[BC] HD Alliance

[Rich Wood]

------ At 01:33 PM 1/14/2006, Davis, Steve - SVP wrote: -------

>Thanks for listening.  If any of you have ideas for a better way to
>handle these new audio channels than the way we're trying to handle
>them, or any other advice for us on how we can keep radio a healthy,
>viable, relevant and growing business, please let me know, either off
>line direct to me, or via this forum.

I do. First, make the technology benign. Don't crap all over your 
neighbor's property. Do no harm. I now you can't answer these 
questions without risking your job, but once AM IBUZ is in use 24/7 
it seems to me many, many stations will be unlistenable. I'm already 
hearing it after the early Winter sunset on the East Coast.

While it may seem so, my comments are NOT specific criticisms of 
Clear Channel. I have many friends in the company and believe much of 
Randy Michaels' love of engineering is still there. Though it seems a 
little more bureaucratic than Randy driving by a station and running 
in to fix a problem.

There are many of the programming people I respect most in the 
industry still in the company. I'm beyond the 20 something hiring 
age, so I'll never be one of them. I have to admit I've never 
applied, so I haven't tested it.

Most important of all is having a super product ready to demonstrate 
right out of the box. That's the only thing that's going to sell IBUZ 
receivers in any realistic numbers. Don't believe it? Ask SIRIUS 
about Howard Stern's effect on new subscriptions. As I said, the HD 
Dominion approach seems to be equivalent to operating at 1Kw and 
bumping it up to 50Kw when there are enough listeners to justify it. 
All of this is expensive but the competition did it and people are 
being drawn to it. Since we don't have hundreds of channels to offer 
we should be working much harder to make the one or two extra ones 
absolute must buy products. So far, they appear to be second thoughts.

Rich