Looking for any HD Radio sales figures.

[vsa]

How many HD Radios have been sold since the first HD Radio became available in January 2004? It has been 2.5 years, so there must be some figures out there somewhere.

This is a key question for and about HD Radio. I really want an answer in terms of hard numbers. Is it 1,000 radios sold? 10,000 radios sold? 100,000 radios sold? Why is the number of HD Radios sold such a closely-guarded secret? If it's not a secret, then someone should be able to get some sales figures.

It's been 2.5 years since HD Radios became available to the public. iBiquity made a huge deal about the first Kenwood HD Radio being sold to an Iowa man in January, 2004. They even held a big press conference for it.

I'm not looking for excuses or diversions. I simply want some NUMBERS!!! Considering the huge financial investment required by radio broadcasters, and the diversion of critical resources, I don't think that I'm alone in this request. I think all of us would like some answers.

This thread is now available for anyone in-the-know to post some sales figures. This is your opportunity to PROVE just how successful HD Radio already is. Remember, the first Kenwood HD Radios became available to the public in January 2004.

 

[IBOCRocks]

How many HD Radios have been sold since the first HD Radio became available in January 2004? It has been 2.5 years, so there must be some figures out there somewhere.

This is a key question for and about HD Radio. I really want an answer in terms of hard numbers. Is it 1,000 radios sold? 10,000 radios sold? 100,000 radios sold? Why is the number of HD Radios sold such a closely-guarded secret? If it's not a secret, then someone should be able to get some sales figures.

It's been 2.5 years since HD Radios became available to the public. iBiquity made a huge deal about the first Kenwood HD Radio being sold to an Iowa man in January, 2004. They even held a big press conference for it.

I'm not looking for excuses or diversions. I simply want some NUMBERS!!! Considering the huge financial investment required by radio broadcasters, and the diversion of critical resources, I don't think that I'm alone in this request. I think all of us would like some answers.

This thread is now available for anyone in-the-know to post some sales figures. This is your opportunity to PROVE just how successful HD Radio already is. Remember, the first Kenwood HD Radios became available to the public in January 2004.

Since the numbers aren't secret, why don't you go, find out, and report back to us. All you're trying to do is stir up an argument.

There aren't many radios sold yet. You know it, I know it, and everyone else here knows it. The only one "demanding" anything is you. I don't see any writings anywhere (other than you ) demanding any information on sales figures. As for a diversion of critical resources (which you haven't proven), you really have no valid position to make that assertion, unless you own a part of every broadcast company that is running IBOC. Barring that, you're just using, as usual, inflammitory language to spur a fight.

So what is your point, other than to start a flame-war?

 

[vsa]

IBOCROCKS WROTE: "Since the numbers aren't secret, why don't you go, find out, and report back to us.  All you're trying to do is stir up an argument."

Would you please tell me where anyone can get those non-secret numbers? Since you already indicate that you know where they are available, why don't you tell us about the numbers here. I'm hoping to learn about what HD Radio supporters says is the growing demand out there for these radios.

I'm not looking for an argument. I'm simply looking for some sales numbers. Period.

 

[IBOCRocks]

The other question I ask myself, other than why you're asking us to do your research, is why post this question here? If you speak for "many" about the serious allegation of "diversion of resources"...why are you not asking the heads of iBiquity, ClearChannel, Univision, Entercom, Cox, etc. and instead asking here on a message board?

Unless you're just picking fights. Which I really believe is your motive.

 

[IBOCRocks]

IBOCROCKS WROTE: "Since the numbers aren't secret, why don't you go, find out, and report back to us. All you're trying to do is stir up an argument."

Would you please tell me where anyone can get those non-secret numbers? Since you already indicate that you know where they are available, why don't you tell us about the numbers here. I'm hoping to learn about what HD Radio supporters says is the growing demand out there for these radios.

I'm not looking for an arguement. I'm simply looking for some sales numbers. Period.

Then by all means go and find them. Period.

