More on HD: Is Anyone Out There?

By: RANDY DOTINGA - For the North County Times | Wednesday, October 17, 2007 1:59 PM PDT ∞

If a radio station broadcasts music and nobody listens, does it make a sound?

Last week, I wrote about how local stations are embracing HD Radio, which allows them to broadcast in higher fidelity and offer alternative programming on digital subchannels. If you get an HD Radio ---- they cost $100 and up ---- you can tune in to about 10 of these local channels, some of which I wrote about last week.

But while plenty of stations have spent money and time on the digital technology known as HD, there are plenty of signs that few people are interested.

Consider North County rock station KPRI, which doesn't have a digital signal. According to KPRI's Bob Hughes, it seems that a grand total of one person has asked when the station will start broadcasting in digital.

And who's that person? Me. Your humble radio columnist. That, Hughes said, "speaks volumes about HD."

Meanwhile, KPBS-FM changed formats last week on its subchannel and nobody seemed to notice or call the station to complain, a surprising development considering how rabid KPBS listeners are about griping when the station does anything.

Why do few people care about HD? There's the cost and the fact that the technology isn't in cars unless you pay extra. There's the lack of unique programming. (Yes, there are about 10 subchannels in San Diego, but there are dozens and dozens on satellite radio.)

There's also the unfortunate matter of poor reception, especially in North County, which is far from most local radio transmitters.

Still, the beat goes on.

KPBS plans to begin offering a second subchannel, known as HD-3, within the next few weeks. In a bit of a switcheroo, it will offer a format called "Groove Salad" that was previously on its first subchannel, known as HD-2.

Despite its godawful name, Groove Salad apparently has an audience, at least on the Internet. It features a lot of "chill" music that helps people relax and, if they're HD Radio executives, forget their woes for the moment. (Listen yourself at somafm.com.)

Meanwhile, a 24-hour classical music feed from Minneapolis that provides programming to KPBS at night replaced Groove Salad on the station's HD-2 subchannel.

If you're scoring at home, here's what other stations are offering on their subchannels.

Channel 933: The station just began offering "Pride Radio," a music format geared toward a gay and lesbian audience. While the Clear Channel company has a reputation as being quite conservative, several company-owned stations around the country (even in Albuquerque, N.M.) are experimenting with the format on HD subchannels.

U.S. 95.7: All-new country music.

KGB: 24-7 rebroadcasts of the "Dave, Shelly & Chainsaw" morning show.

The subchannels of Rock 105.3 and Star 94.1 play rock music, but I couldn't get any more information about the formats.

FYI: You can also listen to the above subchannels at clearchannelmusic.com/hdradio. Judging from the poor reception on my radio, that might not be a bad idea.

Meanwhile, you can find Spanish-language subchannels at 107.1 FM and 99.7. At least one FM station ---- KSON ---- broadcasts in HD but doesn't have a subchannel.

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Quickies: One of the big successes of the liberal talk network Air America has been Randi Rhodes, a sharp-tongued and aggressive host who makes for good radio (thick New York accent notwithstanding). But not this week.

Rhodes is taking time off after something happened over the weekend in New York City. According to news reports, colleague Jon Elliot, a San Diego-based Air America host, said Rhodes had been mugged, perhaps on purpose because of her political beliefs. But later reports from a Rhodes representative said she'd been injured in a fall.

The Air America Web site clarified nothing, saying she was in an "unfortunate incident" that was not a hate crime.

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You know what they say about rumors: Half are true, half are partly true, and half are flat-out wrong.

Wait, can something have three halves? Yep. I read it on the Internet, so it must be true.

Anyway, rumors that liberal talk station KLSD ---- where Rhodes is heard locally ---- would flip to sports talk on Oct. 15 were wrong. But it seems like a change is gonna come, despite another protest at Clear Channel headquarters last week by hundreds of "progressive talk" supporters.

Among other things, the KLSD fans are now declaring that they don't want the format demoted to an HD Radio subchannel.

My colleague John Maffei, who writes about TV and radio for this newspaper's Sports section, reported last week that the KLSD studios are being refitted to handle sports talk. At least two hosts are already on board, with a switch supposedly coming by early November.

It's a shame that the suits at KLSD won't just confirm that a switch will take place instead of jerking around listeners by making them rely on speculation and leaks.

Rumors about Randy Dotinga being wrong half the time are only half true. E-mail him at NCTimesRadio@aol.com.

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