It appears that the Pro-HD members are unhappy with the way the postings have been going. I can't say I disagree. I used to enjoy visiting this forum to keep up to date on the latest IBOC technical info, problems, and successes that IBOC broadcasters have to offer. Anymore, it's just "MY TEAM vs. YOUR TEAM", and that's not what this forum is supposed to be about. If we are all broadcasters, then we should act like professionals. Neither side seems to be doing that. I think we all need to take a step back and realize, when the day is done, that this is radio, and it is evolving, whether we like it or not.
However, Supercaster makes a point that I think is overlooked too often in our industry. We are no longer the sole distributors of audio content to the general public. IBOC is definitely a way to expand our delivery in new and interesting ways. HD FM is a great product which I believe, given enough time, will come to be as ubiquitous as FM Stereo is today. It allows us to serve audiences which are currently underserved by terrestrial analog. It does negligible damage (read: none) to adjacent channels. It has the potential, especially in larger markets, to increase cume with little cost expenditure over and above the cost of the equipment and licensing fees. Overall, a win-win. FM sound quality is not a concern to the average listener, and HD sounds just fine. AM sound quality, however, is a concern to the average listener.
There is a reason why FM Stereo has been the catalyst to the industry that it has been in the last three decades: it sounds great, has acceptable range of reception and (for the most part) provides a quality product, the content, which is in demand by a large segement of the listening audience. Analog AM, while providing a substantial improvement in the range of reception, does not provide the content that our 18-34 demos are looking for. And 18-34 would not stand for the terrible sound quality of analog AM compared to its FM counterpart.
HD AM provides a solution to this problem: the sound quality can be improved, therefore reeling in the ever-lucrative 18-34. In theory.
In production, HD AM does not provide an acceptable range of reception to the targeted demo. 18-34 demands the content that they want, when they want it, wherever they are. Why can we not accept this? There is no band-aid to fix that issue, now that the internet, Wi-Fi, and mobile data services are out of the bag. We have been replaced with a product which delivers what the lucrative target demos wants. From both a technical and programming standpoint, we cannot be everything to everyone, everywhere. While HD FM can be robust enough to be a viable product, HD AM just doesn't work!
But let us be honest, at least with each other, that HD is a marketing term for digital IBOC broadcasting. And, that a digital audio stream is exactly that, regardless of whether it is received by wire, or by air. Of course the trademark only applies to a digital IBOC broadcast (thats common sense to all of us), but the idea is the same. We need to be competitive with all our newfound competition. But when the product fails to deliver the quality of service that listeners are used to, there is no way it can supplant the traditional analog system. When (and if) it is possible to deliver HD FM to our many remote listeners (over 30 miles, talking about a full Class B FM) that currently receive the analog FM, we can start to develop the product. Until then, it will be another passing fancy.
I really do not have any interest in the IBOC system succeeding or failing, and while I would like to see our delivery options expanded, there are many limitations to a broadcast digital system. Now as broadcasters, as professionals, we must ask ourselves: will we rise to the challenge and work together to engineer solutions to these limitations, like our gurus did in the 60's with FM Stereo, or will we continue to behave like schoolyard children kicking sand in the eyes of one-another, solely for our own self-indulgence and self-gratitude?