Karmazin: HD Radio "Not Compelling Enough" To Consumers

[DToTheJ]

On Tuesday, during a keynote address in New York, Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin said new satellite radio models should not be forced to include HD radio.

“This is still America... Car companies are having their own problems; it’s wrong to ask that anything be added to the cost of what people are paying for a vehicle. The consumer ought to decide. The government shouldn’t be requiring HD Radio just because the content is not compelling enough on its own to get people to buy these radios.”

Full story:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/local-broadcast/e3ie627726a68e6407f26938b1fcc454a11

 

[wgliradio]

While he is correct, I wonder what he felt about it back in 2002? What a fool.

The uniform must be very comfortable. Too bad it only fits him.

 

[pocket-radio]

I hate to somewhat agree with Mel Boy. Thus far content provided by HD broadcasters isn’t setting the world on fire, or helping to sell receivers.
Now if you love an all 70’s jukebox or an all Irish jukebox you just might love HD radio.
But let’s be Frank. A few benchmarks must be met. Like ratings, unless the game as changed or the government plans to buys all radio stations, this is still advertiser supported. Without HD receiver sales there won’t be any ratings. Sales of HD radios are in the toilet.

With the global economies melting down, people worrying about jobs, and healthcare I think receiver sales will stay in the toilet for some time. Retailers are expecting a poor Christmas. HD radio won’t be on Santa’s delivery list.

The real question is, will iBiquity a startup, stay alive long enough to see the other side?

Struble will be standing inline for a government bailout.

 

[Play Freebird]

I'm not a big Mel fan either, but I recall reading an interview with him that was published back in the '90s. When asked his opinion on digital radio, he responded that most listeners were satisfied with FM and expressed doubt that digital would offer enough of an improvement over analog to justify the large investment.

Judging from the lack of public enthusiasm towards HD Radio in the US (and DAB in Europe), it appears his perception was accurate.

 

[TheBigA]

When asked his opinion on digital radio, he responded that most listeners were satisfied with FM and expressed doubt that digital would offer enough of an improvement over analog to justify the large investment.

And yet he is CEO of a digital radio company that says it delivers "CD-quality sound" in its ads. How much of a two-faced --- is he? To date, he has invested about $20 million of his own money in this turkey. With the exception of a handful of channels, most of his music channels aren't much better than what's offered by HD, and will get worse now that he's fired half the staff. Just because you agree with him doesn't change the fact that he's a hypocrite.

 

[Channel Surf]

Not "compelling enough"??? Is that why he felt "compelled" to blow out so many people yesterday???

 

[pocket-radio]

It’s the same old story. Two companies merge, now they’re top heavy with
many of the same people doing the same thing. Consolidation wasn’t good for terrestrial radio and isn’t proving good for satellite broadcasters either.

It’s no different if Best Buy & Circuit City merged

More jukebox programming won’t be good for satellite radio either.

Broadcasters think music alone is enough to attract and keep listeners.
Don’t get me wrong listeners still love music, but what’s changed they now want to control the content. Why listen to somebody else’s playlist when you have it your way?

Mel should develop addressable radio, that's the future anyway.

 

[JohnnyElectron]

Mel pisses me off more than anybody I know. XM / Sirius is not a merger, it is a gd takeover of XM. Mel didn't cut half of the Sirius staff and half of the XM staff - instead he fires almost every single music director, music program director and on-air music talent from the XM side; and that really burns me. They have already started reducing the playlist on the decades music channels. I pay money for satrad because they play songs I don't hear on regular radio.

IF the XM talent was smart, they would start their own programming services and sell this product to terrestrial radio stations for exclusive use on the HD2 and HD3 channels! Whaddayathinkofthat?

Move XM to HD!

 

[pocket-radio]

Mel can't pay his bills.

 

[TheBigA]

IF the XM talent was smart, they would start their own programming services and sell this product to terrestrial radio stations for exclusive use on the HD2 and HD3 channels! Whaddayathinkofthat?

How would it make money?

 

[KB1OKL]

Mel pisses me off more than anybody I know. XM / Sirius is not a merger, it is a gd takeover of XM. Mel didn't cut half of the Sirius staff and half of the XM staff - instead he fires almost every single music director, music program director and on-air music talent from the XM side; and that really burns me. They have already started reducing the playlist on the decades music channels. I pay money for satrad because they play songs I don't hear on regular radio.

