R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
I will be on the road tomorrow - it will be interesting to see if they got their huge daytime footprint back! Now if the rest of the ABC stations will just drop this cr@p ---
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
S
SmokeRing
Guest
All AM's should drop HD. Leave it to FM.
The HD people say they want ALL stations to go 100 percent digital one day (meaning analog goes away), but AM analog is the best solution in emergency situations. The smallest and most cheaply made battery powered (or hand cranked) radios can pick up analog AM signals. 20 years from now, you might very well be stranded without access to mass information if you found yourself in a power outage with all radio signals being digital. Good luck pulling in an HD signal with a small emergency radio. And a power outage is a relatively innocent emergency situation. Imagine a terrorist attack?
But, hey, I'm using logic. I learned long ago to abandon that when dealing with the radio industry. Besides, the free market seems to be taking care of HD radio well enough on its own.
The HD people say they want ALL stations to go 100 percent digital one day (meaning analog goes away), but AM analog is the best solution in emergency situations. The smallest and most cheaply made battery powered (or hand cranked) radios can pick up analog AM signals. 20 years from now, you might very well be stranded without access to mass information if you found yourself in a power outage with all radio signals being digital. Good luck pulling in an HD signal with a small emergency radio. And a power outage is a relatively innocent emergency situation. Imagine a terrorist attack?
But, hey, I'm using logic. I learned long ago to abandon that when dealing with the radio industry. Besides, the free market seems to be taking care of HD radio well enough on its own.
I think it's a great decision. Really, do you know ANYONE not in the biz (or in the biz for that matter) that has HD radio in their car? Diminishing a big AM footprint for radio's version of the cue-cat was what the Ticket guys would call a failed bit from the beginning.
rbrucecarter5 said:
WBAP sells no more by having audience outside the DFW metro than with it, so the coverage outside the metro is irrelvant today. Over the last 4 or 5 years, KTCK with no coverage outside the metro has pretty much tied WBAP in billings.
But the real issue is jumping to any conclusion based on what Citadel is doing... seeing if they can avoid bankruptcy, maybe by selling stations, is the thing to watch. They are cutting ever little cost, including HD.
Just think of how many jobs could have been saved across the country had broadcasters not wasted the millions they've blown on HD? HD was a calculated and foolish gamble. Satellite isn't radio's chief competitor, but don't let the facts stand in the way of the opinions being pushed by the NAB and the idiots in the suits at the top of the food chain. HD currently sits in 2nd place on my list of the dumbest things in broadcasting, right behind the Telecom Act of 1996.
NAB is pushing HD so they can try to force the satcasters to include HD with their receivers. As if. Most satellite radios ALREADY go through your FM tuner. People tune away because of the commercials & repetition. They are not going to magically return just because it is included. HD is inferior due to range & power constraints which aren't an issue on satellite. Oh and did I mention content.
Wake up, satellite radio is only one thing competing for listeners. Ipods, CD's & cellphones also pull listeners away from FM. Unless the NAB can force the satcasters to include a cd player, mp3 player & cellphone also.
That'll fix 'em.
Wake up, satellite radio is only one thing competing for listeners. Ipods, CD's & cellphones also pull listeners away from FM. Unless the NAB can force the satcasters to include a cd player, mp3 player & cellphone also.
That'll fix 'em.
NealH said:
HD has focused principally in the top 100 markets, where about two-thirds to 70% of the US population is concentrated. In those markets, HD is a minor capital cost, not an operating cost of any significance. It's mostly a one-time cost, and most installs were done before the ad recession started in late 2006 or early 2007.
Whether is works or not, it was an earnest effort by radio to compete in the digital age. For the very minor expense involved, it's still a worthy effort to create more terrestrial diversity and to improve the audio quality of stations.
Surely after there has been serious and collateral economic damage done to adjacent
AM analogue channels thanks to the I-SLOP jammers, and only after a slew of AM broadcasters
file civil action against these eminent domain thiefs will it finally be turned off at even
the Top 100 markets. So much for splatter and NRSC! When they've got huge damages to
pay for causing economic harm to many smaller AM stations will they realize the I-SLOP
was a mistake.. a huge mistake. They'd better silence that noise generator as the daily
economic loss grows and the cost of destroying the AM band will continue to worsen.
If you owned 200 feet of frontage on your property and your neighbor came along and decided
to build on 75 feet of it, and the township said. "be our guest.. we look the other way"
what would you do.. sit idly by and allow them to break the law? Absolutely not! And the I-sloppers
will soon learn why . The real question begs to be asked. How could the FCC allow anyone
to abrogate their own rules?
AM analogue channels thanks to the I-SLOP jammers, and only after a slew of AM broadcasters
file civil action against these eminent domain thiefs will it finally be turned off at even
the Top 100 markets. So much for splatter and NRSC! When they've got huge damages to
pay for causing economic harm to many smaller AM stations will they realize the I-SLOP
was a mistake.. a huge mistake. They'd better silence that noise generator as the daily
economic loss grows and the cost of destroying the AM band will continue to worsen.
