Crawford's Latest Engineering Newletter

[Play Freebird]

I enjoy visiting the Crawford Broadcasting website from time to time and reading about the activities of their market engineers; it provides some interesting perspectives.

In the latest (Feb 2009) edition of The Local Oscillator, the engineer in charge of WDCX 99.5 in Buffalo mentions that many of his Canadian listeners are upset that a new co-channel station, CKKW, has begun operating near Kitchener, Ontario. Apparently, WDCX provided a listenable signal in that area until January when this new facility began operation. However, WDCX isn't entitled to interference-free coverage on the far side of the border, so this audience has been lost and there's little Crawford can do about it. The GM of CKKW simply responds "... there's not much I can do in terms of moving."

Seems to me there's a parallel between this unfortunate situation and the problems faced by stations whose secondary service areas have been affected by IBOC interference. Haven't a few of us been told "you aren't entitled to coverage outside your protected contour, so go pound sand"? What goes around...

Elsewhere in the newsletter, (see reports from Detroit, Birmingham, and Chicago) you'll read that iBiquity changed the HD program service data specification without telling the automation vendors. Oops. I'm sure this was very frustrating, but it doesn't surprise me in the least. Unlike RDS, HD Radio is a closed standard -- and if iBiquity screws up, we have no recourse. The iBiquity broadcaster contract even spells this out: "ALL RISK OF QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE LICENSED BROADCAST SOFTWARE REMAINS WITH LICENSEE"

I get the distinct impression that the Crawford guys are losing their enthusiasm for HD Radio.

http://www.crawfordbroadcasting.com/~cbc/Local_Oscillator/February 2009 Local Oscillator.pdf

 

[4dude]

HD radio is worthless garbage and should be abandondend!

Its more trouble than its worth maintaining!

 

[clouseau]

I get the distinct impression that the Crawford guys are losing their enthusiasm for HD Radio.

From the article...
During the course of 2009, we anticipate replacing all the old NEIBOC units in the company with the new Exporter Plus/AM IBOC units, so we’ll face the issue in most every market at some point during the year. Clearly we’re the “test pilots” here. As we have learned throughout the HD Radio rollout process, figuring stuff like this out on our own goes with the territory when you’re on the “bleeding edge.”

Clearly, perceptions vary.

Clouseau

 

[hipporadio]

IMHO, “HD Radio” is D.O.A.—it ranks at THE BOTTOM of consumer interest – possibly a refection of “Joe the Plumber’s” general opinion of what corporate radio IS NOT transmitting his way. The “technology” is TOO-LITTLE-TOO-LATE—passé on FM and downright defective and destructive in the AM service. I had a four-hour conversation this evening with a highly-valued former employee and radio “geek” who casually “blew-off” HD Radio as a non-starter and DEAD ISSUE... He wasn't impressed... So goes the market.

Bobby Stumble needs to find a new job... OR a government bailout :

 

[Savage]

Ummm....sure.

"BREAKING NEWS! Crawford, investors in IBOC and one of the system's most blindly stubborn supporters, plans to replaced all of its AM-HD Decepticons this year. 'It's another sign of HD's triumphal total acceptance by broadcasters and listeners alike,' said new Alliance president Sirhan Sirhan."

Hello? HELLO? The number of operating HD-AM stations is essentially unchanged....from a YEAR AND A HALF ago. Take the "digital daytimers" (no IBOC at night) and 34 graveyarders out of the equation, and there are FORTY-SIX stations running IBOC 24/7. In the entire USA!

Yeah, Crawford. Smart move. Go pound some more of your dwindling revenue down the IBOC rathole. :

 

[Carmine5]

Yeah, Crawford. Smart move. Go pound some more of your dwindling revenue down the IBOC rathole. :

Exactly. This just proves that IBOC is still in the experimental stage--in this case an experiment being conducted on an end user's dime.

Crawford, which should have prudently pulled the plug on IBOC a long time ago, seems content to pony up "mo' money and mo' money" for HD upgrades.

I suppose other station owners could content themselves with the slogan, "They pay, so that we don't have to", if it wasn't for the interference issues which is something everyone ends up paying for.

C5

 

[Play Freebird]

Exactly. This just proves that IBOC is still in the experimental stage--in this case an experiment being conducted on an end user's dime.

Crawford, which should have prudently pulled the plug on IBOC a long time ago, seems content to pony up "mo' money and mo' money" for HD upgrades.

Google "sunk cost fallacy" for more info. The sad story of the Concorde is a prime example.

I never saw any ROI-based rationale to bother with HD Radio in a small market -- but initially, I thought some major market stations might figure out a way to make it pay off. However, at this stage of the game, it's probably a lost cause.

