Bill DeFelice said:
The only reason for HD radio currently is for stations to skirt the law and put up "new" stations via HD subchannels on translators, other than that it's a waste.
Interesting slant on this - certainly true in the case of WPOZ and KSBJ - although I don't think either one had that tactic in mind right from the start.
I think the way a lot of this gets started is that when it was clear HD was a massive flop in the marketplace, HD-2 made a convenient place to store unwanted, inconvenient, or displaced former formats. The station can then get rid of complaints and shift the burden to the listener of trying to locate an HD radio and get it to working. NPR started the trend when they got rid of classical and jazz - knowing the fanatical fans of both formats would probably have the money to afford HD radio and be motivated to make reception work. Certainly that was the case with me and KSBJ - their over the air analog format is so terrible I was motivated to buy HD radios to get their creative NGEN format. To me it was just another way to DX - I've eaten static my entire life to get FM from Dallas into Midland and Lubbock, in Florida to get CCM music into Daytona Beach, etc. it seems the formats I wanted were always somewhere else. Because I was a fanatical fan of real Christian rock, and oldies, and they are only available in HD-2, I bought an HD radio. Otherwise - no way I would put up with the quirks and limitations of the technology.
Of course, DX'ers make up a tiny percentage of the radio audience. DX'ers have the toolkit to make HD actually work. Marginally, but work. Not so the general public who is used to flicking a switch and having sound come out, no fuss, no bother. So the NPR strategy failed to address the needs of classical and jazz fans - hence the mania by NPR stations to acquire second over the air frequencies to placate their audience and preserve donations from classical and jazz fans. A strategy obviously adopted by KSBJ, which has been putting NGEN over the air all over the Houston area - may the the trend continue because it is a great format! I don't think it was so much the cart before the horse with WPOZ, the wise leadership over there was looking to broaden their impact by reaching out to new audiences. Either way, WPOZ and KSBJ have been building secondary over the air networks, following the model of NPR. I suspect this is going on all over the country - if there is any buzz at all about an HD-2 format, it will work its way over the air one way or another, or be relegated to a few technical geeks who can make the system work - and that won't pay the bills. Only over the air will do that - or streaming. Although streaming is as much of a pain (or even more) in the car as HD radio - too unreliable. Some telemarketer can interrupt the stream, a dropout can end the stream, changing stations is downright dangerous.
It is definitely time to contemplate a digital future for radio sans HD radio, as the dearth of readily available, reasonably priced, easy to operate HD radios attests. A consumer looking for HD radio currently has the option to search eBay, drive all over town looking for closeouts, buy an aftermarket car radio, or buy a new car. The Walmarts of the world tried marketing it, and had massive returns due to the quirks and unreliability of the system. They will never sell it again. They have been burned and will not be again by HD radio. Added to a list of products that don't sell / get returned as defective. It doesn't matter whether the defect was real, reception related, or lack of customer knowledge. A return is a return. HD radio is a pariah to large marketers now and that will not change no matter how much the HD alliance wants it to.
The only thing that might save HD radio is a turnaround based on customer demand, which will not happen until it is rock-solid reliable. I've outlined my ideas for that here. And until it has compelling format - that is up to stations. And more effective advertising and word of mouth, which probably won't happen at this point. Failing those developments, it is doomed to slow decline and eventual death.