 

[vsa]

No one at iBiquity seems to be talking. On the question of HD Radio sales figures, Robert Struble, iBiquity Digital CEO, answered Bis Now On Business this way in late June 2006:

-------------

(Q) How many people are currently listening to digital radio?

(A) "It’s tough to say. More than 800 radio stations across the country are now broadcasting digitally. There’s a station or two per day every day transitioning to digital. The receiver sales are just beginning to take off. A good number is probably tens of thousands of radios have been sold at this point."

http://www.bisnow.com/archives_ew/index_struble.html

-------------

That seems to be a bit of a vague answer. I'm hoping someone visiting here can offer more detailed information on HD Radio sales figures since January 2004.

 

[davideduardo]

No one at iBiquity seems to be talking.

It is not iBiquities job to count rados. XM and Sirius count 'em because they are subscriber based. HD is Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Since the roll-out started just a few days ago, you are just being absurd by asking how many receivers were sold. I tis likely we will never know, in fact. There is no reporting agency for radio sales... we don't know if a particular model "goes platinum" like we do with record sales.

The only thing that matters is whether the stations that have converted are happy. So far, we are.

 

[SUPERCASTER]

If the sales figures were good I'm sure HD supporters would be shouting good numbers from the rooftops, such as "100,000 sold", "HD Radio sales hit 50,000 mark", etc. They are keeping it quiet, so sales figures are likely to be very poor.
The bigger question is how many are RETURNED by disappointed consumers?
In spite of the fact that HD supporters are saying "promotion has just started" this is the 3rd or 4th ad campaign since sales of radios started two years ago in 2004.

 

[vsa]

DAVID WROTE: "It is not iBiquities job to count rados...Since the roll-out started just a few days ago, you are just being absurd by asking how many receivers were sold. I tis likely we will never know, in fact...The only thing that matters is whether the stations that have converted are happy. So far, we are."

So I take it then that you don't have a clue as to how many HD Radios have been sold since the first Kenwood HD Radio was sold in January 2004. I thought you knew everything!

David, do you expect that the really really real HD Radio roll-out will happen sometime next year? That way you'll again be able to insist that the really really real roll-out has only just begun - in the summer of 2007 - so it would be absurd to once again ask for some kind of sales figures?

Fully 2.5 years after the first sale of an HD Radio, I think it's fully appropriate to ask for some sort of sales figures. Does anybody know? Are we going to have to wait 5, 10, 15 or 20 years?

 

[davideduardo]

DAVID WROTE: "It is not iBiquities job to count rados...Since the roll-out started just a few days ago, you are just being absurd by asking how many receivers were sold. I tis likely we will never know, in fact...The only thing that matters is whether the stations that have converted are happy. So far, we are."

So I take it then that you don't have a clue as to how many HD Radios have been sold since the first Kenwood HD Radio was sold in January 2004.

David, do you expect that the really really real HD Radio roll-out will happen sometime next year? That way you'll again be able to posit that the really really real roll-out has only just begun - in the summer of 2007 - so it would be absurd to once again ask for some kind of sales figures?

Fully 2.5 years after the first sale of an HD Radio, I think it's fully appropriate to ask for some sort of sales figures. Does anybody know? Are we going to have to wait 5, 10, 15 or 20 years?

I don't care how many were sold in the two years that HD was under final development (the final AM codec was not finished till late last year and the firmware for broadcast is still being refined) since the original radios were basically brought out to satisfy an "insider demeand" so those of us working with HD could have something to listen on.

The HD conversion will take many years, just like the conversion from cassette to CD took about a decade; my first CD player cost $1400 and even 6 or 7 years after, a Walkman CD player was close to $200. Examples like this abound... I have an invoice for one of my earlier computers, an Apple II, and just the floppy drive was $545 and the whole thing, with a 9 inch monitor, was over $5 thousand dollars.

There are no sales figures, any more than there are sales figures for microwave ovens. Yes, there are industry sources that make estimates, but there is no verifiable data on consumer electroincs sales... so stop asking for something that does not exist!

