July 26, 2007
Washington Post on HD Radio
Not much news here: The article contextualizes HD Radio within the arguments made by XM and Sirius that digital terrestrial radio is one of the competitors to satellite radio, along with Internet radio and MP3 players like the iPod (but not the Zune; couldn't resist).
May 25, 2007
The Uncertainty of a Digital Radio Future
The Charleston, SC, Post and Courier files a solid article on the uncertainty that HD Radio will take off: I've sometimes been accused of being an HD Radio booster because I write so extensively (and often positively) about the technology and its potential. But I'm as in the dark as anyone inside or outside the industry as to whether consumers will find expanded offerings that continue in the same vein as regular offerings, and improved sound quality (with a lot of provisos) compelling enough to buy enough new radios to have made the transition worthwhile.
The Post and Courier notes the whole chicken-and-egg problem of good content leading to people purchasing hardware that allows them to listen to it, which produces a mass audience that increases the amount of advertising that can be sold, which allows a station to invest potentially in less-than-mainstream content.
It's possible that Internet radio will simply supercede both terrestrial and satellite digital radio. I love this quote from a radio industry consultant at the end of the article, who recommends to stations to add HD if they can afford, but: "I see an equal, if not greater, opportunity for stations to stream. ... If you go on your computer right now, you've got thousands and thousands and thousands of channels."
Fundamentally, I don't think we've really seen much of HD Radio's potential yet in terms of radios, programming, or special features. The radios on the market range from poor to good, but they cost far too much. Radiosophy $120 HD100 (which will be $60 after a discount and rebate through July 3) will show whether a cheaper radio provokes more purchases. Stations need to experiment more, but all the commercial chains have straitjacketed themselves into a programming system that requires exclusive format cooperation to avoid overlap in markets. Public radio is certainly doing the most innovative work, and they'll continue to offer more.
May 24, 2007
HD Radio's Uphill Climb
Radio World reports 450,000 weekly listeners to HD Radio: That seems actually quite high to me given how many radios must be in people's hands--nothing like 450,000. 57 million people in the US listen to Internet radio each week, and satellite radio has 15 million subscribers. 93.5% of Americans listen to terrestrial radio, however, while 30% listen to MP3 players.
March 6, 2007
Walmart Decision to Carry HD Radios Bolsters Industry
The reaction to Walmart carrying HD Radio receivers seems a bit overblown: It's a significant move for the nation's largest retailer to offer HD Radio receivers, but prices still need to fall to couple mass availability with mass sales. Walmart is carrying just the JVC car radio for $190, and will offer the radio in about 2,000 stores in 85 markets--markets that receive HD Radio signals. NPR's Morning Edition offers this report on the move, too.
January 22, 2007
HD Radio Moves into Smaller Markets
Mediaweek notes that markets ranked 66 to 85 (17 total) are gaining some HD Radio signals from major broadcasters: This brings covered markets to 85 of the top 100 by major broadcasting companies; this is exclusive of markets already served by public radio with HD signals. Clear Channel, which is in the process of deciding to divest some stations, says that it now has 320 stations in 81 markets with multicast channels.
December 13, 2006
iBiquity at CES
iBiquity announced its plans for the Consumer Electronics Show: CES is an overpowering event with acres of displays. I attended last year and saw mock-ups at iBiquity's booth of radios that still haven't shipped. Nonetheless, they have a more powerful presence this year with more products in the market, and with substantially lower prices. Last January, Boston Acoustics had the only tabletop radio, and it retailed for $500. A few weeks later, the price dropped to $300 before rebate. Now, you can pick up the RadioShack Accurian for $150 before rebate.
iBiquity will demonstrate new devices from manufacturers that are still nearing, but not in production, and others will be announced at the show. They'll be at Booth #4616 in the North Hall for those attending. (I'm sitting out this year.)
