Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on codecs and STLs.
When HD Radio subchannels are used to their full potential, the thrill of discovery can be one of the most exciting elements for longtime fans of radio.
Spanish Broadcast System listeners are being treated to a diversity of musical options over their HD Radio subchannels, including a hybrid regional Mexican and urban format called La Privada, running on two separate HD2 subchannels.
La Privada’s program feed is generated at SBS’ Los Angeles studios, home to 96.3 KXOL(FM) and 97.9 KLAX(FM), and delivered to each of its eight other markets across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. GatesAir’s Intraplex IP Link audio over IP codecs support the multisite networking, moving the La Privada program feed over mostly private fiber links to transmitter sites in each market.
Mike Tosch, director of engineering at SBS, said the channel was launched in two phases, beginning with a local broadcast on KLAX in 2024. As funding for the operation was approved, SBS added new stations in its additional markets.
The design of the IP Link, which is able to take in a contact closure from SBS’ automation, allows each station to trigger local IDs.
Tosch is a longtime Intraplex user. He launched the network with a pair of IPL-100c codecs for the KLAX feed. The IPL-100c is GatesAir’s first half-rack codec, often used for both STL links and remote contribution devices. He later installed an IPL-200n dual-channel codec at the origination point, and deployed IPL-100n codecs to all nine transmitter sites, including KLAX, replacing the IPL-100c.
The IPL-100n allows for audio insertion for market-specific legal IDs via network triggering.
Tosch said SBS can add 10 destination points to the IPL-200n, and the company plans to fill the 10th slot with a Chicago feed at a new transmitter site. SBS uses Opus for its Puerto Rico feed, where fiber is 10 times the cost compared to the U.S. mainland. Tosch said it allows the feed to be compressed for transport over public internet while maintaining audio quality.
“We keep it all on HD2 with one single feed, which helps us maintain consistent branding in each market,” he said.
