HD Radio to get $200 million advertising and retail push

We haven't heard much of HD Radio lately, perhaps due to the stealthy force of ninja assassins from Sirius and XM that dispatch the proponents of the standard, or perhaps because there ain't a lot going on. Hopefully things will spice up soon, since the format is about to get a major push from the HD Radio Alliance, who have plans to land compatible receivers in stores along with a $200 million budget for advertising and promotion. HD Radio equipment should be making it to 100 stores nationwide soon, and in-store education will be offered for consumers and employees. We sure wouldn't mind if prices dropped a bit for the receivers, but we guess availability is a good start, and you can't get much cheaper than free for the subscription cost.

[strider_mt2k @ Apr 14th 2006 11:17AM]

Crap 2.0 is still crap.
The problem is less one of audio quality and more one of commercialized, corporate formula programming with only a few corporations owning all the stations in any given area now.

-and don't even get me started on government interference!

Switching to Sat Radio was like rediscovering radio all over again.
Terrestrial Radio is very, very sick. Only making it better will hope to bring the defectors back.

[Justin @ Apr 14th 2006 11:20AM]

seems to me it would make considerably more sense to push hd radio in car units first. do people really listen to the radio outside of the car anyhow??? If so is that kind of person even within the target market for such a product? ...very weird

[Jay @ Apr 14th 2006 11:20AM]

Commericals ftl.

[Mike @ Apr 14th 2006 11:31AM]

Isn't this clearchannel's big push to try to steer people back from sirius and xm? If memory serves they're just moving their current format(very little content, plenty of ads) to an HD delivery mechanism. Sure the subscription is free, for now. But I can't see any incentive to even pay for the equipment. At least if I buy a sirius/xm receiver I get a good selection of music channels advertising free, which is their main selling point.

HD radio seems, to me, to be the radio industry equivalent of an old man shaking his fist at "those damn kids." They're just trying to drag their current, failing, delivery model to a new platform and trying to make the consumer pick up the tab. I guess if HD radio actually takes off we'll finally get an answer to "how gullible IS the american consumer?"

I'd also like to point out that there are PLENTY of reasons to hate clear channel, this is just a drop in the bucket.

[Robert Aitchison @ Apr 14th 2006 11:32AM]

Isn't it the same crap we already hear on the radio, only with better sound quality? WoHoo I can hear the same 25 sonngs over and over ad nauseum with crystal clarity!

IMO HD radio won't take off unless it starts being offered as standard equipment in new cars.

[push2flush @ Apr 14th 2006 11:35AM]

didn't clear channel just add a few music channels to the xm lineup? looks like they're playin both sides...

[ken52787 @ Apr 14th 2006 11:37AM]

Here is a listing of HD stations, so you can see whats available in your area: http://www.ibiquity.com/hdradio/hdradio_hdstations.htm

There's a lot more broadcasting then I thought would be.

[Brian @ Apr 14th 2006 11:47AM]

I listen to HD radio at home. One thing it lets stations do is run a second or third channel with different programming than the main channel. It's not just a Clear Channel promotion. I listen to my local NPR station with it (and not really much else) and the second channel they offer is great because it lets them run soem shows they normally don't have room for, and also lets them run some shows at different times on the second channel. So if I tune in and they playing a show (like the horrible local news talk the Seattle NPR affiliate does) I can switch over to channel 2 and get the BBC news. And free radio is still a good thing to me. I have no interest in paying another subscription fee.

[Ryan @ Apr 14th 2006 11:48AM]

Who cares about HD radio?? Satelite radio RULES!
I'll never go back to orginal radio again!

[dj-ronald-mc-donald @ Apr 14th 2006 11:50AM]

I honestly have not listened to radio for about the past three years now, ever since getting an mp3 player. But that's just me.

[G money @ Apr 14th 2006 11:52AM]

Plain and simple, commercials suck. KTU, Hot97, BLS etc, they play the same shit all day. The same 25-30 songs, WITH COMMERCIALS! Who gives a shit if its HD? These clowns that run clearchannel are idiots, okay so they think people that wont spend 50 bucks on a new reciever or 13 bucks a month are going to pay 200+ to hear those same 25 songs WITH COMMERCIALS in HD?? Theyre idiots, i giver terrestrial radio giants 5 more years till they go bye bye. FREE FM NOT FTW!!!!

[Donald Duckett @ Apr 14th 2006 11:53AM]

Technologically speaking HD Radio is more than just the same old radio stations. HD Radio is similar to Digital TV in the sense that it will allow broadcasters to send more than one radio station over the same channel. So you will see much more radio stations on the same radio spectrum once all of them go digital.

In the beginning, it will all be the same to the consumer, just with clearer audio. But give it a few years and the content will be more diverse. Sure, there will always be commercials, but we have lived with advertising funded radio since its invention. I don't see why that's a problem now. There are many people out there that don't listen to enough radio to justify paying for it, so they can live just fine with free radio with advertising. The point is, there is and will be a market for HD radio in the forseeable future.

