[BC] Re: Monitoring IBUZ secondaries

[Rich Wood]

------ At 01:31 PM 2/18/2007, Xmitters at aol.com wrote: -------

>Until there are a significant number of receivers in the hands of diary
>keepers, we ae not going to be particularly concerned if HD2 goes 
>dead, assumin we
>even put that in. We have too much work to do keeping our analog signal up,
>keeping the AudioVault system updated and maintaining our main HD 
>signal when we
>get it, to worry about HD2. If there is no money stream there, there is
>little point in making a big deal out of it.

The head of the HD Dominion isn't going to be happy to hear that. 
This is a vicious circle. No awesome HD-2 signals means no receiver 
sales. No receiver sales means no HD-2 signals. With the audio 
quality of the receivers on the market you can't sell it on Seedy 
Quality, so the extra "station between the stations" is its only 
selling point. So far, the lack of multipath isn't compelling enough 
to spend $200+ on a receiver. If it's going to work it has to be done 
like the satellite folks did it. Completely ramp up with 100+ 
channels before any receivers were sold. A consumer can go to any 
electronics store and hear a fully operational service with a tiny 
receiver that costs $49 and doesn't require major surgery on the car.

>I doubt that am HD receiver consumer is going to freak out because a station
>that had an HD2 stream yesterday, does not have an HD2 stream today. In my
>market, you are going to be doing a lot of tuning just to find an HD 
>signal. The
>local radio shack store has HD receivers and there is ONE FM HD 
>signal to pick
>up; ONE!

If that one stream is the format I've been waiting for all my life 
I'm going to be upset. I'd be devastated if the Swedish Hip Hop Polka 
stream went dead. It would seem to make more sense not to sell 
receivers in that market until stations are up and running. I doubt 
consumers will come back for a second try once they've seen there's 
nothing there. The analog quality of these receivers isn't any better 
than something I can get at Wal-Mart for $29.

>I agree that having an HD2 signal dead for days is far from the ideal
>situation. Hoever, I would not call it inexcusable. There are simply 
>bigger fish to
>fry than worrying about HD2 at least right now.

Then shut it down. If the HD-2 isn't there because of technical 
issues no one is the wiser. If the signal is there with the logo lit 
and titles and artists scrolling away it's clear someone is screwing 
up. That's inexcusable by most broadcast standards.

>A lot of receivers need to be deployed before an HD2 transmission failure
>produces the same sense of urgency as when our main FM goes down. I 
>think some
>stations are putting in HD so they can get new transmitters. Sure, money is
>spent on HD-only components and the cash outlay is at a premium 
>amount, but those
>stations will at least have  new transmitters.

That's the biggest upside I see in this. Upgraded facilities. It's a 
great incentive to replace that 30 year old transmitter, antenna and 
studio facilities.

>One more thing then I'll shut up. I see that theHDTV people are getting lazy;
>they are referring to their HDTV sevice as simply HD. Now, ain't this going
>to be an interesting situation for the consumer to sort out; HD promotions on
>TV and HD promotions on the radio. Wouldn't that be a kicker if our HD
>promotional campaigne to promote radio HD actually helped boost HDTV 
>sales more than
>it will radio HD! This whole digital thing is getting too complicated for the
>consumer; maybe I don't give them enough credit.

You're correct. HD means HDTV. Go into a store and ask for HD or HD 
Radio. You'll be directed to the TV department. TV had the HD moniker 
long before IBUZ came along. If you ask for digital radio you'll go 
to the satellite radio department. As a practical matter, HDTV offers 
a substantially dramatic improvement in video quality than HD Radio 
does in audio quality. IBUZ isn't an important issue for consumers. 
They don't make their livings based on this technology. There has to 
be a "Wow" factor to get their attention. The Superbowl and Nascar in 
HDTV with surround sound has it.

My friends moved their traditional Superbowl party from its long time 
location to the house with HDTV. I wonder why. Local bars put up 
signs advertising their HDTV for the Superbowl. Even half drunk it 
looks better than regular TV.

Rich