"lsmyer" wrote in message
...
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...inment/3277086

Interesting article about High Definition radio. The article ends with the
following quote: "...eventually, stations will broadcast only digitally --
Stearn says that point probably won't be reached for 15 years -- and every
radio you now own will become a useless relic that you'll try to unload on
eBay."

Before you start selling all your analog radios, please understand that
the
speaker of the quote was Vicki Stearn, a spokesman for iBiquity, whose
future depends upon HD radio becoming popular.

My guess is that analog radio will outlive iBiquity.



Ever since Clear Channel went in big for IBOC, I've suspected broadcasters
were really after the extra channels on the same license. The story sort of
confirms it:

"The big draw will be multicasting, the additional programming that digital
technology creates: Every station now on the FM dial, whether commercial or
public, will be able to add a second channel, and possibly a third."

I suppose the same thing could be done with AM, two or three channels for
each station, although I don't know if the current IBOC radios are capable
of such multichannel reception.

I don't know if ibiquity will fail. High fidelity broadcasting has been
mostly one disappointment after another. But, if ibiquity has figured out a
way for broadcasters to increase revenue, they will succeed.

Frank