Cal State Long Beach’s Internet radio station, KBeach, is expected to begin broadcasting on an FM/HD signal by the end of the semester.
HD radio technology is still relatively new, but it is becoming more widely available to listeners as it is being offered as a standard feature in many newer model vehicles.
KBeach Student Manager Dominic Paramo said that broadcasting on an HD signal would extend the station to more listeners in the Los Angeles and Orange County area.
“Right now, being only an Internet station, we can only reach those people that actively tune in to the online station and search for us,” Paramo said.
“But once we have HD 3, it will make it more accessible in all the newer cars for anyone who is maybe interested in listening,” he continued. “They can just tune right in.”
The move, which was first announced in October, will allow KBeach to share a signal with CSULB’s campus-based jazz station, KJazz. It will broadcast on one of the HD channels under KJazz’s existing 88.1 FM signal.
“[HD radio] is definitely something that’s going to be still growing, and we’re going to be at the forefront of trying to establish a station in that route,” Paramo said.
Paramo said that KBeach’s existing Internet program will run separately from what will be aired on the HD signal, and will serve as a training ground for any students who want to work in radio.
What airs on the HD signal will be carefully selected to avoid any FCC violations.
“Initially getting started, [HD content is] most likely going to be automated,” Paramo said. “So we’ll be choosing the music, we’ll be hand-selecting the content that is going to go in, and we’re going to slowly move towards the live aspect of it.”
KBeach and KJazz will have to purchase separate equipment that receives and transmits the HD signal, according to Paramo.
Associated Students Inc. will be funding the $40,000 project, but KBeach intends to reimburse the student government organization with advertisement revenue it expects to generate.