Have you ever heard of the Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) standard? How about the In-Band On Channel (IBOC) standard? Do you live in Canada?

If you answered yes to all three then you are among radio listeners like myself experiencing a level of frustration with the CRTC and the American FCC unable to reach united agreements. If you have not heard about these standards allow me to explain.

The DAB standard is the audio based radio equivalent of the UHF band on your TV for the most part. It was chosen by the CRTC to be HD Radio in Canada, our best answer to high definition digital radio for North America. It has evolved once swapping from MPEG-2 audio encoding to AAC+ Audio Encoding, but for the most part has lingered in obscurity. It's actually not new, however a lack of affordable and readily available listening devices has eliminated the DAB market in Canada.

There is HD Radio in Canada but it is not as popular as HD Radio in America south of the border. The USA and their FCC opted for a simpler digital radio standard the IBOC (In-Band On Channel). Digital signals are sent on the same radio frequencies as FM and AM stations. Immediate brand recognition from those radio stations is applied to the new standard. The HD radio devices all pay a fee to one American company that has developed the most popular compression/encryption system. This system is arguably better, but we need a fast and vast frequency shakeup that reflects station ownership. If we cannot clear up the FM band on both sides of the border new entries to the market may fail.

IBOC is in use in Canada by some listeners, however until it is mandatory in new cars it may not see the kind of growth Canadian radio listeners can appreciate - ubiquitous growth. If anyone knows of a classic dek style radio receiver that does DAB and IBOC - let me know on my contact page.