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Twice as many FM stations now in INDY!!!!

P

perenoel6218

I hope the subject line was not misleading, but actually with HD-2 and HD-3 popping
up in Indianapolis, there seem to be many more stations all of a sudden. Of course
one needs to invest something like $100 for a receiver (at Radio Shack). But once you
get one, it is like owning an FM receiver back in the 60s.

WKLU seems to be the only station doing two HDs. For awhile 97.1 HD-2 was airing
Americana music, but unfortunately they seemed to have switched to Bubba Country,
whatever that is. That switch made me take them off my remote presets.

Others are running rock oldies. No one is doing anything like the Music Of Your Life
format or anything for kids ( and I do not mean the Disney format, ugh!)

WICR at 88.7 seems to be airing an all classical format but I have heard that might
be tweaked once the management finishes its testing.

So, it is just interesting that this technology has arrived and not much is being said
about it. Even though it actually adds many more outlets for Indianapolis.

I hope WZPL continues on its HD-2 with the Comedy Channel. It is worth the price
of the receiver alone!!!
 
I'll asked this once in this forum, I'll ask it again, where's the money going to come from to support all of these extra signals? Don't give me the stock answer of, "The revenue is out there!", because it really isn't. The advertising budget for each business or agency is only so big and will not grow fast enough to accommodate more outlets. Analog AM and FM radio already fights it out for its piece of the advertising budget pie with broadcast television, cable insert, print, outdoor and any other entity who's job it is to spread the word; increasing radio signals by a third doesn't help anyone.

The NAB and others gleefully "sing happy songs" about HD Radio and all of its subchannel revenue potential as a savior to radio against a sea of portable competition. But no one has explained how this new technology will financially justify the six figure upgrade, especially when there are few receivers to hear these fancy subchannels.

I'll save further discussion for the HD board.
 
As for the revenue of these HD channels, well, I know it sounds naive, but radio is not
necessarily meant to make an individual or corporation rich. Sure, I understand
the licenses sell for megabucks (technically NOT the licenses but the property), and that
the new owner must recoup those bucks. That said, however, and once the pricey
upgrade to air HD is accomplished, licensees have an opportunity to diversify and try
new formats. I think back to early FM receiver days. What made people invest in those?
Better fidelity, more selections, less interference. And, yes, it took a decade for FM
to take off eventually. So we need to give HD the time it needs. The Indy stations
hopefully will realize that and not expect to break the bank with their new toy!
 
Does an HD receiver somehow magically make the station's CONTENT sound better
or will most radio still be awful?

It's the content and not the technology that saves or sinks radio at this point.
They are chasing a dream down a dark alley with HD. Like putting a new flagpole in front of a condemned building.
Leave HD to televison. Radio Shack's not going to get rich off of the rush to buy HD receivers so people can "experience radio in High Def".

Hire some decent jocks (or just hire jocks, PERIOD. There's a new idea!) and fix your format.
That's a good start.
 
MightyFrenchman said:
Until and unless the automakers install HD radios as standard equipment, HD radio in Indiana and elsewhere will go the way of AM stereo.
Click to expand...

Great point. Look how MP3 hook-ups are now coming standard with some models...
 
CityRadio91.9 said:
As for the revenue of these HD channels, well, I know it sounds naive, but radio is not
necessarily meant to make an individual or corporation rich. Sure, I understand
the licenses sell for megabucks (technically NOT the licenses but the property), and that
the new owner must recoup those bucks. That said, however, and once the pricey
upgrade to air HD is accomplished, licensees have an opportunity to diversify and try
new formats. I think back to early FM receiver days. What made people invest in those?
Better fidelity, more selections, less interference. And, yes, it took a decade for FM
to take off eventually. So we need to give HD the time it needs. The Indy stations
hopefully will realize that and not expect to break the bank with their new toy!
Click to expand...

Surely that entire statement was meant as a joke????

Investing millions of dollars into your business - so you can run it as a non-profit "hobby" for people who wish to relive the "good ol' days of FM" - dream on!

If station owners cared what YOU thought about "quality of music" - they wouldn't play the CRAP they play on the regular FM freq.

I still don't understand why someone interested in "quality of music," including the best technology would depend on commercial radio stations for music selection?

Anyone with the ability to purchase an HD receiver, WITH the interest in a better quality signal is STILL going to get a crap playlist.

"Freebird" in HiDef - let me go out right now and get that receiver!
 
I have a question, and it's sheer, honest curiosity:

Does anyone know anyone who owns a high-def radio?

I know one - maybe two - people who own the much-bolly-hooed yet mega-expensive HD TV. I only know of a handful of people who have satellite radio.

I don't know anyone personally who owns a high-def radio.

I know these supplamental channels offer the chance to lay-out some creative formats, but is it worth it to buy one? Is it worth the effort to scoll down the dial, then up or down on that frequency to find what that listener wants?

I know I'm pretty green to the biz, but I'm failing to understand why so much attention is focused on it, and not the primary frequency.
 
