Peter Smyth: Use HD Capability to Deny SatRad Merger

[dumber than a box of hair]

In today's Boston Globe, Greater Media president and CEO Peter Smyth trots out the same old, tired arguments of the NAB against the pending XM/Sirius merger, and repeats the incredibly stupid proposal that the satellite receiver makers should include HD reception capability in their radios:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/e...8/make_satellite_radio_keep_competing?mode=PF

This demonstrates more clearly than ever the NAB's irrelevance...their refusal to press radio to make its product better and their never-ending calls to use the regulatory process to stifle competitors. They waste enormous amounts of time and energy on satellite radio which, because it's a pay service, will most likely never amount to anything more than a niche product, while all the time ignoring all the other media that threaten radio, including radio itself, which hasn't had an original programming idea in decades.

The idea that the satellite radio companies should, at their expense, provide reception capability for their competitors, including the increasingly irrelevant HD Radio, belongs in the Globe's comics section. I'd like to see him try running the idea by iBiquity that all their licensees have to include satellite reception capability in their receivers. He'd be laughed out of the room. Why does he think the NAB proposal is any different?

Finally, Mr. Smyth, if HD Radio usage is so low, how is killing the XM/Sirius merger going to help? You're in radio. Don't you know how to promote your own product without insulting someone else's intelligence? Do you really think that HD Radio commercials which insult your own programming (also known as the medium in which you make your money) or insult your listeners ("radio with a boob job") constitute a promotional practice which will cause traffic jams outside retailers selling HD radios?

 

[kenglish]

Why not beg/badger the FCC to assign one of the services' technologies to free broadcast "radio", with a way for decent local and regional broadcasters to uplink to the satellite, much like the "contributory channel" system used on DAB satellites in other parts of the world? (They have both national/international and regional/local channels, by keeping the multiplexer on-board the satellite, and allowing additional streams to be uplinked from various locations)

Then, enforce the rules that originally required sat radios to be compatible with all the sat radio systems. That way, customers could subscribe to either, or both, with the same equipment.

That way, there is some real competition.

 

[Savage]

This issue is deader than dead. Smyth is simply parroting some months-old pro-HD rhetoric which was probably leaked either by the Alliance or by persons sympathetic to HD Radio's worsening fortunes (read: another piece of HD folklore, which is a more polite term than "lie.")

There has never been a serious proposal to mandate inclusion of HD in all satrad receivers. The language from the Congressional subcommittee was in the form of a letter to Chairman Martin, simply REQUESTING that the FCC, as part of any Sirius-XM approved merger, promulgate rules that merged-satcast receivers NOT EXCLUDE other digital technologies such as mp3, iPod and/or HD.

MAY NOT EXCLUDE is an entirely different thing from "mandated HD inclusion as a feature." As noted here previously, the Dingell request could be handily - and inexpensively - fulfilled with an aux-in jack and mode switch. The NAB can stomp and fume and crank out implausible press releases all it wants. The requirement that HD be included as a mandatory feature in post-merger satrad receivers is not under serious consideration.

The major HD issue being discussed these days is the 10db HD-FM digital level, and there are serious hurdles to even that proposal. If it doesn't get adopted before the election and Martin's near-term departure, it may never be - and there is doubt that the 10db proposal has sufficient engineering and political clout to move forward. This phase of HD will be intriguing to watch.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

-10db : AM radio shouldn't have the corner on the hash, self-jamming, and chaos! Converting to HD for FM is wayyy to cheap compared to all of the 'fun' required to make AM HD sort of work. We need -10db folks. It will solve all of our problems today as broadcasters. Thousands will flock to the radio just to listen now because of the 'crystal clear cd sound'!
Open your bank door again corporate radio. Time to spend millions on technology again to fix programming FAILURES. I wonder how many programming people this little modern marvel in expense will cost. Do these guys ever get it?

 

[Carmine5]

There has never been a serious proposal to mandate inclusion of HD in all satrad receivers. The language from the Congressional subcommittee was in the form of a letter to Chairman Martin, simply REQUESTING that the FCC, as part of any Sirius-XM approved merger, promulgate rules that merged-satcast receivers NOT EXCLUDE other digital technologies such as mp3, iPod and/or HD.

MAY NOT EXCLUDE is an entirely different thing from "mandated HD inclusion as a feature."

It looks as if three senators, including John Kerry, are getting more specific about the inclusion of HD Radio should the sat merger go through. They sent a letter outlining their own conditions for the merger.

According to R&R:

"They added that the FCC needs to ensure that receiver manufacturers not only produce interoperable satellite radios, but that all receivers also include HD Radio receiver technology on each device."

