Dan Mason's New View on HD

[TheBigA]

I've read a lot of comments here about CBS Radio CEO Dan Mason and his statements about HD Radio. On Tuesday, Dan spoke at the RAIN Summit in Chicago, a pre-NAB new media conference. Here's what he said, as reported by the RAIN website:

On the subject of HD Radio, CBS Radio's Mason said that he had intially been enthusiastic about the oppotunity for improved FM sound quality -- then had moved on a stage of being enthused about multichannel opportunities -- but has "graduated" from that stage and now believes the key opportunity is to offer visuals in the car dashboard to accompany audio content -- i.e., a photo accompanying a new story.

I think others here have suggested there are many other uses for the technology besides the standard audio channel. Clearly we all agree the use of HD for multichannel radio has been a failure. As I've said many times, there is nothing a radio station can offer on these channels that will cause consumers to buy the radios.

Not being an engineer, I don't know the practicality of what Mason is talking about. But it seems like a logical idea. The interesting thing is that a big radio head is looking to other uses for HD Radio. I don't know how many others agree with him.

 

[Chuck]

You could use VuCast, AKA FMeXtra, to do the same thing. it is cheaper, easier to install and doesn't interfere with anyone.

 

[nd2023]

Dan Mason would dream of HD Radio being the leading cause of car accidents in the US.

There is something a radio station can offer on the subchannels to cause HD radio sales. A true dance format available on HD2 in the New York area (not Pride Radio) will make me and lots of other people buy an HD radio to hear it. I would rip out my perfectly good analog radio and replace it with an HD radio just for it. The only time I listened to HD radio in my car was last week driving from NJ to NC, I connected my Insignia portable HD radio to my car radio with a cassette adapter just to hear WPGC-HD2 as I was driving by Washington DC.

What I'd like to see is an HD radio receiver that can play music videos of the songs and even the commercials played on the radio station. That might sell a few of the portable HD radios (or it would get the HD chip installed in smartphones). That would take up too much bandwidth, it would look like crap even if the entire bandwidth is used for the video (no HD2s or HD3s). And it would be jerky every time it drops out. A nice idea in theory but impossible in practice.

Don't even think about it for AM. Dan Mason should just realize how much CBS' own AM stations are interfering with each other at night.

 

[TheBigA]

Dan Mason would dream of HD Radio being the leading cause of car accidents in the US.

Oh come on, now.

There is something a radio station can offer on the subchannels to cause HD radio sales. A true dance format available on HD2 in the New York area (not Pride Radio) will make me and lots of other people buy an HD radio to hear it.

You realize the CBS station in Washington DC just did exactly that. We'll track HD radio sales and see how many people are motivated like you.

 

[Tom Wells]

What a silly way to use radio.
How many times must this man prove his basic misunderstanding of bandwidth?

I for one, do not want visual data of any kind from my radio derived from decoded bits.
That's what the computer is for. It's also 'way late to be buy space on dashboard.

I wonder if Mr Mason got to personally witness the wide sparky-sounding spectral regrowth from
670 WSCR's back-in-service HD.

WBBM doesn't have this problem, and just because it's less noticable on the host signal than before
does NOT mean it is gone. It's jsut as bad as ever, and while it's not hurting 720 any, it's really bad for
690 and 700, also 640 and 650.

Dear CBS, iboc permits you to have products that (on the receiving end) impact 5 channels.
Being on 7 at one is really going a bit far.

It's not even a constant noise. It is the same as the old fashioned splatter from excess negative modulation
caused by poorly controlled modualtion. This never was allowed except for brief occasional occurrances in
peak modulation, not almost continuous syllablic pulses.

The AM iboc spec insists on not exceeding -94% modulation. I suspect this is being exceed.

WTMJ 620 has returned also with iboc and there is no spectral regrowth sparking evident on them.

Sure wish you could make your 670 behave professionally.

