Grant to help KAOS add HD

By Venice Buhain | The Olympian • Published December 02, 2008

Comments (0)

More programs will have a chance at the airwaves after community radio station KAOS, based out of The Evergreen State College, received a grant that will enable it to broadcast digital signals. – More programs will have a chance at the airwaves after community radio station KAOS, based out of The Evergreen State College, received a grant that will enable it to broadcast digital signals.

The station recently announced that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded the station about $78,900 to install HD Radio technology, a relatively new technology that will allow the station to transmit multiple broadcasts simultaneously.

So, for example, while KAOS' main frequency could have a music show, one "side channel" could broadcast a news show at the same time. Such a change would double the hours of available air time.

Listeners will need an HD Radio tuner to listen to the additional broadcast, but the new technology will not affect the ability to listen to 89.3 FM on a regular radio, said John Ford, the station's development director.

"On the plain old channel, there will be the same KAOS that you hear now. On the side channel, there could be dedicated or focused programming, perhaps all information. That's happening throughout the country with noncommercial radio stations like ours," he said. "The important thing is that it will not shut out anyone who has a plain old FM radio. Plain old radio will work and work and work."

Ford said the station had not decided when to start broadcasting the additional programming.

HD Radio is a brand name for the digital broadcasting technology created by private company iBiquity, according to the Federal Communications Commission. According to the FCC Web site, the digital broadcasts allow radio stations either to enhance its current signal with additional information transmitted digitally -- for example, the weather or the station's music playlist -- or to add side channels for additional broadcasting.

Listeners need to own an HD Radio tuner to get the enhancements, but the analog signal that a regular radio tuner picks up is still available. There is no subscription fee for HD Radio and no federal requirement for radio stations to switch to digital broadcasting, unlike for television, according to the FCC. HD tuners are available starting at about $100.

The technology was approved by the FCC in 2002, and many commercial, community and public radio stations have adopted it. According to the FCC, some Seattle commercial FM radio stations that broadcast analog and digital signals include KMTT, KJAQ and KJR and public radio stations KPLU-FM and KUOW-FM. Those stations use their digital signals for additional streams of programming.

Ford said most of the grant money will be for installation and equipment at the station's transmitter site on Tumwater Hill.

The additional stream creates the chance to air more programming. Ford says the station is considering adding two side channels.

"Creating the content -- that's part of radio," Ford said. "That's the potential for more volunteers and more involvement -- and more members and more donors. There's a potential for value added."

Venice Buhain covers education for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5445 or vbuhain@theolympian.com.