FCC authorizes nighttime IBOC for AM, multicasting for FM

[webcastboy]

What? Nobody screaming about how awful it is that IBOC's been approved for nighttime use by the FCC today? ;D

Also, FM multicasting is no longer an experimental service...so watch for stations to start running ads on HD2 and also leasing HD2 channels to other folks (most notably, watch for AM's to start being simulcasted on HD-2...especially daytimers like WILD and also (eventually) WRKO/WEEI for the Red Sox (on WMKK and/or WKAF))


Anyone know if/when we'll see WILD turn IBOC back on? Or when WMKI, WBZ and WXKS will go 24/7 with IBOC?

 

[raccoonradio]

there goes DX-ing...picking up some distant ballgames etc...thanks to the not-so-heavenly-hash on
stations that will run in-band-OFF-channel, as Bob B. called it on Let's Talk About Radio...

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

FM multicasting is no longer an experimental service...so watch for stations to start running ads on HD2

There is an informal agreement among the major broadcasting groups which are running secondary channels on FM-HD that there will be no commercials on the secondaries for two years...and with effectively no HD radios in the hands of consumers, there is no basis for selling commercials on streams no one is listening to. With over 800 million analog radios already in the hands of consumers, the day when there are enough HD radios to justify selling commercials on the secondaries (if it ever reaches that point) is years away, if not decades away.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

watch for AM's to start being simulcasted on HD-2...WRKO/WEEI for the Red Sox (on WMKK and/or WKAF))

Why would they do that? WRKO and WEEI are 50,000-watt full-time signals. Simulcasting them on HD secondaries is a waste of perfectly good signals that can be (and already are being) used for other formats, and brings them no benefits whatsoever since FM audio quality is irrelevant to talk formats and play-by-play sports.

 

[webcastboy]

Why would they do that? WRKO and WEEI are 50,000-watt full-time signals. Simulcasting them on HD secondaries is a waste of perfectly good signals that can be (and already are being) used for other formats, and brings them no benefits whatsoever since FM audio quality is irrelevant to talk formats and play-by-play sports.

If that's true, why are the NFL, NBA and MLB all pushing to get their games on FM signals across the country?

There's also another very good reason to do it: to drive listeners to purchase HD Radios. Entercom, like many commercial outlets, has invested some substantial $$$ nationwide on HD Radio; the only way they're ever going to get ROI on that, is for listeners to go out and buy radios. Plus I would suspect that their existing HD2 signal on WMKK (there isn't one on WKAF yet) is bringing in about zero dollars. If anything, it costs a small amount to program it. I don't know what would happen with paying for rights to broadcast Sox games (that could be a substantial X factor here) but if it doesn't cost anything extra, than simulcasting WRKO/Sox is a cheap and easy way to drive at least some listeners to purchase HD Radios; more than with any other format that'd go on there.

There is an informal agreement among the major broadcasting groups which are running secondary channels on FM-HD that there will be no commercials on the secondaries for two years

Meh. This was marketing spin on the FCC reality that they couldn't run commercials and therefore had absolutely NO way to monetize it. The HD Alliance is voluntary, so I don't think it'll be long before stations start abandoning it. Now they've got a reason to really program their HD2 channels like real stations because at least there's a chance they can start making some money off it. Granted, only the really forward-thinking stations will do that. But some will.