WHYY-FM HD Gone

[atthestars]

Really won't make much of a difference. They didn't utilize their HD side channels at all. Plus all of the South Jersey simulcast stations aren't in HD either. So the HD may be gone for good.

 

[Jstnpspck]

They at one point had an alternate program stream on one of their channels, but unfortunately dropped that some years ago

 

[atthestars]

They at one point had an alternate program stream on one of their channels, but unfortunately dropped that some years ago

Yeah, I forget exactly what it was (reruns of main channel programs? BBC Newshour round the clock?). It's a shame, as other NPR stations have some great HD2 programming. But like any business, if it's costing money...

 

[Larry]

At some point weren’t they continuing their classical music programming on their HD channel?

 

[Miguelito]

I wonder what running HD generally costs per month. The initial investment was huge, I assume, but what's done is done; they can't expect to recoup any of that at this point. Makes me wonder what will become of all the dormant equipment.

 

[atthestars]

At some point weren’t they continuing their classical music programming on their HD channel?

That is WRTI, as they switch between Jazz and Classical on both the HD1 and HD2

 

[atthestars]

I wonder what running HD generally costs per month. The initial investment was huge, I assume, but what's done is done; they can't expect to recoup any of that at this point. Makes me wonder what will become of all the dormant equipment.

Not sure how much it costs to continue to run. Also, as a non-commercial station, they COULD rent out an HD side channel and make money that way, but the HD side would have to be non-commercial too, so the renter would have trouble making money.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

@ @the stars ....
Too many stations!
The smallest listed market I can locate, Grand Forks ND, # 262, has 31 'local' stations listed on Radio-Locator.
Our semi-local Williamsport PA market (# 256) has 33.

 

[JH_Radio]

Yeah it was BBC news all the time on the HD2 at one point. I remember that.

 

[atthestars]

Scanning the dial while driving this morning, WHYY's HD was surprisingly back. No side channels though.

 

[iacd]

I noticed it was turned back on yesterday.

 

[AceBiscuits]

I wonder what running HD generally costs per month. The initial investment was huge, I assume, but what's done is done; they can't expect to recoup any of that at this point. Makes me wonder what will become of all the dormant equipment.

It's not a tremendous amount of money once you get going, but the upfront cost/licensing is a big hurdle. A non-comm I am familiar with wants to add HD in order to feed a translator but the licensing terms seem to be causing grief.

Arguably, the cost is more in logistics than it is HD, as we saw with Audacy. By turning off a bunch of music HD subchannels, they are saving on automation, music licensing, and the HD subchannel license. Those costs add up in a company with hundreds of stations.