated on the development of MPEG Surround technology.