HD

[TheLaffer]

I was once told by someone high up in one of the Big 3 that HD side channels will create new opportunities for out of work talent.

Don't count on it. The Big 3 in many instances cannot fully staff a traditional format. Voice tracking, Jock less shows, etc run rampant.

As they are now HD1...2...3... will be nothing more than jukeboxes with little or no live jocks.

The real innovators are creating their own internet stations. I hear very talented jocks, programmers and non radio people, who cannot find work for various reasons so they take to the Internet. I must admit they sound incredible. Some of them just blow away the stuff I hear on terrestrial radio.

Let's just hope the damn Republicans don't take away the Internet from the common folk.

 

[copydesk2]

Post some sites, Laffer.

 

[TheLaffer]

Post some sites, Laffer.

Oh come now, are you at Terrestrial Radio? Feeling threatened just a bit or are you stuck in 2003?

Internet stations are everywhere and they rival the big Terrestrial stations and in many cases are just plain more entertaining.
I’m not saying Terrestrial radio is over or that there’s no talent left I’m just saying there is a lot of really good talent being passed up for whatever reasons and they're using their experience and talent to usher in some damn good sounding stations on the internet. Now before you smart off and hurl the usual sarcastic barbs at me, I’m washed up or I can’t find work or I’m too old, etc, etc I'm currently in Terrestrial Radio..

Anybody with an open mind can see there is twice as many innovative major market sounding internet stations that have doubled since last year.

There is a former jock in Houston that has an internet station. He can’t find work because “He’s Difficult”. Oh poor little PD and GMs can’t handle a temperamental talent. Man if we had that attitude 50 years ago some of the greatest would have never made it!

There is a station I think called Get the Virus. Just blows away anything in Phoenix.

On the Oldies side there is Hy Lit which got squeezed out in Philly and now has his own Station on the internet. This dude is one of a kind. No room for that non-sense on Terrestrial radio no sir ree.

Take some time or open your mind up to new possibilities. Some of these people on the net are creating some very good radio without the tired old terrestrial ideas that permeate the dial today.

 

[copydesk2]

What are the URLs of some of your favorites?

 

[TheLaffer]

What are the URLs of some of your favorites?

"It's a moot point. Radio's going to have to find a way to present commercial messages in a more appealing manner or risk losing more and more of its audience to alternative media."

The above is a quote from an earlier post from you. Apparently you too believe in Alternative media IE: The Internet

Give me some time I will list you a few of my favorite internet stations.

 

[1q2w3e]

Post some sites, Laffer.

Oh come now, are you at Terrestrial Radio? Feeling threatened just a bit or are you stuck in 2003?

Internet stations are everywhere and they rival the big Terrestrial stations and in many cases are just plain more entertaining.
I’m not saying Terrestrial radio is over or that there’s no talent left I’m just saying there is a lot of really good talent being passed up for whatever reasons and they're using their experience and talent to usher in some damn good sounding stations on the internet. Now before you smart off and hurl the usual sarcastic barbs at me, I’m washed up or I can’t find work or I’m too old, etc, etc I'm currently in Terrestrial Radio..

Anybody with an open mind can see there is twice as many innovative major market sounding internet stations that have doubled since last year.

There is a former jock in Houston that has an internet station. He can’t find work because “He’s Difficult”. Oh poor little PD and GMs can’t handle a temperamental talent. Man if we had that attitude 50 years ago some of the greatest would have never made it!

There is a station I think called Get the Virus. Just blows away anything in Phoenix.

On the Oldies side there is Hy Lit which got squeezed out in Philly and now has his own Station on the internet. This dude is one of a kind. No room for that non-sense on Terrestrial radio no sir ree.

Take some time or open your mind up to new possibilities. Some of these people on the net are creating some very good radio without the tired old terrestrial ideas that permeate the dial today.

Sooooo we should be chained to our computers to listen to internet radio stations?

And if you think you can stream from your cell phone...... I have a 3G EVDO cell phone and quite often get "insuffcient bandwidth". Now imagine if you added 2 million other people to that network. Oh and be prepared to buy another cell phone if you want to stream. Phone calls will not go through.

So lets add it up:
New EVDO cell phone: $300
Data Plan to stream: $35+++ per month

I do agree with you that some good talent is being passed up. I am suggesting to HD2 broadcasters that tey look at their local college or even high school. Have them do a show on the HD2 channel. Do you think that the high school or college kids would buy an HD radio then?

