With recent discussions of current market voids, what voids do you believe may be best filled using HD 2 channels? Additionally, how do you believe may be the best marketing approach to promote consumer / listener accpetance of HD radio, making it viable and creating a demand for the medium? Remember, FM was, for the most part, widely unaccepted until the 1970s before FM popularity and demand skyrocketed in the 1980s. I believe currently WUFT-FM, WSKY, WNDD and WKTK are the only stations currently utilizing their HD 2 channels. If there are any I have miseed, please added them, along with HD format, to the list.
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Gainesville / Ocala Market HD Radio
- Thread starter jmtillery
- Start date
I think WNDD dropped theirs. I remember once hearing an Eagles song I hated on their regular frequencies and a different one I hated on HD.
I think HD is a pretty lame alternative to the dozens and dozens of music channels Sirius/XM offer. I think many music lovers aren't aware of how good Sirius/XM frequently is.
I think HD is a pretty lame alternative to the dozens and dozens of music channels Sirius/XM offer. I think many music lovers aren't aware of how good Sirius/XM frequently is.
radiobum said:
There is no doubt of the variety and vast options available from satellite radio; However, the one big advantage terrestrial radio can offer, including HD, is localism. This may change at some point as technolgy becomes more advanced and rules change where satellite radio will offer local content. However, for the time being, satellite radio is a national medium.
This may have been mentioned in a previous post, but what if WRUF-FM added two HD channels and return Rock 104 to HD 2 and WRUF-AM to HD 3? Additionally triple A was also suggested in another thread, so if AAA were to appear locally on an HD channel along with the WRUF possibilities, would you purchase an HD receiver to hear any of these stations? Why? or why not? Comments?
jmtillery said:
I think that putting Rock104 back on the air on HD-2 makes sense for UF because it can be the teaching platform that they lost when they dropped students from the station. Probably there are people that would buy an HD radio for that, too.
Something else that HD offers over satellite besides localism is cost. Free is a very good price. If all of the formats that you want are present on free radio, why would you need to pay a subscription? However, coverage of HD is very inferior to analog. For example, WKTK's HD signals are unusable when mobile in Gainesville because they drop out for a half-block at a time. If the signal can't be reliable to the 60dBu contour, it's never going to work out.
jmtillery said:
More power. Scotty, I need warp power now, OR WE"RE ALL DEAD!
The original rules allowed for 1% of a station's authorized power to be transmitted in the HD carriers. When the coverage limitations of the HD signal were realized, a proposal to increase to 10% power was floated, but after some discussion, the FCC agreed to an increase of only 4% (still that's 400% more than before). No one knows yet if the 6dB increase is enough to make HD fly in most locations. Since the signal is already useless well within the 70dBu contour, I'm betting that the increase might make the signal useful within the 70dBu, but it's a pipe dream hoping for solid 60dBu coverage. But the real fly in the ointment is that early adopters are finding it's a big deal to increase HD power. Basically, for many of them, it means scrapping most of their HD transmitting gear and buying new. Obvioulsy, that's not going to happen overnight when the medium is years away from profitability. Catch22. No listeners due to bad signal and no money to improve the signal due to poor listenership.
Right now--and for the foreseeable future--HD Radio is not competitive in the marketplace because nobody in the U.S. population gives a shit about it. You can have all the power in the world, but if no one has any interest in the entire medium/service, it's just throwing good money after bad. May as well take a match to it.
The last figures I saw--and research on HD Radio is hard to come by, because no one gives a shit--showed 1 (one) percent penetration of the population. This compares to 93 percent for old-fashioned terrestrial radio and 17 percent for online radio. And that's after 10 years of HD Radio "development"--including several years of advertising campaigns in major radio markets. Just too many other audio options... most of which (including good old AM & FM) sound perfectly good to most listeners.
The last figures I saw--and research on HD Radio is hard to come by, because no one gives a shit--showed 1 (one) percent penetration of the population. This compares to 93 percent for old-fashioned terrestrial radio and 17 percent for online radio. And that's after 10 years of HD Radio "development"--including several years of advertising campaigns in major radio markets. Just too many other audio options... most of which (including good old AM & FM) sound perfectly good to most listeners.
amfmxm said:
It may be too early in the game to make that assumption. HD has been in development for years, but only been rolled out for a short time in most markets and it has the advantage of being on local translators. Also, the HD capable radios are showing up in a lot of new cars as standard. I think within 5 years, it'll overtake satellite, but only if the technical issues are solved.
There is no talk about HD Radio in the commercial radio world. None. Zero. Nor is there any "street buzz" about it in the general population--while there is plenty of buzz about so many other audio options--mobile & online.
About the only place where there seems to be some interest is in the public radio sector among engineers looking for something fun to play with--and some grant money to do it with. Nobody in commercial radio sees any rationale to make the investment. It is money they'll never see again.
There has to be a need or a want to fill. And there just isn't any. This isn't like FM or iPod or satellite radio or web streaming. It is, instead, a technology that came along a little too late and offers nothing especially different or better. But most of all, it is a technology for which there is no demand.
So don't spend too much on this--in either time or money.
About the only place where there seems to be some interest is in the public radio sector among engineers looking for something fun to play with--and some grant money to do it with. Nobody in commercial radio sees any rationale to make the investment. It is money they'll never see again.
