Declare Victory and Pull Out Of HD Radio

[wkbam1690]

Guest article on this site's main page:

Declare Victory and Pull Out Of HD Radio
By Jerry Del Colliano

 

[Radioman100]

I find it amazing that people like Jerry drone on endlessly about HD Radio.

The investment in the technology has already been made. The money is spent and you can't un-spend it. There is nothing to be gained by turning it off, and an investment of millions and millions of dollars to lose.

The only people that stand to gain anything from the industry walking away from HD Radio are naysayers like Del Colliano. He might see a modest boost in credibility if the industry suddenly abandons HD Radio, as he has spent an inordinate amount of time predicting its demise.

I do agree with a few points in his article though. HD is something that most managers in radio just don't want and know little about. I firmly believe HD could be marketed successfully if the industry was solidly behind it, but we're not. There are just too many narrow interests focused solely on today. Nobody is thinking about tomorrow, thus nobody is effectively marketing their HD2 channels.

Radio has proven its ability to sell time and time again, but the current HD Radio Alliance marketing campaign has no unique selling proposition. It doesn't give the listener any reason to buy an HD radio. If Jerry and the other naysayers wanted to be perceived as heroes, they might consider putting their experience to use developing an effective strategy for generating interest in HD.

Fortunately, there are some bright people at the Alliance and I think they've finally figured it out. I think things are about to change from a a marketing standpoint. In fact, I know they are. The generic HD Radio ads that promise "stations between the stations" will start promoting specific HD2 channels and their formats in January 2008. Real, specific benefits that listeners may just care about. Not nebulous "stations between the stations."

I'm curious to see how programmers will react to this. Most PDs and GMs could care less about their HD2 channels. Many, if not most view them as competition to their existing brands, yet they're about to start running spots promoting them instead of generic HD Radio ads. It should be interesting.

 

[jras20]

Funny at the end of it: say you won and move on! haha

I for one would just like to see the power be increased to the full stereo power..

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Funny at the end of it: say you won and move on! haha

I for one would just like to see the power be increased to the full stereo power..

If they ever attempt that - there WILL be a significant outcry from not only AM station owners, but FM owners as well - as any skip at all will jam their stations on adjacent frequencies in protected contours.

 

[jras20]

So I guess that leads me to believe that analog FM/AM will never go away?

 

[tcp/ip]

So I guess that leads me to believe that analog FM/AM will never go away?

I believe that the doomsayers that predict this, not only predict it will go away, they also want to kill it first!.
It amazes me the amount of vitrol.

Granted a large segment of the listening public knows little, if any at all. Good. More time for the broadcasters to "Get it right".

Meanwhile, radio enthusiasts that are excited over a new technology, are having a ball with it.

So the answer is NO. FM and AM are here to stay. I can still listen to all my favorite AM & FM stations, on any radio, with no problems.

Any money spent for the larger stations, to convert to HD, are doing so at relatively low cost in ratio. It would be harder for smaller broadcasters (And not justifiable given their lower income numbers right now), given the rather "remote" chance that the technology would crash and burn, their investment would be just a small loss per station.

I am enjoying what I hear on FM, and the AM is quite surprising good quality on the few stations offering it in my artea. It is a technology that holds much promise.

And lastly, we live in a fast world, we want things "overnight" in almost every sector. And that's a problem. It's about time some entitiy takes it's time "getting it right" and takes it time properly promoting it. Radio may be doing so now. As a listener, I wish it well.

 

[Mike Walker]

There's never actually bean a plan for analog AM and FM to go away. I'm sure analog TV wouldn't "go away" if it didn't free-up spectrum. Turning off analog AM and FM frees not a single channel for new use, so there's no reason to turn off analog AM and FM. And there's a GREAT reason not to...analog serves as a fallback for when errors in the bitstream are so great that clean digital reception isn't possible. This sudden interruption of service happnes with ALL digital transmission modes. Digital either works great...noise-free, pristine, or it doesn't work. Kind of "binary", huh?

I'll make a (non-radio) prediction. The public outcry when over-the-air analog tv is turned off will be DEAFENING! NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY knows this is coming! Those hit hardest by it will be people in rural areas, the elderly, the disabled, and the poor (those to whom cable isn't available, funds are limited, or both). And they're precisely the people who don't know it's comin'! I predict that not only will the public outcry be deafening, but it will serve to guarantee that analog radio NEVER goes away. At least not for a long, long time. I WILL GO AWAY BEFORE ANALOG RADIO DOES! Watch for my obituary, and when you see it, turn on your 1940s Trans-Oceanic, and see if there isn't still plenty to listen to!

 

[jras20]

I have a feeling come 2009 my TVs at south texas over the air will be useless. I have DirectTV though but I doupt I will get the channels I can get now with analog. I even baught the secound bigest winegard antenna about 23 feet up that said it is HD compatible but I may can only recieve one digital signal it looks like out there. I still havnt had the chance to look at the FM trap yet on it.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I have a feeling come 2009 my TVs at south texas over the air will be useless. I have DirectTV though but I doupt I will get the channels I can get now with analog. I even baught the secound bigest winegard antenna about 23 feet up that said it is HD compatible but I may can only recieve one digital signal it looks like out there. I still havnt had the chance to look at the FM trap yet on it.

Sorry to bust your bubble - but even with the trap out, a TV antenna might give you 3 to 4 dB at best on the FM band. There is no "HD compatible" - the same decades old techniques that made antennas good before work for HD, too. Still, it is an effective marketing ploy - and is true. But every TV antenna out there is "HD compatible".

For FM - invest in an APS-13 and get it up as high as you can. Use good transmission line, and ground it properly.

