darcyh wrote:

I did not even know Hot Country existed. It must be relatively new.

Nope. Unless "relative" is 3 years ago.
EVANOV radio group bought 93.9 and switched it with 1380 back in 2020. 
SOURCE:  https://evanov.ca/2020/09/01/1076/


 

turkeytop wrote:

Strange, you were in London and didn't stop in to have a beer with me.

You're still getting over the delicious turkey that was carved up at last year's Thanksgiving!

zed wrote:

Aside from Brantford 92.1... Woodstock FM 104.7 also has HD with a throwback format. 
 

Throwback format? As in throwback to the days of "K 104 gives you MORE!"?   
(but with no currents thrown in)

RadioAaron wrote:

The independents have a little more freedom to experiment and throw money at things that may never yield a return.

Sounds about right.

Brantford putting their weaker sister station on an HD channel kinda makes sense but I wonder why a station like CIHR Woodstock would put a completley different music format on their HD channel. It would seem to compete with their main station (if there are even enough listers to the HD signal).

Last edited by zed (July 29, 2023 3:28 pm)

andysradio wrote:

Now that Arise Christan Radio is gone, is anything being heard on CKPC 92.1 HD2?

Maybe they might bring back Z103.5? Who knows

radiokid wrote:

HD2 was always HOT COUNTRY 93.9... but HD3 that Arise existed on has been completely turned off.

 

According to the Wikipedia page it says HD3 is vacant. It might be a possibility that they might put Z103.5 or an oldies format or whatever they might go with.

haydenmatthews14 wrote:

I wonder when the actual London stations will get HD. Kitchener has one HD radio station and it is Bounce Radio 99.5 which the HD2 channel carries a Country Music format. I don’t understand why London is not hopping on board with the HD Radio yet.

Sure, and I wonder when I'll be able to walk into a Walmart or Best Buy to buy an HD radio...

I have four insignia HD radios. I haven't seen them stocked in the US for several years, and I check on a regular basis.  It seems that the "table radio" is all but extinct in the U.S.  That's a decision that Asian manufacturers of consumer products have made - Sony, Panasonic, etc.  Most radio stations are promoting their streaming services for in-home listening via "smart speakers" and that seems to be where things are going.  Consider that the streaming smart speaker device market, is dominated by only a handful of players, Amazon Alexa, Google, a small share for apple, and Sonos speakers.  There are probably many other niche players who make streaming speakers.  When my dedicated Internet streaming radio was made obsolete by the manufacturer Grace Digital, I moved to an Alexa Amazon Show device, which is a spectacular Alarm Clock,  Video device for security cameras and of course streaming radio stations, podcasts, etc.  I bought it for under $70.  A great deal.  So that's the reality of the market.  In the US HD radio is ubiquitous in EV's and many ICE car brands.  I don't see it going away anytime soon, and all HD radios default to HD-1 when the signal is strong enough.  My experience is when the HD signal locks in, no multipath, no "hiss".  Bottom line, US broadcasters have no reason to shut down HD, and go back to analogue only.   There are tens of millions of cars that have HD radios.  Whether HD-2 is viable for broadcasters...that's a whole other discussion.  But what I know, is that from a copyright situation, - in the U.S.,  streaming an audio service on HD-2, and via the Internet may result in lower (performing right) copyright payments, than a stand-alone streaming service.  So there is an economic imperative to use HD-2 for some radio broadcasters.  NPR radio stations are major users of HD 2's and HD3's for alternative programming and although their audiences may be small and niche, there may be an actual business there.  There are tens of millions of smart speakers in the U.S. marketplace  But in every case, and I listen to a lot of NPR and U.S. Public Radio,  there is always on-air promotion of streaming via smart speakers, as one way to listen to the station.  It is common practice of U.S. public radio stations - such as WBGO to promote smart speakers on air, by saying "tell your smart speaker....Play WBGO"

Sangean and Audiovox have HD portable radios - stocked by Amazon in the U.S, at fairly atrractive prices.  So there is a consumer HD radio alternative available.  I think that Amazon is now the retailing monolith of consumer radios in the U.S., with Walmart a close 2nd.

One final observation.  I could see HD radio stalled in Canada because there isn't any vision at the top, at Bell, Rogers, Corus, Stingray - that HD is not going away in the U.S., and is the defacto standard on thousands of radio stations.   If/when the Canadian oligarchs rebuild the Master FM Antenna on CN Tower, they might spend a few extra bucks for HD transmitter upgrades, but at this point I wouldn't count on it, because they are pinching pennies.  I believe in any major market in the U.S., any antenna/site rebuild would involve an HD upgrade.  Perhaps Skywave has a comment about U.S. broadcasters.

Last edited by tvguy (August 5, 2023 10:12 am)