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"HD Radio Shouldn't Be This Hard"
- Thread starter Carmine5
- Start date
BREAKING NEWS! Broadcaster Discovers New Method To Make Money Operating AM Stations!
1. Put on good, interesting programming
2. Then people will listen
3. Sell advertising for cash
Happens every day. I know, I know.....kind of mind-boggling....but it's true!
We do it all the time! And, despite all the help from Washington and Albany, we're having yet another record year - fifth one in a row.... :
"People complaining that something can't be done, are constantly being interrupted by those actually doing it." (Can't remember who it was that said this, but he was famous or something)
1. Put on good, interesting programming
2. Then people will listen
3. Sell advertising for cash
Happens every day. I know, I know.....kind of mind-boggling....but it's true!
We do it all the time! And, despite all the help from Washington and Albany, we're having yet another record year - fifth one in a row.... :
"People complaining that something can't be done, are constantly being interrupted by those actually doing it." (Can't remember who it was that said this, but he was famous or something)
The fact remains that even though AM is very mature and unlikely to significantly change, it does what it does very well. Well-programmed stations on signals with market-wide 24 hour coverage are ratings and revenue successes all over the country. HD radio is a handicap to these stations, but FM translators, quality websites, and streaming add to these stations' success. As most of them program a spoken word format, they don't even have to deal with the RIAA royalty nonsense. If I could only trade my FM for one of two AMs fifty miles down the road from me; I would be able to buy back my FM with the first month's revenue from the AM!
Savage said:
I said it in my last post but I'll say it again. Bandwidth caps are a way of life now for mobile operators and they are only going to get tighter as time goes on. Streaming your favorite content in the car or on the bus is not going to be a practical solution for a lot of people.
Yes there are already a ton of choices on AM/FM with regular analog radios. And most of those are available online, making the transition to mobile listening seamless from the office or home computer. But there are seemingly tens of thousands of other feeds that people are latching on to that are NOT currently available via terrestrial broadcasts, but they can be shoehorned in on HD subchannels.
Not everyone can afford the exorbitant costs needed to realize the benefit of "internet anywhere".
Going by what's available to me, let's do the numbers:
Broadband internet access at home: $30/month
Broadband wireless internet access by cellphone: $90/month* plus phone costs, plus 2 year commitment.
-or-
Broadband internet access by USB stick: $60/month* plus USB modem costs, plus 2 year commitment, plus laptop in the car.
That's $90-120 per month just for the privilege of being able to listen to streaming radio anywhere, which is a lot more than a one time purchase of an HD radio, and more or less the expenditure for a basic satellite radio setup plus a home dock. And you wouldn't be able to listen to very much streaming audio if you're a typical smartphone user.**
Alternately, we can figure in satellite radio, with a more basic cell phone plan:
Satellite radio: $10-20/month
Wireless internet access, without a smartphone needed for many streaming apps: $30/month*** with no commitment
Factoring in home broadband again, which everyone needs, that's $70-90/month. Cheaper than internet and no bandwidth caps.
If you're lucky to have a favorite format that's streamed online and over the air via HD radio, then you shave off the cost of satellite radio and come in even cheaper, while still maintaining the necessary home broadband and wireless internet on a standard feature phone.
And unlike cell 3G phone coverage, which may be unreliable even in dense urban areas, the HD signal is generally pretty decent in most urban markets, from most decent powered stations.
Do you see now where HD CAN fit, even thought it does not do this now? It has its potential place, if only radio corporations would wake up and smell the synergy.
* - cost for Verizon Wireless' least expensive Individual Plan, plus minimum data plan for smartphones. Includes 450 minutes, unlimited text and 5 GB EV-DO data. Phone costs are around $200.
** - I plugged in the data useage I have now with a standard old feature phone, then added 10 minutes a day of streaming VIDEO and 15 minutes a day of streaming AUDIO. It surpasses the Verizon data cap by .09 GB. So you can listen to a ton of streaming audio for $90/month, but only if you forgo videos, games and the mobile internet experience.
*** - cost for Page Plus prepaid cellular's 1200 plan, which includes 1200 minutes, 1200 texts and 50 MB of EV-DO data for basic feature phones. (They run on the Verizon network.) Phone costs are around $50.
Obviously, BigA, if you think owning and operating a horse is cheaper than owning and operating a car, you've never owned a horse. Even when gas is more than $4 a gallon.
Judging from Tom Ray's RW article, however, it appears installing an HD Radio in your quarterhorse is easier than installing one in a Ford Focus.....
Judging from Tom Ray's RW article, however, it appears installing an HD Radio in your quarterhorse is easier than installing one in a Ford Focus.....
This is a great breakdown of the costs of the everywhere internet. One more thing to consider--the fact that Google and Verizon have now publicly opposed a net-neutral wireless web. Should these gorillas get their way, the costs might not stop with simple data tiers. They might favor certain content providers over the ones you personally prefer.Zach said:
BRNout said:
Another good example: KOZN Omaha 1620 is ESPN radio, one of many such ESPN outlets I can hear on the dial at night.
