Welcome to the fantasy world of HD Radio where the alleged 1,700 or so stations broadcasting in a second-rate digital system were just told by the HD Digital Radio Alliance that they will now be on their own.
*
Next year it’ll be up to the stations to do their own creative to supplement the national promo spots they’re committed to run by the Alliance. That’s their way of telling radio, “Don’t blame us for our failure.”
*
That was the edict proclaimed by Peter “Sgt. Bilk-o” Ferrara, President and CEO of the HD Digital Radio Alliance, which calls itself the “joint initiative of leading radio broadcasters to accelerate the successful (their prejudiced description) roll-0ut of HD Digital Radio.”*
Let's listen in as hacki di tutti hacki Bilk-o delivers the Alliance’s definition of “Mission Accomplished.”*
It’s purely Presidential.
"When we began putting the pieces in place for the Alliance in the fall of 2005, there was little attention being paid to HD Radio and the industry lacked a plan to make it a reality. There were only a few HD stations on the air, no automakers offered an HD Radio and no national retailers carried receivers," said Bilk-o. "Today, it is gratifying to know how far we’ve come in three short years. While there is still much to do, this has been an unprecedented effort with unparalleled success within the radio industry. It’s a testament to what broadcasters can achieve when the industry comes together with a clear purpose and mission."
The Alliance committed radio to an estimated $680 millions of dollars of free advertising for digital radios, which translated to little interest in the product and no retail sales to speak of.Now, everything is fair game. The gloves are off. The Alliance is leaving the future of HD Radio in the hands of the station owners.
I want to nominate this as the new slogan for the HD Digital Radio Alliance: We broke it, you bought it!
*
Though they have not been able to produce a single document to back their seemingly illusory sales figures, the Alliance claims that 330,000 HD Radio receivers were sold in 2007 – calling that number a whopping 725 per cent increase over the alleged 40,000 sets purchased in 2006.Stop me if you heard this one before.
The only thing the Alliance has delivered on is a steady stream of b.s., exaggeration, and outright lies.
Prove me wrong.
How many non-radio people do you know that own one – even with those 75-80 percent of retail price discounts?
*
Even the hard core techno-geeks passed on this debacle.
Consumers don’t buy into new technology blindly. They buy products they feel will in some manner improve their lifestyle. HD Radio isn’t one of them.
When you create new technology that people can use, the money always follows. Just ask Sergey and Larry at Google and Steve Jobs at Apple. Just don’t ask iBiquity President and CEO Bob “Booble” Struble.With exception to trustafarians, most of the wealthy people I know and know of got that way by breaking rules to give consumers something they wanted so badly that it becomes a need. HD Radio is needless.
Content? Most HD Radio formats are automated dreck. Granted, there's a few good experimental formats on HD Radio – but how can they be effectual if no one is hearing them?
Design? Most HD Radios look like a cross between a police radio and parking meter. *Radio Shack is slowly – or perhaps not so slowly - phasing out their HD Radio commitment.
*
Show me one retail outlet that’s added space to their HD Radio display.
You can’t.
Wal-Mart never committed to retailing HD Radio in the manner Bilk-o claimed they would.It was nearly impossible for retailers to sell consumers on HD Radio.
*
The few retail outlets that did carry them had difficulty picking up the digital signal in-store.
History will look back on HD Radio as one of the greatest scams leveled on the radio industry.
Booble, who operates in the shadows of the company that landed the U.S. digital radio broadcasting deal in the U.S., may be the bagman – but it's the station chains that are stuck holding the bag.
He eats the radio industry for breakfast, and lunch and dinner. And then he hands it the tab.It may not be as bad the Great Depression, but it’s a feast of burden in the radio industry.
Broadcast stocks bear an uncanny resemblance to penny stocks. Time buys are scarce. Rates are being discounted. Programming and talent has to be outsourced or voice-tracked. Those still employed are doing triple and quadruple duty, with no attention to detail. Now add the backdrop of the needless expense and time consumption created by the HD Radio folly.
The Alliance also made a not-so-unexpected announcement that effective January 1, 2009; Bilk-o will step down as President and CEO of the Alliance to become its Strategic Advisor. That’s a fancy way of saying “consultant.”
His explanation for exiting? Tell ‘em in your own words, Bilk-o: “Because the Alliance is moving more and more into becoming a marketing organization for HD Radio.” Pause for laughter.
