Getting Wired Up Over Wireless Audio

MI retailers who sell pro audio are going to have a lot of explaining to do. Explaining, that is, about the confusing state of wireless microphones, which isn’t their fault, but which will continue to impact their business.

The category has been a solid one for retailers – it was worth $132 million in retail sales in 2013, according to NAMM-provided statistics, up over 20 percent in the last 10 years. The flexibility, mobility, and flat-out sexiness of wireless microphones, which have also been gaining significant bling appeal as vocalists trim them with everything from rhinestones to mirrored discs, has made them an integral component for performers, whether in arenas or on postage stamp-sized stages at Holiday Inns.

But starting back in 2009, the ether that wireless microphones need to breathe was disrupted, when the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates all radio frequencies in the U.S., reallocated much of the 700-MHz airwaves to other users, most notably consumer mobile devices, in the wake to the shift from analog to digital television broadcasting. That essentially evicted professional users from the 700-MHz band (698 to 806 MHz, to be precise), including wireless microphone users. Manufacturers then migrated down into the 600-MHz band, at no small cost to their customers, who had to replace their legacy wireless systems. Now, however, that patch of RF real estate, also in the UHF band, is in the process of being taken over, as well, via a spectrum auction scheduled to take place in mid-2016.

This time, though, the future is bit cloudier than it was before the last reallocation: it’s based on an auction of spectrum, but no one knows yet how much of that spectrum will be offered and how much of it will remain available for professional use after the sales smoke clears. Manufacturers of wireless microphones were even more proactive this time, petitioning the FCC for some clarity and predictability for their user bases, which range from Broadway theaters and sports broadcasters to indie bands in Brooklyn. But that’s not going to happen, both because of the unknowns mentioned earlier having to do with how much spectrum will be offered and how much sold, and because the reallocations this time will be a drawn-out affair – instead of the date-and-time closure of the 700-MHz band five years ago, the loss of 600-MHz frequencies will be spread out over time and geography, with winning bidders taking years before activating their new spectra.

You Are Going To Be The Go-To

MI and pro audio users, alike, will be looking to their retailers as sources of information on this. What we do know is that once it becomes clear what parts of the 600-MHz band will be left available for wireless-microphone use, those legacy 600-MHz systems that can be tuned to access them will continue to be able to function, operationally and legally. (It should be noted here that even after the 700-MHz band was closed off for professional use, a sizeable number of users, from musicians to churches that were well away from broadcast channels they could interfere with, continued to use old 700-MHz illegally, knowingly or not, but putting themselves at considerable risk of incurring substantial fines.) Otherwise, there already is a good array of products that work in the upper 400-MHz range into the 500-MHz band, as well as in the 900-MHz and 2.4-GHz ranges. The lower frequencies don’t propagate as well as those in the 600- and 700-MHz ranges do (which is why they were so desirable in the first place), unable to penetrate thick walls and other barriers; the higher frequencies have less range and share that spectrum with cordless phones and other consumer electronics. But as we get closer to the reality of further reduced spectrum, wireless microphone manufacturers will be ramping up new product solutions using all of these and other remaining spectrum options. Retailers who keep abreast of these developments will be doing their customers – and by extension, themselves – a real favor.

“We know that a large portion of wireless microphone sales go through MI outlets,” Mark Brunner, senior director of global brand management at Shure, told me. “Those retailers are pretty familiar with the wireless category, but there’s going to be a lot more to keep up with.” Brunner suggests that dealers check in at the FCC’s website for information, and the manufacturers themselves will be reaching out to dealers as we reach critical junctures in the auction process.

It’s also important to look at the spectrum displacement as an opportunity. A sales opportunity, for sure – it’s inevitable that new wireless systems will need to be purchased by many if not most UHF-band users in the next two to four years – but also a connectivity opportunity, one that can pull the retailer and the customer together in a way that only shared trauma can. There’s going to be some fear out there at some point, and that that fear can be replaced by useful information the retailer will be well positioned to provide.