There has been a major new advance in how our programming gets to you. You have been hearing for quite some time now about High Definition with regard to television. HDTV sets are now becoming common. Less in the spotlight has been the agreement on a digital radio standard. With FCC approval in 2002, a new system called HD Radio was introduced. This format allows digital programming to be transmitted on the same spot on the dial as traditional analog broadcasts. In 2004, Northeast Public Radio embarked on a program to upgrade to this new form of digital broadcasting. We are happy to announce completion of phase one of this conversion. All our full power FM stations are now broadcasting in HD.
Listeners to these stations will notice no discernible difference in service on their existing radios. However with the addition of a new HD Radio capable receiver now becoming available, something remarkable occurs. Most of us know what happens to an FM signal while driving around the hills and dales of our region. You hear clicks, pops and static coming from something called multipath. This is when some of the signal you are listening to bounces off a mountain or building and arrives at a slightly different time as the rest of the signal. With HD Radio, this has become a thing of the past. The received HD signal is actually as good as that of a compact disc. AM stations using the technology will sound as good or better than present analog FM broadcasts.
Future enhancements will allow delivery of data, and pending FCC approval of the technology, FM stations will be able to provide additional, separate audio programming on the same channel. This will allow listeners to have additional program choices all on the same bit of frequency now used for our traditional broadcasts.