"If you want HD Radio to succeed, sign up for our programming. It is that simple."

That is the closing line of a proposal from the North Hollywood, CA based Standard Media Group to broadcast radio stations and companies, members of the HD Radio Alliance. The alliance is made up of 11 of the largest radio broadcast companies in the U.S., and Ibiquity Digital, the technology company behind hundreds of new radio stations, most of which, no one is listening to. To hear the stations, essentially second channels for hundreds of the country’s top FM radio stations, a new HD receiver is required. The receivers are available in electronics stores for installation in some cars. Additionally, an increasing number of automakers are offering HD capable radios available in their new cars.

Standard Media Group is headed by former Clear Channel radio programming executive Brad Chambers. The company urges broadcasters to subscribe to their programming on one HD channel in each market where HD Radio is available. HD Alliance HD stations currently have access to a myriad of radio formats created by their own companies, or by Clear Channel’s Format Lab. “However,” Chambers, adds, “These are unhosted jukeboxes, dozens of songs strung together with nothing to engage the audience."

The 40-plus listener grew up on big personality top 40 radio complete with engaging hosts, contests, events, promotions and more. If they want a jukebox, like their kids, they have iPods. But from their radio they expect something more. They expect traditional radio’s long standing strength, being “Live and Local.”

“While serving a radio station’s “Local” community is a good thing, it’s more about the community than about being geographically local. MartiniInTheMorning.com has a very well defined community. But the community includes Jasmina Blagojevic, a graduate student in Serbia, as well as Bryan Duff, a Hollywood prop-master who listens in Thousand Oaks, California. What they have in common is a love for Dean Martin and the genre as a whole. The community also includes Mary Coffee, a technical writer with TeraMedia Healthcare Technology in Milwaukee and Christine Brown, a CPA in Newport Beach, CA. The two of them share a love for the music they listen to while working. “It’s a community, but not one defined by a city or county line, rather one expanded by today’s global technology,” said Chambers.

The Standard Media Group promises to deliver a community to HD radio. Our format will attract consumers who are disenchanted with mainstream radio targeted to their kids. The Standard’s programming is based on the music often referred to as The Great American Songbook. Calling their format Contemporary Standards, Chambers has created a blend of songs he calls “Classic Cool,” featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald and the like, with “Contemporary Cool” artists like Michael Buble, Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall and Rod Stewart.   

The Standard Media Group’s (www.thestandardradio.com ) programming becomes available to broadcast HD Radio stations in the U.S. on March 1.

Michelle Bridell
818 766 7664
MartiniInTheMorning.com

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