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New HD station---WFDD Winston Salem, NC

M

Mike Walker

Guest
I was scanning today with my antenna pointed east (from Wilkes County, NC...it's usually pointed south toward Charlotte, or west toward Asheville/Greenville/Spartanburg) to see if any more of those "coming soon" stations had actually "turned on the light". Well WFDD in Winston Salem (88.5), about the only big NPR outlet in NC (that I'm aware of) that hasn't been HD has it turned on as I write this...despite the fact that their website says it'll be "Early October". It sounded great! Even though I have a roof antenna, the audio is noticably clearer, with lower distortion, more open highs, and ZERO noise when HD kicks in.

As the late Congressman Bono once observed, "The Beat Goes On..."
 
Mike are they running just one channel at the moment?

I can no longer say there's no HD where I live - the Mississippi Public Broadcasting outlet in Oxford has turned on HD. MPB musta picked them first since they put a decent signal in Memphis. Reports are they are planning on having and HD-2 and HD-3--so much for one good quality quiet stream of classical music.
 
Zach I spoke with their General Manager earlier in the week, because I'm believe that if you hear something you like on a station, YOU SHOULD TELL THEM (ditto dislike!) He said they'd been experimenting with HD2, but it was "off and on". I've never caught it on yet, but it will return fulltime classical music to the triad (missing since WFDD, along with many other NPR outlets, began carrying talk during the day).

WFDD has a superb local news department, headed by longtime TV newscaster Denise Franklin. Like many successful public stations, they continue to emphasize excellence in local news coverage.
 
My local adult AC FM station sounds great in analog but when it switches to HD1 it degrades the audio to cheap AM levels of frequency response (actually, my AM Stereo radio sounds 10x better). Their HD2 almost sounds better than their HD1, and that is not a complement. They indicated that they had to use a different 'program' to make it work at all, as the original software would totally make the analog transmitter 'crash', so they are stuck with this horrible digital program if they want to keep their HD1 and HD2 on air. Anybody else have this 'problem'? I wish that there was an 'analog only' switch on my damn HD radio as their analog audio is so superb to their HD1 it isn't funny. I don't think that they want me to spill their call letters out there, but I'll let you know if you PM me.
J
 
JohnnyElectron said:
My local adult AC FM station sounds great in analog but when it switches to HD1 it degrades the audio to cheap AM levels of frequency response (actually, my AM Stereo radio sounds 10x better). Their HD2 almost sounds better than their HD1, and that is not a complement. They indicated that they had to use a different 'program' to make it work at all, as the original software would totally make the analog transmitter 'crash', so they are stuck with this horrible digital program if they want to keep their HD1 and HD2 on air. Anybody else have this 'problem'? I wish that there was an 'analog only' switch on my damn HD radio as their analog audio is so superb to their HD1 it isn't funny. I don't think that they want me to spill their call letters out there, but I'll let you know if you PM me.
J
Click to expand...

Post the calls. This isn't some underworld conspiracy. Everyone in the biz has had tech problems at one time or another. It's not a secret. They're broadcasting it for Pete's sake. :)

Clouseau
 
Clouseau is right. At worst, HD1 should sound as good as an excellent analog signal. If it sounds bad, tell them. Radio stations DO respond to listener comments, so whenever something doesn't sound right, TELL THEM! If it's a station you enjoy listening to, you'll be doing yourself a favor as well as them!

By the way, I agree...EVERY HD RADIO SHOULD HAVE AN ANALOG-LOCK SWITCH. I haven't encountered HD sounding worse than analog in my area, but I have on occasion found a distant HD station that wouldn't lock on. With analog lock, I could have continued to enjoy their programming, rather than eventually changing stations because of the annoyance of repeated switches between analog and digital (there was just enough of a timing difference to make it even more annoying the last time this happened. STATIONS TIME-ALIGN ANALOG AND DIGITAL, or risk annoying the hell out of people with those shiny new HD radios you're pitching!
 
Mike Walker proposed:

EVERY HD RADIO SHOULD HAVE AN ANALOG-LOCK SWITCH
Click to expand...

Heck, I think every radio should have a digital lock switch. If we had one of those, then maybe those pesky AM "blends to analog" won't happen anymore and I will be able to enjoy uninterrupted great-sounding digital audio on the AM broadcast band!

What a hoot!
 
I'm sure Cal's joking, but just in case, of course a "digital lock", or digital only would mean silence when the radio can't lock onto a digital signal. Rare with FM (with a good, properly oriented antenna). Apparently pretty damn common with AM HD!
 
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