 

[mmnassour]

Visuals in a car dashboard is simply a bad, bad, idea for any number of reasons, safety being first among them. Indeed, in certain states in-dash TV sets may not be operating when the car is in motion. Indeed any screen would fall under these provisions. I believe the following, for example, is law in Arizona:

28-963. Television prohibition

A person shall not drive a motor vehicle equipped with a television viewer or screen or any other means of visually receiving a television broadcast that is either:
1. Located in the motor vehicle at any point forward of the back of the driver's seat.
2. Visible, directly or indirectly, to the driver while operating the motor vehicle.



Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/phoe...-dvd-player-law-licensed-2.html#ixzz1Y7RzdFf4

 

[SirRoxalot]

We already have visuals in many modern auto entertainment systems. I don't think that Dan Mason was talking about music videos, but limited visual information could be attractive, and useful. At least put radio on par with the artist and title information that satellite delivers. Some other features, like, pause, fast forward, and rewind would really change the playing field. Of course, you can't fast forward if you haven't paused or hit rewind...

 

[nd2023]

Visuals in a car dashboard is simply a bad, bad, idea for any number of reasons, safety being first among them. Indeed, in certain states in-dash TV sets may not be operating when the car is in motion. Indeed any screen would fall under these provisions. I believe the following, for example, is law in Arizona:

28-963. Television prohibition

A person shall not drive a motor vehicle equipped with a television viewer or screen or any other means of visually receiving a television broadcast that is either:
1. Located in the motor vehicle at any point forward of the back of the driver's seat.
2. Visible, directly or indirectly, to the driver while operating the motor vehicle.



Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/phoe...-dvd-player-law-licensed-2.html#ixzz1Y7RzdFf4

So that means a passenger watching an iPad in the passenger seat is breaking the law. Back when that law was created, screens weren't portable.

 

[Carmine5]

What I'd like to see is an HD radio receiver that can play music videos of the songs and even the commercials played on the radio station. That might sell a few of the portable HD radios (or it would get the HD chip installed in smartphones).

As I understand it, only 13 kbps (so far) has been allocated for HD Radio data services like Album Art, Navteq and so on. So you can pretty much forget full motion video. But I can see stations running display ads along with station logos and, of course, album covers using this technology. In fact, a station could run display ads while songs are playing. Non-stop advertising.

 

[TheBigA]

The radio that we know needs a make-over. People have stopped buying them. HD Radio for multiple audio channels isn't working. So using the technology for some kind of visual element is worth exploring. One of the key selling points for internet radio stations is the visual information that is transmitted along with the audio. I know from my own work with the internet that stories with pictures get more clicks than just text stories. Is it enough to get people to actually buy a new radio? Can it help move radio into the 21st century? It depends on how it's marketed. Radio companies aren't involved in hardware sales or marketing. We all remember the XM campaign with Elton John and others with their Stiletto radios. That was the last time people got excited about radio. It's iBiquity's job to get electronics manufacturers interested in using their technology. It can't do any worse than it's doing now. We'll see if Mason's comments inspire the folks at iBiquity to put something together.

 

[mmnassour]

So that means a passenger watching an iPad in the passenger seat is breaking the law. Back when that law was created, screens weren't portable.

Agreed. When that law was passed, there was no concept of mobile video other than an in-dash DVD player. I'm afraid legislatures move as slowly as technology moves quickly. ;D

 

[nd2023]

I don't think an in-dash DVD player is even that much of a feature worth paying extra for. The parents can just give their iPad to the kids in the backseat to watch a movie. That law is obsolete.

 

[Savage]

Okay, let me understand this. Our industry geniuses have concluded that (a) the wonderful new digital quality of HD Radio isn't all that wonderfully better than analog after all, (b) that channels-between-the-channels is apparently underwhelming, and (tympani roll) NOWWW...our latest rationale to get consumers to plunk down $50 to $100 for a new radio ISSSSS....

(Cymbal clash)

A little dashboard display of a station logo, a CD cover or some low-tech TV ads?? ???

