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Iheart giving up on HD2,3 and 4

R

RadioRonnie285

Im disappointed that Iheart is reducing their hd sub channels on stations across America. Here in Atlanta 94.9 shut down HD 2 and 3 so the Breeze and The Lake formats are gone from over the air radio. 96.1 ditched a BIN simulcast and Beat simulcast but at least still offers a different format on 96.1 HD2. Many Atlanta stations only offer HD1 like 95.5, 100.5, 101.5, 104.1 105.3. Even in the surround markets many of HD sub channels on Iheart radio stations have gone away. I know this impacts very few people but airing iheart radio app stations on HD sub channels is going away. Salem, Cox, Urban One, Audacy and EMF are using most sub channel options in the market. Not sure what Cumulus in the new year will do with 99x on 99.7 HD2 with the format now on 100.5 but it would help expand past the 100.5 signal limitations but 98.9 would be a waste of a translator so we will see.
 
Consider that HD radio never became terribly popular and never gained what could be considered "widespread acceptance". Also, it's my understanding (I don't possess a receiver myself... though I've purchased 2 new vehicles in the past 4 years, neither offered HD radio as an option) that the more HD channels you add in, the more quality degradation sometimes comes with that.
 
Mikey Radio said:
Consider that HD radio never became terribly popular and never gained what could be considered "widespread acceptance". Also, it's my understanding (I don't possess a receiver myself... though I've purchased 2 new vehicles in the past 4 years, neither offered HD radio as an option) that the more HD channels you add in, the more quality degradation sometimes comes with that.
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Yes, the base HD channels occupy a single data stream that can be divided into pieces. But with division into two pieces, the main one with the simulcast of your FM is degraded. You can decide how much to give the second channel, but it comes from the first one. And if you do three channels, the division is even greater.

It is possible that iHeart just wants the HD-1 to be as good as possible.
 
In Grand Rapids-Muskegon, iHeart is down to two HD2's.
96.1 WMAX (HD1 - Sports, HD2 - Simulcast of 1230 WTKG (Talk))
106.9 WOOD (HD1 - News/Talk (simulcast of 1300 WOOD), HD2 - Simulcast of 1090 WKBZ (Talk))

Over the last few months, 93.7 WBCT, 101.3 WBFX, 101.7 WMRR, 104.5 WSNX, 105.7 WSRW, and 107.9 WMUS have all dropped HD2's while remaining in HD.

Interestingly, in June, I was over in the Detroit area and noticed that 95.5 WKQI had HD2 and HD3, but BOTH were relaying the HD1.
 
I think we are at an economic crossroad where any time and effort invested in zero or minimal revenue streams has to be cut out. I would say that the next year will be the pivotal year for how actual radio companies reign in their accessory online/streaming business and make it financially accountable. Audacy will be interesting to watch.
 
In this region (East Central Florida)
WWKA 92.3 Orlando has suspended their HD1 & HD2 channels (Cox Media). HD2 was Big Machine Radio and was intermittent....
WOEX-HD2 relays WDBO AM 580 (news/talk) and has a stronger signal here (Melbourne)
WFKS 95.1 Melbourne and WLRQ 99.3 Cocoa have dropped their HD2 Channels (IHeart Media Brevard)
WSCF 91.9 Vero Beach Christian has added HD.....

kw-Melbourne FL
 
I have to say personnel at places like Best Buy did not help HD Radio grow either. I remember one time I went to Best Buy to buy an after market radio for my car. He told me to stay away from HD RADIO that it would loose signal . Most of the customers that buy them end up returning them. I went and asked for it either way and he seemed almost mad.

He was all like: Are you sure you want it? Your just going to end up wasting money to pay who ever installs it for you and also going to have to pay for restocking fee.
 
The main reason for iHeart to use their HD2, 3 and 4, besides feeding translators, is to get a lower rate on their streaming formats on the iHeart app. Are the associated streams going away, or just the HD simulcasts?
 
it will be interesting to see if the use of HD2 in Boston to get WBZ AM (news) and WRKO ( talk) onto FM , albeit HD2 is still going to go on.

Beasley has given up on HD all together, they are not even doing HD-1 anymore
 
i can understand why iHeart is phasing out HD Radio subchannels, the technology got instantly outdated when the advent of the smart phone with cell phone internet becoming the norm making it easier to listen to radio in your car in CD/MP3/ACC quality and the radios in cars have gotten smarter too with the touch screens with navigators installed on them making it to where the car can have internet on it's on too, so pretty much Internet has rendered HD Radio obsolete, you can listen to the very same stations online in a car, on your phone or even on a computer. it's the main reason when KEGL flipped from Rock to Sports/Guy Talk back in October, they relaunched their KEGL 97.1 The Eagle rock station on not only HD2 but also on the iHeartRadio app/site.
 
Mrtejano said:
I have to say personnel at places like Best Buy did not help HD Radio grow either. I remember one time I went to Best Buy to buy an after market radio for my car. He told me to stay away from HD RADIO that it would loose signal .
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The only thing I've ever bought from Best Buy was a microwave oven and that was a slam dunk transaction. I do not under stand the "lose signal" comment. I have two HD radios - one in my car and a portable desktop and don't notice any loss of signal on either device.
Mrtejano said:
Most of the customers that buy them end up returning them. I went and asked for it either way and he seemed almost mad.
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I can't comment on this obviously - never worked at BB. I've commented previously that I cannot tell which signal I am listening to. HD does not seem any different than plain ole' FM to my ears but then again it might be the music I'm listening to. A Classic music lover might be able to discern some minor difference.
 
Tibbs4 said:
I think we are at an economic crossroad where any time and effort invested in zero or minimal revenue streams has to be cut out. I would say that the next year will be the pivotal year for how actual radio companies reign in their accessory online/streaming business and make it financially accountable. Audacy will be interesting to watch.
Click to expand...

I know some companies do occasionally lease out HD subchannels. For example, in Grand Rapids, Smile FM leases Townsquare's WLHT-HD2 and I also think Smile FM leases an HD subchannel in Detroit as well
 
IHeart turned off the subchannels on their Greenville/Spartanburg stations. WESC-HD2 had been top 40 junior, WSSL-HD2 had been The Breeze, WMYI-HD2 had been Lullabies (yes) and WROO-HD2 had been classic soul. Now all are just HD1.

Summit, Audacy, and Salem have only ever used HD in the market to feed translators.
 
Remember that one of the most "profitable" uses of an HD subchannel is to allow the company to own a local translator. The translators are not part of the market based ownership limits.

In many medium to smaller size markets, a translator can be very competitive. We can look at translators getting decent, salable ratings in places like Austin, TX, to give one example.

But to get a translator, you need an HD channel in many cases... or an AM that can be kept on economically (often by reducing power and going non-directional with a minimal facility). I don't know the number of translators that are justified by an HD channel, but I'll bet it is around a thousand or so.
 
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