On Tuesday, USA Today featured several articles on HD Radio in both their Money and Life sections. For a media moment, HD Radio appeared to be on an equal footing with iPods, hot new phones, and other media gadgets.
But when you study the various articles, the source of the buzz is HD Radio content. This included Emmis/Austin’s "Local 107.1," WAMU‘s hot bluegrass channel, the WNEW-FM channel in New York, Clear Channel’s eRockster, and other cool experiments and initiatives that USA Today highlighted.
What does that tell us about consumer acceptance and enthusiasm? If HD Radio is going to be successful, it needs distribution and radio listeners need to understand what it’s about.
But as we’ve been saying for some time now – and many clearly agree – HD Radio will grow if it creates programming content that motivates consumers to want to have it – in their homes, cars, and offices.
That’s why people bought FM converters in 1970.
Full disclosure: We do research work for iBiquity.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
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Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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The only ¨buzz¨about IBOC is the adjacent channel buzz it creates, you guys are beating a dead horse, when are you going to wake up and face the fact that it’s belly up in the water, dead as a door nail .
Bob Young
33 S Main St,
Millbury, MA
KB1OKL
Really? You really think that all that massive HD coverage on page after page in section after section of one day’s USA TODAY just “happened”? Just because a bunch of staffers, all operating indeendently, suddenly realized that HD content was so compelling? That a bluegrass subchannel and a few low-bitrate classical HD-2s and HD-3s in a few major markets adds up to “cool experiments and initiatives”?
Really?
YKW, quite a coincidence huh? I’m just wondering how much money they’re going to waste before they realize it’s a goner. I’ve seen exactly three HD radios in my local big box stores (I live about ten minutes from the second largest city in New England) which normally carry this stuff in a year and only one worked and that was because it was less than a mile from multi use transmitter towers near Boston which transmits several HD channels. I was not impressed at al with the sound quality, give me my 30 year old analog Marantz 2385 any day. I have enquired about HD in several stores including circuit city and was told that HD “did not work inside the store” haha! They couldnt even demonstrate them and this is less than 5 miles from several very powerful HD FM transmitters, they steered me toward satellite while telling me the advantages of satellite and the disadvantages of HD.
Sorry Jacob but I calls ’em as I sees ’em.
“Really? You really think that all that massive HD coverage on page after page in section after section of one day’s USA TODAY just “happened”? Just because a bunch of staffers, all operating indeendently, suddenly realized that HD content was so compelling? That a bluegrass subchannel and a few low-bitrate classical HD-2s and HD-3s in a few major markets adds up to “cool experiments and initiatives”?”
“Radio: Ponzi’s back!”
“Selected radio consultants, writers, and media organization heads are hired as carporegimes who act like press flacks and indie promoters to back Ibiquity and the HD Radio Alliance. Right?”
https://gormanmediablog.blogspot.com/2008/03/radio-ponzis-back_27.html
It’s because of reporters such as Kim Komando USAToday who are on iNiquity’s payroll.