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

Actually Laugher is making good sense. The majority are so trained and "programmed" to Terrestial radio,they think its the only radio out there. There are several stations curently on the internet without a terrestial parent. If you want to find them start with Cnet.com, and search. Google it. Go to PCworld.com and search. Windows Players has some as well as the others. All you have to do is search. You can find them. In regards to the cost of a receiver,etc. Think back to how much a portable stereo cassette player once cost,a vcr,a walkman,pretty high then,because the technology was starting out. WIFI type receivers will be in cars in a few years without the dreaded interference. Its being worked on right now. Ten years ago satellite Tv was taking shape, and satellite radio was just a thought. Now many homes have satellite TV and satellite radio (though still in the red) is adding subscribers every week. Can internet radio be far behind? Don't scoff and close the door on this otherwise,you will be left out.

 

[Robert Bass]

Another good site for Internet Radio is Live365.com. Anyone who wishes to start their own internet station can do so from that site. The site is probably one of the easiest, most cost effective places to do it, since the site takes care of music royalty payments for the broadcasters.

As for HD, I’m not convinced it has much life, and I have a feeling it will go the way of AM Stereo. There are just too many issues with adjacent channel noise and Ibiquity is asking for huge sums of money for stations wishing to implement the technology.

I doubt most high school and college stations will be able to afford this equipment. For example, KEOM will have to spend almost a quarter of a million to purchase and install the HD transmission equipment. That’s a lot of money to shell out for a technology that isn’t mandatory by the FCC and has major adjacent channel interference issues.

R

(The preceding comments are the author’s personal viewpoint, which has been partially influenced by the desire to devour a slice of pizza, preferably topped with pepperoni. If you do not agree with the author’s opinion, it means that you are wrong, as per the Buddy Bears. ;D )

 

[SmokeRing]

And if you think you can stream from your cell phone...... I have a 3G EVDO cell phone and quite often get "insuffcient bandwidth".

How is that different from HD Radios that are always Buffering... Buffering... Buffering... Buffering... Buffering... Buffering?

I'm betting on Wireless technology to advance before "HD" Radio does.

 

[TheLaffer]

Post some sites, Laffer.

Oh come now, are you at Terrestrial Radio? Feeling threatened just a bit or are you stuck in 2003?

Internet stations are everywhere and they rival the big Terrestrial stations and in many cases are just plain more entertaining.
I’m not saying Terrestrial radio is over or that there’s no talent left I’m just saying there is a lot of really good talent being passed up for whatever reasons and they're using their experience and talent to usher in some damn good sounding stations on the internet. Now before you smart off and hurl the usual sarcastic barbs at me, I’m washed up or I can’t find work or I’m too old, etc, etc I'm currently in Terrestrial Radio..

Anybody with an open mind can see there is twice as many innovative major market sounding internet stations that have doubled since last year.

There is a former jock in Houston that has an internet station. He can’t find work because “He’s Difficult”. Oh poor little PD and GMs can’t handle a temperamental talent. Man if we had that attitude 50 years ago some of the greatest would have never made it!

There is a station I think called Get the Virus. Just blows away anything in Phoenix.

On the Oldies side there is Hy Lit which got squeezed out in Philly and now has his own Station on the internet. This dude is one of a kind. No room for that non-sense on Terrestrial radio no sir ree.

Take some time or open your mind up to new possibilities. Some of these people on the net are creating some very good radio without the tired old terrestrial ideas that permeate the dial today.

Sooooo we should be chained to our computers to listen to internet radio stations?

And if you think you can stream from your cell phone...... I have a 3G EVDO cell phone and quite often get "insuffcient bandwidth". Now imagine if you added 2 million other people to that network. Oh and be prepared to buy another cell phone if you want to stream. Phone calls will not go through.

So lets add it up:
New EVDO cell phone: $300
Data Plan to stream: $35+++ per month

I do agree with you that some good talent is being passed up. I am suggesting to HD2 broadcasters that tey look at their local college or even high school. Have them do a show on the HD2 channel. Do you think that the high school or college kids would buy an HD radio then?

those high price quotes will be a thing of the past in 5 years.

 

[TheLaffer]

Actually Laugher is making good sense. The majority are so trained and "programmed" to Terrestial radio,they think its the only radio out there. There are several stations curently on the internet without a terrestial parent. If you want to find them start with Cnet.com, and search. Google it. Go to PCworld.com and search. Windows Players has some as well as the others. All you have to do is search. You can find them. In regards to the cost of a receiver,etc. Think back to how much a portable stereo cassette player once cost,a vcr,a walkman,pretty high then,because the technology was starting out. WIFI type receivers will be in cars in a few years without the dreaded interference. Its being worked on right now. Ten years ago satellite Tv was taking shape, and satellite radio was just a thought. Now many homes have satellite TV and satellite radio (though still in the red) is adding subscribers every week. Can internet radio be far behind? Don't scoff and close the door on this otherwise,you will be left out.

