Video on audio only TV channels
Sept 22, 2019 0:32:31 GMT -7
Post by CAwasinNJ on Sept 22, 2019 0:32:31 GMT -7
This is something I've actually been wondering about for a really long time. When a TV station broadcasts what appears to be an audio only channel there is actually a video component being sent as well. We don't notice it because it's usually just a black screen. The funny part is, the blank video actually takes up more bandwidth than the audio. I've wondered why nobody was taking advantage of otherwise wasted bandwidth. It looks like someone is (finally) actually taking a stab at it. If you have an OTA receiver you can see it on Ch 25.3, which is a simulcast of KSVN 730AM and its 99.9FM translator. (To spite what they claim, there is no such thing as KSVN-FM. It's K260DC, but I digress.) Here is a still of it, though it doesn't really give the full effect.
It's pretty amateurish, but at least they're doing something.
Cable companies back in the 80's and 90's were already tackling this issue but in reverse. At the company I used to work for we created what we called the "Community Bulletin Board" for off-air times on one community access channel and sold advertising billboards on another. It was very popular and this was 25 years ago. Example below:
There were dozens of non-profit announcements like that running every week. Why couldn't 9.91, 11.2, 11.3 and 25.3 do something similar? The cost is minimal. The PR upside could be big. There's even a nice upside for getting people with PPMs to "listen" while they're watching the announcements. I think this would be especially helpful for the 11.3/Classical89 channel by putting the name of the piece being played on screen. All of this is the exact kind of thing that radio stations are trying to get into car dashboards with IBOC data streams and before that RDS. The opportunity is staring them right in the face. Take advantage of it.
It's pretty amateurish, but at least they're doing something.
Cable companies back in the 80's and 90's were already tackling this issue but in reverse. At the company I used to work for we created what we called the "Community Bulletin Board" for off-air times on one community access channel and sold advertising billboards on another. It was very popular and this was 25 years ago. Example below:
There were dozens of non-profit announcements like that running every week. Why couldn't 9.91, 11.2, 11.3 and 25.3 do something similar? The cost is minimal. The PR upside could be big. There's even a nice upside for getting people with PPMs to "listen" while they're watching the announcements. I think this would be especially helpful for the 11.3/Classical89 channel by putting the name of the piece being played on screen. All of this is the exact kind of thing that radio stations are trying to get into car dashboards with IBOC data streams and before that RDS. The opportunity is staring them right in the face. Take advantage of it.
