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HD Radio sales are about to spike in DFW

R

RadioGooRoo

Guest
In a storm last night, KTCK 1310 The Ticket lost 3 of its 4 towers. The station will be operating at greatly reduced power into the remaining tower via STA until repairs can be made.

This station is HUGE. Its listeners are very loyal and involved. One of the steps taken to help make the best of the situation is a KTCK simulcast on KPLX-HD2.

Get ready for a run on HD Radios in Dallas.
 
If historic sales levels of HD Radios are any guide, the "run on HD Radios" will consist of selling about a dozen.

To be quickly followed by a dozen "returns as defective."

In any case Radio GooRoo is kidding about the "run."

(Aren't you??)
 
RadioGooRoo said:
This station is HUGE. Its listeners are very loyal and involved. One of the steps taken to help make the best of the situation is a KTCK simulcast on KPLX-HD2.
Click to expand...

NOT this listener. Waste of a frequency. And why does sports format need HD radio anyway? Stereo high fidelity crowd cheering? Sounds like fodder for mono 3 kHz response to me.
 
Savage said:
If historic sales levels of HD Radios are any guide, the "run on HD Radios" will consist of selling about a dozen.

To be quickly followed by a dozen "returns as defective."

In any case Radio GooRoo is kidding about the "run."

(Aren't you??)
Click to expand...

HD Radio works just fine in Big D. Tall sticks, lots of power. It's hard to go wrong when your analog signal is a full C at close to 2,000 feet.

The Ticket is promoting the HD2 channel as a stop gap measure to get the station while the AM array is rebuilt. Their rabid P1s WILL buy radios to continue getting their programming.

The AM is taking a big power hit on the STA.
 
Well, I hear you, GooRoo, on hearing HD in DFW. I extend my sympathies to the folks at KTCK as they grapple with every engineering manager's nightmare - disastrous damage to a transmitter site. There's nothing worse than having to rebuild a station which has suffered catastrophic trauma while you try to keep your listener and advertiser constituencies on board.

It's kind of like climbing out onto the wing of an airplane in flight to repair a malfunctioning control surface. (Well, not really. But you get what I mean.) Had to rebuild an operating AM once after a fire. Not fun. Thankless.
 
DToTheJ said:
A spike in HD Radio sales in DFW?

Is that so?

That wasn't the popular opinion just months ago:
http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,88347.0.html
Click to expand...

Do you even bother reading posts before breaking out the rhetoric? Something has changed. That something is a wildly popular sports station has experienced a catastrophe that will effect their coverage and building penetration. The station is telling listeners to buy HD Radios to keep receiving their programming while their destroyed array is rebuilt and they're at low power. They've also flipped a suburban AM to a simulcast of the station and are more heavily promoting their suburban FM simulcast. What happened months or even years ago makes no difference. This is happening NOW.

I keep hearing people say HD Radio is failing because of the programming. Well, extremely popular programming has just landed on HD Radio and the former source of that popular programming is no longer listenable with any quality in many places the HD signal covers just fine.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. With The Ticket telling their P1s to go buy HD radios so they can keep hearing The Ticket, I suspect sales will spike.
 
Like the old McDonald's signs, I'm sure you'll keep us posted on how many "millions" of HD radios are now being sold (all because one reduced power AM on congested 1310 is promoting them)?! :D
 
Why would I run out to buy another radio when you say they've flipped a FM and rimshot to simulcast it?

And the original signal IS still on the air, yes?

A single signal is now on 3 frequencies, and ads suggest we should buy another radio?

Logic boggles. Please explain what the urgency would be.

Why don't they use this opportunity to mount a campaign to get the FCC off its --- and put teeth into existing pt 15 laws? ;)
 
I think it's a pretty good idea to use an "HD" subcarrier to continue programming. Of course they can't charge for it. But quite inventive none the less.

Too bad nobody will be able to hear it.
 
Savage said:
If historic sales levels of HD Radios are any guide, the "run on HD Radios" will consist of selling about a dozen.

