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ORLANDO HD RADIO

byron

byron

Okay, it's been a few months. The announcements were made as much as a year ago on some of the planned HD2 stations....

My question .. Where are they?

We have:

Z 88.3 (first on the scene as far as I'm concerned, with HD2) ... two multicast channels
XL 106.7 (which is great, if you want to hear new pop music...) ... multicasting for almost a year now
102 JAMZ (when they feel like actually airing programming on it) ... multicasting for a few months

Where's the multicasts (or HD for that matter) on WJRR, Rumba, O-Rock, Mix and Magic? Magic was touting HD RADIO as "coming soon" on their website for a short time around last Christmas, but that little banner ad has been down for a while.

I'm leaving Cox out of this question/rant, because they've been HD primary on most of their stations for quite sometime. It's Clear Channel and CBS that "jumped on the HD announcement bandwagon" about HD/HD2 stations a year ago, that have both failed to really deliver on any of the hype.

Other CC/CBS-populated markets on the HD website have made the necessary transmitter and equipment adjustments, and in turn broadcast HD ... and have gone ahead and launched as many as 3 to 5 of the planned HD2 stations they announced.

I guess I'm the only one in Orlando who bought into this piece of crap. :) :)

Byron
 
About three months ago I thought..I should get an HD Radio for my car. Then I looked online for the additional stations I would be able to hear and nearly died laughing - Three stations. That's it!?!?! Well, I "almost" bought into the hype.
 
And the weird part is that every station owned by CBS/CC that does not transmit HD radio airs advertising related to HD radios and the ones that transmit HD radio do not air those ads.

On the official iBiquity page it mentions that the remaining CBS radio stations in Orlando, 105.1 and 105.9 were coming soon in HD. But no mention of the remaining Clear Channel stations in Orlando that do not transmit HD including 540, 740, 100.3, 101.1, 104.1, and 107.7. Either Clear Channel is having second thoughts on HD in the Orlando market, they are having problems with the vendors on getting HD equipment, or something else totally unrelated to what I just said.

also

WCFB apparently has moved from it's temporary site from Christmas to Orange City. I wonder if they intend on doing HD transmissions there or unless they are waiting until their Paisley site is rebuilt.
 
Byron said:
I guess I'm the only one in Orlando who bought into this piece of crap. :) :)

Byron
Click to expand...

You were almost the second...

I was *this* close to buying one of those nice Sangean radios from eBay, then I realized:
A) There were only like 3 radio stations with HD xmitters
B) None of them were playing a format I wanted to listen to
C) I'm just out of range to get good reception of Tampa HD stations from the big sticks in W. Tampa
D) Uncle Sam's only giving me back $85 this year :(

Radio-X
 
James Westerfield said:
WCFB apparently has moved from it's temporary site from Christmas to Orange City. I wonder if they intend on doing HD transmissions there or unless they are waiting until their Paisley site is rebuilt.
Click to expand...

I don't think they're planning to rebuild in Paisley. I think they're in Orange City for awhile...

Maybe I'm wrong, though.

Radio-X
 
Well, in the end I only shelled out $99 on the Black Friday purchase from Radio Shack, after I finally got the rebate check in February. Makes a great table radio.. (???) I just wish there was some additional use to having the thing besides having half-decent FM and AM sound.

And James, you're absolutely right. Mix airs HD radio ads all the time, but XL only uses the HD lingo in their imaging sweepers. Think it has anything to do with the tower locations being out in Bithlo for some of the signals?

Byron
 
100.3, 101.1, 104.1, and 105.1 are all on the same tower in Bithlo and all of them are on the same master antenna and combining system.

105.9 and 107.7 is on the larger tower in Orange City using the same master antenna and combining system.

94.5 and 101.9 are on the same tower as 105.9 and 107.7 however both use their own antennas.


This might explain why most CBS/CC stations are not in HD yet in Orlando.
 
Byron said:
Okay, it's been a few months. The announcements were made as much as a year ago on some of the planned HD2 stations....

My question .. Where are they?

We have:

Z 88.3 (first on the scene as far as I'm concerned, with HD2) ... two multicast channels
XL 106.7 (which is great, if you want to hear new pop music...) ... multicasting for almost a year now
102 JAMZ (when they feel like actually airing programming on it) ... multicasting for a few months

Where's the multicasts (or HD for that matter) on WJRR, Rumba, O-Rock, Mix and Magic? Magic was touting HD RADIO as "coming soon" on their website for a short time around last Christmas, but that little banner ad has been down for a while.

