Radio will rule again

By FRANCIS TILL

Driving down Queen St, your new favourite song plays on the radio for the first time. You don't realise it's going to be that until it's halfway finished, but no worries - the artist, track and album are all displayed on your radio screen.

You press the save button to store all that information, restart the song and burn it on your portable CD-Writer in MP3 format for later replay.

It's a scenario that will be increasingly normal in Britain and the United States over the next couple of years - but it's science fiction here and in Australia, where "digital radio" comes only in the form of its dubious cousin: by satellite feed, carrying mostly muzak rather than music.

On the other hand, CD-quality music over the open airwaves is already available to 80 per cent of the population in Britain through more than 200 radio stations.

The BBC is in the middle of joining the party and could be the critical factor that makes the format finally catch on after 10 years of muddling along without big audiences.

Audience share is certain to be helped by the fact that digital radios are also finally making their inexpensive way to market, even in cars. And the technology is about to take off in the US after an October move by the Government to authorise the use of airwaves for digital broadcasts.

True, digital radio in Europe is not the same as digital radio in the US because "digital radio" actually refers only to the delivery mechanism, not the quality of sound that is being broadcast.

In Europe, Governments have invested in a standard - and a national network of antennas - that permits "muliplexing" of radio channels: five or more bundled into the same digital stream, deciphered by the radio. In the US, the standard just authorised by the Government permits any station to broadcast a digital signal alongside its regular radio broadcast.

That means that in Europe, any digital radio signal from any station, no matter how small, is broadcast everywhere with the same crystal-clear, CD-quality signal once it is on the system.

In the US, the digital signals are subject to a range of interfering variables (AM digital signals don't work at night, for example) - and don't reach past the normal broadcast range of the radio station.

Either way, once you get the signal you get perfect sound - and making CDs from the radio becomes only a matter of choosing your hardware.

Here, Broadcasting Minister Steve Maharey says the Government "is aware" of the digital radio tsunami and "monitoring developments", but has no plans to do anything about it.

There is some small hope: Sky TV carries a dozen premium subscription radio stations on its satellite service - and broadcasts of George FM, Mai FM, The Edge, UP FM, National Radio and Concert FM come included with the standard subscription.

According to Sky's director of communications, Tony O'Brien, these are not really CD-quality, but "digitally delivered MPEG quality" broadcasts, although he says the ordinary listener probably will not be able to tell the difference between the Sky signal and a CD, given the right sound system.

But quality of sound is only half the promise. The rest - a free-to-air signal that carries text, images and interactive controls - looks like an OE-only experience for Kiwis until the minister turns the dial.