On Oct 16, 9:37�am, SMS wrote:
John Higdon wrote:
In article ,
�"Brenda Ann" wrote:

Ford is SUPPOSED to be an iBiquity partner. Our brand new 2009 Ford Flex has
optional Sirius, no HD. �And again, this is a brand new car.

In the past year, I have purchased two new Fords, neither of which came
with an "HD Radio". Both have Sirius, CD changer, and "Sync". I let the
Sirius lapse in both (who cares?), and HD Radio would never be listened
to, since there isn't a single station I listen to that is doing.

Maybe Ford woke up.

No, including HD capability as standard equipment is starting with
higher end vehicle brands, and will eventually filter down.

For example, Jaguar, Volvo and Mercedes now include HD radio on all of
its models. In 2011 Audi will be including HD as standard on most, if
not all, U.S. models. For BMW, only the 5 series and the X3 have HD as
an option, it's standard on all other models (kind of strange that the
lower cost 3 series, and higher cost 7 series gets it as standard, but
the mid-range 5 series does not).

It's very similar to how the adoption of FM occurred back in the 20th
century. There was little content so there was no reason for automakers
to add the extra expense of an FM capable radio. When there was a small,
but sufficient amount of content you started seeing after-market radios
with FM, and eventually it became standard equipment. The experts
predict that by 2013, HD radio will be standard equipment on virtually
all vehicles sold in the U.S. (which incidentally is the same year other
analyst predict DAB will be standard on vehicles sold in Europe).

As long as adding HD broadcast capability to a radio station can be done
quickly then there's no real rush for you to convince the station
management to add it. You mentioned "six figures" to add HD capability.
That's a pretty wide range. Is it $100K or is it $999,999? $100K might
be a bargain considering the additional revenue potential. Plus, the
purchasers of the vehicles that now include HD as standard equipment are
exactly the people that many advertisers want to reach (well maybe not
the type of advertisers you get on KSFO like Cash4Gold).

You're a purist, you care about the sound quality of analog FM, and how
HD affects that quality, but few consumers are sophisticated enough to
care, and since most radio is listened to in a vehicle with relatively
low quality audio equipment the degredation of analog that HD causes is
less of a problem than you believe.

The biggest reason to fight HD radio is that if it becomes successful
then we'll be unlikely to see a better digital radio standard adopted in
the U.S.. We'll end up, as often happens, with an inferior system to the
rest of the world.

"U.S. automakers not jumping into HD Radio"

"The radios are estimated to cost about $45 each to install, or each
of the three carmakers about $150 million to $200 million annually,
automotive industry sources said."

http://tinyurl.com/o8zaau

HD Radio is too expensive for most automakers, and it simply doesn't
work, and never will:

"BMW HD Radio Troubleshooting Guide"

http://tinyurl.com/ygbspcb