National Public Radio Lab's
Accessible Digital Radio Project
PowerPoint Presentation on NPR Lab' Accessible Digital Radio Project
Introduction to White Paper on NPR Lab's Accessible Digital Radio Project
Extracted from Paper on Accessible Emergency Notification and Communication
By: Mike Starling, Esq.
VP, Chief Technology Officer
National Public Radio
Originally presented at the State of the Science Conference
Gallaudet University
All telecommunications are migrating to digital transmissions. Radio broadcasting, the original wireless medium, is no exception. Although radio is the last electronic mass medium to be making the conversion to digital transmission, the conversion is well underway with HD Radio[1] signals on-the-air in virtually every major market in the United States.
HD Radio, the only digital radio broadcast system being deployed in America, introduces a flexible service model supporting the expansion and improvement of radio’s public service offerings. Multiple program channels from a single radio station, improved sound quality matching CD audio quality, and the addition of text, time-shifting, and targeted content are existing or emerging features of the growing number of HD Radio stations.
Over 500 radio stations are currently broadcasting in HD Radio, including over 100 public radio stations. Over half of the CPB-qualified stations have been awarded HD Radio conversion grants by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. According to current estimates, by 2010, all 825 public radio stations should be broadcasting digitally.
National Public Radio has been leading the development of new digital radio services within the HD Radio system.[2] Additionally, NPR has a four-decades-old commitment to provide all Americans with in-depth news and entertainment programming. Each weekday, NPR produces America’s most listened to morning radio news broadcast, Morning Edition, as well as the flagship afternoon news broadcast, All Things Considered. NPR’s weekly audience exceeds 26 million listeners, delivered through a broadcast network of over 800 stations reaching 99% of the American population. NPR member stations are located in every state as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Marianas. News is the hallmark of NPR’s broadcast offerings, with NPR News having won hundreds of awards including every major broadcast journalism award.
Yet NPR broadcasts are only accessible to the Deaf and severely-impaired Hard of Hearing, typically 2-3 days later, after transcript accuracy checking and processing. In striving for the laudable goal of “full national coverage”, we have recently asked ourselves whether new digital technologies might improve “access” limitations beyond the traditional measure of signal coverage.
Public Radio Services During Emergencies
Broadcast radio serves as a lifeline of communications during times of emergencies, especially when the power grid is down. FEMA routinely advises the public to make sure they have radios with batteries on hand when major storms approach. Many, if not most radio stations have backup generators at studios and transmitters, and many also maintain dedicated links to local Emergency Operations Centers. But emergencies, of course, don’t always occur during the convenience of the regular business day and it has been widely reported that many radio stations have been unable to respond immediately when operating unattended, typically during overnights and weekends.
In recent years, NPR has strengthened the role of public radio to function well during times of emergency. Following the 9-11 attacks, NPR established the National Emergency Transmission (NET) system which provides a secure means for unattended local public radio stations to join the network news feed whenever a “Level 4 or Level 5” news emergency is reached. A level 4 or 5 news emergency triggers continuous breaking news coverage by NPR. This system has been activated on several occasions, including during the commencement of the Iraq war and upon the death of President Reagan.
The nation’s Primary Entry Point system (PEP) is the backbone of the Emergency Alerting System, established subsequent to President Truman’s creation of the CONELRAD system in 1951. 34 Primary Entry Point AM broadcast stations were designated early on by FEMA to carry presidential messages in times of national emergencies. The PEP stations are provided with hardened facilities and secure telephone links from FEMA. NPR, on a voluntary public service basis, continuously monitors the PEP system and passes all national messages directly to the over 800 stations that receive programming through the Public Radio Satellite System. The NPR system is tested weekly and staffed 7/24.
[1] HD Radio is a service and trademark of iBiquity Digital, Inc., Colombia, Maryland, the developer of digital radio In Band On Channel technology for AM and FM radio broadcast stations.
[2] The Tomorrow Radio Project, an NPR technology initiative launched in 2003, has been the genesis for the demonstration, validation and rapid adoption of multicasting technology. Multicasting permits more than doubling the number of near CD quality program services of America's FM broadcasters in the HD Radio system.