Tacoma 101.9

That loophole should (but won't) be closed. An HD2 and HD3 with a translator apiece takes up four extra channels. Poor spectrum management, especially since consumers "limit" the HD coverage area by not buying the technology in the first place.
Incidentally, I've ridden in quite a variety of vehicles since my arrival here in 2006. I've heard everything from SiriusXM to African Internet channels to Indian programming on FM subcarrier, but not once have I heard a subsidiary HD channel. Not once.
I've heard KIXI on AM several dozen times, but not on the FM HD. I've heard KKNw a few times, but only on AM. I haven't even heard Jazz24 or KUOW's jazz offering.
I've heard J. Vernon McGee about ten times, but not a single subsidiary HD station. Big radio firms lay off employees by the hundreds, but they're still pouring money into running HD--yet not enough money to provide programming worth listening to.
Sinclair's been smart not to waste money on it here.

multiplex said:

Sinclair's been smart not to waste money on it here.

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Actually the decision not to put in HD was made by Fisher about four years before you moved here. Smart move by the GM and engineering management.

Why, thank you Rob!

crainbebo said:

How are the regular FMs making money off of the HD2/3's? Or are they losing money by still running those things with fewer than 100 listeners at a time, if at all? On the other hand, KHHK is HD here in Yakima for only one reason...not to provide extra HD-only channels, but as the primary feed for two analog FM translators of the HD2/3 feeds. They are Big 106.1 (CHR/Hot AC) and 106.9 X-FM (Alternative). They have an audience in the valley.

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Most of the HD equipment has been long since amortized, so there is no loss. Some stations are starting to make money by doing foreign language programming on their HD-whatever channels, some are leasing the HD-2 to Radio Disney, some to feed translators, carry a stereo version of their AM station, etc. Here in the DC area, WAMU's HD-2 carries their Bluegrass Country music format pretty successfully. It pulls a decent rating too.

multiplex said:

That loophole should (but won't) be closed. An HD2 and HD3 with a translator apiece takes up four extra channels.

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How so? FM HD data stays in the same channel as the analog-only FM. The HD bit rate is the same, whether one runs an HD-1 only, or HD-2 and 3. All that's done is division of a 196kbps data stream between the two, or three channels.

multiplex said:

Poor spectrum management, especially since consumers "limit" the HD coverage area by not buying the technology in the first place.

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Consumers don't "limit" anything. The Commission agreed with broadcasters to a ratio of the HD carrier level to the analog level from -20dbc to a few years ago, allowing stations to increased their HD carrier level four fold, or -14dbc. The new allowed level comes pretty close to matching most stations 60dbu analog coverage.

multiplex said:

Incidentally, I've ridden in quite a variety of vehicles since my arrival here in 2006. I've heard everything from SiriusXM to African Internet channels to Indian programming on FM subcarrier, but not once have I heard a subsidiary HD channel. Not once.
I've heard KIXI on AM several dozen times, but not on the FM HD. I've heard KKNw a few times, but only on AM. I haven't even heard Jazz24 or KUOW's jazz offering.

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Don't understand the point. It's up to the stations what they want to use their HD channels for.

multiplex said:

I've heard J. Vernon McGee about ten times, but not a single subsidiary HD station. Big radio firms lay off employees by the hundreds, but they're still pouring money into running HD--yet not enough money to provide programming worth listening to.
Sinclair's been smart not to waste money on it here.

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Not sure why you keep using the term "subsidiary HD station." SCA's or Subsidiary Communications Authority isn't the same as an HD channel. SCA's are an analog subchannel typically modulated at 67 or 93Khz. Even if stations run HD, you can still run an analog subcarrier, although it would be a challenge.

multiplex said:

Incidentally, CBS stations are running lots of promos on their HD channels for HD itself. Pointless. (If you don't have HD you won't hear the promos; if you do, you don't need the promos.)

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Could be for people who hear an interesting programming mix on an HD station that is not theirs' (think retail environment, rental cars, etc.) and they want to get more listeners "evangelized".

Kelly, I think I understand the point Multiplex is trying to make. Who's listening to the HD channels? I've had a few Ubers with HD over the 2 years I've been using it, and only once has a driver had an HD channel on. I haven't requested they put on an HD channel because there really isn't anything on HD I'm interested in. About the only station with an interesting HD is KPWK-HD2, and KPWK itself is a good station so I'm fine with listening to that.

