Even though I live and work in Bucks County, PA, I still listen to New York City radio stations whenever I can. Most of them are flat out more entertaining than stations of the same format broadcasting from Philadelphia. One drawback of listening to New York radio stations as much as I do, however is that there are some significant gaps in the format map:
- New York has no country station on AM or FM, since Y-107 changed formats in 2003
- New York has no oldies station on AM or FM, since WCBS-FM switched to Jack FM in June 2005
This situation is changing now that several of the major radio station networks are rolling out high definition radio broadcasting, also known as HD Radio. According to an article in yesterday’s New York Daily News, HD radio is bringing back the classic formats on the HD2 channels of many big New York stations. Oldies are coming back on WCBS-FM’s HD2 channel. Country is back on WKTU’s HD2. Modern rock returns to WFNY’s HD2 after just recently being displaced by talk on the primary FM channel.
HD Radio differs from Satellite Radio in two respects:
- HD Radio broadcasts from traditional radio transmitters already utilized for AM and FM
- HD Radio uses the broadcast economic model: advertising-supported, as opposed to the Satellite Radio subscription model
You need an HD Radio receiver to start listening to these HD2 channels. The hottest selling HD Radio sold through Amazon.com at the moment is the Boston Acoustics Recepter Radio HD High Definition AM/FM Clock Radio. This is the HD version of the Recepter AM/FM Clock Radio. You pay a $350 premium for HD radio circuitry right now– talk about an Early Adopter Surcharge. I hope this price gap decreases as the number of HD receivers produced increases.
There’s no question that my next tabletop radio for the Home Office will have HD Radio circuitry. The questions are: when will I buy it and what will it cost? I still want to try Satellite Radio for a while, and I may buy a subscription to it before I try HD Radio.
Technorati Tags: HD Radio, Boston Acoustics Recepter