On HD Radio issues....
Sorry I haven't paid my dues thus far. I had a commercial free Christmas thus far, making January more likely to be a better month with love offerings and gifts. With little fanfare the HD community has saved broadcasting by offering its own version of sat radio collectively and with no monthly fee. This also leads to the next cost effective move to save the HD players in about 2 years. Should HD prove to be a total failure because the technology wipes out adjacent stations and the atmospheric inversions to FM and skywave to AM eliminate the interest both legally and technically, these blindsiders can then purchase either XM or Sirius or both and will have the horsepower to move this commercial free trend right up where it belongs.
I have written emails or called various CEOs and the related staffers over the past 12 months for clarification on HD problems. Out of 25-30 emails, 4 responded back with generic and convoluted patent answers ignoring the basis of the questions in the first place. One CEO seemed concerned, but used the NAB as his security blanket. You have the proof from the recent questions about coverage posed to several technical folks on their HD experiences. My AM boss, who has worked his butt off to make his group a success says the train has left the station. My FM group tells me we need to go digital to return the interference from our first adjacent friends who have refused to turn off the digital generator, killing us in the target city. Not worried am I. The train that left the station is headed the wrong direction and the jamming idea matches our new jamming oldies format. I just really wonder at what point this whole parade is going to bump into Howard Stern when folks find out that trash unrestricted and out of control has been available at the adult shops for 50 years to about 15 percent of the population-about the same shares of public radio and triple xxx. Prior to this generation without parents and a friend on the radio, commercial content drove the biz. We actually learned from paid material where to shop and for what. One CEO asked me what my qualifications were. I said, "I'll show you mine if you will show me yours". That statement might well answer the concerns for anyone reading this. For just as St. Paul stated in his Corinthian letters, "now we see through a glass darkly. But then will I know even as I am known". The light is starting to shine of shallow thinking and generic rhetoric. And all the while, sparse programming ideas and sales tools are left to grow the current markets while the harvesters are busy selling chips and salsa.
Jerry
jerry@jerrysmith.net
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