HD Radio question of the day

[Force Commander]

Question: Do you know of anyone who is NOT in the media business for a living, who actually went out and bought an HD radio? If so what interested them to purchase?

[Lester]

Is not and never has been in the business?

[Force Commander]

Is not and never has been in the business?

Take it as you wish. I am just curious if anybody has any interest in using this product besides broadcasters themselves.

[Big Media]

Is not and never has been in the business?

Take it as you wish. I am just curious if anybody has any interest in using this product besides broadcasters themselves.

I vote no. They (people outside the business) already believe they have HD Radio. They picked it up a Wal-Mart and it says XM on it and has a cute little black antenna that they put on the roof of their car and then they can listen to NASCAR in HD and that foul-mouthed DJ from New York and everything like that.

[Hoosier Daddy]

I took this question to eleven different people I work with. None are or have ever been in the broadcasting business.

The answers were along these lines:

1. "Oh, you mean Satellite Radio"? Some actiually referred to XM or Sirius by brand name.

2. "What is it? What does it do"?

3. "Why would I buy an expensive new radio to listen to the same old crap".

Not a scientific survey by any means, but clearly, the people pushing HD Radio need to get busy and do SOMETHING ...

[Scott Reppert]

Okay. I'm IN the business for thirty years this June. What's HD radio?

[genlock]

I have been told that it sounds a lot like FM.

[Lester]

Not a scientific survey by any means, but clearly, the people pushing HD Radio need to get busy and do SOMETHING ...

They are doing something... they're busy getting it put as a factory feature in expensive luxury cars owned by people that only listen to AM talk or satellite.

Good luck finding a Ford Focus (Bofus?) with it.

[Arp2]

I took this question to eleven different people I work with. None are or have ever been in the broadcasting business.

The answers were along these lines:

...2. "What is it? What does it do"?

3. "Why would I buy an expensive new radio to listen to the same old crap".

A friend of mine is among the leadership at a two-station combo that, although supposedly targeting a younger range, relies on 60+ for its numbers. A little more than a year and a half ago, he and his owners got a bug up their butts to go HD. Over and over, I counseled against it, at least for the time being, but they went forward and got it completed a little while back.

A week or two before the on-air date, he went looking for radios, wanting to surprise his people with tabletops for them to use at home. He couldn't find any for a few days. He finally found one model at one Best Buy about a 25-mile drive away, but it wasn't connected to an external antenna and couldn't be demoed. He heard Radio Shack was supposed to have them, so he went to one of those, becoming somewhat excited when he was told they were out because they'd sold every one they had. It turned out, though, "every one they had" meant "two back before Christmas." Unable to find them, let alone in any quantity greater than "one" in the box, he finally went with an internet retailer.

They "flip the switch" with great excitement and promotion, including touting the never-before-in-the-area offering on their HD-2. Nobody cares, nobody calls. The internet stream of the new offering gets only a handful of samplers and, today, sits unused most of the time. Now having heard the audio of both, my friend would rather stream the HD-2 offering than hear it "HD." The tabletops he got his folks? Happily received, sure, but half of the staff can't seem to pull in the HD at home....and they're not even sure when they do 'cause they can't really hear any difference on those radios.

Just two weeks after getting it on the air, my friend said to me, "I'm starting to lose confidence in this whole 'HD' thing."

A chuckle came way too fast for me to stop or stifle it, but I tried to sound sympathetic as I said, "yeah...uh huh...what brought you to this point of doubt?"

"I'm starting to think I don't think our audience will ever get this. (Remember that, though they want younger, most of his audience is 60+) I thought they'd have the money to get the radios and enough interest in the HD-2 to inspire them to do it, but I'm not so sure. I'm thinking they don't understand it and never will and don't care enough about it and never will. If you really want to hear it, the internet seems a lot easier -- you already have a computer...you go to our website and 'click here to listen.'"

"Uh huh....and, if they wanted to fill the whole house with it, they could just plug the computer into the sound system, which they might have already done anyway."

"Yeah, I s'pose. I think you were right."

"Well, hang on...I haven't completely given up on HD yet, but, yeah, you should let me help you with more of these things....," I said with a wink in my voice.

I think of HD as more like a brand extension than anything else -- the same thing in a different form in a confusing way. And I imagine most would remember Ries and Trout on brand extensions....generally, they suck and just confuse people. It's much easier to create (and for the consumer to understand) a new category...hence, people understanding "satellite radio" and "internet radio" much better than "HD radio"....where, of course and unfortunately, "HD" doesn't even mean the "HD" that's already in the consumers' brains......


To answer the original question, no, I don't know a single person not in the business who has an HD radio.

[Lester]

I think of HD as more like a brand extension than anything else -- the same thing in a different form in a confusing way. And I imagine most would remember Ries and Trout on brand extensions....generally, they suck and just confuse people. It's much easier to create (and for the consumer to understand) a new category...hence, people understanding "satellite radio" and "internet radio" much better than "HD radio"....where, of course and unfortunately, "HD" doesn't even mean the "HD" that's already in the consumers' brains...

