Satellite distribution is expensive

I've been looking in to getting Groove Salad distributed over satellite- we've had a few college / public radio stations ask about using it for their weekend and overnight programming. While we have a deal with NPR for distribution of Groove Salad over the NPR satellite service, it's only for use on HD radio multicast channels, and is not allowed to be used for over-the-air analog use.

So I looked into what it would cost to have PRSS (the public radio satellite system) give us a 24x7 satellite feed - which would make it really easy for any over-the-air station to broadcast us (since they already have the equipment for it in place).

It's expensive. $13,000 a month. A 12 hour a day feed would cost $9625. Add onto that the cost of a T1 back to Washington DC to feed their uplink - that's going to be about $1000 more a month, plus another $3000 or so for the Musicam encoding hardware.

I also talked to the folks from Clear Channel Satellite Services when I was at NAB. They're a bit less expensive; but with everything (the T1, sat time) it was going to be around $9500 a month with a 2 year commitment. The caveat is that most public radio stations don't have the satellite gear to receive the Clear Channel satellite feeds; on the other hand, most commercial stations do.

Alternatively, we could use an internet-based solution, the problem is that many of them now have too much buffer delay (10 seconds or more, vs half a second for satellite). There are low latency "over the internet" systems from Musicam, Comrex and others, but they require expensive hardware at both ends.

We'd love to get our programs out there in more places, but the non-internet distribution costs are still quite high.

88.5 WFDD Launches HD WFDD-3, Featuring Groove Salad

88.5 WFDD in Winston-Salem, NC has launched their second HD multicast channel, WFDD-3, featuring Groove Salad at night.

So if you live in the Winston-Salem area, and have a HD radio in your car, you can now listen to Groove Salad when you drive around at night.

(We produce a special version of Groove Salad for NPR which is available for NPR member stations to use on their HD Multicast channels.)

Groove Salad, HD Radio, and is there anybody out there?

You know that we do a special version of Groove Salad for NPR, right? The catch is that it's for NPR member stations to use on their HD2 channels, which require a special HD radio, which hardly anyone actually owns.

Still, we've got a few NPR affiliates that carry us, and KPBS in San Diego was one of the first. Alas, apparently they switched formats and no one noticed:

KPBS-FM changed formats last week on its subchannel and nobody seemed to notice or call the station to complain, a surprising development considering how rabid KPBS listeners are about griping when the station does anything. (North County Times)

They go on to say:

KPBS plans to begin offering a second subchannel, known as HD-3, within the next few weeks. In a bit of a switcheroo, it will offer a format called "Groove Salad" that was previously on its first subchannel, known as HD-2.

Despite its godawful name, Groove Salad apparently has an audience, at least on the Internet. It features a lot of "chill" music that helps people relax and, if they're HD Radio executives, forget their woes for the moment. (Listen yourself at somafm.com.)

Meanwhile, a 24-hour classical music feed from Minneapolis that provides programming to KPBS at night replaced Groove Salad on the station's HD-2 subchannel.

Whew. We're coming back. And by the time we're back, there might be more than 50 people in San Diego with HD radio receivers!

Which reminds me: If you want Groove Salad in your car, and are willing to spend $200-300 on a HD radio receiver, call your local NPR station and ask them if they have plans to carry Groove Salad on their HD2 channel.