We really enjoyed iBiquity's CEO Bob Struble's most recent blog. We thought that his message about a rapidly increasing set of competitors for broadcast radio was on point.
The fact is that AM/FM radio has long ago lost its "cool".
When have you heard the hoi polloi talk about radio in the same way they do about cell phones?
Case in point:
Do a Google search for "CES and Palm Pre": 16.9 million results
Then do another Google search for "CES and HD Radio": 542 thousand results
But all is not lost. Clear Channel and CBS Radio have made significant steps forward in the past year embracing the iPhone and their respective apps are having some success.
This is a foundation from which terrestrial radio can build.
Bob talks about HD Radio being "part of the solution". But he shold go further. The radio industry is half pregnant with HD Radio and they need to decide whether to fully embrace it or dump it immediately.
We hope it is the former and Bob should be making that case.
Here are some good, if not novel, ideas:
1) iBiquity's should push their broadcast partners to make explicit links between new programming online, in mobile and HD Radio. Radio could benefit by riding the coattails of new "hip" offerings like iPhone apps. (P.S. HD Radio's "Tagging" feature is not enough.)
2) Broadcasters need to invest more in programming...not less. This investment can be spread across all mediums as consistent content is key to building new station brands.
3) As we have argued before, iBiquity and broadcasters need to keep pushing the FCC to allow the broadcast power of HD Radio to be increased.
4) Stop waiting for Detroit to save you. The Big 3 have bigger problems than what radio they will choose. Depending on Detroit has not worked for Sirius, so why repeat this mistake. iBiquity should be spending their time working with radio manufacturers and developers who will make products that customers really want. It was amazing how quickly Detroit moved to incorporate iPods when consumers demanded them.
5) Continue pushing the technology envelope to reduce HD Radio's power profile. This is obvious but what good is radio if you need to be tethered to your power cord.
As Bob states himself, "No one is carrying transistor radios anymore, it’s cell phones, MP3 players and increasingly, PNDs."
Very true, and for radio, very scary.
5 comments:
"Some CES impressions"
"HD Radio is not 'hot' - Ibiquity was not in the Auto (North) Hall. And each time I went by the booth in Central Hall, the occupants seemed more interested in talking to themselves than anyone approaching the booth. Could it be they were getting a lot of negatives, and were avoiding people? Or was it my Press badge? Internet radios are bubbling close to the top. I saw several car radios, including some that were ready for aftermarket installation. At least one company was there on Thursday night showing a 'mobile hotspot' where they made the entire vehicle Internet-abled. If they get any traction and, perhaps, a major auto maker to install them, they could quickly move up the marketplace."
http://tinyurl.com/agu83l
"Blaupunkt shows off world’s first Internet car radio"
"DAB is dead. It’s about to be crushed by Internet radio, which is coming to cars courtesy of Blaupunkt. It’ll dish up more choice than ever before, as well as working in areas where there’s no digital radio signal."
http://tinyurl.com/dyfxed
There was no "buzz" about HD Radio at CES, but plenty of "buzz" about Blaupunkt's Internet car radio (editor's #1 choice from Popular Mechanics). As is pointed out, the folks in the UK know that DAB is now dead, with in-dash Internet Radio, and that applies to HD Radio, as well.
"BREAKING NEWS: Zune Discontinued…"
"But according to the report, Microsoft have decided to abandon the brand Zune and have decided to change its media player path so that it’ll be integrated with something mobile; something that will be able to compete against the iPhone. The report has suggested that possibly a this new phone to compete with the upcoming Apple iPhone will not have much to do with the Zune."
http://tinyurl.com/capoxh
Booble talks about the Zune as being a big-win (he doesn't mention HD Radio, so it sems to apply to analog FM, only, as tagging is now available for analog FM), but the Zune is now history.
"Will radio ever be built into an iPod?"
