"Rfburns" wrote in message
oups.com...
Since FM HD in its current form will likely survive it's very, very
unlikely AM HD will fail. Since both systems were hatched by iBiquity
they will both be force fed to the consumer untill such a time, in the
future, when the FCC sets a date for the end of analog radio.

I'm not so impressed with ibiquity. They've screwed up more than they've
succeeded. Their biggest success, self-promotion, has cast an ironic light
on their shortcomings. If ibiquity is going to wait it out, it's going to
take money. Were's that money going to come from? From broadcasters who
have to keep paying -- right now -- for the promise that significant
numbers of listeners will someday strart trickling in? Or will the money
come from a turnaround in sales of all those expensive HD radios?

There
will be no FM HD without AM HD ....period.

Why not? HD needs radio sales to have a chance. Consumers have a long
track record of preferring cheap radios. Most people don't think a HD radio
is worth one or two hundred bucks more than a regular radio. But plenty of
people will chance it for five bucks. And FM-HD is stronger than AM-HD.

So it would make perfect sense for ibiquity to offer a bargain basement FM
only IBOC chipset.

Why not? Oh, I get it. It's that "perfect sense" part.



And this will happen. There will be no turning back.

Let's hope that ibiquity sees itself in lockstep with the inevitable march
of history. There's always room for more inflexible knotheads in the
dustbin.


So all of us who have loved traditional radio are out of luck. It's
that simple. The days of listening to a distant station coming via
the ionosphere are over - at least on the standard broadcast band.
There will be no more 50KW blowtorches and AM radio will essentially
become all local.

It's sad to see another pleasant thing pass due to out-of-control
technology.


The status quo is doomed, whether it's from IBOC or individualized media or
whatever.

Frank Dresser