News & Events

NAB FASTROAD’s HD Radio™ Electronic Program Guide Project Moves to Field Trial

HD Radio stations in Boston market begin broadcasting EPG data; web and mobile EPG service also set.

CHANTILLY, Va. (July 28, 2009) – A field trial of an HD Radio™ Electronic Program Guide (EPG) ecosystem for AM and FM radio broadcasting is now underway in the Boston, Massachusetts radio market. This field trial is being conducted as part of an NAB FASTROAD project to develop the business requirements, system architecture and specifications of an EPG—an interactive, on-screen guide to scheduled broadcast programming—suited to the HD Radio market for local broadcasters. Stations from the markets adjacent to Boston including Worcester, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island will also be involved, showing how an HD Radio EPG can serve listeners as they travel.

BIA Advisory Services and Broadcast Signal Lab are the managers for this FASTROAD project. Unique Interactive has been contracted to develop EPG service bureau and client software, not only for the HD Radio platform but also for mobile and web browsers. Consumer electronics manufacturer Cydle Corp has joined the project as a partner and is developing a HD Radio device with EPG capabilities.

Given the fast pace at which the broadcast industry is embracing Internet streaming and broadband-based mobile services, EPG has extended its plans to include Web access and a mobile application demonstration on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

NAB FASTROAD is the technology advocacy program of the National Association of Broadcasters. Its mission is to seek and facilitate development and commercialization of new technologies that can be exploited by broadcasters using radio and television broadcast spectrum. The NAB FASTROAD website is www.nabfastroad.org.

Numerous HD Radio broadcasters have agreed to participate in the trial, including stations owned by Greater Media, Clear Channel, CBS, Emerson College and the University of Massachusetts. Other stations are expected to join the trial as it progresses.

Rick Ducey, BIA Advisory Services’ chief strategy officer, commented, “Our primary goal in moving to the field is to give broadcasters practical experience working on the care and feeding of EPG data for their HD Radio services, and to establish a functioning service bureau for cooperative EPG management. We want to enable broadcasters to enhance the listener experience by providing valuable program information on user-friendly devices.”

Broadcast Signal Lab’s managing partner David Maxson explained, “This trial will provide an excellent EPG obstacle course. These three markets will challenge the EPG delivery models because they represent the breadth of market sizes across the nation, are geographically very close to one another, and have numerous HD Radio stations, most of which offer multicast program channels. We are looking forward to taking EPG out for a good run.”  

iBiquity Digital Corporation, the developer of digital HD Radio technology for AM and FM audio and data broadcasting, is contributing substantial ongoing support for the project by sharing its know-how with the project team, to achieve FASTROAD project objectives. iBiquity has also built a set of EPG-capable receivers specifically for the field trial so participating broadcasters can monitor their transmissions the same way users would see the EPG data on future consumer receivers. “iBiquity is very pleased to see the FASTROAD HD Radio EPG project move into the field trial phase,” said Joe D’Angelo, Vice President of Advanced Services.  “We have been working very closely with the expert team assembled by the NAB throughout this program and look forward to continuing to offer broadcasters new and exciting capabilities as they expand their HD Radio programming and services.”

For this trial, Cydle Corp will incorporate EPG functionality into the Cydle, its new HD Radio device.  Mr. Alex Kim, CEO of Cydle Corp said, “Cydle Corp is very excited to be part of the HD Radio EPG field trial under the auspices of the NAB FASTROAD technology project and demonstration.  We have been a strong supporter of HD Radio technology; with our technical expertise in the consumer electronics space, we look forward to build and deploy HD Radio receiver devices capable of such advanced features as the EPG.”

Milford Smith, Vice President of Engineering of Greater Media, Inc., and chairman of the National Radio Systems Committee, which developed the NRSC-5 Standard for digital radio broadcasting, said, "Greater Media is excited to participate in the EPG trial because it is a prime example of how digital HD Radio technology is evolving to provide a more rewarding experience for the radio listener." 

The EPG consortium invites comments on its work to date. Interested parties can review the consortium's initial conclusions in the document at:
http://www.nabfastroad.org/NAB_FASTROAD_EPG_Final.pdf, and provide comment to rducey@bia.com