HD Radio Turns 20: From Innovative Start Up to Industry Standard and Beyond

HD Radio is so ubiquitous in cars today that it’s hard to imagine a time when it wasn’t the standard for in-vehicle audio. And yet that’s exactly how it was in September of 2005 when HD Radio officially launched. We mark HD Radio’s 20^th anniversary this month with a look back at the history of creating a technology that would change in-vehicle audio and radio forever.

The Road to HD Radio

HD Radio did not just appear out of nowhere twenty years ago. The technology went through years of beta launches, proof of concept tests, experimental launches of home radios, custom radios and more. One of the first breakthroughs occurred in 2003. Working with Kenwood, the team behind the tech built about 1,000 units, while concurrently developing a small network of about 100 radio stations.

That year also marked the launch of what we called “Tomorrow Radio,” a critically significant feature because it expanded broadcaster channel options by enabling them to split their digital bandwidth into multiple audio streams — turning one radio station into four with no new infrastructure required. The importance of this cannot be understated because it meant more voices and underserved formats, such as religious and foreign language, gained more airtime. Additionally, at a time when content demands driven by the digital revolution were growing, it enabled more niche programming which led, for example, to the launch of the first country radio station in New York City as a multicast channel.

Early wins were met with early fails, which is often part of the highs and lows of developing a new, disruptive technology. The engineers forged ahead and euphoria hit a new high when the dream of HD Radio became real in 2005 and the first BMWs (6 and 7 series) with fully installed HD Radio rolled off the assembly lines. Not only was HD Radio finally in OEM production – it was with one of the world’s finest engineering structures. BMW themselves marked the moment as ‘one of the most significant advances in radio broadcasting history.’

Driving Towards Major Milestones

Despite this successful launch, HD Radio was still miles away from mass market adoption. As the technology continued to evolve, the business also focused on expanding the number of stations in the network and increasing audience reach through OEM partnerships.

In 2010, HD Radio announced it was in 1 million vehicles, an impressive feat achieved in just a few years. A larger milestone was hit in 2014 when HD Radio could claim it was ‘built into over one-third of vehicles’. This also coincided with HD Radio being featured in a huge billboard in Times Square, reinforcing HD Radio had arrived and was on a trajectory to industry standard.

That trajectory over the next decade was nothing short of extraordinary. HD Radio was in 50 million vehicles by 2018, adopted by 25 car brands by 2020, and featured 4,500 separate digital channels across 2,300 unique stations in 2021. Last year you could find HD Radio in 60% of all vehicles shipped in the U.S. and today it is in 115 million vehicles globally.

HD Radio’s Impressive Impact

One of HD Radio’s early goals was to provide broadcasters with the tools to help keep their stations relevant and their listeners engaged. HD Radio has done that and more, transforming stations from mere numbers on a dial into rich digital experiences by improving fidelity, delivering clearer sound and offering more channels.

A great example of HD Radio’s innovation and impact came in 2018 when the mandate for back up cameras arrived and cars suddenly had to come equipped with big screens. HD Radio immediately worked to leverage this for our broadcaster partners, providing the capacity to offer richly visual on-screen information relevant to programming such as album art, station logos and song/artist info. This invaluable advancement enabled radio to offer the kind of visuals that out-of-the-vehicle digital users had come to expect. 

Another impact HD Radio has had on the industry is its capacity to bring more new voices and artists to radio, using multicasting to create new opportunities for airplay and discovery. Early on, HD Radio worked extensively with BMI and singer songwriters, bringing them onto the HD2 & 3 channels – new channels that were a perfect fit for burgeoning voices. An original program called the HD Radio Artist Spotlight helped shine a light on an up-and-coming talent, Charlie Worsham, whose career has continued to grow as evidenced by winning the 2024 CMA Award for Musician of the Year.

The tradition of spotlighting and revealing new voices continued through a program with Beasley called ‘How I Wrote that Song’. “For three consecutive years, Beasley partnered with BMI and Xperi/HD Radio to bring ‘How I Wrote That Song’ to our audience,” said Beasley Media Group chief content officer Justin Chase. “Interviews with some of the biggest hit songwriters in music aired on our radio stations and were prominently featured on our digital platforms. Our listeners and digital audience loved hearing the story behind their favorite songs!”

HD Radio’s most important industry impact, however, is offering broadcast partners — who are competing with more players for ad revenue than ever before — novel monetization opportunities on top of traditional ones. For example, through HD Radio’s visual display features, broadcasters can add an advertiser logo or a call to action, potentially generating millions of dollars in incremental ad revenue.

HD Radio has long prided itself on being able to help support the health of the industry overall, which supports the success of all industry stakeholders. This is especially important when considering that AM/FM radio’s in-car audience share is 86%. Anything HD Radio can do to amplify in-car advertisers’ ability to reach this massive audience is a big win for all involved.

Going Forward in the Connected Car

HD Radio has grown and evolved immensely over the past two decades, and it will continue to do so in the coming years. The technology is foundational for next-generation opportunities in the connected car. This is particularly true when it comes to DTS AutoStage™, our global connected car entertainment platform that seamlessly combines linear broadcast with IP-delivered content.

DTS AutoStage would not exist without HD Radio technology, as it both complements and enhances FM and HD Radio via rich, consistent metadata, advanced services and broadcast content protection. Imagine today’s infotainment universe as a flood of media, with the associated media debris. In this scenario, DTS AutoStage operates like a personalized content sieve, removing noisy debris and making it easier for consumers in the connected car to safely discover and engage with the full spectrum of their personal entertainment preferences. Built around radio, DTS AutoStage incorporates video and gaming capabilities that broadcasters can leverage to increase engagement and ever-important revenue, as well as gain access to never-before-available listener data and analytics.

Furthermore, while the vehicle has historically been a listening blind spot for broadcasters, the DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal is delivering compelling actionable views of exactly how a station is performing. This includes not just which songs are played, but also a host of information about the songs and content in-vehicle listeners are engaging with. The DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal can tell broadcasters where and when listeners are engaging, for how many sessions, the length spent with each session and much more.

All of this is viewed as a first step toward getting broadcast radio in the car integrated with programmatic ad platforms. The resulting information may enable stations to generate ever-more individualized content recommendations and more effectively monetize their programming by providing highly relevant, targeted advertising, pairing audio and visual elements and, for the first time, enabling broadcast radio to participate in the programmatic advertising ecosystem.

HD Radio has been core to the development of innovations like DTS AutoStage, and to many steps of entertainment enhancement in the connected car. Today, twenty years after HD Radio led a radio revolution, we stand on the precipice of a movement every bit as dramatic, and important. This movement will continue to keep radio front and center in the vehicle, and ensure broadcasters are both firmly part of and helping lead the connected car entertainment ecosystem revolution.