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Lubbock Townsquare Radio Stations going HD?

E

EggsOverEasy87

I'm not trying to stir up rumors or anything but does anyone know if this is true?

Today I was looking at car stereos and a worker in the store was trying to sell me a Pioneer car stereo that cost an arm and a leg and had a built in HD Radio. We got into a conversation about HD radio and he made two odd claims:

1. That the FCC is requiring all stations to be HD by the end of 2014 or 2015.

and 2. All Townsquare stations in Lubbock (FMX, Blake, Kiss, etc.) would be in HD by the end of the Summer.

I do not believe the first claim. I have not read anything about the FCC requiring stations to go HD by a certain date. In fact, I am starting to hear about stations that are shutting off their HD signal...AM stations in particular.

But is the second claim about Lubbock stations going HD true?
 
I've not heard anything about it, so I cannot confirm or deny, but it seems very far-fetched on the face of it.

There's no compelling reason for them to go HD, and as Chuck pointed out, there's no FCC mandate for it.

I say it's far-fetched for several reasons:
- It's very expensive to go HD, even if they managed a group buy on transmitters. I wouldn't accuse Townsquare of having the problem of needing to blow huge sums of cash with so little financial return. The reality is exactly the opposite.
- What do they gain by doing so? There's not enough HD receivers in Lubbock to represent a serious threat to the analog side.
- Besides, HD receivers are hard to come by in this town. The only place they are available are at the car dealerships, and only then are they available in select new-model cars. Why build a signal that so very few could receive?
- They have enough problems with the 6 analog signals they already have. I seriously doubt that multicasting is something they're looking to get into.

Methinks you were probably talking to a sales guy looking to score a big-ticket sale.

I can tell you that Townsquare has added RDBS to all 4 of their FMs, but a quick scan of the AM and FM dials shows KTTZ-FM is still the one and only HD Radio signal available in Lubbock.
 
Most stations/groups adding HD today to FM's are doing it to add a new signal, by using a translator for an HD2 or HD 3 station,,they can use it for another station, or use it to try to strip numbers from a station in the market, without having to use a full power station to do so
 
DG said:
Methinks you were probably talking to a sales guy looking to score a big-ticket sale.
Click to expand...

I agree with this 100%. And he was unsuccessful :). He lost all credibility with me when he said the FCC was making all radio stations go HD. The FCC forcing consumers in America to go buy new radios for their cars/homes so they can continue listening to the radio sounded absurd to be.
 
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