HD Radio Blog

A cool new HD radio is on the way from Alpine January 1, 2008 08:55

An interesting hint about the future of HD Radio(tm) January 3, 2008 12:24

 
I found an interesting article recently in the Seattle, WA paper. It consisted of interviews with a number of top Seattle radio executives where they were asked about the future of radio in 2008. Here were two of the responses I thought were noteworthy.

The quotes

"Commercial radio's audience will continue to shrink as younger listeners find music on other technology, and listeners of all ages (especially women) go to public radio and other media for information.
"People are still tuning in to commercial radio at about the same rate as 10 years ago, but they're not listening as long. Time spent listening has dropped overall by 15 percent (three hours and 15 minutes per week), even more among younger listeners and women. High turnover is a sign listeners aren't finding what they want ... and they're going elsewhere to get it."
Bryan Lowe, program director, KING-FM/98.1: "KING-FM will continue to expand its presence online and on HD radio, allowing us to present even more of this great classical music.

"The new mantra is 'what you want, when you want it,' and our HD and online channels will deliver. Listeners will be able to tune in and listen to operas on demand or devote their weekend to the great symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms or Tchaikovsky."

My take on these comments

Why did I find these comments to be noteworthy? The first paragraph reiterates what I read some months ago - that the audience for commercial radio will continue to shrink. The second paragraph is, IMHO, the more important of the two because it hints, for the first time, the concept of pay to listen HD radio. Again, IMHO, pay per listen is critical to the success of HD radio.

Great radios at nice prices

BTW: Have you visited my Sangean radio store? I happen to think that Sangean makes some of the world's best radios and I have three available at what I believe to be the Internet's best prices. One is a tabletop unit, the other two are component radios. If you haven't yet purchased an HD Radio, click on the Go to URL link for complete details.

Terrestrial digital radio goes mobile January 4, 2008 09:02

 
Thanks to a tip from faithful reader, Micheal Fisher, I just read a lengthy and interesting piece on HD Radio. The article appeared in the online editon of EE Times and was written by Junko Yoshida. I thought it represented an interesting peek into next week's Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) show in Vegas, and the future of HD Radio itself. In fact, it actually rekindled my faith in the future of this technology - at least for now.

Here are some excerpts from the EE Times article. If you'd like to read the whole thing, and I strongly recommend you do, just click on the Go to URL link at the bottom.

"IBiquity hopes to gain exposure for the concept at the Consumer Electronics Show, which opens Jan. 7 in Las Vegas. The company and its partners will demonstrate new HD Radio features at CES, including an "iTunes tagging" offering that it says will make it easier to purchase music, while unveiling chips and reference designs developed to let HD Radio go mobile in portable devices as well as car radio (my italics) ....

“Among the new IC offerings is Samsung's HD Radio chip set, consisting of an RF-IF peripheral processor and a baseband processor and billed as the first low-power solution for portable HD Radio. Not to be outdone, fabless chip company SiPort (Santa Clara, Calif.) will demonstrate a single-chip HD Radio solution at CES that integrates the RF, baseband, memory, ADC and PLL. SiPort's chip, now in production-silicon form, will show up in commercial portable products by the third quarter, Sid Agrawal, SiPort's CEO, told EE Times.

"IBiquity, which has been a CES regular for the past several years, believes the HD Radio infrastructure is finally in place to propel terrestrial digital radio's market penetration. A year ago, there were only 20 unique HD Radio products on the market, most notably a JVC car radio that sold for about $199. "Today, we have more than 60 unique HD Radio receivers, whose prices start as low as $99 and [scale] upward to $199," said Robert Struble, president and CEO of iBiquity. The company claims that HD Radio coverage reaches 80 percent of the population."

In case you were wondering, the radio with a price "as low as $99" is the Radiosophy HD100 - a great, little tabletop unit that doubles as a clock radio. If you'd like to know more about this excellent, entry-level HD radio, just click on the button, below.

(Go to URL)

What's the real news here? January 6, 2008 09:26

 
Can you find the real news from these two paragraphs I found in an article on the online version of my old friend, Adweek?

Here are the two paragraphs.. See if you can figure out the real news (grin!).

Here's the first:

Omnicom Group's GSD&M Idea City has landed a yearlong creative project for the HD Radio Alliance with estimated media spending of $230 million, according to both client and agency.

Now, the second.

"Over the last two years, the alliance used radio inventory to promote the partnerships with companies like RadioShack and Best Buy," said client CEO Peter Ferrara. "But while we've been trying to carry the HD Radio message to consumers, everyone has been doing it their own way. We need to move from awareness to intent to purchase, and messaging will be the real driver to connect to the consumer." Ferrara said that while previous campaigns drove awareness to 77 percent, only 33 percent of consumers understand the new consumer electronics technology (my italics).

If you didn't catch it, the real news can be found in the phrase "while previous campaigns drove awareness to 77 percent, only 33 percent of consumers understand the new consumer electronics technology." In other words, the real news here is that the HD Radio Alliance spent more than $200 million worth of air time last year to promote digital HD and pretty much failed.

This supports my long-held contention that the Alliance has done a really lousy job of communicating the benefits of digital HD.