Obviously they caught on to the "may not exclude" weasel-wording of the FCC's conditions.

The senators also want "no less than 20%" and up to 50% of satellite spectrum offered to other broadcast entities, preferably minorities.

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite/

C5

 

[KB1OKL]

There has never been a serious proposal to mandate inclusion of HD in all satrad receivers. The language from the Congressional subcommittee was in the form of a letter to Chairman Martin, simply REQUESTING that the FCC, as part of any Sirius-XM approved merger, promulgate rules that merged-satcast receivers NOT EXCLUDE other digital technologies such as mp3, iPod and/or HD.

MAY NOT EXCLUDE is an entirely different thing from "mandated HD inclusion as a feature."

It looks as if three senators, including John Kerry, are getting more specific about the inclusion of HD Radio should the sat merger go through. They sent a letter outlining their own conditions for the merger.

According to R&R:

"They added that the FCC needs to ensure that receiver manufacturers not only produce interoperable satellite radios, but that all receivers also include HD Radio receiver technology on each device."

Obviously they caught on to the "may not exclude" weasel-wording of the FCC's conditions.

The senators also want "no less than 20%" and up to 50% of satellite spectrum offered to other broadcast entities, preferably minorities.

http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRWebSite/

C5

I just wrote Senator Kerry a letter to inform him of the shortcomings of HD radio and the reasons I believe the Alliance wants this lead balloon to be included in the market which the Satrad companies earned, like them or hate them at least they did the work, they don't need a carpetbagger dragging them down. He is a senator from my own state and I supported him is his bid for the presidency so I expect him to change his mind forthright! ;D

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Smyth is at it again: "How in the world did we become the bad guys?"

http://www.greatermedia.com/corner/index.html

 

[pocket-radio]

Peter so far pay radio has had a marginal impact on your industry. The problem isn’t the FCC or our government the problem with radio is you and like minded operators. The reason 10 million people or so pay for radio is obvious, radio today sucks! Radio lacks innovation, it’s boring. The spark, surprise and creative qualities of radio died a long time ago. With the exception of a few unique situations it’s bad. And you sir, are unqualified to judge what makes radio good because It’s hard to read the directions upside down when you’re inside the bottle.

Fm radio has become a jukebox. And just so you know, entertainment is not voice tracked announcers saying nothing, with 8 or more spots hammered back to back and meaningless sweepers.

Radio has lost the relevance war. Why you ask? Because when tornadoes and hurricanes are turning my community upside down I need fast relevant information, even if I live outside the metro coverage area. Instead many stations on automatic simply continue playing more music. And forget weekend radio it’s a vast waste land. Cell phones and the internet have become sources people choose for fast relevant information.

nd just so you know, HD radio is bad. Not because of the technical issues but because of the lack of new fresh content.

Again there’s not much worth listening too.

Radio serves its communities? That’s another lie the industry tells. The truth is some stations raise money for charities. Some stations even keep partial proceeds for NTR revenue. Many use their communities to sell NTR events, nothing more nothing less.

I encourage you to TAKE YOUR BLINDERS OFF and pull your head out the trades. As a leader, visit local high schools with your consultants to experience first hand what kids (the next generation) think about radio. You won’t like what you’ll hear.

Steve Jobs built a better jukebox and radio will not win this war! And with new devices like the internet in cars radio has serious problems on the horizon. I know you’ve probably spent most of your career telling lies to yourself, I did. But this time it won’t work. Within my lifetime and yours (I’m 48) cheap wireless internet access is going to be everyplace and standard equipment in most cars. Given the choice of listening to crap you call entertainment and listening/downloading music to a hard drive in my car what option would you pick? Chips are getting faster and cheaper. This means there’s more new devices yet unknown just around the corner. Microprocessors will continue to shrink and battery life will increase.

Devices the size of a small radio will handle many of the tasks now done by your desktop computer or laptop. Cell phones will also continue their multimedia evolution. Storage capacity and battery life will increase. Unlimited flat fee airtime is the trend and within reach by everyone.

Stop blaming pay radio, Ipods or the government. The problem is your industry and the lack of innovation or courage. Or should I say greed is your problem.

The car industry chose to do nothing, knowing very well some day we’d see gas at $4.00 a gallon. Now they are scrambling because nobody wants their gas guzzling SUVS.

Radio has it’s collective heads in the sand and I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.

At one point In my life I loved radio. Many days I turn radio off or tolerate it during my half hour commute to work. You should also know, when eight spots begin rolling roll back to back, I’m generally pissed off, have changed channels, turned the radio off or have mentally tuned it out. I sold radio advertising for 18 years and pretty much believed hook line and sinker the research from the RAB. Now being a regular person, I think I do what most average people do when faced with the barrage of spots and sweepers.

