An editorial on HD radio's fate

[landtuna]

I'll say it again for the few that may have missed it the first time:

I have a top-end HD radio in my car. But its fidelity is no better (to my ears) than a good analog FM (or CD, including CD-A) also in my car. I have no issues with reception so that is a draw between digital and analog FM.

My point is, since there is no perceptible improvement in digital FM why pay for it? Mine came with the car, no option, but why anyone would pay extra for HD is way beyond my pay grade given my experience.

 

[rbc]

My point is, since there is no perceptible improvement in digital FM why pay for it? Mine came with the car, no option, but why anyone would pay extra for HD is way beyond my pay grade given my experience.

I think that's a key issue in the HD deployment. Radio manufactures are still churning out old school radios that don't do HD or DAB/DAB+. Broadcasters are encouraging this by not providing HD programming. Xperi might be able to encourage more sales by providing commissions for HD Radio retail like Sirius/XM has. I suppose that might help.

 

[TheBigA]

Broadcasters are encouraging this by not providing HD programming. Xperi might be able to encourage more sales by providing commissions for HD Radio retail like Sirius/XM has. I suppose that might help.

Lots of broadcasters ARE providing HD programming. It depends on the market. But even where they are, consumers aren't buying any kind of radio, old school, satellite, or those capable of HD. The only audio device they're buying to any degree is the Amazon Echo. That's an internet radio that plays streaming stations. Millions of them have sold in the last few years, along with the Google Home. No commissions necessary, because of high consumer demand. Why are so many people buying Echo and not HD?

 

[rbc]

Why are so many people buying Echo and not HD?

Well, the smart speakers have more going on than audio programming. They are being used as a platform for selling products and services. That's sure to be an incentive to market them and subsidize their sales.

On the other hand, radio doesn't present the kind of security concerns that smart speakers do. You don't need to worry about your kids using your radio to order a bunch of stuff off Amazon without your permission.

 

[CTListener]

But even where they are, consumers aren't buying any kind of radio, old school, satellite, or those capable of HD.

This seems to be accepted as gospel around here. Are there concrete radio sales numbers to back it up, or is this just an assumption based on the sales of smart devices?

 

[landtuna]

Why are so many people buying Echo and not HD?

As an owner of both an Echo and several digital radios this question has several easy answers:

1. Cost. Digital radios cost significantly more than the Echo.
2. Useability. The Echo is a two-way device and can do many more things than any radio. I wish I had an Echo to help with homework when I was in school. Radio didn't help me academically at all.
3. To a degree, you can select the music you want to hear on the Echo. Not so with radio.

Now you might think I found the Echo to be useful. Not so. I tried it for a couple of weeks then unplugged it - where it sits today on my bedside table. Had I not gotten it as a freebie I would have never bought it. Way too many shortcomings for anything besides a toy.

 

[davideduardo]

I think that's a key issue in the HD deployment. Radio manufactures are still churning out old school radios that don't do HD or DAB/DAB+. Broadcasters are encouraging this by not providing HD programming. Xperi might be able to encourage more sales by providing commissions for HD Radio retail like Sirius/XM has. I suppose that might help.

The business model for DH is based on the sale of chips or the licensing rights to make chips. The minimal fees collected from radio stations are but a tiny part of their revenue. So taking the small per-chip fee and then giving incentives to retailers would result in those retailers getting a few cents on each sale... certainly not enough for them to make any effort to sell HD enabled radios.

But beyond that, the simple fact is that Americans are not buying radios. They are buying multi-function devices such as smart phones or smart speakers which do many additional things in a single device.

I've replaced every radio in the home with Echo devices. I can ask Alexa to set an alarm or to advise me about an appointment or a birthday, to time a baked potato, to call someone, to order things and keep a shopping list, to update me on the news and to look up facts and movie schedules. And I can even say, "Alexa, play The Bull 100.3" and listen to my favorite radio station.

 

[TheBigA]

This seems to be accepted as gospel around here. Are there concrete radio sales numbers to back it up, or is this just an assumption based on the sales of smart devices?

