What is this "HD Radio" you speak of?

[kenglish]

Well, I saw the obit for well-known DXer John Bryant, and thought I'd listen to Glen Hauser on WRN to see what he said about him. So, at 11:25, I turned on the local Community Radio station's HD2 channel, for WRN. Got nothing but hum. Since it's not snowing here, I figured the satellite receiver must have powered off, so I called the DJ.

After trying to explain what I was looking for, with her not knowing what an "HD Radio" is, she asked if I was sure I was calling the right station.

She's going to call their contract engineer. I wish I had a "cheat sheet" that showed where the receiver and dish are, so I could talk the DJs thru what to look for. Maybe that should be part of HD Radio....."If you do not receive this channel, call this number, and ask them to look in equipment rack "F", at about waist level, and see if the green light is on.............."

 

[R.F. Burns]

Many station employees today don't even know what call letters are. I'll receive a call from a station emplioyee and when i ask which station they are calling from they'll say something like Z102. I'll say that I need their call letters and they sound confused. Many stations keep their satellite receivers and other equipment locked away from their employees and even if they do have access, most don't even know what each piece of equipment in a rack does. HD radio has nothing to do with this. Such is the state of the industry in 2010.

 

[8638]

Many station employees today don't even know what call letters are. I'll receive a call from a station emplioyee and when i ask which station they are calling from they'll say something like Z102. I'll say that I need their call letters and they sound confused. Many stations keep their satellite receivers and other equipment locked away from their employees and even if they do have access, most don't even know what each piece of equipment in a rack does. HD radio has nothing to do with this. Such is the state of the industry in 2010.

Most listeners don't know the call letters, either. No doubt this helped motivate the development of the PPM.

 

[KB1OKL]

I would bet that many more station employees know their call letters than know what HD radio is.

 

[R.F. Burns]

I would bet that many more station employees know their call letters than know what HD radio is.

Then you'd be wrong. If you've ever been at the network transmission end of things on a weekend, you'd know that.

 

[pocket-radio]

Many station employees today don't even know what call letters are. I'll receive a call from a station emplioyee and when i ask which station they are calling from they'll say something like Z102. I'll say that I need their call letters and they sound confused. Many stations keep their satellite receivers and other equipment locked away from their employees and even if they do have access, most don't even know what each piece of equipment in a rack does. HD radio has nothing to do with this. Such is the state of the industry in 2010.

HD radio defined:

HD radio is a computer in a dusty closet. The jukebox plays music, similar to that found on FM radio. Most radio station employees don't own an HD radio and don't know what it is. Listeners don't ask about HD and clients don't ask their sales reps about HD either. Most people don't own one either. Auto manufactures have incentives to sell satellite radios. Car buyers are asking about satellite radio. HD radio is mostly an expensive option
and car buyers don't ask.

 

[Savage]

Amazing-But-True Department: I was having a conversation with the GM of a local corporate cluster. I casually inquired about the format they were carrying on an HD-2 sub. Her somewhat remarkable response: "I don't know anything about those channels. They're all programmed directly from corporate."

Repeat: The GM of an HD station couldn't tell me about the format on her own HD-2. THE GENERAL MANAGER.

 

[KB1OKL]

Amazing-But-True Department: I was having a conversation with the GM of a local corporate cluster. I casually inquired about the format they were carrying on an HD-2 sub. Her somewhat remarkable response: "I don't know anything about those channels. They're all programmed directly from corporate."

Repeat: The GM of an HD station couldn't tell me about the format on her own HD-2. THE GENERAL MANAGER.

I'll bet she knows her call letters though.

 

[mmnassour]

Amazing-But-True Department: I was having a conversation with the GM of a local corporate cluster. I casually inquired about the format they were carrying on an HD-2 sub. Her somewhat remarkable response: "I don't know anything about those channels. They're all programmed directly from corporate."

Repeat: The GM of an HD station couldn't tell me about the format on her own HD-2. THE GENERAL MANAGER.

The issue is that it's not his HD-2. It's corporate's.

That says a lot not only about what passes for programming on the HD channels, but about the state of American Radio overall.

 

[davideduardo]

Most listeners don't know the call letters, either. No doubt this helped motivate the development of the PPM.

That's a nonsequitur. Why would not knowing the call letters affect ratings? Arbitron, in the diary, gave credit for calls (about the least mentioned identifier), station names, station slogans, station dial position (the most common identifier) and program / talent names. Call letters were neither necessary nor all that frequently used, save among the oldest generation of listeners.

 

[davideduardo]

Many station employees today don't even know what call letters are. I'll receive a call from a station emplioyee and when i ask which station they are calling from they'll say something like Z102. I'll say that I need their call letters and they sound confused.

My best story involves buying some hardware for an FM in Argentina from a US supplier a few years ago. The supplier insisted that they needed the call letters to process the licensing of the purchase. Nobody at the station knew the call letters. The engineers referred to the license, which did not have the call letters. The manager looked at the "contract" behind the license, and no calls. We ended up having someone call the government licencing entity and, after two days, we got the call letters and satisfied the vendor.

 

[calstymes]

All this talk of radio station employees not knowing the call signs of the stations for which they work and general managers not knowing what programming they have on their corporate-programmed HD channels is positively absurd.

If that is really happening out there (and no doubt it is happening because Savage and R.F. Burns are two of the most talented, upstanding and honest individuals I know of who derive their livelihood from and work in the radio broadcasting business), then the state of radio broadcasting as a microcosm of society in general is very sad, and bad.

And HD won't be able to fix it. It isn't good enough to be able to fix it. As David Eduardo would say, the patient is already doomed. Not just AM radio (as he insists) but all the rest of it as well. If the bean counters who now run radio stations are so ignorant and insensitive as to not care about properly educating their hired help, then what will radio broadcasting's legacy be when it disappears entirely for lack of interest?

If there is no hope then we should just forget about all of this, stop arguing, pick up our marbles and go home. Turn out the lights. The party is over. In the meantime and before radio broadcasting finishes self-destructing itself, I hope that someday I will be able to listen to my favorite local (not DX!) AM stations without the buzz saw once again. Wouldn't that be something wonderful?

 

[R.F. Burns]

As a very good friend of mine once told me, many people who work in this industry would be just as happpy selling nuts and bolts at Home Depot.

As an aside, Cal, thank you for the very nice words. I don't know Bob personally and might disagree with him on certian topics -radio related and otherwise- but I have enormous respect for the man and his accomplishments and because we both love radio, we'd probably get along if someday we did meet. No one can deny that Bob has dedicated his life to radio broadcasting.

 

[8638]

Most listeners don't know the call letters, either. No doubt this helped motivate the development of the PPM.

That's a nonsequitur. Why would not knowing the call letters affect ratings? Arbitron, in the diary, gave credit for calls (about the least mentioned identifier), station names, station slogans, station dial position (the most common identifier) and program / talent names. Call letters were neither necessary nor all that frequently used, save among the oldest generation of listeners.

OK...I'm remembering a situation some years back, in Central New Jersey, where there was a dispute over diary listings for '101'. WKXW, Kicks 101...and a half, wanted to claim all the '101' entries. Of course, there were two other '101's' covering portions of the Trenton book, WCBS-FM and the then WEAZ-FM. And, where I live, 100.1 WJRZ, now Magic 100.1, is often referred to as '101.' I've heard people call it that, more than a few.

You cannot say that the old paper diary/recall system was 100 percent accurate. I'll give you this much: stations used to be known by their calls. No longer.