It was time for a new vehicle last summer. Being a frugal Yankee, I lean toward well reviewed but value-oriented cars. But being a techie I tend to upgrade those with some shiny options. It turns out one of those options this time around was HD Radio.
I wasn't surprised, given the dismal results of the HD Radio marketing campaign, that I had to teach the sales rep what it was and that it wasn't satellite. On this radio, HD is a global on/off setting i.e. you can't enable a couple of HD2 channels but disable HD1 switch-over on others.
Having had the family in the car now enough times, I made the decision to turn it off. I live about 30 miles from most of the Boston market's FM transmitters in Needham MA. It was result of two conversations. The first from my teenage son:
Him: Dad, why does the sound of the music keep changing?
Me; It's called HD radio. It's switching from old fashioned radio to digital. But the station set their sound processing so different on each side that it sounds like a different song whenever it switches..
Him: Can you make it stop?
The second was with my teenage daughter, listening to the local NPR affiliate:
Her: Why does the guy keep stuttering?
Me: It's called HD Radio. It's switching from analog to digital. But the station hasn't aligned the two signals in time correctly.
Her: Can you make it stop?
At no time was any advantage to HD noticed by any of my family. And HD2 channels are unlistenable in the suburbs. So I made it stop today.
Similar sentiments were written recently in an article in RadioWorld. HD Radio will never catch on if nobody (especially salespeople) understands what it is and at least how to tune it in. Most salespeople who sell HD radios don't even know how to switch to HD2's on the decks they sell. We found that out recently at Car Toys looking for decks. Try to find an in-dash receiver that has both HD reception AND RDS reception. Needle in a haystack. However, we as broadcasters push incessantly to make sure these two services are present and in operational priority. It feels an awful lot for naught when such a small percentage of listeners can even decode the intelligence beyond the audio. Feeling your pain and confusion.
ReplyDeleteVery good analysis.
ReplyDeletethe same reason that at the time was not the SUB CARRIER development in the FM Analog !.