Why digital radio is slow to grow
John Halecky of Summit, New Jersey loves his new Sony HD Radio. It's easy on the ears.
"The sound quality is such on those clear channels where it's really not comparable to the old way of listening, and I've used some pretty expensive tuners in the past," he said. For a $100 price point with this new Sony radio, there are stations coming in clearer than they ever have before."
The sound quality is better because Halecky's radio picks up stations broadcasting digitally, and there are more of those all the time. Problem is, there aren't enough John Halecky's of the world just yet.
Digital radio, or HD radio, makes AM sound like FM, and FM like CDs. And there's enough bandwidth to allow broadcasters to make new stations on side channels.
Whereas satellite radio is a national, fee-based service, HD Radio is local and free. But consumers have to buy new radios to hear them. Some radios have dropped to about $100, but still HD radio adoption is slower than manufacturers and broadcasters would like. They've been around for four years, but sales and consumer awareness is lagging. Edison Media Research says only about one quarter of Americans have even heard of HD radio.
The medium has two problems, according to Edison's Tom Webster: Broadcasters aren't creating enough new programming, and consumers have to buy new stand-alone radios.