The real reason for his exit is his health. He’s hemorrhaging something far worse than blood. It’s credibility. It’s character.
Bilk-o's replacement was also bred at Clear Channel Radio. Meet Diane Warren.She's the Alliance’s Executive Vice President and oversees its futile marketing campaign. Also like Bilk-o, she’s been with the Alliance since its creation three years ago.
And what does Bilk-o say of his replacement? “I feel that my skill set is not as strong as Diane’s.”
Did he just call her a better liar?Here’s what she said. “In 2008 we will have sold the one millionth HD Radio receiver” and “As we look forward, we’ll remember 2008 as a breakout year for HD Radio.”
A million HD Radios will be sold this year? She's good.
**
For the sake of space and time, we’ll skip the fact that Sgt. Bilk-o said the same thing about 2007.
Ms. Warren also came up with a dramatic and unaccredited claim that interest in HD Radio has “exploded” with 80 percent of HDRadio.com’s visitors going to the site for the first time. You can tell she’s a former Clear Channel exec. She declined to provide actual numbers.
In what we will come to know as Diane-etics, Ms. Warren offers this unsubstantiated claim: The number of HD Radio stations has increased from some unknown time when there were 300 to over 1,750 today – and that’s not counting another 800 multicasts, though we’re not certain if she counted each multicast twice.
That’s Diane-etics – not to be confused with Diane’s ethics.
Have you noticed that on CBS Radio there’s been a whole lot more streaming audio promotion and a lot less HD Radio?
Maybe they’re on to something.
The radio industry will be able to get back on track a lot faster once it concentrates on programming radio stations people can hear.
My message to the radio industry is paraphrasing Smokey the Bear: Remember, only you can prevent HD Radio liars.----
38 comments:
"Ms. Warren also came up with a dramatic and unaccredited claim that interest in HD Radio has “exploded” with 80 percent of HDRadio.com’s visitors going to the site for the first time."
Here, I'll prove her wrong right now:
http://tinyurl.com/63xlze
http://tinyurl.com/58fdbe
http://tinyurl.com/49e2s9
Wow, Diane, you have had a whopping 40,000+ visitors a month, and the "curve" for HD Radio has been flat, since inception. A return rate of only 20% to hdradio.com is the telling story - most are not interested enough for a return visit.
Meanwhile, HD radios are being pulled from store shelves and inventories, and some manufacturers are pulling back from HD Radio:
http://tinyurl.com/5arhhz
The blame-game has started, and you are right, John, the foolish broadcasters that bought into this scam are on their own, as Booble has had them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I found this very interesting article from Diymedia that exposes how this farce started with the FCC back in 2002:
http://www.diymedia.net/audio/mp3fcciboc.htm
Our radio stations, a small chain of medium and fringe to major market stations, chose not to buy into HD radio. We were pressured heavily and even threatened, ever so nicely, to participate. We did not see the upside and history has now proven us right. We would rather build our future through streaming and mobile that waste it on a medium that will never achieve critical mass.
I wouldn't make any connection between a company's stock price and their involvement with HD Radio.
Radio One, which is not part of the Alliance, has already been de-listed by the stock market for being under a dollar. There is no connection.
Neither Cox nor Cumulus are members of the Alliance, and I doubt you'd nominate either company as poster child for great radio.
By the way, there's really no benefit to streaming on the internet either, in terms of revenue or publicity. And it's an area that has limited future, thanks to excessive royalties from the RIAA.
I think the stock price comparison was there to show that radio has bigger problems to worry about than HD radio. Radio One was smart not to get involved with HD radio although they did not have the financial wherewithall to do so anyway. I also think we will see that the companies that did not embrace HD radio will be better off in the coming months. HD radio was a ridiculous scam and it shows what happens when companies that know little about radio operations own them.
Gorman, you called this one many moons ago. You said Ibiquity and HD Radio Alliance would milk radio dry and then stick it with all the blame and now its happening.
I was skeptical at first because I believed in the new technology until I tried it out. Like you I believe the future is streaming and I wouldnt be surprised to see the alliance working behind the scenes to hurt streaming radio by imposing royalty taxes on it. That is one you should check out.
