[BC] New HD radio

[Rich Wood]

------ At 05:32 PM 1/20/2006, Robert Orban wrote: -------

>Incidentally, the HD Radio article in the WSJ was not an op-ed, it 
>was a feature on page 1 of the Personal Journal section, getting 
>about 23 column-inches.

I know. I have it. It doesn't matter how many trees died. What 
matters is how long will people remember it, especially if it 
inspires them to check it out in a store to hear all these wondrous 
jukeboxes. Remember, the kind of soulless programming that's, 
allegedly, killing analog radio? Lo and behold, there's nothing in 
stock. The urge passes. Chances are good they didn't keep that 
wonderful article and completely forget that this life-altering 
technology exists. An opportunity lost. A promise not fulfilled. 
Promotus Interruptus.

>Actually, I have the luxury of lying in bed for a while if I want to 
>continue listening :-).  In any event, _I_ want to be the one to 
>choose whether I listen to only one movement or the complete 
>concerto, not the radio station. Moreover, my commute is about 30 
>minutes, which is plenty of time to hear meaty works in their entirety.

I work from home. I could actually listen to the Wagner Ring if I 
could find a place that delivers something besides pizza. That's a 
part of New York that spoiled me. Everyone delivers. Everything 
except good radio.

>I'll grant you that a fair amount of classical music (particularly 
>from the 18th century) was originally written to be background music 
>played at nobility's parties. But I find most of that stuff boring, 
>even if Mozart wrote it. Even the greatest composers (Beethoven, for 
>example) sometimes just cranked out product in order to get paid. 
>The SF Symphony did an "unknown Beethoven and his contemporaries" 
>festival a few years back with a lot of obscure works, most of which 
>weren't worth the time to listen to IMHO. (Hmmm...sounds a lot like 
>today's music biz. The more things change...)

I once had a heated discussion (actually one of many) with Robert J. 
Lurtsema at WGBH. I discovered him and he replaced me on Morning Pro 
Musica when I returned to WJIB. He believed everyone who loved 
Classical music would listen to anything at any time. Music that had 
been composed to put food on the table had been elevated to cosmic 
status. A music depreciation course I had in college made it clear 
that Bach wrote the Cantatas for money, not for the greater glory of 
God, even though they seem like it. All God's chillun' gotta pay the bills.

Most places, on the East Coast, at least, consider a single movement 
to be heresy.

I've made a very good living for a very long time in this industry. 
You'll have to pardon the sadness I feel when something comes along 
that  violates as many of the engineering standards I've lived with. 
I'm willing to live with artifacts on FM. Ultimately, I have no 
choice. Like Halliburton quality takes a back seat to ripping off the nation.

What bothers me most is the effective theft of radio stations people 
have worked their lives to create on AM. If the HD Dominion is 
willing to sacrifice their stations, that's fine. I wish they'd leave 
the little guy alone.

Rich

Rich Wood
Rich Wood Multimedia
Phone: 413-303-9084
FAX: 413-480-0010