Let's put it this way: the entire consumer electronics business built around people buying home stereo systems has almost completely disappeared. How about a hot new portable? Have you been to the Consumer Electronics Show lately? It's all about computers, video, and phones. I dare you to find an HD Radio in the whole place. Here's a link:

https://www.ces.tech/

 

[rbc]

I've replaced every radio in the home with Echo devices. I can ask Alexa to set an alarm or to advise me about an appointment or a birthday, to time a baked potato, to call someone, to order things and keep a shopping list, to update me on the news and to look up facts and movie schedules. And I can even say, "Alexa, play The Bull 100.3" and listen to my favorite radio station.

I work in the computer security business. I wouldn't have a smart speaker in every room. It's too cutting edge for the vendors to even know what the security issues are, much less fix them all.

 

[TheBigA]

I work in the computer security business. I wouldn't have a smart speaker in every room.

I agree but the point is that this is how people listen to audio at home. Smart speaker or a Bluetooth speaker for listening to your phone. That's what's selling now.

 

[KeithE4]

I work in the computer security business. I wouldn't have a smart speaker in every room. It's too cutting edge for the vendors to even know what the security issues are, much less fix them all.

I wouldn't own any device where the microphone is not manually turned on and off. I don't even use VOX on my ham rigs! I'm pretty sure that nobody wants an open mike going out over the internet. In fact, wasn't there a story about this a few months ago, where an Echo device was open to the outside world, and a domestic violence incident was heard and the cops notified?

 

[CTListener]

I work in the computer security business. I wouldn't have a smart speaker in every room. It's too cutting edge for the vendors to even know what the security issues are, much less fix them all.

I'm not in the business but I have enough concern over security issues that I'm not even thinking of buying a smart speaker -- even as cool as it would be to walk into the apartment, say "Alexa, play the last movement of Pictures at an Exhibition" and enjoy a gloriously regal orchestral fanfare as I head for the fridge for a beer!

 

[bulwnkl]

I have a top-end HD radio in my car. But its fidelity is no better (to my ears) than a good analog FM (or CD, including CD-A) also in my car.

My experience is sharply different. HD Radio has a dramatically wider sound stage (better stereo separation), clearer highs, and a lower noise floor across the board when comparing HD1 vs the analog program. The local classical public radio station does a _very_ good job with their analog broadcast, and the difference is less dramatic there, but it's still clearly and immediately different. Ditto the local jazz public radio station.

Going to HD2 and HD3 channels, then the music is compressed and sometimes metallic, but it's still not as bad as satellite radio (I found that nearly unlistenable on almost all stations).

Streaming is kind of okay, except I don't have that kind of money to spend on data except at home. I also often hear a similar number of commercials there as on local radio, and only sometimes do I find the audio quality to be good.

 

[landtuna]

I work in the computer security business. I wouldn't have a smart speaker in every room. It's too cutting edge for the vendors to even know what the security issues are, much less fix them all.

Personal anaccdote: Several days after I got my Echo I listened to music for a little while after turning in. I awoke several hours later with the Echo in "speak" mode even though I had turned it off earlier. A couple nights later I prepared for bed and noticed the Echo had set it's manual "off" (red) mode. Weird. The next night a woman called from Amazon asking a lot of question about the Echo's performance. When I told her what it had done she told me "that cannot happen". That very night I woke up in the middle of the night with the Echo flashing again in "speak" mode. I either talk in my sleep or that damn thing is defective. That's when I unplugged it and it will stay unplugged until I identify a donor.

It is handy as an alarm (although being retired I don't need one) and it will play the music of your choice (except when you ask for John Denver and get something else entirely) etc., or you ask for a streaming radio station and get......nothing. Like I said......semi useless toy.

 

[boombox4]

The 2008 market drubbing didn't wipe out HD radio sales, the rise of the "smart" phone and the resultant lack of interest in buying stand-alone radios did. HD radio was the answer to a problem that didn't exist. TV was going digital (and also changing spectrum), so the industry thought radio should go digital. No one asked listeners.

Then, when digital was implemented, those few who were interested found out that the reception was problematic. FM coverage was deficient and the AM implementation couldn't overcome the high noise floor. Add in license payments for the technology and lack of promotion by FM station managements afraid of cannibalizing their main channel's audience, and you have the failure you see today.