Dear John:
I was in Fry's (Sunnyvale, CA, their main store) today. Two sections for HD radio. Section One - Sangean Tuner and Sony HD tuner displayed. Sangean not powered up. Sony had power, but everything runs off the remote. No batteries for remote. Section two had the Sangean and Sony table radios. Not powered up. What a joke! Section one was buried at the end of a isle (not an endcap) and if you blinked, you missed it. Not one home theater unit (Denon, Sony, Onkyo, JVC) had an HD tuner built in, but were XM and Sirius ready. Two years ago, I bought a Sangean HDT-1 at Fry's - End cap, unit working and a rebate, but Fry's has given up on HD. Fry's background is Grocery, and they know shelf space is always limited. If it doesn't move, reduce the price, and bring something else in. At Fry's there are less choices with HD than two years ago.
PS - The Sangean is a great tuner. With the exception of KFOG HD 2 - 10@10 24/7 programming, the rest of the programming is a jukebox with limited playlists!
I was in a Tweeter audio-video store today, and I was just browsing , looking at a Tivoli mono radio. They had pretty much the whole Tivoli line.
A salesman came up to chat, and I asked him if they were selling any “HD” radios. They had them on display, though not clearly marked as such. You had to look at the tags.
Then he volunteered that a woman from Ibiquity had stopped by to talk up their failed science fair project. (I asked who she was, but he said he didn’t remember her name.) She was there to try to convince the store to order more of those things. He said he told her that they can’t sell them, because the system just doesn’t work very well. He told her that the signal sucks! You can’t get it at all in the store! And even auto reception is spotty less than 15 miles from the city.
Now isn’t it remarkable that “iNiquity” is sending their own people directly to retailers to try to badger them into promoting this junk technology?
If that's not desperation, what is?
"HD radio was a ridiculous scam and it shows what happens when companies that know little about radio operations own them."
Jerry Lee is a member of the Alliance. Are you saying Jerry knows little about radio?
Are you saying Cox, Cumulus, and Radio One know more about radio than Jerry Lee?
"Now isn’t it remarkable that “iNiquity” is sending their own people..."
I have news for you: Most manufacturers send reps into retail on a regular basis to ensure their product is getting proper representation. If they DIDN'T send anyone, that would have been a bigger problem.
"Neither Cox nor Cumulus are members of the Alliance, and I doubt you'd nominate either company as poster child for great radio."
"Investor Information"
iBiquity’s investors are global leaders in the technology, broadcasting, manufacturing, media and financial industries all supporting the development and rollout of HD Radio broadcasting: Broadcasters include ABC, Beasley, Bonneville, Citadel, Clear Channel, Cox Radio, Cumulus, Emmis, Entercom, Gannett, Radio One, Regent, Saga, Susquehanna, Univision and Viacom. Leading Manufacturers include Ford Motor Company, Harris Corporation, Texas Instruments and Visteon Corporation. Leading financial institutions, such as Grotech Capital Group, Intel Capital, J.P. Morgan Partners, New Venture Partners and Pequot Capital.
http://www.ibiquity.com/about_us/investor_information
But, they are investors in iNiquity - no difference.
"Radio One was smart not to get involved with HD radio although they did not have the financial wherewithall to do so anyway."
They are investors in iNiquity - get your facts straight.
"Like you I believe the future is streaming and I wouldnt be surprised to see the alliance working behind the scenes to hurt streaming radio by imposing royalty taxes on it. That is one you should check out."
"Everybody wants more royalty money"
"The Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) has just begun a new round of negotiations and we are told that ASCAP is now wanting broadcasters to have a second music license to cover HD2 (HD3, etc.) signals. ASCAP’s negotiators say they should receive fee payments for those new stations because the only reason most aren’t producing revenues is that broadcasters have chosen to run them commercial-free in an effort to build audiences for the future. When RMLC representatives responded that the stations are mostly running commercial free because there are hardly any HD receivers in public hands, ASCAP hauled out a Parks Associates study mentioned in an RBR/TVBR Intelligence Brief predicting that there would be 30 million HD receivers in the marketplace by 2012."
http://www.rbr.com/radio/8361.html
"Copyright Royalty Board Releases Music Royalties for Internet Radio Streaming for 2006-2010—Clarifying the Confusion" June 30, 2007
"Does the decision cover broadcasters who stream on the Internet? Yes, the decision does cover the Internet transmissions of the over-the-air content of broadcast stations. Do the fees apply to broadcasters for their over-the-air signals? No. The royalties are paid only by digital services. Do HD radio stations pay the fee? No, the law that adopted these fees specifically exempted over-the-air digital transmissions by radio stations... Digital music services provided over a digital cell phone would also be subject to the royalty – and services similar to Internet radio delivered by cell phone are probably subject to the royalty established by the current proceeding."
http://www.dwt.com/practc/broadcast/bulletins/04-07_CRBDecision.htm
Because of the RIAA royalties, Pandora and the likes, will probably have to shut down. Now that there are ads on the HD channels, that will never have an audience and make money, you can bet that the RMLC will be going after the HD channels, shutting them down, anyway.
