Only 2% of new cars with HD radios are tuned into HD stations at any given time

[KB1OKL]

According to Pew Project for Excellence from Current.org from Nov 2012, also Public radio has ended distribution of it's three dedicated HD channels:

"Public radio enthusiastically embraced HD Radio technology from the outset but has taken note of the slow uptake by listeners — NPR quietly ended distribution of its three dedicated HD Radio streams Oct. 1. Stations can still buy individual NPR programs for broadcast on HD channels, however.

“We made a strategic guess more than five years ago of what we thought stations’ interests would be,” said Eric Nuzum, NPR programming v.p. “We guessed that they would want a ‘Set it and forget it’ option that would basically be a placeholder for them. They just didn’t catch on very well.”

Out of more than 1041 public stations in this country only 20 are currently using the stream at 3000.00 a pop per year, doesn't sound like a very good deal to me.

And a bonus! download a free picture of The Strube suitable for (public) hanging at:

http://www.current.org/2012/11/slow-growth-for-hd-radio/#sthash.CG0vJgKo.dpuf

 

[rbrucecarter5]

How many of those are merely receiving HD-1 with no idea they have an HD radio in the dash?

 

[landtuna]

The headline doesn't match the content.

The numbers presented seem to represent only PBS with NPR streams and not all HD stations. I could not tell you what the real percentage is but the radio in my car is always tuned to KESZ-HD2. It never goes anywhere else.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

The headline doesn't match the content.

Yes it does. Click on the link. The mods won't allow quotes of articles in full, and rightfully so, due to the "fair use" restrictions in copyright law.

The numbers presented seem to represent only PBS with NPR streams and not all HD stations. I could not tell you what the real percentage is but the radio in my car is always tuned to KESZ-HD2. It never goes anywhere else.

A television network has nothing to do with HD radio, and neither does your anecdotal experience.

 

[landtuna]

Yes it does. Click on the link. The mods won't allow quotes of articles in full, and rightfully so, due to the "fair use" restrictions in copyright law. A television network has nothing to do with HD radio, and neither does your anecdotal experience.

The link is not much more than an advertisement for HD Radio. There is no new information contained within it but the major examples used are PBS/NPR and other than a very minor reference to PBS there is no TV mentioned.

My "anecdotal experience" has to do with content and content only. I find no practical difference between analog FM and digital FM in music listening. The only difference is that I find my ideal playlist on an HD signal and that same playlist does not exist anywhere else in my market. If this proves anything it is that content trumps technology.

 

[KB1OKL]

The link is not much more than an advertisement for HD Radio. There is no new information contained within it but the major examples used are PBS/NPR and other than a very minor reference to PBS there is no TV mentioned.

.

You think the piece is an advertisment for HD radio? Did you read the article? It's hardly a ringing endorsment of IBOC radio, and there is no mention of HD TV because it and HD radio are two completely different technologies despite ibiquitie's name theft. Strubie stole the idea of naming his barely performing junk science to fool people into thinking it stood for High Definition which it does not. Lastly I would bet that MORE people who listen to NPR listen to HD radio than people who listen to non-public HD radio.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

The link is not much more than an advertisement for HD Radio. There is no new information contained within it but the major examples used are PBS/NPR and other than a very minor reference to PBS there is no TV mentioned.

Next time try actually reading it. It's a rather lengthy article with plenty of new information in it.

 

[FredLeonard]

I hope you guys aren't working in news!

PBS is not mentioned in the article at all. PBS and NPR are completely separate organizations.

The article does cite a Pew study stating that only two per cent of radio listeners are tuned to HD channels in their cars at any point. That is the key piece of information for this forum - not the fate of NPR's turn-key feeds for public radio station's HD sub-channels.

The copyright law does not allow you to cut and paste articles in their entirety or major portions of them. It does allow you to cite, paraphrase or summarize. But that requires a little effort.

So does actually reading the linked article.

The $,3000 pa price tag refers to a turn-key alternative music feed for WXPN, which the station says it will continue. No price was given for the discontinued NPR feeds.

The article does not mention that many NPR stations program their own sub-channels. Thanks to automation, it's not that hard to do and does not require a subscription fee to NPR for a turn-key service. NPR "member stations" are not necessarily bailing out on HD sub-channels. Given the number of public radio stations offering distinct programming on sub-channels, it does not appear they are. Rather, they don't see the need to get - and pay for - the service NPR offered. NPR does not seem to want to admit they offered a service their "members" did not need.

My favorite public radio sub-channel is KCRW World News, which offers the complete feed of NPR news magazines for all time zones and without local cut-ins. In the East, listen late. In the West, listen early.

 

[landtuna]

My use of 'PBS' must have been due to an errant alien lightning bolt or one of many interruptions that happen in my household every day. I fully realize that PBS and NPR are separate and distinct operations and technologies.

Re-reading the article several more times convinces me though that it both criticizes and sells HD Radio. And that was the point I was making in my first post. It is the CONTENT that will drive adoption of technology and not the other way around although it helps to have the technology installed where one can use it initially. In summary:

If car manufacturers keep installing digital radios in the dashboard and radio stations expand their current offerings to put saleable content on those digital signals I think HD Radio has a future. Perhaps not an overwhelming one but a future. If there is no content that people want or they have to pay outright for a specialty radio HD will die on the vine. Technology alone will not drive HD Radio to success.

Now, all of you please return to your porches and resume yelling at the kids walking on your lawn.

 

[FredLeonard]

Re-reading the article several more times convinces me though that it both criticizes and sells HD Radio. And that was the point I was making in my first post. It is the CONTENT that will drive adoption of technology and not the other way around although it helps to have the technology installed where one can use it initially. In summary:

If car manufacturers keep installing digital radios in the dashboard and radio stations expand their current offerings to put saleable content on those digital signals I think HD Radio has a future. Perhaps not an overwhelming one but a future. If there is no content that people want or they have to pay outright for a specialty radio HD will die on the vine. Technology alone will not drive HD Radio to success.

Absolutely, Tuna. It's content, content, content - always content that drives technology.

80 years ago, people didn't buy radio - they bought Amos n' Andy.
60 years ago, people didn't buy TV - they bought Howdy Doody and Uncle Miltie.
30 years ago, people didn't buy desktop computers - they bought speadsheets and the ability to sit at their desks and massage numbers.

The bean counters - or is it Bain counters - who run radio seem to have forgotten that.

 

[KB1OKL]

My use of 'PBS' must have been due to an errant alien lightning bolt or one of many interruptions that happen in my household every day. I fully realize that PBS and NPR are separate and distinct operations and technologies.

Re-reading the article several more times convinces me though that it both criticizes and sells HD Radio. And that was the point I was making in my first post. It is the CONTENT that will drive adoption of technology and not the other way around although it helps to have the technology installed where one can use it initially. In summary:

If car manufacturers keep installing digital radios in the dashboard and radio stations expand their current offerings to put saleable content on those digital signals I think HD Radio has a future. Perhaps not an overwhelming one but a future. If there is no content that people want or they have to pay outright for a specialty radio HD will die on the vine. Technology alone will not drive HD Radio to success.

Now, all of you please return to your porches and resume yelling at the kids walking on your lawn.

Can you point out where in this article where it is "selling HD?" If this article sells HD maybe there are more reasons besides shoddy technolgy behind HD's abject failure.