HD Radio in Smartphone Introduced at 2012 NAB Show

The 2012 NAB Show, held last week in Las Vegas, Nev., brought the broadcasting industry together like no other event can, offering attendees a glimpse of numerous exciting and groundbreaking technology developments. One of the highlights of this year's show was the rollout of HD Radio in smartphone technology, announced at a jam-packed press conference (see photo at right) in the HD Radio booth on the show floor on Monday April 16. Speakers at this press conference included NAB EVP and CTO Kevin Gage, iBiquity President and CEO Bob Struble, Emmis Communications President and CEO Jeff Smulyan, and Emmis Interactive Co-President Rey Mena.

This technology is the result of an NAB Labs project (started in 2011 under the NAB FASTROAD technology advocacy program) with the project team of Emmis Interactive, iBiquity Digital Corporation and Intel, and project management by BIA/Kelsey. Created in 2012, NAB Labs is an NAB program that provides a platform for innovation, a venue for forging partnerships and testing new technology, and educational events to create awareness about over-the-air radio and television technology initiatives.

Key pieces of the HD Radio smartphone "ecosystem" developed under this project were on display in the HD Radio booth all week in a live demonstration, including an Android smartphone with an embedded HD Radio receiver "chip" (by Intel), an HD Radio Android "app" (developed by Emmis Interactive) running on the smartphone, and the Emmis Interactive TagStation broadcast content insertion system. TagStation supports Artist Experience (the iBiquity-developed approach for broadcasting album art and station logo images to HD Radio receivers) and in addition, it can now deliver an enhanced HD Radio ad experience which leverages the power of the HD Radio data capability with a smartphone's data channel to deliver truly interactive advertising that features a variety of ad units including: couponing, geo-mapping, SMS texting integration, rich media, and many other advanced ad capabilities.

Many of the interactive features provided by this HD Radio on smartphone technology were being demonstrated in the booth and are depicted in the smartphone screenshot sequences included here. The first sequence shows how a user can share information about a song being received on the phone's embedded HD Radio receiver chip. The leftmost screenshot in this sequence shows the receiver "home page," including an Artist Experience album art image as well as the song title and artist Program Associated Data (PAD), all being delivered to the device using the data portion of the HD Radio signal.

When the "action button" (highlighted by the yellow circle in the leftmost screenshot) is touched, various actions are made available, including the ability to share information about the song being listened to via Twitter, Facebook or email. The final screenshot in the sequence shows the email message which is automatically composed for this song, ready for sending to the recipient of the user's choice.

Shown in the second sequence are some interactive features that can be associated with an advertisement using the HD Radio in smartphone receiver and the Emmis Interactive TagStation. A Home Depot ad image is shown in the leftmost image in the sequence along with the action button (highlighted by the yellow circle). This ad image is synchronized with the audio portion of the ad being broadcast over the HD Radio signal and is delivered using the HD Radio data channel in a manner similar to that used to deliver album art. In the second screenshot, the various action options for this ad are shown, and the third, fourth and fifth screenshots show the results for selecting QR code, view map and visit website, respectively.

Broadcasters who are interested in learning about the capabilities of the TagStation broadcast content insertion system can visit the Emmis Interactive website.

Some of the other exciting HD Radio-related announcements at the Show included the following:

iBiquity announced that Chevrolet, GMC and Buick will be the first American automotive brands to offer the HD Radio "Artist Experience" feature standard on the new Traverse, Acadia and Enclave crossover utility vehicles. Also, information about the rollout of HD Radio in Mexico was revealed. Several of Mexico's most important radio broadcasters have officially started transmissions with HD Radio technology. Stations from Grupo Radio Imagen, Insituto Mexicano de la Radio and Universidad Iberoamericana are among the first to broadcast, and other major groups will gradually join in Mexico City and the rest of the country. Additionally, the new Web page www.hdradio.mx has launched, created specifically for the Mexican market.