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KTWV HD-2 // KNX 1070

How many people do you know who actually own an HD Radio? Hasn't the industry figured out by now that the time for HD came and went, and hardly anyone noticed? This is a revenue-challenged business; companies aren't investing in things like HD expansion at the expense of primary channels and websites. Consequently, KNX...which has its own HD channel...gets rebroadcast on a KTWV secondary channel.
 
Shoot From Hip said:
How many people do you know who actually own an HD Radio? Hasn't the industry figured out by now that the time for HD came and went, and hardly anyone noticed? This is a revenue-challenged business; companies aren't investing in things like HD expansion at the expense of primary channels and websites. Consequently, KNX...which has its own HD channel...gets rebroadcast on a KTWV secondary channel.
Click to expand...

Has the time for HD radio "came and went?" You could be right...but that would be too bad, because it has potential. When my car stereo died, I bought an new unit with HD, mostly because it was only $20 more than the same unit without HD. I enjoy the variety of new channels...the digital read out of title and artist, and the lack of commercials.

I wasn't quite ready to commit to the monthly fees required by satellite radio...I don't spend that much time in the car, and my music listening at home is primarily CDs and MP3.

HD radio is a good alternative. Less variety than satellite, obviously, but its free.
 
Re-- "came and went":

Week in and week out, the HD Radio Alliance has been jockeying for position with Home Depot and GEICO as the single biggest advertiser on radio for most of the last two years. What kind of traction has it created? They would have been better off using those millions (unfortunately, most of which was "in kind" dollars) to subsidize the price of the devices...probably would have been a better use of the dough. Even for free people don't seem to be embracing this technology...why do you suppose that is?
 
RE: Even for free people don't seem to be embracing this technology...why do you suppose that is?

(1) It's a new twist on an old technology. Younger consumers are probably not interested.

(2) Consumers don't understand (Hybrid Digital) HD. They probably associate HD with television. Wrong emphasis on "HD". Not enough emphasis on multi-channel casting.

(3) No compelling reason to buy HD radio unlike television which is ending analog transmission. The TV picture in HD is vastly better. The new HD radio sound isn't that much better than analog is on FM. I don't think anybody much cares about improved fidelity on AM although I like it.
 
lalf said:
RE: Even for free people don't seem to be embracing this technology...why do you suppose that is?

(1) It's a new twist on an old technology. Younger consumers are probably not interested.

(2) Consumers don't understand (Hybrid Digital) HD. They probably associate HD with television. Wrong emphasis on "HD". Not enough emphasis on multi-channel casting.

(3) No compelling reason to buy HD radio unlike television which is ending analog transmission. The TV picture in HD is vastly better. The new HD radio sound isn't that much better than analog is on FM. I don't think anybody much cares about improved fidelity on AM although I like it.
Click to expand...

Obviously, HD is not the "magic bullet" to try to retain or gain listeners. Sure, it's digital but it is not the "end all" for radio's obvious current issues. A lot of it, is with programming, not whether it is in HD, "digital" or not. The AM version of "HD" is hardly "FM like". It sounds kind of brash and the high end frequency response is artificially enhanced, and sounds it too. The FM version is not really that "enhanced" as compared to conventional analog FM. Considering the limited coverage area, I find it to be hardly worth the investment. I've had an HD radio for the past three years. In my local area, other than the HD-2 of Boston's WROR, "Nothing But the 70's", I've found nothing really all that great to invest anything more into HD radios.

I do like "K-EARTH Classics", heard on KRTH's HD-2 and on the web. Anytime I'm visiting LA and Orange County, K-EARTH 101 is always preset on my radio. It sounds great on the computer as well!

73,

Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts
 
My guess is that if you are in building downtown and can't stream, HD probably comes in better than the KNX AM signal.
 
Throughout the SF Bay Area....the HD2 stations generally come in as loud and clear as the HD1 stations they are attached to. I don't find the coverage area for HD2 any more limited than that of regular FM.

I wouldn't have gone out and spent $200 just to get HD radio either. But I needed a new car stereo in any case, and the HD model was almost the same price - only $20 additional.

The terrestrial broadcasters should get together and make deals with the automakers, like Sirius and XM have done. As far as I know, only BMW is now advertising HD radio on their models.
 
Back to an earlier part of this discussion...let's say at some point HD Radio gains the same market share at Sirius-XM. That number of listeners...spread over hundreds of signals...will not justify investment in the programming and will not justify whatever ad rates the stations attempt to extract from advertisers.
 
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