There has to be a need or a want to fill. And there just isn't any. This isn't like FM or iPod or satellite radio or web streaming. It is, instead, a technology that came along a little too late and offers nothing especially different or better. But most of all, it is a technology for which there is no demand.
So don't spend too much on this--in either time or money.
Nearly every GM/Engineer I've spoken to has said "If I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't have wasted my time/money on HD"
Why did the FCC limit HD power to 4% of it s analog signal? In the case of WKTK, the digital power would be 4,000 watts, well below authorized class A maximum power limits. Are there potential short-spacing or interference issues if the HD power is increased beyond 4%?
Regarding HD acceptance or non acceptance among the masses, the same reasons given against HD now are the same reasons given against analog FM in the 50s and 60s. At one time FM receivers were considered optional equipment in cars, and only then in upper end automobiles such as Cadillacs, Lincolns and Mercedes-Benz. Once FM receivers became standard equipment, FM listnership rose until FM became the dominant radio medium over AM listening. I believe we may find a similar situation with HD radio in the not so distant future.
Regarding HD acceptance or non acceptance among the masses, the same reasons given against HD now are the same reasons given against analog FM in the 50s and 60s. At one time FM receivers were considered optional equipment in cars, and only then in upper end automobiles such as Cadillacs, Lincolns and Mercedes-Benz. Once FM receivers became standard equipment, FM listnership rose until FM became the dominant radio medium over AM listening. I believe we may find a similar situation with HD radio in the not so distant future.
ThatGuyOnTheRadio said:
Those were the "same" GMs who lacked any real vision who also gave away FM in the early years, stating FM was worthless and would never amount to very much. Some station owners simply mailed their FM licenses back to the FCC while others sold their FMs, many class Cs, for pennies on the dollar. They simply saw no value in the FM license, and we all know how FM eventually turned out in later years. How do any of us know for sure there is no future for HD radio? The truth of the matter is we don't know what value HD radio may have in the future, but we do know that history has shown us that oftentimes the underdog proves to be the ultimate winner once we recognize and harness the potential and opportunities presented to us.
Gainesville / Ocala FM radio has a very real opportunity to be on the cutting edge in HD radio technology, programming and marketing initiatives.
V
vadar
Guest
Might this "cutting edge" technology land us a CHR in Ocala? ;D
vadar said:
With multiple signals, many opportunities are available including CHR. By way of example: If a market has ten commercial FM stations and each adds just one HD channel, the market now has 20 commercial FM signals; 30 if an HD 3 channel is added to each frequency.
The biggest handicap, as Kyle pointed out, is the restricted low power these digital channels are authorized to use. If we look back in history, in the beginning analog FM also operated at low power levels until the FCC changed its FM rules to allow FM to operate at higher power levels. Once the rules change allowing HD to operate at greater power levels in conjunction with programming that appeals to the marketplace, along with HD receiving capability made standard on all radio receivers, we'll see a renewed interest among the consumer and the advertisers.
jmtillery said:
Well, it may be only 4kW, but remember that it's at 299 meters in WKTK's case. The digital signal is technically on the adjacent channel and has to live within the FCC's defined power limits for spurious emissions, which worked out to be the original limit of 1%. Above that limit, it's possible to begin interfering with adjacent channels. They arrived at 4% after weighing the signal improvement against potential interference issues and arrived at a compromised that pleased nobody. Allegedly, tests have shown that the digital signal is more robust than the analog, so considerably less power is required, but I think 4% is probably not quite enough to make HD work on anything but the most powerful FM stations.
jmtillery said:
My first jock shift was in 1966--and first GM gig was in 1972--so I lived through that process as a broadcaster. But there were two huge differences: the lack of competing technologies and the lack of content alternatives.
In 1970 when the FCC intentionally gave FM exclusive rights to the huge competitive advantage of stereo, specifically in order to trigger FM development, there was no web/streaming radio... no satellite radio... no mobile/cell phone radio reception, and the sheer number of existing terrestrial AM/FM stations was a fraction (one-third) of what we have today. So FM stepped into an extremely uncompetitive environment... armed with an enormous technical advantage.
I live in a rural county more than 100 miles from the nearest Top 100 radio market, and in 1970 our radio options were the 3 local AM stations (1 Class IV fulltimer and two daytimers) and 4 FM stations--all tucked in closets, playing beautiful music, without commercials or human involvement.
Today, according to radio-locator.com, we have more than 25 local signals available... plus another 100+ on my Sirius/XM receiver... plus another few thousand (?) via the web. Our FM stations all stream and offer smartphone apps, too.
Night and day.
Like I said, don't invest too much in HD Radio...
G
Groove1670
Guest
Some company will have to take a chance and roll out the a big promotion for their HD channel. Case in point Y100 Miami rolled out the big cash to set the wheels in motion for FM radio. Give away big cash and big promotions on your HD2 channel. promote on analog stations and other stations in the cluster. Nah...will never happen. How bout the CQUAM setup collecting dust, remember AM stereo. :
musiconradio.com said:How bout the CQUAM setup collecting dust, remember AM stereo. :
YES, I very well remember CQUAM Stereo AM. The fidelity and sound quality was, in many ways, far more superior than FM stereo. The main problem with AM stereo is the FCC never made a decision on an AM stereo standard, so it was left in "limbo" until it faded away.
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