HD Radio comes to 17 new markets

[700WLW]

I don't understand why so many people on this board hate HD radio technology and want it to fail. As with any technology, it has its pros and cons.

Internet radio is limited by the bandwidth crunch of the internet. Therefore, the broadcasters can not stream in a high bitrate such as 384 kbps. Especially if you live in an urban area, you can bet that the WiMax or bandwidth spectrum will be crowded and there will be stream delay.

Satellite radio has nationwide coverage, but neither companies are making a profit, subscriber churn is high, and consumer adoption has slowed significantly. I really hope satellite radio is successful but the future is not so bright for either company.

Ipods are nice, but you have to have some source to add new content to your library otherwise listening to the same content gets old quickly. Internet radio in the car will kill the need for an iPod because you can listen to content on demand, of any format, from anywhere!

What would make you guys accept HD radio???

What if, through R&D, HD radio was able to improve the reception issue and work out the AM interference??

What if Ibquity were to open source their technology so that community stations and smaller markets can adopt the technology faster and there were no royalties involved??

What if HD radio were to fail and disappear and every company were to give up completely? I know that would make most of you happy but as consumers, how will we benefit???

I personally have nothing to gain if HD radio were to succeed or fail, and my life will not be affected either way. Keep in mind that this is a business, not a religion!

Personally, I enjoy DXing the AM band, listening to out-of-state news/talk/sports, and now knowing of the adjacent-channel interference and poor coverage IBOC causes, especially on the AM band, I will never accept this destructive technology. HD Radio/IBOC offers no benefits to consumers, except more redundant channels of lousy terrestrial programming - that wasted $500,000,000, could have gone to improve programming, instead. The laws of physics, says that HD Radio/IBOC, will never work on the AM band. iNiquity will never open-source IBOC - this underhanded company has too much to gain (and lose).

 

[Mike Walker]

You say you enjoy listening to terrestrial radio, then say that HD brings only "more lousy terrestrial stations." Geez, do you even read your own stuff, 700? As they say around here, "your train o' thought done jumped da' track!"

 

[700WLW]

You say you enjoy listening to terrestrial radio, then say that HD brings only "more lousy terrestrial stations." Geez, do you even read your own stuff, 700? As they say around here, "your train o' thought done jumped da' track!"

Geeez George, most of the programming is junk, so that is why, I listen to out-of-state nighttime AM - at least, it is interesting to hear different perspectives on news/talk/sports (e.g., Scott Sloan WLW always talks about crime in Cincinnatti); I never, listen to local channels. Besides, it is just plain fun, to DX - as a matter of fact, for the first time, I picked up 830 WCCO Minneapolis, MN., for about 1/2 hour, from Maryland last night. BTW, after the Democratic response to Bush's speech last night, ABC News mentioned Google Trends, as they were tracking consumer interest, and stated that Google is by-far the most popular search engine - so much, for that argument (but, it really wasn't a valid one, anyway).

 

[Chuck]

Chuck wrote: "...Basic functions can be controlled from the radio or from the steering wheel. Further, there are separate controls in the back seat for rear passengers, which allow them to listen to something different through headphones....It is a remarkably complicated system...There are lots more complicated factory systems out there."

I think you'll find this automobile entertainment system that was announced last September quite interesting, thanks to Intel, StreetDeck and VW. Watch the YouTube video at the link below:

http://www.streetdeck.com/node/12

No HD radio to be found either.

I had a very interesting conversation with my local Chevy dealer this morning regarding car radios. He was aware of HD radio, and gave it a very low chance of ever being a factory installed standard in GM cars, unless there was a groundswell of public demand for the product. Why? Because, as he put it, "GM has too much money invested in XM."

He's a small town guy, and may not know all the facts, but I thought his opinion was pretty revealing. He has no axe to grind one way or the other. He just wants to sell cars.

By the way, he mentioned that if someone decided to change out the factory installed radio on a new car, it would very likely void the warranty on the car and its computer systems, unless it was done by an authorized GM dealer or service center. That leaves the only real option to put HD into a relatively new car to be some kind of add on converter like the ones XM and Sirius sell at Wal-Mart. So much for the aftermarket unless you have an older car or don’t care about your warranty.

 

[TheRover]

Re: Exciting HD News ! ! !

From the TWICE Website:

The number of digital terrestrial radio stations will grow, starting out the new year 2007 at about 1,100 and growing to almost 2,000 by the end of 2007, iBiquity executive Jeff Jury forecast. The number of FM station delivering more than one program simultaneously, or multicasting, will almost double from the current number of more than 500, to almost a 1,000 multicasting stations he said.

Alliance president Peter Ferrara told TWICE that HD Radio stations are broadcasting in 68 metro areas, and the number will grow to 85 in February and grow into the top 100 markets by May of 2007. The alliance’s previously announced boost in its promotional budget to $250 million in 2007 from last year’s $200 million will make it the largest advertiser on radio, he added.

Other HD News Articles

 

[Mike Walker]

GM has backed every new car audio technology, from AM Stereo to DAT! GM wants to sell cars! Car audio systems are very competitive, and there are already more HD stations than there were EVER AM stereo (and AM stereo is STILL available on some new vehicles!)

Your car dealer may be a nice guy, but I'd wager that he's hardly an expert. Of course they'll offer it!

 

[700WLW]

Re: Exciting HD News ! ! !

From the TWICE Website:

The number of digital terrestrial radio stations will grow, starting out the new year 2007 at about 1,100 and growing to almost 2,000 by the end of 2007, iBiquity executive Jeff Jury forecast. The number of FM station delivering more than one program simultaneously, or multicasting, will almost double from the current number of more than 500, to almost a 1,000 multicasting stations he said.

Alliance president Peter Ferrara told TWICE that HD Radio stations are broadcasting in 68 metro areas, and the number will grow to 85 in February and grow into the top 100 markets by May of 2007. The alliance’s previously announced boost in its promotional budget to $250 million in 2007 from last year’s $200 million will make it the largest advertiser on radio, he added.

Other HD News Articles

"Where's Waldo - FOLLOW UP"

"In addition, both last and this coming weekend we took the HD Radio messaging to the streets using 5 two-sided mobile billboards traveling the traffic filled streets of Detroit around Convention Center. At 2:30 each day the trucks caravanned in front of the center making a spectacular site!"

http://jacobsmedia.typepad.com/jacobs/2007/01/peter_ferrara_p.html

The blumbling, second-class citizen, open-bar slouches !