The author is chairman of Digital Radio Mondiale.
This often-rehearsed question resurfaces periodically, as radio is facing an uphill struggle against the digital giants ready to grab the dashboard. Hybrid radio is presented as a survival solution on the move, as cars remain a key driver of audio listening.
The term, meaning many things to many people, is very fashionable just now, a bit like “digital,” “convergence” and the “multimedia” mantras of some years back.
Hybrid radio is a mixture of analog radio and digital broadcast sources, like streaming, or a mash between digital radio (mainly of the local variety) and IP-served radio services.
The current orthodoxy goes that, unless good old-fashioned radio or audio also gets all the “bells and whistles” offered by known digital companies and mimics the commercial streaming services provided by the Googles of this…
