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How well is HD Radio doing around here?

jras20 said:
So is KHFI done with HD? It has been off for over months at seems like now.
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It seems Austin's giving up on HD. KLBJ, KAMX, KHFI, and KACE don't have any HD. KVET, KFMK and KPEZ both only have HD1 channels on.
 
In College Station, KNDE-HD2 was a rock format that had live radio announcers during the day. As far as I am aware, that is the only commercial station that is not fully automated in the state. Or at least was, I'm not sure if they are still doing that since the launch of rival Rock 103.9.

Maybe 103.5 HD2? I haven't gotten a chance to sit down and listen for over an hour to know.
 
I forgot KRTU in San Antonio has a separately programmed non-comm on its HD2 that calls itself "KROV" for Restore Our Voice. It targets SA's African-American community.
 
fredcantu said:
Is anyone doing anything with the subchannels beyond music on a server or out-sourced network programs?
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Mega HD2 does have one or two on air personalities on during the day plus they program that station locally, not outsourced at all. They also have a Friday 5 o'clock mix show with live DJs, though I do wish they would expand that to every weekday at 5. Saturday nights they play Rooftop sessions with Jason Jenkins from LANAI at 5th and Congress Downtown. It is by far the best HD station in Austin and IMO the best station period in Austin...
 
JDawg512 said:
fredcantu said:
Is anyone doing anything with the subchannels beyond music on a server or out-sourced network programs?
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Mega HD2 does have one or two on air personalities on during the day...
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That's kinda vague. I take it they're not into personalities with their own time slots.
 
Mostly in the afternoon, Drew is one and not long ago I heard somebody els that I did not recognize which was around the 1 p.m. timeframe.
 
I just installed an aftermarket device called a Gateway that allows me to use my factory radio and controls with an ipod. It also excepts a sat. radio or HD tuner. I found a HD tuner for it on ebay for $50 so I figured why not. It sounds great especially on Trinity's KRTU because they aren't playing the loudness game. I didn't have any success with the AM section because I must have a proprietary powered antenna (no FM problems). I've purchased a cheap powered external antenna from Taiwan on ebay for less then $4 that I'm still waiting on to hopefully solve that problem. My car radio didn't have RDS so I like it when stations have their info listed. Wish more stations would jump on the HD bandwagon, but I understand that there aren't many receivers out there to justify the cost.
 
jras20 said:
So is KHFI done with HD? It has been off for over months at seems like now.
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I am pretty sure the answer to that question is complicated, but here's what I know (or think I know). All of the Clear Channel HD2 stations are basically just servers in a closet programmed by the suits in San Antonio. Nothing is done market by market. In fact, in Austin there are no facilities even in place to put anything close to locally sourced programming on the HD channels (except for maybe the ability to program the music on a channel if corporate lets them which as far as I know hasn't happened yet). I even had a discussion about this with the CC engineer who thought it would be a good idea to use an unused studio space to create a locally focused live music channel on one of the HD's and tie it in with SXSW or something like that. The problem is there is no way currently to monetize it. There is no ratings system so you can't really tell who is listening. They could do it on PPM but as far as I know, nobody is. Needless to say, unless or until there is a way to make money, as far as CC is concerned, HD will always be a box in the closet, and with all the technical problems the transmitters have had its been easier just to turn them off.
 
The lastest edition of Glen Hauser's "World of Radio" contains a report that RadioShack is discontinuing, discounting and getting rid of all HD (really just digital as opposed to current analog) radios. They will no longer stock or sell them, due to lack of sales or interest. It seems that the internet is one of the few places that actually offers them.
 
KHFI 96.7's HD finally came back up earlier! The HD2's got a Hot AC type format.
 
I wonder if we can take a very unscientific poll....how many of you out there actually have an HD radio and listen to it? Do you prefer the sound of the HD simulcast of the FM stations over the regular broadcast? Did you actually pay for your radio or get it free?

Let's see what we find out...
 
The HD sounds fair, Houston HD sounds much better than Austins HD channels, but better choices in Austin. I wish KHFI would bring back the "boom room" why would they have Hot AC on HD 2? The beat 102.3 should have old school hip hop on HD-2.
 
MisterRadio said:
I wonder if we can take a very unscientific poll....how many of you out there actually have an HD radio and listen to it? Do you prefer the sound of the HD simulcast of the FM stations over the regular broadcast? Did you actually pay for your radio or get it free?
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Well, I've got an elderly Boston Acoustics in the closet that I drag out every couple of months to see who's on-air and who can't be bothered...but the XM box in my VW gets a LOT more use.
 
Well I only listen to MegaHD2. I don't use an HD radio but instead listen to Mega through their Android app on my phone. Honestly it sounds just as good as any FM signal IMO but unless its full of static or muffled, I can't really see any difference with FM signals. It is the only Austin based station I listen to other than Hypersonic Radio on Saturday nights on 101x or Hypersonic Radio.com, their internet radio station.
 
fredcantu said:
Is Mega coded for PPM? I believe the HD2 signal nor the stream have yet to show up in the ratings.
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I'm pretty sure that no HD channels are on PPM. I don't even know of any plans to do that in the future.
 
My question is why hasn't COX launched any HD-2 channels? They got some in Houston, but none in San antonio?
 
The HD2 channels might "technically" show up in the ratings as HD2 stations, but they're being branded and promoted as analog FM stations. The HD2 feeds an analog FM translator and all of the branding and promotion is for the analog FM frequency. Their listeners might not even know they have an HD2 component if it weren't for the legal ID.
 
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