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HD FM Power Levels

M

mike847

Disclaimer: I am not an engineer....

Later on in this forum there is a question about the ability to increase power levels of FM HD signals.

For some reason I thought HD signals were limited to a fraction of the station's ERP.

Therefore, I am always thinking of watts and not dB.

Before I get too excited at the prospect of leasing an HD channel ... does an FM HD channel have a smaller "footprint" than the primary signal?

Also, if you know of any HD leases, is the programming for the brought into the station by fiber optic, or by a computer located at the station?

Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge.
 
You are correct, stations were given the option to increase their FM-HD carrier power by 6db, or roughly 4X the original authorized power: http://hdradio.com/broadcasters/engineering-support/power-increase

Not all stations have chosen to upgrade their HD output however. In many cases doing so represents a significant capital outlay in completely new transmission gear including transmitters, antennas, combining gear, etc. Some originators of FM-HD may not feel the extra coverage is worth the investment, because even the original -10dB HD carrier matches the 'city grade' contour of the station already.

Regarding leasing an HD- secondary channel from a station, keep in mind that when a station leases one of their ancillary streams, the FCC, taxes a percentage of the revenue a station makes. Depending on the anticipated revenue associated with the stream, the margins and effort for leasing a stream, may or may not be worth the trouble from a stations perspective. Recently Disney has been migrating its Radio Disney programming to HD-ansillary channels in major markets, selling off their stable of AM stations. Of course, this is Disney we're talking about. Disney delivers their programming to HD-affilliated stations carrying Radio Disney, via satellite.
 
The FCC does not have the authority to levy or collect taxes. That is the authority and responsibility of the IRS.
 
Okay so maybe tax was the wrong term. How about user fee? It's been a while and I can't recall what the FCC called it.
 
Just curious Mike.. What (in general terms) are you proposing to lease station' HD channels for? Some specialized audio programming?
 
Okay.. Ethnic programming or an English language format of some sort?

I'm not a programming guy, there are a couple folks on this forum that are much more experts on that side, but I have been around the block including ownership and on the corporate side of broadcasting. Continuing to speak in general terms; if your proposed programming in any way might compete for listeners of the primary station or one of their other stations within the market, I doubt the group/station would be interested. If what you're proposing to do is some kind of foreign language programming that doesn't involve popular music choices, you may find an audience, but history has shown that's a tough business model.

One of the stations I used to work for did Russian language programming through a leased SCA channel agreement. In spite of their good intentions, there just wasn't enough subscribers or interest in specific language programming like that. They eventually ran out of money and stopped paying rent. Even though we were clear about the coverage and audio quality limitations of an SCA, the tenant still complained that the signal just didn't go as far as they would have hoped. It was an ongoing battle to manage expectations.
 
Hi Kelly,

I'll try to be brief and not too boring. Yes, it is a music format. MOR/Adult Standards. I spent a lot of my young life loving the music and preparing for a career in radio. The career in radio was short lived (a different long story, but it had a purpose), and I just listened to my music collection on my own.

Fast forward to 2005, where choices of good Adult Standards formats were hard to find, so I became a Small Webcaster. For most of ten years I had quite a few listeners to my music stream. I never advertised widely, just listed the "station" on various Webcaster sites.

I had daily listeners, 24/7 weekend listeners, and the most recent version there was one listener who logged in for five to seven days at a time, 24 hours per day.

Yes, this will not translate to a main channel radio station, but that's what makes it suitable for an HD channel. (As you may know the Small Webcaster provision of the recent CRB decision wiped out the Small Broadcasters. Much like the dinosaurs were wiped out so many years ago ... according to the giant tidal wave theory.)

My library replicates the MOR stations of the sixties. There are songs and artists that don't get played on Beautiful Music stations or even the satellite delivered formats. (I am not able to hear any local stations across the country that might play this format.)

The "lost" songs are not novelties, but legitimate songs that some programmer deems as unworthy, unavailable, unknown, and unlikely to be heard again.

The chance for Small Broadcasters getting a chance to play their music again online has a slight chance of happening, but only if we get Congress to intervene. Therefore, I am trying to find a way to serve potential listeners via HD Radio and/or translators.

Wow. This was longer than I promised. It's a good thing I left out so many points I wanted to make. ;-)

Thanks for the response.
 
Thanks for the details Mike. I assume your revenue model involves advertising? If so, then I'm sure you've seen some of the discussions with experts on this site related to the challenges you may face finding viable advertisers and ad agencies when it involves targeting 50+ demographics. Please understand that I'm in no way trying to throw water on your idea, it's just something to consider when working up your business model and negotiating with station management for leasing an ancillary FM "HD" channel. Better to know the challenges going in.
 
Kelly A,

Thanks. I think I've backed away from my idea. The confirmation that an HD signal doesn't necessarily reach as far as the main signal was the deluge that washed the idea away. There were no survivors.

Yes, I knew advertising would have to figure into the equation, and I was working on ideas for that. Unfortunately, I am still operating under mid-20th century ideals. I am better suited for a program/music director role. I would have to find people that would handle the business, sales, and technical side of things. I had figured expenses for those roles into the plan.

Unfortunately, I have this little problem of people taking advantage of my kindness. Also, until someone gets to know me they believe I couldn't possibly have any intelligent ideas. It's problems like these I have yet to find answers for. The answers are probably in a different forum and not here.

Anyway, I still have a couple of ideas.

Thanks for the help, and thanks to the other people who answered my question. I very much appreciate the sharing of your expertise.

We can close this thread now. ;-)
 
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