To be quickly followed by a dozen "returns as defective."

In any case Radio GooRoo is kidding about the "run."

(Aren't you??)
Click to expand...
Hey, if you sold 1 before, and sales increase to 10, you just had a "run" on HD radios, and a sales spike of 1000%!

But on absolute scales, almost nobody is going to buy crappy HD Radios to hear the signal. Poor building penetration? Go here, this is what they should be advertising: http://www.theticket.com/listen.htm
 
RadioGooRoo said:
This station is HUGE. Its listeners are very loyal and involved. One of the steps taken to help make the best of the situation is a KTCK simulcast on KPLX-HD2.

Get ready for a run on HD Radios in Dallas.
Click to expand...


Got any idea why this station is huge?

It is because of their programming! This station is living proof that you can be successful with AM radio. It is no flash in the pan either. They have done well for years, way before HD.

I think the "run" on HD radios will be a couple of hundred at most. A lot of people listen to this station in their car, and unless you are dedicated enough to rip out your factory radio - a daunting and warranty shattering task on a new car - then you will suffer through with a less than wonderful AM Signal.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it….
 
Radio GooRoo, Do you actually think people will rush out and buy a 200-300 dollar radio when the same programming is available in three other places?? I'm sure they'll sell out so quickly people won't even be able to find them ::)
 
KB1OKL said:
Radio GooRoo, Do you actually think people will rush out and buy a 200-300 dollar radio when the same programming is available in three other places?? I'm sure they'll sell out so quickly people won't even be able to find them ::)
Click to expand...

Geez. Bitter, bitter guys. Your malice toward HD must cloud your vision. I plainly stated what the problem is and what the station is doing as part of the solution.

Three different places? Nope. The FM simulcast is a rimshot - a bad one - that couldn't work as a standalone at all. It simply fills a null in the usual KTCK pattern. The other AM is so far out it's almost irrelevent and serves the same purpose as the FM rimshot.

In the metro, the KTCK signal is limping along, suffering at low power from the one tower that didn't fall the other night in their directional array.

The only signal they have in the core of the metro now is a shaky AM with no building penetration and the HD2. I suspect The Ticket will sell HD Radios because believe it or not, there aren't computers with speakers and internet connections in every nook and cranny of every workplace. You don't see too many of them outside cube farms. Think mechanics have PCs set up to stream out in garages? Think again. Think they have PCs set up for internet radio in warehouses? Think again.

The AM won't penetrate these buildings now, but that HD2 will. With that signal and a $99 HD Radio, you get your Ticket programming back.
 
RadioGooRoo said:
In a storm last night, KTCK 1310 The Ticket lost 3 of its 4 towers. The station will be operating at greatly reduced power into the remaining tower via STA until repairs can be made.

This station is HUGE. Its listeners are very loyal and involved. One of the steps taken to help make the best of the situation is a KTCK simulcast on KPLX-HD2.

Get ready for a run on HD Radios in Dallas.
Click to expand...

KTCK-AM 1310 was tie for 11th place in the last Arbitron, before, sadly loosing their towers. While that is a respectable showing for KTCK-AM, I would not call it HUGE.
http://www.radio-info.com/content/arbitron.php?market=005
 
RadioGooRoo said:
KB1OKL said:
Radio GooRoo, Do you actually think people will rush out and buy a 200-300 dollar radio when the same programming is available in three other places?? I'm sure they'll sell out so quickly people won't even be able to find them ::)
Click to expand...

Geez. Bitter, bitter guys. Your malice toward HD must cloud your vision. I plainly stated what the problem is and what the station is doing as part of the solution.

Three different places? Nope. The FM simulcast is a rimshot - a bad one - that couldn't work as a standalone at all. It simply fills a null in the usual KTCK pattern. The other AM is so far out it's almost irrelevent and serves the same purpose as the FM rimshot.

In the metro, the KTCK signal is limping along, suffering at low power from the one tower that didn't fall the other night in their directional array.

