No, HD offers better fidelity capability than analog. (The radio is a
seperate story.)

What does "fidelity capability" mean?

For one thing, it means stereo.

The people who could have expected most NPR stations to end up on FM were
at
the FCC.

But the people who have made it sucessful were listeners on their radios.

And I know our local NPR station was broadcasting mostly mono into the
90s.
I believe it was NPR network policy to broadcast with the stereo pilot off
unless the program was in stereo.

I know some did that in the 70's...I have nvever heard of a station doing so
after that.

Plus, NPR does not define policy at local stations.

An excellent policy, in my opinion, as FM
mono is capable of a much better signal to noise ratio than FM stereo.

If it was purely technical, but most listeners would tune especially analog
dials, with the stereo light.