So the good news - at least for supporters of HD - is that the Alliance has waved the white flag of surrender, and turned over the task of promoting HD to some real pros.

So far, the big news out of this year's CES is that there isn't much big news January 8, 2008 08:14

 
The CES (Consumer Electronic Show) is where the big players in electronics make their big announcements about products and technology for the coming year. I was hoping that there would be big news about HD Radio (tm) but so far that hasn't been the case.

iBiquity has been trumpeting iTunes tagging and says there are five manufacturers who have, or will soon have HD radios with this feature -- these being Alpine Electronics, JBL, JVC, Polk Audio and Sony. And Sony has announced two new HD radios, the XDR-F1HD Tuner and XDR-S10HDiP HD Radio. The only thing noteworthy about the radio is that it comes with an iPod dock, as well as iTunes tagging.

I know that maybe I'm too old to get this whole iTunes tagging thing but IMHO, it's just not that big of a deal. If you disagree with this, I would love to hear from you, along with the reasons why you think it is a big deal.

There are a few days left in CES so who knows? Maybe there will still be some blockbuster HD news.

HD radio with scrolling display demonstrated at CES January 11, 2008 08:00

 
One interesting innovation showcased in this year's CES (Consumer Electronics Show) was the prototype of an HD radio with a scrolling display - so text would appear much like what you see with closed captioning on a TV. The prototype was exhibited by National Public Radio and Harris Corporation. The idea is to deliver text information to the hearing impaired. For example, a hearing impaired person could “listen” to a talk radio show by reading the scrolling text. No manufacturer has yet embraced the idea so it's difficult to say when such an HD radio might be available but this does demonstrate good, out-of-the-box thinking in terms of where HD may go in the future.

Monday morning bits and pieces January 14, 2008 08:12

 
1. ADA (Audio Design Associates) was one company promoting HD heavily at last weekend's Consumer Electronics Shw (CES). The company said, “says it is the first to begin shipping an integration-friendly HD Radio tuner. In 2006, ADA began shipping the HDM-1 HD Radio tuner module, available separately as a $600 module for use with ADA multi-room/multi-zone pre-amp/amplifier systems, as a $999 single-module black-box chassis and as part of ADA’s two- and four- tuner component tuners, the Duo Tuner, which retails for $1,899 and up, and Tune Suite, beginning at $2,399.

So, OK, that's a bit on the high end but I think it says something important about HD radio and real
audiophiles.

2. Researcher sees 30 million HD listener by 2012. Research Analyst Chris Roden recently went on record as forecasting that by 2012, there will be 39 million subscribers to satellite radio and 30 million digital HD adopters.

3. On Saturday, I heard one of the new wave of HD radio comercials which consisted of a radio telling its owners how he was missing all those stations you can't hear with a conventional radio. I thought it was well done and much better than the old “crystal clear HD” spots that ran last year. Have you heard any of these new spots and, if so, what's your opinion?

4. If you're interested in a great, little entry-level HD radio that doubles as an alram clock, you can't beat the Radiosophy HD 100. If you'd like more information or would like to buy this little giant, just click on the button below.

More information on Sony's two, new HD radios January 15, 2008 08:32

 
I reported last week that Sony had introduced two new HD radios at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) but didn't have much in the way of details.

I have now learned that the two units are the tabletop XDR-S10HDiP that comes with an iPod dock on top, and a component tuner, labeled the XDR-F1HD.

The XDR-S10HDiP is the first of its kind from Sony with both HD radio and the ability to dock and charge an iPod. The XDR-F1HD tuner comes with a wireless remote and has a nice-sized display that shows whatever the station to which you're listening cares to send along -- usually station call letters, frequency and artist's name and title of song being played.

Sony says both units should be in stores sometime this summer.

I've written a lot about the Radiosophy HD100 (http://www.radiosophy.com/index.html) because I think it represents a great little price/value at $99.95. I had one here to "audition" and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of its sound. Another radio I like a lot -- if you're willing to spend a bit more -- is the Sangean HDR-1 (http://www.hd-radio-home.com/sangean-hd-radio-store.html). It's a step up from the HD100 but sports a cool, wooden cabinet, more presets, a remote control and a "humane" wake-up system. If you'd like to know more about the HDR-1, just click on the Go to URL link below. Or you can click on the button below to learn more about the Radiosophy unit.

(Go to URL)

A Tivo-like HD Radio! What a neat idea! January 18, 2008 08:52

 
I found a news item on another blog today which makes so much sense I decided I would reprint it verbatim. It came from a blog called Norwegianity whose tagline - and I loved this, too -- is "Office holders need changing for much the same reason as diapers."

In my mind, the really pertinent idea is in paragraph #3. This makes so much sense I feel stupid for not having thought of it myself.

In any event, here's the post:

"Everyone who does care went iPod years ago. Those who care less went satellite radio. And those who don't care, just don't care.

"HD affectionados can blame RIAA and the MPAA for greedily suffocating the entertainment industry.

"What would sell HD radio is a TIVO like radio that, when you hear a song you liked, would automatically copy it to your personal file. Capitalism is fine, and a dime's a reasonable charge."

