HD Radio developer IBiquity finished the year with 300 stations ’...
HD Radio developer IBiquity finished the year with 300 stations “licensed and in the process of going on the air” in 100 markets, and was “arguably ahead of expectation” from a year ago, when only 250 stations were foreseen,…
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CEO Robert Struble said in a pre-CES interview. By the end of 2004, he said, 600-650 stations are expected to be on the air with HD Radio, representing 75% coverage of the U.S. radio population. As a result of the midyear change to a new codec after AM audio artifacts were found in its original PAC algorithm, iBiquity’s consumer launch is 3-6 months behind schedule, Struble said. Although he conceded the abrupt change to a new codec was “a headline-making event” in 2003, “all things considered, it came out quite well,” resulting in better audio quality. Struble said he hoped that “the fruits of our labor” would come to bear in a successful consumer launch in 2004, beginning at CES with the formal introduction of aftermarket radios by JVC and Panasonic, in addition to Kenwood, followed later in the year by additional receiver partners “diving in the pool.” He also said CES would be the showcase for the first HD Radio multichannel audio demonstrations and there would be “exciting” demonstrations of the “services” capabilities the technology ultimately would offer, including traffic reporting.