Frank Foti to Speak at 2004 Conclave
Broadcasters Will Hear FM 5.1 Channel Surround Sound
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12 July 2004, Cleveland, Ohio
Omnia President Frank Foti returns to The Conclave for
2004, teaming with respected radio programmer Don Kelly to tell
broadcasters about the latest development for digital radio: 5.1-Channel
Surround Sound.
“5.1 Surround is the big buzz in the audio industry
right now,” says Foti. “Home theater has made such consumer inroads that
it’s no longer possible to buy a plain old ‘stereo’ receiver from the major
retailers. Multi-channel audio has replaced it. Now, we have the opportunity
to bring that same immersive technology to the FM band, using HD Radio.”
Earlier this year, Telos / Omnia and Fraunhofer
Institute (FhG), the developers of MP3 and MPEG AAC audio coding, announced
a surprising development: a spatial audio coding system that takes advantage
of the most recent research in aural perception and enables transmission of
5.1 channel surround audio over FM HD Radio. Called “Coded-Discrete”, the
FhG system works with the existing HD Radio codec and transmission equipment
and is fully compatible with stereo broadcasts.
“At last month’s Radio & Records Convention, we let
people hear the enormous creative possibilities that 5.1-channel audio will
open up for FM radio,” continues Foti. “Broadcasters, manufacturers, and
record company execs — they were all amazed, not only by what they heard,
but by the creative, competitive and commercial opportunities this
technology could open up for them.”
To further make his point, Mr. Foti has authored a
position paper entitled “Radio’s Field Of Dreams.” “Multi-channel Surround
Sound for FM is truly exciting,” he writes; “For the first time since 1961,
when FM went stereo, we have a new technology that will blow your socks
off.” The paper may be downloaded from the Omnia Audio website at
www.OmniaAudio.com/tech/ .
Mr. Foti’s Conclave session will take place Saturday,
July 17th, at Marriott City Center in Minneapolis. For details, visit
www.theconclave.com or contact Caroline
Dorsey at +1-216- 241-7225.
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Omnia, a Telos company, is world-renowned
for its digital audio signal processing expertise. Omnia audio
processors for FM, AM, TV, HD adio & DAB, Internet, and audio producton
are setting new standards for professional audio quality.
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