I think it's a chicken-and-egg situation. Yes, it's the device, but radio in general is not putting the effort into HD channels sufficient to motivate consumers to buy the device.
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Atlanta Radio, Really
- Thread starter max100
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I think it's a chicken-and-egg situation. Yes, it's the device, but radio in general is not putting the effort into HD channels sufficient to motivate consumers to buy the device.
I don't know how you can make a general statement like that. NPR stations have certainly put tons of effort into their HD channels, and NPR offers lots of content for stations to air. CBS has made an arrangement with iBiquity to air Radio Disney. Lots of individual stations are running their AM stations on HD channels. Others are offering alternative content on HD.
But clearly we can all see that the electronics industry has given the device a lot of lip service. They haven't invested any money in creating unique devices that might motivate customers to buy. There hasn't been a radio device since the Walkman or the Boom Box that was really unique or creative. That applies to satellite and internet radio. Those devices aren't selling either. You go to electronics shows and all you see are traditional table radios from Bose and other companies, and these are designed for audiophile use. There's really nothing cool or exciting that might motivate a consumer, regardless of the content. We're basically in the same place we were with FM in the 1950s. Nothing is going to change until the manufacturers take more interest in the product, and that probably won't change until iBiquity's patent runs out.
In the old days, many companies that owned radio stations also made radios. That's not the case any more. Radio stations are dependent on the electronics industry to create products that consumers will buy. Those companies are mostly focused on telephones. Until that changes, you won't see much consumer interest in HD.
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I understand that NPR has put some decent content on their HD channel, and I'm a big fan of radio. But I still think the radio industry shares as much blame as the manufacturers. What is there to motivate manufacturers to build devices when there's little on the air that would motivate consumers to purchase them?
FM had the same problem in the 60's, and the FCC set out to solve it. They required separate programming on FM and worked with the electronics industry so that new AM radios would also contain FM. Perhaps if all radios in cars had HD, the radio industry would put some resources into programming.
FM had the same problem in the 60's, and the FCC set out to solve it. They required separate programming on FM and worked with the electronics industry so that new AM radios would also contain FM. Perhaps if all radios in cars had HD, the radio industry would put some resources into programming.
Both Roddy and BigA make good points with their respective comments. Radio technology has stagnated; the finger of blame points in more than one direction.
HD is indeed like FM in 1960 when there was little penetration in autos and nothing outside of "dentist office music" and classical music formats. The first Atlanta FM to gain mass popularity was Z93, which was really just another Top40 format but with FM stereo quality. Then came 96 Rock with album rock...that's when I decided I "needed" a FM tuner in my car. A new format, previously unavailable, was the catalyst for many, many FM auto receiver purchases in Atlanta back in the 70s.
Manufacturers will never change their designs if there's no consumer interest. Face it...there has been no interest in HD at all, listener or provider; HD radios sit at the box stores gathering dust.
Radio has been unable to even program all the analog FM signals successfully. In Atlanta, we have run out of viable formats. Max100 started this thread by asking why the WHYP format isn't offered in Atlanta and the sad answer is because it won't make enough money. It seems mass appeal is practically the only way to profitability. It also must have mass appeal for people under 54 and not geezers...
Roddy...many cars DO have HD radio already; the public doesn't know they have them but they're in their dashes waiting. I know this to be true because I have seen what happens when the HD transmitter loses audio and is silent. The switchboard lights up with numerous callers all saying the same thing..."Your station is OK the first couple of seconds and then goes silent." True story...happened here in Atlanta. It was not just a call or two...it was numerous calls, Twitter/Facebook blew up...it was crazy. I had no idea that there was that much HD listening. The receivers are out there...we simply have not thought of a way to entice the public to figure out how to listen.
HD is indeed like FM in 1960 when there was little penetration in autos and nothing outside of "dentist office music" and classical music formats. The first Atlanta FM to gain mass popularity was Z93, which was really just another Top40 format but with FM stereo quality. Then came 96 Rock with album rock...that's when I decided I "needed" a FM tuner in my car. A new format, previously unavailable, was the catalyst for many, many FM auto receiver purchases in Atlanta back in the 70s.
Manufacturers will never change their designs if there's no consumer interest. Face it...there has been no interest in HD at all, listener or provider; HD radios sit at the box stores gathering dust.
Radio has been unable to even program all the analog FM signals successfully. In Atlanta, we have run out of viable formats. Max100 started this thread by asking why the WHYP format isn't offered in Atlanta and the sad answer is because it won't make enough money. It seems mass appeal is practically the only way to profitability. It also must have mass appeal for people under 54 and not geezers...
Roddy...many cars DO have HD radio already; the public doesn't know they have them but they're in their dashes waiting. I know this to be true because I have seen what happens when the HD transmitter loses audio and is silent. The switchboard lights up with numerous callers all saying the same thing..."Your station is OK the first couple of seconds and then goes silent." True story...happened here in Atlanta. It was not just a call or two...it was numerous calls, Twitter/Facebook blew up...it was crazy. I had no idea that there was that much HD listening. The receivers are out there...we simply have not thought of a way to entice the public to figure out how to listen.
How about money gained from selling exciting new radios. What more should they need? The radio industry has invested far more money and effort into HD than electronics manufacturers. Only a handful of radios capable of receiving HD have been produced, and most of them are table radios. Table radios made up only a minority of AM/FM receivers available, so they are creating products for a very narrow market. I'm not aware of any portables. But as I said, they're not investing money into satellite or internet receivers either.
The FCC is not going to be coming to the rescue of HD radio, just as they're not going to come to the rescue of AM. HD radio offers no quality improvement over FM. So quality won't be the issue as it was in the 60s.
