You want good sounding radio? Then move to Austin.

[willdav713]

HD (Hybrid Digital) radio is a JOKE! Its very unreliable and the signal drops in and out. rbrucecarter5, I agree 100% with you.
How many people in Houston have HD radios? about 12 or 13? This is a technology that has not taken off for good reasons. What a disappointment.

Meanwhile, SiriusXM penetration for the new car market is at 66% and for the USED car market is at 47%. That's right, 47% of used car buyers who are offered satellite radio on a trial basis not only take it, but continue to subscribe once the trial period is up. Given the choice of HD or satellite, consumers have spoken.

I though of subscribing to XM, but said I don't need it, I will just use my HD radio and record to sound card via 3.5 cable, so I will settle for my massive KXBT 98.9 Jukebox I created! With the exception of July 30 and 31 and 2 days in August due to faulty software, I already have 30 days worth of programming on my PC soon to be transferred to DVD+R discs, then from there I will pop the in my PC's DVD drive which said PC is hooked up to receiver, tape deck, etc play them all over again. By years end I will buy myself an additional hard drive to store these goodies on!!! To save space I am using 96kps MP3 bit rate, hopefully plays good on my Quad setup! My only regrets was I should have begun last year!

Oh some cars like my fathers Toyota Avalon comes with USB port that plays ANY mp3 file, hook up a 8gb memory stick and drive across the US listening to a recorded radio station!!!

Smoke Record em if you got em!

 

[jras20]

If you do get XM, I will NOT recommend getting portable, the reception is a joke, unless your in the big city with a repeater. If you go under a small tree it goes out! I took mine back and have my phone filled with music plus with some internet radio apps that I can listen to at the gym.

 

[Kent]

I subscribed to satellite for a few years and recently tried it again when they offered free 30 day trials. For the price they charge, it's just plain awful! When it comes to music radio, I can get a subscription to Slacker/AOL for $3.99/month that's every bit as good as satellite. If I'm on a long trip where drop-outs in internet service might be an issue or I'm worried about going over my data plan, I can cache my favorite stations directly to my device.

I suppose I could understand subscribing to satellite if there was something on the talk and/or sports channels you really enjoyed, but there's no way I'd pay $15 plus the additional fees for it. If it were less than $10 and included streaming to desktops and smartphones, I'd probably bite.

 

[JustinT]

I suppose I could understand subscribing to satellite if there was something on the talk and/or sports channels you really enjoyed, but there's no way I'd pay $15 plus the additional fees for it. If it were less than $10 and included streaming to desktops and smartphones, I'd probably bite.

SiriusXM does have the "Mostly Music" plan for $9.99; less if you pay upfront. I'm a subscriber and I'd have to say I'm a fan.

Then again, I live on the rural edge of the Rio Grande Valley where the McAllen, Laredo, and Monterrey signals are all out-of-range, and all of the locals are Regional Mexican and Spanish religious (...not an understatement: all of the locals). So I guess I'm a bit biased.

 

[jras20]

I would go all Internet radio if Houston got as bad as Austin radio is. I'm about all Internet radio when I'm at home, near Austin now.

 

[willdav713]

I would go all Internet radio if Houston got as bad as Austin radio is. I'm about all Internet radio when I'm at home, near Austin now.

When in Houston I fire up the old cassette deck, or if I have my HD Radio it is on 104.1 HD2.

 

[jras20]

I would of picked any other market in Texas then Austin. Austin is pretty well boring now.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I would of picked any other market in Texas then Austin. Austin is pretty well boring now.

I think it is the old "the grass is greener" scenario. If I lived in Austin, I'd probably park my radio on KLBJ 93.7 and throw away the tuning knob. That is one very good station!

 

[KTN Corp]

Some people would argue - it is the "professionalism" - radio smoothed over by lawyers, corporations, political correctness, small focus group dictated playlists - that is what is wrong with radio. A few rough edges, local humans behind the board, playlists coming from listener requests, local content, somebody being themselves ____ the lawyers and corporate suits - that is what makes interesting, compelling listening.

There's KPFT, something Austin wishes it could have. It's nice to have Scooter chime in during the weekday afternoon shows. How many stations would allow a conversation with the sound engineer on the air? He does have chemistry with whatever show is on depending what day of the week it is and certainly keeps up with general knowledge and current events with his responses.

The button pushing sound in the background, along with the cues, gives a nostalgia feeling about radio.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

There's KPFT, something Austin wishes it could have. It's nice to have Scooter chime in during the weekday afternoon shows. How many stations would allow a conversation with the sound engineer on the air? He does have chemistry with whatever show is on depending what day of the week it is and certainly keeps up with general knowledge and current events with his responses.

The button pushing sound in the background, along with the cues, gives a nostalgia feeling about radio.