"I have news for you: Most manufacturers send reps into retail on a regular basis to ensure their product is getting proper representation. If they DIDN'T send anyone, that would have been a bigger problem."
Do you think that Apple has to send out Reps to badger stores into carrying/selling iPods and iPhones?
Didn't we say it'd come to this?
HD began with brags - 'America's going digital, get over it' and 'we could lose half the AM stations(to HD jamming)and no one would notice' - sordidly ends with 'ha ha we broke it, you bought it.'
Wasn't the East Bay Express News reporter astute when he called HD a 'carny shill' and a 'high stakes corporate grift'? Yes, he was.
Wasn't the owner of hdradiofarce.blogspot astute when he called HD, well, a farce? Yes, he was.
Doesn't this prove L.A. Homicide Detective Steve Hodel's maxim, every scheme carries the seeds of its demise? Yes, it does.
Scheme? Yeah. Scheme.
First, BigRadio gloated over HD jamming's undue benefits, then segued to overblown denials when citizens caught on to the gag.
Now BPL jams shortwave here and in Europe. Some fear shortwave broadcasters will drown 'neath a welter of BPL jamming. I don't.
Aren't we in America? Do we tolerate hinkies in suits who jam our airwaves? No, we don't.
Doesn't John Gorman's article prove, our influence counts? Why yes, it does.
Our influence counts. Let's use it.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
06 September, 2008
"Read the signs -
we're in America."
- Marty Weiss
"Redbelt"
c. 2008, David Mamet
In my post above (no. 7), I said, “Now isn’t it remarkable that “iNiquity” is sending their own people directly to retailers to try to badger them into promoting this junk?“
In response, some anonymous poster said, "I have news for you: Most manufacturers send reps into retail on a regular basis to ensure their product is getting proper representation.”
Yes, but “iNiquity” is NOT a manufacturer! It’s a licensor of a technology – a deeply flawed technology! This is unprecedented.
Besides, when manufacturers’ reps visit retailers directly, circumventing distributors, it’s usually to offer “spiff” – essentially bonus payments, often to individual sales staffers, not the store – for pushing their own products over competing brands . It’s really a bribe.
Jack Hannold said:
“Now isn’t it remarkable that “iNiquity” is sending their own people directly to retailers to try to badger them into promoting this junk?“
What also is remarkable is the lengths that iNiquity and the Harmful Interference Alliance have gone to push their noise producing, range cutting, adjacent channel interfering junk wrechnology when obviously it was a goner from day one, anyone who had a modicum of sense about radio knew it. To compare it to another huge disaster (which actually is what HD stands for), at least the Edsel has the distinction of being remembered and is still known as the mother of all business disasters, it has made history. This brings us to the fact that virtually no one knows anything or has even heard of HD outside of people connected to radio in one way or another. In fact no one outside of that tiny minority of the population ever will..... This is the ONLY reason that HD won't top the Edsel in the history books as the biggest flop of all time. So long iBlock, we hardly got to know ya, but it was more than enough.
Bob Young
Millbury, MA
KB1OKL
"Do you think that Apple has to send out Reps to badger stores into carrying/selling iPods and iPhones?"
Apple carefully controls how retailers display and sell their products. In addition, Apple has its own stores that compete against authorized retailers, often in the same mall.
"Yes, but “iNiquity” is NOT a manufacturer!"
They are as much a manufacturer as most of the companies that represent electronics in this country. Very few products are actually "manufactured" here.
Also, we're taking the third hand word of someone, so we really don't know exactly who came into this store.
"http://www.ibiquity.com/about_us/investor_information"
So let me get this straight: You don't believe them when they hold a press conference, but you believe their website's "invetor information" page?
How do you know that is factual information?
