1 of 1- RadioActive
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Which Side Of The World Will Win This Technical Radio Battle?
We have AM, FM and sometimes HD.
They have some FM but mostly rely on digital radio.
We are North America.
They are Britain, the European Union, Australia and other overseas countries.
It means if you travel from our area to theirs, any radio you take over will be all but useless. (Not to mention because of 9khz spacing, which is how it works in many of the countries over there.)
So the question: assuming radio remains a viable medium into the future, which system ultimately wins? If you pick Europe's, it means almost every radio in this country and the U.S., including those in cars, would eventually be rendered useless and you'd have to buy new ones.
CHUM was among those companies that tried DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) in this country and it was a money-losing disaster. Was it just too soon? Or is its great-grandson about to one day make a comeback?
Of course, there has long been a broadcasting divide between us and them. Our television was in NTSC for a very long time. Theirs was in PAL. Our TVs wouldn't work there and vice versa. And it's only recently that DVD makers had to constantly release two different versions of the same movie for the differing countries so they could be played on our respective TVs.
I'd love to try playing with a DAB-type receiver, just to see what it's like. Not that there's anything to hear here. But I'm also old fashioned enough to still like what we currently have, especially as a veteran DXer. Those digital signals don't travel very far, which instantly makes me like them less.
Or perhaps you believe neither will win and that streaming will one day be the only way to listen to the radio. Then again, as the technology develops, perhaps there will be something else on the horizon we haven't even thought of yet.
I just can't see them obsoleting every radio on the continent. But they did that with our old analog TVs. So I suppose anything is possible.
Which technology would you like to eventually see (or hear) here?
- RadioAaron
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Re: Which Side Of The World Will Win This Technical Radio Battle?
DAB and HD are non-starters in North America. It's too late. FM will last a while, replaced by streaming over time.
- Media Observer
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Re: Which Side Of The World Will Win This Technical Radio Battle?
New technologies to broadcast a product that is being gutted of its financial and human resources; to maximize profits...just saying.
Last edited by Media Observer (December 6, 2021 10:09 pm)
- radiokid
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Re: Which Side Of The World Will Win This Technical Radio Battle?
2 notes... In Canada with cell phone companies also owning broadcast companies, there is zero effort to make HD work by having HD available in all cars, and radios by default. Look at the us markets. Majority have HD on their FM signals, and most new cars sold have HD in the US. Not remotely close to this being done in Canada as of yet.
AM radio is really heading to full death unless they fully digitize it. Personally the AM band is a write off at this point in my opinion because it would require major marketing after going to digital for the large group that doesn't even know what AM is.
FM with HD I feel has some ability to survive if the right moves are made. This may mean moving talk and news to FM, dropping music formats that are underperformers to do this. HD being available on with an analog signal, only improves the quality. Subchannels are something that are going to take a very long time and need to be unique for anyone to care about.
What will always be the limitation on mobile streaming in cars is the data limits. We may have no charge overages in Canada now, but we do have caps. As long as those caps exist, you will see slow shifts to streaming in cars. I don't think staying with Analog offers any benefit to any station unless they are using broadcast equipment that can't do it. HD is fairly low cost to bring into an FM station, even if it's just to make the main signal digital.
Home listening is for sure moving to streaming, but I think it's not too late for cars, which is the largest listener group for radio anyway. The programming is what matters.. not the delivery method. Younger people just expect it to be clear, not filled with static/noise and programming they want. Live/local programming is one thing podcasts can't offer but isn't out of style... Programming just needs to change to accommodate.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Which Side Of The World Will Win This Technical Radio Battle?
radiokid wrote:
What will always be the limitation on mobile streaming in cars is the data limits. We may have no charge overages in Canada now, but we do have caps. As long as those caps exist, you will see slow shifts to streaming in cars.
It won't be long until data usage isn't a factor for audio consumption for the majority of drivers. It isn't for me, and my plan's nothing special.