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The FM HD Turnoff Thread
- Thread starter tomservo
- Start date
Digital radio is boring. It offers nothing. All the gimmicky things it does is offered elsewhere. There's nothing there to get excited about. The fact that it's currently free means nothing. Digital systems offer new ways to screw you every day. HD radio is no different. They're charging stations to transmit it and if it were to ever catch on they'd be charging customers next. Remember how ATM's were touted to save money because the banks didn't need to pay a human? It's a billion $$$ business now charging you service fees and hardly anyone remembers that.
Radio's power is in it's delivery speed, it's free, it's everywhere, it's super reliable, it's local, you can carry it on your key chain and the list goes on and on. No other consumer service can say all those things together.
All these desirable characteristics are difficult to capitalize on. That's why we have digital radio and slimeballs like iBiquity, Clear Channel, the FCC, etc.
It's nice to see they're having a difficult time.
Radio's power is in it's delivery speed, it's free, it's everywhere, it's super reliable, it's local, you can carry it on your key chain and the list goes on and on. No other consumer service can say all those things together.
All these desirable characteristics are difficult to capitalize on. That's why we have digital radio and slimeballs like iBiquity, Clear Channel, the FCC, etc.
It's nice to see they're having a difficult time.
Except digital radio DOES offer something. In my market, I get FIVE formats via subchannels that I can't get anywhere else on the go. Classical, classic country, smooth jazz, alt. rock and ESPN. And that could be even more if the Cumulus stations ran subchannels, but they don't. Then there's the HD-2 relay of the local CC news talker, which brings the signal to me at night where the AM is completely covered by Cuba or Mexico.
In that sense, it's a net positive, but it's completely undone by bad technology. The classical station's HD won't decode on one of my two HD radios due to a defect in their encoder. The alt. rock is dead air and/or static right now because no one's paying attention, not even to the online stream. ESPN is off again, too. The news/talk, smooth jazz and classic country are on great signals, but again some 'glitch' with HD radio technology means the main channels come and go for no reason while the -2's are steady as can be.
A paragraph of positive offset by a paragraph of negative — HD in a nutshell.
In that sense, it's a net positive, but it's completely undone by bad technology. The classical station's HD won't decode on one of my two HD radios due to a defect in their encoder. The alt. rock is dead air and/or static right now because no one's paying attention, not even to the online stream. ESPN is off again, too. The news/talk, smooth jazz and classic country are on great signals, but again some 'glitch' with HD radio technology means the main channels come and go for no reason while the -2's are steady as can be.
A paragraph of positive offset by a paragraph of negative — HD in a nutshell.
The junk technology/junk business model that is HD Radio is so overwhelmingly poor that any "positives" are hardly worth talking about. It's unfortunate that current dalliances with HDx channels, especially the third-party leasing of HDx channels in order to repeat them on analog translators and market them as "new" stations, will prolong the inevitable. It's incredibly sad that our industry is so distracted. If we were to put the same time, money, energy, and commitment that we waste on "digital initiatives" such as HD Radio into better serving out markets, we would be much farther ahead.
Zach said:
Most markets (yours may be an exception) already have too many stations. Frequently multiple stations in a market have very similar formats. After all, how many Country or Hot AC stations do you really need in a market? Rather than adding HD channels that very few people can receive, how about putting some of these niche formats on underperforming stations?
Chuck said:
The dial is pretty full here, but the formats I listed are not available anywhere else on FM where I live. Granted, we have a classic country AM up the road a piece, but their audio is horrible and they're supposed to be a daytimer even though they haven't signed off consistently at night in years.
Format duplication is an issue here, but only for two formats. We have THREE country stations, though, and all get good ratings. Well, it is the south. Then we have THREE more or less identical CHRs. I think everything else is either a one of a kind format or the duplication is on lower power sticks that don't cover both nearby metros. (I'm between two cities that are two markets but mostly share towers between the two towns.)
I didn't see this one mentioned yet, WCCC Hartford used to have HD-1 matching it's regular analog program, and HD-2 was it's Beethoven Radio AM sister and recently I haven't been hearing the buzz along sides of WWYZ in Waterbury, but I haven't confirmed this with my HD radio yet (I have to go out of my area to do this as I bet very poor reception of most of the HD at home).
KODJ Salt Lake City had HD back about 2-3 years ago and have since dropped it. It hasn't been back - and that's a Clear Channel station. There are others that used to have HD-2s and have scrapped them. KBEE in Salt Lake is an example of this; they used to have a 50s-60s oldies feed on there, now there's nothing.
When a station just goes with an HD-1, it pretty much renders the HD radio concept worthless. There are many stations that do this and I am hard pressed to find any value in it for the owner OR for the listener. Another 2 examples of the HD-1 only thing are WLWK and WKLH Milwaukee. There are many, many others. Why do this? Why bother? It takes one of IBOC's few redeeming qualities (the ability to multicast) off the table.
The whole concept is a waste. It's bad for business and terrible for reception.
When a station just goes with an HD-1, it pretty much renders the HD radio concept worthless. There are many stations that do this and I am hard pressed to find any value in it for the owner OR for the listener. Another 2 examples of the HD-1 only thing are WLWK and WKLH Milwaukee. There are many, many others. Why do this? Why bother? It takes one of IBOC's few redeeming qualities (the ability to multicast) off the table.
The whole concept is a waste. It's bad for business and terrible for reception.
Yeah, and iBiquity is so myopic they never even thought of multicasting. NPR Labs developed that concept, which HD's boosters promptly co-opted. If it had been up to iBiquity's mad scientists there would only be HD-1 and AM-HD....both losers. At least the subchannels hold up a faint and feeble hope of some kind of technological advantage, however cobbled and compromised.
[quote
When a station just goes with an HD-1, it pretty much renders the HD radio concept worthless. There are many stations that do this and I am hard pressed to find any value in it for the owner OR for the listener. Another 2 examples of the HD-1 only thing are WLWK and WKLH Milwaukee. There are many, many others. Why do this? Why bother? It takes one of IBOC's few redeeming qualities (the ability to multicast) off the table.
The whole concept is a waste. It's bad for business and terrible for reception.
[/quote]
I was thinking about the same thing. Two FM stations in my area have IBOC on but do not offer any HD sidebands. What's the point of having HD on and no HD-2 or more subchannels anyways? This, I don't know.
When a station just goes with an HD-1, it pretty much renders the HD radio concept worthless. There are many stations that do this and I am hard pressed to find any value in it for the owner OR for the listener. Another 2 examples of the HD-1 only thing are WLWK and WKLH Milwaukee. There are many, many others. Why do this? Why bother? It takes one of IBOC's few redeeming qualities (the ability to multicast) off the table.
The whole concept is a waste. It's bad for business and terrible for reception.
[/quote]
I was thinking about the same thing. Two FM stations in my area have IBOC on but do not offer any HD sidebands. What's the point of having HD on and no HD-2 or more subchannels anyways? This, I don't know.
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