The Future of Digital Radio / HD Radio
By Scott Hanley, Director/General Manager, WDUQ-FM

In 2002, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a new way to broadcast radio in the United States.  The company that owns the rights to the technology (iBiquity) calls it "HD Radio."

Like television's conversion to digital with "HDTV," moving to HD Radio will mean some changes, challenges and opportunities.  By using additional radio space on either side of our frequency, digital "bits" can be added to our 90.5 FM frequency to allow  WDUQ to offer a better sounding digital version of our audio.  We can also add other services with extra "bits" that are left over.

For now, your regular FM radio will continue to work just fine--but the potential for exciting new services might encourage you to try out a digital radio sooner rather than later.  Those services could include customized and stored audio segments, text and even pictures.  An exciting possibility is to add extra audio streams to DUQ.

The first step in converting to HD Radio is called the "hybrid" mode.  We would run a digital signal alongside our standard FM service.  Later, we could upgrade the whole channel to digital--doubling the digital capacity in the process.

In the hybrid mode of HD Radio, it is technically possible for DUQ to continue to carry our regular FM programming, plus multiple digital radio channels.   For this potential to be realized, we need to have three things in place:

Funding - We will need to replace key parts of our transmitting and production gear.  More programming will take more money, too.

New Radios - Radio manufacturers will need to not only build HD receivers, but radios also able to let you listen to multiple digital streams.

FCC Approval - The Federal government will need to grant permission for stations to broadcast multiple digital streams.  It isn't yet certain that we will be allowed to transmit additional digital audio beyond what we carry on our main FM analog signal today.

The potential for HD Radio is great, but not a guaranteed success.   To find out more about digital radio, link to http://www.ibiquity.com

For technical details, visit http://www.ibiquity.com/technology/index.htm

For more information on WDUQ's digital future, check back to this page, soon!