Hd Radio - Good And Bad News For Listeners

HD Radio - Good And Bad News For Listeners

Summary: If youre not familiar with HD Radio, its the hot digital technology thats being pushed by radio broadcasters as the next big thing and the savior of terrestrial radio.

The Good

First, the good news. HD Radio does sound better than regular radio. In fact, HD AM sounds almost as good as FM radio, and FM sounds almost as bright, clear and interference free as if you were listening to a CD. And because HD is digital, broadcasters can squeeze more signals into the same fr...

Article Body: If youre not familiar with HD Radio, its the hot digital technology thats being pushed by radio broadcasters as the next big thing and the savior of terrestrial radio.

The Good

First, the good news. HD Radio does sound better than regular radio. In fact, HD AM sounds almost as good as FM radio, and FM sounds almost as bright, clear and interference free as if you were listening to a CD. And because HD is digital, broadcasters can squeeze more signals into the same frequency. This allows them to broadcast different programs on what theyre calling HD channels. For example, an oldies station could program contemporary C&W on its normal frequency, and old-time C&W on its HD channel.

More good news is that fact that, depending on who you believe, there are now either , to, stations in the U.S. that are broadcasting HD Radio.

The difference? Its that he HD Radio Alliance claims there are , HD stations, but the FCC has only , licenses on file.

The bad news

While HD Radio may sound great and while there at least , stations broadcasting HD Radio, you cant hear them. That is, not unless you purchase an HD radio. And HD radios tend to be expensive. There is only one, inexpensive, entry-level tabletop available, the Radiosophy HD at $.. The next step up is RadioShacks Accurian HD Radio, which usually sells for about $ and a Sony unit at $.. Beyond that, there is the Sangean HDR- with a manufacturers suggested retail of $, and then its pretty much into the stratosphere of $-plus.

Want HD radio in your car? The situation there is even worse. There are very few HD car radios available and most of them are only tuners and must be connected to your existing factory radio an ugly solution at best.

The ugliest part of th HD channels is that the programming at least so far is hardly good enough or creative enough to warrant buying a HD radio.

What makes it ugly is that the broadcaster could be using HD channels to do something really exciting as broadcasters have in Great Britain, where digital radio has just skyrocketed. Unfortunately, here in the U.S., most broadcasters have chosen to use their HD channels as just variations on a theme, or variations of their regular programming (see rock station example, above).

So, whats the future of HD Radio? At this point, it doesnt seem great, especially when you compare it to satellite and Internet radio. But as they used to say, stay tuned for more because it could get brighter.