HD Radio - Wherefore Art Thou?
|
|
Besides the constant pounding of radio advertising about HD Radio, are you hearing or seeing any other items that speak of a radio savior?
Just contemplate that thought for a second before moving on, because there's something around the corner that may cripple HD Radio far worse than lackluster consumer interest, or inability to get the product on store shelves.
Second's up. If the push to make broadcast radio pay the same exorbitant fees for "performance royalties" that internet radio is facing wins, every side-channel that's in this rush to HD will be included in the invoice. How's that for an HD Radio killer?
The silence from everyday people on the topic of radio should be the cue that radio execs take to begin laying this beast to bed.
HD Radio programming is not getting attention because it can't be found - that's with the exception of Clear Channel's page listing all of its HD stations online. Take another second, and ask why radio hasn't used new media to promote the one item that ties it closest to digital. Do we have a radio industry that is afraid to show off its product? Or does it really believe the public will find better programming on HD stations and pass it on. Word of mouth works - sometimes - if you can get those first few hundred thousand folks to sample your product. And, if it's worthy.
Want a demonstration on how bad this online use of promoting HD Radio is? Go to the Cox HD Radio page. Try to use it. The code that allows visitors to "Find an HD radio station near you" has been broken for months.* I first uncovered this problem while searching for HD radio stations to add to our RadioRow.com a very long time ago, and figured it would be fixed. It hasn't been.
*Publisher's Note: At Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:40:35 I received an email from Greg Lindahl, Cox Radio Interactive: "The Cox Radio link contained in this post identified as the "home page" to coxrdiohd.com is not the home page, and is an inaccurate variation of the correct one http://coxradiohd.com/cxrhd/find.html Thanks in advance for updating your error."
Only, he doesn't explain why the above page was found on a search for HD Radio, or why the broken page even existed. Or... why it has now been corrected.
Here's another example of this lackluckster approach to using the internet for promoting HD: Go to iBiquity's web site, to the page where you can "Find HD Radio Stations Near You." Pick any city and chances are you'll find a number of listings stating "analog now, digital coming soon," or a simplified version of this message - "coming soon."
Don't expect to find any links that take you to any of the stations listed at the iBiquity web site, either. That would be too simple a process to give the audience on locating local stations. It would be too... new media for radio.
According to iBiquity's claim, "Currently, there are 1,384 HD Radio stations broadcasting across the nation." Have you heard any? Have you made an effort to go to an HD Radio station online - of those you can find - to hear what this new breed of radio sounds like? Just a guess here, but the answer is probably "no."
Here's just one more item to give thought to: Over the past thirty days, RadioRow's HD Radio Station page received just 0.89% of this site's 100,000+ page views.
It's time for radio to make HD Radio follow the footsteps of LMiV, the coalition of broadcast groups that got together in 1999 and then fell apart a little over 12 months later.
To waste time, money, and manpower on keeping HD alive isn't in the best interest of the radio industry. Think of it this way: If it does survive, the new royalty rates that are coming down the pike are bound to kill it off anyhow.
|
|
|
About
Contact
Indie Artists
Radio Stations
Audience Data
Privacy
|
|
|
|
|
|
