BE Points Up International HD Radio Activities

Broadcast Electronics is emphasizing its HD Radio activities in other countries.
The manufacturer issued a post-NAB summary today, saying that in the past year, it had introduced HD Radio to markets in Asia, Europe and Latin America including digital installations in France, Thailand, New Zealand, Philippines and Puerto Rico. Some have been reported here.
BE highlighted several, including WPRM(FM), the first station in Puerto Rico to adopt HD Radio, which went on in April 2005; and KISS FM in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was the first station in HD Radio in that country last September. In October, BE said, the first HD Radio signals heard in New Zealand aired from the Sky tower in Auckland under a special demonstration license.
In the Philippines, the country’s president officiated HD Radio broadcasts in Baguio City on Nov. 9. In France, TowerCast, in partnership with a broadcast syndicate, began broadcasting an HD Radio signal in March using a BE low-powered transmission system and plans to multicast two or more channels; while in Thailand BE installed an HD Radio system for a public radio network targeting mass transit commuters in Bangkok. In Indonesia last month, BE said, it delivered the first AM HD Radio system in Asia and it went on the air in Surabaya, Indonesia, on 1062 kHz; also in April, BE installed FM HD Radio on a station in Jakarta.