Lots has been happening since I started formally dissertating on the debacle that is HD Radio. Below is a collection of intriguing snippets and informed prognostication:
1. HD Radio Reception. Mediageek Paul Riismandel recently posted two articles on Radio Survivor dealing with real-world HD reception in a major market (in his case, Chicago), using a bottom-end (~$80) HD receiver. The results are not impressive. On FM, Paul sez,
I find that the technology of cramming a digital signal in next to analog one has too many compromises to be successful. The bandwidth for the HD channels is not enough to offer significantly better fidelity for the primary HD channel, and the leftover bandwidth available for HD2 and HD3 provides sound quality that does not surpass what is available online or on satellite radio. Importantly, tuning in a clear HD signal can be a very finicky process that can try one’s patience.
AM-HD engenders even less enthusiasm (love the graphic, BTW): “I consider HD Radio on AM to be mostly useless and not worth the effort. It’s especially not worth the loud digital hash noise I receive on my analog-only radios on the frequencies adjacent to the HD stations. It’s like a line of digital litter strewn across the AM radio highway.” Continue reading “HD Radio Roundup”
Tag: hd radio
Translators: The Back Up Plan to HD?
Pity the poor FM translator: a book could be written about the way it has been used – and abused – over the years. Primarily just in this last decade. First, there was the religious broadcaster-led Great Translator Invasion; then, AM broadcasters asked for (and received) permission from the FCC to operate their own FM translator stations. Finally, some full-power FM stations that also happen to be running HD multicast streams are finding the analog translator a lucrative outlet for its previously digital-only content.
It is the latter two developments which concern us here, because both are direct offshoots of HD Radio. AM stations petitioned the FCC (via the NAB) to allow them to assemble clusters, if necessary, of FM translators to at least replicate their primary (protected) service coverage areas. Among the reasons given for this was the increasing level of interference on the AM band, part of which has been caused by the implementation of HD Radio. Continue reading “Translators: The Back Up Plan to HD?”
Industry HD Uncertainty Flares in Trade Press
For the most part, radio industry trades have not given much substantive thought or analysis to the debacle that is HD Radio. However, some recent developments seem to signal that the winds of sycophancy may be changing.
It’s all happened in the Radio and Business Report. First, the publication let loose an article, whose sources are “some highly accredited/respected Bay Area engineers,” full of complaints and criticisms of HD Radio and its proprietor, iBiquity Digital Corporation. The complaints raised against iBiquity are numerous and significant.
In addition to reporting that one San Francisco-based AM station has turned off its HD sidebands, the article reports dissatisfaction among iBiquity customers, due to the fact that “iBiquity is not providing the promised updates to its software to repair the ‘bugs’ that have developed in the AM codec. The bugs require reboots of the HD encoders, sometimes daily.” Continue reading “Industry HD Uncertainty Flares in Trade Press”
More Miscellaneous News of Note
About a week and a half left until dissertation-research formally concludes. Then a short break after which it’s time to organize the ~800 pages of notes collected from FCC dockets, trade publications, and related materials into formal prose. In the meantime:
Pirate Radio: Pally-pal Paul Riismandel wrote two excellent articles this week for Radio Survivor on unlicensed broadcasting. The first looks at a spate of FCC enforcement actions in Massachusetts, and especially around the Boston area. Continue reading “More Miscellaneous News of Note”
LPFM: Thanks For The Memories?
Much was made last year of the Local Community Radio Act’s passage in the House of Representatives. But since then, no news: what’s going on?
As you may have heard, most of the telecom-policy wonk-world is all agog with the FCC’s promulgation of a National Broadband Plan. Some have felt, since Chairman Julius Genachowski took the helm of the agency, that he’d be much more focused on “new” media than “old.” This seems to be playing itself out to some degree. Continue reading “LPFM: Thanks For The Memories?”
Miscellaneous News of Note
I’m deep in the terminal-phase of my dissertation research – writing to begin next month. In lieu of snarky analysis this week, I give you a plethora of updates on stories covered here recently: Continue reading “Miscellaneous News of Note”
AM-HD Undergoes Radical Redesign
Judging from the demonstrations at the National Association of Broadcaster’s convention, the system seems to deliver as promised and offers enormous potential for FM and AM stations….The systems are just emerging from the R&D stages and still need fine-tuning before real-world implementation is possible….Once a recommendation is made, the Federal Communications Commission then has to decide how to implement technical parameters for a DAB system. So the industry is still a few years away from a wholesale DAB implementation – but not that many. (Radio World Editorial, “A Little DAB’ll Do Ya,” May 17, 1995, p. 5.)
With little fanfare and less than two weeks before the National Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcast Engineering Conference in Las Vegas, iBiquity Digital Corporation (the proprietors of HD Radio) announced a radical redesign of its hybrid analog/digital AM-HD waveform. Continue reading “AM-HD Undergoes Radical Redesign”
iBiquity Licensing: Now 50% Off!
So it has come to this: iBiquity Digital Corporation, the proprietors of HD Radio, have slashed their licensing fees in half.
According to iBiquity’s initial licensing agreement (circa 2005), early-adopters of the HD Radio technology paid a one-time licensing fee of $5,000 to utilize the software to run their transmitters. By 2008, that fee had increased to $25,000. Continue reading “iBiquity Licensing: Now 50% Off!”
Bring The Noise Redux: FCC Okays FM-HD Power Increase
With little fanfare on Friday, the FCC approved a blanket four-fold increase in the power of FM-HD digital sidebands, and also established procedures for stations to apply for a power-hike of up to 10x.
This outcome was no surprise. For the last two years the proprietors of HD Radio, iBiquity Digital Corporation, and National Public Radio have been wrangling over just how much of a digital FM power boost is needed to replicate existing FM stations’ analog coverage. Continue reading “Bring The Noise Redux: FCC Okays FM-HD Power Increase”
Whoa, Canada: DAB Effectively Dead?
Grant Goddard notes the publication of a report by Industry Canada (our northern neighbors’ version of the FCC) on the state of the country’s digital audio broadcasting transition. Short answer: do-over time!
In the report, the Canadian government basically admits that its DAB transition has stalled (at just 76 stations), and is now in reverse (digital stations are going dark). The report cites many reasons for its failure: large up-front capital investment; expensive receivers leading to little audience; and, most importantly, DAB was designed as a technical solution to a content problem. Continue reading “Whoa, Canada: DAB Effectively Dead?”