Satrad Runs in the Black...Why Can't HD?

[tomservo]

If there's gonna be a push to make HD radios standard equipment, there has GOT to be a digital lockout made available so people can force them back to analog. There are simply too many stations out there with lazy engineers, who have volume and sync issues between their digital and analog feeds. It makes listening in fringe areas a hair pulling event.

 

[Savage]

Hey Zach - as a self-described "bystander" please be advised that referring to radio engineers as "lazy" because of discrepancies between the analog and digital HD streams, is unfair and harsh.

FYI: radio engineering staffs have been decimated in recent years by economy reductions and demands have ramped up considerably. It's not uncommon for a six to eight station cluster, including maybe ten studios and four or five transmitter sites, to have TWO engineers. These guys can barely keep up with emergencies, remotes and cluelessly green and non-technically savvy on-air people. They can scarcely get through one night of uninterrupted sleep or a holiday meal without having to field an unnecessary "emergency" call.

Then....there are the REAL emergencies.

HD is an incredible maintenance hog. Dorking around with the profanity delay to keep the two streams in sync is a constant, endless nightmare, and another example of the Rube Goldberg engineering with which iBiquity's techy-cluster is rife. When there's a choice between the three-alarm fire and the five-alarm fire - syncing the stupid HD audio AGAIN or getting the Class B market-leading signal back on - triage dictates that HD gets shoved aside. After all, there are usually about four or five digital listeners.

C'mon. Have a little respect.

 

[tomservo]

You're right and I shouldn't have inferred that it was laziness that is leading to the sync issues. My apologies to the engineers out there.

I guess I was only thinking of the local HD outlet, which is a public radio network. As I understand it, since the radio and TV are co-located at these sites, each has a full time engineer to handle things. One of the stations nearest me has sync AND volume issues. It seems like if an engineer there has only one TV station and the analog/HD FM transmitter to worry over, the problem should be fixed in a single day, and not be allowed to go on for weeks as it has.

Strangely, at those big cluster stations you're talking about (my only experience here is in Memphis so far), none of those have had these issues.

Again, I do apologize for writing before thinking.

 

[pocket-radio]

Built it and they will come once worked, when consumer choice was limited. Today consumers suffer from over choice..

To answer the original question. Satradio was the first digital radio system that was marketed and sold.
They were first.. people remember who was first.. The first woman in space.. the first man on the moon..

It appealed to SOME people fed up with spots and homogenized programming. They offered different programming than what was offered by repeater AM/FM. Duh...

So when consumers buy a new car, duh.. they're curious. And the new car dealers market satradio in the showroom, so they can make money.. duh..

digital hybrid radio is now available in some new car models.

Are consumers curious about digital hybrid radio? that's the question...are they curious?
So far sales of digital hybrid radio receivers are flat.. dead in the water..

Unless the industry gives consumers something to be curious about, it's just more of the same and more noise on AM/FM.. Built it and they will come. not anymore Jimmy.. not any more..

 

[TheBigA]

If there's gonna be a push to make HD radios standard equipment,

The only way to make it standard is either by federal mandate, which the FCC is on record as being against, or through some deal made by iBiquity, and so far they haven't been able to pull the trigger. So my guess is there won't be a push. Just a lotta wishin' & hopin.'

 

[TheBigA]

Unless the industry gives consumers something to be curious about, it's just more of the same and more noise on AM/FM..

The curiosity factor for satellite was a very small minority of their subscribers. Probably would equal the number of HD radios sold in the last two years. What drove satellite subscriptions was the desire to escape commercials. That is the #1 driving force for satellite music channels. Not curiosity. They knew the deal with satellite: Pay your money and you get commercial free music. Having all new cars satellite equipped made it easier. But even that has topped out.

 

[pocket-radio]

Unless the industry gives consumers something to be curious about, it's just more of the same and more noise on AM/FM..

The curiosity factor for satellite was a very small minority of their subscribers. Probably would equal the number of HD radios sold in the last two years. What drove satellite subscriptions was the desire to escape commercials. That is the #1 driving force for satellite music channels. Not curiosity. They knew the deal with satellite: Pay your money and you get commercial free music. Having all new cars satellite equipped made it easier. But even that has topped out.

They weren't curious, ok.. But they didn't like all those commercials and Satellite radio provided alternative choices of music stations commercial free.. I agree once HD radio become standard
equipment listeners will love our choices better. Build it and they will come..

 

[mmnassour]

But first, it has to be built, both technically and on the content front. At this moment the first is a disgrace and the second (with the exception of a few NPR outlets) is sadly lacking.

Oh, and by the way, cheap radios wouldn't hurt. And I mean table radios in the $20 range and car adapters that don't take an engineer to install.

