Gerry Bishop wrote: > Of the stations running night IBOC, it seems all but two are > news/talk/sports. > > Can someone please enlighten me how a digital signal enhances such a format? > Somehow, the concept of "CD-quality" sports programming just isn't coming > together for me.
The same argument should apply to news/talk/sports formats on FM - but here's what real-world experience has found: there's a significant ratings boost, particularly among younger listeners, for news and talk in cities where the format has migrated from AM to FM. WTOP in DC, KTAR in Phoenix, KSL in Salt Lake and WPGB in Pittsburgh are the most prominent examples so far. In Pittsburgh, particularly, KDKA's listenership has all but vanished to FM since WPGB signed on a couple of years ago. It's understandable, at least on the programming side, that management would see these successes and hope for similar results from "FM-like" audio on HD AM. And I've got to say, there's something to be said for the absence of ANY background noise, especially on a distant signal. I had WABC's digital audio locked for a while Friday night, and it was pretty remarkable to hear audio that good, and that free of noise, coming from 350 miles away. That said, there are still more AM stations processing their audio poorly than there are stations getting it right. When it's done poorly, it sounds like a low-bitrate webstream and is hard to listen to at length. And of course there's a very valid argument to be made that at one time, AM analog audio sounded great, too - but the combination of crappy radios and a sharply increased noise floor has just about done THAT in, like it or not. s _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com