Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] 1010 WINS TO SIGN OFF TONIGHT

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Neil Kazaross wrote:
> This is not a flame, but please allow me to ask, and you answer from a broadcaster's perspective !
> 
> What is the point of HD on AM news talk stations that don't play any music ?

If Paul won't take this one on, I'm fool enough to try.

Keep in mind that even though we all know that analog radio, if not 
bandwidth-constrained, can sound extremely good on a properly-designed 
receiver under optimum signal conditions, most broadcasters have long 
since become accustomed to the cruddy, muffled sound that's typical of 
the AM section of most contemporary radios.

If you believe that that's what analog AM sounds like (and for the 
majority of listeners these days, that IS what analog AM sounds like), 
the improved frequency response and low (nonexistent, actually) noise 
floor of AM HD seems like an attractive prospect, especially for AM 
news-talkers competing against the growing number of FM stations finding 
success with news-talk formats (Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, 
just to name a few big examples.)

I've spent some time listening to New York's WOR in HD, and a little 
time listening to my local WHAM in HD (can't stand most of the 
programming there, so I don't spend a lot of time with it!), and there's 
something to be said for hearing the music bumpers and such in stereo 
and with more than 5 kHz frequency response.

Unfortunately, at least to my ears, the reality doesn't live up to the 
hype where AM HD is concerned - at least not yet. The limited bitrate 
available for the AM HD signal (24 kbps) leads to annoying artifacting 
on all but the very best-processed stations (KFAB in Omaha is probably 
the best-sounding HD AM news-talker I've heard so far, in part because 
they roll off the digital audio at about 12 kHz to give the codec an 
easier job), and of course we all know about the adjacent-channel 
interference issues and the nighttime skywave issues.

There's also the issue of very limited usable range for the digital 
signal at current power levels. When we had our weekend get-together out 
at Jim Renfrew's place in Clarendon last weekend, I could hear just one 
HD AM signal, WLGZ 990 at about 8 miles distant, and even that one not 
very well. WHAM 1180, with 50 kW at perhaps 18 miles, decoded for only a 
few seconds, and WHTK 1280 (5 kW ND at 23 miles or so) not at all.

That's not the story broadcasters were sold in the early years of HD, 
and many of the AM stations that adopted the system did so with hopes of 
a much better system than it's turned out to be.

In this particular case (1010 WINS), I really wonder what they'll 
accomplish. WINS already suffers from some painfully tight DA nulls - 
it's all but inaudible for big chunks of my usual NYC commute, from my 
cousin's house in Montebello, Rockland County (less than 25 miles from 
the 50 kW transmitter) down the Thruway and the Palisades to the George 
Washington Bridge. I don't have HD in my car yet, but it's hard to 
imagine that an HD signal on 1010 would be very useful during that 
drive, either. The audio from WINS is already carried as an HD2 on 
sister station WWFS 102.7, which can be clearly heard in many of the 
areas of New Jersey and upstate NY that 1010 doesn't reach well.

s
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