Seattle Facility Will Be Home to 5.1 Radio Demo

As we told you from the show floor of CES, 5.1 may the next big thing in radio. Expect to hear a lot more about it in months to come.
A Seattle radio station, part of a “major national network,” will be the home of a test site to show the broadcast industry how 5.1 surround technology might work in radio.
A monitor company, Blue Sky International, issued a press release stating that its monitoring systems will be used by Harris Corp.’s Broadcast Communications Division in promoting 5.1 monitoring for digital radio.
Several Blue Sky ProDesk 5.1 systems have been installed at the Seattle radio station that reportedly will serve as a beta test site and provide a product demo of 5.1 surround sound radio broadcasting.
According to Blue Sky, Harris also will use 5.1 monitoring systems at its NAB booth to demonstrate 5.1 surround sound for television and what the home listening environment can achieve as part of a “Living Room of the Future” display.
“One of our big market pushes right now is to bring 5.1 monitoring to digital radio,” the company quoted Jim Hauptstueck, resale products manager of Harris. “FM digital broadcasters are going to need 5.1 systems for on-air monitoring in their production facilities.”
Blue Sky 5 systems have been installed at Harris’ service and educational facilities in Illinois and training center in Ohio, and will be installed at the a corporate briefing center in Fla.
Blue Sky is owned by Group One Ltd. and Audio Design Labs Inc.
Info: www.abluesky.com