[BC] HD Receivers

Sat Feb 10 00:06:06 CST 2007

Doug and Dave both make valid points.

This has been said so many times that it sounds tired.  But, good radio is
all about content.  Not the delivery system.

Just as "topicality" was the buzzword years prior to consolidation, "make it
local" should be the mantra of today.  Making it local doesn't mean a return
to local hayseed radio, but integrating the station into the listener
community.  Notice I didn't say "the community."  Our signals reach far
beyond geographic boundaries.  

Radio is not a one way street.  Listeners want to communicate.  Real local
radio is a two way exchange.  Good local radio is "call and response."

You can voice track all day, localizing every bit until you have worn out
every community calendar in your possession, but unless the listener has the
opportunity to reach back to a real person, your good efforts are never
going to realize their maximum potential.

My company has an emphasis on AM.  Music on AM at that. We are working a
niche market that sells and we are doing well.  

Frankly I'm tired of the fidelity of receivers in the marketplace dictating
the perceived quality of AM. In fact, the latest NRSC report on AM bandwidth
presupposes that most receivers in the market cannot receive the 10 kHz
audio that most (but the IBOC) signals transmit.  Based on that, they
suggest that bandwidth of AM stations should be further reduced. Wait a
minute.  When did the cart overtake the horse?  Why should we compromise a
viable transmission system because receiver manufacturers don't want to
spend a few cents more per receiver for better fidelity?

AM has its limitations.  FM has its limitations.  Neither are dead by any
stretch of the imagination.  Terrestrial radio can do what satellite radio
cannot yet do.  Touch the local community.   Again, I hate to say it, but
its all about content--not the delivery mechanism.

Stan 

-----Original Message-----
From: broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net
[mailto:broadcast-bounces at radiolists.net] On Behalf Of Dave Dunsmoor
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 9:15 PM
To: Broadcasters' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [BC] HD Receivers

---Dang fat fingers ... anyway, back to what I was saying---

Putting radio through a newer shinier pipe will do nothing but make money
for the
pipe salesmen. Improving fidelity won't make any serious money today like it
did
many years ago, but changing the information sent (the content) provided by
the
old pipe will.

Here's how I see radio (AM radio specifically) making money by the
bucketfull
even as iPods and such things as that take over the "HI-FI" entertainment
world.

AM radio covers much area, and people are traveling ALL the time. Sell to
the
folks that are out on the road. Don't drop your usual sales, but target the
folks
who are driving through town, or through your state going to see grandma or
making their business calls on the road.

I see lots of opportunities for radio to clean up it's act in this regard.
The standard
announcer's line is invariably the voice talking to themselves. You want an
announcer who is talking to everyone out there who doesn't know just where
the best fast restaurant is, where the hospital is, where the tornado is in
relationship
to them (as the clouds close in on them in an unfamiliar area), and so on.
Give some
long distance information to people who are in the area for a short time,
and have
just found your place on the dial. Sell the local business to the people who
are here
once, or maybe a hundred times, but to limit the jock banter and spots to
only the
"locals" is missing a bunch of folks in my view.

I do a lot of driving, and FM is ok for local listening, but AM could easily
be far better
utilized without dropping any of the "local" sales commercials. Often I stop
for fuel or
food where I find the first convenience store, then am back on my way. If I
heard
some reason to drive into town for a car stop, then I'll most likely buy
more than
just fuel and a sandwich. If I hear weather reports that are understandable
to me
as a tourist instead of a local, AND that this information is sponsored by
some local
 business, that's useful. Maybe not right then, but on a later trip perhaps.

That's what I think, anyway. So you've got a nice new transmitter (but one
that covers
up the  neighboring channels), who cares? But if you're providing more
useful information
to more folks with the old system, that sounds like a money maker to me.

I'm not a sales expert, so I don't know it this'll work, but from a
listener's perspective,
it will.

Dave Dunsmoor

> Dave, think of it this way. HD represents a conduit to the masses. HD,
> in this case, is a large, highly polished tube or pipe made from the
> most expensive, resilient, and reliable metal to be found. Why, the sun
> shining on this conduit could put your eyes out, it's so pretty. Now,
> what do you send through the pipe? Entertaining and compelling content,
> or the same old crap that passes for programming these days? If the
> answer is the former, you may have a media revolution with lasting
> benefits, new listeners and advertisers. But if you send through the
> latter, (the same old crap) then all you have, in reality,  is a
> glorified sewage pipe spewing forth the same old garbage.
>
> -- 
> Douglas B. Pritchett
> Fort Wayne, IN (really, don't laugh)
> wbzq1300 at verizon.net
>
>
> My friend Dave Dunsmoor wrote:
>
> > And my $0.25 garage sale special Panasonic pocket radio picks up
> >
> >stations 100 + miles distant, down in my basement......
> >
> >I guess I'm missing the all important "big HD picture" here. $150-300
> >is better spent in this case how?

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