HD Radio Gets A Power Bump May 10th

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And a few of the stations may actually have the equipment in place to up
their HD power on the 10th. Most won't.

A recent article in Radio World point out that very issue. The cost of
the power increase will be very high to many stations and right now
isn't the time to be spending major amounts of money that do not bring a
return on investment for the foreseeable future.

I know you are used to dealing with little mom 'n pop stations higgy, but
the big boys simply consider this cost of doing business...and the cost of
keeping their asset in good shape (i.e....state of the art.)
They also want to be ready to make any money that comes along.

Larger organizations look at the big picture and take a long term view.
The cost of adding and operating HD service is such a minuscule part of
the budget that it's lost in the noise. They need to have the technology
in place because HD receiver sales are going to increase exponentially
as they become standard equipment in more and more vehicles.

On the other hand, the larger corporate broadcasters were the ones that
paid premium prices for stations right before the recession seriously
cut the value of those stations, so maybe there is something to be said
for sticking to analog-only as long as possible. It doesn't take long to
add HD service, it's not like the mom and pop stations are never going
to do it. Actually, they benefited by waiting because licensing fees
came down, and because transmitting equipment costs have come down as HD
capability becomes more a standard feature than an extra-cost add-on.

Station owners and station engineers are happy about the digital
transition and how they are able to choose when to make that transition
(unlike in some countries where broadcasters are being forced into it).

I just saw that Mexico has now chosen HD for their digital system, and
it may also end up in some European countries. It's the only system
available that uses existing spectrum and increases both quality and
programming choices. Looks like it has a very bright future indeed, with
or without the mom and pop station becoming early adopters.

[l***@democrat.com]

HD Radio Gets A Power Bump May 10th
HD RADIO broadcasters are awaiting MAY 10th as the date the FCC is
allowing
a power increase. All stations will be allowed to increase their digital
signals from 1dB to 6dB, hoping to solve poor signal and dropout
complaints
that have plagued HD since it's inception.
The ruling pays special attention to some FMs, which may be able to go up
to
10db.
Huh, what? I thought HD was the ultimate in listening pleasure.

Who said that?  No one I know.
It just adds extra functionality to the radio, if you want to use it.

You say there are problems?

Nothing that won't be solved with a power increase!  LOL

Oh, a power increase will improve the quality of the codec? Who knew!

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I know you are used to dealing with little mom 'n pop stations higgy, but
the big boys simply consider this cost of doing business...and the cost

of

keeping their asset in good shape (i.e....state of the art.)

Is that why my stations are still making money and many of "the big boys"
have gone/are going bankrupt?

Your mom and pop stations dont have any expenses....they dont advertise,
they dont pay well, and won't upgrade for nothing.
And only a few of the big boys who went into debt to their ears are going
bankrupt....in the scheme of things very few.

The REAL professionals figure out what technology
really advances the art of broadcasting and what is promotional hype.

Is that why the majority of major companies, and the majority of major
station int he majority of major markets have all decided to embrace HD?

Too bad you're an outsider so you don't hear the commentary
coming down from many engineers about how they cannot wait until this crap
all blows over.

I am not an outsider, and most engineers do not have that opinion.

That's really the bottom line here. The engineers at smaller stations
are not the ones that really understand the technology, budgetary
concerns, and business potential of digital radio. For better or for
worse, radio has become big business, with the top tier stations willing
to make the investment into expanding their programming via digital
sub-channels because they know 'if we build it they will come.'

That said, there's not all that much of a downside for the smaller
stations to wait for installed base of receivers to reach critical mass.
It's not like they are going to be permanently losing a large group of
listeners forever; when they go HD they will get back some of those
listeners that now use "HD Seek." In the mean time, licensing fees have
come down, transmitting equipment costs have come down, and of course
receiver prices have come down as more and more HD receivers come on the
market.

What's childish is for engineers at these smaller stations to make all
these untrue derogatory remarks about digital radio. It's definitely not
"Rube Goldberg." It's the best that can be done under the restriction
that digital radio use the same spectrum as analog. All the broadcast
engineers agree that HD technology provides the best digital quality and
programming options of any of the analog FM digital sub-channel
technologies. It's clear that they either don't understand the
technology, and/or they are upset that it's become so widely deployed
but not at their station.