Something else that's reasonable is the little giant, the HD100 tabletop radio from Radiosophy. I had one of these on loan a few months ago and was amazed at the sound you get with this unit. Plus, it's also a clock radio. Just click on the little button below for more information.

So much for that Apple rumor January 19, 2008 09:30

 
If you're a devoted follower of this blog -- and I certainly hope you are -- you might have noticed a post I made week before last about the possibility of Apple releasing a boombox with HD radio.

The idea seemed a bit far-fetched at the time and it turns out that it was.

The big Apple show called MacWorld was held in San Francisco last week and there were a couple of big announcements but nothing about a boombox. I guess I should have remembered the old saying, "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

Perhaps Steve Jobs was too busy making deals for downloadable movies to get excited about HD radio. LOL.

If $230 million isn't enough, how much is? January 20, 2008 11:36

 
I noticed yesterday that the HD Radio Alliance will invest $230 million worth of airtime this year to try and boost HD radio listenership. This is in addition to the quarter-billion dollars worth of ad time that was used to promote the rollout of HD radio in 2007.

In the Department of not-so-good news, one national radio industry consultant, Robert Unmacht, says HD radio is more of a public relations response and a technology destined to become obsolete.

I guess it's the old is your glass half full or half empty question. If it's half-full then you will see the $230 million investment is a good thing and something that just might push HD radio into many more homes and automobiles.

On the other end, if you're HD glass is half-empty, then you can choose to believe that it is destined to become obsolete and decide to not invest in a new HD radio.

Me, my glass is half full but then I've always been something of an unbridled optimist.

Ford to add HD Radio to all 2009 Models January 22, 2008 08:51

 
I found a good, indepth article on The Oregonian's website (see Go to URL link, below). The gist of it was that Ford recently said it would add HD radio receivers in all 2009 model year cars. The article's author went on to say that "it is another example of Detroit catching up to the after-market when it comes to the gee-whiz aspect of what one can do with practically any car or truck."

Regarding the future of HD Radio, the article also said, "The HD radio format has made small strides in recent years, but expect a huge leap this year. One reason is the significant number of HD radio products -- 58, to be exact -- on the market right now with plenty more on the way.

"Later this year, as companies start to incorporate a new HD radio chip from Samsung, look for hand-held HD radio players (in 50 years, will we consider these quaint, like we do now with old transistor radios?) and even HD radio-playing laptops."

If you'd like to read the whole article, just click on the Go to URL link.

And if you'd like to get more information on what I call a small wonder, the Radfiosophy HD100 at $99.95, just click this button.

(Go to URL)

A fascinating glimpse at the future of digital HD January 23, 2008 07:47

 
I ran across a piece yesterday by Paul Hochman that I thought offered an interesting glimpse into the future of digital HD. Hochman had attended CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas and said, "... some people are beginning to harness the huge power and shrinking size of silicon chips to address the needs of people with disabilities or illnesses.

He went on to say that "Meanwhile, also in Vegas, Harris Radio's HD Radio technology was introduced at a press conference and also caught my imagination - Harris is primarily a defense contractor, but they announced that they are teaming up with National Public Radio and Towson University to form the "International Center for Accessible Radio Technology." The radio prototype they showed us takes advantage of the fact that the new high-definition or "HD" radio (which you'll soon have in your car, I promise) can deliver more than one channel inside a single radio frequency.

"The prototype the company showed allows the driver to listen to the radio through the car speakers, while at the same time, on a separate video screen, a hearing-impaired passenger can 'read' the radio broadcast's closed-caption transcription."

To read the whole article - which I do recommend, just click on the Go to URL link below.
(Go to URL)

More news about HD radio and scrolling text January 25, 2008 08:33

 
If you read this blog regularly, you may remember a post I did week before last regarding the use of HD radio to help the hearing impaired.

I've found a follow-up article on the subject the other day which said that Towson University is now partnering with National Public Radio and Paris Corporation to bring radio to the hearing impaired.

In fact, Towson University plans to host the International Center for Accessible Radio Technology. "We're using the new radio system and a tiny sliver of the total bandwidth in a special channel we created," Mike Starling, chief technology officer and executive director of NPR labs, said. "Our demonstration broadcast was very similar to how it is done for life TV captioning -- using a standard court reporter system that drives our customer software and transmits it using HD radio."

While admitting that broadcasting scrolling text via HD radio will not be a simple task, and will be expensive, Assistant psychology professor Ellyn Sheffield, said "NPR is willing to take that on as a mission through grants, but it would be better if all radio could be captioned."

According to Starling, the long-term objective is to make the receiver needed for captioning standardized in transmission protocol, a goal he sees possible by the end of the year. Through discussions with manufacturers, the product may be available at the end of 2008 defines 2009 to be a more feasible target.

Last but not least, yesterday I received an unsolicited testimonial about the Radiosophy HD100 from one of my readers. He said, and I quote, "I got a HD100 and I'm having a blast. Cheap, good sound, I can hook up a big antenna and it sounds great hooked up to my receiver."

I hadn't thought of connecting the HD100 to a separate receiver but it does seem like a pretty darn good idea.