Re: [IRCA] Critical flaw in HD sub-channels?

[Rich Wood <richwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

At 07:45 AM 10/13/2006, Dan Strassberg wrote:

>Someone on another list to which I subscribe commented on his experience
>with an HD car radio that he had just purchased as a replacement for a car
>radio that had died. He was asking about the lack of sensitivity on FM in
>the digital mode. I gather that, on the main HD channel, the mode flipped to
>analog in areas where the analog signal was still quite strong, so that if
>he considered the reception range to extend to where the analog signal was
>no longer listenable, the sensitivity was about what he expected. Although
>he wasn't especially happy about the mode flipping back and forth, he had no
>complaints about the radio's overall sensitivity on the main HD channels.

That was my experience with the Kenwood tuner. Its analog reception 
was exceptional. In mountainous New England mode switching occurred 
at points where signal levels dropped for short periods. HD-2s went 
silent. In areas of RT 91 between Hartford and Springfield the 
digital signal fell short by about 10 miles when the analog signal 
was still listenable. On the Mass Turnpike from Boston to Springfield 
the digital signal fell short. Both roads are on fairly flat terrain. 
Driving in Western MA in the Berkshires was a bust. I even had 
problems with Albany's WAMC with it's transmitter site in MA on Mt. 
Greylock. In Easthampton, MA, I get a reliable analog signal at about 
90 miles from WAMC. Mode switching was terribly annoying on those 
stations that processed analog and digital separately. It was more a 
change in the density of processing rather than an increase in 
fidelity that should have appeared without the preemphasis curve. It 
seemed to me that stations were trying to keep the analog and digital 
sounding similar so mode switching wouldn't be so obvious.

>BUT on the HD subchannels (mostly, if not entirely, HD-2), the flip was, of
>course, to just silence. In other words, the HD subchannels had very limited
>range--such limited range that their viability in a car would seem to be
>very much in question. When I read his posting, my immediate reaction was
>"Of course; why didn't everybody foresee this fatal flaw?"

Secondary channels, I'm told, are often compressed in order to keep 
the bit rate on the main relatively high. In those cases, the 
secondaries will always be second banana to the main. I know of a 
station running Classical music on the secondary. The split is 64/32. 
I listened to it on a $2000 Yamaha receiver with high end speakers in 
a quiet sound room and the artifacts were very obvious. I suspect the 
manufacturer's promotional offering of the Sangean component unit 
will exhibit the same problem with high end systems in a quiet home 
environment. In car listening is forgiving because of the high 
ambient noise level. In Spring, Summer and Fall satellite radio has a 
serious (no pun) problem with dropouts in areas of New England (and I 
suspect in the Pacific Northwest) where trees overhang the road. 
Satellite listeners are used to long periods of silence in those 
areas. HD-2 will exhibit this problem most everywhere where the 
signal drops below a certain level.

>Most radio listening, I'm told, is done in cars. If the HD subchannels are
>usable only in areas of very high signal strength, hardly anybody will
>listen to them in cars, which means that Rich's scenario about a glut of
>spot inventory depressing ad rates nationwide will never come to pass. It
>would seem that availabilities on signals that hardly anybody finds
>listenable are not availabilities at all. Moroever, if the HD Dominion is
>pinning its hopes on the availability of signals that are largely
>unlistenable, isn't the Dominion pinning its hopes in the wrong place?

Friends who specialize in ratings analysis dispute the importance of 
in-car drive time listening. In most markets, even New York, the 
commute is relatively short, probably 30-40 minutes at the most. 
That's two, may three, average quarter hours in the car. I believe 
morning drive is important because it's when listeners tune in to 
make sure the world is still in one piece. In home and in office 
listening is long term. In homes where TV morning shows aren't a 
factor you can include the period between the clock radio going on 
and the length of the drive to work. Numbers are most likely better 
in morning drive because that's where stations run what they consider 
their best programming. The Arbitron PeopleMeter, I believe, will 
show this to be true.

I still believe the glut of inventory will be a problem. Several time 
buying service executives have supported that. Most broadcast trade 
magazines have interviewed several high level buyers and they say 
there's no additional budget. If they buy secondaries it'll come out 
of existing budgets and the law of supply and demand will reduce the 
price. It's been a problem for markets where Docket 80-90 dumped 
additional stations where there was no increase in advertiser's budgets.

As long as the hybrid system is in use (in perpetuity, I believe) you 
can consider the secondaries as little brother. Maybe the equivalent 
of an FM Class A riding on the coattails of a Class B or C. It'll 
cover the metro but fall short in the TSA. Similar, but not as bad, 
will be the HD-1 coverage compared with the analog.

As I've said before, the marketing of IBUZ is being done by the 
Keystone Kops. Most markets now have many IBUZ stations but a 
pitifully small number of receivers. The receivers that are available 
aren't the kind most people use and most retailers don't know what 
the system is. Others are waiting until "The Buzz of HD Radio" 
reaches them. So far, it appears to be buzzing in the IBUZ stations, 
on the HD Dominion's web site and in Ogilvy's puffy deceptive press 
releases (Seedy quality for FM and FM quality for AM).

As good as I thought WBZ-HD sounded, it wasn't nearly as good as a 
well processed analog FM. For AM, until 24/7 operation is permitted, 
the analogy of TV going to black and white at night is appropriate.

Rich 

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