Did Mr. Hannold hit a nerve? Yes, he did. Jack Hannold, above, states iNiquity reps offered something beyond ordinary encouragement to retail staff.
Doesn't that square with longstanding reports of TeamBLOC's coercive tactics? Yes, it does.
Does Jack Hannold's post corroborate the second one above which describes apparent undue influence exerted against a broadcaster? Yes, it does.
Have we heard many similar troubling accounts? Yes, we have.
Have heated denials of jamming and threats to go HD or else long concerned many? Yes, they have.
Isn't it telling that someone immediately posts beneath Mr. Hannold in vain attempt to refute him? Isn't this precisely the reflexive denial that's long troubled broadcasters? Yes, it is.
Notice how several more labored denials appear beneath Mr. Hannold's post, all in vain attempt to contradict him?
Yet Mr. Hannold's report stands, doesn't it? Yes, it does. It's clear, even handed, and harmonious with many others on record.
Why did the HD gang think the public wouldn't see the coercion?
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
07 September, 2008
"Doesn't that square with longstanding reports of TeamBLOC's coercive tactics? Yes, it does."
"WJR has dropped IBOC!!"
"A couple of my station are running IBOC, and with what we paid to Ibiquity for the 'right' to use their technology, plus what we spent on the new equipment and what we spent in time and money making the AM directional array IBOC compatible, it would be throwing away lots of money to just turn it off. As much as I hate doing it, I also run IBOC at night. When Ibiquity was checking markets, they called me and asked why I wasn't running it at night. Our contract says blah, blah blah,... So, it runs at night. Believe me, if I could go back and do it all over again, I never would have bought into it in the first place. However, the damage is done. If Ibiquity read this and got my true identity, they would probably sue over my comments. They are THAT petty. I am already forbidden against saying anything negative to the press about it. Why oh why did we sign that??......"
http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=91159
Finally, one broadcaster had the balls to break the silence that iNiquity forces on broadcasters that bought into this farce - any company that inforces a gag-order on brodcasters an engineers is not reputable. Another broadcaster had the balls to admit this scheme is a farce:
"No HD for Ford in 2009"
"It also adds to my growing fears that while it 'seemed like a good idea at the time' spending $250,000 to upgrade our signal to HD was a HUGE waste of time and money. Sure, we did some much needed upgrading of our transmitter site, beefed up the infrastructure and wiring, but I think we could have done it for less than a 1/4 mil. It would be less than kind to suggest that we're being taken for a ride on this, but with virtually no interest from consumers and no support from industry leaders, it sure feels that way."
H(D)appy New Year
Joe Vincenza
WUWF Public Media, Pensacola
http://tinyurl.com/63tlvw
Joe Vincenza copied this post from the Antique Radio Forum which I also happened to have read of which this is an excerpt:
"As much as I hate doing it, I also run IBOC at night. When Ibiquity was checking markets, they called me and asked why I wasn't running it at night. Our contract says blah, blah blah,... So, it runs at night."
That statement is false, iniquity cannot force anyone who has bought into their jamming junk to use it, all the can do is force them to pay until the contract runs out, if that person truly believed what the iNiquity rep told (if one actually did tell him that) he was lied to. I actually think he was using that as a justification for his own conscience. I also replied to that post I believe and refuted it as it's complete BS either way.
Bob Young
Millbury, MA
KB1OKL
I am a radio listener who is more like a former commercial radio listener. I discovered this site from John Gorman's Buzzard Book blog. I am not and have never been in the radio business but used to listen to radio daily and was a fan of WMMS in its heyday. Today I rarely listen to radio and when I do it is to NPR or an occasional game. As far as I am concerned radio has gone to hell. My kids ages 12, 15, 19 do not listen to radio at all. I read through this entire blog over the last few days and have come to the conclusion that radio should forget about its HD radio channels and concentrate on what people can hear. I never heard of HD radio until I read about it in an out of town newspaper while on vacation. Curiously, I checked it out and could not find any units on sale at locations that were supposed to have them. Finally, I found an indepedent electronics store that carried some and they thankfully talked me out of it. They could not even demonstrate one in the store. I read where radio is in serious financial straits and selling off stations it cannot afford to run. I read where radio listening is way down. My kids and I are proof of that. I am aware of internet radio but have not found any stations to my liking yet. So why doesn' t the radio industry look at its AM and FM stations and do something to bring them back to their former glory? Instead of trying to create more medicore formats rebuild the ones you have into something better. Cleveland used to be a great city for radio and we could also hear Akron stations, too. Not only WMMS. We had a wide aray of choices. Today it seems radio is geared for the Animal House crowd. Even WTAM our Fox News right wing news talk station runs mostly conservative talk and has an illiterate local talk show in its afternoons. If I didn't have NPR to listen to. I would not be listening to radio at all. To radio management and owners - look at your listeners as your customers not numbers and we are a hell of a lot smarter than you think we are.