 

[TheBigA]

Okay, let me understand this. Our industry geniuses have concluded that (a) the wonderful new digital quality of HD Radio isn't all that wonderfully better than analog after all, (b) that channels-between-the-channels is apparently underwhelming, and (tympani roll) NOWWW...our latest rationale to get consumers to plunk down $50 to $100 for a new radio ISSSSS....

Keep in mind that the radio industry isn't in the manufacturing business. So truthfully, they don't care if people buy new radios or not. But no one will hear their content (and consequently, the advertising) unless people buy the radios.

If you read the quote from Mason, he feels the digtal quality IS better. But he recognizes the consumers obviously don't care about quality. They're happy with FM. And more channels aren't enough of a motivation. Consumers can get more channels without buying a new radio. And radio stations have other useful content besides audio they'd like to get out.

Of course, Mason is talking about FM. He's already figuring out how to improve the sound quality on AM: Move your content to FM. He's begun doing that in Chicago and Philadelphia.

Bottom line is it doesn't matter what Mason thinks.And so far, only Mason is talking...no idea what anyone else thinks. First, iBiquity has to agree that it's another way to use their patented system. And they have to convince manufacturers that it's a device worth building. Personally,I don't see either of those things happening.

 

[mmnassour]

+1.

Why are they continuing to think up products that no one wants (any may indeed even be illegal) ... instead of making what we already have more attractive?

sigh..............

 

[TheBigA]

Why are they continuing to think up products that no one wants (any may indeed even be illegal) ... instead of making what we already have more attractive?

What do you mean by making what we have "more attractive?" I'd suggest if you listen to Dan Mason's radio stations, he's already doing far more than most do make his radio stations "more attractive," whatever that is. He invests lots of money in staff, in expensive formats like all news, and in new media. And that doesn't change the perception you apparently have about radio. That's why some people feel radio needs something new, some kind of device improvement that will make a 100 year old technology more contemporary. The phone is older than the radio, yet it's perceived to be more modern. That's because the device itself has changed. Not the content.

As for being "illegal," you can take that up with the FCC. If you feel they approved something that's illegal, you should do what most people do, and that's take them to court. Until a court says it's illegal, it's legal, regardless of personal opinions.

 

[MarioMania]

If no one buying HD Radio's, it would be dead..FCC would have pulled the plug..

But HD is still here in 2011, So people are buying it..If HD is on Low Demand..why is it still here??

 

[Savage]

No, I think mario's "illegal" reference was to traffic and safety-code regulations prohibiting video devices in the front seat, not the FCC. For example: as I understand New York's vehicle code, any device displaying live-motion video is illegal in the front seat - DVD players, streaming video devices, etc. So presumably album art would be okay, but slow-scan TV-type commercials would not be. Video displays via HD would have to be strictly limited to comply with the regs, which would also limit practicality and appeal even if you swallow the dubious proposition that the thing would work reliably (given HD's track record thus far.)

Bear in mind that any "hand-held" electronic device can get you a ticket in New York. If you pick up your cellphone to read a text displayed on your homepage shortcut or even to just check the time, you can get nailed - you don't have to be talking or texting. The gendarmes insist that electronic devices be literally "hands-free." The state is assiduous on distracted driving.

 

[TheBigA]

Personally, I don't think the legality aspect is the biggest hurdle, at least in terms of dashboards. Car manufacturers haven't installed HD Radios as standard equipment. What makes anyone think they'll install this product?

 

[DaveBayArea]

If no one buying HD Radio's, it would be dead..FCC would have pulled the plug..

But HD is still here in 2011, So people are buying it..If HD is on Low Demand..why is it still here??

I think it has more to do with the fact that the FCC makes decisions based on politics, not science and engineering. You have to look no further than the subject of this thread to see that people like Dan Mason have far more pull with the FCC than those who will look at HD radio and see that it clearly violates part 73.317.

Dave B.