HD radios used to be in plentiful supply on Amazon four or five years ago. Do an "HD radio" search now and you come up with almost nothing. What happened?
Is the technology that dead? I heard Jim Rome's new show is featured on HD in Los Angeles. You'd think there'd be more choices.
But HD faces some challenges. Also mentioned here. And here.
I think broadcasters forget that once you get to the level of a basic intelligible signal, content matters a heck of a lot more than high definition does. Thinking that a one-time increase in definition is going to solve all their programming problems forever is classic wishful thinking.
You also have to consider what people use the medium FOR. There are people who are going to watch Vast Scenic Movies- think Jerimiah Johnson, maybe- on their home TVs, where a huge screen and ultra high definition are going to make the experience breathtaking. But many, perhaps most, radio listeners use radio for more utilitarian purposes.
Don't most people listen in their cars? They'll be listening for a limited period, and perhaps the most important thing to them is getting the current traffic report. If they can understand what the announcer is saying, why does a listener like that need high fidelity at all?
Posted by: Bill | January 12, 2013 at 08:40 AM
IMO, HD Radio flopped in the U.S. for the same reasons that AM Stereo flopped in the 80s: they are both technologies that nobody asked for and nobody cares about, save a few of us, um, radio geeks.
AM Stereo was supposed to help AM stations recover the listeners lost to FM after most music formats migrated to FM; but who cares about listening to news or talk in stereo?
HD Radio was supposed to rescue terrestrial broadcasting from the onslaught of satellite (which itself is now in trouble) and Ipods, but it was a case of too little, too late. I had an HD receiver in my car for a while, but the signals don't travel as far as analog, and the dropouts got annoying after a while (if you are listening to an FM HD station's primary signal, it reverts to analog; if you're listening to an FM HD-2 or HD-3 subchannel, it disappears entirely and reverts back to the primary analog signal). I do enjoy HD at home, where I can tweak the antenna until the HD signal kicks in.
Posted by: Keith Beesley | January 12, 2013 at 01:27 PM