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rbrucecarter5
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--- from KHMX 96.5 HD-2 to HD-3. HD-2 has a loop telling listeners that it has moved. I wonder what will end up on HD-2?
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rbrucecarter5
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I have to be in the right mood to listen, that's why I didn't notice it until now. I am concerned about the drop in audio quality - splitting HD bandwidth among three channels really hurts the music on all three. I find KUHF HD channels almost unlistenable, both classical and the eclectic music channels are way below the best analog FM quality, almost like a high bitrate MP3 or streaming. Very annoying and fatiguing to listen to for long periods. But then most people won't even notice - to them an iphone playing through earbuds is "high fidelity".
All of the CBS HD's are also very fatiguing to listen to.... the HD-1's all sound like they've got their processing set to "Overmod", the subchannels have decent processing, but are set to a hilariously low bitrate. For example, KILT-HD3's programming is great, far better than the main channel's programming, but the low bitrate is very annoying. Almost sounds like the AM simulcast on KILT-HD2 is higher bitrate.
This dumb move (transition) has been going on since the beginning of the year and for much of that time, the HD-3 Station ID said Smooth Jazz on KHMX HD-2. I just tuned in for a while - here we are on May 1st and HD-3 is still identifying itself as HD-2. Meanwhile, on the real HD-2, the continuous re-runs blather on announcing the move of Smooth Jazz to HD-3. KHMX is proving itself to be tone-deaf on its own airwaves. This could be a first, a big city radio station mis-identifying itself for months on end.
Up to 120k, however, you can't divide it up however you want.
The primary HD radio carriers deliver 96k. This is typically where an HD1 and HD2 reside, along with any other data that may be riding along - like traffic info or album art.
A second set of carriers can be switched on if the station desires, which yields an additional 24k. This is typically where HD3 channels reside.
Most HD radio exporters come set to deliver 56k to the main channel. You can increase the allocation for the main channel of course, at the expense of the sub-channels, or you can reduce it and allocate more to the sub-channels, but I've never encountered a station doing that.
All of the CBS, iHeart, Cox and Cumulus stations in Houston are carrying album art, so it's likely no HD2s are seeing more than 32k at the very most, unless they've turned down the quality of their HD1 channels to do it, which is unlikely.
If HD-3 typically has less bandwidth, it seems weird that KHMX would move Smooth Jazz to HD-3 (complete with the old station ID of HD-2) while allowing a loop-announcement to run for months on the real HD-2. It seems like it's a self-defeating strategy. Recall for a few weeks in January-February, the programming on HD-2 was Third Rock Radio, an upbeat-alt-rock format with some connection to NASA (http://thirdrockradio.rfcmedia.com/ billing itself as "America's Space Station") Don't know why that disappeared, as it had strong relevance to Houston-NASA-Space-City-USA, and perhaps was the original reason to move Smooth Jazz to HD-3.
The KHJZ website still lists it as the HD-2 station for 96.5. KHJZ.com redirects to the page below.
http://mix965houston.cbslocal.com/listen-to-smooth-jazz-the-wave/
And sure enough, the Radio.com webpage for the service lists it as KHJZ-HD2. Of course, there is no KHJZ station in Houston. Or anywhere, according to Radio-Locator. No one has claimed those call letters.
http://player.radio.com/listen/station/the-wave-khjz-hd2
http://mix965houston.cbslocal.com/listen-to-smooth-jazz-the-wave/
And sure enough, the Radio.com webpage for the service lists it as KHJZ-HD2. Of course, there is no KHJZ station in Houston. Or anywhere, according to Radio-Locator. No one has claimed those call letters.
http://player.radio.com/listen/station/the-wave-khjz-hd2
It is a different codec. Satellite uses, IIRC, aacPlus, not MP3.
KHMX and Smooth Jazz = asleep at the switch. Good call on the former KHJZ, that's been how many years ago? Years, not weeks or months. In the "old days" KHMX would have been fined by the FCC for mis-identifying itself repeatedly and consistently; now, the FCC is asleep at the switch, too. Out of 34 Houston stations with ratings shown on https://www.allaccess.com/nielsen/q/market/46/houston-galveston-tx there are 2 HD signals listed: KODA HD-3 = Spanish Religion and KTBZ HD-2 = Regional Mexican.
In reverse order....
Both of those HD-2 appearances in Nielsen really represent the single line reporting of the HD and an FM translator. All of the listening comes from the translator, not the HD.
KHMX does not ever call itself by the KHJZ call letters, either.
Are there any clear channel 100kw AM radio (stations) in either Canada or Mexico broadcasting music or anything whatsoever?
The only 100 kw AM station in the US is Radio Marti on 1180 on Key Marathon, FL. 50 kw is the legal limit for FCC licensed AM stations in the US.
The few stations in Mexico now running 100 kw (most of the high power stations have reduced power of late) only do it in certain dayparts. XEG 1050 in Monterrey has some music, but they may now only be 50 kw. XEROK in Juárez plays music on AM 800, but they run 50 kw now.
XEWA in San Luis Potosi on 540 is on very reduced power, but has a music format most of the time. There is music on XEB-1220 in Mexico City, which is 100 kw. The other high power Mexico CIty stations are mostly talk now.
Canada has no 100 kw AM stations.
Thanks, quite interesting......
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