If you owned 200 feet of frontage on your property and your neighbor came along and decided
to build on 75 feet of it, and the township said. "be our guest.. we look the other way"
what would you do.. sit idly by and allow them to break the law? Absolutely not! And the I-sloppers
will soon learn why . The real question begs to be asked. How could the FCC allow anyone
to abrogate their own rules?
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
DavidEduardo said:
But - David - better coverage outside the area - on a decent radio - translates directly to receivability inside the area on a
$5 clock radio - the way most people listen to radio. I bet the IBOC was limiting their coverage inside of the DFW area.
I have HD radio at home on a AV receiver and I live in Fort Worth. With any antenna I throw at it, WBAP and 1270 are the only AM HD signals it receives. I also have an add-on HD radio in one of my vehicles. KAAM and Radio Disney sound good on it, WBAP was fair, while KRLD sounds WORSE when the HD kicks in and 1270 is UNLISTENABLE in HD with the home or auto unit. If 1080 and 1270 sound like that on all HD radios they have no business turning it on.
November 30th I was driving through Indiana in the early morning. Tuned into WBAP to get the DFW weather (where it has been strong in the past) and WHAS HD was wiping it out...
I was intrigued by the possibilities for AM HD but I am severely disappointed.
November 30th I was driving through Indiana in the early morning. Tuned into WBAP to get the DFW weather (where it has been strong in the past) and WHAS HD was wiping it out...
I was intrigued by the possibilities for AM HD but I am severely disappointed.
KRLD 1080 broadcasts in HD, even at night....
But really the KRLD analog signal is just so weak.....
The HD KRLD signal is not much better..... It fades in and out.
I do not need or want AM HD for News, Talk and Sports.
The ONLY kind of programming that I need HD for an the AM band, is for Music. I lile the way 770 KAAM sounds in HD.... but that HD is available in daytime only. With the power reduction after dark, it's not listenable from North Central Irving.... but most other stations come in nicely.
But really the KRLD analog signal is just so weak.....
The HD KRLD signal is not much better..... It fades in and out.
I do not need or want AM HD for News, Talk and Sports.
The ONLY kind of programming that I need HD for an the AM band, is for Music. I lile the way 770 KAAM sounds in HD.... but that HD is available in daytime only. With the power reduction after dark, it's not listenable from North Central Irving.... but most other stations come in nicely.
I've posted here and elsewhere about the problems I've had with even trying to buy an HD radio. It's nearly impossible to get a good listen to the benefits of an HD radio in a store. It is seemingly impossible to hear AM HD in ANY store. The salespeople don't understand the product and love to push you toward satellite instead.
The radios have not sold well. I would doubt the claims that "millions" of radios have been sold. I doubt it's more than a million if even that.
HD on FM is okay because it has not really hurt the analog reception of the stations. The added programming could be a benefit and the reception is more reliable than AM HD reception. That's not to say FM HD reception is reliable.
For AM, the loss of analog quality and increase in noise on the band far offsets any benefit the stations get from the few people who hear the stations in HD. It is a 100% waste of money.
My hope is that AM HD will go away. I would have no problem with it if they could make the reception of the HD signal more reliable (on both bands) and do it on AM without the sideband noise and loss of analog quality.
The radios have not sold well. I would doubt the claims that "millions" of radios have been sold. I doubt it's more than a million if even that.
HD on FM is okay because it has not really hurt the analog reception of the stations. The added programming could be a benefit and the reception is more reliable than AM HD reception. That's not to say FM HD reception is reliable.
For AM, the loss of analog quality and increase in noise on the band far offsets any benefit the stations get from the few people who hear the stations in HD. It is a 100% waste of money.
My hope is that AM HD will go away. I would have no problem with it if they could make the reception of the HD signal more reliable (on both bands) and do it on AM without the sideband noise and loss of analog quality.
{STUPID QUESTION}
If WBAP has dropped HD, why are they still doing WBAP/WBAP-HD in their daytime station IDs? (At least they were at 7 a.m. this morning).
{/STUPID QUESTION}
If WBAP has dropped HD, why are they still doing WBAP/WBAP-HD in their daytime station IDs? (At least they were at 7 a.m. this morning).
{/STUPID QUESTION}
HD radio on the FM side is fine, as the multicasting works without issue, AM side is a total joke, the only way it can be solved is by fixing AM as a whole post Digital TV conversion in Feb by giving up analog channels for AM radio frequency. Once thats done, I have a feeling it may catch on..
copydesk2 said:
Start Believing ! ! !
http://www.walmart.com/search/searc...48_0&search_query=hd+radio&Find.x=15&Find.y=6
TheRover said:
Sorry, go to an actual Wal-Mart store and see what happens. I did this past weekend and got blank stares from the workers in the electronic section. They had no HD radios on the shelves at all. The salespeople thought I was looking for satellite radio or an HDTV.
Seriously, this technology is dead. Radio can pour more money into it if they want and try to revive it, but it's dead. Moving everyone to another frequency to do full digital would be fine, but that will take years. It's probably a more worthwhile goal than spending money on a technology that people do not want to buy for the price that's being offered.
- Status