HD Radio for $99

[Bebop]

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1000010&newsId=20070412006099&newsLang=en

[StarvingForHDTV]

I was hoping for a stand alone tuner to connect to my amplifier.

How is HD radio by those who have heard it?  Is it worth spending out for the quality upgrade over FM stereo?  Are a lot of Milwaukee stations broadcasting in digital now?

[Bluto]

I was hoping for a stand alone tuner to connect to my amplifier.

I'm also leaning that way.  here's a component HD tuner I've found.  I'm guessing there are others:
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=4140816&JRSource=googlebase.datafeed.SGN+HDT1

[waterhead]

Are a lot of Milwaukee stations broadcasting in digital now?

Here's a list of HD Radio stations in Wisconsin:
http://www.ibiquity.com/hd_radio/hdradio_find_a_station/WI/StnMarket#stationlist

Code Select Expand

Milwaukee Area HD-Radio Stations
94.5 WKTI-HD1 FM Hot AC Journal Broadcast Group
920 WOKY-HD AM Adlt Stndrd Clear Channel Radio
100.7 WKKV-HD1 FM Urban CHR Clear Channel Radio
100.7-2 WKKV-HD2 FM Gospel Clear Channel Radio
620 WTMJ-HD AM Nws/Tlk/Spt Journal Broadcast Group
89.7 WUWM-HD1 FM Nws/Tlk/Inf University of Wisconsin
89.7-2 WUWM-HD2 FM Today\'s Music All Grown Up University of Wisconsin
1640 WKSH-HD AM Children ABC Radio
96.5 WKLH-HD1 FM Clsc Rock Saga
106.1 WMIL-HD1 FM Country Clear Channel Radio
106.1-2 WMIL-HD2 FM Classic Country Clear Channel Radio
99.1 WMYX-HD1 FM Hot AC Entercom Communications Corp.
99.1-2 WMYX-HD2 FM Blues Entercom Communications Corp.
97.3 WQBW-HD1 FM ClRck/80Hts Clear Channel Radio
97.3-2 WQBW-HD2 FM Classic Alternative Clear Channel Radio
95.7 WRIT-HD1 FM 70s & 80s Clear Channel Radio
95.7-2 WRIT-HD2 FM Disco & Dance Clear Channel Radio
103.7 WXSS-HD1 FM CHR Entercom Communications Corp.
103.7-2 WXSS-HD2 FM Comedy Entercom Communications Corp.
90.7 WHAD-HD1 FM Talk Wisconsin Public Radio
90.7-2 WHAD-HD2 FM Classical Wisconsin Public Radio
1340 WJYI-HD AM ChrsContemp Saga
88.9 WYMS-HD1 FM Jazz Milwaukee Board of School Directors

[StarvingForHDTV]

That is a decent selection of stations.  I will consider adding a tuner to my setup.  Thank you both.

[picopir8]

Meh. Terrestrial radio lost me about a year ago with all their commercials.  Its not to bad throughout the day but I discovered that anywhere between 50-70% of my commute to work was spent listening to commercials.  The way home was about 40-50%.  That was way too much.  Satellite radio (Sirius in particular) not only offers commercial free content, but they have channels that play niche music that you wont find over the public airwaves.  They also play the songs as the artists intended them without bleeping out words.  My GF started got hooked as well so now we have two subs.

Im not going to dish out any more money for a radio just to have it advertise to me.  The only way terrestrial will get me to try HD radio is for them to give me one for free or build it into a device that Im buying (car, receiver, etc).

[waterhead]

I won't listen to commercial radio anymore either. That is why I listen to 91.7 WMSE most of the time. WUWM plays a decent music mix in the evenings. With their digital broadcast, WUWM has a second channel that is all music, all the time and no commercials. I currently listen to the webcast of WUWM2, and would like to get a HD radio just to listen it away from a computer.

I don't know if the commercial stations play ads on their second digital broadcasts. Does anybody out there have an answer to this?