IF the XM talent was smart, they would start their own programming services and sell this product to terrestrial radio stations for exclusive use on the HD2 and HD3 channels! Whaddayathinkofthat?

Move XM to HD!

I just got XM about a month ago and like it so far. I listen to Decades a lot especially 50's and 60's and hear a lot of stuff I don't hear on commercial radio, the sound quality isn't as good as FM however, but can't beat the range. ;D
If you really want to kill XM move it to iBlock, especially to an HD2 or HD3 channel, that'll ensure it never gets listened to again.

 

[KB1OKL]

I hate to somewhat agree with Mel Boy. Thus far content provided by HD broadcasters isn’t setting the world on fire, or helping to sell receivers.
Now if you love an all 70’s jukebox or an all Irish jukebox you just might love HD radio.
But let’s be Frank. A few benchmarks must be met. Like ratings, unless the game as changed or the government plans to buys all radio stations, this is still advertiser supported. Without HD receiver sales there won’t be any ratings. Sales of HD radios are in the toilet.

With the global economies melting down, people worrying about jobs, and healthcare I think receiver sales will stay in the toilet for some time. Retailers are expecting a poor Christmas. HD radio won’t be on Santa’s delivery list.

The real question is, will iBiquity a startup, stay alive long enough to see the other side?

Struble will be standing inline for a government bailout.

HD's In the toilet? I think it already got flushed.

 

[Walking On]

Mel pisses me off more than anybody I know. XM / Sirius is not a merger, it is a gd takeover of XM. Mel didn't cut half of the Sirius staff and half of the XM staff - instead he fires almost every single music director, music program director and on-air music talent from the XM side; and that really burns me. They have already started reducing the playlist on the decades music channels. I pay money for satrad because they play songs I don't hear on regular radio.

IF the XM talent was smart, they would start their own programming services and sell this product to terrestrial radio stations for exclusive use on the HD2 and HD3 channels! Whaddayathinkofthat?

Move XM to HD!

And now over on HD-247... ;D

 

[elchupacabras]

Right he is, and unless the HD-2 channels are programmed with personality instead of just oddball music, we can kiss the technology goodbye.

 

[Savage]

And right YOU are. And for that reason, indeed, "kiss the (HD) technology goodbye."

Clusters are reducing on-air staffs and content so that, unless you're in a major market, just about the only live daypart any more is AM drive. And we're talking about the MAIN channel here.

If corporate radio won't put live human beings on the only revenue-producing product they offer, and anyone believes they'll put live, quality content on HD subchannels, then that person has been hitting the Wacky Tobaccky a little too hard.

C'mon, now. If what you want is a continuous jukebox of your favorite "kind" of music, your car radio in most cases now has an AUX jack. Plug in your iPod. The playlist consists exclusively of songs hand-selected by Y-O-U. Without the Byzantine tuning procedure getting from HD-2 on station WCAT to the HD-2 or HD-3 sub on WDOG which threatens to have you glancing up to see you're about to have a utility pole in the front seat.
(And to think they outlaw use of handheld cellphones while driving? Attempting to THDWD (Tune HD While Driving) should be a felony, first occurrence.

 

[clouseau]

And right YOU are. And for that reason, indeed, "kiss the (HD) technology goodbye."

Clusters are reducing on-air staffs and content so that, unless you're in a major market, just about the only live daypart any more is AM drive. And we're talking about the MAIN channel here.

If corporate radio won't put live human beings on the only revenue-producing product they offer, and anyone believes they'll put live, quality content on HD subchannels, then that person has been hitting the Wacky Tobaccky a little too hard.

C'mon, now. If what you want is a continuous jukebox of your favorite "kind" of music, your car radio in most cases now has an AUX jack. Plug in your iPod. The playlist consists exclusively of songs hand-selected by Y-O-U. Without the Byzantine tuning procedure getting from HD-2 on station WCAT to the HD-2 or HD-3 sub on WDOG which threatens to have you glancing up to see you're about to have a utility pole in the front seat.
(And to think they outlaw use of handheld cellphones while driving? Attempting to THDWD (Tune HD While Driving) should be a felony, first occurrence.