One problem is that the iBiquity system is so locked down and proprietary. If the data channel could be freely accessed by PDAs, iPods,cell phones, and other portable devices, and third parties were encouraged to develop new uses for this bandwidth, we might have seen some interesting applications. Too late for that now.

 

[hipporadio]

I have a problem believing that a “graveyard” facility is actually powering a 1kw transmitter on 1490 with IBOC in front of it : I have actually listened to the results of this disaster in Greenville, S.C.—laughable at best... The “HD signal” was detectable less than TWO MILES from the TX. Did this “rich guy” with MORE MONEY THAN COMMON SCENSE require some form of medical intervention?

HOLY COW! ...I once owned a low[er]-power AM station that “defied nature, nonetheless”, but I NEVER DREAMED of IBOC saddlebags! ...'Happy I didn't

 

[4dude]

Yeah, Crawford. Smart move. Go pound some more of your dwindling revenue down the IBOC rathole. :

Certianly seems as if they dont have the balls to tell IBIQUITY where to stick it!

 

[KB1OKL]

Yeah, Crawford. Smart move. Go pound some more of your dwindling revenue down the IBOC rathole. :

Exactly. This just proves that IBOC is still in the experimental stage--in this case an experiment being conducted on an end user's dime.

Crawford, which should have prudently pulled the plug on IBOC a long time ago, seems content to pony up "mo' money and mo' money" for HD upgrades.

I suppose other station owners could content themselves with the slogan, "They pay, so that we don't have to", if it wasn't for the interference issues which is something everyone ends up paying for.

C5

You mean that Crawford is actually still paying more money to iNiquity for iBlock? : I thought that once you paid your initial 100 grand or so for the priviledge of being able to hog adjacent channels (IHAC) you were done shoveling the bucks to iNiquity? Great little racket they could have had if only it had caught on.

 

[texasradio]

I've always wondered why a company like Crawford would choose to get behind IBOC. Is the company a shareholder in Ibiquity?

The whole thing smells like someone at Crawford wanted to position themself as one of the "big boys."

 

[hipporadio]

Yeah, Crawford. Smart move. Go pound some more of your dwindling revenue down the IBOC rathole. :

Crawford, which should have prudently pulled the plug on IBOC a long time ago, seems content to pony up "mo' money and mo' money" for HD upgrades.

You mean that Crawford is actually still paying more money to iNiquity for iBlock? : I thought that once you paid your initial 100 grand or so for the priviledge of being able to hog adjacent channels (IHAC) you were done shoveling the bucks to iNiquity? Great little racket they could have had if only it had caught on.

I guess it’s called “pay to play”, KB... Pay for the “privilege” of transmitting substandard audio to 99.999-percent of your available listeners in pursuit of the “fantasy” that your sub-mp3-quality digital offering will “save the AM band”. What are these CC and CBS “broadcast execs” smoking? It’s SAD that we now have the advantage of exceptional audio from the current crop of AM rigs, yet fully-negate such advance in the pursuit of a defective and destructive “technology” that heaps-on to the AM medium’s biggest problem—interference.

 

[Tom Wells]

Shucks, this is just another example of the "non-technical" people spending money on the latest fad, while cutting out the
value-producing elements of the real world business.

The company I used to work for spent an untold fortune on "oracle", as a business "solution", just so each individual could struggle with trying to input data into it, taking time away from actual productive work. Instead of office people doing office work, front line mechanics and electricians wasted hours every week tending to oracle and satisfying its very picky input method.
The morning I was called in to be "laid off" I was on the phone with a customer I had visited the day before to make sure their
situation was still OK. They asked if I had read the e-mail from the company director about the "reduction in forces".
Hell, no! I was doing REAL work before doing any "piddling around". That's the difference between productive and non-productive.
I never did get to read that e-mail, as my account was shut down before I had a chance. Thank you very much.
None of the VPs got laid off, and they sure as heck can't install or repair a printing press.
Maybe they can get "Oracle" to fix a customer's press when it's broken, but I doubt it, it can't even do what it was sold to do without
constant tweaking, nudging, and asking someone else to input data first, so I could put data into it, so I could get paid on time.
Even then, it was not possible for Oracle to fully understand how to allocate hours and per diem when we visited more than 1 customer
per day. Beware when "business people" think "staying busy" is good for the bottom line.
The rest of us have real work to do, and inventing ways to "keep busy" detracts from actual effectiveness.
I was plenty occupied with real work ( and working while ill, because this company had no sick days) until the very instant
I was laid off.

HD (at least on AM) is the same. How many good workers are on the street because various companies wasted money
on this hopless pipe-dream while upper managment is still there, defending their "best business practices"?