They kind of lost me in the early 80's when they billed themselves as the first satanic station in the country. Yeah - like that is supposed to be a GOOD thing?! They playing any music worth listening to these days? Or are they still aligning themselves with the prince of evil? Still, it was kind of gutsy of them to say something idiotic like that in the middle of Houston which is probably 90% fundamentalist Christian. Way to limit your audience appeal ---

 

[jras20]

im lucky enough to live close enough to dx down to san antonio with my directonal antenna. only austin station i have on my home stereo preset is bobfm.

 

[willdav713]

There's KPFT, something Austin wishes it could have. It's nice to have Scooter chime in during the weekday afternoon shows. How many stations would allow a conversation with the sound engineer on the air? He does have chemistry with whatever show is on depending what day of the week it is and certainly keeps up with general knowledge and current events with his responses.

The button pushing sound in the background, along with the cues, gives a nostalgia feeling about radio.

They kind of lost me in the early 80's when they billed themselves as the first satanic station in the country. Yeah - like that is supposed to be a GOOD thing?! They playing any music worth listening to these days? Or are they still aligning themselves with the prince of evil? Still, it was kind of gutsy of them to say something idiotic like that in the middle of Houston which is probably 90% fundamentalist Christian. Way to limit your audience appeal ---

Not to mention home of Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church. I like listening to his sermons.
Now if he were broadcast on AM in additional to TV, said AM station would get a whole lot of listeners, more on a FM signal.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

There's KPFT, something Austin wishes it could have. It's nice to have Scooter chime in during the weekday afternoon shows. How many stations would allow a conversation with the sound engineer on the air? He does have chemistry with whatever show is on depending what day of the week it is and certainly keeps up with general knowledge and current events with his responses.

The button pushing sound in the background, along with the cues, gives a nostalgia feeling about radio.

They kind of lost me in the early 80's when they billed themselves as the first satanic station in the country. Yeah - like that is supposed to be a GOOD thing?! They playing any music worth listening to these days? Or are they still aligning themselves with the prince of evil? Still, it was kind of gutsy of them to say something idiotic like that in the middle of Houston which is probably 90% fundamentalist Christian. Way to limit your audience appeal ---

Not to mention home of Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church. I like listening to his sermons.
Now if he were broadcast on AM in additional to TV, said AM station would get a whole lot of listeners, more on a FM signal.

I'm a Lakewood member myself. Maybe after Joel gets all the bills paid on the Summit for buying it and rennovating it, he would consider buying out a Houston station. I guess it would be too much to hope for that he would buy a good signal and give it to KSBJ for NGEN. Of course they would take a first rate signal, put their lukewarm praise and worship on it, and put NGEN on 89.3

 

[ZRock106.9KKZR]

Terrestrial Radio is a dying delivery platform. The future of broadcasting is the Internet. No signal boundries, no FCC, etc, etc, etc.

With the recent return of Rock 101 KLOL at www.Rock101KLOL.com and of course Z Rock 106.9 KKZR www.ZRockKKZR.com things are looking up, not only in Houston, but across the country and globally. Corporate Radio Sucks. Nothing sounds better than a station that does not have guys in suits making decisions on the playlist or the FCC forcing artists to have radio edits to their album tracks just to get airplay.

Rock 101 KLOL and Z Rock 106.9 KKZR do not have the limitations so listen in and decide if you want to support corporations who do not care what kind of music you like.

If It's Too Loud... You're Too Old!

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Terrestrial Radio is a dying delivery platform. The future of broadcasting is the Internet. No signal boundries, no FCC, etc, etc, etc.

With the recent return of Rock 101 KLOL at www.Rock101KLOL.com and of course Z Rock 106.9 KKZR www.ZRockKKZR.com things are looking up, not only in Houston, but across the country and globally. Corporate Radio Sucks. Nothing sounds better than a station that does not have guys in suits making decisions on the playlist or the FCC forcing artists to have radio edits to their album tracks just to get airplay.

Rock 101 KLOL and Z Rock 106.9 KKZR do not have the limitations so listen in and decide if you want to support corporations who do not care what kind of music you like.

If It's Too Loud... You're Too Old!

Announcing the death of terrestrial radio is a bit premature. Just try to buy a station and you will find out.

There are some things that are hindering streaming, and I think may eventually choke off its growth or even kill it:

(1) The end of unlimited data plans. When people figure out streaming is costing them big bucks because they overflow their data plan each month, they will cut back. There has already been a national commercial from a cell phone carrier to that effect.

(2) Lack of consistent and reliable coverage. Even with something simple like an iPhone app, if the cell service drops, it is tough to get it back in a car.

(3) Even with bluetooth capability being built into cars, getting a call while streaming is going to shut down the stream.

