Hearing HD stations without an HD radio

[raccoonradio]

A fan of rap in the Boston area asked on a messageboard how he could hear The Vibe, a new station on the HD2 of WBQT 96.9, online...as he doesn't own a HD radio.Apparently there is no way at least I could see--not on TuneIn or iHeart (WBQT is Beasley but the regular station is on iHeart app). He may have to spend about $50 for that Insignia portable.

Where you are, is it possible to hear these "extra stations" without an HD radio--are there online links? From what I could see on the WBQT site and facebook, it's as if the station doesn't exist. (I do have the aforementioned Insignia "tabletop"/portable.) Maybe the 96.9 app has it.

What's on HD dial in Boston? (I am mentioning, just as examples from my area.)
--Rebroadcasts of AM stations like WRKO and WBZ 1030--both also are on iHeart app

--Rebroadcasts of FM stations like WAAF and WCRB, for those living in areas where the signals are spotty.These are also available on Radio . com, WGBH, Tune In etc

--Some HD only signals like The Breeze (may also be on iHeart app), another country outlet on the HD2 of WKLB country, and a couple LGBT themed stations--most likely those are also available on iHeart or Radio dot com apps

--Right now Beasley has one HD2 that was sports podcasts/reruns from their regular sports station.Now, unmodulated carrier...and another HD2 that has classic hit songs, long periods of silence, ads, and long periods of silence...well, maybe they're both transitioning to new formats.

So, are some HD signals where you are simply not available without an HD radio?
(And note the almost total lack of promotion...other than the AM talk stations also mentioning they're on an HD2 as well.)

 

[rbc]

So, are some HD signals where you are simply not available without an HD radio?
(And note the almost total lack of promotion...other than the AM talk stations also mentioning they're on an HD2 as well.)

Some of the radio stations will promote the HD2 programming on their web sites. MPB does that in Mississippi. Their HD2 stream is available for Internet streaming and they promote it as such. Sometimes the Internet streaming aggregation services will list HD2 stations, but not always. As for making the choice between listening online or over the air, I've chosen the one time cost of a HD radio over paying for streaming bandwidth every month. I save the streaming bandwidth for other purposes.

 

[Kelly A]

As rbc mentioned; some stations have links to on line streams of their HD-2/3 streams on their primary websites.

 

[bulwnkl]

Around here, some can be heard online and some can’t.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Some stations with HD will transmit their subchannels over a translator. I know K-LOVE on 94.9 in Memphis runs Air 1 on an HD subchannel and sends it to a translator on 96.7. In Nashville K-LOVE's on 97.1 does the same thing with 3 translators for Air 1 and WPRT has WAY-FM on a subchannel that is sent to a translator on 89.9.

 

[raccoonradio]

On the examples from Boston I gave above, WBZ-FM 98.5's HD2 returned to podcasts of their sports shows while WROR's HD2 went back to running "Men From Maine" comedy skits that had been part of the HD1's morning show.

Most of the year Entercom's WMJX has AC on the HD1 and Christmas on the HD2.Those formats are flipped for now until just after Christmas.

 

[boombox4]

In my metro, some of the HD2's aren't even well advertised on the station's website, much less streamed.

 

[Pat3]

MPB in Mississippi also simulcasts both it's main channel and it's HD music channel over the .4 subchannel on the local MPB TV station. To hear the HD2 channel you have to switch the TV to the second audio feed. Since my TV is connected to the surround sound, I can hear the classical music in full stereo