The Real Reason WSB-AM dropped IBOC/HD Radio

[littlejohn]

I had an AM daytimer to keep up in Tulsa, and AM Dxers were the bane of my existence. It was on a Mexican clear, so test nights the first Sunday of each month when the Mexican was off was the only chance of getting the little station. The competition amongst DXers got to the point that I had a jock make an ID cart with different wording every month. If the QSL request diodn't have the correct wording, no card. I thought the hobby had expired by now. I suppose not.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

It's actually kinda fun to kick the hornet's nest over on the HD Radio board from time to time. It doesn't take much to get the loonies all stirred up.

Thanks for proving my point, once again, that all you IBOC have on your side is the ability to insult your opponents. By classical laws of debate - you lose the debate when you launch personal attacks against your opponent.

I imagine - once this defective system has been trashed - I will be the recipient of some of the blame, at which point you will be vastly overrating my influence as you are underrating it now. You haven't a leg to stand on, IBOC receivers are not selling, the big auto makers are not making it standard equipment, and it is only a matter of time before the defacation hits the rotary ventilation device. If you have a monetary stake in this IBOC stuff - get out fast while you can still make some money - because you will lose your shirt if you don't. Just some friendly advice. The future of radio is streaming audio, not IBOC. Deal with it.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

wording, no card. I thought the hobby had expired by now. I suppose not.

I think that the vast majority of AM DX'ers don't have a clue that is what they are doing. Job changes and moves are so frequent that a lot of people are probably discovering they can still listen to their former home town radio station in their new city. Probably sports teams they are still fans of, a local talk show host, or perhaps just hearing about familier places and things help smooth the transition until they become acclamated to their new area. At which point their involvement in DX fades.

I got started - not out of a desire to DX - but out of necessity because the formats I wanted to hear were not available in my area. Had internet streaming or satellite been available at that time - I would have never become a DX'er. Which is the crux of the matter - people want the music or programming THEY want - not what some corporate focus study says they SHOULD want. And listeners will continue to trickle away to iPods, satellite, and streaming while the radio corporations are in denial over it - and like lemmings going over a cliff think somehow IBOC will reverse the trend and people will come cheerfully back to the same, bland, lawyer approved, corporate formats they are rejecting today.

Of course, I am a well known loony for daring to speak the truth about IBOC ---

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Carter has no idea who or what he is talking about. His recent posts are more science-fiction than science. Yes listeners matter but once the signal leaves the tower you can't baby-sit every radio that it might reach. As for the shrinking FM contour I want to see facts, call signs, equipment and people involved.
If you spent some time on the HD Radio board here you'd see he's not talking about shrinking coverage of FMs running IBOC, he's talking about IBOC making it harder for him to DX stations on first adjacents. The guy lives in Dallas and thinks a little station out of Madill, Oklahoma running ABC's satellite classic rock format does a much better job than any of the Dallas stations. He also has some family in Lubbock, Texas and has claimed on occasion that he's taken a GE Superadio to pools in Lubbock and DXed KMKI (Radio Disney) out of Dallas. He used to claim that Superadios would be flying off the shelves there after he introduced the local kids to Radio Disney.

This is the typical anti-HD stuff you see on that board. They're so completely out of touch, it's almost funny. The current big debate is with a webcaster that pops in from time to time to tell us all how radio is DOOMED just as soon as next year's whiz-bang wi-fi product hits the shelves.

It's actually kinda fun to kick the hornet's nest over on the HD Radio board from time to time. It doesn't take much to get the loonies all stirred up.

I absolutely refuse to sink down to your level of personal insults. I can and will treat all posters on here with respect, regardless of whether I disagree with them or not.

KMAD has quite a following in Collin county, especially when local classic rock station KZPS changed to "Lonestar Country", leaving only semi-rimshot KDBN "the Bone" playing classic rock. Classic rock is a format in trouble, just like oldies, due to aging and shifting demographics. But it still has a following, and if you read the Dallas board at all you know how many people complain that "The Bone" does a lousy job as a classic rock station, but they are the only game left in town - besides rim shot KMAD. Nobody cares that KMAD is playing a satellite feed, they only care that it plays better music. The signal is really strong, and I can hear it in several local businesses. I am sure it doesn't show up in the books, but there are no books for just Collin County. Still - there are a couple of other stations playing to just Collin County like KLAK - and they evidently are making a go of it financially. I would not be a bit surprised to hear that somebody is trying to move KMAD in. I am even starting to hear Collin County commercials on KMAD, so somebody up there knows the NE suburbs of Dallas are listening, and some advertisers are willing to pay for commercials on it.

As for first adjacent reception - it is more rare in the DFW area than in most densely packed East Coast areas. But we have first adjacent KTCU Ft. Worth and KEOM Mesquite, with listeners to both scattered all over the metroplex. And there is a contingent of smooth jazz fans that DX strong first adjacent KOOI to hear the format now that 107.5 has flipped to "Movin". I just answered yet another post from a smooth jazz fan today. All that is really required for first adjacent reception is for both stations to be relatively equal in signal strength, then even a $5 clock radio can do it thanks to the capture ratio. Better radios, of course, do a better job. I am sure a myriad of NPR listeners all through the East Coast that listen to first adjacents in the densely packed Eastern seaboard appreciate your characterization of first adjacent listeners as kooks.

As for KMKI - my daughter long since outgrew the station, and thanks to IBOC they now sound terrible. Still - the pool incident really did happen, and there were kids and their parents that wanted to know how I was getting the station. There may have been a few sales of GE's on Amazon.com as a result. NEVER underestimate the popularity of Hannah Montana or High School Musical to the tween set - mainstream top-40 stations won't play them in spite of multiple platinum sales, I guess they aren't controversial enough. BTW - Hannah Montana tickets go for as much as $2000 on eBay and other ticket re-sellers, so SOMEBODY really likes her. A LOT. Paying $40 for a radio that can get Radio Disney in Lubbock suddenly doesn't seem as far fetched, does it, given those fanatical fans? And even though I hardly ever listen any more, just in the brief times I do, there have been TWO contest winners FROM LUBBOCK, stating that they listen on KMKI. I met the head of Radio Disney a few years ago - they are DESPERATELY looking to buy a station out there. Two contest winners, without even trying hard to prove a point, means there are kids out there listening. Maybe dozens, maybe in the hundreds. The signal is strong enough even on non-GE Superadios - it just takes a good radio - so kids listen. You gonna tell those kids they are kooks? One thing is certain - it is unlikely they are listening off of XM or Sirius, because the typical kid doesn't have $12.95 a month to spend on a subscription.

I was curious about your experience in downtown Dallas - I have multiple reports of trouble at less than half that distance - what receiver were you using?

 

[trusty]

IBOC receivers are not selling, the big auto makers are not making it standard equipment, and it is only a matter of time before the defacation hits the rotary ventilation device.

I don't know whether or not this post deserves a new thread or not; I'll just throw it in here.

When and if HD radio become popular, you'll see receivers at a store that doesn't specialize in electronic equipment. I see satellite radios, ipods, etc. in Wal-Mart. I have yet to see an HD radio there. Maybe we could use Wal-Mart as a guide to the public's acceptance of IBOC.

???