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New HD Radio Commercials
- Thread starter nd2023
- Start date
Does it matter? This generation, consumers have shown no interest in HD radio, because their radio's still work and they have no real reasons to upgrade. After millions spent by broadcasters, HD radio will prove to be big mistake.
I just downloaded the latest set of five "Radio Heard Here" spots. Four of them are :30's and there is one :60. None of them mention HD, but they do try to promote radio. I'd like to promote radio as well. We have something in common. I was expecting something fairly compelling. I was ready to like them.
Maybe it is just my frame of mind at the moment, but the four :30's struck me as fairly lame. I think I can write better copy than that. The :60 was more moving, but it is a "60." That's a problem in today's short attention span world. Worse yet, none of them had a 'hook" that made me want to hear them again.
If they were smart, they's dig out the old Stan Freberg "Who Listens To Radio" spots with Sarah Vaughn singing. All by itself, the song could have been a big hit. I still smile every time I hear it 40 years later. I didn't hear that kind of genious in this latest offering. I wish I did. Truely....
Maybe it is just my frame of mind at the moment, but the four :30's struck me as fairly lame. I think I can write better copy than that. The :60 was more moving, but it is a "60." That's a problem in today's short attention span world. Worse yet, none of them had a 'hook" that made me want to hear them again.
If they were smart, they's dig out the old Stan Freberg "Who Listens To Radio" spots with Sarah Vaughn singing. All by itself, the song could have been a big hit. I still smile every time I hear it 40 years later. I didn't hear that kind of genious in this latest offering. I wish I did. Truely....
M
Mike Walker
Guest
All anyone needs to do to see the folly of some of these comments is search this board from a couple of years ago. The same people were saying HD was "on it's death bed", "gasping it's last breath", etc. And ya' know what? The number of stations continues to grow, the number of programming choices continues to grow, and obviously CONSUMER INTEREST CONTINUES TO GROW, because I doubt new models would be introduced by people like Best Buy...people who have sold HD for years now, if there wasn't a market. Is this market small? OF COURSE!
There's an interesting article in Radio World about how acceptance of HD Radio in the US has actually exceeded the acceptance of digital radio a couple of years out in other countries. In the UK, for instance, it took more than a decade for digital radio to "catch on". Today digital radios outsell analog only ones by a considerable margin.
The number of available products is exploding...and from the biggest names in the biz. That should tell you something.
There's an interesting article in Radio World about how acceptance of HD Radio in the US has actually exceeded the acceptance of digital radio a couple of years out in other countries. In the UK, for instance, it took more than a decade for digital radio to "catch on". Today digital radios outsell analog only ones by a considerable margin.
The number of available products is exploding...and from the biggest names in the biz. That should tell you something.
I’m not sure IBOC has the luxury of a decade to "catch on" IBOC is the answer to the question that nobody was asking, except for a few misinformed radio suits.
Persons 12-34 have unplugged from radio, choosing to spend their media time with ipods, cell phones G4 networks and the net. The 12-34’s have gone so far to building their own content off the web and sharing between friends. CD’s, ipods, cell phones and memory sticks, laptops and desktops are their playback devices. And more new devices are just around the corner!
The current generation of listeners tuned to radio grew up with AM/FM, and thus far have been slow to adopt IBOC. Sales of receivers have been slow, and compared to other high tech playback devices sales are abysmal! Listeners still are confusing IBOC with satellite. Broadcasters aren’t doing a good job of separating the two in the minds of consumers. While you'll see new receivers at Best Buy, you'll also see recievers on the closeout racks of similar retailers.
Yes a small percentage of markets like Boston have stepped out of their comfort zone to introduce formats, like the Irish Channel. Will the Irish Channel, playing 24/7 Irish hits deliver ratings? So far IBOC isn’t on anyone ratings radar. And In my opinion (problem) too many IBOC stations have chosen to be jukebox formats that we currently have. Stations are playing just music to attract listeners and it’s not working! HD isn’t on Santa’s list.
