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KUHA: Still in limbo

JoeFM said:
Of course, all this will go away in a year or two after the TV bands are repacked. In the meantime, the Google Voice number for JoeFM is full of voice mail and texts from hundreds of people that love hearing the music corporate radio refuses to play. Enjoy it while it lasts...
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Yes, but what you have now allows you to showcase your concept and build an audience. When change comes, you can bring your audience with you.
 
JoeFM said:
Robert, I recently had a chance to acquire a translator. After much consideration, I turned it down. The cost of acquisition was reasonable, but not the cost of operation. You can't originate programming. All you can do is pay thousands monthly to lease a HD subchannel from another station, then repeat it.
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I would have gotten it. Many more people still have FM radios than TVs with antennas, and you can't listen to JoeFM over the air while driving can you?

It's just mind-boggling to me that whole clusters like Cox in San Antonio have their HD2 signals retransmitting other HD1 stations in the same cluster. I think those signals are a waste, as for one they aren't being used to feed translators, and another thing they don't even sound good like their analog counterparts.
If Cox decided to lease those extra signals to other people to feed translators for something cheap like $500 or $1000 a month, we'd have more variety on the dial. Doesn't that sound better than the extra digital signal that's not needed, running for no one?

I still believe you will do great with JoeTV, however. :) I agree with Robert, you can move to another signal if/when the time comes to leave digital TV. I'd say go online, but then your station will get lost among the countless others online doing the same thing.
 
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I would hate to see KSBJ unload the Sugarland translator. For a translator, it is a monster that even has some coverage in Cypress. It definitely would fill in a hole in KUHA coverage, which will trail off in Sugarland.
 
UH has never had any intention of turning KUHF over to students. That would require UH to start paying for it. Under the current arrangement, KUHF pays almost all of its expenses, about two million a year. My understanding is that UH only pays the electricity bills. KUHF pays everything else with membership drives, underwrite announcement fees and a little federal money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. KUHF continues to be a goose that lays golden eggs for UH at almost no expense to UH.
 
robertsez said:
Far be it for University of Houston to put the needs of students first. They haven't done so in decades.
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The issue at many other colleges is that only a very small percentage of the students are interested in radio or the format, but the entire student body would have to pay. That's been seen as unfair, so that's why so many college radio stations have been sold.
 
Surprised that Houston Public Media didn't consider rebroadcasting XPoNential Radio that's on the HD-3 channel on 91.7 instead last year. That may have generated a few dollars in pledges from hundreds of listeners, especially the younger demographics that the service targets. It could make Public Radio relevant to the Millennial generation.

Hopefully KSBJ Foundation will add an HD transmitter to 91.7 since it has a slightly better signal in-town and in West/SW Houston.
 
TheBigA said:
Assuming millennials have any interest in HD radio.
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Umm XPoNential radio on KUHA, which last I checked does not broadcast in HD.

Analog radio is outdated in the age of digital everything anyway. Radio broadcasting beats paying for your data allowance on top of voice/text service. $100/month vs FREE!?! Which is better?

Of course Cable TV and Mobile Phone companies have been colluding to end free broadcasting in order make sure everyone is forced to buy their services. DTV, the repacking, ATSC 3.0, et al. was an appeasement to both special interests, especially for the latter.
 
KTN Corp said:
Umm XPoNential radio on KUHA, which last I checked does not broadcast in HD.

Analog radio is outdated in the age of digital everything anyway. Radio broadcasting beats paying for your data allowance on top of voice/text service. $100/month vs FREE!?! Which is better?

Of course Cable TV and Mobile Phone companies have been colluding to end free broadcasting in order make sure everyone is forced to buy their services. DTV, the repacking, ATSC 3.0, et al. was an appeasement to both special interests, especially for the latter.
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HD FM has well documented technical problems which make it frustrating to use, and therefore not acceptable to people that demand reliability. The worst of which is HD-2 dropouts to dead silence which last for several seconds. The "stations between the stations" are not reliable enough for listeners to enjoy them. KSBJ knows this all too well - which is why they want a reliable signal for NGEN. The same reliability issues also apply to HD-1, but most listeners never notice because at least HD-1 falls back to analog - not silence. I suspect most people cannot hear the difference between analog and HD. The only way I can is to have better equipment than most people. In any case - a ridiculous 4 inch "woofer" in a table radio or the stock stereo / speaker systems in cars just aren't up to the challenge of reproducing the sound difference between HD and analog. Otherwise, you would have many more consumer complaints about their radios switching between digital quality and analog quality.
 
KTN Corp said:
$100/month vs FREE!?! Which is better?
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My point was not which is better. My point is that millennials have not shown any interest in HD radio, regardless of the programming that is available.

So just putting a service that targets millennial on HD will not automatically attract them as listeners or as paying members.

Looking at the playlist for XPoNential radio, it doesn't target millennials at all. It targets boomers. They play Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and lots of other older folkies. The audience for this music is over 65.
 
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TheBigA said:
Assuming millennials have any interest in HD radio.
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They would have the same interest as any other radio consumer in this day and age.

People (of any age) don't really go looking for radios anymore. It's part of devices they're buying for other reasons. I doubt many car buying decisions are made simply because a particular model comes HD Radio equipped.