Dittos!

 

[Robert Bass]

How is that different from HD Radios that are always Buffering... Buffering... Buffering... Buffering... Buffering... Buffering?

HD buffers? ??? If that's true, there's no way the analog and digital signals could stay synchronized for the blending.

R

 

[TheRover]

Another good site for Internet Radio is Live365.com. Anyone who wishes to start their own internet station can do so from that site. The site is probably one of the easiest, most cost effective places to do it, since the site takes care of music royalty payments for the broadcasters.

I am familiar with LIVE 365.....

But, I would say that govt and RIAA and the "Powers" that be, have already made sure that Internet Radio Stations, cannot deliver on the same playing field as terrestrial radio stations, by the "special internet" rules of how often you can play an artist. This hamstrigns the free-flow of music that one would perfer to broadcast over an Internet station.

Coporate greed just screws it up for EVERYONE.... everyone but Justin Timberlake, Springsteen, and Madonna.

Real "Music" lovers are s#*t upon all day long by the govt, it's Clinton approved deregualtion, and the status quo. I love music..... screw the industry that maximzes their profits by spewing out what they currently do now...

I see no artistic reason for ANY of you to keep and hold your jobs...
You -do not- serve the artistic interests of music lovers. FOr that, you are of NO use at all...from where I sit.

 

[BossJock1947]

Another good site for Internet Radio is Live365.com. Anyone who wishes to start their own internet station can do so from that site. The site is probably one of the easiest, most cost effective places to do it, since the site takes care of music royalty payments for the broadcasters.

I am familiar with LIVE 365.....

But, I would say that govt and RIAA and the "Powers" that be, have already made sure that Internet Radio Stations, cannot deliver on the same playing field as terrestrial radio stations, by the "special internet" rules of how often you can play an artist. This hamstrigns the free-flow of music that one would perfer to broadcast over an Internet station.

Coporate greed just screws it up for EVERYONE.... everyone but Justin Timberlake, Springsteen, and Madonna.

Real "Music" lovers are s#*t upon all day long by the govt, it's Clinton approved deregualtion, and the status quo. I love music..... screw the industry that maximzes their profits by spewing out what they currently do now...

I see no artistic reason for ANY of you to keep and hold your jobs...
You -do not- serve the artistic interests of music lovers. FOr that, you are of NO use at all...from where I sit.

Clinton approved deregulation????? Are you kidding me???? It was the filthy rich Republicans and their greed that was running congress and the Senate in'96. Don't blame Clinton just because he tried to please a bunch of greedy old farts known as REPUBLICANS!!!!

 

[Robert Bass]

I see no artistic reason for ANY of you to keep and hold your jobs...
You -do not- serve the artistic interests of music lovers. FOr that, you are of NO use at all...from where I sit.

Since WHEN was terra radio intended to serve “music enthusiasts” ??? Terra radio is supposed to “serve their city of license”, and that doesn’t mean just spin x number of songs and x number of spots / hour.

If you want “music enthusiast radio”, you’ll have to pay for it.

Thanks for insulting us with your remark claiming we in radio have no “artistic reason to keep / hold our jobs, because we’re supposedly supposed to serve the ‘artistic interests of music lovers”. That’s ridiculous!

R

 

[Kent]

Clinton approved deregulation????? Are you kidding me???? It was the filthy rich Republicans and their greed that was running congress and the Senate in'96. Don't blame Clinton just because he tried to please a bunch of greedy old farts known as REPUBLICANS!!!!

Actually, there was overwhelming bipartisan support for the Telecommunications Act of 1996. To call it a Clinton, a Gore, or a Republican thing is to ignore reality. The Telecom Act passed in the Senate with enough votes that you could count those who voted against it on one hand, and the FCC was already mulling relaxing ownership limits further without congressional approval.

Also, keep in mind that, while the Telecom Act has caused changes that make all of us at least a little uncomfortable, blaming deregulation for everything wrong in the industry is disingenuous at best. Remember, there were only two reasons we had live/local jocks from the beginning. The first was that transmitter equipment was considered unreliable at first, which made attended operations mandatory in the interest of public safety, and the second was that automation systems were considered too unreliable to trust to run by themselves. Both of those factors changed with time, and both also changed about the same time the Telecom Act passed. The FCC eliminated the requirement that all station have a licensed operator on duty in 1995 and allowed unattended operation of all stations reliable enough to operate at their assigned parameters for an extended period of time except for directional AM's (which can still operate unattended with automatic transmitter equipment). Also, automation systems became more stable and better able to provide the type of programming listeners expect. There's no question in my mind that we'd have much the same situation now if every station in America was owned by mom and pop operators. The "warm body" jobs would have been eliminated, and stations would be trying to cut costs every chance they got by voicetracking. People like to criticize the Prophet System, but many of them forget Prophet was not designed by Clear Channel to eliminate local jobs. It was designed by a small market operator in Ogallala, NE who wanted to get the most of his talent because he was sick of constantly losing his best people to bigger markets and figured the best way to do that was to provide them better wages and benefits, though it would mean fewer employment opportunities at his stations.