Radio is not measured by number of radios. It is measured by ratings, by Arbitron. If the HD 2 channels start showing up in Arbitron, then we will know we are gaining a foothold. I expect some channels may start showing in the 36 to 48 month time frame, especially in markets that have a lot of ethnic diversity where niche formats will work very well and propel receiver sales. Remember, many of the early successful FMs were very niche, like the totally ethnic ones in Cleveland!

Also keep in mind that 3 years after FM stereo was authorized, there were less than 100 FM stereo staitons. We already have nearly 1050 HD stations on the ari, and HD2 channels in 68 of the top 100 markets. And the marketing campaign began August 1st, 2006. There was no advertising for it prior to that date directed at the consumer. Today, in the SkyMall catalong on American Airlines, I found two HD radios prominently featured, one on the inside cover!

Again, the HD strategy was to get stations on the air, get receiver manufacturers interested, introduce HD 2 (about 120 days ago) and then go with a huge radio campaign for free radio with more options. This took 15 years to develop, from the time Lucent (Bell Labs) started in, to today. Give it several years to start getting momentum. Radio is not in its death throes, so there is no need to have this happen in days and weeks... because it will take years. In radio´s core demos, 18-54, 94% of all Americans use radio, off about 1% from the 70's. And the time spent listening per person is off less than an hour a week.

In the meantime, satellite is in a major slowdown, and WiMax is several years from a national implementation taht can distribute radio on a different system.

 

[DanCon]

Obviously sales figures aren't going to be very high yet. It's a new technology, most manufacturers don't have their products on the market yet and the prices of the first generation products are still too high to reach critical mass. It's the same as with any new consumer electronics product, there's a natural introductory curve.

I concur with IBOCrocks -- it's obvious vsa and supercaster, you're either losing big money on your satellite stocks, you work for a competing technology or you're clinging to hope that HD will fail so you can keep up with your DX hobby. Nobody would spew such negativity about a promising new technology like this unless they had something personal at stake.

 

[vsa]

DAVID WROTE: I don't care how many were sold in the two years...The HD conversion will take many years...There are no sales figures, any more than there are sales figures for microwave ovens. Yes, there are industry sources that make estimates, but there is no verifiable data on consumer electroincs sales... so stop asking for something that does not exist!"

You follow your Arbitron ratings in great detail and you don't care at all if there are any HD Radios out there and how well they're selling? Or if they are even selling at all?

You don't care? Really?

DANCON WROTE: "Obviously sales figures aren't going to be very high yet. It's a new technology, most manufacturers don't have their products on the market yet and the prices of the first generation products are still too high to reach critical mass...it's obvious vsa and supercaster, you're either losing big money on your satellite stocks, you work for a competing technology or you're clinging to hope that HD will fail so you can keep up with your DX hobby. Nobody would spew such negativity about a promising new technology like this unless they had something personal at stake."

I'm simply asking for some sales figures. That's being negative?

I don't having anything at stake financially and I'm not really a DX'er. I work at a high level in the radio industry and am flabbergasted that some of my peers aren't asking some very basic questions that any executive would or should ask about his comany's investment in HD Radio.

Nobody has answered my question yet, so I'll ask it again.

How many HD Radios have been sold since the first HD Radio became available in January 2004? It was purchased by a man in Iowa and iBiquity made a very big deal of it back then. It has been 2.5 years, so there must be some figures out there somewhere. Is it 1,000 radios sold? 10,000 radios sold? 100,000 radios sold? Anybody know?

 

[DanCon]

>>Nobody has answered my question yet, so I'll ask it again.

Actually, I think I did, in general terms:

Obviously sales figures aren't going to be very high yet...

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Obviously sales figures aren't going to be very high yet. It's a new technology, most manufacturers don't have their products on the market yet and the prices of the first generation products are still too high to reach critical mass. It's the same as with any new consumer electronics product, there's a natural introductory curve.

I concur with IBOCrocks -- it's obvious vsa and supercaster, you're either losing big money on your satellite stocks, you work for a competing technology or you're clinging to hope that HD will fail so you can keep up with your DX hobby. Nobody would spew such negativity about a promising new technology like this unless they had something personal at stake.