Wow, Bob, I sure hope you are writing this stuff for Barnes and Nobel. Jon Stewart would be proud.

W-CAT and W-DOG? You forgot W-FISH. (Or is that a Salem trademark)..

While THDWD is pretty funny, consider moving into civilization before mocking. SCAN works great for a lot of us. And here in Texas where we can shoot you if you break into our house, urban living is no problem.

There's a reason why we have them there gun racks in our pickup trucks.

You know we don't like "Okies" because there from the north, right?

Avon... IIRC, That's suburban Binghamton?

Clouseau

 

[TheBigA]

You know it's a slow news day when someone has to dig up a thread that has been dormant since October to rile up the troops. Let me know who won the election, while you're at it.

 

[Savage]

Clouseau, you and Big A need to check for corrupted cranial software, and reboot, or possibly reload.

The last two posts made NO sense. At least none that I can discern. Allow me to illustrate.

You jocularly suggest I'm writing for a BOOKSTORE? Huh? And the connection with....Jon Stewart, is...What?? The obtuse references to gun racks, pickups and "Okies" (which would be, by definition, from a place called "Oklahoma") are pegging the irrelevancy monitor. I note your insistence that you can simply scan from one HD channel's subs to another's, but that isn't doable with many car receiver designs; many require manual input to get to the desired subchannel. Which was.....my point.

And everyone knows that Binghamton is a suburb of Avon, not the other way around. As you might post:

And Big A: what can I say? Congrats on another memorable post. Ross Perot won last November. Tell all your friend.

 

[tomservo]

I just got XM about a month ago and like it so far. I listen to Decades a lot especially 50's and 60's and hear a lot of stuff I don't hear on commercial radio, the sound quality isn't as good as FM however, but can't beat the range. ;D

Since we're already practising thread necromancy, I have to wonder if you are still enjoying those decades channels as much now that Uncle Mel has seen to eliminating all of the 'oh wow' songs and narrowing the playlists to mimic the oldies stations on terrestrial radios?

And of course, there's the continued downward spiral of SQ as they add more channels.

XM is just like Sirius now, which means it's just like corporate FM radio. In other words, it stinks and there's no reason for me to pay for it anymore. When my yearly sub lapses on the 7th, I won't call to give them a new CC number, I'll just let it expire.

Mel ruined the comedy channels, he ruined the decades, he killed some of the more interesting but less popular niche channels and he's hiking the rates after promising not to, to the feds. I still like O&A but they aren't worth $13/month.

And I'm not going to HD radio, or radio at all, to be honest. I got enough on my plate with podcasts from terrestrial broadcasters, public radio and internet-only netcasters.

 

[KB1OKL]

I just got XM about a month ago and like it so far. I listen to Decades a lot especially 50's and 60's and hear a lot of stuff I don't hear on commercial radio, the sound quality isn't as good as FM however, but can't beat the range. ;D

Since we're already practicing thread necromancy, I have to wonder if you are still enjoying those decades channels as much now that Uncle Mel has seen to eliminating all of the 'oh wow' songs and narrowing the playlists to mimic the oldies stations on terrestrial radios?

Well let's out it this way, the other day I was listening to Decade 60's and it was playing the same krap you hear every day on oldies radio, the only thing I like on the new combined XM-Sirius so far is Underground Garage and the jazz channel left over from XM (70)

And of course, there's the continued downward spiral of SQ as they add more channels.

XM is just like Sirius now, which means it's just like corporate FM radio. In other words, it stinks and there's no reason for me to pay for it anymore. When my yearly sub lapses on the 7th, I won't call to give them a new CC number, I'll just let it expire.

Yeah I will probably also let it expire, it has changed a lot and not for the better and the sound quality is still terrible at 31K.

Mel ruined the comedy channels, he ruined the decades, he killed some of the more interesting but less popular niche channels and he's hiking the rates after promising not to, to the feds. I still like O&A but they aren't worth $13/month.

And I'm not going to HD radio, or radio at all, to be honest. I got enough on my plate with podcasts from terrestrial broadcasters, public radio and internet-only netcasters.