Why is HD Radio important for public radio?

As a self-proclaimed evangelist for HD Radio, I am often questioned about this technology and asked why I have inculcated it so deeply into the workings of WAMU in Washington. We have three channels of content, two devoted to news and information, and one to bluegrass and Americana music. For the first year, we cross-promoted channels 2 and 3 on our flagship frequency at least 15 seconds over every hour, and we currently do so at least four times a day, utilizing our well-known hosts to give listeners the current schedule on all three channels in our “radio community.” This represents a sizable investment in airtime, and certainly effort on the part of the traffic department that writes all the copy and manages three separate logs, so I’ve given considerable thought to this one question: why is HD Radio important for public radio?

1. HD Radio is cost-effective.
Let’s examine the landscape for starting new radio stations. The last noncommercial station that changed hands in Washington, D.C., sold for $13 million – and that was in 1997. In 2004, Minnesota Public Radio purchased WCAL for reportedly $10.5 million. In 2005, Xavier University in Cincinnati sold WXVU and affiliated stations for $15 million. The acquisition cost for a commercial station in a market the size of Washington can exceed $50 million or more.

In contrast, when WAMU moved our bluegrass shows and our 40+-year history with this music to 88.5-2 in October 2007, we added live shows, several full-time employees, equipment, and a greatly enhanced sense of place for this community of listeners, all for a few hundred thousand dollars. Still a sizable investment for us, but nothing approaching the multi-million dollar outlay required just for the frequency, had we started from scratch. We also launched a second news/talk channel on 88.5-3, focused on international news and emerging shows like The Takeaway, to sate the bottomless D.C. appetite for news and information. Why would we not? I believe it would be criminal to let fail a technology that allows you to start up new radio stations for such relatively small capital expenses. It’s also important to note that those capital and personnel costs are definitely scalable by market; in a market that’s smaller or less expensive overall, costs would undoubtedly be proportionately less.

2. HD Radio allows you to focus on content.
Currently, there are 1,925 stations across the country broadcasting 2,995 HD Radio channels; in Washington, D.C., alone, there are 22 stations broadcasting 39 channels. Formats range from South Asian to gospel, from bluegrass to the Mormon Channel. These multicast channels have nothing in common, save the technology that allows them to exist and the sheer variety of the content they represent. This is, to my mind, the most important benefit of HD Radio – it gives public radio the opportunity to provide new content, different content, niche content – to focus on CONTENT, period. HD Radio allows us to combat the well-founded sense that radio has become too format-driven. The possibilities inherent in that capacity remind me of the golden days of FM, when our DJs played what they wanted, based on their own deep understanding of their music.

For those who would say that focus on niches distracts from their main revenue sources, consider this: by better serving the niches of our market with our bluegrass and international news stations, we are freed up to focus on growing our flagship frequency into a powerhouse. While our main news/talk audience may not, in large numbers, tune into our bluegrass station, they have voiced appreciation that we have not left that audience behind. I believe it is no coincidence that since we launched WAMU’s Bluegrass Country and WAMU-3 for international news, both our fundraising and our corporate support have grown by double digit percentages. Public radio fans of any stripe will appreciate your efforts to focus on the content, and they’ll support them.

3. HD Radio technology prospects are improving.
HD Radio technology has taken a lot of hits, many justified, but I do believe the prospects for the technology are continually improving. Our research showed that for more than 30% of our audience, the price tipping point for HD Radio was $50; the newest portable HD Radio from Insignia is $50. Now we will see if they really meant it.

Automobile manufacturers are helping grow the audience by including HD Radio technology as standard or optional equipment in more models. Ford, Volvo, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, and Hyundai all include HD options on some or all of their models.

To appreciate the possibilities for growth that this represents, remember how powerful bundled software on PCs has proven in growing market share for different applications and web browsers – once the application was made part of the purchase, any roadblocks to usage simply melted away. Becoming “standard equipment” should have the same effect for HD Radio and multicast channels.

Another stumbling block has been the limited coverage area. Now, the FCC is considering approving a ten-fold power increase, so that multicast channels can have better structure penetration and an expanded coverage map. I’m looking forward to NPR Labs study results of this proposed increase, and hope the outcome of such an increase will allow each one of our listeners to hear all three channels of robust content that we air. In fact, WAMU is taking a leadership position in testing higher HD power levels with the installation of a new transmitter in September. We will be asking our listeners to provide feedback on improvements they hear when listening to our multicast channels in office, home and mobile settings.

4. HD Radio as a programming strategy is WORKING.
The question always is, who’s listening? The answer is encouraging. We have initial data in the form of the National Topline Report from Arbitron that show a 5,500 cume for Bluegrass Country. We also have web statistics showing more than 50,000 unique monthly visitors to the station’s site, bluegrasscountry.org. Among our constituency, we hear from angry people when we make changes to our multicast channels, a sure sign that the audience is engaged. Finally, it is undeniable – one other signal of the traction that HD Radio is gaining is that on the commercial multicast stations, you’re starting to hear commercials.

However, I think that to truly “get” the importance of HD Radio, you must abandon the old metrics, and stop trying to layer those measurements on the new landscape.

The days of double-digit share are gone; 1-2% may become a good share in the brave new world. The landscape has irreversibly changed, with so many platforms available to tempt the listener. Podcasts, mobile, Internet radio – the competition for ears is everywhere, as we all well know. I believe that, comparisons to Betamax and 8-tracks aside, very rarely does a format completely disappear – the pieces of the audience pie simply get smaller, and you need to be accessible on every possible platform in order to get the same aggregate AMOUNT of the pie.

My career in public radio has been based on careful fiscal oversight and ceaseless attention to ROI. I submit to you that above all, HD Radio returns a high yield in rich content, program development, and listener goodwill for a relatively modest investment.

-Caryn G. Mathes, General Manager
WAMU 88.5 FM American University Radio, Washington, D.C.
Reprinted from Current

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