jras20 said:
I'm thinking HD radio will change radio though, they really need to get those radios out there for home & car. If they dont soon for a reasonable price then it will be doomed.
jras, you answered the question to two of the problems of HD Radio. The cost and availability. Wanting $300 for a radio that likely cost no more than $5 more to produce is absurd and is not going to get many people to buy the radio. Only those that have to have the latest gadget and have money to piss away will buy an HD Radio at the prices being asked today.
The FCC in it's usual efficient operation choose a company that has not been able to deliever the goods. Politics as usual got in the way of sound engineering practices and the FCC made a sub-par system the standard. Ibiquity with, their obscene yearly fees to each radio station that broadcasts in HD will no doubt have stations dropping Digital if the profit line becomes tighter or the books need to look better for the investors. Many smaller operations can not afford the cost to even start up a digital operation and analog radio will never cease to exist. I would guess that half the stations in Houston can not justify the expense of transisitioning to HD Radio with the ratings or lack of ratings they have and the cost is not worth the return.
There is not much to choose from when it comes to HD Radio, while Satellite has come way down in price and yes there is a monthly fee, but numerous receivers to choose from and a greatline-up of programming. All this pales of course in the face of web-radio and the day and time is here that net-based stations will begin to rule the airwaves. Tens of thousands of stations, many in digital with every format and variation conceivable. As cities like Houston are WiFi ready you will be able to drive the metro area and listen to any web-based station and have your choice of what you want to hear without fading, static or interferenece. My guess is that radios will not be expensive as a lesson will have been learned from HD and Satellite and the companies that manufacture and the stores that sell the receivers may not be so greedy this time around if they want to sell. If you have a laptop , most likely you already own a web-based radio.
Web-based or Net-Radio is already the number one choice for listening to music for the 12+ to 35 age group and the age limits and numbers that switch over to the internet is growing daily, while AM/FM radio has been seeing a decline in listenership and the latest outlook for AM/FM radio is not very healthy for the remainder of 2006 nor does 2007 look particularly bright.
Is it the death of AM and /or FM radio? I don't believe so, although AM Radio may become a band that is most all niche stations of foreign languages (other than Spanish language radio which has already tranisitioned to FM in most large cities with a large Hispanic population that is interested in Spanish language programming), "Pay for Pray" "Religious" broadcasters and a few new formats that would never have been on the air except the frequencies are available and the price for an AM station will make buying one much more affordable. There my not be a need for LP radio as the AM band can serve that purpose. The meat of AM radio will and is moving to FM. News-Talk, Sports and Spanish language radio is already on FM and will continue to move to the FM band as more stations give up on music, just as AM did in the 80's. I beleieve that with-in five years you will be able to drive across the country and if you have cell phone service you will have web-radio as many of the Wifi sites are on cell-phone towers.
Where does this leave AM/FM and Satellite Radio? I don't really know, except not in a very good position financially or with much of a future. Ideas?
The US or more correctly the FCC chose a poor system for HD Radio with a structure set up to fail for all but the wealthiest stations. AM IBOC does not work, period. If many stations were to get Ibiquity's AM HD it would not be a far step from the early 20's when all stations were on 833kcs. The AM band is already interference plaqued to the point of uselessness at night and with the FCC auction happy for those dollars daytime may not be much better in a matter of years. The NARBA Treaty that the US signed with various countries is a joke and serves only to hurt US stations that wish to upgrade facilites and in many cases along the Gulf Coast and Florida in particular, just regain some territory lost to Cuban signals. Mexico has reserved every frequency at every outpost all along the border with stations that do not exist and many likely will never exist, but US stations must protect these phantom stations. I follow the applications for new stations and station upgrades and the reason the FCC has returned or denied an upgrade to a station is almost funny, except it points out how spineless the FCC and the USA is at protecting our own stations from foreign interference and how we cow tow to other countries that don't give a rats ass about "The Treaty" unless it serves their purpose. Canada, supposdly one of America's closests allies has thumbed their nose at "The Treaty" and US signals on Canadian soil do not really exist and stations are being assigned 50 km or less from full Class B stations with hopes they can override the US signal. Mexico and south thinks that the US is a body of water and Cuba purposely blocks the broadcast of US stations and does not care if starting a station on 560 with 25000 watts non directional will have any impact on WQAM in Miami, they don't care and know that the US will do nothing about the interference created. Yet have a US station try to add nights, like KILE 1560 in Bellaire and get shot down because the pattern would cause excessive power over Cuba. Bob Morrow of KILE must be one of the most patient and perserving people around in his five plus year quest to get a decent nightttime license for KILE. The FCC tossed back the latest daytime application because Mexico objected to a augmentation in the direction of one of their phantom stations. Pure Bull Shitt from the FCC and there is no need for this crap. WKAT 1360 had an application to boast power to 50kW bounced back because it may cause interference to a 10kW ND1 station on Cuba that was not around when WKAT signed on the air and WKAT was most likely trying to regain some interference free territory in Florida back from the Cuban station. Mindless and spineless. Cuba should not even be considered when it comes to any activity by US stations and if they want a border war of the watts, bring it on. We can blow them out of the water either with RF or literally. When is the FCC going to grow a pair for the US stations? Off the topic, as usual, but AM HD by Ibiquty is nothing more than an interference generating siganl that gives "FM quality" to AM. Big Whoop. Many of the powerhouse stations of the 60's and 70's on AM sounded better than many FM stations of today. Before bean counters ran radio stations and a station had an Engineering staff the AM stations had a great sound to them. Not very true today as Engineers are excess personnel. A contract Engineer can be called and fix the problem in a week or two. The bean counters don''t realize or care that each transmitter has a life of it's own and you had to work with that baby day in and out to understand the quirks that each transmitter and antenna array has, something that a contract engineer is not going to be aware of as he/she may only work at that station once or twice and likely infrequently at that. God have I become cynical, must be old age setting in to roost.
FM HD Radio gives you CD quality, something that has been proven with numerous tests is that someone driving in an ordinary vehicle at highway speeds (that would be 55mph for those of us that live in Houston and don't see heady speeds like that unless we get some distance from the city) can not tell the difference between FM radio and a CD playing due to the noises that are generated. What is the point of something that you are not going to really hear anyway. I can see the benefit of at home listening.
jras I have serious doubts that HD radio will be available at a reasonable price in time to make a difference. The general public has shown little to no interest in HD radio and is unlikely to show any more interest than they did in AM stereo, which was nearly zilch. We all know where AM Stereo is today. DEAD. It was a sad death for some of us as AM stereo set up properly sounded as good if not better than it's FM companion. KRTX 980 was one of the best sounding radio stations in Houston back in the day when it was in AM Stereo.
Radiodial, as always Thanks for your compliment on two people that still feel that the ratings are worth writing about, even if they are 12+.