Satellite radio has stepped up to the plate with big time talent, content and fresh programming ideas. IBOC broadcasters are experimenting with their jukeboxes.
Broadcasters are still cutting the fat from their operations. Some markets have cut midday jocks, and eliminated their promotions department all together. In a time when revenues are down, and expected to remain this way for a while, IBOC development will remain very slow.
No ratings equals no money! No money equals no attention. The build it and they will come thinking hasn’t worked. Waiting 10 years is suicidal thinking, because of the explosion of wireless services (not radio) and devices available in the marketplace.
If HD is going to happen it needs to happen soon. The UK got a jump start with their HD development and consumers haven’t adopted HD either.
IBOC obsolete out of the box.
Persons 12-34 have unplugged from radio, choosing to spend their media time with ipods, cell phones G4 networks and the net. The 12-34’s have gone so far to building their own content off the web and sharing between friends. CD’s, ipods, cell phones and memory sticks, laptops and desktops are their playback devices. And more new devices are just around the corner!
The current generation of listeners tuned to radio grew up with AM/FM, and thus far have been slow to adopt IBOC. Sales of receivers have been slow, and compared to other high tech playback devices sales are abysmal! Listeners still are confusing IBOC with satellite. Broadcasters aren’t doing a good job of separating the two in the minds of consumers. While you'll see new receivers at Best Buy, you'll also see recievers on the closeout racks of similar retailers.
Yes a small percentage of markets like Boston have stepped out of their comfort zone to introduce formats, like the Irish Channel. Will the Irish Channel, playing 24/7 Irish hits deliver ratings? So far IBOC isn’t on anyone ratings radar. And In my opinion (problem) too many IBOC stations have chosen to be jukebox formats that we currently have. Stations are playing just music to attract listeners and it’s not working! HD isn’t on Santa’s list.
Satellite radio has stepped up to the plate with big time talent, content and fresh programming ideas. IBOC broadcasters are experimenting with their jukeboxes.
Broadcasters are still cutting the fat from their operations. Some markets have cut midday jocks, and eliminated their promotions department all together. In a time when revenues are down, and expected to remain this way for a while, IBOC development will remain very slow.
No ratings equals no money! No money equals no attention. The build it and they will come thinking hasn’t worked. Waiting 10 years is suicidal thinking, because of the explosion of wireless services (not radio) and devices available in the marketplace.
If HD is going to happen it needs to happen soon. The UK got a jump start with their HD development and consumers haven’t adopted HD either.
IBOC obsolete out of the box.
M
Mike Walker
Guest
Yeah that's really insightful, Pocket. Except that it's BS. Broadcast technology doesn't just go away. If so, you'd be able to name a technology that has (in the US market). Come on, I dare ya'! (Sorry, channeling my "inner Palin!") AM Stereo, you say? Nope..there are new AM stereo radios, and still lots of stations. Hell, even SCA, used for reading services for the blind, and once upon a time background music, hasn't gone away. Broadcast technologies once they become law are a permanent part of the landscape. Some become more of a "niche". But they don't go away. Ok, "interference" you say. GEEZ, I'll NEVER forget the "whistling" sound caused by an SCA background music service on an FM station I worked at thirty years ago. IT DROVE ME NUTS! And you could ALWAYS hear it during quiet passages when you listened in stereo. But the service continued FOR YEARS. HD on FM produces nothing like that level of clearly-audible trash (and of course SCA has gotten much better over time).
Note I'm talking about FM HD, not AM. That turkey may be "just about done"...many weeks too early for Thanksgiving. You Anti-HD types had/have a point about AM HD. I've listened. I CLEARLY hear the interference you spoke of. And ya' know what? YOU'RE RIGHT! It IS clearly audible. It DOES do damage to analog AM...the service consumed by virtually 100 percent of current radio listeners. AND it reduces sound quality for current listeners with the 5khz rolloff. Talk about a lose/lose situation!