(4) The music royalty people have their hooks into streams, it isn't treated like "broad"casting - it is charged on a "per-listener" basis. I've already heard rumblings from some station owners that too many people are streaming and it is cutting into their bottom line. They need to generate some revenue from the stream.

(5) Back to bluetooth - I got it with my new car stereo, and new cars have it. Penetration of the capability into cars will be slow - requiring aftermarket radios or the purchase of new cars. People are holding onto cars much longer these days. This is also a fallacy with HD radio even if the big 3 automakers adopt it as standard. It will take a long time.

(6) What will happen with TV channels 2-6 - broadband internet? AM migration? combination? Any way it goes, it still will take a long time to deploy the new bands, and streaming - which could really use the reliability of that frequency range - will be hurt by the latency before it has significant equipment deployed.

I mean - I'd love to have a totally reliable, consistent streaming experience in the car that won't drop out, or if it does automatically recover when service is available again. But there are significant technical and software issues. I just don't thing streaming is ready for mainstreaming, yet. It is only about as reliable as HD-2 formats as it is.

 

[sdh483]

Terrestrial Radio is a dying delivery platform. The future of broadcasting is the Internet. No signal boundries, no FCC, etc, etc, etc.

With the recent return of Rock 101 KLOL at www.Rock101KLOL.com and of course Z Rock 106.9 KKZR www.ZRockKKZR.com things are looking up, not only in Houston, but across the country and globally. Corporate Radio Sucks. Nothing sounds better than a station that does not have guys in suits making decisions on the playlist or the FCC forcing artists to have radio edits to their album tracks just to get airplay.

Rock 101 KLOL and Z Rock 106.9 KKZR do not have the limitations so listen in and decide if you want to support corporations who do not care what kind of music you like.

If It's Too Loud... You're Too Old!

Announcing the death of terrestrial radio is a bit premature. Just try to buy a station and you will find out.

There are some things that are hindering streaming, and I think may eventually choke off its growth or even kill it:

(1) The end of unlimited data plans. When people figure out streaming is costing them big bucks because they overflow their data plan each month, they will cut back. There has already been a national commercial from a cell phone carrier to that effect.

(2) Lack of consistent and reliable coverage. Even with something simple like an iPhone app, if the cell service drops, it is tough to get it back in a car.

(3) Even with bluetooth capability being built into cars, getting a call while streaming is going to shut down the stream.

(4) The music royalty people have their hooks into streams, it isn't treated like "broad"casting - it is charged on a "per-listener" basis. I've already heard rumblings from some station owners that too many people are streaming and it is cutting into their bottom line. They need to generate some revenue from the stream.

(5) Back to bluetooth - I got it with my new car stereo, and new cars have it. Penetration of the capability into cars will be slow - requiring aftermarket radios or the purchase of new cars. People are holding onto cars much longer these days. This is also a fallacy with HD radio even if the big 3 automakers adopt it as standard. It will take a long time.

(6) What will happen with TV channels 2-6 - broadband internet? AM migration? combination? Any way it goes, it still will take a long time to deploy the new bands, and streaming - which could really use the reliability of that frequency range - will be hurt by the latency before it has significant equipment deployed.

I mean - I'd love to have a totally reliable, consistent streaming experience in the car that won't drop out, or if it does automatically recover when service is available again. But there are significant technical and software issues. I just don't thing streaming is ready for mainstreaming, yet. It is only about as reliable as HD-2 formats as it is.

That's a little pessimistic ha? I 100% agree t-radio is going down the tubes and is just another source to dumb down programming to the bare minimum. T-radio has its limitations like broadband and mobile services. YOu can't drive through a tunnel or by tall buildings without some interference, plus those pesky atmospheric conditions can mess up FM and AM signals too. Lots of modern technology also interferes with radio, especially AM. To say the issues of wireless will hinder its growth or even kill it is a very preposterous statement. Wireless is the future of technology: Almost everyone has an iPhone or smartphone with internet and streaming capabilities. Nobody really listens to the radio anymore because of the vast amounts of choices on one device they carry alone. If streaming doesn't work or isn't your cup of tea, then loading your phones and MP3 players with music is the best way to have a large amount of music in your pocket.

In other words to your comment about how streamings' current limitations may kill it: What are you smoking?

 

[KTN Corp]

They kind of lost me in the early 80's when they billed themselves as the first satanic station in the country. Yeah - like that is supposed to be a GOOD thing?! They playing any music worth listening to these days? Or are they still aligning themselves with the prince of evil? Still, it was kind of gutsy of them to say something idiotic like that in the middle of Houston which is probably 90% fundamentalist Christian. Way to limit your audience appeal ---

Most people who live in Houston now weren't around back then. The "early 80's"? That was 3 decades ago; KUHF took over NPR programming from KPFT at that time. Houston is not 90% Fundamentalist Christian anymore! I wasn't even born until later in that decade. Hopefully you've tuned in recently, otherwise you really need an update. Connect The Dots is hosted by a Muslim minister who happens to have a day job as an urban planner, a profession of interest to me. His show doesn't proselytize Islam but talks about the issues, especially when those issues concern urban planning such as food deserts.

