David Eduardo wrote:
"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...


Now there's someone who has hit the nail on the head. This is also the
reason (primary one anyway) why I won't bother buying a DTV.. no matter
how you dress up a pig, all you're gonna get out of it is pig ****.

Of course, don't let it bother your that Steve is simply unhappy that 95% of
the folks are being served nicely and for free, while he is waiting for some
station to serve him personally (although he does not say what is lacking...
he just strikes out at other formats)

Never mind that there are more different formats in every market than there
ever were. He says the opposite.
Never mind that less radio is automated or syndicated than 20 or 30 years
ago.
Never mind that the model for TV is national... yet Steve wants bad local
radio over the best talent America can offer done nationally.
Never mind that Steve says there is no local content. What he means is that
there is content he does not agree with, so it is all bad.

And if you have not watched "old" DVDs on a DTV monitor, you have no idea
what you are missing. Even analog cable looks stunning, and the amount of
HDTV production is increasing rapidly. I've bought 3 HDTV monitors already,
and will eventually replace all of the old ones with HDTV.

Brenda, you are sounding like a Luddite.

David, people are sick and tired of radio for money's sake. I dream of
engaging and interesting programming. In other words, programming to
say something, make real art, or an original point of view without focus
groups, or polling data. Do that and the advertisers will start a
bidding war to get a spot on your station.

The most insipid example I can give you of "giving the people what they
want" is the American Idol show. Don't get me wrong, these artists are
talented. But they're highly unoriginal. In other words, they're "safe".

Would Louis Armstrong have a chance in today's radio market? Would Bix
Beiderbeck? How about Jimi Hendrix? Pete Seeger? George Gershwin? I
have to wonder. Many artists believe that they have hit the big time
despite the recording and broadcast industry, not because of it.

The problem is one I've outlined years ago. It's basically a version of
the Heisenberg uncertainty principle applied to marketing. When the
measuring technique affects the thing you measure, you really don't know
what you have. Using polling data and focus groups to determine your
music programming is a self fulfilling process that will guarantee
mediocrity.

As for whether IBOC is a good or a bad thing, I'll say this: AM could
sound good. However, nobody sees fit to purchase a quality receiver to
listen to a better sound. Thus it has been relegated to a secondary
status. And so you can walk away making the point that gosh, the noise
from IBOC doesn't make things that much worse because it already sounds
like crap to most people.

Broadcast AM wouldn't sound like crap if the programming was there to
support the demand for fidelity. It wouldn't sound like crap if people
actually complained about the crummy audio at night from all those lower
power stations. They don't complain, because station owners pay program
directors to generate bland mediocrity that will sell commercials, not
inspire and engage listeners. Nobody cares because there is nothing to
care about.

Having vented my spleen, let me say this to all you folk who think that
nothing can sound better than AM: Get over it. The biggest problem with
MW and SW AM broadcasting is that we don't have a capture effect of any
sort. AM can not have such an effect. But digital modes can clean up
the act considerably. Sorry, Telemon, some bright folks on a few
industry committees will find a reasonable suite of digital standards
some day, and when they do, AM will go the way of morse code. It can't
happen soon enough in my not so humble opinion. You will never convince
me that digital artifacts are worse than heterodyne whistles and
opposite sideband artifacts from a station 10 kHz away.

However, even if such digital standards take hold, nobody will give a
damn as long as the programming sucks. Is it any wonder that both XM
and Sirius are still having difficulties making a profit? Think about it...

Jake Brodsky
AB3A