"A Significant Sign in the Death of HD Radio"

When my father was on his death bed my sister, who is a practicing
nurse, told me he didn't have long. She knew because of being able to
read the signs his body gave off before the lungs reached their last
breath. Dad died sixteen hours later.

The analogy to my father dying and that of HD Radio's demise is not
that different. Look for the signs indicating the body is giving out,
then start counting the time until you call it a grievous day. Those
with the schooling know the signs. Whether they relay them to those
who don't know is what's keeping HD Radio alive, so far.

The radio industry is giving off signs that HD Radio is dead, even
though we keep hearing bright comments being uttered by iBiquity
execs. A recent quote from HD Radio Alliance President/CEO Peter
Ferrara "predicts by 2011 (model year 2012) HD Radio will be optional
in every car and standard in most." (Radio World "Let the 'Monetizing'
of HD2s Begin" by Leslie Stimson). Mr. Ferrara is either being overly
optimistic, or does not understand the business side of getting inside
a vehicle's dashboard.

Another set of words quoted to Mr. Ferrara: ""We've lost sight of the
fact that FM took 10 years" to become standard." He's not pointing
out, though, that FM was building an audience based on programming
which related to their lifestyle of the day, and AM was not serving
this group. (Kind of sounds like the flight from regular broadcast to
new media. But, that's another article.) Use your own ears and sample
HD Radio at Clear Channel, Cox, or iBiquity's own site. Do you hear
anything that "relates" in the same way FM did in its early years?

While the public's pulse on HD isn't beating, the latest glaze over
this problem is in a rebuilt HD Radio Alliance web site to educate
retailers and sales personnel on the benefits of HD Radio. Please,
visit this site. Register. See what information the HD Radio Alliance
is giving the retail industry to sell HD Radio. See if it differs from
anything in past publicity releases. See if it contains the "deal
closer" concept, or anything the excites the audience (clerks and
retail management). This is death sign #1.

Next sign, and this is all the more you need to digest on this topic:
HD Radio is not being promoted on radio station web sites. The radio
industry has given up with "extra" promotion, over that huge
commitment made by the HD Radio Alliance that's forced all member
stations to comply.

Despite $230 million committed to promoting HD over the airwaves in
2008, and a few hundred million more spent over the past two years, a
recent visit to thirty radio station web sites found only four that
had any mention of HD Radio on the home page - and one did not link
that mention to anything HD.

http://www.audiographics.com/agd/102607-1.htm

It's over RHF, Eduardo - Ha! Ha!