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View Full Version : HD Radio Numbers and Revenue Reach New High. Mentions KYGO HD-2 (Comedy 103.1 FM) Denver.



Colorado Media Newsroom
September 10th, 2014, 04:20 PM
From Radio Online:

526

iBiquity Digital, the developer of HD Radio, has announced continued growth in HD Radio outlets, listening and broadcast revenue, and shared new research showing broad consumer satisfaction with HD Radio broadcasts. The last five years have shown solid growth for stations upgrading to HD Radio broadcasts and launching HD2, HD3 and HD4 channels. Over 2,250 stations have upgraded to HD Radio and close to 2,100 currently are on the air.

There are more than 1,500 HD2, HD3, and HD4 channels on air, giving consumers a choice of new, diverse programming. In total, there are 3,575 digital channels in the U.S. There are nearly 23 million HD Radio receivers in use with close to 20 million in HD Radio equipped vehicles, factory installed and aftermarket. A vehicle with an HD Radio receiver is sold every 4 seconds, some 20,000 vehicles per day.

Over 650 stations are now supporting HD Radio Artist Experience on over 1,100 digital broadcasts. This feature enables stations to display synchronized images such as artist images, station logos and advertiser logos with the on-air programming. Artist Experience is now widely available in new vehicles and 15 automakers including, Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, and VW support the feature with more on the way.

iBiquity Digital also says that radio stations are seeing significant returns on their HD Radio investments. Stations and program creators are using HD2 and HD3 channels to deliver new services such as foreign-language broadcasts. One example, DaNu Radio, a Russian-language program service, reaches a substantial New York City audience via their lease of Clear Channel's WWPR-HD2. This lease generates new revenue for the station and has given DaNu a digital platform to reach their audience and service their advertisers.

In Denver, KYGO-HD2 has been programming Comedy and rebroadcasting their digital signal on an analog translator as well, enabling Lincoln Financial to monetize their strong rating performance while building their digital future.

In Decatur, IL, Cromwell Broadcasting's WYDS-HD2 garners a higher share then its main channel by employing targeted programming as well as an analog translator simulcast. By delivering a format missing in the market, they used their HD2 channel to corner the market for the format while delivering audience for the advertiser and revenue for the station.

Research recently completed by the RDA Group, an automotive consumer research firm, shows growing HD Radio Awareness, satisfaction and advocacy. A survey of 1,022 new car buyers, including 500 HD Radio users revealed:

HD Radio Awareness is Growing: 71% of consumer are aware of HD Radio Technology, up from 60% in 2012.
HD Radio Satisfaction is High Among Users: 91% of HD Radio users are 'completely' or 'very' satisfied.
There is Broad Satisfaction with HD Radio Services: 92% of users are 'completely' or 'very' satisfied with the digital audio quality, 89% with program info (song title, artist and album display), 86% with the service being free, 82% with HD2, HD3, and HD4 channels, 74% with artist experience (album art and station logos), and 72% with real time traffic updates. All of these numbers represent increases over the 2012 data.
There is Strong Advocacy among HD Radio Users: 97% of HD Radio Technology users would 'definitely' or 'probably' recommend HD Radio technology to their friends and relatives.
Consumers Want HD Radio Receivers in their Cars: 91% of all consumers 'definitely' or 'probably' want an HD Radio receiver in their next vehicle; 80% expect it to be a standard feature.

more (http://news.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n29678)

radiodude
September 11th, 2014, 06:31 PM
Impressive indeed! All the way up to HD4? Dang, but who is listening? Seriously, who can pick up these HD channels? And how much strength are these stations pipping out for those HD channels? Can they be heard in other towns or cities? Plus why isn't there any HD radios in stores yet? I would figure they would want to get HD has popular as FM is? So why isn't there any HD radios still not in stores?
First things first, they need to get HD radios into stores, I would get one quickly if they were more widely available.

Rob
September 11th, 2014, 08:00 PM
I have HD radios at home and in the car. I am a techie so I got them to try it out, plus it helps me update our radio dial.

But it was a struggle to even find a decent HD radio. Especially in a local store. Most of the under $100 home HD tuners have been discontinued. And to even get an HD radio, it seems you have to pay A LOT more than a regular tuner.
So they really need to get the prices down (which should've happened by now since HD has been around for many years) and also get them in local stores.

But honestly, the audio quality isn't there - especially when stations are pushing more than one or two HD channels.
And you need to receive a very strong signal, or else the HD channels will totally cut out which is a big problem trying to use it in the car.

It seems some stations use a separate audio processor or different audio settings that don't match their analog signal. Some sound a little better, but most do not sound as good as their analog signal. I can hear compression artifacts in most of them - the same as a mp3 file that wasn't compressed using a high enough bitrate.

So iBiquity's codec seems to suck or these stations just aren't setting it up correctly. They need to make sure that each channel can achieve the same quality as an mp3 file at at least 128k. I'm not sure if their system can do that though. I probably should see if their specs are out there on the net somewhere.

It seems in the few years I've had HD receivers, the number of stations in Denver that broadcast in HD has actually gone down.

KOA KKZN, KRWZ and KJMN have shut theirs totally off. KWOF and KIMN have gone down to just broadcasting an HD-1 and got rid of their HD-2 and HD-3 channels.

But it seems if a station can get a FM translator, then having an HD channel to feed it is awesome for a company since they can create a new station - just like Comedy 103.1 FM.

radiodude
September 15th, 2014, 02:20 PM
Wow, so HD is dying here, and I also noticed up here in Northern Colorado, that Clear Channel turned off KIIX on KYBG side as well. So now KIIX isn't on their side channel. Which is interesting, since I thought
there was no more room for any new frequencies in the Denver market area? Oh well online listening is the new thing theses days.