If the FCC hadn't allowed analog translators to carry HD transmissions, HD radio would be gone today.
.

HD Radio was brought out as an answer to Sirius and XM, which terrestrial radio was afraid would eat into the listenership.

I remember when HD radio was being promoted. The radio press was loaded with articles about satellite radio and how it may compete with terrestrial radio, and how satellite radio was 'digital' (this was when 'digital' was still a fancy catchword). Very soon afterwards HD radio was introduced to give terrestrial radio a competitive edge against satellite, among other things (extra channels, digital on AM, etc.).

Of course, satellite radio never took off quite as far as originally envisioned. In that respect, your point has merit (answer to a problem that didn't exist).

RE: translators: point taken, except the vast majority of the HD channels in my large metro do not feed translators. HD is still very much alive -- the problem is that it could have more listeners than it does. I think that problem is related to PR, as well as the other issues I mentioned.

On your point about coverage issues and the licensing, yeah, I do not think that helped HD radio any.

 

[boombox4]

I agree but the point is that this is how people listen to audio at home. Smart speaker or a Bluetooth speaker for listening to your phone. That's what's selling now.

And neither of those devices have much higher fidelity than HD radio, yet such fidelity issues do not affect sales of those devices. It's convenience.

 

[TheBigA]

And neither of those devices have much higher fidelity than HD radio, yet such fidelity issues do not affect sales of those devices. It's convenience.

I agree. The fidelity of HD radio was more of a selling point when it was launched than it is now.

It's interesting that people today don't even care if the audio source is stereo. I was at a party where people were listening to music from a single Bluetooth speaker. No stereo. Just mono. They didn't seem to mind.

 

[CTListener]

I agree. The fidelity of HD radio was more of a selling point when it was launched than it is now.

It's interesting that people today don't even care if the audio source is stereo. I was at a party where people were listening to music from a single Bluetooth speaker. No stereo. Just mono. They didn't seem to mind.

Audiophiles are just as much outliers as teenagers who like oldies and, in truth, they always have been. FM sounded better than AM from the start, but until pop and rock formats started moving to the band, listenership was small. And did those pop and rock fans abandon FM or even complain in great numbers when commercial broadcasters started to process and compress and brighten and punch up their audio? Nope, they just kept on listening, many even buying boomboxes and using them at settings that emphasized the worst aspects of FM audio. And now most would just as soon listen to mono on a Bluetooth than a high-quality component stereo system. This shouldn't surprise anyone who realizes the dirty truth about American mass taste -- and that truth is that it is as lowest common denominator as it gets.

 

[landtuna]

I wouldn't own any device where the microphone is not manually turned on and off. I don't even use VOX on my ham rigs! I'm pretty sure that nobody wants an open mike going out over the internet. In fact, wasn't there a story about this a few months ago, where an Echo device was open to the outside world, and a domestic violence incident was heard and the cops notified?

In my conversation with Amazon regarding the Echo she told me that turning the Dot off manually does indeed turn off the mic (despite what some internet posters have claimed) and she also said that every conversation between a listening Dot and a person is recorded and supposedly you have "complete" control over these recordings. You can listen to them or delete them as you prefer. She further explained that the reason the developers record these files is to continue to fine tune the Alexa app and they do not release them to the general public.

I don't know from nuttin'. Just relaying what I was told. But just in case I changed my attention keyword to "echo" because I don't know of any female with that name.

 

[stewie]

You know, I worked in San Francisco for 9 years. I'd walk up 2nd and 3rd Street toward the AT&T Ball Park pretty much every day of the work week. I was also active as an amateur radio operator at the time. Nothing RF works in SF that well. I found that AM/FM radio, VHF and UHF amateur radio and even Bluetooth and Wi-Fi barely worked unless you were inside a building. I did listen to KQED using HD all the time, but they have a pretty massive signal. It was strong enough to penetrate into the buildings I worked in. Outside the buildings, I'd listen to downloaded music or podcasts using wired closed-back headphones.

Worked on Townsend, I know the area well... Our experience above was not in Downtown SF. And yes, the topography in San Francisco is not conducive to HD in the market. Regardless, everyone's got an opinion and, well, I just don't think it's going to make it.