But if the cars they buy happen to have HD Radio tuners in them, millennials are probably as likely as anyone else to listen.

I can tell you for certain that an HD Radio simulcast of one of Houston's AM sports stations has significant listenership. The audience estimates for the HD subchannel are combined with the AM station by Nielsen each month, but I see the breakouts. Same content, without the interference from power lines, etc. The HD Radio signal of this particular station broadcasts with significantly more power than most HD Radio stations, so dropouts are a non-issue. Why wouldn't listeners with HD equipped cars listen to that instead of suffering through the noise plagued AM?

The amazing thing is this HD simulcast isn't promoted in any way, outside the top of the hour legal ID, yet a significant number of listeners are finding and listening to it.

And there are unique formats on HD in Houston. The 50s-60s-70s oldies that disappeared from the analog dial still live on HD, as does Smooth Jazz. There's high energy dance and Texas country too. With KUHA's pending flip, classical will be on HD2.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
HD FM has well documented technical problems which make it frustrating to use, and therefore not acceptable to people that demand reliability. The worst of which is HD-2 dropouts to dead silence which last for several seconds. The "stations between the stations" are not reliable enough for listeners to enjoy them. KSBJ knows this all too well - which is why they want a reliable signal for NGEN. The same reliability issues also apply to HD-1, but most listeners never notice because at least HD-1 falls back to analog - not silence. I suspect most people cannot hear the difference between analog and HD. The only way I can is to have better equipment than most people. In any case - a ridiculous 4 inch "woofer" in a table radio or the stock stereo / speaker systems in cars just aren't up to the challenge of reproducing the sound difference between HD and analog. Otherwise, you would have many more consumer complaints about their radios switching between digital quality and analog quality.
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People said that about ATSC was inferior to NTSC during the simulcasting period. I guess that you prefer fuzzy analog with a color and stereo overlay over 1080i with Dolby Digital sound? Hipsters keep saying that hissy vinyl is superior to CDs, which is utter nonsense in the same vein as your analog FM vs. HD screed. I suspect that HD radio would improve in performance once the hybrid part goes away and becomes all digital. Then the bandwidth will be confined in their channel, just like the simulcasting was taking up too much bandwidth (and the digital companion channels were criticized as "giveaways" by self-appointed government "watchdogs").

KSBJ is a bad example to bring up because of its low HAAT and rimshot location in Plum Grove, TX. The Missouri City sticks deliver a reliable signal to my Insignia table radio at home in Cinco Ranch and driving around the Westside of Houston in my Kia Soul. Right now they can only deliver 1 kW max due to current FCC regulations. We'll see when it becomes all-digital at 100 kW how reliable HD can be. You can tell if you're listening to analog vs. HD on a table or car radio. Analog is very hissy because of the continuous hum and heavily bassy, slightly lower volume along with the inferior stereo subcarrier system, while digital is crisp and clean and reproduces sounds at the proper frequencies.
 
KTN Corp said:
KSBJ is a bad example to bring up because of its low HAAT and rimshot location in Plum Grove, TX. The Missouri City sticks deliver a reliable signal to my Insignia table radio at home in Cinco Ranch and driving around the Westside of Houston in my Kia Soul. Right now they can only deliver 1 kW max due to current FCC regulations. We'll see when it becomes all-digital at 100 kW how reliable HD can be. You can tell if you're listening to analog vs. HD on a table or car radio. Analog is very hissy because of the continuous hum and heavily bassy, slightly lower volume along with the inferior stereo subcarrier system, while digital is crisp and clean and reproduces sounds at the proper frequencies.
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I agree that KSBJ is a poor example of HD Radio performance in many parts of Houston. It's a poor example of analog radio performance too.

The FCC approved elevated HD power levels several years ago. Most Houston stations are still broadcasting at -20 dBc, which is 1kW of digital power for a 100kW FM, but some have cranked up to -14 dBc, which is 4kW of digital power. The Commission has actually authorized -10 dBc operation in some circumstances, which is 10kW of digital for a 100kW FM.

I doubt we'll ever see 100kW digital. It would be kinda pointless. The 4kW of IBOC carries about as far as analog FM, and has very good building penetration. Based on the performance at 4kW, I suspect 10kW would exceed the analog coverage by a bit, and offer better building penetration.
 
KUHA is now running TOH announcements that the Classical format is "Moving to an all digital format in June" and mentions the ways to listen and website references. So it seems that Houston Public Media still expects the sale to close on time.
 
Yes, and thank you Joe for doing the right thing and dropping that petition to deny, as well as taking the steps you did to help expedite the transfer's removal from that review docket.

91-7 should hopefully be running N-GEN programming within the next couple of weeks.

Steven, the PSIP has read "Classical" instead of "91-7" for a little over 6 weeks.
 
The "91.7" has been dropped from KUHA's on-air announcements as well. Now referring to themselves as "Houston Public Media Classical." I had guessed "HPM Classical" a few months back, so I guess I wasn't far off.

Nothing new on either the KSBJ or NGEN websites yet, so I guess they are not yet ready to announce a launch date for NGEN on 91.7.

Keep an eye out for a new call for 91.7. Still plenty available in the K*BJ letter combo. Unless Purpledevil hits the mark with his KNGN-FM" guess.
 
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