And what did I hear last night on 1620? The Cubs game exactly as heard on WGN 720. If the Cubs are on 50 kw WGN, there is no
reason for an Omaha station to clutter up the air with it. How about something unique on KOZN instead so it could be a real choice?
Way before WCPT stayed on a night, a pipsqueak station in western MD, PA or VA was the first to clutter up 820.
I remember driving to Maryland in the late 80's and realized I must be getting closer to this station.
But even right there in their own area, the night time signal was badly beaten up by WBAP, making it impossible to enjoy either station,
both of which were playing country music. This was late at night, and I was listening to Bill Mack, or trying to.
If the Maryland station were off the air, WBAP would have been perfectly listenable.
And as the music selection was FAR more interesting on WBAP, to have another, less desirable country music station ruining reception
for 20-odd states while it's not even useful at night in its own region seems like a tremendous waste of RF and a disservice to the public.
TheBigA said:
Apparently you never listened to WBAP if you don't know what the difference was between WBAP and WRVA.
Syndication on dozens of stations is SUCH a waste of bandwidth! Each station deserves a chance to be unique.
When ONE station covers 30-odd states, there is no reason to duplicate the programming over and over.
In the same way we don't REALLY need a Mc Donald's franchise every half mile here in Chicago.
And NO, the trucking show is NOT heard on a local channel here in Chicago, and WCPT now on 820 makes this desirable choice impossible.
Whatver I wanted to hear on WCPT, I wanted to hear in the daytime.
At night I want my WBAP. That make 2 stations I can hear, and more choice, not less.
Hard to believe you really don't know and appreciate the advantages the MW behavior offers to the service called "radio".
Not all radio is in little confined tight markets, even if that's where the money is made.
The listeners don't CARE where you make your money or IF you do. But if you are only 3 states away, and you have programming they like,
you will have listeners there and all the way between.
Tom Wells said:
The key word in that sentence is "was." Because there isn't much difference now. And THAT, for better or worse, is the world we live in.
Tom Wells said:
Yet when we think of the Golden Age of Radio, all we know are the network shows that aired coast to coast. No one talks about the local farm report host, unless he happened to get picked up by a network. Even in radio's earliest days, when there were only a few hundred stations, and they operated on bigger signals, heard further, and with more clarity, you had national programming. And after sundown was prime time on the radio. It was such that the early days of networking was one station picking up and repeating another. So at the top of the hour, it wasn't unusual to hear a string of call letters as the stations along the network identified themselves. But the programming was national. It wasn't until network radio died that we saw a rise of local programming. But that only lasted a few years. By the 70s, the networks came back.
Tom Wells said:
Actually it is. It's heard on WLS at 2 AM, right after George Noory.
Tom Wells said:
I know and appreciate a lot more than you give me credit for. But I also live in the real world. In the real world, AM radio is no longer what it was 50 years ago. It was destroyed by many things, including a string of stupid regulations and changes made by the FCC. They decided that the people are better served by thousands of little localized radio stations. Unfortunately, those local stations have decided to program them with national content. And that's the real world we live in.
So once again, explain to me what is on WBAP at night that is so important to the people of Chicago, Boston, or Richmond?
Tom Wells said:
I could not possibly disagree more. I happen to remember what life was like BH (before hd) on the AM dial and it wasn't all beer and Skittles. WBAP and other clear channels were never really solid for any appreciable amount of time overnight where I lived as a young'un (Alabama). Only WSM seemed to be a really solid performer.
WBAP may cover 30 states, but it doesn't cover any of them well and the same can be said of all the other clear channels, even before HD. Whether you wanna blame that on poor receiver design, or the degradation of the clear channel frequencies by allowing flea power stations to remain on, or electrical interference or whatever, fine. But the truth is AM radio overnight is not the performer it was back in the good ole days.
If everyone in Smallsville is listening to Truckin' Bozo, why wouldn't the local station cash in by a) offering it on a local, strong signal and b) offering local advertisers the opportunity to be heard during the show? To hand off that audience share to a distant, wavering, weak signal from Texas is madness.
I used to do a lot of late night traveling, back before HD and back before satellite radio. And I always listened to Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell. I would fill up all six of my car radio's presets with distant affiliates like WLAC, WOAI, WHAS and whoever else I could pick up. But one spot was reserved for WERC, my home town station. The point is, I was just tuning to what signal was the best. DX is fine if that's the only source for what the average listener wants to hear, but given them a local choice that's strong and they'll always gravitate towards that.
Tom Wells said:
It's the free market at work. If a location every half mile didn't bring in the business, then they wouldn't put them that close together. Close down three or four of those locations and see what people do: they'll either go to the nearest location (DXing) and sit in a drive-thru that wraps around the building, or they'll simply skip McD's all together and go to Wendy's. Why would McD's a) frustrate customers with longer lines and b) purposely "hand over" customers to the competition? It's the same thing with radio.
Tom Wells said:
Those listeners don't pay the bills, either.
My main point being that the way radio has evolved has only brought me fewer and fewer choices.
