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Audacy HD Cuts Reach Boston

KeithE4 said:
$200K is that much of an expense? I would think that, for a company the size of Audacy, that would be chicken feed. They're probably paying that much for one WCBS, KNX, or WBBM news anchor's salary, or the electric bill for all the stations they own in each city.
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With PROFITS as reduced as they are industry wide…THAT can be a very large portion of your total profits. People forget that revenues, sure, are in the many millions…but the BOTTOM lines can be quite small or zero. That savings floats directly to the bottom line.

Also, it may not seem like a large cost but for the first time in memory—Eletricity costs have SKYROCKETED. In greater Boston, electricity costs (just the actual product not delivery etc) has more than doubled in 1 year.
 
Wimmmex said:
No one is "investing" in HD. It comes with most new cars.
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Again, most is not all. I don't see companies making financial decisions based on the subjective term of "most." I do see them making decisions based on concrete numbers of cars on the road with the technology, drivers who state that they use it, and the difference between that and the total number of drivers who listen to radio.

With that, your posts are in supoort of HD Radio. When I state that the same content is available on streaming as well, and that more people have streaming over people who have HD, you immediately speak from the side of HD (hardware) supporter. My question is, why is that so? I admit that I am more focused on the content over the distribution. And quite frankly, if the logic pointed to HD having greater availability over streaming, I would defend that. But you and I had both cordial and heated exchanges over this exact topic. Why are you in great defense of HD as a platform, when all the content on HD is equally available on streaming and at a greater range than HD (as in I can listen to the content world-wide on streaming, when I can only listen in-signal range on HD)?
 
Wimmmex said:
Again, no one said all...the article said most.



Not a supporter, or detractor. It is what it is. Use it if you want. Don't use it if you don't.
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As a researcher by trade, citing one article with the word "most" will lead to more questions than anyone ever accepting your conclusion as valid. Multiple articles with concrete data all pointing to the same conclusion, leading you to conclude "most" will change that result.

With that, I chose not to spend my night on such a task, but there are posts where you express your choice to listen explicitly on HD Radio lead me to my question, which really isn't anything other than a positively interested inquiry. The one post that stands out (if I have the correct forum memeber) was one that expressed a preference to listen to WBZ-AM specifically on 107.9-2.

Since you take the time to support the platform, I am genuinely interested in why you do so. As I stated, I'm a researcher by trade, so I'm always wanting to learn more. In contrast, if we were discussing HD Radio vs Satellite Radio, I would have a stronger native understanding as to why you post in favor of HD Radio. That's regardless of my personal preference.

For this last portion, I'm going off an impression, so I could be off. We all have preferences, and I've made mine clear around here about specific genres of music and formatted station types. My impression is that you prefer to use HD Radio. And where I don't take issue, I do question the support to point of trying to contest others who deem the platform to be not as prevalent as you claim it to be. Our last big debate on this topic ended with a thread closure, because we both perceived disrespect towards each other. My aim here is to avoid that, while understanding more.

Either way, I just wanted to explain my position. Time for me to move onto other topics, unless you select to answer my inquiry.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Actually, if you talked with the folks who developed and marketed "HD Radio" such as Bob Struble of iBiquity when they were rolling out the technology, they will tell you that "HD" means nothing. They looked for a term that sounded like digital, such as CD recordings, and made it up to sound high tech.
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The called it "iDab" for a hot minute before settling on "HD Radio"
 
I rented a Mitsubishi Mirage a few weeks ago.
It came with HD.
First time listening to it evah.

I liked 104.1 HD3.

I was disappointed that all dance music stations I heard were coupled with a political movement
 
kevtronics said:
I had a brand new VW Tiguan SUV (with like 10 miles on it) as a service loaner, and unless someone at the dealer hated it so much they turned it off, it came with HD Radio disabled from the factory.
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I have a 2017 VW Tiguan which is my first vehicle with HD Radio. It is kind of a pain to tune in especially when driving. You have to tune the main station with the knob or touchscreen buttons. Then hit the rather small HD icon. Then turn the knob to get to the HD2 or HD3. Setting a preset is a must. Of course now that the music subchannels are disappearing there's not much need to bother with all that anymore. And I'm getting stuck with blank presets that my favorites HD's used to occupy.
 