There are a few who refuse to embrace "technology" but they are rapidly dying off. Technology in all lives is exponentially increasing...even granny uses Facebook to see the grandkid's pictures. I had to show a 90+ year old woman how to use her iPhone6 camera a few moths back. Technology is cool and almost everyone wants to enjoy the fruits though many abhor the learning curve.
The one opinion so far is that music and spoken word, in some form, is all there is for radio. Anybody disagree...agree?
Radio technology has changed dramatically in the last 15 years or so... with satellite and streaming. Today's "radio" is a smartphone.
You're assuming technology is a function of age, and that's not what the statistics show. It can be a function of economics. There are a lot of people who can't afford technology regardless of age.
Radio is audio. So anything audio is radio. Agree or disagree?
Only because there is no other choice. Manufacturers have forced the market towards one system that benefits them. It's not a radio, but a portable interactive device. I can use an RE-16 as a hammer. That doesn't make it a hammer.
Actually now the most produced HD radios are OEM auto radios. Several manufacturers have produced table radios which include HD, they pretty much sell like coldcakes. As do table radios in general. As OEM auto radios increase, interest in HD will increase. Most drivers don't even know they have HD radios until the time alignment slips... then they bitch. Enough are now bitching that stations are paying attention to time alignment, and broadcast manufacturers are marketing boxes which keep times aligned. Conventional wisdom says when 30 percent of the cars on the road have HD capability, it will be a viable service economically This will, like FM, happen when and if HD is included in the OEM radio as a matter of course.. The recent increase allowed in HD injection levels has helped reception greatly.
I have to admit technology use is probably not that mature in Angola... I see very few in the US who are too poor to afford the latest iPhone or Droid.
I guess you're saying through sarcasm that I have asked a stupid question. Maybe you're right...
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It's because kids just don't care about radios. They may listen but, if you have kids you know this already, they don't care about radio stations and DJs like we did in the 50s and 60s. I have 5 kids and not a single one has ever asked me to buy them a radio. Phones....every one of them. Laptops.....every one of them. iPods...yes. iPads...yes. I have to chase them off my Spotify account on a weekly basis. But poor radio...it hasn't a friend in the world outside of geezerdom.
HD offers great improvement over analog because the noise floor drops to velvet quiet. I notice it most on spoken word formats. CBS did a study back in the 60s and found people dislike noise more than anything else when listening to radio. HD also does not have the pre-emphasis issue which causes quality issues with analog. HD also offers 50-20,000 Hz frequency response which some people can actually hear. None of these improvements are as dramatic as the difference between AM and FM though.
Many so-called third world countries have higher smartphone usage than the US. The phone, in some countries, is a lower-income person's bank, as well.
In nations where getting a landline was expensive and took a long time, many just jumped to cellphones many years ago.
Once again, the reason for that is the electronics manufacturers. A radio does one thing. Thirty years ago, Sony combined a radio with a cassette deck and it was huge. That was 30 years ago. You buy a phone, and it also has a camera, a mp3 player, an email server, and a GPS. That's value for your money. If a radio was combined with a few devices, people would buy them. Why is it we were able to combine radios and other devices 30 years ago, and no one can figure out how to do that now? This isn't a radio company problem, but radio is suffering because of it. Personally I feel radio is doing very well considering all the things going against it.
In the late 60's I had a Panasonic AM/FM radio with cassette that I carried all over with me. It was about 7" by 7" by 3" and weighed about 3 lbs. I got it in the duty-free in Panamá that often sold products before they were released in the US... and that was about 50 years ago!
Until I transferred them to digital a few years ago, I had some airchecks done on that device. The big issue with early cassettes is that they sounded much worse than 8-Tracks but they were recordable.
Interestingly enough, you have mentioned that about 95 percent of all Americans listen to radio weekly and yet these manufacturers don't seem to see radio as cutting edge enough to be included. I guess radio has not offered enough money to be invited to the party. I agree, radio is doing very well. And sometimes, let's face it, radio is sometimes it's own worst enemy. Yet, people still want to connect with radio! That is pretty awesome in the scheme of things.
Actually, the figure is around 93%.
Manufacturers, first, do not offer in any cellphone model anywhere an AM radio. The space needed for the antenna is prohibitive.
And there are a number of reasons why FM is not included in many phones. The main reason is that there is no built-in FM antenna, and the earbuds or headphone cable is the only way to capture an FM signal. The new iPhone has no headphone jack, so kiss that idea goodbye on that part of the market.
Another reason is that the cellular companies don't want "free" FM which might reduce data plan consumption.
The radio industry has not ever offered money to the handset manufacturers. There is a deal to promote NextRadio where the carriers are given certain ad allowances to activate the FM chips in their network on phones so enabled.
Hey now, what's 2% off given it's me. See, I read stuff you say, even if it's been weeks or months and remember fragments! I was thinking more of an app that allowed stations to be online, maybe along with TV stations, locally as people travelled in an out of bigger markets vs. over the air signals specifically. Agree on why some of your points make it improbable. More and more apps cover only a city people are in like Delivery Dudes, etc. as technology advances vs. having to pick a city/location on tunein, etc.
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CBS apparently has found another way to monetize their radio.com app. I was listening to WCBS FM on my phone, and during one of the commercial breaks, they had Georgia lottery and 3 or 4 “local” commercials. I guess they took a page from the old satellite for local radio stations services and have a server that detects the break and inserts the local commercials for ISP's around Atlanta. BTW the audio levels matched and the break was timed perfectly so if you didn’t know better you would think the commercials were airing on 101.1.
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