I'm leaving Cox out of this question/rant, because they've been HD primary on most of their stations for quite sometime. It's Clear Channel and CBS that "jumped on the HD announcement bandwagon" about HD/HD2 stations a year ago, that have both failed to really deliver on any of the hype.

Other CC/CBS-populated markets on the HD website have made the necessary transmitter and equipment adjustments, and in turn broadcast HD ... and have gone ahead and launched as many as 3 to 5 of the planned HD2 stations they announced.

I guess I'm the only one in Orlando who bought into this piece of crap. :) :)

Byron
Click to expand...

WXXL HD 2 was New Hits, now its Pride Radio
 
I'm assuming that Pride Radio caters to the gay community...unless it's the greatest hits of Charley Pride.
 
Heh.

I just checked to see what they're airing on XL HD2 now, and it's still being swept as "New Hits First" ... the "Pride" thing seems to just be a section of their main website.

The tower location/configuration idea makes sense--thanks for explaining that James.
 
Slowly but surely... Hey thanks for the update James.
 
CC HD plans remain...107.7 HD2 will be on within weeks...a new HD transmitting facility is being built for 540...740 and other fMs in the pipeline.
 
As of today, 105.9 and 107.7 are broadcasting HD Radio signals. 107.7 is multicasting with the Clear Channel Format Lab "Cool Oldies" stream which sounds like the old Cool 100.3 and Cool 105.9 from a long time ago and 105.9 is not multicasting yet.
 
Hope you guys get more choice in Orlando than we do in Cincinnati. I bought the $99 Radio Shack unit also. There are six HD-2 signals here, and only one of them programs a format that is unique to the market (and even THAT one competes with a noncomm). The others are being used as commercial-free spoilers to drain audience from competitors' main signals. I thought HD-2 was supposed to expose us to all of these new, adventurous formats. Instead, we get more of the same, just without spots, to be used as a corporate chess move. Little Napoleon's doing as good a job with HD Alliance as he did in the mid 90s when that bunch of corporate raiders almost destroyed WMMO. Do these guys really think that anyone will bother with HD if there's no fresh content?
 
WOCL (105.9) went HD sometime over the past weekend. No second channel up with it, they are just airing the main programming in HD.
 
Listen to the side channels on 990 Radio Disney. Lots of noise and hiss. That is probably why HD AM is not moving well. Lot's of interference. Just saw that only 400,000 people in the country listen to HD on AM and FM combined. Not the kind of success that the big boys want to hear. Maybe that is why it is slow going.
 
Actually, just for clarification 105.9, 101.9 and 107.7 are all HD1 running for a while now. 101.9 having an HD2 channel called Rhythm that is really good. Part of the problem why this is taken so long is two fold one simple and the other not so simple.

Orange City tower needed to be completely re-done. The tower company ERI took forever to finish.
The second reason is good ole money and logistics because this particular project involved four different companies...American Towers, ERI, Clear Channel and CBS.

I guarantee you that all parties are working towards finishing Bithlo which I think will include WJRR, WOMX, WRUM AND WTKS. That should be done within the next month or so. HD1 that is the additional HD2 channels are coming soon as well. HD is going to be successful; people just want things to happen today and that is not realistic in today's corporate world. Remember, Orlando is market 34 these are multi million dollar projects with a lot of moving parts and many CC emails passed up many chains. I understand the frustration though…

I think there is a bit of confusion about the HD2 multicasting channel. There are many stations on HD1 without the additional channel for now but it coming...

CFB by the way will be using Orange City as a back up from what I hear. They got a temporary STA from the FCC and I think are already done with rebuilding there old site...whether that is true I don't think Orange City is a permanent solution just a back up. By the way, saw their set up there top of the line stuff they did a great job getting that up in a hurry after those tornadoes. Side note CFB will not be HD off the Orange City Site as that project was strictly for CC and CBS not Cox...whether they do it in there old building is up to them.
 
WCFB did transmit HD radio before their tower collapsed. More than likely it will transmit it again once the new facility is up and running.

WRUM and WTKS tested their HD radio signals last Wednesday for a few minutes then went back to analog.

WDBO is HD ready (they tested it last Christmas) but is still analog, probably a corporate decision by Cox as WSB-AM in Atlanta is also HD ready and they are still analog too.

WDYZ also appears to have stopped transmitting HD for some reason.
 
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