"So why doesn't the radio industry look at its AM and FM stations and do something to bring them back to their former glory?"
Because HD Radio is in effect a land-grab through jamming and a monopoly by iBiquity and the larger 50kw HD Alliance stations. We can blame the majority of this situation on the greedy-guts Booble Struble.
Not surprised w/the HDDRA decision. Of course they would pass the buck knowing that radio is dumb enough to think that its a vote of confidence when in reality they will be left holding the bag. No wonder my bretheren in other media feel radio is run by dopes.
DISTANCING ONESELF FROM A WORSENING SITUATION (PHASE I)
1. ) VOLUNTARILY STEP DOWN WITH A “WE’VE DONE A GREAT JOB” SPEECH AND TRANSFER CONTROL TO YOUR IMMEDIATE SUBORDINATE WHILE USING THE EXCUSE THAT THIS PERSON KNOWS A LOT MORE ABOUT WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN NOW.
Peter Ferrara will step down as president/CEO of the radio industry-backed HD Radio Alliance and become its strategic advisor, turning the reins over to Diane Warren, who will become president of the Alliance. The change is effective on Jan. 1, 2009.
2. ) SINCE YOU’VE BEEN PLANNING FOR THIS EVENT FOR SOME TIME AND HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ANOTHER JOB ON THE SLY BUT HAVEN’T GOT ANYTHING DECIDED ON OR CONFIRMED YET, STAY ON AS AN “ADVISOR”. THIS ALSO DISGUISES THE FACT THAT YOU ARE REALLY HELLBENT FOR THE EXIT.
Ferrara told reporters that he will remain onboard to advise broadcasters and manufacturers but that he has several offers in the financial and investment world that he is considering.
3.) PASS THE TURKEY OFF TO THE VICTIMS WHO CAN DO WITH IT WHAT THEY WANT (OR DON’T WANT)
..both said that local radio will have to take a larger role in promoting HD Radio and its HD2 stations on the air in the future.
"This is yours now; we've helped get this thing going," said Ferrara. "We broke the egg. Now it's time to start making some omelets. We encouraged the local marketplace to take ownership of HD Radio now.
4.) LET YOUR FORMER SUBORDINATE, NOW THE PRESIDENT, SOOTHE THE HURT FEELINGS OF THESE VICTIMS AND KEEP UP THE RHETORIC TO THEM THAT YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE IS A GREAT SUCCESS. MAKE SURE THE NEW PRESIDENT SMILES A LOT AND ASKS THE VICTIMS IF THEY’RE HAVING A NICE DAY WHEN THEY’RE CONTACTED.
My only link to radio is occasionally buying time and that is seasonal.
My ae tried to explain HD radio to me and finally gave up by admitting it was a dumb idea. She wasnt trying to sell me time on it. In fact she cautioned me against it saying it would not be fair to pitch me on something no one is listening to because no one can receive the stations on anything other than a specially equipped radio. She said they were not selling time on HD but planned to shortly.
Here is what I don't understand. At a time when many old media industries like record companies, radio and TV are having trouble adjusting to internet why are they not utilizing that more to further their signals.
A weak TV signal or radio station could increase its reach and frequency by being on line and also reach people who moved away but may still be interested in hearing their former local radio DJs, news and sports.
Why cant radio stations add local music and new music internet stations as a supplement to their own stream and sell those stations for bonus spots?
Thank you for reading this.
If Obama gets elected I hope he calls for an investigation into the way the radio business was run under FCC Chairmen Powell and Martin and how they could allow scams like HD Radio and Clear Channel owning stations over market cap. Since radio is federally licensed I think there is a need to know.
"If Obama gets elected I hope he calls for an investigation into the way the radio business was run under FCC Chairmen Powell and Martin and how they could allow scams like HD Radio and Clear Channel owning stations over market cap. Since radio is federally licensed I think there is a need to know."