Another thing, let's not get confused with the "HD" term. "HD Radio" is simply digital radio broadcasting over the same old FM spectrum. So the difference in audio quality won't be as dramatic as when you switch from analog TV to HDTV. Many radio stations out there either don't have good equipment or have not tuned their studios properly to deliver the best sound, so even in digital some stations will still sound poor.

HD Radio has one cute thing, though. It will fallback on Analog automatically in the event you briefly lose the digital signal for uninterrupted audio, such as when driving under a bridge or some area where signal can fade briefly.

[Francos Marina @ Apr 14th 2006 11:55AM]

Distributes luxury pleasure yachts, boats, floating modules, accesories

[G money @ Apr 14th 2006 11:59AM]

#11 Wrote:

Sure, there will always be commercials, but we have lived with advertising funded radio since its invention. I don't see why that's a problem now.
---------------------------------------------------
It becomes a problem once you switch over to satellite radio and dont hear any commercials, then you wonder how you went all your life without listening to commercial free music.

#11 also wrote:

There are many people out there that don't listen to enough radio to justify paying for it, so they can live just fine with free radio with advertising.
----------------------------------------------------

So if they are just casual listeners that wont pay for subscription based satellite why on earth would they spend the're money on a new HD reciever?

[David @ Apr 14th 2006 1:00PM]

A lot of the HD2 channels (multi-casted stations) currently run commercial free. That will of course change, but I wouldn't mind having an HD radio in the car if I'm going to have a radio anyway (if only for traffic, local news, talk, etc).

I know it's hard to believe, but SOME people still do listen to radio and it's not fair to lump all stations into the "crap" category (though ClearChannel, et. al. make that easier to do with the sheer amount of crap they are responsible for).

[Mitch @ Apr 14th 2006 1:21PM]

#10 wrote: Plain and simple, commercials suck. KTU, Hot97, BLS etc, they play the same

Wait, what side of town are you in. Or what city are you in? Err, make that what state/province/region? What country? What continent?

I'm sure that those station names mean something to you, but when ranting about stuff local to you please remember that the Internet is global. For all we know, you're ranting from the nation of Sealand.

..and back on topic, with an MP3 player, why bother with radio? HD radio is going to go the way of AM Stereo. (yes it existed, look it up)

[J to the LOW @ Apr 14th 2006 1:35PM]

The whole HD tag seems more like marketing than actual sense. The "D" in HD stands for definition, which in the world of audio is just fidelity or clarity...so shouldn't this be "High Fidelity" radio...or sorry did Apple/1970s patent the whole hi-fi thing before you? You can't really see radio any better if it's in "hi-def"

Idiots.

[tekdemon @ Apr 14th 2006 2:30PM]

#10 is obviously from the NYC metro area...
Hot 97 is a rap/hip-hop/r&b station (which actually got national attention recently since they played a fairly racist song). 103.5 KTU is a umm...dance oriented radio station I guess.
I didn't really recognize BLS but apparently it's WBLS 107.5 which is an R&B station.
Heh on a side note, I stripped hot 97 off my radio presets and refused to put it back after that racist incident lol. Yesterday while we were driving and trying to figure out what songs to play for a party I manually seeked to 97.1 to see if they had anything decent and then decided that it was no big loss that I had taken it off presets.

[radiolistener @ Apr 14th 2006 4:10PM]

Unfortunately HD Radio is inferior technology to other stuff available. FMExtra is a lot better and cheaper on both ends. For stations they don't have to change anything, just add a relatively cheap box to the rack, and for consumers the radios would be cheaper ~$50.

Plus instead of just 1 new channel you could add 2-16 additional channels.

[Jeff @ Apr 14th 2006 10:16PM]

The main problem is that the cost on an HD receiver is too high. I would be happy to give it a try but current prices are above the "buy another gadget to give it a try" threshold. In my case, this number is no more than $100.

[zyx @ Apr 15th 2006 12:46PM]

i guess it was just all too easy to miss the whole point of HD Radio... some education (and a little bit of simple business philosophy) might be in order...

1) who/what:

"iBiquity" is the company you can cheer/blame for HD Radio as it currently stands... it's a partnership between USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital. licensing fees for the rights to broadcast programming using said technology will be paid to that group. while they are the primary interest, the fcc (of course) still controls all of the regulatory aspects for implementing it within the [same] radio frequency band already alloted to the FM radio you've known and loved/hated. the actual *standards* for the technology will be managed via the National Radio Systems Committee (NSRC), which is little more than a cooperative comprised of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)... who more or less look out for you... and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)... who more or less look out for the dollar bill sitting in your wallet. [everybody say it with me... "advertising"]

it should be noted that clearchannel and all the other [allegedly] evil companies that are trying to squeeze the advertising onto the airwaves to *ahem*.. maximize your listening pleasure.. are obviously represented in the NAB. what you may have guessed by now... is that they also own a sizeable hunk of stock in 'USA Digital Radio', one of the two companies that will be sharing the licensing fees for HD Radio broadcasts.

now that the business is (mostly) taken care of...

