High Definition radio comes to Cedar Rapids

Iowa’s first in the nation status isn’t just for politics. The world’s first-ever H-D radio station is now broadcasting in Cedar Rapids. Most of us have seen or heard of H-D or high-definition TV. The fledgling H-D radio promises to bring listeners much richer experience in terms of quality, content and information, according to Jeff Jury, chief operating officer of the Maryland-based iBiquity Digital, which developed the technology. Jury says H-D radio provides crystal-clear C-D quality F-M broadcasts, while making A-M sound like F-M does now. He says H-D radio also pumps all sorts of data to the small L-E-D screen on the face of the radio itself. For music stations, the data includes things like the name of the song, the artist and local concert information. For the news format, it includes more information on the topic of the day and other services. While KZIA-FM in Cedar Rapids is now the only station broadcasting in H-D, Jury says more than 300 stations nationwide are licensed for it and he expects that to be nearly a thousand by year’s end. Of course to hear any of them, you’ll have to buy a special H-D radio. The first H-D radio receiver is also going on sale today at a Cedar Rapids electronics store. A basic unit will cost about 550-dollars installed, but that price is expected to drop significantly in the coming months.