New Digital Radio Sidechannels Serve Niche Genres

Niche programming on satellite and Internet radio may get a little competition as the HUD Digital Radio Alliance announces 28 markets that will begin multicasting HD2 (aka digital) sidechannels.

MediaWeek writes that the initial channels to be introduced  included "Viva La Voce (Opera), Classical Alternative, Traditional Jazz & Blues, Coffee House, Female Talk, Future Country, Extreme Hip Hop, and in-depth News. Other channels in development include Deep Cuts Classic Rock, Live Rock, New Alternative, Fusion Hispanic-Anglo Rock, Chick Rock, Indie & New Rock."

"The 28 markets include all top 13 radio markets, plus markets such as Seattle (No. 14), Baltimore (No. 20), Cincinnati (No. 27), Indianapolis (No. 41), Dayton (No. 58), Albuquerque (No. 70) and Wichita (No. 94). In total, some 264 new commercial-free radio channels will begin to hit the market in the next few days, in addition to the 70 existing digital sidechannels…."

"…So far, more than 600 radio stations are broadcasting in HD Radio, a number that is expected to double this year. But the number of consumers with HD Radios is in the tens of thousands. With 15 manufacturers offering HD Radio receivers, the industry hopes the number of consumers that can receive their digital signals will grow to the hundreds of thousands in 2006 and millions in 2007," reports MediaWeek.