Tom,

We have a fair amount of HD radio here in the Boston area, but overall, I'd 
say it's a disappointment.  As others have said quite eloquently, the 
problem is not in the medium, but in the programming.  Having the capacity 
to run three separate programs on a single channel is great, but doing that 
takes money unless you want more automated robots, at which point you may as 
well not bother.  Unless there's a large shift in programming philosophy, I 
don't see much hope for this format.

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "tom behler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2011 20:36
Subject: HD radio


> Hi, all.
>
> I am not sure if this will be considered by some to be "off topic", but 
> last
> evening, I heard something on an FM broadcast station that has confirmed 
> my
> long-standing suspicions about where commercial FM radio is going today.
>
> I simply thought it might be of interest to others.
>
> By way of introduction, I have noticed that the quality of many normal
> non-HD FM stations seems to have deteriorated over the past few years,
> especially in larger metropolitan areas.  By declining quality, I mean 
> more
> commercials, less music, and what seems to be a much less diverse 
> play-list.
>
> My theory had always been that normal non-HD FM stations were simply being
> operated for those who hadn't yet made the switch to HD radio, as kind of 
> a
> necessary evil.  It just seemed to me that more resources and efforts were
> being put into HD stations, so as to come up with a better-quality and 
> more
> appealing product.
>
> As many of you may know, I am currently traveling throughout the east 
> coast,
> and am now spending some time with my wife's mother in the Trenton, New
> Jersey area.
>
> Last night, I was listening to W O G L--98.1 FM in Philadelphia.  In the
> past, that station had been an excellent oldies station, with what I think
> had been very good ratings.
>
> Now, the station has more of a "classic hits" format, with lots of talk,
> commercials, and other stuff between the music.
>
> Anyway, shortly before the top of an hour, the station ID was played,
> followed by a message that said something like this:  "If you want more
> music, more oldies from the 60's and 70's, and more home-town DJ's, tune 
> to
> W O G L HD1".
>
> To me, this indicated, at least in this case, that the HD option was 
> clearly
> being promoted over the normal non-HD programming.
>
> Am I onto something here, or totally "off base"?
>
> And, please:  to those in the broadcast business (like Lou )WA3MIX), I 
> mean
> no offense whatsoever by these observations.
>
> HD radio has not yet arrived in the part of semi-rural west-central lower
> Michigan where I currently live, but if I lived in a bigger metro area, I
> have the feeling that HD radios would quickly be added to my wish list.
>
> 73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ
>