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AM HD TURNOFF PACE ACCELERATES

Our full-10 kHz 20,000 watts kicks WHAM's butt (nondirectional 50kw, strangled as it is to 4.45 kHz and limited to 94% positive modulation.)

It's especially dramatic when you get out about 20 or 30 miles. We leap out of the dashboard, while they sound like a 1kw daytimer coming in from Whatchacallistan. The intense energy in the IBOC sidebands kills the receiver AGC. The comment we hear is "WHAM doesn't come in so well any more, but we can always get you guys.")
 
Savage said:
Our full-10 kHz 20,000 watts kicks WHAM's butt (nondirectional 50kw, strangled as it is to 4.45 kHz and limited to 94% positive modulation.)
Click to expand...

And I guess that explains why WHAM was 3rd in 12+ in fall, and WYSL was 27th.
 
Savage said:
Our full-10 kHz 20,000 watts kicks WHAM's butt (nondirectional 50kw, strangled as it is to 4.45 kHz and limited to 94% positive modulation.)

It's especially dramatic when you get out about 20 or 30 miles. We leap out of the dashboard, while they sound like a 1kw daytimer coming in from Whatchacallistan. The intense energy in the IBOC sidebands kills the receiver AGC. The comment we hear is "WHAM doesn't come in so well any more, but we can always get you guys.")
Click to expand...

Many AM IBOC stations sound like they're coming out of a police bullhorn, tinny and distorted.
"Come out with your hands up!"
 
Savage said:
And I'm sure your endless nastiness is just one of about 7000 reasons why you're unemployed.
Click to expand...

I was not aware that I was unemployed.

And putting a bit of perspective on your criticism of WHAM is simply truthful. If you find that nasty, you may be overdue for your reality check.
 
If you read the post, it was a criticism of IBOC, not of WHAM. Remember? HD Radio? The subject of this thread?? The AM version of HD has the practical effect of impeding local analog coverage because it worsens signal-to-noise in the primary service area (reduced bandwidth and modulation density mandated by this absurdly kludged system.) At moderate distances from the transmitter, because most AM radios these days are wideband enough to detect unwanted digital sideband hash along with the desired analog modulation intelligence, the intense OFDM energy steps on the receiver AGC, reducing sensitivity. The digital crap is far more robust than the analog carrier + modulation. The result is, even a 50kw signal sounds weak and noisy.

Just to save time, please select from the follow choices in your inevitable reply post:

a. Your station sucks, so you have no right to criticize AM-HD.
b. It doesn't matter because AM radio is dead.
c. Did I mention: your station has no merit and even though AM is dead, your station will be dead soon (don't tell me any facts like how your station was up 8% last year in a bad market...representing 15 consecutive years of revenue increases) because it's AM and AM has no merit and your station, AM as it is, sucks, strictly AM and suck-wise, that is.)
 
I forgot: I have many WHAM friends (that would include both current employees and those who have been axed through their endless rounds of firings. In the meantime the WYSL you delight in denigrating over and over here has never laid anyone off as a cost-saving measure.) Most of the WHAM people I know wholeheartedly agree with me. I surmise that local management there, for their own practical reasons, haven't gotten around to shutting off the HD. I think that when the time is right, they will. They are professionals, rightly proud of their station, and they hate having it sound like crap.
 
Hey, here's a noteworthy recent development in all-things-HD:

We've all recognized that there is not a single HD-AM radio model currently being marketed on the market. With BB's recent discontinuance of its Insignia HD boombox, the only standalone consumer receiver available - in ANY form - is the lowly low-bucks Insignia portable. The only other HD-capable receivers are aftermarket car units, appealing to a tiny and disappearing segment of the market.

HD Radio: meet the passenger pigeon. Color-wheel TV. Hydrox cookies. And The DeFranco Family.... :D :D
 
Savage said:
If you read the post, it was a criticism of IBOC, not of WHAM.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. The comparison of your audio to their audio sure looked like a criticism of WHAM. [/quote]

Just to save time, please select from the follow choices in your inevitable reply post:

a. Your station sucks...
b. It doesn't matter because AM radio is dead.
c. Did I mention: your station has no merit and even though AM is dead, your station will be dead soon (don't tell me any facts like how your station was up 8% last year in a bad market...representing 15 consecutive years of revenue increases) because it's AM and AM has no merit and your station, AM as it is, sucks, strictly AM and suck-wise, that is.)
Click to expand...

a. I never said your station sucks. I would never consider a station with a 40:1 day to night power ratio to have great potential in a market at high latitudes, but saying the potential is limited is not the same as saying the station sucks.

b. AM is not dead. It is just in decline. In other words, dying. You must believer that, too, or your website would not highlight the new FM frequency and pretty much hide the AM part.

c. The ability to increase revenue slightly even after adding an FM signal is hardly a badge of honor. The market overall grew by 8% from 2010 to 2011. If you grew by 9% after adding FM, that actually sounds like less growth than the market average since it took two signals to achieve it. In any case, the real measure of a station today is BCF (or EBITDA) and not revenue.
 
satech said:
Amusingly, 710 WOR just reduced the bandwidth of their audio to 4.5 kHz, while neighboring 770 WABC has increased the bandwidth of their audio to the full NRSC 10 kHz, making the difference in quality between WOR's IBOC signal and WABC's analog-only signal even more drastic!
Click to expand...

