Does anyone know when WXRV is going digital?
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WXRV
- Thread starter wcozBoston
- Start date
I'm just voicing an opinion here, so don't take anything I say as factual.
WXRV has a reputation for not tossing money around. Between the equipment, the licensing fee to Ibiquity, etc. it is not cheap to go into HD radio.
WXRV also has seen how well HD Radio has been accepted by the public.... even someone like me who likes his electronic gadgets didn't jump on the bandwagon. I did look at putting HD in the 2 Ford vehicles I bought in the last 18 months, but opted not to do it. I didn't put XM in them either, but that is another story.
Now there are people who really like HD, especially the extra programming. My wife has a co worker who brings his IPhone to work and uses the HD app and really gets into it. Personally there is nothing HD is going to give me that I can't get from XM's online streaming if I am at a desk.
Until the public starts buying HD radios, or the feds mandate them, or they force analog off the air, there is no incentive, or enough return on investment to justify the equipment or programming costs. The big players in the industry who spent the money and are paying to program the HD2 and HD3 in some cases would in retrospect rather have that cash in the bank right now rather than having it poured down the black hole that is HD
Talk to me when HD gives me 5.1 or better surround sound in the car. I know WZLX has sent much of their library out to me remastered in 5.1 and one ZLX staffer who posts on this board has mentioned it sounds great in the air studio.
Until then, HD Radio and IBOC are dismal failures, doomed to go the way of AM Stereo and Quad FM
IMHO, YMMV.
WXRV has a reputation for not tossing money around. Between the equipment, the licensing fee to Ibiquity, etc. it is not cheap to go into HD radio.
WXRV also has seen how well HD Radio has been accepted by the public.... even someone like me who likes his electronic gadgets didn't jump on the bandwagon. I did look at putting HD in the 2 Ford vehicles I bought in the last 18 months, but opted not to do it. I didn't put XM in them either, but that is another story.
Now there are people who really like HD, especially the extra programming. My wife has a co worker who brings his IPhone to work and uses the HD app and really gets into it. Personally there is nothing HD is going to give me that I can't get from XM's online streaming if I am at a desk.
Until the public starts buying HD radios, or the feds mandate them, or they force analog off the air, there is no incentive, or enough return on investment to justify the equipment or programming costs. The big players in the industry who spent the money and are paying to program the HD2 and HD3 in some cases would in retrospect rather have that cash in the bank right now rather than having it poured down the black hole that is HD
Talk to me when HD gives me 5.1 or better surround sound in the car. I know WZLX has sent much of their library out to me remastered in 5.1 and one ZLX staffer who posts on this board has mentioned it sounds great in the air studio.
Until then, HD Radio and IBOC are dismal failures, doomed to go the way of AM Stereo and Quad FM
IMHO, YMMV.
wcozBoston said:Does anyone care when WXRV is going digital?
Fixed.
One problem I see if WXRV were to go digital is that they are trying to promote themselves as a Boston station, and I don't think that HD on their signal, from its location, would fill the bill.
They can, sort of, get away with it on analog. Good quality home and car tuners can get WXRV's analog rimshot signal fairly well around metro Boston.
However, I doubt that WXRV's signal would be strong enough to lock onto HD in most areas south of Route 128.
Maybe a few north-facing hill dwellers and amplified roof antenna fanatics around Boston might get WXRV HD, but that would be it. "Boston's Independent Radio" would be trying to promote a service that would most likely not reach metro Boston, for the most part, if they went HD.
Here in Somerville, I have a difficult time getting 99.5 WCRB to lock into HD, and WXRV is quite a bit weaker here. I know I'm not getting an adequate signal from WXRV to support HD where I am.
They can, sort of, get away with it on analog. Good quality home and car tuners can get WXRV's analog rimshot signal fairly well around metro Boston.
However, I doubt that WXRV's signal would be strong enough to lock onto HD in most areas south of Route 128.
Maybe a few north-facing hill dwellers and amplified roof antenna fanatics around Boston might get WXRV HD, but that would be it. "Boston's Independent Radio" would be trying to promote a service that would most likely not reach metro Boston, for the most part, if they went HD.
Here in Somerville, I have a difficult time getting 99.5 WCRB to lock into HD, and WXRV is quite a bit weaker here. I know I'm not getting an adequate signal from WXRV to support HD where I am.
HD can give you one thing XM/Sirius can't...the freedom from writing a check.
Many stations stream their HD2's and there are about a bajillion free online stations to choose-far more than satellite.
Many stations stream their HD2's and there are about a bajillion free online stations to choose-far more than satellite.
MRBIboredop said:Personally there is nothing HD is going to give me that I can't get from XM's online streaming if I am at a desk.
J
JoshuaC
Guest
NHRadio said:HD can give you one thing XM/Sirius can't...the freedom from writing a check.
Many stations stream their HD2's and there are about a bajillion free online stations to choose-far more than satellite.
MRBIboredop said:Personally there is nothing HD is going to give me that I can't get from XM's online streaming if I am at a desk.
That and I would question the people who look at XM/Sirius and see success... a couple million subscribers nationwide, many of whom have a free subscription (that I doubt they will keep considering the tanking economy and cutting back on expenses). Hell... my station cumes about a third of that in only one city.
HD Radio may not be working great right now... I'm not ready to write it off yet. I think the big problem with HD, much like many other technologies of late, is that it made its way into the market when the technology and deployment plan was not yet ready. Part of that is due to the control iBiquity has over the technology... part of that is due to programmers without a coherrant strategy of what to do with it. I give some degree of props to WZLX with it's 5:1 attempts over their HD - It's at least a strategy. Simulcasting sister stations seems like a cop-out (although given the current economic climate I can't blame management for it).
HD has a lot of potential... it just needs someone to show us how to make it work, and I can't imagine the four C's or any other large media company being the people to to do it. A small independent station like WXRV could be well positioned to give it a try and pull something off if it had the money to spend on it - although I agree with Eli in that I doubt it's HD would get into Boston... my 100K broadcasts in HD and I only get about 50 miles on it, and that's over pretty level terrain.
Z
Zeb Norris
Guest
Well, yeah, better to have a plan than not.
But plan or no, there's no demand from advertisers for HD.
Radio got screwed with the 80/90 docket. When the feds allowed more signals they didn't stop to realize there weren't magically more advertisers to support the new signals.
Dereg was merely an attempt to somehow stop the hemorrhaging. But it didn't work.
If there's one thing that ought to be abundantly clear it's that we don't need more signals. We need more advertisers.
But plan or no, there's no demand from advertisers for HD.
Radio got screwed with the 80/90 docket. When the feds allowed more signals they didn't stop to realize there weren't magically more advertisers to support the new signals.
Dereg was merely an attempt to somehow stop the hemorrhaging. But it didn't work.
If there's one thing that ought to be abundantly clear it's that we don't need more signals. We need more advertisers.
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