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Post by CAwasinNJ on Sept 1, 2023 3:26:50 GMT -6
Curiously, B98.7 has their digital on again, but no subchannels. None of the other Cumulus stations do at the moment. I'm wondering why. Is there a demand for it? It's true that Labor Day weekend is traditionally one of those times of the year that stations change formats, but flipping the main 98.7 signal seems crazy. Adding an HD2 is possible, but without a translator does it make sense today? Maybe as a pet project. I don't think it's a bad idea to try thinking more outside the box than the big conglomerates usually do.
I guess we'll have to watch and see if anything happens between now and Monday or whenever. I don't think the odds are good, but you never know.
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Post by kenglish on Sept 2, 2023 9:11:00 GMT -6
Maybe just going on for the weekend, for a parade or fireworks show?
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Post by kenglish on Sept 2, 2023 12:20:57 GMT -6
Looks like they have the analog and the HD1 carrying B98.7 audio, and I heard an ID that indicated "B98.7 FM and HD-1".
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Sept 2, 2023 22:54:59 GMT -6
The analog and HD1 must be the same by rule, so that's no surprise.
Do you mean that a parade or fireworks would use the digital HD1 in some way or do you mean an HD2 might be turned on for a limited time? I'm not seeing the advantage of either. I can't think of an advantage an HD1 would have over the analog signal. A separate parade/fireworks feed on an HD2 for a few hours is possible but doesn't seem practical. Only about 25-30% of listeners have an HD radio at all and I'd be shocked if more than a handful of those are anywhere other than in cars, which isn't going to be much help.
Maybe they just figured "it's better so why not."
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Post by christopherjohn on Sept 3, 2023 3:31:39 GMT -6
60-70% percent of new cars are equipped with HD radios. They are coming more common place. Trust me I know. As for 98.7 HD being off for a bit. I think they had an audio processor failure. Most likely the backup didn’t have an HD output so they shut it off until they got it repaired. With no HD2, it’s a pretty easy thing to do.
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Post by christopherjohn on Sept 3, 2023 3:36:19 GMT -6
Some stations have leased a digital side channel for a firework sync, etc. No splitting of HD1 from analog would ever work. As for HD radio. It has tons of benefits. Artist experience. Meta data galore, plus it feeds traffic and weather info to the dashboard. Requires no cell connectivity. The analog and HD1 must be the same by rule, so that's no surprise. Do you mean that a parade or fireworks would use the digital HD1 in some way or do you mean an HD2 might be turned on for a limited time? I'm not seeing the advantage of either. I can't think of an advantage an HD1 would have over the analog signal. A separate parade/fireworks feed on an HD2 for a few hours is possible but doesn't seem practical. Only about 25-30% of listeners have an HD radio at all and I'd be shocked if more than a handful of those are anywhere other than in cars, which isn't going to be much help. Maybe they just figured "it's better so why not." |
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Sept 3, 2023 21:10:45 GMT -6
They are becoming more common, I agree. What's important as far as why the HD was turned on now is the use case today and whether the idea that it might be for a fireworks show or parade is feasible. I don't think it is. In a hypothetical world 10 years from now where more than half the population has HD radio in their cell phones it would be a completely different story.
As far as I can remember the 98.7 HD has been off since before I got a HD radio over a year ago, so I think it would be independent of any recent processing failure. Adding the additional "experiences" is a very good point I hadn't considered. I know iHeart does a lot with those and I can see references to it in the data stream. Does anyone have a recommendation for Windows software that would be good at accessing that data from an SDR?
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