Keep it buddy, you're and the rest of your clones are doing a great job!

 

[Tom Wells]

A very eloquent post, pocket. You industry guys ought to think about what he said.

I'll add that this is a case where you don't always get what you pay for, but you certainly don't get any extra by mistake.

We can all tell how much the product has been cheapened.

There's no mistaking it. It's only as important and relevant as you want it to be, and that costs money.
If the money which supports the radio itself is siphoned off as "profits", leaving the product wanting,
there can only be one path, that of lowered service and expectations, each chasing each other
into total irrellevancy.

As long as business causes the art of radio to be subservient to making profits, this slide will continue.

I have no beef with business or business people. I do feel that business using radio as a tool
for profit is very much like business using sex (not sexy ads, per se, I mean actual prostitution) as a tool for profit.

It is utimately degrading, regardless of all arguments about pragmatism.

It is a gross perversionof the gift that radio is within the electro-magnetic spectrum.


When I was young, the radio had to be on because I didn't want to miss anything.
Now at 47, I too, have come to leave the radio off, or search endlessly for something in market on commutes,
finding little compelling. Then I listen for out-of-markets. Maybe I'll hear something and stop.
More likely a sweeper annoys me enough to keep on looking.

 

[Mike Walker]

If AMs and FMs are "dying", then obviously plenty have already died. Please list the stations in your area which have left the air (not changed formats, LEFT THE AIR) in the last five years as a result of this "death" of terrestrial radio. If you can't give us a convincing list, you're again just blowing smoke!

 

[Chuck]

If AMs and FMs are "dying", then obviously plenty have already died. Please list the stations in your area which have left the air (not changed formats, LEFT THE AIR) in the last five years as a result of this "death" of terrestrial radio. If you can't give us a convincing list, you're again just blowing smoke!

Well Mike, in my area there are three. As you know, I'm not in any huge metro, but through greed and mismanagement, all of these AM Stations bit the dust. None of these failed because of IBOC, nor would any new and improved method of modulation saved them. One of the stations, KWRD has been resuscitated, and I wish the new owner well. It is still on life support, but the right guy owns it now. He is an expert at small town radio with an enviable track record. The other two, KZEY and KOFY will probably never return. KZEY was a heritage station in Tyler, and KOFY had less history, but was 10,000 watts with a very good signal.

By the way, I have lost your email address. I have no idea how, or even why I was going to send you an email, but if you would send me an email from any of the links at www.kzqx.com , I'll put you back in my address book.

Take care.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

If AMs and FMs are "dying", then obviously plenty have already died. Please list the stations in your area which have left the air (not changed formats, LEFT THE AIR) in the last five years as a result of this "death" of terrestrial radio. If you can't give us a convincing list, you're again just blowing smoke!

Courtesy of the FCC: AMs are in fact dying off, but not FMs.

As of 9/30/2002:

AM: 4804
FM: 6161
FM-ED: 2331
TOTAL: 13296

As of 9/30/2007:

AM: 4776
FM: 6290
FM-ED: 2873
TOTAL: 13939

 

[pocket-radio]

Mike radio is a business all about money.

Here’s the first sign. Revenues for radio have stopped growing, they’ve been flat for years and during the past 24 months revenues have gone backwards. The economy is affecting radio but the biggest bang is from advertisers shifting traditional media dollars to new media like the internet. The internet provides reach and results that can be tracked.

Audience shares are shrinking. In any market you’ll still find stations battling for the top ranks. But the pie/total amount of listeners tuned to radio isn’t growing its shrinking.

The next generation teens and kids don’t listen to radio. At least not like I did in the 70’s
I didn’t have an ipod or the internet to distract my attention from radio. True we had
45’s, albums, 8 tracks and cassettes. But kids/adults today download hundreds of songs in minutes, and like never before a user holds thousands of mp3 songs in their palm. Think of it, a teen can hold more mp3 content in their palm than the inventory of any radio station.

Radio isn’t grooming new young talent and creating new jobs. It’s finding ways to do more with less people. It’s cutting jobs.

Mike your head is in the sand. Things change, but I’ve never seen the amount of changes since technology boom began. And more new devices are coming that we haven’t even thought of yet. The internet is changing everything and radio as is can’t compete.

As guys like me (48) stop listening to radio or die off. Who’s going to replace us? The next generation thinks radio sucks and they have grown up with the internet and computers. Kids today at the age of five are banging on the keyboard.
Do you really think they’ll listen to radio?