[jeffski]

HD radio is a sad and desperate attempt by terrestrial radio to offer what XM/Sirious does as far as content. Nice try but,give it up. I've been an XM subscriber for 3 years and Deep Tracks xm40:guitar:  ALONE is worth the $12.95 a month.The rest are just bonus channels to me.
HD radio can't even come close to the wide array of music niches satellite offers. I'm aware it looks like a merger in the works between xm/sirious. As long as they don't take away Deep Tracks, I'm happy. I can envision them putting The Vault right next to DT and if they up the price to $20 a month,it's STILL well worth it.Once upon a time,people said they'd NEVER pay to watch tv . Well, that sure has changed hasn't it? And people that say they'll NEVER pay to listen to radio(I thought that myself 40 months ago) sure don't know what they're missing.
 AM/FM  ...HD or otherwise...their heyday is long gone.

[waterhead]

I will NEVER pay to watch TV and I will NEVER pay to listen to radio. You can throw your money away any way you wish, it's a free country.

[jeffski]

'Throwing away' a whole 40 cents a day will not break me . But it DOES give my ears a break from the garbage known as am/fm. :rolleyes:

[kevbeck122]

XM was almost as bad as FM to me, without the commercials (minus a few channels that got commercials close to when I canceled XM).  I'd come out of work hearing the same songs I did when going to work in the morning.  To me it's better to pay $15 a month for an online music service, put the songs I want on a player and take it in the car with me.  I can hear what I want and with much better sound quality.

I tried HD radio for awhile last summer.. didn't impress me.  Sound quality was maybe a little better than XM, but it was the same crappy local radio with a couple new subchannels.

[picopir8]

I will NEVER pay to watch TV and I will NEVER pay to listen to radio. You can throw your money away any way you wish, it's a free country.

When you pay for TV you just get more TV channels and the vast majority of them have commercials just like regular TV so I can understand not paying for TV.  

Paying for radio is a bit different, though.  All Sirius music channels and many XM music channels are commercial free.  So you are paying for the luxary of not having advertisments inbetween every song.   Sure a CD/mp3 player can do the same but then you are limited to the same-old same-old in your music collection.  Also you get a much huge selection of channels.   Not to mention you can drive coast to coast w/o having to change stations, both services allow users to stream their channels off the web, many radios have DVR-like functionality so you can pause/rewind and some can also record songs, each service offers exclusive content, which you cant get over the radio, and both have sports programing so you can listen to games which may not be broadcast in the local area.  It is well worth the small cost.

BTW, XM/Sirius do give breaks for 1 or 2 year plans.  If you cancel early, you get a refund for your unused balance.  So in actuality the price is closer to about $10/mo.

[jeffski]

XM was almost as bad as FM to me, without the commercials (minus a few channels that got commercials close to when I canceled XM).  I'd come out of work hearing the same songs I did when going to work in the morning.  To me it's better to pay $15 a month for an online music service, put the songs I want on a player and take it in the car with me.  I can hear what I want and with much better sound quality.

I tried HD radio for awhile last summer.. didn't impress me.  Sound quality was maybe a little better than XM, but it was the same crappy local radio with a couple new subchannels.

WOW...There ARE more than a couple XM channels. If they were playing the same song goin to/coming from work, maybe you had a top 20 or top 40 xm channel on? Yes,they have those on xm although I can't see the point of hearing the same songs over and over like am/fm top 40 except for not having commercials.
On the other hand,Deep Tracks has a VAST library. At the beginning of each year,they play 5002 songs in a row alphabetically(which takes almost 3 weeks to do). This is actually the TIP of their on-air library. Most (non-top 40)FM stations have about a 400-1000 on-air music library.
 Yes,I also use the mp3 take-it-with me option. That still has it's limits,tho. To me,the element of surprise is the best part about XM.
Top Tracks is a good one ,too. I call them 'deep tracks lite' because they'll play a few obscure or never-played-on-fm tunes more often than they used to.

[Bebop]

This HD radio might be interesting when released,

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/griffin-developing-radio-shark-hd/