Chairman Dingell of the Commerce Commitee is suposedly already investigating the FCC - I would be very interested in seeing all of the names accociated with the HD Radio scam.
"This is yours now; we've helped get this thing going," said Ferrara. "We broke the egg. Now it's time to start making some omelets."
If life gives you lemons, make lemondade. If you "lay an egg", someone needs to make "omlets" (sic).
"how they could allow scams like HD Radio and Clear Channel owning stations over market cap."
Huh? The FCC has told CC to divest its stations where they're over the cap. And CC is in the process. However, no one is interested in buying them. You can't get rid of stations that no one wants. So there is no scandal here.
But the truth is that the FCC is way down on the priority list no matter who gets elected President. Don't count on anyone to spend a lot of time on this issue.
I simply don't understand if this is such a failure, and no one's interested, why do so many people spend so much time attacking HD radio as though it's Osama? It makes no sense. If it's a fairlure, then why keep screaming about it? Seems like you all are either afraid of something or have something to prove. Not sure which.
"why are they not utilizing that more to further their signals."
I think most radio stations stream their signals on the internet. But it's not the same thing.
For one thing, internet radio isn't measured the same way as terrestrial radio. It's not heard on the same device.
For another thing, streaming is controlled by Digital Media Act, which requires huge royalty payments.
You can't run agency commercials on the Internet without payments to AFTRA.
So there are lots of issues to resolve with internet broadcasting. Still, a lot of stations do it, even though there's not much money to be made with it.
>>Consumers don’t buy into new technology blindly. They buy products they feel will in some manner improve their lifestyle. HD Radio isn’t one of them.<<
Why do the naysayers want to pronounce HD dead if it isn't an overnight sucess?
I remember UHF didn't become popular until manufacturers were required to include UHF in new sets....THEN people discovered the capabilities and possibilities of UHF.
Same with FM. People weren't requesting FM....it's when cars started to include it stock. Then FM took off.
Same with 'stereo'....
Same with HD.
HD adds extra functionality that broadcasters like. It's not going away. It's just another platform for sales and promotion and the web.
I enjoy Pandora, aka streaming audio, but it just isn't mobile - at least at this time. I read one article reporting that Ford is planning on adding internet and, hence, internet radio, to its cars next year but only an an option. And they're looking at $500 for the option, plus a monthly fee.
It's clear from the tone of these posts that there are no friends of HD here, but can't we at least give broadcasters credit for trying something different even if it just lives on a fringe medium?
Doug Hanna
www.hd-radio-home.com
Anonymous said...
"I simply don't understand if this is such a failure, and no one's interested, why do so many people spend so much time attacking HD radio as though it's Osama? It makes no sense. If it's a fairlure, then why keep screaming about it? Seems like you all are either afraid of something or have something to prove. Not sure which."
Because Struble is trying his damnist to get his IPO, so we have to do everything to stop him. We will not give-up, until HD Radio is dead-and-buried.
Doug Hanna said...
"I enjoy Pandora, aka streaming audio, but it just isn't mobile - at least at this time."
Try again, Douggie - Pandora is a free app on the new iPhone, and can easily be streamed in-dash.
Doug Hanna said...
"I read one article reporting that Ford is planning on adding internet and, hence, internet radio, to its cars next year but only an an option. And they're looking at $500 for the option, plus a monthly fee."
Chysler already has in-dash Internet in 2009 models. Optional HD Radio is $350 - $500, so adding in-dash Internet in only an extra $29/month - nice try.
“If it's a failure, then why keep screaming about it?”
BECAUSE DOOFUS those who forget history are doomed to repeat it!
Maybe some of us hate the HD radio abomination so much that we don’t want this boondoggle to ever be repeated or forgotten perhaps this "Digital Disgrace” must be kept “alive” in cyberspace forever as an example to future generations. I’m sure all your whining and moaning to the contrary will only prolong your misery Mr. Shilly Shillington.
"Chysler already has in-dash Internet in 2009 models. Optional HD Radio is $350 - $500, so adding in-dash Internet in only an extra $29/month - nice try."
A typical car owner keeps his/her vehicle for 2-3 years; maybe longer in this recession. With the initial $500 and a service fee of $29/month, that's $1196-$1544. I'm not buying an HD radio, but $350-$500 for something with digital content (even if flawed) will sound better to most people than paying 2-3 times that amount.
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