I was at the local SBE chapter meeting today*. During the banter, (you know that radio engineers love to banter, unlike stodgy dull air personalities, hi) the question came up - and not from me - as to what the local plans were for night HD for the Clear Channel AM properties here. The official word - as of noon Thursday - was that no decision had yet been made, and when it was, it would come from out of town. I then asked if they had any feedback as to the penetration of HD receivers into the market. They had no idea at all as to how many were out there. (*yes I am an affiliate SBE member)
I was frankly, surprised, at both of these developments. First that it was even still up in the air, and this comment came directly from the gentleman who would "throw the switch" to do it. The second is that, one would *think* that the HD alliance would be bending over backwards to track these figures. And if tracked, at least make them available to those stations directly affected. I'll grant you that they have no cause to send them to the St. Pete Times...nor to me, either, hi So if they DO have these figures, and don't share them, it does not bode well for the big rollout. And if they DON'T have them it means to me, at least, the alliance is not doing their homework. A.C. Nielsen is good at extrapolating audience survey data, and a lot of green rides on what they generate. There is no reason the HD Alliance can't do the same, except for incompetence, laziness, or unwillingness to deal with it. Or ?? ......(option D ??) They could do a trade deal with all the Best Buy types out there. Give us sales detail info and we give you a break on stocking radios and free promo material among all that trade air time they are filling up. I'd bet that they could connect with a half dozen chains. Wal-Mart, Crutchfield, RS etc come to mind. They could survey the great majority of set retailers to get sales info that would seen to have a high degree of reliability due to the huge sample size. Get Free Advertising in exchange for some data? What's Not to Like? One explanation against could be that the Best Buy types are not convinced of the validity of tracking such a niche product, and won't, no matter the incentive. I'll see what's up locally this evening. - Bob > > > It will be interesting to see the mess that will be made of the > > lower to mid band with all those 50 KW clears hashing up the > > adjacents. > > > > > > It's been a fun hobby. > > Lighten up brother. ;-) SUGGESTION: Get into/back into ham radio. 3B7C workable long-path on 40 meters CW at 1230Z this morning, 100 watts/short wire stealth ant. here. QSL's practically guaranteed. There is something new on every day. _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] 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: [email protected]