And the deficiencies of this technology. I live 30 miles from most of the big FM signals in Indy. Example...93.1. My tuner's signal meter shows a 5 on 93.1, but it now shows a 4.5 on 92.9 and 93.3--it used to have listenable signals from Cincy & Dayton. Now just a loud hiss. Each FM station that broadcasts in HD takes out 3 channels. In my driveway, I was able to listen to 93.3 from Cincinnati, 96.9 from Hardinsburg, 95.3 from Carrollton/Madison and 94.9 from Cincinnati. They are ALL GONE now...thanks to IBOC--It Bothers Other Channels. AM is even worse. Remember when we could hear WGN 720 clearly in Indiana during the day? WLW fixed that with HD. 860 from Marion has noise in it from WHAS 840 at 110 miles. And they call this progress? I haven't checked, but it would be interesting to know how badly Anderson on 1240 is being hurt by WNDE's HD on 1260. 1240 used to sound great in Castleton...I'd be shocked if it didn't have noise mixed with it now.

I have to agree with the statement about this being reminiscent of the early days of FM. Back then they told us that FM was a line of sight medium...if you could hear the signal 40 miles, you were doing well. With all the hissing noise that HD introduces, it's just a matter of time until we're back where we were in the 1960's. Only catch...better radios can't help this time.

And what is all this for? Buy one of these radios & find out for yourself that these addditional channels have a fraction of the reach that analog does. The HD transmitters operate with a very small fraction of the power that the analog transmitters do. This is so they won't trash their own analog signal...it's OK to trash your neighbors on the dial, but not your own signal! One 50KW Indy FM station was supplied with an early radio which they set up in their offices less than 10 miles from their tower. It didn't work with the supplied antenna. An rimember bought one of these in Columbus. 97.1 is pretty good...the other Indy signals aren't there at 35 miles. Just like a Cell Phone...Digital isn't better, it just allows you to shove more signals into the same spectrum & make more money.
 
Congrats to City Radio. He just purchased the first IBOC HD radio in his
neighborhood and the 301st in all of Indy.
IBOC will go flop flop flop just like the flat tire I had on the way to work
last week.
Internet based WIFI is the real threat to the future of FM.
Our company may have several used towers for sale cheap in
the comming future.
 
Agree. There are so many options on the Internet but who has the time or desire to just sit at one's computer to listen to it? When the technology arrives to pick up internet "stations" in the car, which is going to happen soon, WIFI will threaten not only traditional radio but satellite radio as well.

Ur-A-Dawg said:
Internet based WIFI is the real threat to the future of FM.
Click to expand...
 
Okay, I live in Broad Ripple. In a house, not an apartment. My Accurian Radio Shack
HD Radio is in my room on ground level. I am using the less powerful of the two
supplied antennae. I have yet to plug in the more powerful one. It seems I can
pick up well all the area's FM and HD channels. I have the supplied AM antenna
connected but it will hardly pick up 700/WLW or 780/WBBM Chicago. But that is not
why I bought this radio. It was simply to listen to the new HD channels. This model
gives one two 6 FM and two 6AM presets. The other mode, the fifth one, is for
an audio input. I have input a CD player into it. The model also has an earphone out.
The LED also can be set for a clock.
WIBC claims their signal is HD, yet with talk all day long who can discern that? I cannot.
And none of their conservative yap-yap interests me anyway.
When, by the way, will the FCC ever bring AM to its imminent demise?
 
I won't argue the fact that there is some decent programming available on the Indy HD channnels, but who really is listening? It all looks good on paper, but with satellite radios and Ipods already out there by the millions, how many people are going to run out and buy a HD receiver just because there is comedy on ZPL or deep tracks on FBQ? The marketing is going to have to be more agressive than the occasional 30-second spot telling people that there are "free hidden channels" out there, along with a better assortment of readily-available receivers. It's mind-boggling in a way what broadcasters are spending on equipment, and for their sake, I hope it catches on and not ends up 6 feet under next to C-Quam. With Sirius and XM going into so many new-vehicles, I don't think I would count on the automakers to be of much help. As Bob (THE man) pointed out, about all they're accomplishing with HD now is making a mess out of the broadacast spectrum.
 
Internet Radio will soon be available at a small cost to individuals not only on cell phones, but in cars, anywhere - THAT will overtake radio.
 
For the record, "HD" in the case of radio does not stand for high definition. They are just two letters added for marketing purpose. The bitrate used is far from high definition.
 
Internet broadcasting is more democratic too. Anyone can do it.
No FCC license required.
And the cost to do it is just about nothing.
Furthermore, I would have as good or better sound than the
best IBOC signal.
IBOC will go flop flop flop.
Sorry!
 
Ur-A-Dawg said:
Internet broadcasting is more democratic too. Anyone can do it.
Click to expand...

Google "net neutrality." Sure, any little guy can stream. But lacking "neutrality," and as streaming grows, look for the big boys to work deals to control who has better access to the "pipe." And to the listener.
 
brian_stevens said:
Google "net neutrality." Sure, any little guy can stream. But lacking "neutrality," and as streaming grows, look for the big boys to work deals to control who has better access to the "pipe." And to the listener.
Click to expand...

Yep....he with the biggest bucks.....
 
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