The only signal they have in the core of the metro now is a shaky AM with no building penetration and the HD2. I suspect The Ticket will sell HD Radios because believe it or not, there aren't computers with speakers and internet connections in every nook and cranny of every workplace. You don't see too many of them outside cube farms. Think mechanics have PCs set up to stream out in garages? Think again. Think they have PCs set up for internet radio in warehouses? Think again.

The AM won't penetrate these buildings now, but that HD2 will. With that signal and a $99 HD Radio, you get your Ticket programming back.
Click to expand...

HD radio signals have notoriously poor building penetration and usually require high gain outside antennas. Perhaps those dedicated and impatient enough (I assume KTCK-AM intends to rebuild the lost towers) to put up high gain outside antennas will see that a new HD radio may not be necessary or practical as many can use their current FM radios to temporarily pick up the signal from 104.1 FM with their new antennas and existing FM radios. The internet stream and WiFi/WiMax wireless may do just fine for some.

Today few businesses or homes are without a computer, and internet connection. Yes, there are even computers in many warehouses (shipping, communications, and inventory) and garages (parts ordering, billing, banking, accounting, credit card/check approval, etc.).

Windows Media player comes with all Windows computers, and Apple Quicktime/iTunes with Macs. Both can pick up audio from the internet just fine. Most modern computers can multitask. I'm listening to a internet stream from an LPFM station 3,000 miles away while I'm typing this, and without spending an additional cent.

I'm not bitter or malicious, just realistic. Please check your vision.
 
Hey, GooRoo et al, unless I'm missing something here there's a far more practical solution to The Ticket's problem. Harris and possibly BE have disaster "crash trucks" containing frequency-agile transmitters and coupling gear to help stations who have suffered transmitter-site disasters such as KTCK.

In some cases these portable facilities have been dispatched to stations who have lost their ENTIRE antenna systems, loading 1kw or so into a temporary longwire stretched between telephone poles. It's amazing how well some of them get out.

Since KTCK still has its one stick, cut properly to its operating frequency, why not get the Harris emergency van scrambled down there, load the loaner transmitter up into the existing tower and operate pursuant to an STA? Special Temporary Authority filing fee is a few hundred bucks and is routinely granted under these circumstances and the station can operate up to ten days at variance from licensed parameters with NO supplemental authority whatsoever under 73.1560(d).

In this way the station's listeners can find them on their customary dial position with no DXing (horrors!) necessary.
 
Savage said:
Since KTCK still has its one stick, cut properly to its operating frequency, why not get the Harris emergency van scrambled down there, load the loaner transmitter up into the existing tower and operate pursuant to an STA? Special Temporary Authority filing fee is a few hundred bucks and is routinely granted under these circumstances and the station can operate up to ten days at variance from licensed parameters with NO supplemental authority whatsoever under 73.1560(d).
Click to expand...

It looks like they've done that; an STA was filed for on April 11. KTCK has requested 2.25 kW day and 1.25 at night, but it's not clear whether this entire reduction is dictated by a need to protect other stations, or if its a limitation of components in the ATU feeding the remaining tower. Here's the engineering statement:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=633685

Ground conductivity in the DFW area is relatively high, so I would expect 2.25 kW to do a fairly good job from that location.
 
RadioGooRoo said:
Geez. Bitter, bitter guys. Your malice toward HD must cloud your vision. I plainly stated what the problem is and what the station is doing as part of the solution.
Click to expand...

Well actually (and I will only speak for myself) I tend to think that my view is a little more realistic seeing as how HD radios are practically non existent everywhere (except for NY City of course ::). I fail to see where you HD cheerleaders get all the zeal from since it is obviously the biggest lead balloon going so far this century and everyone knows it, except of course for the vast majority of people who have never even heard of it or if they have don't give a hoot. Even the 8 track player had a much better run than this. I still personally don't know a single person who owns one, has heard of it, or has even has mentioned it. I have never seen one or even an advertisement in any hifi, dept. or electronics store I have gone to. If they think IBOC radio is a solution to their problems, tell them I gave a bridge they can buy...cheap.
 
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