"On Radio: Listeners wary of yet another HD"

There's been a lot of news out recently about HD radio. KNDD- FM/107.7
has started a second HD channel to concentrate on Northwest artists.

KNHC-FM/89.5 is already offering a digital signal; KBCS- FM/91.3 will
follow later this year. KING-FM/98.1 devoted one of its alternate
channels to classical Christmas music over the holidays.

But does a lot of activity translate into a lot of listeners?

That's been the continuing question about HD radio, a digital
technology that allows broadcasters to offer improved audio quality in
their signals and, in the case of FM, offer more than one channel of
programming on their frequencies.

(An industry Web site says the acronym stands for "hybrid digital,"
although increasingly radio broadcasters are borrowing the television
usage of HD as "high definition.")

However, the technology requires a special type of radio to hear it,
leading to a classic chicken-and-egg, which-came-first challenge:
Programmers aren't willing to commit a lot of resources to HD radio
until they're convinced there are enough listeners with awareness of
and interest in the technology, and listeners have to be convinced
there's enough different about HD radio to justify the purchase of
such units.

Scott Sutherland, Seattle market manager for Bonneville International
(whose KBSG-FM/ 97.3 operates a second HD channel with an urban adult-
contemporary format), defines the problem as one of "cars and
content."

With so much radio listening done in the car, having HD-capable radios
in vehicles is crucial for building an audience for the service.

Sutherland sees some progress in that area, with the announcement by
Ford last year that it will offer HD radio across its product lines.

"The challenge for broadcasters is to create innovative content to
provide stickiness" that keeps listeners tuned in, he says.

Another example of content that may help draw listeners to HD comes
from KNDD-FM/ 107.7, which has announced the launch Saturday of "The
Sound of the Northwest," featuring new and recent releases from bands
from across the region.

KUOW-FM/94.9 was one of the earliest and most ambitious in deploying
HD radio; it offers three separate channels of programming through HD.
On a recent morning, listeners could at the same moment tune in to "To
the Point," "Talk of the Nation" or the BBC World Service on those
channels.

Given that variety of offerings, "listeners are bound to find
something that interests them," program director Jeff Hansen says.

"People who have figured it out love it," he adds. KUOW has begun
emphasizing its HD service and alternate channels in its on-air
announcements.

Hansen says the development of HD roughly parallels that of FM. It,
too, was a new channel for which listeners needed specially equipped
radios. And it wasn't until FM became common on car radios, and
progressive-rock stations began drawing listeners to it, that FM truly
took off, he says. "I bring it up every time people say 'Oh, HD is
dead.' "

One of the HD skeptics is Kent Phillips, program director for KPLZ-FM/
101.5, which has not made the move to HD. "Is it still around?" he
asks, only partly in jest.

Considering the lack of units, especially in cars, the lack of content
and the marketing, the continued emphasis on HD radio "just baffles
me," Phillips says.

It's even more baffling, he adds, given the next big technology.

"Realistically, we're WiMax in three years," referring to units that
use wireless Internet connections to link to stations. "WiMax radios
are great. You can get anything you want on it."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/352...diobeat21.html

SUCKA!