Broadcasters looking for real-world ways to flourish in a struggling economy found a multitude of answers in "Money-Making HD Radio Opportunities."

Panelists pointed to HD Radio's recent growth spurt: Nearly 2,000 stations are broadcasting digital signals and more than half of those are airing multicast channels. For consumers, there are more than 100 models of HD Radio receivers on the market, and the automobile industry is driving up interest with installations in more than 70 models of vehicles.

"HD Radio is the first killer application for radio in more than 40 years," said Rick Greenhut with iBiquity Digital. That's because "we're not just talking about technology, we're talking about a business solution that's technology-based."

The technology offers broadcasters opportunities to not only pull in listeners with crystal-clear sound and niche programming opportunities, but to venture into new, untapped markets — if they're willing to think outside the traditional advertising box.

There is a litany of unique opportunities at broadcasters' disposal: tying HD Radio with Web banner advertising to create combination sales, bracketing programming to appear more attractive to advertisers, using HD multicast channels as a gateway for smaller companies that might not be able to afford primary-channel rates.

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"You can create a market where none has existed before," Greenhut said, citing as an example a local radio station partnering with the local high school to give budding broadcasters the chance to call a high school football game. Not only do stations serve their community, they most likely lead a handful of new subscribers to invest in an HD Radio.

HD Radio multichannel capabilities also give stations the chance to tightly bracket certain demographics — for example, targeting sports programming to adults aged 18–30 on HD Channel 2, and then building advertising around those niche packets.

For the HD Radio market, ESPN allows broadcasters to "build your own little fun radio station," said Jim Roberts of ESPN Radio, by plucking individual ESPN programs and binding them together in a lineup that appeals to a certain market.

Receivers themselves are also gaining strength in the market thanks to new features like iTunes Tagging, which makes it easy to listeners to note and purchase music they hear on air, and integration with in-car naviagion systems. The Navteq HD Radio receiver, for example, offers users dynamic traffic, fuel and weather data, said Steve DeVries of Navteq.

HD Radio also allows broadcasters to more closely target underserved niche markets, explained Brad Herd of WorldBand Media, whose firm creates HD Radio programming specifically for ethnic listeners.

The panel was rounded out by Joe D'Angeleo of iBiquity and Paul Brenner of the Broadcaster Traffic Consortium.