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NBC 5/Dallas Says HD Radio Unpopular In The Big D

What they can't find, I'm sure, is a person who KNOWS they have it. HD is in so many new products now, that it's frankly impossible that "nobody in Dallas has it". Check that. In a few months, there won't be a market in America, whether there are local HD stations or not, that don't have LOTS of the radios out there. Buy an inexpensive car radio, a Home Theater receiver, a docking unit for your Ipod (yes, there are models with HD!), a new car of certain brands (with more to come), a quality table radio, an executive shelf system, or one of many other products, from hundreds of distributors, including as far as I can tell ALL of the major-national consumer electronics products, and YOU'VE GOT HD! Silly proposition, (that "nobody has it) actually. Not so silly six months ago. Now, simply not possible, unless people in Dallas also don't have the above products.

I'll bet if the question was asked a different way, rather than "you don't have an HD radio, do you?" ask "HEY, you've got one of those great new HD radios, don't you?" the polling of exactly the same people would reveal completely different results. No, that's not wishful thinking. ANY pollster knows that it's all in HOW you ask the question! "Could you see yourself voting for that nice John Edwards?" vs. "You wouldn't vote for that John Edwards after you found out about his illegitimate love-child, could you?"

The only way to measure sales is to MEASURE SALES! There are two ways to "measure" Wal Mart's sales. One is to ask Wal Mart shoppers "did you buy this? Did you buy that?" as you go through the entire list of products they sell. The other is to check sales receipts AND ACTUALLY MEASURE WHAT WAS SOLD!

Particularly when it comes to technology, Americans have NO FREAKIN' IDEA WHAT THEY WANT! I'd wager that if you asked my wife "Do you have an upconverting DVD player in your home?" and "Can you play HD-DVDs at home now?" Her answer to the first would be "no", and to the second would be "yes". And BOTH ANSWERS WOULD BE WRONG!
 
Slow news day at KXAS. I bet I could poll quite a few people and find that none of them watch local TV news.

Typical TV filler fluff. Unscientific poll, one interview source, KHKS gets some free promotion. Yawn...
 
Radioman100 said:
Slow news day at KXAS. I bet I could poll quite a few people and find that none of them watch local TV news.

Typical TV filler fluff. Unscientific poll, one interview source, KHKS gets some free promotion. Yawn...
Click to expand...
Justify, justify...
 
"Justify, justify"??? That doesn't exactly mitigate ANY of what Radioman100 said.

By the way...if someone makes a claim, it's up to them to prove their point, not up to others to disprove it!
 
I spent Monday and Tuesday in Dallas, and asked one of the most average-looking people that happened to be near me in the smoker's
area.

I asked if he had heard of HD radio, had any interest or likelihood of buying one.

My one-shot regular-guy ( for Dallas ) completely unscientific poll was thumbs-down.

Dallas Fort worth is particularly huge, with many business-center hubs sprinkled about, making commutes far and wide.
Metro-PLEX, they calls it.

These tall flat buildings are multipath hell I bet. ( Dallas natives?)

WBAP now sounds like a 250w daytimer from 30 miles out on a winter day back in the old days.
What a disgrace.


Dallas, geographically, is going to be a tough market for HD to do well in.
 
Careful Mike! I wouldn't want to see you get "tag teamed" by the all important Racket. They're so influential they have to plan that stuff on their own little chat board.

On the other hand, if you've never been dressed down by wannabes before, you may enjoy it. It certainly gave me some good laughs when I had my go-round with them.
 
The Racket has a wicked anti HD bias, no doubt. However I appeared with Bob Savage and was treated fairly and was given ample time to speak. They were very fair. They are also AMAZINGLY anti HD.

However the reason I cose to post on this threadis..

This thread is the epitome of the anti HD radio propaganda machine. If you actually WATCH THE STORY, it is GLOWING. It gushes as almost a paid for advertising piece. HOWEVER if you read the report on it in this thread, it's "Unpopular". The word popular was not actually used in the story or the recap as best as I can tell. Nor did I see any sign of a "poll".. I did see that NBC5 (read that the reporter, NOT the station) and the KIIS PD "Could not find a person with an HD radio.

For the life of me I can not understand the maniacal fervor that the anti people have to make themselves look so silly by just making stuff up, distorting easily documentable information and basically just misleading people.

Three words my friends.

WATCH THE REPORT.

Slow news day - Yep.

A live parking lot "Puff piece" passing as news - Yep

Unpopular? - Never used the word in the story.

No way you could characterize this report as negative.

Clouseau
 
In this never ending holy war between the small faction who believe that HD is wicked and evil, and the small faction who believe that HD is holy and blessed......

The truth, as usual, lies someplace in the middle, where most of us live on this matter. ;)
 
Clouseau:

They may be somewhat cordial on their little webcast. I personally wouldn't know.

Take a gander at their chat board sometime. It really gives new meaning to juvenile and vitriolic. Mike Walker tipped me off to the fact that I'm one of their favorite topics. They call me "Headinass100."