 

[Chuck]

I have a feeling come 2009 my TVs at south texas over the air will be useless. I have DirectTV though but I doupt I will get the channels I can get now with analog. I even baught the secound bigest winegard antenna about 23 feet up that said it is HD compatible but I may can only recieve one digital signal it looks like out there. I still havnt had the chance to look at the FM trap yet on it.

It may be that some of your local channels are not running at full digital power. A lot of stations plan to revert to their original analog channel designation when the transition occurs. That means the digital signal will be applied to their existing facilities at whatever power level they are currently authorized to use. If you get decent analog TV reception from them now, you will probably get their digital signal as well when they make the transition. You might ask the stations in question. The can probably tell you.

Where I live, East Texas, I'm currently receiving 19 digital TV channels (some of them multicast) off the air and should get a few more after the transition.

 

[dbdigital]

It seems the press is getting less and less kind about HD Radio. Interesting article on how and why HD Radio has failed to take off in the Rio Grande Valley.

"DEAD AIR: Radio's great leap forward stalling in the Valley"

http://www.themonitor.com/news/radio_7098___article.html/digital_new.html

One quote:

"However, “out of 300 customers, maybe one will ask about HD radio, but the rest don’t know about it,” said Pedro Diaz, manager of D-Tronics in McAllen. “Is it a hot item? No, it’s not.” "

db

 

[Mike Walker]

Out of 300 customers, I wonder how many asked about USB hard drives. Did they "fail to take off"?

I wonder how many people who bought new radios asked about "FM Stereo", or how many who bought new tvs asked about "ATSC multicasting". If one out of 300 SALES is for HD Radio, that's pretty freakin' good in a store with thousands of items! Other than radio geeks, and people who crave a specific missing format (classical/oldies) nobody's going to rush out and buy a new radio BECAUSE it's got HD. But they will see it as a value-added option on their NEXT radio (or stereo), especially if the value seems to actually BE added...not adding to the cost (as with the shelf-system from Best Buy...149 dollars, and it even plays dvds!, or the MANY new inexpensive after-market HD Radios).

Few "rushed out" and bought HDTVs, by the way. But when they bought their next tv, it had an ATSC tuner. That's EXACTLY what happened with FM stereo, too. It's the way it ALWAYS happens with new broadcast technology! Every single freakin' time!

 

[SUPERCASTER]

It seems the press is getting less and less kind about HD Radio. Interesting article on how and why HD Radio has failed to take off in the Rio Grande Valley.

"DEAD AIR: Radio's great leap forward stalling in the Valley"

http://www.themonitor.com/news/radio_7098___article.html/digital_new.html

One quote:

"However, “out of 300 customers, maybe one will ask about HD radio, but the rest don’t know about it,” said Pedro Diaz, manager of D-Tronics in McAllen. “Is it a hot item? No, it’s not.” "

db

Thanks for posting this reality check for HD promoters.

But while Ford announced in September that it offers the radios as dealer-installed upgrades — as have Mini, Volvo, Jaguar and BMW — local Ford and Lincoln dealers had not heard of HD and said they don’t offer the option.

 

[Radioman100]

Thanks for posting this reality check for HD promoters.

It's not much of a "reality check." For those that don't know the area, analog radio has always been a tough proposition there. The market is called McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen, and it's a sprawling series of relatively small border towns bookended by McAllen and Brownsville, the primary population centers.

 

[jras20]

I have a feeling come 2009 my TVs at south texas over the air will be useless. I have DirectTV though but I doupt I will get the channels I can get now with analog. I even baught the secound bigest winegard antenna about 23 feet up that said it is HD compatible but I may can only recieve one digital signal it looks like out there. I still havnt had the chance to look at the FM trap yet on it.

It may be that some of your local channels are not running at full digital power. A lot of stations plan to revert to their original analog channel designation when the transition occurs. That means the digital signal will be applied to their existing facilities at whatever power level they are currently authorized to use. If you get decent analog TV reception from them now, you will probably get their digital signal as well when they make the transition. You might ask the stations in question. The can probably tell you.

Where I live, East Texas, I'm currently receiving 19 digital TV channels (some of them multicast) off the air and should get a few more after the transition.

I dont know if San antonio DTV stations are at their full power? I am 84 miles from their analog sites, and it comes in pretty decent most of the time. I know my home place is 60 miles from San antonio and I can pull in their DTV signals great with just a pair of UHF rabbit ears. I may just need to get a strong UHF antenna? I would like to get a omni directional antenna out at my place in South Texas then I can hopefully get Houston, San antonio and Victoria.

 

[wkbam1690]

Thanks for posting this reality check for HD promoters.

It's not much of a "reality check." For those that don't know the area, analog radio has always been a tough proposition there. The market is called McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen, and it's a sprawling series of relatively small border towns bookended by McAllen and Brownsville, the primary population centers.

There's always an excuse...

 

[Chuck]

I would like to get a omni directional antenna out at my place in South Texas then I can hopefully get Houston, San antonio and Victoria.

My experience with omni-directional TV antennas has been less than wonderful. They work OK in strong signal areas, but do almost nothing for fringe areas. To get my 19 HDTV stations, I use 3 separate antennas, pointed at the desired location. They are combined together and feed my master antenna system. It was not easy to get it to work right.

You may be better off with one really good Yagi and a rotor. Yep, they still sell antenna rotors at places like Lowe’s, Home Depot, and probably Radio Shack.

 

[jras20]

Thanks for the info I may just see how well my winegard TV antenna will do, I havnt baught a DTV reciever yet for out there but I may sometime soon.