"DAB is the Betamax of radio."

[vsa]

FM and AM are only the delivery system...the "truck" the product is delivered in. The STATIONS and the NETWORKS, where programming originates...that's what will endure. RADIO (in my mind) isn't a delivery method, it's an idea...the delivery of audio content (news, entertainment, spots, COMPANIONSHIP) in real-time. Over time, it makes no difference how that delivery is accomplished. The people who produce the content will be the same guys and gals doing terrestrial radio today...the ones with the experience, talent, and infrastructure to deliver what people will consume. THAT is what will survive over time.

But before the delivery method ("the truck") can be replaced, a truly better, more efficient method must be developed. One that's MORE efficient, MORE convenient, with BETTER coverage, BETTER penetration, BETTER economy of scale, LOWER COST, etc. Internet radio is none of those things. It may be in time, but certainly isn't now! It's less efficient, less convenient, with poorer coverage and penetration into remote areas, vastly poorer economy of scale, and higher...RECURRING cost! You may believe that this will "replace" terrestrial radio. Hell, I may believe it too (sometimes I do). But not until each and every one of the above points can be addressed, and conquered...for any one of them is a compelling reason for the continued success of the method of delivery (AM and FM) we have now.

As I asked my wife the other day...imagine radio had always been delivered via some kind of wired network (phone lines, the internet, cable). The only "wirelessness" it posessed was within short distances of a wireless router. Imagine that access to this "radio" came only with a monthly fee...and a rather high one (my broadband is about 60 bucks a month for 5mbps). Then imagine someone came along with terrestrial AM and FM...cutting the tether to a specifically defined data network (internet, wi-fi, wi-max, etc). Don't you think this 'new system' would CLOBBER what had existed before? I sure do!

Keep in mind that "radio delivered over the Internet" is a DISRUPTIVE technology. That's the kind that starts out as not good enough to supplant the current SUSTAINING technology. However, it gradually improves to where it get BETTER than the SUSTAINING technology. I argue that HD radio is an ehancement to the SUSTAINING technology. It's arrival comes at the exactly wrong time because it requires an investment its customers aren't interested in. Check the link below to a book to learn how and why this happens. It has happened over and over again in a variety of industries.

http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Di...d_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201880776&sr=8-1

This is a ground-breaking book that will make you look at business very differently. It certainly changed my views. REad a few of the reader reviews too.

 

[Mike Walker]

And radio will kill sales of phonograph records (as was believed in the 20s), and tv will kill theatrical films, and FM will kill AM, and the VCR will kill theatrical films, and the internet will kill everything, and wait...NONE OF THAT CRAP EVER HAPPENED, NOR WILL!

 

[wgliradio]

What surprises me about yours and other's negative position regarding iboc is that you all seem to overlook the huge potential that all the new FM subchannels offer.

Right now most of these are either unused or totally automated ghost ships. This is the potential training ground for next gen talent that has been missing since the demise of 'mom and pop' AM.

And you're counting on the bastions of broadcasting to use it this way? These same people who are slicing the line thinner and thinner each day? Who are we kidding? They're going to remain, on commercial FM's, jukeboxes. Maybe some poor college kid will actually be able to be ON THE AIR on one of these (since the main channels of many college stations here in the Northeast are occupied by NPR's special interests), but otherwise, it'll be a jukebox.

 

[wgliradio]

And radio will kill sales of phonograph records (as was believed in the 20s), and tv will kill theatrical films, and FM will kill AM, and the VCR will kill theatrical films, and the internet will kill everything, and wait...NONE OF THAT CRAP EVER HAPPENED, NOR WILL!

No, but downloading has crippled the record industry and put the likes of Tower Records out of business... and Netflex has killed Blockbuster, and DVD's killed VHS (with Tivo and digital cable boxes sealing the deal). MP3 players have reduced the radio audience in the 12-24 demo (the next generation of radio users) and the economy has crippled radio's bottom line.

 

[vsa]

And radio will kill sales of phonograph records (as was believed in the 20s), and tv will kill theatrical films, and FM will kill AM, and the VCR will kill theatrical films, and the internet will kill everything, and wait...NONE OF THAT CRAP EVER HAPPENED, NOR WILL!

Trucking and air carriers decimated the railroads. The telephone killed the telegraph. The horseless carriage killed the horse and buggy. Refrigeration killed the icebox. Cell phones killed pagers. Inkjet and laser killed dot matrix printers. Dot matrix killed thermal printers. Email is killing fax machines. Windows killed MS-DOS. Internet boards killed telephone-based BBS systems. Broadband is killing dialup. Tape killed wire recorders. 5.25-inch floppy disks killed 8-inch floppy disks. 3.5-inch floppy disks killed 5.25-inch floppy disks. CDs, DVDs and hard drives killed tape and floppy disks. FM now dominates AM. I remember a time when most AM broadcasters thought FM was not "real" radio. Today, many radio people don't consider Internet radio to be "real" radio. Give it a few years.

 

[KB1OKL]

The future of HD radio?

http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=140877&pt=todaysnews

One reason for the European and Canadian DAB failure is the necessity of buying a totally new radio. Price had been a consideration untill three years ago, now it's more the fact that people have many other media choices and don't want to buy several new radios ie; clock, kitchen,car.

AS I see it, the future of digital broadcasting requires it be compatible with analog sets and thus permit a gradual transition.

No surprise that these nations are experimenting with some form of iboc.

Lino

Yeah IBOC is such a success here in the US.