It amazes me that the "esteemed" Robert Orban sez that there is little reason for an AM station to present a transmission frequency response beyond 5k. Case-in-point: I own 32 radios, spanning 40-years; and ranging from component receivers/tuners, table models, portables with a demure speaker, and "Walkman" style [Sonys included] personal portables requiring headphones. ON EVERY ONE, local 700 WLW [running HD] sounds like CRAP when compared to the only Clear Channel station in the Cincinnati market [550 WKRC]—that doesn't.
Over TWO DOZEN of these radios have enough I.F. "grace" that a center-tuned WLW yields audible hissssss in the background of their "crouch-crunched" audio. It's a shame their obviously late-model AM rig receives so-little audio potential. A few days ago, I re-arranged my desk and added a Sangean WR-2 radio I had packed away for 3 years. I remember it sounding very good [nearly "hi-fi"] the last time I listened to it receiving oldies 1580 WIFE Connersville, Indiana. When I tuned WLW on it – I heard hissssssssss and demeaned CRAP AUDIO as this arrogant station proclaimed itself as "The Big One". I have a definition of what constitutes "BIG" on that station, but the mods at R-I probably wouldn't approve.
SAD, that "The Nation's Station" sounds so awful 'cuz of their obsession with "HD". I'll bet that the ONLY folks that listen in that defective/destructive modulation mode work on Kenwood Road at I-71.
 
Savage said:
Hey, here's a noteworthy recent development in all-things-HD:

We've all recognized that there is not a single HD-AM radio model currently being marketed on the market. With BB's recent discontinuance of its Insignia HD boombox, the only standalone consumer receiver available - in ANY form - is the lowly low-bucks Insignia portable. The only other HD-capable receivers are aftermarket car units, appealing to a tiny and disappearing segment of the market.

HD Radio: meet the passenger pigeon. Color-wheel TV. Hydrox cookies. And The DeFranco Family.... :D :D
Click to expand...
Hey, I liked the Hydrox cookie.

Boy, the next thing you know he'll be telling us he doesn't like Mallo Cups...

Off topic:
I saw the Insignia Boom Box at Best Buy, I asked if the AM had HD, the "salesman" said, "Yes".

It doesn't even HAVE AM.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
Several Sunshine Biscuit legendary products went away when the company was bought by Nabisco or Keebler or whoever. Hydrox Cookies were killed off because they competed directly with Oreos (Hydrox were actually the first cookie of that type, and IMO as well as many others, were vastly superior to Oreos. The company briefly brought Hydrox back around Christmastime 2008 to celebrate the cookie's 100th anniversary, they even had a fan website. I bought several packages and put them away as a kind of Stategic Cookie Reserve as they were only available for a few weeks, only to disappear again.) Golden Fruit raisin cookies also went away, along with Sunshine's equally-superior version of the Ritz, Hi-Hos.

Consumers continue to miss these great products with their decades-long history of success and enjoyment. Not so with HD Radio, which would be forgotten, if only people knew or cared about it in the first place.
 
Savage said:
Several Sunshine Biscuit legendary products went away when the company was bought by Nabisco or Keebler or whoever. Hydrox Cookies were killed off because they competed directly with Oreos (Hydrox were actually the first cookie of that type, and IMO as well as many others, were vastly superior to Oreos. The company briefly brought Hydrox back around Christmastime 2008 to celebrate the cookie's 100th anniversary, they even had a fan website. I bought several packages and put them away as a kind of Stategic Cookie Reserve as they were only available for a few weeks, only to disappear again.) Golden Fruit raisin cookies also went away, along with Sunshine's equally-superior version of the Ritz, Hi-Hos.

Consumers continue to miss these great products with their decades-long history of success and enjoyment. Not so with HD Radio, which would be forgotten, if only people knew or cared about it in the first place.
Click to expand...
I think it will more of a frustration of what digital could have been had it not been co-opted by the Poly-ticks*.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

*meaning: many blood-sucking creatures.
 
Numbers as of April 29th on Barry's site: 216 A.M.s running HD (down about 8-10 since I last looked) & only 71 stations running it @ night. We might see 200 total A.M. stations running HD by year's end! Here's hoping!
 
Sad news as I report the re-emergence of IBOC on WYDE in Birmingham. The station is only 5 kW days and doesn't reach the entire metro, so it's safe to say almost no one other than the engineer knows or cares about the HD. It had been off for a while, with improved analog audio in the interim.

We'd hoped it was gone for good, but the Crawford HD bug must still be biting.
 
I don't get why they still bother with HD on AM. They used to run C-QUAM but gave that up for HD. The head engineer used to post on the AM Stereo e-mail lists but stopped once they converted their AMs to HD. They're more stubborn about AM HD than WOR!
 
WTAG 580 Worc Ma's daytime only IBOC has been off for a while now but I hesitate to post it because it's been off and on over the past few years. Just when you think it's gone permanently it comes back worse than ever. WBZ is spewing as usual.
 
::) Great system: it comes. It goes. It screws up so there is no analog backup (when the fragile digital components scramble because somebody just drove by with the wrong color necktie, your station just mutes.)

And nobody notices. Frequently, not even the poor benighted station engineer.

Anecdotally I'm aware of a big FM that invested well into 6 figures in HD; when a change in management occurred, the CE was queried about the high electric bill. He pointed to the separate digital Tx for HD. Manager said, shut the damn thing off; CE converted the sparkling new FM Tx to a high-power standby. Electric bill dropped 40%.

That was two years ago. Listener complaints about the loss of HD.....zero.
 
hipporadio;

WLW is #1 with a solid 12.2. The #2 station is sporting an 8.2. That's 4 percentage points ahead, Einstein!

-
 
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