It was bad enough to have all the clears degraded by little market daytimers staying on at night, HD
only has the distinction of being able to wipe out multiple frequencies.
WBAP came in really well almost always near southern Lake Michigan.
And WBAP was Bill Mack...WLW was the Truckin Bozo.
Sorry, I can't accept diminishing choices as any kind of improvement, any more than I accept the excuses for why AM
"sounds poor". People have a great deal of choice to buy good or bad radios, put in as many noisemaking devices as they want, but I have chosen to keep my RF environment clean and collect radios which can make best use of the advantages of MW.
A local station that decides to go all syndication simply becomes some other station.
While it would be easy to run a streamed format on my pt 15 AM, I would be embarrassed if it were.
I want the content to be generated locally. In this case, my house.
If I wanted to listen to someone else's train wreck, I'd just listen to their train wreck, and not bother having my own
signal, but I want to hear my own private train wreck, that sounds like no other.
I most appreciate stations that take the time to BE different in some way. They justify their existance.
In my world, the best situation would be that WFMU East Orange, NJ, would put their signal on a 50 kw AM non-d, providing a
missing format music service to the whole east half of the US.
Lots of people HAVE no choice at all in frree-form radio, no colleges or universities.
But they all have ESPN, a Disney outlet, multiple ACs, etc.
Mc Donald's and other least common denominator choices aren't really choices. They are a "last resort" sort of thing.
If I'm starving and Mc Donald's is the only thing open at 4 AM, I'll eat it.
But only if I am wracked with hunger pangs.
Zach, is WEVL Memphis still "all over the road'? That's my kind of station, and if it were on AM, I'd be listening.
I used to have work in Dyersburg and Covington TN, and in Senatobia. I listened to a lot of WEVL, and used to donate
to them, even while I live (and did then) in Chicago.
It was bad enough to have all the clears degraded by little market daytimers staying on at night, HD
only has the distinction of being able to wipe out multiple frequencies.
WBAP came in really well almost always near southern Lake Michigan.
And WBAP was Bill Mack...WLW was the Truckin Bozo.
Sorry, I can't accept diminishing choices as any kind of improvement, any more than I accept the excuses for why AM
"sounds poor". People have a great deal of choice to buy good or bad radios, put in as many noisemaking devices as they want, but I have chosen to keep my RF environment clean and collect radios which can make best use of the advantages of MW.
A local station that decides to go all syndication simply becomes some other station.
While it would be easy to run a streamed format on my pt 15 AM, I would be embarrassed if it were.
I want the content to be generated locally. In this case, my house.
If I wanted to listen to someone else's train wreck, I'd just listen to their train wreck, and not bother having my own
signal, but I want to hear my own private train wreck, that sounds like no other.
I most appreciate stations that take the time to BE different in some way. They justify their existance.
In my world, the best situation would be that WFMU East Orange, NJ, would put their signal on a 50 kw AM non-d, providing a
missing format music service to the whole east half of the US.
Lots of people HAVE no choice at all in frree-form radio, no colleges or universities.
But they all have ESPN, a Disney outlet, multiple ACs, etc.
Mc Donald's and other least common denominator choices aren't really choices. They are a "last resort" sort of thing.
If I'm starving and Mc Donald's is the only thing open at 4 AM, I'll eat it.
But only if I am wracked with hunger pangs.
Zach, is WEVL Memphis still "all over the road'? That's my kind of station, and if it were on AM, I'd be listening.
I used to have work in Dyersburg and Covington TN, and in Senatobia. I listened to a lot of WEVL, and used to donate
to them, even while I live (and did then) in Chicago.
Tom Wells said:
That's one way of looking at it. Another is that you've held on to one way of doing things, based on how things were when you were young, and you haven't evolved with the changes.
The rules about AM changed a long time ago. You can try and keep living as though they didn't, and try to tune in distant signals like it's the 60s, but that's not the way things work any more. The FCC is not going to go back to the way things were. You can complain about it all you want, but it won't change anything.
My suggestion to you is learn how to listen to radio via streaming.
Tom Wells said:
Y'know if this was six months ago I coulda said, "Hey, I live somewhere where I have none of those!" but sadly, the local corporate group who declared they were unable to keep a 1 kW AM on for financial reasons just signed on a 25 kW FM with 100% ESPN programming. Yuck.
Tom Wells said:
Yes, thankfully, they are still very eclectic.
If they were on AM I'd be more likely to listen, too, albeit for different reasons. Mainly, my car radio antenna amplifier has rotted away and it's really quite difficult to fix. A problem on FM but not so much for urban AM reception. The portable HD radio in my car gets overloaded trying to listen to flea-powered WEVL versus all the big signals surrounding it, so I can't hear it anywhere in the area. Being on AM would solve that AND more than likely double their coverage area.
(Personally, I'd put them on WCRV's 50kW signal where I could listen from Jackson to near St Louis, but that'll never happen.)
FWIW I'm not anti-AM but short of deleting a ton of stations from the band, it'd never going to enjoy the clarity and sense of coverage it had in the good old days.
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