KLUV and the Fab 4 Format on HD-2

[TheRover]

Just a note on KLUV's Fab 4 Format......

I have listened to it on numerous occasions.....

I really wish I would hear more live Beatle music ! !

But last night, when I selected my Fab 4 preset on my tabletop HD Radio.... it did not bring in a signal, and then jumped to the HD-1 channel.

I called and spoke to the on-air DJ about this, and although he was going to check in to it.... this morning, as of 8:30am, the Fab 4 HD-2 channel.... is still off of the air.

I called back and got to speak to someone in engineering. Unfortunatley, in the HD world..... I cannot with the tabletop model I have, monitor a frequency of an HD channel, like KLUV's HD-2 channel, wiating for it to come back on the air, if it is not on the air already.

The information I got from last night seemed to indicate some part of the KLUV Fab 4 program came out of NY. I still assume the programming of the songs for KLUV was and is being done locally, but I might be wrong about that.

What I do know, from the website, is that they intentionally program Beatle "Hits" to occur at least, every other song. I had suspected the songs were "weighted", and that it was --not-- an equally distributed spread of --all-- Beatles, all of the time. But.... thank goodness, at least, that it's not all Beatle "Hits", and only Beatle Hits -- All of the Time !! HD FM..... doing AM Top 40 playlists...... That's fine.... but I am still looking for HD FM to do exclusive FM playlists, album-rock playlists.... So far, there is no room at the inn for those kind of FM playlists.... not even on HD Channels 2, or 3..

 

[Steve Eberhart]

I really don't know the particulars about KLUV but I do listen a lot to KPLX H2 "The Vibe" (the kids love it and I like the fact that I don't have to hear inappropriate content from the KISS jocks!!) It too is occasionally off the air and I have called in a time or two and the front desk usually doesn't even know what I'm talking about! I had to explain it and then she gave me the engineer who said "oh really...hmm no one noticed, see we don't really monitor it..." Ooookay...guess the day it starts bringing in a dollar someone at the station will actually monitor it, but it does show the point that although it is there, no one cares.

 

[EbolaMonkey]

Ooookay...guess the day it starts bringing in a dollar someone at the station will actually monitor it, but it does show the point that although it is there, no one cares.

And there's another big problem for HD. Not only do AM-HD's and FM HD-2's sound pretty mediocre. But, in a business where so many primary stations are programmed poorly, how will the HD-2 step children ever bring in that dollar?

They won't.

Do any of Dallas' television HD-2's make money? I bet they don't. And wouldn't you have to assume that they'd figure out a way to generate some HD-2 coin years before the radio industry does? After all, people actually own HD televisions!

 

[Robert Bass]

HD-2 TV ???

I wasn't aware HDTV had such a capability. Isn't that the FM band only?

R

 

[grantchester]

The state of HD-FM is similar to where FM-Stereo was in the mid-60's. There weren't enough people with FM receivers to make it commercially viable back then. It was a home for niche formats, such as classical and jazz. Owners kept the FM's on the air in hopes they would one day be profitable. And, since there was no financial pressure to succeed, some stations took a chance on the free-form progressive rock that Rover loves so well. That was the format that inspired me to plunk down my 70 dollars (about 600 dollars in today's money) to buy an FM radio. Millions of kids like me did the same, and by the early 70's FM was viable.
The difference now is that there were only 5 or 10 AM stations in each major market then; but now there are 50 am and fm's in Market 5, and if a breakthrough format drew a viable audience, it would be on one of the main channels. Still, I'd love to hear an all-sousa, or a polka hits channel.
Maybe a bluegrass, Celtic or Ambient format would be enough to get me to plunk down the $$ to buy into HD. One day, some programmer will figure it out, and come up with a format, or formats compelling enough to bring the kids back to the radio.

g

 

[EbolaMonkey]

I wasn't aware HDTV had such a capability. Isn't that the FM band only?

If you have HDTV, or a digital receiver feeding your digital capable flat screen, then you'll discover HD-2's and even some HD-3's here locally. Mark Cuban used to offer his HDNet network on channel 21's HD-2, but that's no longer available.

Last I checked, channels 4 and 8 have weather radars on their HD-2's. Although I've seen that zoo guy from San Diego on Channel 8's HD-2 on the weekend. He has a show, apparently. And channel 5's HD-2 is a weather channel of sorts provided by NBC--with holes for local channel 5 weather drop-in's. Channel 33's HD-2 is an all music video station. And there's a kid's network called Qubo, I think, on channel 68's HD-2. Channel 8's HD-3 shows local still cameras from DFW airport and downtown Dallas.

 

[ropertex]

Channel 58 has FIVE channels



58.1 The local TBN channel (simulcasting the analog station)
58.2 The Church Channel
58.3 JCTV
58.4 Enlace USA
58.5 Smile of a Child

 

[TheRover]

The state of HD-FM is similar to where FM-Stereo was in the mid-60's. There weren't enough people with FM receivers to make it commercially viable back then. It was a home for niche formats, such as classical and jazz. Owners kept the FM's on the air in hopes they would one day be profitable. And, since there was no financial pressure to succeed, some stations took a chance on the free-form progressive rock that Rover loves so well. That was the format that inspired me to plunk down my 70 dollars (about 600 dollars in today's money) to buy an FM radio. Millions of kids like me did the same, and by the early 70's FM was viable.
The difference now is that there were only 5 or 10 AM stations in each major market then; but now there are 50 am and fm's in Market 5, and if a breakthrough format drew a viable audience, it would be on one of the main channels. Still, I'd love to hear an all-sousa, or a polka hits channel.
Maybe a bluegrass, Celtic or Ambient format would be enough to get me to plunk down the $$ to buy into HD. One day, some programmer will figure it out, and come up with a format, or formats compelling enough to bring the kids back to the radio.

g

I have had somewhat similar experiences. My parents had bought a Panasonic AM/FM Cassette portable radio in 1971. That's where I got to listen to KNUS-FM (KLIF-AM's Heavy Sister), late at night. I'm sure it cost over a hundred dollars. It washeavy, and it made to last many years. Although it had only one 5" speaker, the SPL was incredibly high, and it could take almost full volume before noticable distortion set in. It may have played in stereo through the headphone jacks, but that I cannot recall.

That FM experience led me to buy in 1972, at Radio Shack, and underdash FM ONLY/Cassette radio. I think I paid around $70 for that. I wish I had kept my receipt for it.

The station that I listened to the most that Summer of 1972, was 102.1 FM.

So, like the kids of today, I alternated between custom made cassettes, a few store bought cassettes. Only kids today use CDs or i-Pods.

All radio has to do is play lively and quality music. If what I hear played now on 102.1 is an example of quality, then the definition has changed.

That's why I would to see station dedicated to the Swing Bands throughout the years.
Not an emphasis on the pop vocals, or a hadnful of instrumentals. Legends AM-770 is already doing that. Just all the great groovin' and swingin's tunes from Jimmy Doresy, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and others. And go deep into Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass's Catatlog..

I know quality, and the "latest" thing is not what floats my boat, then or now.
That's what Fm originally brought us, an alternative to Hits Only/Pop Vocal radio.