Derek said:
I have a 2017 VW Tiguan which is my first vehicle with HD Radio. It is kind of a pain to tune in especially when driving. You have to tune the main station with the knob or touchscreen buttons. Then hit the rather small HD icon. Then turn the knob to get to the HD2 or HD3. Setting a preset is a must. Of course now that the music subchannels are disappearing there's not much need to bother with all that anymore. And I'm getting stuck with blank presets that my favorites HD's used to occupy.
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you shouldn’t have to hit HD button.

If it is on, when you tune to a channel that is broadcasting in HD. a pilot signal is picked up and the analog blends(if they are setup correctly) to the digital HD1 simulcast. Then tune to the other multicast HD2-4 (8?) channels.

This great user friendly experience all to save “stick value” of the main stations.
 
WIth my portable/tabletop HD radio you can go to a freq and when it settles on freq, hit button to go to the HD2 then HD3 if either are available. Bandscanning--going up and down the AM and FM dials freq by freq. My Sentra only allows hitting a search button up or down to find the next station strong enough to come in. (Not turning a knob.) If I wanted to, say, check 1410 to see if it's on air (currently it isn't, due to Langer's death) I'd have to manually enter in
1-4-1-0-enter.
 
raccoonradio said:
WIth my portable/tabletop HD radio you can go to a freq and when it settles on freq, hit button to go to the HD2 then HD3 if either are available. Bandscanning--going up and down the AM and FM dials freq by freq. My Sentra only allows hitting a search button up or down to find the next station strong enough to come in. (Not turning a knob.) If I wanted to, say, check 1410 to see if it's on air (currently it isn't, due to Langer's death) I'd have to manually enter in
1-4-1-0-enter.
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That sounds simular to the portable Insignia devices, but those are FM band only. No digital AM.
 
Least said:
That sounds simular to the portable Insignia devices, but those are FM band only. No digital AM.
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Right, it is the Insignia "tabletop" with AC cord or can use 4 AAs. Best Buy had it for about $50 (currently $60). They may still have it but maybe not in every store.
 
raccoonradio said:
Right, it is the Insignia "tabletop" with AC cord or can use 4 AAs. Best Buy had it for about $50 (currently $60). They may still have it but maybe not in every store.
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The one I have (bought in 2009, just before WBCN was flipped to WWBX) had only an internal rechargeable battery. I bought it in July of 2009 at Best Buy. In the summer time when I run outside, not at a gym, I'll test it to see what I can pick up. Last summer, I noticed a drop of original formats on HD-2/3, from when I first bought the device. Gone are 70s only (WROR?), 80s only (then-WBMX, now WWBX), Local Music only (WBOS), Blues (WZLX), Irish Music (then-WTKK, now WBQT), Independent Rock (then WBCN, now WWBX), Live Rock (then WAAF, now WKVB). I see about 10 years ago as near the peak of content in Boston. I identify the Entercom/CBS merger as more of the decline of original content.

There's original content now (not imported from out of market or an AM station), but far from what it used to be. Old FMs that were moved to HD only stations came and went (WODS and WBCN). Formats like Evolution came and went. Original remaining is limited to the LGBTQ+ dance station, BiN, Hub Cast, and WAAF if we're account for all the stations that were dropped recently. Am I missing any?

That's my observation. It's becoming limited. I remember arguing in favor of HD Radio over Satellite, citing the unique stations in Boston alone, back in 2009. As the landscape of formats change, I find myself on the other side of that debate. As I write this, I'm listening to satellite's new rock channel. I struggle to find a station anywhere that is mostly new rock with only some 90s/2000s songs thrown in. On most modern rock FM stations such as WGIR-FM or the HD version of WAAF, new is relegated to new songs from veteran bands/musicians. I will hear Ozzy's new music, but I wouldn't hear Ice Nine Kills, for example. Satellite has the ability to play less known bands, due to the subscription model over the advertising model.
 
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