HD radio: If a Tree Fell and No One Hears It ...

By Marc Fisher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 10, 2008; Page M05

Chasing an audience that has migrated to iPods, Internet radio, pay satellite services and the burgeoning world of cellphone music, the AM and FM radio industry has spent the past couple of years beckoning listeners to discover the "secret stations" of HD radio.

But what is the secret? If you were to shell out somewhere between $80 and $300 for a new radio capable of receiving the digital signals that have added about 1,600 stations across the country, what would you hear?

I spent the better part of a week listening to the HD offerings on Washington stations, and came away impressed by the commitment two stations have made to the new technology but underwhelmed by the great majority of what's on HD
More on this story from The Washington Post at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/08/AR2008020801035.html

Photo: HD Radio 2/Gadgetell

HD Radio - 'Slowly But Surely'

Leslie Stimson is the News Editor and Washington Bureau Chief for Radio World.

It’s good to see more receiver makers debuting their first HD Radio products; and I was heartened to learn about the 50 or so HD-R-related products on the show floor, compared to around 20 new items last year.

Broadcast engineers tell me they see steady progress; I heard the phrase “slowly but surely,” more than once.

But it’s hard to gauge how far receiver makers will take the technology. Some are excited; but others feel the rollout is slower than expected. It’s notable that one, Boston Acoustics, doesn’t have a follow-on to its Recepter HD, the first IBOC tabletop.

We’ll have to see what other big automakers do now that Ford has committed to upgrading its HD-R support, from a dealer-installed option to standard (or a factory-installed option in some cases) in calendar 2009.
(Source: RWOnline)