December 9, 2006
High Definition Everything Hasn't Hit Home(s) Yet
Interesting piece in the New York Times about high definition whatever not taking hold yet: This was supposed to be the year of digital television, with consumers buying high-definition TV (HDTV) receivers. Oddly, while many sets were sold, the ability to watch actual DTV isn't the leading reason. Before this season about half of the buyers were looking forward to digitally encoded shows; only 25 percent of those shopping now apparently cite that reason. This is in part to how difficult it can be to get HD content from cable. The writer also notes that HD broadcast programming shows up with black borders on his set, for reasons that he can't figure out.
The writer goes on to wonder whether HD Radio can catch because people need to "invest in yet another gadget." But given that there are something like a billion radios in the world, I would cast his as--can people be convinced to trade out their existing radio? Eventually, HD Radio will be built into every radio that automakers put into cars (but every being maybe 2008 or even later), and every amplifier with integrated receiver (with every being probably by 2008).
The article notes that high-def DVDs are in a death spiral of their own making: two incompatible formats "bodes well for about anything but DVD sales."
HD Radio Doesn't Mean High Definition...Or Anything
I'm not a trademark defender, but let me explain: I see a lot of articles and blogs talk about high-definition (HD) radio. But there's no such thing. HD Radio is a trademark; digital radio, or, to be particular, in-band on-channel (IBOC) broadcasting is what's being used in the U.S. Trademarks can't have any pre-existing meaning in the field in which they are used. This is why Owens Corning's Pink is a trademark. Pink didn't mean anything in the world of insulation, so it has an arbitrary meaning, and thus can be trademarked. Words and phrases in common parlance in an industry can't be hijacked by one company (or that's the intent).
HD Radio is a trademark, just like Wi-Fi, which itself doesn't standard for wireless fidelity. Both HD Radio and Wi-Fi are trying to evoke the image of quality without actually having a definition attached. (In fact, a definition would be a wedge to prevent having the trademark approved--if it means something, well, you get the picture.)
The next time you read that HD, or high-defintion, Radio is yadda yadda yadda, well, it's not. That's why I try to use HD Radio to talk about iBiquity's technology and digital AM/FM to talk more generally about the field, and even digital radio to encompass satellite and terrestrial broadcasts.
September 11, 2006
iBiquity Chief Paints Rosy Picture of Present, Future
Bob Struble, iBiquity's chief executive, says all stations go: You have to think Struble spent much of the last year sweating. When I interviewed him back in July 2005 for the New York Times, there were three consumer-priced radios about to ship in August, stations were converting to HD like gangbusters, and 2006 looked like a year in which many tabletop and car radios would be available, perhaps shipping hundreds of thousands of units. A year later, and the second tabletop radio just shipped--the Polk, priced at $600.
But there's a lot of good news, and I can see why Struble is effusive and granting an interview to the industry site I link to. There's no slowdown in interest, conversion, and excitement by radio stations, especially FM. (AM stations still have a lot of unanswered questions at the FCC about being able to broadcast 24 hours a day, but I believe those issues will be resolved because there's too much demand among all stations to resolve them.)
The radio empires have lined up being HD Radio, pushing out ad campaigns and converting stations. Major retailers are getting behind even the few models available today for home and car use. JVC released a $199 radio--that I'm thinking of getting--that offers HD, a CD player, aux input, and some optional features. Now that's a good retrofit deal. We'll see more car makers just put HD Radio in as a standard option, too.
I keep hearing that more radios are due out Any Day Now, although that's been the news since summer 2006. Still, I believe it's finally true given that the new generation of supporting hardware is available. We'll see many radios add HD Radio and more entirely new models by Christmas. Then, next year, we'll see HD Radio as just a standard feature on a good portion of < $200 AM/FM radios of all stripes.
Struble talks in this interview about some of the next-generation features related to data, a discussion iBiquity has had to postpone until radios actually hit the market. iBiquity wants to make it possible to embed interactive features, so that pushing a button on radio does something. I talked to NPR's HD Radio head last year, and he envisioned a Donate Now button the radio to contribute. Struble talks about a More Information button. There will likely eventually be ways to push out downloads over HD Radio, too.