2) when/where:

quite frankly, the fcc isn't requiring a shift to 'high-def' radio... nor have they really implied that they intend to do so. the main reason for this is that even if the entire [currently FM] radio spectrum is digitized... the fcc will not change the size of the band that radio broadcasters are allowed to operate in, nor do they appear to be changing the bandwitdh allocated to each station. overall, the range/spacing will stay rather constant and broadcasters can choose to ignore this new technology altogether if they wish. the only problem with this theory is that the biggest players in terrestrial radio are behind it... so don't expect there to be (m)any hold-outs further down the road. and just for good measure... if you thought this was just all about a change for FM only... this whole thing applies to AM frequencies/broadcasters as well (i wouldn't hold my breath that the peeps over in the AM band will care much for now... with lots of mom-and-pop, low-budget, ethnic, and talk radio operations... they'll probably be the ones giving the finger to HD Radio for a while yet).

true adoption rates will be just like that of HDTV... who has a receiver that can handle the signal... and do they actually live in an area that can receive such signals? i suppose that will be mostly up to the auto-makers, as they are the ones that dictate change in radio habits faster than anybody else. most all major metropolitans already have at least some HD Radio up and running, and even my redneck locale has a pretty kick-ass "best of the 80s/90s/today" HD station in full effect... sounds great too.
if you're wondering why it costs so much, that's just the "early adopter fee", and it's probably the same reason you don't have a high-def tv yet. that changes with time and mass appeal [assuming there is an appeal].

and finally...

3) why:

i could be a bastard and say "why not?"... but i'll give a couple of reasons and then let everybody hump my leg or flame me mercilessly, depending upon how you like my reasons. just to piss you off, i'll use sub-headings now:

a) it's good business.

in a country where HDTV is just now becoming all the rage, and is now a buzz-word of epic proportions... it's good marketing to have "HD Radio". (the only thing i could think of that would be better marketing for radio at this point would be 'RiVo' [you know, radio-tivo]... and snowballs might actually stand a chance in hell before that is a common reality. yes, i know, sirius has started doing it now... don't fire up the flamethrower yet, though.)

if you're under the impression that HD Radio is just a natural progression from analog transmission... you're right. if you believe that HD Radio is a method by which to refresh an aging delivery platform... you're right. if you believe that ClearChannel has their hand in both cookie jars at once (satellite and terrestrial)... you're right. if you believe that companies like that are out to kidnap and ransom helpless women and children... you're-- wait a second.

the fact is that broadcasting companies don't fear satellite radio quite like some people think they do. there are currently somewhere just north of 10 million subscribers to satellite radio services... which means there's quite a few daily commuters who are [apparently] either somewhat uninterested in, blisfully unaware of, or too cheap to pay for satellite radio. i would wager that ipods in cars actually pose a bigger threat for now.
to anybody who thinks the terrestrial radio system is 'broken', you obviously aren't looking at it from a profit perspective.

b) "Crap 2.0 is still crap."

maybe. but just because there's an alternative doesn't mean people want to pay for it. sure, there's a few companies that control almost all of broadcast radio, but broadcast television is practically no different... and television isn't unwatchable just because it contains commercial endorsement. the same is true for radio... especially since you can augment it with your own music to fill in the ad gaps if you wish.

HD Radio isn't "going to go the way of AM Stereo"... but it will always be regulated by the fcc, who governs those airwaves. HD Radio will likely never be ad-free... then again it's a better product that what's currently on the air, and it won't cost you a subscription fee.

i don't think it's the absolute best possible solution to digital radio, but it's quite promising. it may take a long while to catch on, but it's not a gimmick... and people might just appreciate some of it more than they think.

if you're a satellite junkie already, though... reading this will have meant little/nothing to you. but congrats for reading it all anyways.

[Asian Voice @ Apr 17th 2006 11:29AM]

The last thing I want is some company telling me what music I should listen to or like. That is the way mainstream music / radio has been for the last 40 years.

With the advent of portable music players, now people can listen to what they want, when they want and commercial free.

[Dave Snyder @ Apr 20th 2006 9:16AM]

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[Kurt @ May 15th 2006 1:44PM]

At least in Chicago, the ads for HD Radio keep using the term "High Definition Radio" and saying that it is like a change from broadcast tv to HDTV. Why is this allowed? The HD in HD Radio does not stand for high defintion, and Ibiquity (the company that invented it) has said this over and over. Plus, the change is more like regular cable to digital cable.

How about they stop the marketing push and give us some truth?