SCA carriers are extremely hard to find nowadays. They used to be often found with Muzak or other programs for retail stores. Some of them had foreign programs (I think there were some Chinese and Vietnamese subcarriers in Seattle at one point).

Personally, I really enjoy the classical and "crossover" music mix on KING's HD2 channel. It sounds like what they program overnights on the main 98.1-1 signal, too. Fewer announcements that interrupt the consistently relaxing mood of the music, with more acoustic and fewer dramatic orchestral passages, to match the late night ambience. I sometimes listen in the car, but don't have an HD receiver at home, which is why I notice the similarity between the music presentation on the two channels.

But the KING-HD3 channel seems to suffer from lower bandwidth. That's a big issue for me, since it introduces some really unpleasant artifacts over the violin section of many orchestral pieces. The first time I noticed that, I actually thought an alarm was going off somewhere.

I've found really limited range on the HD coverage for the Seattle HD signals. They do not make it downhill at all toward the waterfront, once you're north of the King-Snohomish County line. Reception seems OK on I-5 thru Everett, on the other hand. More hit and miss up into Marysville and north.

I do have a big problem with the KKXA-AM's HD signal on 1520. My 2016 Subaru doesn't provide an option (that I can find, any way) to turn off the AM HD. So the signal pops in and out of HD while driving anywhere in the station's southern coverage lobe. So much that the contrasts as it tries to lock into HD over and over again makes it unlistenable. And when I do get a few seconds in AM-HD, it sounds worse than a tinny Sirius-XM channel - screechy music and artificially excessive bass. And really "watery" too. I have heard other AM HD signals that sounded a lot cleaner and less constricted.

Given its classic country format, I think KKXA would find better results just sticking with the conventional AM signal, but cleaning up the AM processing a bit so that the music comes across with a cleaner and less processed sound. Right now, I'd say it's just the opposite of the issue I noted with the HD version. The AM quality is too flat and thin, especially on percussion. I played a lot of these songs in the 1970s, and they sure don't sound like they're coming from a 50,000 transmitter a few miles away on KKXA.

crainbebo said:

Some of them had foreign programs (I think there were some Chinese and Vietnamese subcarriers in Seattle at one point).

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The now-defunct Sinocast was on FM 95.7 SCA in the 80s and 90s.
Broadcasting in Cantonese 24/7 from their NY studio.

Goldilocks94941 said:

I do have a big problem with the KKXA-AM's HD signal on 1520. My 2016 Subaru doesn't provide an option (that I can find, any way) to turn off the AM HD. So the signal pops in and out of HD while driving anywhere in the station's southern coverage lobe. So much that the contrasts as it tries to lock into HD over and over again makes it unlistenable.

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What you're experiencing is exactly why I took an aftermarket HDRadio out. IIRC the HDRadio patent holder forbids manufacturers from putting in any controls to enable/disable HD. Another shot in the foot IMO.

hknewa said:

The now-defunct Sinocast was on FM 95.7 SCA in the 80s and 90s.
Broadcasting in Cantonese 24/7 from their NY studio.

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Not to be nit-picky, but 95.7 (KLTX at the time), didn't have a foreign language aural SCA. We used the 67kHz subcarrier to test a pager watch data stream and experimented with the 92kHz subcarrier for use as an IFB for KJR remote broadcasts.

I believe when Wally owned the station in the late 70's, before Ackerley bought it, he may have been running a rental language SCA. Just not sure what that was.

I remember KSEA (now WOLF) used SCA for "readings for the blind". Programming would fire up in the evenings and would be dark by midnight.

Yes, that is the reason we use HD. I have no idea whether anyone is listening to the HD channel, but we have numerous listeners to our FM translators which are fed from the HD channels. If the listener can hear it on their FM radio, they have no idea that it's an "HD rebroadcast".

LITTLEBOYBLUE said:

I remember KSEA (now WOLF) used SCA for "readings for the blind". Programming would fire up in the evenings and would be dark by midnight.

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Bonneville used to be really into the SCA stuff. They modified Panasonic table radios (the old-style woodgrain-cabinet table radios) so they could receive SCA just by pushing a button.

Kelly A said:

Not to be nit-picky, but 95.7 (KLTX at the time), didn't have a foreign language aural SCA. We used the 67kHz subcarrier to test a pager watch data stream and experimented with the 92kHz subcarrier for use as an IFB for KJR remote broadcasts.

I believe when Wally owned the station in the late 70's, before Ackerley bought it, he may have been running a rental language SCA. Just not sure what that was.

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Thanks, can't really trust memory from 20+ years ago.