![]() Some companies – and stations – committed to HD-2s. Great radio drove consumer demand for and sales of “FM converters,” and ultimately, automakers included the FM band as standard alongside AM radio in every car that rolled off the assembly lines.īut there were efforts made on the content side. When you think back to the growth of FM radio in the '70s, it was largely driven by adventuresome programming heard on rock stations, as well as quality audio exemplified by classical and “beautiful music” stations. Ultimately, new and highly desirable content drives new technologies like HD Radio. Suffice it to say, there were too many issues, too many opinions, and not enough resources behind the technology to make it part of the audio mainstream. Some argued for numbered channels others liked the idea of the master station owning the brand (WDRV HD-2). Some hated the name “HD Radio.” There were disagreements about how HD-2s were listed and promoted. Everything else gets ignored.īroadcasters themselves couldn't agree on what worked – and what didn't. You sell what you're commissioned on – period. More often than not, neither were salespeople. Of course, PDs were not incentivized on their HD-2 channels. And broadcasters began to get discouraged by their lack of market penetration. While many stations jumped on board to give HD Radios away, sales of these units flagged. (I still have one of those old Boston Acoustics models on my nightstand, and still see them in radio station offices to this day.)īut that plan proved to be problematic. – initially had a strategy to try to sell these radios to consumers – a piece of gear like a TV or stereo system. iBiquity – the company that launched HD Radio in the U.S. At the time, there were relatively few HD Radios in circulation. The other fail with this initial foray into firing up new channels was that most radio companies took a wait-and-see posture on programming, staffing, and marketing them. Because anything that might have had a hint of being innovative, clever, and disruptive ended up getting quashed, most of the new HD entrants were either variations on the tried-and-true themes or were predictably unimpactful. Of course, the unintended consequence of the draft was programming blandness. If you were the top-rated Soft AC, you'd be able to pre-empt someone else choosing a similarly programed HD-2 newcomer. It effectively protected the most successful stations in the market. So, the #1 station in town got to make their pick first, with discussions from the group following each choice over a very crowded conference call. I don't remember all the particulars and rules, but I do recall that draft order was dictated by the most recent ratings books descending 12+ shares. I was able to surreptitiously sit in one of these HD Radio market drafts, and I was able to witness the process. And the powers-that-be, not excited about self-inflicted wounds, came up with a novel solution: a “draft” in most markets where companies would be able to declare each of their station's HD-2 formats, with the group having veto power over any option that appeared to be threatening. Webinar: Techsurvey 2023 Results How are radio listeners using new technologies? See the results of the industry's largest online survey! But in the process, incumbent stations could be eroded and even mortally wounded by an HD-2 station programming something more niche. Radio companies could innovate exciting new formats that could match anything Sirius or XM were programming. Many at the time dreamed of a new broadcast model with perhaps twice as many formats as before. HD Radio became the solution – a way for broadcast radio's tightly programmed formats to have “hidden channels” that could be used to counter just about anything. Unfortunately, little to none of it was coming radio's way. Suffice it to say, it was a period when there was lots of buzz. And in the same year, a newcomer called Spotify debuted. To say it was a shot across the bow was an understatement.Īdd to that, Pandora was generating lots of excitement on the streaming front as more and more consumers discovered its music genome, a sort of algorithm that melded your music taste in a unique way. Satellite radio was beginning its assault, adding Howard Stern to the Sirius lineup. ![]() Back in 2006, broadcast radio was beginning to feel some real competitive heat from outside the industry. The history on HD Radio is…well, checkered. The story was covered by a number of industry trades, including Inside Radio's “As HD Radio Turns 15, Industry Looks Back – And Ahead.” An industry milestone occurred earlier this week when HD Radio celebrated its 15th birthday – a “glass half empty / glass half full” technology loaded with promise that has either been a major disappointment or a technical breakthrough for the radio broadcasting industry – depending on how you look at it.
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