So what if HD stays a "niche". I, for one, DON'T FREAKING CARE! It provides pristine, noise free, reception to areas where it's just not available with analog FM stereo, plus extra program services to boot!
Say HD doesn't have a decade? Yeah, right. AM stereo, which NEVER had the volume of stations or radios available NOW for HD never left the US market completely, after the better part of THREE decades. Adoption of new broadcast technology is ALWAYS slow. And comparisons to Ipods, PDAs, electric razors, etc. make no freaking sense. Those aren't RADIOS! Well, at least mosf of 'em. My new Sansa View IS a radio...and a very nice one!
Note I'm talking about FM HD, not AM. That turkey may be "just about done"...many weeks too early for Thanksgiving. You Anti-HD types had/have a point about AM HD. I've listened. I CLEARLY hear the interference you spoke of. And ya' know what? YOU'RE RIGHT! It IS clearly audible. It DOES do damage to analog AM...the service consumed by virtually 100 percent of current radio listeners. AND it reduces sound quality for current listeners with the 5khz rolloff. Talk about a lose/lose situation!
So what if HD stays a "niche". I, for one, DON'T FREAKING CARE! It provides pristine, noise free, reception to areas where it's just not available with analog FM stereo, plus extra program services to boot!
Say HD doesn't have a decade? Yeah, right. AM stereo, which NEVER had the volume of stations or radios available NOW for HD never left the US market completely, after the better part of THREE decades. Adoption of new broadcast technology is ALWAYS slow. And comparisons to Ipods, PDAs, electric razors, etc. make no freaking sense. Those aren't RADIOS! Well, at least mosf of 'em. My new Sansa View IS a radio...and a very nice one!
Ummm.....Mike, ol' bean...."broadcast technologies don't go away?" Hey, I'll take that dare!!
Ahem.
Kahn-Hazeltine DSB AM stereo. AM stereo in Magnavox, Harris and the other version, whose proponent I've forgotten. Oh, wait: I remember now; Belar. FM Quad Stereo. CBS-Goldmark UHF noncompatible electrocmechanical color TV. The Finch FM radiofacsimile. "Simplexing" on FM in the 1950s, then followed by "multiplexing."
And then there's the little thing called "analog broadcast TV" (including that anachronism, "black-and-white" monochrome) which is about to have a highly-publicized demise come February.
I agree with you more than disagree however, such as the ludicrous comparisons I read here of radio to other electronic devices (PDAs, electric shavers) although once when I lived 3 air miles from a 50kw NDA AM transmitter site I did actually own a toaster which was also on occasions a radio, depending on relative humidity.
Ahem.
Kahn-Hazeltine DSB AM stereo. AM stereo in Magnavox, Harris and the other version, whose proponent I've forgotten. Oh, wait: I remember now; Belar. FM Quad Stereo. CBS-Goldmark UHF noncompatible electrocmechanical color TV. The Finch FM radiofacsimile. "Simplexing" on FM in the 1950s, then followed by "multiplexing."
And then there's the little thing called "analog broadcast TV" (including that anachronism, "black-and-white" monochrome) which is about to have a highly-publicized demise come February.
I agree with you more than disagree however, such as the ludicrous comparisons I read here of radio to other electronic devices (PDAs, electric shavers) although once when I lived 3 air miles from a 50kw NDA AM transmitter site I did actually own a toaster which was also on occasions a radio, depending on relative humidity.
Let's not forget Dolby FM!
But I still have fond memories of the daily "Dolby Tone" that aired during the noon hour on WOUR in Utica, back when that station still had a soul.
But I still have fond memories of the daily "Dolby Tone" that aired during the noon hour on WOUR in Utica, back when that station still had a soul.
