[IRCA] IBOC receiver article in NYT today

["Bob Foxworth" <rfoxwor1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Today's (28 July) NY Times has a largish (2/3 of a page)
article about IBOC/HD radios. It is in the Circuits column,
page C-11 by Glenn Fleishman, for whom no contact
info is provided. Five receivers are illustrated (1) the I-Sonic
from Polk Audio, a large tabletop w/built-in speakers,
(2) Radiosophy, with small tuner and dock in a speaker
cabinet, (3) Kenwood, "40 models compatible, with an
adapter" and the unit shown looks like a black-box with jacks,
to connect to a remote control head, (4) Yamaha RX-V4600,
styled like the classic tuners from 2 decades ago but sleeker,
(5) Boston Acoustics Receptor in a small tabletop style.

Some snippets from the article: Acknowledges the current
scarcity of receivers. Acknowledges the millions of subscribers
to satellite. 2k of the 12k terrestrial stations are committed
to adding terrestrial digital (i.e. HD). HD as a term does not
stand for anything, including High Definition, according to
iBiquity (which they did spell correctly, the B in Caps, the i not).

Quoted is Dan Benjamin, an Oyster Bay NY analyst (for
what?) at ABI Research, saying only a "few tens of
thousands" of rcvrs for cars have been sold in 18 months.

In a test run by NPR from WNYC-FM, a 57 watt xmtr on
the Empire State Bldg " reached almost all of WNYC's
coverage area" acc. to Mike Starling, NPR VP of Eng.

There is fairly good tech detail oriented to the non tech
reader, mentioning motor noise, multipath etc, spectrum
width, secondary channels.

NPR is currently offering five full-time music streams
to stations wishing to run secondary channels and
300 hours/week of pgmg is available. KUOW-FM
is running KUOW2 featuring re-runs of network prgms
with a dedicated host, as a secondary.

Clear Channel is committed to taking 95% of its stns
in the Top 100 markets digital within 3 years. Data
streams are one of the design goals. Robert Struble
of iBiquity is quoted as saying a goal is to have text
of adverts scroll as the ad is played. A future goal is
a "buy now" uplink button for songs. Targeted prgmg is
possible (set-addressable) for fee-based pgmg. This
could let the listener "buy out" of fund-raising pitches
during Pledge Week.

Kenwood has 40 car models available that are compatible
with a HD adapter costing $399. Other makers "have a
few products released but a flood is in the pipeline"
(Say, did he read my posting here of last week when I
used almost the same words??)  Visteon could offer
a HD car option in 2006. Yamaha's home entertainment
"centerpiece"  RX-V4600 costs $1,900. A test in Seattle
was "breathtaking" but tuning secondary channels
was "awkward", requiring use of a remote controller.

The Radiosophy 2-piece docking system will be $259 by
direct sale, to ship in Sept. The Boston Acoustics "Receptor"
is $499, in late August, is a clock radio and has multiple
signal jacks. The Polk I-Sonic all-in-one entertainment
center also plays CD/DVD, handles XM and is $599
via a plug-in module. Shipping delayed till "late in the
year".

Struble says the "most optimistic" date for analog
shutdown is 12 years distant from now, though he
believes that is "unlikely".  There are now listeners,
however few, according to the reporter, who quotes
WOR's Tom Ray as having eight calls the last time
WOR had to suspend xmtg IBOC.

The reporter did not mention any technical issues that
are being debated about use of IBOC on AM, and the
piece seems favorable to the proponents of IBOC and
I would have to think that the quotes imply that the
interview contacts were provided to the reporter, who
did not, or could not locate any one with a contrasting
viewpoint. That's MHO of course. But as I said I thought
he did a pretty good job of addressing some of the tech
issues that a non-tech listener might care about.

So there you have it.  Floodgates, indeed.  The times,
they be a'changin'. But some of us are hanging on
for the $49.95 Blue Light Special.

- Bob                                               2005-07-28  2315 edt





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