America Wins With Trade – HD Radio in Maryland
July 23, 2008 |
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By Jason Oxman
Wednesday afternoon on the “America Wins With Trade” tour brought us to the Maryland headquarters of iBiquity Digital, where President and CEO Bob Struble welcomed the trade bus and CEA, together with a large group of iBiquity employees. The consumer electronics industry employs nearly 300,000 people in Maryland thanks to free trade, and iBiquity’s employees were treated to a business update from their leader regarding the importance of trade to the future of the business.
Why is free trade important to iBiquity? HD Radio technology is increasingly being adopted by broadcasters around the world (30 radio stations in Brazil are already broadcasting in HD Radio, for example). This creates a huge market opportunity for iBiquity to license devices for use by consumers around the world. With free trade, HD Radio can really cover the globe.
And then I got a special treat after three days on the bus: my five year old son, Jonah, joined me for the ride from Maryland into DC, where we are hosting a special reception tonight in advance of our rally on Capitol Hill tomorrow. Jonah loved the bus and had a nice chat with Arthur, our driver, about the capabilities of all the great equipment on board.
The staff of iBiquity enjoys the trade bus at company headquarters in Columbia, Maryland
Jonah, 5, enjoys the interior of the CEA trade bus.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 11:38 pm
HD Radio has now failed to force its way into Satrad receivers. HD Radio is jamming our airways, and suffers from poor coverage, dropouts, interference, bland programming, and zero consumer interest:
http://hdradiofarce.blogspot.com
HD Radio is a scam! Say “hi” to that scam-artist Struble!
July 24th, 2008 at 6:33 am
A few Brazilian radio stations do not constitute worldwide embrace. Germany recently scuttled digital as did Australia. UK persists, despite rampant listener apathy. Why the relentless pressure for something no one wants?
Do you know that HD stands not for ‘high definition’ but ?rather ‘hybrid digital’? Do you realize BigRadio intentionally slopped digital signals onto AM & FM analog to jam competing stations off the air and make you buy costly unnecessary balky HD stooge radios? Do listeners and aspiring broadcasters realize HD’s broadband jamming, blocks licensing new stations?
What’s in it for HD? Loss. Loss of freedom to choose what to hear. Loss of wealth in that HD renders billions of existing radios worthless. Isn’t that a ‘taking’? Why did the FCC allow deliberate interference?
Do you realize, many broadcasters question HD’s troubling methods and express concerns about HD’s obnoxious jamming?
How does HD constitute ‘free trade’? Isn’t HD Radio a long obsolete, fatally flawed, serially superseded, hammered-to-fit 80s techno-relic? Rather than embraced, wasn’t HD rejected due to numerous flaws and HD promoters’ coercive denials of interference?
HD? Here’s the juice: Older listeners don’t want it. Younger ones laugh at it. Manufacturers dislike it and retailers can’t sell it.
Want to save radio? Write your legislators and tell them the truth about what some reporters describe as a ‘carny shill’ – HD Radio.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
24 July, 2008
July 24th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
How does HD constitute ‘free trade,’ you ask? HD Radio is the embodiment of free trade. It is a US-designed system that allows existing radio stations to convert to digital transmission without governments having to allocate scarce new spectrum for this purpose. Transitioning to digital with virtually no need for new government regulations, and exporting US technology and US products that create American jobs are exactly the types of things that we all need. The alternative involves establishing new radio broadcasting spectrum on an international basis and is very challenging. It requires negotiations between governments that offer rampant opportunities for protectionist policies that may not favor American workers.
Yes, it is true that consumer adoption of HD Radio has been slow to date. However, the beauty of HD Radio is that broadcasters can continue to provide the public with the legacy analog service until there are enough receivers out there to warrant their transition to all-digital. The full potential of HD Radio won’t be realized until all-digital transmissions begin.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
How many in that picture are really employees of iniquity and how many were paid to be stand ins? HD radio is the biggest lead balloon since the Edsel (except no one’s ever heard of it) and the reason they are going to places like Brazil is because no one here wants it and soon no anywhere will want it, it’s a dead technology only dreamed up to suck money out of people and to cash in on the now not so revered “digital!!!” buzz word, incidentally their old slogan which was “it’s time to upgrade” has now been officially changed to ONE WORD: ADIOS!
Bob Young
Millbury, MA
July 25th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Jack Beard said:
“The full potential of HD Radio won’t be realized until all-digital transmissions begin.”
That will be a very cold day in hell. Radio digital transmission modes are dying all over the world as we write. Who’s going to hear these all-digital transmissions since no one buys the radios and they are virtually not available anywhere here in the U.S?? If HD is not gone soon, everyone will abandon terrestrial radio for WiFi, Satrad, Computer radio etc. radio. Some is here now and others are right around the corner, the problem with terrestrial radio is not the transmission mode, it is the krap that is being broadcast: 10 worn out classic rock staples followed by 5 minutes of boring as hell commercials, that is the problem, BORING content,
Bob Young
Millbury, MA
July 26th, 2008 at 1:43 am
I found this blog on a google search and boy am I glad I did. I thought I heard someone mention it in a free chat room.
Awesome read!
July 31st, 2008 at 4:27 pm
bobyoung said:
“…the problem with terrestrial radio is not the transmission mode, it is the krap that is being broadcast: 10 worn out classic rock staples followed by 5 minutes of boring as hell commercials, that is the problem, BORING content.”
I can’t argue with you there, except to note that with an all-digital transmission mode it would be much easier for broadcasters to switch from real-time audio streams to basically what amounts to wireless downloads, which can be used by consumers when they want. This would also enable consumers to ignore any content that they’re not interested in and capture only that in which they are interested.