HD Radio stations tune in to everything

— -- The programming format for HD Radio: Almost anything goes, including redneck women and obscure rock 'n' rollers.

Beyond-the-mainstream country and rock music are just two genres getting more airtime as the nation's stations roll out new, free digital HD Radio channels.

More than 1,700 broadcasters have added higher-quality HD Radio signals to their current traditional AM/FM ones. And programmers are using the extra broadcast channels that digital technology provides to woo audiences accustomed to niche-targeted Internet and satellite radio stations.

One caveat: The broadcasts are free, but listeners need a new HD Radio to get the stations.

"What we come up with on HD has to be different than what we offer on terrestrial," says Thomas "Chase" Rupe of Emmis Broadcasting in Austin. "We are looking for that next level of audience satisfaction. The average listener may not be pleased with just the choices available in a market."

In Austin, the broadcaster has launched three additional channels to accompany the HD simulcast of current FM channels: one devoted to old-school hip-hop artists such as Ice Cube and 2Pac (93.3 FM), one for smooth jazz artists such as Luther Vandross and Boney James (103.5 FM) and one for local music (107.1 FM), including national stars Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams and Spoon.

"The biggest response is coming from the Local 107.1 channel, because it is local and this is a very live-music-centric town," Rupe says. "But I cannot say there's tons of feedback, because there are not tons of units out there."

Also playing on HD Radio across the USA:

•Bluegrass. After being part of the programming for nearly 40 years on WAMU 88.5 in Washington, D.C., bluegrass got its own HD Radio station in October 2006. The FM station had already been streaming an online radio station since 2001 at bluegrasscountry.org. "There's a legacy of bluegrass here that helped build WAMU," says station manager Caryn Mathes. "We thought the way to really do right by this music is to give them their own" over-the-air channel.