[BC] Uselessness of HD

[Bob Stroupe]

Amazingly, this happens when our HD stations go off the air or have issues.  I'm old enough to remember when FM was about at the same penatration where I lived, Memphis in the late 60's.  My favorite station was WHBQ-FM that had an automated Drake format and not many commercials either (most were likely bonus spots for an AM buy).  My family didn't have car with a factory FM radio until 1975.  Many FMs, especially in rural areas, had less than optimum coverage then because the minimum power for a full class C was 25 kW.

While in college, I worked for an owner in Starkville, MS that put a class A FM on the air in 1967 with a separate format.  Business was so bad that he dumped the seperate format and simulcast the FM with the AM after about a year. The simulcast continued until 1980.  Some people don't want to remember when FM had some of the same challenges as HD has now.  

Bob Stroupe

-----Original Message-----
>From: jpotter at jpotter.com
>
><
>I remain skeptical that Internet streams will ever be effective
>competition for over-the-air radio broadcasting. I'm less skeptical about
>services like Pandora, though.
>
>Rob:  I worked for a Country music station in Nevada which had a good following on its program stream for two reasons: word of mouth, and residences out-of-range of the AM signal.  Believe me, when the streaming went off-air for a few minutes, the phones would light-up.  >Regards/Jim Potter
>

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