The author is vice president, advanced engineering for the National Association of Broadcasters.
The Radio World eBook “HD Radio Best Practices 2025” is full of great information for broadcasters on operating radio stations that use HD Radio digital radio technology.
It’s worth noting that even in 2025 most U.S. radio stations still have not adopted HD Radio. Of the nearly 15,000 full-service AM and FM radio stations in the U.S., just under 3,000 transmit digital radio signals, that’s about 20% and of these stations, about 80% are FM.
For those 80% of stations that have yet to convert, now is a great time to evaluate whether initiating digital broadcasts makes sense. Here are some points to consider:
Improved appearance in automobiles
HD Radio gives radio its best opportunity to “look as good as it sounds” due to the rich feature set that HD Radio offers and to the large number of HD Radios already in the marketplace, with significantly more being added every year.
Many digital broadcasters take advantage of the rich metadata support offered by HD Radio technology (text and images) and enabled by the ever-improving displays in automobiles, elevating the appearance and reputation of not only their stations but of broadcast radio as a service. This is important to consider as listeners increasingly have many audio choices in modern automobiles.
[Related: “Discovering the Dashboard 2025: A New Ebook”]
Broadcasters should also leverage other in-car radio technologies that offer similar benefits, including the Radio Data System FM digital subcarrier for FM stations and newer hybrid platforms like Xperi’s DTS AutoStage. HD Radio stands apart, however, as it provides far higher data rates than that available with RDS, and it is far more prevalent in automobiles than are hybrid platforms.
Additional content streams
HD Radio technology enables multicasting on FM and all-digital AM, allowing broadcasters to deliver multiple audio programs over a single signal. These multicast channels introduce new voices to the market and appear like any other station on modern receivers, as shown in the FM-band station list in Fig. 1 from a DTS AutoStage implementation by Hyundai.
in the center of the display and how HD1, HD2 and HD3 audio programs all appear similar.
Advancements in station technologies
Broadcast equipment manufacturers have significantly improved HD Radio and related systems since the service’s early days. One transmitter manufacturer is currently offering a “test drive” program allowing stations to try HD Radio with minimal financial risk. Additionally, the virtualization of station operations is simplifying facilities, reducing costs and enhancing reliability and redundancy.
Data broadcasting opportunities
There are multiple service providers that can help broadcasters manage and expand sales opportunities associated with the digital inventories available to radio stations. These include opportunities from streaming audio versions of broadcast content as well as RDS, hybrid radio and HD Radio opportunities which support the over-the-air delivery of content. Of these, once again HD Radio technology stands apart as providing the greatest possible impact of digital advertising on listenership due to the factors previously mentioned.
Finally, while the 20% broadcaster adoption rate is low, there are other data that tell a better story about the impact of HD Radio on radio listening. HD Radio reaches well over 90% of U.S. listeners, over half of new vehicles sold in the U.S. include HD Radio and there are now well over 100 million vehicles on the road in the U.S. that can receive HD Radio.
[Related: “El-Dinary Expects Further Uptake of HD Radio”]
HD Radio is also truly a North American standard now with the recent authorization of FM-band HD Radio in Canada (with AM currently under consideration) and with the continued rollout of HD Radio in Mexico. It’s fair to say that as the number of HD Radio broadcasters in the U.S. increases, listeners will benefit, and the radio broadcasting industry will benefit as well.
For additional reading, some great resources on radio in automobiles and effective use of radio signal metadata are available on the NAB website. The National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC) also provides multiple resources on using HD Radio and on metadata, available free of charge.