You might expect such childishness from some mere visitors, but I'm talking about the proprietors. It gives you keen insight into who they really are.
 
Dighton Rockhead said:
In this never ending holy war between the small faction who believe that HD is wicked and evil, and the small faction who believe that HD is holy and blessed......

The truth, as usual, lies someplace in the middle, where most of us live on this matter. ;)
Click to expand...

Very true. The lovers and the haters make up say 1%. The remaining 99% where everyone else can be found just simply don't give a damn. Again... the product's been out for over 2 years now and 99% of people just don't give a damn either way. HD radio is a failure in every aspect of the word.

I can't buy the argument that if you have it and don't know it that's better than not having it at all. Some people have AIDS and don't know it either... does that mean they're going to like it when they find out they have it?
 
Radioman100 said:
Clouseau:

They may be somewhat cordial on their little webcast. I personally wouldn't know.

Take a gander at their chat board sometime. It really gives new meaning to juvenile and vitriolic. Mike Walker tipped me off to the fact that I'm one of their favorite topics. They call me "Headinass100."

You might expect such childishness from some mere visitors, but I'm talking about the proprietors. It gives you keen insight into who they really are.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't know because you haven't called in. The invitation is still open, as it is to anyone - pro or anti HD. Not that we care if you participate or not, but the point is that we welcome opposing points of view. Clouseau called in and we had a good discussion with the man, and all parties somehow survived.

Here's a keen insight to who we really are - three former and current broadcasters with experience in all areas of the business and most formats. Two of us have worked in major market radio as well. We routinely have notable people in and out of the industry listening to the show, as well as many well-known guests. This Friday night for instance, we'll be chatting with the legendary disc jockey Jackson Armstrong.

Thanks for checking out the Radio Racket message board and for listening to the show.
 
Wow, that was very tactful for someone that called me "Headinass100" earlier today on that message board.

You really should have included all that experience in your bios on the site. When I glanced over it all I got was here's a few has beens and a few never wases.
 
RoscoeBrowning said:
I can't buy the argument that if you have it and don't know it that's better than not having it at all. Some people have AIDS and don't know it either... does that mean they're going to like it when they find out they have it?
Click to expand...

Congrats, Roscoe. Even the most myopic or ridiculous have never played the "HD Radio and Aids" card before.

Honestly now. Do you really think this type of absolute garbage enhances you position?

What drives people to try and equate HD radio to AIDS.

Dude, that's just not right.

Clouseau
 
Radioman100 said:
Clouseau:

They may be somewhat cordial on their little webcast. I personally wouldn't know.

Take a gander at their chat board sometime. It really gives new meaning to juvenile and vitriolic....

You might expect such childishness from some mere visitors, but I'm talking about the proprietors. It gives you keen insight into who they really are.
Click to expand...

I must admit I was never THERE before. The board is "Enlightening". Kinda has that "9th Grade Boys Room" feel to it.

George seemed opinionated, but professional, when I talked to him. I'm a little surprised he would tolerate or endorse stuff like the language and personal mockery BS. I'm usually pretty good with the first impressions. Looks like this time I was wrong.

Clouseau
 
Mike Walker said:
What they can't find, I'm sure, is a person who KNOWS they have it. HD is in so many new products now, that it's frankly impossible that "nobody in Dallas has it". Check that. In a few months, there won't be a market in America, whether there are local HD stations or not, that don't have LOTS of the radios out there. Buy an inexpensive car radio, a Home Theater receiver, a docking unit for your Ipod (yes, there are models with HD!), a new car of certain brands (with more to come), a quality table radio, an executive shelf system, or one of many other products, from hundreds of distributors, including as far as I can tell ALL of the major-national consumer electronics products, and YOU'VE GOT HD! Silly proposition, (that "nobody has it) actually. Not so silly six months ago. Now, simply not possible, unless people in Dallas also don't have the above products.

I'll bet if the question was asked a different way, rather than "you don't have an HD radio, do you?" ask "HEY, you've got one of those great new HD radios, don't you?" the polling of exactly the same people would reveal completely different results. No, that's not wishful thinking. ANY pollster knows that it's all in HOW you ask the question! "Could you see yourself voting for that nice John Edwards?" vs. "You wouldn't vote for that John Edwards after you found out about his illegitimate love-child, could you?"

The only way to measure sales is to MEASURE SALES! There are two ways to "measure" Wal Mart's sales. One is to ask Wal Mart shoppers "did you buy this? Did you buy that?" as you go through the entire list of products they sell. The other is to check sales receipts AND ACTUALLY MEASURE WHAT WAS SOLD!