Other than than, HD is on the way! :

 

[TheBigA]

But they didn't like all those commercials and Satellite radio provided alternative choices of music stations commercial free..

The alternative choices really aren't where the numbers are. Not a lot of opera subscribers. There are five or six music channels driving subscriptions, and most of them are duplicates of FM radio, such as Highway 16. Like cable, it's nice to know the choices are available, but most people don't go beyond a handful of popular channels.

 

[pocket-radio]

But they didn't like all those commercials and Satellite radio provided alternative choices of music stations commercial free..

The alternative choices really aren't where the numbers are. Not a lot of opera subscribers. There are five or six music channels driving subscriptions, and most of them are duplicates of FM radio, such as Highway 16. Like cable, it's nice to know the choices are available, but most people don't go beyond a handful of popular channels.

I agree not a lot of opera subscribers, but if that's your thing they offer it and you pay.
FM offers more or less the same thing. FM radio is programmed for Arbitron, not listeners or the dear car dealer, can we really believe the numbers? Nobody really knows! Pandora is popular, more so than Clear Channel, Cox and the rest of the pack. Again listeners are searching for something more than the same 200 songs over and over and over. Like you I can read an Abritron, so what?

Dogs are pack animals and sticking with the pack feels safer, but sometimes you have think for yourself and be willing to look around the corner to discover new opportunities and see the future. Otherwise you're like a factory worker limited and stuck in the past. The game is changing it's about quality not quantity.

 

[TheBigA]

Pandora is popular, more so than Clear Channel, Cox and the rest of the pack. Again listeners are searching for something more than the same 200 songs over and over and over.

When people use Pandora, they listen to the same 200 songs over and over. The difference is they are THEIR favorite songs. They don't have to hear songs they don't like or know. Once again, it's not the number of choices available, but the customization. Also, Pandora isn't "more popular" than OTA, but used in conjunction. Once again, programmers and consultants are testing listeners to see if they really want bigger playlists, or less repetition, and the consistent feedback from all demos is that the majority isn't searching for more choices. Just more customization. If there was money to be made in OTA radio with bigger playlists, you'd have them.

 

[Carmine5]

If iBiquity wants HD radio to take off, pay Apple millions to include an HD radio in every iPod, iPhone, and iPad sold.

That's what it will take. To compare HD to satellite ignores the fact that the satellite companies paid hundreds of millions of dollars to get their radios installed as standard equipment in all new cars. Since HD isn't mandated, the car companies won't install it without the same deal. And iBiquity simply doesn't have the money. Truthfully, neither does satellite, but they did it anyway. As I've said before, it doesn't matter what programming is available, how cool the radios are, or how great the marketing is. At the end of the day, the radios need to be standard equipment. Otherwise no one's going to listen.

Yep, love or hate satellite radio, they paid plenty for the privilege of being in cars. Only now is it beginning to pay off...maybe.

Ibiquity, on the other hand, has gotten so many favors from the government, both the Feds and local, that you could say it's as good as money--and yet, they still can't get HD Radio in every home, handheld device and car. Heck, they can't even plant a seed of HDR awareness in the minds of the consumer. So what's next? An Obama bailout? More legislation and regulation? Anything but doing it the old fashioned way, spending like a drunken sailor to promote HD Radio and letting the market decide.

Maybe ibiquity can trot out some of these past-their-prime, PRA-loving recording artists to testify before a Congressional Committee declaring, "We can't let market forces decide the fate of HD Radio, the government must act and act now. Our iTunes tagging royalty payments depend on it." Cue: violins.

c5

 

[Carmine5]

With an iphone or similar cloned device you already have digital radio and you can listen to anything you want..
You can choose from thousands and thousands of digital streams, or simply pick your own music Pandora style.. So who needs HD?

As much as I like the variety of web radio, I'm not too thrilled with the frequent buffering.

As has been often pointed out, terrestrial radio is still the easiest audio device to operate. Turn a knob, press a button and you're done. Heck, you can do that while driving. No apps to fiddle with, no touch-screens to look at and, with an analog signal, no buffering.

Internet radio needs to achieve that same ease of use and reliability.

c5

 

[davideduardo]

Maybe ibiquity can trot out some of these past-their-prime, PRA-loving recording artists to testify before a Congressional Committee declaring, "We can't let market forces decide the fate of HD Radio, the government must act and act now.

Well, that is how FM became viable after nearly 30 years of losses.

 

[davideduardo]

FM radio is programmed for Arbitron, not listeners or the dear car dealer, can we really believe the numbers? Nobody really knows!

Actually we do know that ratings are reasonably accurate, as, over history, different companies and different methodologies have shown quite similar results. Yes, different stations might be rinked a bit differently but overall the big stations are big no matter how you measure them.