All lies, all the time!
It is obvious that you know nothing about the individuals you are criticizing, so why not put away your tarot cards and stop playing with your crystal balls. You are not psychic.

 

[vsa]

DANCON WROTE: "Obviously sales figures aren't going to be very high yet....Actually, I think I did, in general terms..."

No. You did not answer my question at all. I'm looking for some sales figures. It's really a very simple request.

 

[SUPERCASTER]

DANCON WROTE: "Obviously sales figures aren't going to be very high yet....Actually, I think I did, in general terms..."

No. You did not answer my question at all. I'm looking for some sales figures. It's really a very simple request.

And the answer is....
They are too ashamed to have spent all that money on a defective, obsolete, expensive technology that almost no one wants or is interested in buying.

 

[autopaint-1]

"And the answer is....
They are too ashamed to have spent all that money on a defective, obsolete, expensive technology that almost no one wants or is interested in buying."

Boy oh boy, if I had to guess reading the repetitive use of certain key words here I would swear I was reading a page from the wrath of Kahn. If not, it's his clone.

 

[davideduardo]

Re: There are no sales figures and will be none

DANCON WROTE: "Obviously sales figures aren't going to be very high yet....Actually, I think I did, in general terms..."

No. You did not answer my question at all. I'm looking for some sales figures. It's really a very simple request.

There are no sales figures. Nlo line of consumer electronics has sales figures. There are guesses by investment analysts, etc., but no figures. In fact, there are no more figures for HD than there are for top loading clothes washers.

Stop asking for something the consumer electronics industry, mostly Chinese, does not give out.

 

[davideduardo]

You follow your Arbitron ratings in great detail and you don't care at all if there are any HD Radios out there and how well they're selling? Or if they are even selling at all?

You don't care? Really?

DANCON WROTE: "Obviously sales figures aren't going to be very high yet. It's a new technology, most manufacturers don't have their products on the market yet and the prices of the first generation products are still too high to reach critical mass...it's obvious vsa and supercaster, you're either losing big money on your satellite stocks, you work for a competing technology or you're clinging to hope that HD will fail so you can keep up with your DX hobby. Nobody would spew such negativity about a promising new technology like this unless they had something personal at stake."

I'm simply asking for some sales figures. That's being negative?

I don't having anything at stake financially and I'm not really a DX'er. I work at a high level in the radio industry and am flabbergasted that some of my peers aren't asking some very basic questions that any executive would or should ask about his comany's investment in HD Radio.

Nobody has answered my question yet, so I'll ask it again.

How many HD Radios have been sold since the first HD Radio became available in January 2004? It was purchased by a man in Iowa and iBiquity made a very big deal of it back then. It has been 2.5 years, so there must be some figures out there somewhere. Is it 1,000 radios sold? 10,000 radios sold? 100,000 radios sold? Anybody know?

Radio is ratings driven. We do not care to spend time looking for something that does not exist; sales figures for HD radios.

HD is a very long term plan to revitalize radio, and we are looking at 3 to 5 years for any positive effect... it is enough right now to talk about it to regain an element of "cool" that analog radio did not have. We are talking about changing perceptios as the first goal, while the actual hardware may talke quite a long time to go down in price and get critical mass. In the mean time, we can talk about being digital, we can talk about the available new channels, and then each time a person needs a radio, we hope they will opt for one with HD.

Please stop referring to 2004 as a start date. I have said over and over that the original couple of radios were put on sale to satisfy demand from station engineers and staff. HD MARKETING TO THE CONSUMER BEGAN 8-1-2006. That is 2 weeks ago.

There are no sales figures.

 

[IBOCRocks]

I work at a high level in the radio industry and am flabbergasted that some of my peers aren't asking some very basic questions that any executive would or should ask about his comany's investment in HD Radio.

Then I ask you again. If you are who you present yourself to be, why are you asking your questions here? This is not the group of people that can do anything, even if the impossible happens and you convert us all.

You're trying to start arguments. Plain and simple.

If you're flabbergasted with your peers, tell them. I assure you that if you're at the level you say you are, your peers aren't here.