Contact: Gary Reid, Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, (517) 353-9753; or Russ White, University Relations, (517) 432-0923, whiterus@msu.edu

11/19/2004

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University’s student-run radio station, WDBM-FM, commonly known as “the Impact,” is the first college radio station in the United States to broadcast digitally in HD radio.

The Impact is also the first radio station in the Lansing area to broadcast in HD – a technology so new that only 200 of the more than 13,000 stations in the country are using it.

IBiquity Digital Radio is the sole provider of HD radio in the nation. This new technology enables AM and FM radio stations to broadcast their programs digitally, a tremendous technological leap from today's familiar analog broadcasts. These high-definition digital broadcasts provide listeners with radically improved audio quality and reception, and new data services.

In addition to the improved quality of the existing broadcast signal, HD radio also adds a new data channel which can be used to enhance or supplement the information transmitted.

“We’re particularly excited about datacasting opportunities this new technology provides,” said Gary Reid, a senior specialist in MSU’s Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, and the professional general manager of the Impact.“We’ll be able to broadcast text like artist, title, time and temperature, and images like jacket art.”

Data services such as displayed song and artist information, weather and traffic alerts and much more will revolutionize the way listeners experience AM and FM radio. Unlike the monthly subscription fees for satellite radio, it's all free for consumers, just like today's analog AM and FM radio.

All that is needed is a new HD-capable radio. Manufacturers such as Kenwood, JVC and Pioneer have a number of models available and others are expected for the upcoming holiday season.

At MSU there is the potential for HD-enabled laptops and personal digital assistants, or PDAs, to which the Impact could transmit wirelessly with a wide range of information.

Reid says the Impact has always tried to be on the cutting edge in radio broadcasting, which made it a natural move for the station to embrace the new technology. It’s the wave of the future in radio, but no one really has a grasp yet of the technology’s potential, Reid said.

“MSU is a major research institution blessed with a real-world functioning non-commercial digital radio station,” he said. “We have the freedom to experiment with this new technology, so if we try something and it fails, it’s no big deal.

“But if we try something and it succeeds, then we’re in a position to lead the industry into some positive new directions.”

Reid has enlisted the help of some MSU business school students to help the Impact determine what to do with this new technology.

Glenn Omura is associate professor of marketing in MSU’s Eli Broad College of Business and teaches entrepreneurial marketing and competitive strategy. A group of his students will work to come up with ideas on how best to use the new technology.

“This is an awesome opportunity for our MBA students,” Omura said. “They will be tasked with the challenge of writing a business plan to take a new technology and create a market that does not yet exist.

“This is the kind of challenge XM radio, TiVO, and similar new-to-the-world technologies had when the creators knew that they had something cool but didn’t as yet know who might be convinced to buy into the vision.”

Listeners still go to 88.9 on their radio dials to tune into the Impact because HD radio uses the existing radio infrastructure and spectrum, and preserves the existing analog service for as long as needed. So radio listeners can continue listening to local AM/FM stations on existing analog radios as well as on new HD radio receivers.

“Moving toward this new frontier is part of what a leading university should be doing,” said Reid.“Radio plays an important role in people’s lives and it shouldn’t be the last analog medium in a digital world.”

For more information, visit the Web at www.impact89fm.org