Clear Channel, Delphi Engineers Chair Supplemental Audio Task Group at NRSC

Surround sound and supplemental audio are the focus points for two new working groups within the standards-setting NRSC.
The Surround Sound Audio Task Group and the Supplemental Audio Service ID Task Group will report to the DAB Subcommittee, according to the NAB’s Radio Tech Check newsletter.
Jeff Littlejohn, senior VP of engineering for Clear Channel, and Jeffrey Marrah, technical fellow and RF design manager for receiver maker Delphi, will co-chair the supplemental audio group. It was formed “to look into the issue of how broadcasters and receiver manufacturers might ‘label’ multiple audio services,” the NAB stated, noting that the HD Radio system “supports multiple audio channels for a single broadcast signal in much the same way that the ATSC digital TV system supports multiple video channels for TV (commonly called ‘multicasting’); however, no common approach for how these new radio services should be identified on receivers has been identified.”