So, what does all of this have to do with HD? Well, in my mind, it debunks the theory that out of work jocks are going to have a lot more opportunities. There may be a few, but I wouldn't expect the existing business model to change if HD takes off (and I'm not convinced it will).

 

[little1]

I see no artistic reason for ANY of you to keep and hold your jobs...
You -do not- serve the artistic interests of music lovers. FOr that, you are of NO use at all...from where I sit.

Since WHEN was terra radio intended to serve “music enthusiasts” ??? Terra radio is supposed to “serve their city of license”, and that doesn’t mean just spin x number of songs and x number of spots / hour.

If you want “music enthusiast radio”, you’ll have to pay for it.

Thanks for insulting us with your remark claiming we in radio have no “artistic reason to keep / hold our jobs, because we’re supposedly supposed to serve the ‘artistic interests of music lovers”. That’s ridiculous!

R

His line about 'really cool music' in his sig line should have been enough to tip you off. He's a music snob...I suck because I don't play the music he wants, you suck because you're playing top 40 from the 70's instead of 'cool' stuff like (for example) ELP, King Crimson and Lothar and the Hand People. {sarcasm}See, the Zoo was 'real' back in the day, they'd play stuff like that, man, before the suits shut'em down man{/sarcasm}

That's one thing I find sorely lacking on this board- people who actually seem to understand the buisness...Seems like half the people here are just bitter complainers...

 

[gbsncmtr]

Kent has made an excellent point! I am a retired school teacher, but back in 1980-82 I worked part-time at a 1,000 watt FM station in a small town just outside of Waco. We signed on at 6:00 AM and played the Star Spangeled Banner to sign off at 10:00 PM. Even 27 years ago, the one-station owner invested in an automation system . . . two huge reel to reel decks and a couple of cart machines . . . because he didn't want to pay one of us $5.00 an hour to sit at the control and play records during the daytime hours and on weekends. He did the morning show himself, and one of his part-timers handled the evening shifts. The system was far from reliable. It shut itself off frequently, which resulted in extended periods of dead air . . . until the owner (or one of his family members) could get up to the station to restart it. It was quite an interesting operation.

 

[TheLaffer]

Clinton approved deregulation????? Are you kidding me???? It was the filthy rich Republicans and their greed that was running congress and the Senate in'96. Don't blame Clinton just because he tried to please a bunch of greedy old farts known as REPUBLICANS!!!!

Actually, there was overwhelming bipartisan support for the Telecommunications Act of 1996. To call it a Clinton, a Gore, or a Republican thing is to ignore reality. The Telecom Act passed in the Senate with enough votes that you could count those who voted against it on one hand, and the FCC was already mulling relaxing ownership limits further without congressional approval.

Also, keep in mind that, while the Telecom Act has caused changes that make all of us at least a little uncomfortable, blaming deregulation for everything wrong in the industry is disingenuous at best. Remember, there were only two reasons we had live/local jocks from the beginning. The first was that transmitter equipment was considered unreliable at first, which made attended operations mandatory in the interest of public safety, and the second was that automation systems were considered too unreliable to trust to run by themselves. Both of those factors changed with time, and both also changed about the same time the Telecom Act passed. The FCC eliminated the requirement that all station have a licensed operator on duty in 1995 and allowed unattended operation of all stations reliable enough to operate at their assigned parameters for an extended period of time except for directional AM's (which can still operate unattended with automatic transmitter equipment). Also, automation systems became more stable and better able to provide the type of programming listeners expect. There's no question in my mind that we'd have much the same situation now if every station in America was owned by mom and pop operators. The "warm body" jobs would have been eliminated, and stations would be trying to cut costs every chance they got by voicetracking. People like to criticize the Prophet System, but many of them forget Prophet was not designed by Clear Channel to eliminate local jobs. It was designed by a small market operator in Ogallala, NE who wanted to get the most of his talent because he was sick of constantly losing his best people to bigger markets and figured the best way to do that was to provide them better wages and benefits, though it would mean fewer employment opportunities at his stations.

So, what does all of this have to do with HD? Well, in my mind, it debunks the theory that out of work jocks are going to have a lot more opportunities. There may be a few, but I wouldn't expect the existing business model to change if HD takes off (and I'm not convinced it will).

A politician is a politician.