Over
the last 15 years, media consumers (that's all of us) have come to
expect a higher level of performance in every audio experience. HD Radio
is broadcast radio's chance to achieve that level of sound quality.
Basically, HD Radio improves the sound of both AM and FM radio signals
by transmitting them in digital format, rather than the analog format used for the last 100 years or so.
The digital format of HD Radio technology gives normal terrestrial (as opposed to satellite - see "How did we get here?") substantial benefits, including:
- Near cd-quality sound on FM stations
- FM quality sound on AM stations
- Eliminates static, pops and other signal noise
- Allows transmission of additional textual content that can include virtually anything; song titles, artists, stock ticker...
- The ability to deliver multiple separate stations over the same 'channel', called multicasting
- 'Tagging' a song for later purchase via iTunes.
Continue reading "What is HD Radio?" »
Economic Crisis and HD Radio
As anyone who's not completely comatose knows, the last 16 months have produced an unprecedented stream of startlingly bad economic news. In real life I'm a small businessman that markets to other small businesses, and the number of those businesses who are planning any kind of capital expenditure right now is exactly zero. Access to credit, in fact any kind of banking or financing relationship, is so uncertain right now as to be virtually non-existent.
But as we all know, one man's trash is another
man's treasure, and this execrable economic climate could be just the
thing to give HD Radio the boost it needs to succeed long term. Here's
what I'm thinking:
Continue reading "Economic Crisis and HD Radio" »
Younger Listeners Coming Back To Radio!?
There is some good news in the air in what was thought to be a declining market share of young radio listeners. Until October 2008, it appeared that youthful listeners had latched onto their iPods and MP3 players, and as is usually the case with the young and new technology, they embraced it quickly, and didn’t skip a beat in discarding traditional radio listening. It seemed the love of radio that held a generation of baby boomers tightly in its grip was quickly being dumped by the younger set. However, a new study by the media research firm Paragon Media Strategies, reported on by Alex Mindlin in the New York Times, suggests for radio, the possibility of a more positive trend on the horizon.Continue reading "Younger Listeners Coming Back to Radio!?">>
Wait - how did we get here in the first place?
As a late baby boomer, I was weaned on radio. My pre-teen years were spent glued to WIBG and WFIL AM in Philadelphia. I can still remember the singular smell of a "Made In Japan" transistor radio when you first took it out of the box, and that radio helped me mow the lawn, girl watch on the beach, and follow the Phillies. Philadelphia was arguably the most impotant city in the country to pop radio throughout the 60's, and my friends and I took great radio for granted. For an idea of what we had back then, visit Classic Philadelphia Radio...
Continue reading "How Did We Get Here?">>