 

[Savage]

Yes, indeed. It would be interesting to tally up a grand total of how much cash (never mind the indirect fallout, such as lost revenue from stations hurt by adjacent-channel interference like WYSL) has been wasted on capital purchases, antenna system re-dos, engineering man-hours for maintenance (fiddling) and increased utility costs imposed by the debacle known as HD Radio.

I'll bet if this disaster had been deservedly consigned to the dumpster early on before inestimable dollars and careers were wasted, plenty of talented people who are now sidelined by layoffs, would still be productively employed in the radio industry. Of course I don't know, but it's got to be hundreds of millions of dollars.

HD: trailing a hissing, low-fi path of stupid, self-imposed destruction wherever it goes.

 

[hipporadio]

Yes, indeed. It would be interesting to tally up a grand total of how much cash (never mind the indirect fallout, such as lost revenue from stations hurt by adjacent-channel interference like WYSL) has been wasted on capital purchases, antenna system re-dos, engineering man-hours for maintenance (fiddling) and increased utility costs imposed by the debacle known as HD Radio.

HD: trailing a hissing, low-fi path of stupid, self-imposed destruction wherever it goes.

Stations like WYSL are merely “unintended consequences” in the minds of the penny-stock-bound “corporate elite” among the broadcast ranks. These people have serially-abused their “privilege” – they have near-destroyed a vibrant industry – and many [the Dickey brothers] SHOULD be facing jail time for their shameless self-promoting behavior. I’d HATE to own a radio station today, and have a level of compassion for those [like Bob] that do!

We need to tote a BIG BROOM into the FCC building ‘n start swinging it!

 

[4dude]

Obama is turning out to be an unreliable idiot! (Not much better than bush)

I doubt he will do anything about this!

 

[hipporadio]

Obama is turning out to be an unreliable idiot! (Not much better than Bush)

I doubt he will do anything about this!

Mr. O IS an “unreliable idiot” [a totally inexperienced one at that] - and I’m a third-party voter-turned McCain supporter for that very reason... ‘Seems I lost [darn], but so did the rest of America [just wait 'n see]. Don’t look to any O-reformation at the FCC to right past wrongs... ‘Maybe just an end to the profitable “talk radio” format... OK, WHEN will the “real revolution” happen?

 

[Carmine5]

Obama is turning out to be an unreliable idiot! (Not much better than Bush)

I doubt he will do anything about this!

Mr. O IS an “unreliable idiot” [a totally inexperienced one at that] - and I’m a third-party voter-turned McCain supporter for that very reason... ‘Seems I lost [darn], but so did the rest of America [just wait 'n see]. Don’t look to any O-reformation at the FCC to right past wrongs... ‘Maybe just an end to the profitable “talk radio” format... OK, WHEN will the “real revolution” happen?

Well, in all fairness (and I don't mean the fairness doctrine) there are more pressing problems than IBOC for the President to deal with. I'm willing to give the man and his staff a chance.

What irks me is that the FCC is so obsessed with the DTV transition, a transition they obviously botched big time, that they have effectively ignored the other elephant in the room; namely the slow disintegration of the broadcasting industry of which the destruction of the AM/FM bands is symptomatic. Only some of this can be blamed on the economy. Most of it is due to poor oversight by the Commission.

I just hope the new FCC Chairman is responsive to the problems the industry faces and savvy enough to know what the current issues are. Little Kevin Martin was clueless. Copps means well, but as an interim chairman his hands are tied.

C5

 

[hipporadio]

Obama is turning out to be an unreliable idiot! (Not much better than Bush)

I doubt he will do anything about this!

Mr. O IS an “unreliable idiot” [a totally inexperienced one at that] - and I’m a third-party voter-turned McCain supporter for that very reason... ‘Seems I lost [darn], but so did the rest of America [just wait 'n see]. Don’t look to any O-reformation at the FCC to right past wrongs... ‘Maybe just an end to the profitable “talk radio” format... OK, WHEN will the “real revolution” happen?

[size=10pt]Well, in all fairness (and I don't mean the fairness doctrine) there are more pressing problems than IBOC for the President to deal with. I'm willing to give the man and his staff a chance.

In all fairness, I sad “Give the guy a chance” from the git-go [I really did hope for the best], THEN I witnessed a parade of tax-dodging incompetents placed on the cabinet for rationale more-related to political payback – more of the “same” [as opposed to “change you can believe in”] PLUS a further dive in my stock portfolio. I’m losing faith... QUICKLEY!

As for Prez-O and the FCC... The ONLY “initiative” I see on the horizon is the [un]fairness doctrine

 

[Obtuse1]

From USA Today:

Administration says again: Obama opposes bringing back the 'fairness doctrine'

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/02/63031039/1