Fond memories, albeit dated, stale, putrid and ludicrous.

“Twas 1969, and high school political discussions were leavened with discussions of what we’d heard the night previous, on Radio Tirana and Radio Moscow. That was ‘nationalized’ radio, wasn’t it?

Isn’t that the problem with HD? During the 90s, some actually bought the blather circulated by old 60’s ghouls that the old Soviet Command Economy would work in the free world. Yeah, it works. Briefly.

Of course, we’d ‘go digital’, and smilingly, too. We’d gleefully discard billions of our radios worth trillions of dollars, rush right out and squander good money on HD stooge radios. And for something as silly as ‘hearing Hannity sock it to ‘em’ in ‘crystal clear HD’. Sure, we’re all suckers.

Go ahead. Nationalize HD. The HD gang crows of HD sales breakthroughs from one corner of its snout while pitifully whining stale 90s Victim Hymns at the FCC, in hope of misusing the force of law to cram something down consumers’ throats from which they long ago walked.

Stop it already.

HD Jams. Consumers know it. “Get over it”, to use one of the HD gang’s ever so tactful sales pitches.

Dr. Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
03 February, 2008

Any successful product, that consumers actually want such as iPods, do not have to be promoted for three years costing hundreds-of-millions (in unsold air-time). The HD Radio industry is waisting its time trying to “force” interest onto consumers.

“For what it’s worth, the digital radio tier in the UK has made inroads in part by taking local stations national, and by building new national brands. Not everything done in the UK has been perfect, but it is something we should be modeling ourselves on more.”

Digital radio in the UK, Germany, and Canada are a bust:

“Germany flicks off-switch on DAB”

“Part of the problem is that analogue FM never went away and most people didn’t seem to care for the clear digital-quality sound, and were left nonplussed by such benefits as easy tuning and message displays with song names and titles. DAB is struggling almost everywhere in Europe.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/28/germany_switches_dab_off/

“Report: Future Of U.K. Digital Radio May Be Bleak”

“LONDON — January 30, 2008: A report from Enders Analysis found that digital audio broadcasting, or DAB, is in trouble due to the high cost of transmission and slow revenue growth, U.K. newspaper the Guardian reports.”

http://www.radioink.com/HeadlineEntry.asp?hid=140877&pt=todaysnews

“Digital Radio in Canada”

“The Commission is very concerned about the stalled DRB transition. Roughly 15 of the 76 authorized stations (including the digital-only operation in Toronto) are not on the air. Some stations that once operated have since ceased operations. Few recievers have been sold, and there is no interest in expanding DRB service beyond the six cities where it exists.”

http://americanbandscan.blogspot.com/2006/12/digital-radio-in-canada.html

“DAB Struggling to be Heard”

http://hdradiofarce.blogspot.com/2007/12/digital-radio-struggling-to-be-heard.html

Consumers are not interested in erecting external antennas to pick up the bland, fragile HD channels:

“Is HD Radio Toast?”

“There are serious issues of coverage. Early adopters who bought HD radios report serious drop-outs, poor coverage, and interference. The engineers of Ibiquity may argue otherwise and defend the system, but the industry has a serious PR problem with the very people we need to get the word out on HD… In other words, everything you can find on the regular FM dial… The word has already gotten out about HD Radio. People who have already bought an HD Radio are telling others of their experience (mostly bad) and no amount of marketing will reverse this.”

http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=487772

Consumers will not digress back to the 1960s.

HD/IBOC jams on both AM/FM, as apathy is turning into anitpathy