M
Mike Walker
Guest
Correction noted. I'll regroup. Broadcast STANDARDS don't go away. Kahn, etc were never FCC STANDARDS. Now Dolby FM was, and I'll grant you that. The thing is, a Dolby FM tuner from the 70s will still receive today's analog FM stereo signals. Even if the Dolby decoder is left engaged, the switch to 25us as opposed to 75us pre-empphasis will make highs sound just about right. There may be some "pumping", as there are no Dolby encoded signals today, but it's not as if you can turn on a 70s tuner with Dolby and receive nothing. In fact I'd wager most people would hear nothing wrong, even with Dolby engaged.
By "simplexing", I think you mean the practice of broadcasting the left channel on one transmitter, and the right on another (sometimes done by AM/FM combos). That was never an official FCC standard...for obvious reasons. The vast majority of listeners hears something pretty weird (half the program if there's wide stereo).
So again, of course I was wrong in claiming that "broadcast technology doesn't go away" (I'd point out another one...remember FMX in the late 80s?) What I SHOULD HAVE SAID was "broadcast STANDARDS don't go away...at least not for a very, VERY long time.
You missed the obvious one to "smack me around with", by the way. NTSC television! But even THAT isn't going away completely. Low power TV stations, such as those in Boone NC, Lenoir NC, and several others around me (plus many places around the country) will keep right on.
By "simplexing", I think you mean the practice of broadcasting the left channel on one transmitter, and the right on another (sometimes done by AM/FM combos). That was never an official FCC standard...for obvious reasons. The vast majority of listeners hears something pretty weird (half the program if there's wide stereo).
So again, of course I was wrong in claiming that "broadcast technology doesn't go away" (I'd point out another one...remember FMX in the late 80s?) What I SHOULD HAVE SAID was "broadcast STANDARDS don't go away...at least not for a very, VERY long time.
You missed the obvious one to "smack me around with", by the way. NTSC television! But even THAT isn't going away completely. Low power TV stations, such as those in Boone NC, Lenoir NC, and several others around me (plus many places around the country) will keep right on.
Mike Walker said:
Interesting that you should mention FMX.
I bought an FMX encoder and experimented with it for a while on a Philadelphia FM station in the '80s. A colleague of mine also tried it on a major New York station, and we compared notes. The major criticism from other engineers who tried it was lack of compatibility with existing receivers -- it seemed to increase multipath interference.
After observing its behavior with different types of program material, I concluded that a single-ended (receiver-based) FM stereo noise reduction scheme -- in other words, one that doesn't require encoding -- could be every bit as effective as the FMX companding process, maybe even better.
Development took a while, but Sony has included such a feature in the new XDR-F1HD tuner. Sony's DSP algorithm is extremely effective and doesn't require any new equipment at the transmitting end.
While we wait for the FCC to wise up and "recycle" abandoned TV VHF spectrum for AM digital broadcasting, we need to take a similar approach to the design of AM analog receivers. Using the latest DSP technology, there are many ways to improve the quality of AM demodulation. Most listeners would prefer the result over the compromised sound of iBiquity's codec -- and of course, this single-ended approach would alleviate the need to jam adjacent-channel stations.
M
Mike Walker
Guest
Amen, Brother! I bought an XDR-F1HD for HD FM. What really knocked my socks off was how supremely quiet, fully separated, and distortion-free even FAR distant analog FM Stereo stations were. Unfortunately my unit suffered from a display problem. But I plan on buying another one (I'm giving it a couple of months, in case this is an issue that "needs sorting", although I've been assured that my problems were unique). Even if you never listen to an HD FM station, or have none in your area, if you love FM radio you should try this incredibly low-priced super-tuner! It may well do a better job of giving truly high-quality reception of distant FM stereo stations EVER. Astounding for a hundred bucks!
Mike Walker said:
Wasn't your tuner with the bad display replaced under warranty?
I hope Sony or a competitor offers the same level of FM performance in a car radio. The chips in the XDR were developed by NXP Semiconductors and are readily available to any manufacturer. I don't really care about HD but I would enjoy the full RDS display, and automatic AF switching would also be a nice feature. A receiver like this should sell well in Europe, where FM channel spacing is tight and practically every station runs RDS.
