Declare Victory and Pull Out of HD Radio

By Jerry Del Colliano

Radio executives are not dumb.

They may be arrogant enough to think their old business model will
work in the future, but as the pain of declining audiences and revenue
proliferates they'll even deal with that.

So why, you ask, is the industry so secretive, silent and shameful
when it comes to HD radio?

It's a flop by any measurement.

Their employees know it. Maybe some of their engineers are having fun
sparring on Radio-info's boards but HD is still a lost cause.

Consider this:

1. HD causes AM interference (you think they could have worked that
one out over the past ten or fifteen years).

2. Radio groups have fired up their local HD channels with all the
enthusiasm of a death row prisoner eating his last meal. No exciting
new formats. In some cases, no formats at all. Nothing to give a
listener one reason to own an HD radio that brings me to the next
point.

3. Consumers don't want to buy HD radios and the few big box stores
like Best Buy that have been coerced into carrying them don't even
give HD radios space shelf. Ask a Best Buy employee about HD radio and
they'll walk you over to satellite radio - something else they know
nothing about and don't care about.

4. HD proponents continue to throw good money after bad - money from
radio corporations - to make it look like HD is still alive. Maybe
they think if they just keep feeding money to this monster the HD
issue will just leave them alone.

5. HD audio doesn't sound much better in a car - radio doesn't sound
that good in a car - but listeners don't care about fidelity as much
as radio engineers think. They care about content that sounds
reasonably good.

6. The prospect of several HD sub-channels per each terrestrial radio
station does not appeal to even die hard radio listeners.

7. Gen Y has decreasing interest in radio - and even less interest in
more HD channels.

The problem is that HD proponents and the radio groups who have gone
along with this costly distraction apparently want to save face. After
all, they are the ones who have committed hundreds of thousands of
dollars per station to make them HD capable. It would look foolish and
downright irresponsible to their shareholders if they just folded
their tent and left the world of HD. I know a lot of people who would
admire them.

So they continue to participate in this travesty.

HD is not just a technical issue. It's a consumer issue.

You can't sell HD any more than you can sell an AM radio.

The public doesn't want it.

So, I have an idea.

Why not do like politicians do and declare victory - and pull out.
Start looking to places where you might actually pick up new
listeners.

Say, the Internet or mobile devices.

These misguided radio execs could say that their investment in HD
paved the way for the future of radio. Of course we all know this is
bull. But let them save face.

Wasting time and money on HD radio - a proven loser - is now
distracting embattled radio executives from seeing if there is still a
future for what radio broadcasters used to do so well.

Say you won! Now move on.

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2 comments:
listen2me said...
Right on, Jerry!!! HD is a joke and nobody is laughing. Except maybe I-
biquity, who fooled a desperate industry into spending tons of money
and time for a lot of useless equipment. I have to get back to my
voice-tracking now, I'm getting paid $10 for six hours of breaks each
night. Our shiny new million dollar HD stick for this cluster was
turned off after a week of use! Go radio!!!

December 04, 2007
PocketRadio said...
According to Paragon Media Strategies, even GMs and PDs have no faith
in HD Radio:

"Where is the Cool, the Content, the Charge?"

"Here is another bad sign: almost every time I speak with a GM or PD
about HD Radio, they say, ...it's a non-starter, isn't it? If we don't
believe in HD Radio, who will?"

http://www.paragonmediastrategies.co...p=222#comments

Now, with that in mind, Mark Ramsey suggested that HD Radio must
become ubiquitous, as iBiquity's HD chipset fees must be subsidized by
broadcasters:

"The ongoing tragedy of HD radio"

"Supposedly, it costs a manufacturer about $50 to implant an iBiquity
HD chip into a radio, thus transforming it into an HD radio. The Radio
industry must subsidize the cost of HD radios, not simply market the
heck out of the technology on-air."

http://www.hear2.com/2007/10/the-ongoing-tra.html

Even the major players backing HD Radio are in serious trouble:

"BRACING FOR THE WORST"

"Given a brutal outlook for the radio business and its own
particularly alarming financial future, the company was forced to
write off an unexpectedly large portion of the value of its
stations... and Citadel's total market cap loss for the day was a
staggering $385,000,000. As recently as 2003, Citadel shares traded as
high as $23.00"

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2...ner-faces.html

No faith and no funds - think ubiquitous HD Radio is going to happen?
What an amazing idea - transparently force a technology on consumers
that doesn't even perform nearly as well as analog radio.

December 04, 2007