If you haven’t noticed already, it’s that time of the semester when teaching takes precedence over everything else; extended office-hours are in full effect and this spring’s crop of students are both insightful and delightful. In about a month from now I’ll begin an eight-month break from that “grind,” during which I plan to dissertate full-time. Since I’ll be spending most of my waking hours in front of my computer, that means you can most likely expect more stuff here.
But, in the interim, from the better-late-than-never notable news department comes word of a new project from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to better-study the implications of interference between FM radio stations that might operate under a proposed increase in the strength of their HD (digital) sidebands. Although the announcement simply formalizes and expands upon a policy the FCC’s had in place for several months now, it’s an interesting development for two particular reasons. Continue reading “CPB/NPR to Fit Square HD Peg Into Round Technical Hole”
Tag: hd radio
iBiquity Twists Its Tubes
While working on dissertation research this weekend, I poked around iBiquity’s web site. Not quite prominently featured (i.e., off the main page), the company hypes its HD standard and, quite repeatedly, refers interested parties to HDRadio.com for more information.
But clicking that link is not so easy. You are presented with a verbose (and poorly-written) “legal disclaimer” dialog-box: Continue reading “iBiquity Twists Its Tubes”
Heads Roll at iBiquity, Clear Channel
Skool is back in session, which means posts to this here page will become shorter and more sporadic (I think, I don’t have a firm read on the class dynamics yet). That being said, here’s a couple of bits of info which seem to back up some earlier prognostications.
This past week iBiquity, HD Radio’s proprietor, laid off 20 people. According to Radio World, these are the first bona-fide layoffs at the company since its founding in 2003 (I would argue they’re the first bona-fide layoffs ever at the company in its nine-year history, since the 2003 departures involved executives, who I don’t believe were exactly given pink-slips). iBiquity’s web site claims the company employs some 130 people; if that number is accurate, that would constitute a corporate workforce cut of an impressive 15%. Continue reading “Heads Roll at iBiquity, Clear Channel”
2009 To Bring HD Death Rattles?
While most policy-pundits are focused on the fast-approaching DTV transition and the potential selection of a new FCC Chairman, the saga that is digital audio broadcasting (otherwise known as “HD Radio”) continues to fly under the radar. However, this may not be the case for long.
Due to heavy industry-maneuvering and a shamefully-complicit FCC, the U.S. radio industry has locked the medium into a sub-standard, proprietary broadcast protocol. The problems with this protocol have long been known. Thus, if there is any force that might bring down HD Radio, it will be the marketplace.
There are several signs that the marketplace is now beginning to act: Continue reading “2009 To Bring HD Death Rattles?”
FCC Allows Stealth HD Power Boosts
Although the Federal Communications Commission has deferred (for now) any formal action on its inquiry into whether or not to allow broadcast radio stations to increase the power of their digital (“HD”) sidebands by a factor of ten, the agency’s employing the tried and true method of “creating facts on the ground” by allowing individual stations (or station clusters) to individually apply for special temporary authority to hike their HD power levels. Continue reading “FCC Allows Stealth HD Power Boosts”
More HD Radio and DTV Fun
Check this “confidential survey” designed to gauge industry acceptance of HD Radio. Question #10 is my favorite, as it really encapsulates the overall tenor of the survey itself:
Overall, which of the following statements best applies to you and HD Radio technology?
* – I was never a fan, and don’t believe in HD Radio’s future
* – I’m not sure about how I feel about HD Radio
* – I was a fan, but now am very pessimistic about HD Radio’s future
* – I was a fan, but am not so sure about HD Radio’s ultimate success
* – I am a fan and believe that HD Radio will succeed
* – Other (please specify) Continue reading “More HD Radio and DTV Fun”
HD Radio and Industry Schizophrenia
Interesting samples abound about what the U.S. radio industry thinks about its digital future. When you thread them all together, you find a spot of chaos.
Late August, 2008: Stop IBOC Now!, a coalition of broadcast engineering professionals and listeners, publishes a 10-page list of comments from people within and outside the industry. This list is apparently a sampling of more than 200 received by the coalition to-date. All but one are negative on HD Radio. Continue reading “HD Radio and Industry Schizophrenia”
Raising FM-HD Power Levels Will Cause Increased Interference
And not just to adjacent stations – iBiquity’s proposed 10-fold power hike for FM digital sidebands will cause what one commentator has called “honkin’ interference” to an HD parent station’s analog signal. Although the suspicions of just what increasing the signal strength of FM-HD sidebands would do to analog FM radio coverage have been well-discussed in the engineering community for nine months now, the new report from NPR Labs confirms the worst.
The “monumental 18-month study,” involving extensive laboratory and field-testing of increased FM-HD sideband power finds that increased digital interference is simply unavoidable. While the tests do show that increasing FM-HD sideband power by a factor of 10 will make digital service coverage equivalent to (or, in some cases, slightly exceed) the coverage of a station’s analog signal, the modification comes at a price: Continue reading “Raising FM-HD Power Levels Will Cause Increased Interference”
Sirius/XM Merger Sidebar
As lobbying over the conditions of the merger between the Sirius and XM satellite radio networks entered the home stretch, iBiquity Corporation and the National Association of Broadcasters requested that the Federal Communications Commission mandate all future satellite radio receivers to be interoperable with terrestrial digital AM and FM broadcasts.
This was a move by HD Radio‘s proponents to try and get something for nothing. XM and Sirius both subsidized the adoption of satellite radio receivers, especially in vehicles, by making the reception technology freely available and offering special deals to new subscribers (such as free service for a year or more, especially for folks who bought new cars and trucks with a satellite radio receiver as an option). In contrast, iBiquity Corporation wants those who make and market HD radio to pay it a cut from every HD receiver sold – effectively asking auto companies to partially pay the way for HD’s adoption. This is a proposal that nearly all have resisted. Continue reading “Sirius/XM Merger Sidebar”
Digital Radio Wobbles Around the World
Last month, I attended an exploratory workshop hosted by the European Science Foundation about the prospects of community media in a digitally-convergent communications environment. Not surprisingly, when one thinks “community media,” radio first comes to mind, and we represented in full: most of the 30 invitees to this workshop were either involved in radio activism and/or regulation in their respective home countries.
My personal mission was to warn as many other countries away from casting their fates with iBiquity’s HD Radio platform, as it not only carries a plethora of technical risks, but it may 
decimate community radio stations as we know them (draft, not for publication). Fortunately, this was an easy job: the Europeans can see through the snake-oil that is HD Radio, and the general consensus of the workshop was that HD should be opposed at every step. Continue reading “Digital Radio Wobbles Around the World”