Improved AM performance would also make this radio a winner. Why not take full advantage of DSP?
I recently recommended the XDR to a station manager who was having trouble getting a clean incoming feed at one of his upstate NY translator sites, due to strong first-adjacent interference and front-end overload from a nearby 15 kW transmitter. He had tried everything else out there - including the Fanfare - with limited success, but the Sony is working very well.
M
Mike Walker
Guest
Play Freebird, I simply boxed up my XDR and returned it to J&R Music World, as the problem surfaced the day I unboxed it. I'll try another one soon.
Play Freebird said:
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, I temporarily used a Sony XDR tuner to feed one of our translators until antenna repairs could be made. With no add on filters and just a minimal outdoor antenna, it seriously outperformed an Inovonics translator receiver by delivering a clean and quiet stereo signal. The Inovonics has only been useful in mono operation. Most of the time, it is just too noisy in stereo. To work at all, the Inovonics required about $600 worth of add on filters to keep it from being swamped by our own signal, and by that of another nearby 100 KW station. The Sony almost worked OK with the supplied dipole antenna and nothing else. Connected to an inexpensive Yagi on the roof of the building, it worked fine.
I don’t mean to belittle the Inovonics translator receiver. It is a nice piece of gear with a lot of very handy translator-specific features. I just wish it used the same chip set as the Sony.
I'd seriously consider using the Sony as the full time replacement, but it does not have any of the required add-on's that would allow it to switch off the translator's signal in case of loss of signal, or (more likely) receiving the wrong signal due to skip. If the Sony only had a composite output or even an internal test point for it, I could deal with it.
The bad part of the Sony’s design is, if it loses power for just a nanosecond, it reverts to "standby" and you must physically push the power button to turn it back on. That is VERY inconvenient. There may be a work-around, but using a cheap APC UPS as a power back up, was not successful. Another gripe is the buttons on the top of the tuner are ultra sensitive. Just brush your hand near them and it will change stations. They are an accident waiting to happen in such a situation.
Otherwise, it is a truly incredible FM tuner. I highly recommend it. If one good thing has come from our HD adventure, it is the new generation of radios like this one. It is a real bargain for a hundred bucks.
M
Mike Walker
Guest
I agree Chuck that one of the greatest benefits of HD radio is the incredible reception of analog signals on the Sony. But I haven't observed this level of performance on any other HD radios. Are there any others whose performance (on analog FM stereo) approaches the Sony XDR-F1HD? If not, WHY NOT??? There sure as hell should be!
Mike Walker said:
The Sony HD table radio is also very good. Not as good as the tuner though. And then there is the Sangean HDT-1(X). It is quite decent by most standards. I have all three of them. The Sony XDR-F1HD is still the top of the heap, but the other two aren't too shabby. Apparently the JVC HD car radios are also well thought of.
As far as I know, the rest of the current HD radios are from the "Merely Average Radio Company."
Some don't even rank that high. The point is the technology exists to make a superb but reasonably priced radio. Why that technology hasn't been applied to AM is a really good question. It seems to me that with a well maintained transmitter site, and some magic done in DSP on the receive end, AM radio could sound way better than it currently does. Wasn’t that what Motorola's "Symphony" system was about? (I may have the name confused with something else, but you get the idea). It's almost like somebody has a death wish for AM radio. Whoever it is, isn’t all that wild about small FM stations either....
M
Mike Walker
Guest
Yes Chuck I think that "magic dsp chip" from Motorola we all heard about a few years ago was called "Symphony". Frankly, until multicasting reared it's head a couple of years back, the improved audio performance of dsp in radios like the Sony would have gone a LONG WAY toward negating the benefits of digital transmission. Conversely, I suppose, without HD radio, the dsp (in the Sony at least), wouldn't have been developed. So there ya' go! Kind of like how C-Quam AM Stetero gave us synchronous detectors, which led to sync-selectable sideband in good communications receivers.
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