"And what's peculiar about that is that such gadgets are indeed on the market. But they aren't manufactured by Apple and they don't have 75% of the mp3 player market, the way the iPod does... Thus there is no chance - none whatsoever - that Apple computer will ever in a million years add an FM (or HD) radio to their shiny little miracle child."
http://www.hear2.com/2006/08/will_radio_ever.html
"The FM-Free iPhone"
"The NAB Board meeting in Washington this week has FM on cellphones as a big agenda item. Too bad the NAB and most radio CEOs do not understand Apple CEO Steve Jobs' thinking in continuing to exclude FM radio from the increasingly popular iPhone."
http://tinyurl.com/57jw5b
The Apple iPod has 75% of the marketplace for MP3 players, so Bob can forget about MP3 players and cell phones - besides HD chipsets are still way too power-hungry and too large. Lots-of-luck, Bob!
"But all is not lost. Clear Channel and CBS Radio have made significant steps forward in the past year embracing the iPhone and their respective apps are having some success."
"Clear Channel Plans to Trim 1,850 Jobs"
"In October, Clear Channel introduced an iPhone app, iheartradio, which allows iPhone customers to listen to live radio. And it is working to help promote HD Radio, but that has not caught on as the industry executives had hoped."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/technology/21clear.html?ref=technology
"CC Radio’s Format Lab gone?"
November 2008
"So bottom line, the Format Lab is no longer available on the web and has cut some of its formats down to the most successful/desirable. The www.iHeartMusic.com website seems to only list the main audio streams of CC stations--not multicast HD formats--but does offer a few off to the side: erockster; Pride; Verizon New Music; Smooth Jazz; Real Oldies; Slow Jams and New Country. There used to be something close to 100 formats listed on the site."
http://www.rbr.com/radio/11252.html
"A Smart Choice Of HD-2 Formats"
"One of HD-2's challenges seems just to be staying on the air. At DCRTV.com, Dave Hughes gave Clear Channel's eRockster (now heard on WWDC's multicast channel) a plug only to note the next day (July 12) that it was off the air, as was WTOP's HD-3 traffic/weather channel. That's an experience I've had with many of New York's HD-2 channels as well, by the way. What's even more pathetic about the 'here-one-day-and-gone-the-next' status of local HD Radio channels is that I'm probably the only one who's noticing the absences, Hughes writes."
http://tinyurl.com/9foghf
"Bonneville pulls iChannel Music"
"Bonneville has pulled the plug on its iChannel Music HD Network and streaming. For the most part, it has replaced the HD multicast with WorldBand Media content (brokered ethnic programming). iChannel allowed indie bands to upload their music online for consideration... We commend Bonneville for giving it a shot—it allowed radio to expose a lot of new, unsigned indie bands from around the world. CC Radio's eRockster HD2 format is still around at a good handful of stations and still outstanding. If that gets shuttered, a good bunch of us just might be done with HD Radio listening altoghether."
http://www.rbr.com/radio/12113.html
There is no interest in the HD channel formats - Format Lab is about gone and Bonneville pulled the plug on the HD formats. Do you really think that consumers will choose the HD Radio preprogrammed, canned formats over those of their own choosing with services such as Pandora, Slacker, and Last.fm?
"More power for HD digital could mean more interference"
"And that '41% of public radio stations would lose one-third or more of the car radios their analog signals can reach' at the moment. National Public Radio’s been an important backer of inband on-channel technology. But its Chief Technology Officer Mike Starling concludes that 'we cannot responsibly support boosting power [to] 10% en masse, to the detriment of existing FM analog signals.'"
http://www.radio-info.com/newsletter/pdf/TRI09082008.pdf
You know as well as I do that the proposed 10db power increase for FM-HD will junk up analog radio to the point of the nighttime AM-HD debacle - who are you guys kidding? You mentioned in an earlier post about an HD Radio artlcle that was forced by CBS management as being propaganda - your post sounds very much the same thing. Yea, kill analog radio, where ALL of the money is being made. Terrestrial radio deserves to die, along with HD Radio, with these kinds of attitudes - can't wait.
"You mentioned in an earlier post about an HD Radio artlcle that was forced by CBS management as being propaganda - your post sounds very much the same thing."
Tough economic times call for desperate measures....My check should be arriving any day now;-)
"Tough economic times call for desperate measures....My check should be arriving any day now"
From iBiquity, or the HD Radio Alliance? :-)
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