Someone mentions IBOC in an earlier post on this thread. While I do not claim to have a clue about the technicalities involved with HD radio, Paul Vincent Zecchino of
Ether Zone brings up some very interesting and frightening points in the following piece that was sent to me today.
Comments?
""You tune in for a traffic report. Your hometown station, “The Big 800,” is gone – drowned out by a shrill hissing. You tune another local station. You hear blown steamlines shrieking across six channels. Denied vital information, you get stuck in an easily avoidable traffic jam, all because Big Corporate Radio denied you your right to access your airwaves and hear your local stations.
"Later, you call your stations to report this. They're sympathetic, as are most local businesses. They say the hissing is IBOC - In Band On Channel - a digital signal called "HD Radio." They say the FCC, against all sense, approved it. Distant HD signals jam Big 800, depriving listener and advertiser alike. Worse, the jammer is a station on 820, over a thousand miles and two channels away. They say the FCC, long trusted to keep our airwaves free from destructive illegal interference, now strangely turns a deaf ear to it.
"You report your noisesome disruption to Radio 820's manager. Callously dismissive, he states HD Radio is “your inevitable digital future.” He's compliant with FCC rules, says he. Even if not, he taunts, tough, "HD's gonna happen! Buy HD radio! It scrolls traffic texting across a screen." He dares you to report his jamming interference to the FCC. Go right ahead, he baits, boasting that his network owns the FCC. He hangs up.
"Does the above sound like a malevolent totalitarian fantasy? Yes. Unfortunately, it's what citizens experience when they inquire about destructive interference from HD or iBLOC, as scurrilous wags call IBOC. Has your favorite classical FM station vanished down a buzzing maelstrom? Do hissing shrieks across your AM dial now block vibrant stations you formerly long enjoyed? Welcome to your inevitable digital future, as HD Cheerleaders call it.
"Big Boy Broadcasters want to seize control of your airwaves. They've been at it since the rotten ‘90s. They say they must do more to promote HD. Their actions refute them. They forced small stations to install HD equipment. Engineers who pointed out obvious flaws, they coerced into silence. But Big Corporate Broadcasters labored to keep HD a secret from you, the listening public, to whom your airwaves belong.
"Why? Because HD Radio/IBLOC renders all existing radios worthless. If these greedy-guts have their way tomorrow (3/22) and receive FCC night HD authorization, you might as well burn the wife's Bose Car Radio, the restored Cathedral set gift from your son, and your neat waterproof AM/FM armset you love playing while jogging. Billions of radios worth trillions of dollars will be rendered worthless, all because The Big Boys want money.
"Your “Inevitable Digital Future,” as HD Pavilion calls it, is in reality, The Company Store. HD/iBLOC is not only backward incompatible, it's backward destructive. Backward compatible means your heirloom '51 Black & White DuMont pulls in American Idol. It means your KLH FM Mono Radio hears FM stations, minus the stereo. HD not only won't work with your AM and FM analog sets, it jams them. Their abrasive hissing travels great distances, many times farther than their useable digital signal. As the Big Boys see it, either buy new radios from them, or listen to their buzzing.
"Despite rabid consumer and broadcaster apathy, this irksome radio barn fly won't go away. Why not? At tomorrow's meeting, a docile FCC may short-circuit market forces by allowing HD jammers on air 24/7. This means that sooner rather than later, the public will give up and buy unnecessary HD radios.
"HD radio is a long obsolete, fatally flawed, serially superseded concept. Big Corporate Broadcasters like HD because it limits listeners' choices - to them. During the past ten years, they bought numerous stations, fired local talent, and syndicated dope addicts fobbed off as “talk hosts.” Execs claimed layoffs benefited investors and stuffed their pockets. Ratings fell. A techno-solution, HD, was cobbled up.
www.ibiquity.com was reportedly tossed a no-bid contract to develop HD. No one wants this Radio Zil. The more you learn about HD, the more you detest it. Retailers yoked into selling HD sets hide them from sight. You need outside antennas to hear nearby HD stations. You can see the tower, but, no rooftop antenna? No signal. Since your HOA CC&R's prohibit outside antennas, the point is moot. What on earth was this HD Pavilion thinking?
"Total Control, that's what. Total Control means never having to say you're sorry for cheaply produced, lackluster, repetitive programs that bore gnats to sobs.
"iPods, WiMax, and other legit gadgets leave this 70s kluge in the dustbin of Hole-i-garch History.
"HD promoters tell a variety of tales to conceal the inconvenient truth about destructive interference. Some say jamming is their true goal. Many listeners believe everything about HD radio is a lie. Why trust your airwaves to them?"
- Paul Vincent Zecchino, Ether Zone
