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Boo..hiss..to Audacy
- Thread starter wattsup
- Start date
It does indeed affect multiple markets, and there are a few threads about this on Radio Discussions that may provide a bit more insight for you, including this one:
Most cars today have HD, but the older ones just don't. The average care in the US is something over 11 years old, so lots of 'em have no HD.
HD does not find much of a home in portable or home radios (which nobody is buying today anyway) and the content is not compelling in most markets.
The fees for broadcasters are not terribly high, and it's only a small amount per vehicle for cars. The real issue is that radio wanted to be able to say "digital" back in the 1990's and they got HD. But soon after HD was introduced, we got smart phones and the interest in having a separate radio device disappeared.
The 2022 Chevy Malibu that I'm currently renting (my van's in the shop for a few days) not only doesn't have HD, it doesn't have Ancient Modulation either. It does have SiriusXM, but I don't care about that. My van has it too, but I never signed up with it.
It does in mine. I own two HD portable radios, and they are very well used.
The reason for those lacks was described as being due to a lack of chips, and likely temporary. Not a trend.
But they are rare, as are buyers of stand-alone radios of any kind. You are what research calls an "outlier" so be proud of that distinction!
I thought I read that GM had done away with HD in their car stereos permanently, and not only because of chip shortages.
I've been looking at the hard-to-get Ford Maverick, and only their "Luxury" packages in the higher trims have HD, and the top trim (Lariat) Luxury package is the only one with SiriusXM. Honda is doing the same thing with their CR-Vs (and possibly other models). The only carmakers I know that have really been doing a decent job pushing HD in their models are Hyundai, Kia (those two share a lot of the same components), and Toyota.
DTS/Xperi needs to reduce their fees. Probably get more stations or radios onboard with the HD stuff.
The fees for stations are not huge, and the real issue with addtional HD channels is music licensing and the labor involved in doing music logs and format maintenance.
I suspect DTS/Xperi may cut charges for HD channels because they are losing so many. But they should actually incentivize stations to add HD channels in ways such as giving the transmission equipment to stations and cutting licenses totally.
In the past couple of years, HD has become a "one trim level up" amenity---standard on all but the base model or two, but unavailable, even as an option, on those.
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Keith: All '22 Malibus are supposed to have shipped with AM radios.
What they've done (Ford's doing it too) is to bundle AM and FM under "radio" as a single source rather than showing them separately.
When you're in radio mode, there should be an "FM" button at the top left of the screen. Press that and it should switch to AM.
I actually think it not a horrible Idea to get rid of the stupid automated music HD channels of these stations. There are to many signals and formats in these markets now a days. Only keeps diluting the audience. Why would you want someone maybe listening to your HD2 channel when your main goal should be to have them listening to your main channel where you actually have some programming effort put into it. More is not always better. If you want to lease out your HD channel for some Christian network or other network programming, then maybe do that. But seems silly to have competing music channels on HD2 or 3. They won't ever reach critical mass with the lack of HD receivers.
It has been a chicken and egg problem. If there's no unique programming on HD subchannels, why would consumers want to buy a (very expensive, relative to a normal radio) HD tuner?
I think broadcasters are coming to terms, after 15 years, that HD radio will likely never gain large enough market shares to host sellable formats. Which means it is relegated to originating programming for translators, providing a simulcast to AM sisters (like WCBS 880 on WCBS-FM-HD2), or advancing corporate initiatives like BIN for iHeart or BetQL for Audacy.
In the early 2010s, the non-commercial FM I was working for considered adding a 24/7 classical feed on HD-2. IIRC the fee from iBiquity (now Xperi) was $500 a month.
The total estimate to run the sub-channel for a year was around $100k, a majority of which would have been buying syndicated programming to air on the channel.
I'm sure the rate structure for commercial entities is a bit different. And this data is from rusty recollections. Take with a grain of salt.
If only DAB was ever adopted as the standard in the States… (hypothetically speaking)
So you are saying that by taking away format options you can then force your audience to listen to your primary signal? That assumes the primary has content those people actually want. Perhaps that audience listens to the HD options because that is where the music they want is available?
No, more is always better if it allows people to have the choices they want. If radio does not provide those choices, listeners are going to go to satellite and streaming.
Sorry, but I think the attitude of “we’ll force you to listen to us whether you like it or not” is just bizarre.
So, what's the option? Force broadcasters to provide a service they're unable to monetize?
As it stands right now, secondary HD channels are like owning a restaurant but giving customers an option of walking up to the kitchen and walking out with food without a bill.
I've got to say that some stations that dedicate their full HD bandwidth to the main channel sometimes sound better than its analog counterpart (see KUPD locally, for example).
HD2/HD3 should still be used for simulcasting AM stations. Today's AM tuners don't sound good at all. If there's not an AM on HD2/HD3 (although the only format I really listen to AM stations for is sports), I'll be streaming it.
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