[opendtv] Digital radio initiative
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 16:11:55 -0400
WAMU (American University, in NW DC) is the Wash DC local NPR station. I
heard them announce this today over the air. This is good stuff, and I
only wish TV stations did the same sort of thing more aggressively.
Note: just because they are already streaming over the Internet, and
podcasting, does not mean that they are neglecting their OTA component.
My prediction is that this sort of thing, when advertized, will get
listeners interested in HD Radio. Somehow, WAMU has figured out that
having more than one stream of content OTA can actually work in their
favor.
(Would be even better if they didn't dedicate so many bits to bluegrass
music, but that's a different discussion.)
Bert
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.wamu.org/programs/messages/07/09/02.php
Friday, September 7, 2007
A Message To Our Listeners
Against a backdrop of an explosion in personalized media, it is
increasingly challenging for a single radio station to serve disparate
listener interests. You, our listeners, expect consistency and
predictability of content across the week. Expectations are on the rise
for specialized content services as new media -- including podcasts,
satellite radio, and direct-to-mobile content delivery -- offers you
ever-greater opportunities to select exactly what you want to listen to,
when you want to hear it.
Fortunately, developments in digital technology allow us to broadcast
multiple radio services, carving out additional frequencies within our
existing position at 88.5 on the radio dial. The multiple streams of
radio programming are receivable with an HD radio. Individual services
can be intensely focused for a specific audience. WAMU 88.5 has been a
pioneer in using and championing this technology, launching our second
channel in September 2005, and a third channel in October 2006.
An ongoing concern from WAMU 88.5's bluegrass listeners is that the
growth and success of our news and talk format has come at the expense
of the music they enjoy. My belief is that our station faces a situation
in which music programming exists as one shelf of inventory in a much
larger store specializing in a different stock of merchandise. This is
not the way I want to present bluegrass, which has been such an integral
part of WAMU 88.5's identity for the past 40 years. So we find ourselves
at a crossroads, where to maintain and grow bluegrass and Americana
music as a genre, we must provide this music with its own store.
Additionally, WAMU 88.5 has decided that this is the time to begin
treating HD Radio multicasting as 'real' radio, and programming
distinct, robust, live-produced, listening alternatives to our diverse
constituencies. HD Radio is becoming eminently accessible to the general
consumer. To learn more about the 26 models of HD Radio currently on the
market, click here.
For all of these reasons, on Monday, Sept. 17, WAMU 88.5 will begin a
new era. Heard in analog at 88.5 FM, in HD at 88.5-1, and online at
wamu.org, WAMU 88.5 will now feature a format that is solely news, talk,
and information, adding both existing programs like Speaking of Faith
and Bob Edwards Weekend, and new shows including The State We're In, a
collaboration between WAMU 88.5 and Radio Netherlands; Tell Me More,
featuring NPR's Michel Martin; and a compelling hour from the previous
week's The Diane Rehm Show. Our Saturday schedule, which features A
Prairie Home Companion -- appointment listening for much of our audience
-- will remain unchanged in its focus on cultural and family programs.
Effective Sunday, Sept. 23, WAMU 88.5's Sunday bluegrass content,
currently airing from 1:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., will move to HD at 88.5-2.
WAMU's Bluegrass Country, the prerecorded automated music service
currently heard in HD at 88.5-3, will move to the full-stereo 88.5-2 and
be transformed into a robust, comprehensive "real" radio station -- with
up to 8 hours per day initially of live-hosted programs and
opportunities for the audience to interact with the music hosts. This
station will continue to be heard online at www.bluegrasscountry.org,
which has served the full-time bluegrass listener since 2001. WAMU's
Bluegrass Country will be among the first in the nation to offer live
programming exclusively for HD Radio. In creating this robust,
sustainable service, WAMU 88.5 is increasing by 59% its financial
commitment to this music.
We will launch a new third channel, WAMU-3, in HD at 88.5-3. This
station will serve the dedicated public radio news listener with
programming not available on the main channel, including extended BBC
news coverage and NPR's Talk of the Nation. Our groundbreaking
partnership with AAA-public station WTMD will continue on this station,
where we'll continue to air WTMD's funky, eclectic blend of rock,
country rock, blues, folk, and world music, weekdays from midnight to 5
a.m., and weekends from 7 p.m.-5 a.m. To view the schedules for all
three channels, click here.
Because I know that a change of venue can be disconcerting, I have
decided to assist those listeners who currently support our Sunday
bluegrass programming with their membership dollars with the gift of an
HD Radio. Through Oct. 31, 2007, WAMU 88.5 will give away upwards of
1000 HD Radios to these listeners to jumpstart the migration of the
existing audience to the new radio dial position, to propagate the new
technology, and to expand appreciation for the bluegrass and Americana
genre to a larger audience. These radios are for all donors who made a
gift in October 2006 or February 2007 during the bluegrass programming
on WAMU 88.5, regardless of their giving level, because I want very much
for these listeners to have continued easy access to this music.
There continues to be dynamic change in the media landscape in this
region -- change to which this station must respond, in order to
maintain appropriate levels of public service. Program format refinement
and consolidation is a perpetual endeavor, as the staff here constantly
evaluates the success of past schedule changes and makes alterations
based on that information. I very much hope you'll enjoy the new
schedules on all three channels in WAMU 88.5's roster of content
services.
Sincerely,
Caryn G. Mathes
WAMU 88.5 General Manager
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