NAB Labs, Emmis Interactive, iBiquity Digital and Intel Corp. have announced a press event at the upcoming NAB Show to demonstrate over-the-air HD Radio reception on a smartphone.
The news conference is Monday, April 16 in iBiquity’s booth in the Central Hall.
The radio industry and the NAB have been working to increase the number of cellphones with built-in radio receivers. HD Radio chip size, power consumption and cost have come down enough to make integrating the chips into smartphones feasible, say Emmis Interactive, Intel Corporation and iBiquity Corporation. NAB Labs commissioned them a year ago to develop a standardized HD Radio smartphone eco-system, we’ve reported.
Now they say they’ve done it. The development effort includes an “end-to-end” platform that provides an advanced HD Radio smartphone app and the next generation of the broadcast insertion system, TagStation. The HD Radio proponents say they’ll demo a cellphone with a working embedded HD Radio chip — one that can match the user experience available through other available mobile radio-like products.
“It’s an experience that will harness the promotional power of broadcast radio and create a unique value proposition for handset makers, cellular networks, advertiser and more importantly, the consumer,” according to the announcement.
Executives expected to be on-hand at the event include NAB EVP/CTO Kevin Gage, iBiquity Digital President/CEO Bob Struble, Intel Senior Director of Digital Radio Products Dr. David Rolston, Emmis Communications Chairman/CEO Jeff Smulyan and Emmis Interactive Founder/Co-President Rey Mena.