Particularly when it comes to technology, Americans have NO FREAKIN' IDEA WHAT THEY WANT! I'd wager that if you asked my wife "Do you have an upconverting DVD player in your home?" and "Can you play HD-DVDs at home now?" Her answer to the first would be "no", and to the second would be "yes". And BOTH ANSWERS WOULD BE WRONG!
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right Mike, guess where I found it? Right in my vacuum cleaner! can you imagine that? I've wondered why the vacuum cleaner has sounded so noisy ever since I first bought it and why it had such a short cord, but I read your post today, started checking around and guess what? it has IBOC in it!
You know my air conditioner had also been making a loud whooshing noise since I bought it and you can't really hear anything else in it's vicinity when it's on and you can only feel it from a few feet, I checked it too today, and Lo and behold, it's got IBOC in it too! I'll check all my other underachieving appliances and let you know what I've found tomorrow.
Yup I think you're on to something there Mike, all the IBOC has been put into home appliances because it certainly isn't in the radios of anyone I know.
What's that Hendrix song? Castles made of sand, fall in the sea, eventually
 
clouseau said:
I must admit I was never THERE before. The board is "Enlightening". Kinda has that "9th Grade Boys Room" feel to it.

George seemed opinionated, but professional, when I talked to him. I'm a little surprised he would tolerate or endorse stuff like the language and personal mockery BS. I'm usually pretty good with the first impressions. Looks like this time I was wrong.

Clouseau
Click to expand...

9th grade? I wouldn't give them that much credit. It reminds me more of elementary school, but with coarse language.
 
My elementary school HAD coarse language, Radioman100. It's where I first saw the "F" word (and I don't mean "frankfurter")...scribbled on the wall of the Boys Room. It was a funny little word, so I went around saying it, and asking people what it meant. The teacher wasn't amused. Funny how we can get "in trouble" for words. The idea that certain words are "bad", while others are "good" is kind of strange, since human beings created both (bad AND good). Also the evolution of words interests me.

For example the "F" word may be considered "bad" now, but in centuries past, it's the way that lower-income people in England referred to sex. It was neither bad, nor good...just the word for the deed. But it was strictly what "lower-class" working familys called sex. And with the class system in Britain, "f###" became thought of as a "low-class" word. Not too hard to see how it eventually morphed into being considered "dirty", because it's not something that people "with our breeding" would say! Apparently all that's needed for a word to eventually be considered "bad" is for it to be embraced by poor people!
 
clouseau said:
Honestly now. Do you really think this type of absolute garbage enhances you position?
Click to expand...

It doesn't have to. We've already presented enough evidence that HD radio is dead. Radioman100 (and you to a lesser extent, Clouseau) are just way too stubburn to see the writing on the wall. Do you think Quad-FM still has a chance, too? How about AM stereo? The public wasn't interested in those technologies and they're not interested in HD.

Again... there were less HD radios sold than the number of actual Arbitron radio markets on QVC, which according to the HD radio alliance was going to be the turning point for the product. No wonder they can't find people with the radios. That by itself says it all.

There's a lifeboat here for the both of you... or would you rather stay on the sinking ship? Time's just about out. It's ok to admit you're wrong. We won't hold it against you.
 
RoscoeBrowning said:
It doesn't have to. We've already presented enough evidence that HD radio is dead. Radioman100 (and you to a lesser extent, Clouseau) are just way too stubburn to see the writing on the wall. Do you think Quad-FM still has a chance, too? How about AM stereo? The public wasn't interested in those technologies and they're not interested in HD.

Again... there were less HD radios sold than the number of actual Arbitron radio markets on QVC, which according to the HD radio alliance was going to be the turning point for the product. No wonder they can't find people with the radios. That by itself says it all.

There's a lifeboat here for the both of you... or would you rather stay on the sinking ship? Time's just about out. It's ok to admit you're wrong. We won't hold it against you.
Click to expand...

Lifeboat? Admit we're wrong? And they call the Commission arrogant!

The simple fact of the matter is the fate of HD Radio won't be decided by a little internet gossip show about radio. I realize you guys may occasionally run out of people to slander and need an intellectually lazy easy target to fill time. HD Radio is a natural target because the radio industry has set itself up for failure with an anemic marketing campaign, and I dare say most GMs and programmers do not want it to steal even a small fraction of their established cume.

That said, there are people in higher places than GMs and PDs, and those people have chosen to invest significant money in HD Radio technology. Sooner or later, they'll want to see a return on investment, and they will establish benchmarks for HD Radio performance in their markets. Benchmarks that GMs will have to meet if they want to retain their bonuses and ultimately their jobs. You'd be amazed just how creative radio types can be when they want or need something to succeed. The generic "stations between the stations" spots will be gone, and all sorts of marketing efforts that tout the specific benefits of HD Radio will take their place.

After that real marketing effort has been made in earnest, if HD Radio still fails to create any buzz, I'll gladly admit I was wrong about it, but to do so before then is just foolish. I'll leave that to the bloggers and the internet radio wannabes.

We'll soon see more examples like Scott Fybush's experience with his NPR show, where people listening on HD Radios were calling in to talk about it and the benefits they're enjoying. Scott's NPR station has obviously been promoting HD and the specific benefits the technology provides. Imagine the effect when every major market commercial station starts doing the same, instead of trying to hide it and hoping nobody discovers it.
 
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