I never thought about it like that. Genius.

All this said... I'll take this opportunity to "reshare" the story about my (step) Grandfather and WPDX-AM/FM. Not sure of all the particulars, but in a nutshell... they shot the wad and decided to install one of them new fangled FM transmitters. After a year or so trying to get it to take, the shut it down and surrendered the frequency back to the FCC. It was costing more money to power the thing in one month than they had made in an entire year.

Will it succeed? I have no freakin' clue. But as long as iBiquity is OK with *NOT* putting the product in the most popular selling cars in America, I don't see it catching on anytime soon.

[Arp2]

I never thought about it like that. Genius.

Gee, I wouldn't go that far! After all, one could immediately turn around and say, "it's not a brand extension; it's just a new distribution channel!"

To which I'd say, "sure, but the digital display still shows your calls and frequency, soooo......"

Will it succeed? I have no freakin' clue. But as long as iBiquity is OK with *NOT* putting the product in the most popular selling cars in America, I don't see it catching on anytime soon.

I agree. I just can't see this surviving the "early adoption" and so on typical product cycle thing. If, as I've thought for almost a decade, most of commercial radio is heading toward being like the sixth or seventh TV station in town in sales and programming, then you gotta get the new chips' price heading toward nil and out there in cars and clocks and home receivers ASAP because radio's going to be a medium not just of the masses but largely of the "unwashed" masses.

[AmpedNow]

Mark Ramsey has been talking about this for years, literally. He has taken a lot of heat for being a perceived HD basher, and a basher of radio in general. But he has never said that the technology was bad in and of itself; it's the way it's been marketed.

Even my early adopter geekiness is holding out on this one. People are not going to spend a bunch of money on a fancier radio that supposedly picks up "stations between the stations" (ugh) when their current one works just fine. The solution is to begin streamlining HD chips into multiple receivers where the capability is just "there" to be "discovered".

Even so, perhaps like Twitter, it's really a solution looking for a problem...

If you really want to reach more ears in the digital age, get a stream up and on Flytunes. It's an app that is currently available to every iPhone and new iPod.

The day when many people won't even need a radio in order to listen to the radio is very near.

[Arp2]

...a fancier radio that supposedly picks up "stations between the stations"....

I have several "fancy radios that pick up stations between the stations," but I haven't had much luck with them the last couple of years because there's been this weird buzz "between the stations" that didn't used to be there......

[Lester]

Even my early adopter geekiness is holding out on this one. People are not going to spend a bunch of money on a fancier radio that supposedly picks up "stations between the stations" (ugh) when their current one works just fine.

My factory radio kind of sucks... but in my search for a replacement I've gone from "A new radio that supports HD" to "a new radio that supports my iPod and supports HD".

Even so, perhaps like Twitter, it's really a solution looking for a problem...

On this I disagree (Not Twitter... HD). There is a problem. Format fragmentation, a limited number of frequencies per market, Ipod's/Satellite/CD all deliver better audio quality. Analog radio is in deep doo-doo. (Add to the fact that many analog only shops are programming their format so old school they're driving listeners to alternate listening options, but that's another thread.

The day when many people won't even need a radio in order to listen to the radio is very near.

Not as near as you think... but it is inevitable. The question is, will radio in any form even be a solid contender when it finally arrives?

[Dave Loudin]

The recent HD Radio ad campaign is not helping things, either. The spots, voiced at telephone quality (hey, it's your cheap car radio talking!), are more effective at trashing today's radio than selling anything new with themes like "new tech won't catch on, like pockets didn't" or "you're not cheating on me by shopping for something that has lots more choices, are you?" Sheer genius.

[genlock]

Is anybody running a stream on HD-2?

[Lester]

Maybe the light finally came on...

Ford to Make HD Digital Radio Available Across Nearly All Product Lines
Dealer-installed option available nationwide on nearly every 2008 model year Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicle

http://www.hdradio.com/press_room.php?newscontent=231

Oh... sorry Genlock. I ended up there looking for this:
http://www.hdradio.com/find_an_hd_digit ... tation.php

WV Radio is the only company supporting HD (that isn't using your tax dollars to do so). No HD2 content though... just analog simulcast.

[Bob Campbell]

As we all know, HD radio doesn't actually exist. Just like AM stereo.
But Lester, using the "focus, Bofus" line is a classic I haven't heard in years!

[genlock]

Seems like a waste of time to do a simulcast only.
Plenty of other content available for the 2nd or 3rd streams.
That might sell radios. Spanish content or Korean or something.
WVNPR just had a lot of excess money to spend without a good reason to do so.
WV radio? Don't have a clue as to why they spent money on this.
Maybe just a promotional thing. Maybe just to crap up the band with noise.
Sort of a translator defeater.

[Scott Reppert]

The day when many people won't even need a radio in order to listen to the radio is very near.

Are you guys nuts? That day was here nearly 40 years ago! Ask Laurie Partridge...