WORT just struck a coup on the front lines of the technological revolution. Last week, at its 32nd birthday fete, Mad City's listener-sponsored community radio station (89.9 FM) announced the coming launch of a second digital broadcast channel, WORT2.
WORT went digital in July of '05. The station's been streaming online ever since, and now all your favorite shows are in its cyber-archives (though because of copyright issues, music's only kept two weeks). You can catch yesterday's show tomorrow, or listen to your hometown station if you're somewhere else.
But the second miracle of digital radio - the one that's breaking news - is HD2. Stations with digital transmitters can multicast, offering additional broadcast channels without adding new frequencies - "the stations between the stations," the HD promo folks like to say.
HD radios have been around a couple years, but they lack the tiny iPod's panache. HD receivers are supposed to sound magnificent, but so far they haven't caught on. There hasn't been much programming buzz - lots of what's on HD2 so far is automated. HD radios aren't mandatory yet, like HDTV will be next year, but the tides are turning. HD radios are a factory option on new BMWs, and even on Fords. This holiday season HD radios are being marketed as the perfect gift for the person who has everything, since nobody's got one yet.
A few local stations already run second digital channels. WERN's provides 24/7 classical; Triple M's "The Delta" plays blues; Z-104's WZEE-HD2 is all hip-hop, all the time. But it's not adding the channel that's revolutionary - it's the results. Instead of filling a narrow niche, WORT2 opens up space for Madison's diverse new voices.
"We're always getting pitches for new programs, but there's no wiggle room at all on our schedule," says music director Sybil Augustine. "Right now we can't get anything new on the air unless we cut something else."
It'll take awhile for WORT2 to get rolling. "We're gonna field test it first," says operations coordinator Norman Stockwell. "We won't be on the air yet, but if you have an HD radio and switch it to WORT2 you'll hear us testing."
Once the bugs are ironed out, expect a starter slate of syndicated programs. Nothing's nailed down yet, but there'll be cool shows you might have heard elsewhere, like the NPR-distributed "World Café," Augustine says, plus WORT's own locally produced news and public affairs. Slowly, this programming will give way to the real WORT2.
In the long run, Augustine emphasizes, WORT2's focus, like WORT's, will be local. "We'll build the second channel's schedule piecemeal, as we get people trained to use the equipment. We'll be able to add new music and community news programs. We might expand the weekly public-access hour to 180 minutes, so people can really stretch out. But unlike WORT, WORT2 will be fluid, so when something wonderful comes along - whether it's syndicated, a local pilot program, or a finite body of work - we'll have space for it."
It should take about a year for WORT2 to come into its own, Augustine speculates. So unless you're a tech fanatic you can probably wait till next winter to ask Santa for an HD radio. But it's time for his elves to step up production!