The news-talk programming is the utility I value in this station. There is only so much NPR to listen to before it gets boring. Talk of the Nation seemed to be stale one week since they rehashed the same topic 2 to 3 times that week! KPFT has the local perspective to balance with national programs like Democracy Now! The good thing about Democracy Now! is that it covers stories that the commercial networks won't cover and stories that are on the back-burner by everyone else but will be headline news 6 months from now.

 

[willdav713]

Terrestrial Radio is a dying delivery platform. The future of broadcasting is the Internet. No signal boundries, no FCC, etc, etc, etc.

With the recent return of Rock 101 KLOL at www.Rock101KLOL.com and of course Z Rock 106.9 KKZR www.ZRockKKZR.com things are looking up, not only in Houston, but across the country and globally. Corporate Radio Sucks. Nothing sounds better than a station that does not have guys in suits making decisions on the playlist or the FCC forcing artists to have radio edits to their album tracks just to get airplay.

Rock 101 KLOL and Z Rock 106.9 KKZR do not have the limitations so listen in and decide if you want to support corporations who do not care what kind of music you like.

If It's Too Loud... You're Too Old!

Announcing the death of terrestrial radio is a bit premature. Just try to buy a station and you will find out.

There are some things that are hindering streaming, and I think may eventually choke off its growth or even kill it:

(1) The end of unlimited data plans. When people figure out streaming is costing them big bucks because they overflow their data plan each month, they will cut back. There has already been a national commercial from a cell phone carrier to that effect.

(2) Lack of consistent and reliable coverage. Even with something simple like an iPhone app, if the cell service drops, it is tough to get it back in a car.

(3) Even with bluetooth capability being built into cars, getting a call while streaming is going to shut down the stream.

(4) The music royalty people have their hooks into streams, it isn't treated like "broad"casting - it is charged on a "per-listener" basis. I've already heard rumblings from some station owners that too many people are streaming and it is cutting into their bottom line. They need to generate some revenue from the stream.

(5) Back to bluetooth - I got it with my new car stereo, and new cars have it. Penetration of the capability into cars will be slow - requiring aftermarket radios or the purchase of new cars. People are holding onto cars much longer these days. This is also a fallacy with HD radio even if the big 3 automakers adopt it as standard. It will take a long time.

(6) What will happen with TV channels 2-6 - broadband internet? AM migration? combination? Any way it goes, it still will take a long time to deploy the new bands, and streaming - which could really use the reliability of that frequency range - will be hurt by the latency before it has significant equipment deployed.

I mean - I'd love to have a totally reliable, consistent streaming experience in the car that won't drop out, or if it does automatically recover when service is available again. But there are significant technical and software issues. I just don't thing streaming is ready for mainstreaming, yet. It is only about as reliable as HD-2 formats as it is.

My father can drive from San Antonio to Austin listening to XM with no signal problems.
Probably couldn't do that with HD radio.

It is much easier to record FM to hard drive of a really good station for days and days, and play it back esp. if said car has USB ports! via Jumpdrive! I have never tried that, but I will when I buy me another Jumpdrive and I will copy my KXBT files to USB stick and plug it in and see how it sounds! Of course, one could also do that with streaming with the right software. Or with 2 PCs one hookup up to the second PC's Line Input from Speaker Output via Acala Free Audio Recorder installed.

I will have to listen to KKZR and try that one as well. With my KVM switch I no longer need more than 1 keyboard, mouse, and monitor with my 2 PC setup.

So streaming isn't really dying it is just we have to adapt to the changes with the technology offerings.

Instead of USB Jumpdrives, one could use SD Cards via an SD Card Reader which are very cheap these days, record to it, remove the SD Card and plug it into the phone, along with FM transmitter via headphone jack.

 

[aunti-terrestrial]

I was using my USB port and also streaming Pandora through my FM band, but the sound quality was jumpy. SiriusXM has been great. One dropout along Cypresswood Drive where I usually experience a slight disruption, but other than that, it's been well worth the cost.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I was using my USB port and also streaming Pandora through my FM band, but the sound quality was jumpy. SiriusXM has been great. One dropout along Cypresswood Drive where I usually experience a slight disruption, but other than that, it's been well worth the cost.

I experience dropouts in areas near Cypresswood - I think the trees are more of an obstacle to reception than most people realize.